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Birdfeeding
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithToday is partly cloudy and cold.
I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
.
I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
.
Monday Update 2-23-26
Feb. 23rd, 2026 12:37 amysabetwordsmithThese are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"
Poem: "Embrace My Fate"
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds Order
Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Vocabulary: Bricolage
Today's Adventures
Science
Birdfeeding
Meteor Shower Calendar
Philosophical Questions: Life
Edible Landscaping Order
Meme
Photos: House Yard
Water
Birdfeeding
Books
Follow Friday 2-20-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Winter 2025-2026 A-I
Energy
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Photos: Flowerbeds
Books
Birdfeeding
Hard Things
Safety has 49 comments. Food has 53 comments. Wildlife has 39 comments. Food has 67 comments. Robotics has 146 comments.
Last week's half-price sale in Not Quite Kansas went well. All sponsored poems have been posted, so you can find those via the title links on the sale page.
The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for excellence in crowdfunding. It's time to vote for your favorite projects!
The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.
These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:
"The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds" belongs to Not Quite Kansas and needs $34.50 to be complete. Raymond and Gideon get attacked on the way home from research.
The weather has been variable here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, several starlings, one male and two female house finches, one female and two male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. I flushed the great horned owl from the ritual meadow when I went out there. A skein of geese flew overhead, going north. Currently blooming: crocuses.
Poem: "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"
Poem: "Embrace My Fate"
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds Order
Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Vocabulary: Bricolage
Today's Adventures
Science
Birdfeeding
Meteor Shower Calendar
Philosophical Questions: Life
Edible Landscaping Order
Meme
Photos: House Yard
Water
Birdfeeding
Books
Follow Friday 2-20-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Winter 2025-2026 A-I
Energy
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Photos: Flowerbeds
Books
Birdfeeding
Hard Things
Safety has 49 comments. Food has 53 comments. Wildlife has 39 comments. Food has 67 comments. Robotics has 146 comments.
Last week's half-price sale in Not Quite Kansas went well. All sponsored poems have been posted, so you can find those via the title links on the sale page.
The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for excellence in crowdfunding. It's time to vote for your favorite projects!
The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.
These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:
Art:
Fiction:
Poetry:
Webcomic:
Other Project:
Patron:
"The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds" belongs to Not Quite Kansas and needs $34.50 to be complete. Raymond and Gideon get attacked on the way home from research.
The weather has been variable here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, several starlings, one male and two female house finches, one female and two male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. I flushed the great horned owl from the ritual meadow when I went out there. A skein of geese flew overhead, going north. Currently blooming: crocuses.
Zine Fair
Feb. 23rd, 2026 12:41 amwho_is_pageVended at a zine fair this weekend and somehow no one noticed I had not slept in 2 days or that I skipped dinner-breakfast-lunch into it to get everything done. Got that golden retriever charisma in me babyyyyy
Also we were legit the only people with long-form fiction stuff? If you can even call 1000~ word microfiction "long form," but other people at the fair were. That made me sad when I finally got to scope things out. There was one fiction/nonfiction anthology I found at a table and that was it, nobody else was really doing it. :( A lot of tables barely had any zines or had mostly really professional stuff that wouldn't really count as a typical punk zine and I was like... I think some of the vendors are treating this like an art fair instead which is a lil strange.... The person we were next to had a publishing company that sold all the way up to the Midwest, which was REALLY cool, but iirc none of it was their own work; it was the work of artists in the publishing house. I wasn't sure the artists were necessarily even local to our state? Which ain't a bad thing, but I feel like I went into it expecting a lot more nearby artists at my skill level of "creating everything by hand at home" than there actually were. It was intimidating and made me feel kind of out of place and outclassed! But I've never let that stop me.
We did get to see some familiar faces that made our day, and I watched an older middle schooler buy and read my horror story Unfair about a mirror demon right at the table and yell in delight at everything that happened, which felt AMAZING. I think I gotta write more horror with kids in mind (so basically, just regular horror with less cursing :P), cuz that was so fun. Someone compared that same story to House of Leaves for the way I did the mirror script, which was swag as fuck. A LOT of people were totally overjoyed and screamed when they picked that zine up from our table and realized what I'd done with formatting, and it was one of the top sellers. Think we did like 10 copies? 15? And everyone wanted to trade for it or Territorial.
