Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and chilly.  It rained yesterday and last night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a tufted titmouse, a downy woodpecker drumming on a tree high overhead, and a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/15/24 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/15/24 -- I went out to pick up fallen flowerpots.  After that, I picked up some big sticks in the yard and leaned them against trees.  With a few minutes of daylight left, I started raking leaves from the last quadrant of the ritual meadow, but that's nowhere near done.

Against the pale sky, the bare branches of the trees made black fractals.  Toward the horizon, sheets of silver mist lay over the fields like forgotten scarves.

It was all very quiet, except in the ritual meadow one cardinal freaked out over me raking and started alarm calling hysterically, while everyone else muttered, "What the fuck, dude?" and "Shut up, I'm trying to sleep!"  I suspect that he is not a resident cardinal and therefore does not recognize me as the Filler of Food Boxes.  Normally what birds yell at me in winter is "Hurry up, I'm starving!"  :D

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Monarch Butterflies

Monarch butterflies will get federal protections as a threatened species

U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.


This would be very helpful.

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New Community: Datahoarders

datahoarders is a community for those who are interested in data hoarding and archiving data.

:D I didn't know this had a name! Awesome.

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American Meadows Order

While researching a post about monarch butterflies, I realized that one of my favorite nursery catalogs has a big sale going, with a lot of things 20-25% off. So I placed my order with American Meadows in December instead of the usual January. The seeds will ship within a few days, while the plants will ship in spring. If you want native plants, I highly recommend this source.

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