Territorial was, predictably, the best seller. Everyone loves cave diving horror, and everyone loves Florida horror. One person was REALLY excited about the lighthouse horror story I'm working on set at a FL lighthouse, I wish I had finished it in time for the fair. Moon Flower barely sold at all, which sucked, but people were enthusiastic to trade for it when they heard my pitch. I think I didn't go hard enough on the cover, because it's genuinely one of the best-edited pieces and is a ton of fun. Daily Dragonsbane did good, but not as good as last time; I think it held at around 9-ish copies sold. RUN DOG RUN did surprising numbers considering it's a therian story that's partially in Esperanto, while Dragon On The Court didn't sell even once iirc, despite it being a short comedy story entirely in English. They both sold for $1 so it wasn't even the price point: it's just my weakest seller. Aw well. You live and you learn.
Sometimes people would stand there and just read through an entire zine and I'd internally be like. Hey man. C'mon now. It's literally only 8 or 16 pages long and a few bucks. Please pay me if you're gonna read the whole entire thing. But I've been told that's normal for the event... Alas. Seeing everyone's reactions in real time was still a lot of fun, and people gushing over my work was really genuinely wonderful, even if they didn't buy anything. I'm just happy people like what I make! I got a surprising number of questions about my process and my writing programs that I didn't expect, but it was really lovely to share resources.
Either way. It really was a total blast. I got a T-shirt and some incredible zines about eels and cicadas, among other goodies. Wahoo! I crashed really hard right after the fair so I'm going to eat some leftover wedding cake and go back to bed now. <3 I have work later today
Also we were legit the only people with long-form fiction stuff? If you can even call 1000~ word microfiction "long form," but other people at the fair were. That made me sad when I finally got to scope things out. There was one fiction/nonfiction anthology I found at a table and that was it, nobody else was really doing it. :( A lot of tables barely had any zines or had mostly really professional stuff that wouldn't really count as a typical punk zine and I was like... I think some of the vendors are treating this like an art fair instead which is a lil strange.... The person we were next to had a publishing company that sold all the way up to the Midwest, which was REALLY cool, but iirc none of it was their own work; it was the work of artists in the publishing house. I wasn't sure the artists were necessarily even local to our state? Which ain't a bad thing, but I feel like I went into it expecting a lot more nearby artists at my skill level of "creating everything by hand at home" than there actually were. It was intimidating and made me feel kind of out of place and outclassed! But I've never let that stop me.
We did get to see some familiar faces that made our day, and I watched an older middle schooler buy and read my horror story Unfair about a mirror demon right at the table and yell in delight at everything that happened, which felt AMAZING. I think I gotta write more horror with kids in mind (so basically, just regular horror with less cursing :P), cuz that was so fun. Someone compared that same story to House of Leaves for the way I did the mirror script, which was swag as fuck. A LOT of people were totally overjoyed and screamed when they picked that zine up from our table and realized what I'd done with formatting, and it was one of the top sellers. Think we did like 10 copies? 15? And everyone wanted to trade for it or Territorial.
Territorial was, predictably, the best seller. Everyone loves cave diving horror, and everyone loves Florida horror. One person was REALLY excited about the lighthouse horror story I'm working on set at a FL lighthouse, I wish I had finished it in time for the fair. Moon Flower barely sold at all, which sucked, but people were enthusiastic to trade for it when they heard my pitch. I think I didn't go hard enough on the cover, because it's genuinely one of the best-edited pieces and is a ton of fun. Daily Dragonsbane did good, but not as good as last time; I think it held at around 9-ish copies sold. RUN DOG RUN did surprising numbers considering it's a therian story that's partially in Esperanto, while Dragon On The Court didn't sell even once iirc, despite it being a short comedy story entirely in English. They both sold for $1 so it wasn't even the price point: it's just my weakest seller. Aw well. You live and you learn.
Sometimes people would stand there and just read through an entire zine and I'd internally be like. Hey man. C'mon now. It's literally only 8 or 16 pages long and a few bucks. Please pay me if you're gonna read the whole entire thing. But I've been told that's normal for the event... Alas. Seeing everyone's reactions in real time was still a lot of fun, and people gushing over my work was really genuinely wonderful, even if they didn't buy anything. I'm just happy people like what I make! I got a surprising number of questions about my process and my writing programs that I didn't expect, but it was really lovely to share resources.
Either way. It really was a total blast. I got a T-shirt and some incredible zines about eels and cicadas, among other goodies. Wahoo! I crashed really hard right after the fair so I'm going to eat some leftover wedding cake and go back to bed now. <3 I have work later today
Poem: "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"
Feb. 22nd, 2026 11:29 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the October 2020 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "demons" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, an unprovoked attack, hellhounds, violence, gore, unexpected rescue, playing with prey, fatally injured opponents, minor injuries to main characters, awkward discussions, willing sacrifice, intimate magical healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include:fuzzyred,
355 lines, Buy It Now = $44.50
Amount donated = $10
Verses posted = 13 of 118
Amount remaining to fund fully = $34.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.25
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $0.75
( Read more... )
wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "demons" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, an unprovoked attack, hellhounds, violence, gore, unexpected rescue, playing with prey, fatally injured opponents, minor injuries to main characters, awkward discussions, willing sacrifice, intimate magical healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include:
fuzzyred, 355 lines, Buy It Now = $44.50
Amount donated = $10
Verses posted = 13 of 118
Amount remaining to fund fully = $34.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.25
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $0.75
( Read more... )
Poem: "Embrace My Fate"
Feb. 22nd, 2026 10:39 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the October 6, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, sorting through a lair acquired by combat, reference to past abuse, cursed artifacts, damned souls, worry, magical body modification, restraint for safety, awkward emotional discussions, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, sorting through a lair acquired by combat, reference to past abuse, cursed artifacts, damned souls, worry, magical body modification, restraint for safety, awkward emotional discussions, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds Order
Feb. 22nd, 2026 09:41 pmysabetwordsmithI picked out what I wanted from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. This catalog has the Safe Seed Pledge, meaning everything is non-GMO/toxin-free. My partner Doug further notes that they have the best, easiest ordering system of all the catalogs we use. Call up the Smart Order Form and when you key in the product number, the rest autofills, tells you if it's still in stock, and lists the price. \o/ Somegeek earned their coffee today!
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
The Fine Art of Bibliography
Feb. 22nd, 2026 08:02 pmlb_leeRogan: I have apparently become the kind of person who not only reads bibliographies of my own free will, but has done so enough to develop taste and critical feelings about them.
( Please imagine me swirling fancy wine in a goblet as you read this. )
( Please imagine me swirling fancy wine in a goblet as you read this. )
Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"
Feb. 22nd, 2026 05:51 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the September 1, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 9-1-20 card for the I Want Fries With That! Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, a headless chicken running around, a fight with bit character fatalities, moderate injuries to a main character, messy medical details, an imprisoned demon, torture, binding magic, demonic healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 9-1-20 card for the I Want Fries With That! Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, a headless chicken running around, a fight with bit character fatalities, moderate injuries to a main character, messy medical details, an imprisoned demon, torture, binding magic, demonic healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
Early Humans
Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:01 pmysabetwordsmithHomo erectus fossils in East Asia rewrite the timeline of human migration
A new analysis dates three Homo erectus skulls from central China to about 1.77 million years ago, making them the oldest securely dated hominin fossils in eastern Asia.
That older age shifts the arrival of early humans in the region back by roughly 600,000 years and compresses the timeline of how quickly our ancestors spread across Eurasia.
[---8<---]
The same layer holds stone tools and animal remains, tying the skulls to a specific moment nearly 1.8 million years ago rather than the younger dates long cited.
A new analysis dates three Homo erectus skulls from central China to about 1.77 million years ago, making them the oldest securely dated hominin fossils in eastern Asia.
That older age shifts the arrival of early humans in the region back by roughly 600,000 years and compresses the timeline of how quickly our ancestors spread across Eurasia.
[---8<---]
The same layer holds stone tools and animal remains, tying the skulls to a specific moment nearly 1.8 million years ago rather than the younger dates long cited.
Birdfeeding
Feb. 22nd, 2026 01:23 pmysabetwordsmithToday is cloudy and cold.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows plus one female and two male cardinals separately.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I planted 3 peonies 'Sorbet Mixed' under the apricot tree. The mix includes white, light pink, and dark pink. These cost $14.98, so about $5 a root. That's a great bargain for peonies, which average $20-30 each and catalogs and the high end is downright exorbitant. So if you want peonies, look for cheap ones at home or garden stores this time of year. Due to the unseasonal warmth, the ground here is unfrozen, so I was able to plant them immediately. \o/
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I labeled and mulched the new peonies.
I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I started the process of trimming dead stems from the wildflower garden, which is going to take a while.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden. I discovered a little wildflower putting up leaves, probably echinacea, possibly penstemon or something else.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- We hauled in the potting mix bags from last night.
I've seen a fox squirrel in the forest garden.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows plus one female and two male cardinals separately.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I planted 3 peonies 'Sorbet Mixed' under the apricot tree. The mix includes white, light pink, and dark pink. These cost $14.98, so about $5 a root. That's a great bargain for peonies, which average $20-30 each and catalogs and the high end is downright exorbitant. So if you want peonies, look for cheap ones at home or garden stores this time of year. Due to the unseasonal warmth, the ground here is unfrozen, so I was able to plant them immediately. \o/
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I labeled and mulched the new peonies.
I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I started the process of trimming dead stems from the wildflower garden, which is going to take a while.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden. I discovered a little wildflower putting up leaves, probably echinacea, possibly penstemon or something else.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- We hauled in the potting mix bags from last night.
I've seen a fox squirrel in the forest garden.
EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
Vocabulary: Bricolage
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:28 pmysabetwordsmithSunday Word: Bricolage
bricolage [bree-kuh-lahzh, brik-uh-]
noun:
1 a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.
2 (in literature) a piece created from diverse resources.
3 (in art) a piece of makeshift handiwork.
4 the use of multiple, diverse research methods.
Definitely useful if you like upcycling.
bricolage [bree-kuh-lahzh, brik-uh-]
noun:
1 a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.
2 (in literature) a piece created from diverse resources.
3 (in art) a piece of makeshift handiwork.
4 the use of multiple, diverse research methods.
Definitely useful if you like upcycling.
Comic: Barred from Pokemon Forever
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:21 pmlb_leeThis is the winner of the comics/art poll this month! Please enjoy this goofiness... and for added bonus, I'll add the sketch as well!
This was a silly 2016 cooldown sketch from back when I did livestreams. (I have been saying for years that I'd like to start doing them again, but sorry y'all, our art program just doesn't work on Linux. We haven't been able to do digital art on this comp reliably since we got it in Thanksgiving.)
This was a silly 2016 cooldown sketch from back when I did livestreams. (I have been saying for years that I'd like to start doing them again, but sorry y'all, our art program just doesn't work on Linux. We haven't been able to do digital art on this comp reliably since we got it in Thanksgiving.)
Science
Feb. 21st, 2026 08:06 pmysabetwordsmithScientists just mapped mysterious earthquakes deep inside Earth
Scientists at Stanford have unveiled the first-ever global map of rare earthquakes that rumble deep within Earth’s mantle rather than its crust. Long debated and notoriously difficult to confirm, these elusive quakes turn out to cluster in regions like the Himalayas and near the Bering Strait. By developing a breakthrough method that distinguishes mantle quakes using subtle differences in seismic waves, researchers identified hundreds of these hidden tremors worldwide.
Scientists at Stanford have unveiled the first-ever global map of rare earthquakes that rumble deep within Earth’s mantle rather than its crust. Long debated and notoriously difficult to confirm, these elusive quakes turn out to cluster in regions like the Himalayas and near the Bering Strait. By developing a breakthrough method that distinguishes mantle quakes using subtle differences in seismic waves, researchers identified hundreds of these hidden tremors worldwide.
Birdfeeding
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:49 pmysabetwordsmithToday is partly sunny and chilly.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/21/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I put out more birdseed in the hopper feeder.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/21/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I put out more birdseed in the hopper feeder.
I am done for the night.
Half-Price Sale in Not Quite Kansas
Feb. 21st, 2026 11:38 amysabetwordsmithTomorrow is the last day of the half-price sale in Not Quite Kansas. fuzzyred is running a pool that will close later today, so if you want in on the quarter-price sale, now's the time to make your selections. If you're still shopping solo, the sale as a whole will close Sunday night.
fuzzyred is running a pool that will close later today, so if you want in on the quarter-price sale, now's the time to make your selections. If you're still shopping solo, the sale as a whole will close Sunday night.