petrea_mitchell

this is the last day we are open for strawberry picking. the season is ending with a sputter, the rain has done the berries in. There is a few out there and will continue to be, but it isn't worth being open. It is currently 85F with 77% humidity, so the real feel is at 90 although there is a good breeze today. Tomorrow and tuesday will be worse. The air is so thick. Raspberries and blueberries are ripening early, the first blueberries have color already even though they weren't ripe, same with the raspberries, so we'll need to be ready to open for those.

I helped my dad lay plastic in the field this morning and it was still almost too wet to get the machine in the ground, it's wild how much rain we've had. We got extremely lucky, there was a storm that came through just east of us, traveling south east in a line that fully missed us. But it was likely to be a couple inches of rain if it had hit us.

I have a fan in my little building so I'm fine while I do computer work and wait for the stragglers to come and pick. Bonkers that people are coming to pick right now. Not many but still.

I'm planning to get up early the next two days, work for a while and take afternoons off to go sit in the creek.

Yesterday, we closed the strawberries since there wasn't a lot ripe and I went and did a fun thing. I drove up to The Shire of Sterlynge Vayle for the Spring AEthelmearc Academy and had a nice time. It was a very low key and chill event, with classes being decent and I chatted with a bunch of random people. Lunch was delayed for an hour and I'll admit, it was running low by the time I got to line, so it wasn't super filling. I got really tired around mid-day as well, so I spent some of the extra time dozing a little bit. I learned about how viking sails were made, silk spinning and accidentally learned fingerloop braiding. I also was the only person to stop in for the Sign Herald class, and learned a bunch and also that might be a thing I could commit to trying to do. Mistress Gytha taught me and I felt a bit bad for her since she said she was the only one doing sign herald work in the kingdom more or less. So there's a need and I have the basics down. So I might try and brush up on it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for court to see Mistress Gytha sign. With the lunch delay and how tired I was, I headed home after the fingerloop braiding class and got home around 5:30pm and was so tired. I met some nice people in the kingdom that I might see again at other events. I want to go to the A & S Faire but I suspect it's too soon to get another saturday off farm work unless it rains that day. Which it might given how the weather is going.

A mistake I made was wearing my binder the whole day. I usually wear it all day and it's fine and I felt fine when I put it on, but I forgot that something about my truck seat makes the binder uncomfortable. Regular seats are fine, standing is fine, just my truck seat. So lingering coughs from the illness were aggravated and my seat irritated my chest. Next time I'll bring something to change into for the drives out and back.

I'm hoping the Chatelaine for the local group gets back to me soon, but if they don't, I'll need to find some other way to contact them. I would really like to get involved with the local SCA group....

I think the illness I had might have been the new covid strain. My mom tested negative, but it's possible her tests were expired. But it sounds a lot like what I had and also it's lingering in a way that most stuff normally doesn't. The snot continues and the cough is still going although it might be aftereffects. I'm pretty tired still in a dozing off in the evenings before bed. But also there's a lot going on and the weather is hot, so it all might be contributing.

After we close at 5, I'm going to do some mowing with the little stinker (has a roof) and then go down to the creek to dunk myself. Lots of water and electrolytes. Napping.

prisca posting in

sweetandshort

It's bingo time again. Let's have some fun with the following table:

Crown	Artist
Favorite	Time

To complete the challenge, grab all the prompts and blackout the card. You can do single works or combine the four prompts in one work.
No one will blame you when you decide to do only one or two prompts, though.

Allowed are fics up to 500 words, small poems like haiku or similar, icons (100x100 px), and small graphics up to 500 px width x height. Please stay to the maximum, even if you decide to use all prompts in one work.

All fandoms, genres, and ratings are welcome, as are original work and real-person work.

Please tag your work with all relevant tags.

This challenge runs until June 30, at midnight in your time zone.

:::

Challenge Reminder:
10 out of 20
Picture Prompt Fun
Only Two

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and sweltering. It's 87°F and the heat index is 95°F. :P A beautiful day to stay indoors and write!

I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of sparrows and house finches, several mourning doves, and a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

.

Current Mood: busy

ranunculus

This is a synopsis I did, for my horse pasture tenants, of a magazine article. It might be of some interest to horse folks.

The most recent Horse Illustrated magazine has a wonderful article about Vitamin E. It was very clearly written and contained a ton of information I didn't really know.

Vitamin E is in green pasture grass. Vitamin E disappears from the hay until it is gone, a few months after the hay is cut.
Vitamin E helps protect horses from or prevent myopathy, VEM (equine neuroaxona distrophy); eNAD/EDM (equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy); and EMND (equine motor neuron disease). I have read elsewhere that it may also have a preventative role in Cushings.
Horses need: 500 - 1000 IU per day for maintenance; 800 - 1000 IU for performance horses; and 1,500 - 5,000 IU per day for horses with muscle disorders or neurological conditions.
Synthetic versions of Vitamin E are not well absorbed and should be avoided. Synthetic version are labeled: dl-alpha-tocopherol, all racemic or all-rac vitamin E. Naturally derived ingredients are desirable and should be labeled: RRR-alpha-tocopherol.
Vitamin E, along with Vitamins A, D & K are all fat-soluble and should NOT be over supplemented as they can build up in the horse's body and have negative health effects.
Horses should be supplemented with Vitamin E at any time they are not grazing for at least 1/2 day on green grass.
If you have any questions about your horse's Vitamin E levels there is a simple blood test that the vet can do to measure it.

If you would like to read the original article check out the July-August 2025 issue of Horse Illustrated.

oursin

This week's bread: a rather basic wheatgerm loaf, something like 70/30 wholemeal/strong white flour + wheatgerm, splosh of oil, turned out quite well considering it was the last scrapings of the recent batch of yeast.

Friday night supper: sorta-nasi-goreng with chorizo.

Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft rolls, approx 4:1 strong brown/Marriage's Golden Wholegrain Bread Flour (end of bag), maple syrup, dried cherries. Tasty but a bit stodgy.

Today's lunch: bozbash, with red bell pepper, baby orange and yellow peppers, aubergine, okra, and baby courgettes, dried cherries, 5-pepper blend, dried basil, fresh green coriander (cilantro), and to finish, raspberry vinegar, served with couscous with toasted (slightly burnt) pinenuts.

ceb posting in

qec

* checked Edinburgh plans & tickets
* booked the missing train ticket
* msged S & G re visit
* B birthday present
* emailed T
* emailed F
* planning for visiting H
* booked trains for visiting H
* downloaded bookbinding videos

veronyxk84 posting in

sweetandshort

Title: Caught Red-Pawed
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Author:

veronyxk84
Characters/Pairing: Spuffy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Some coarse language
Word count: 300 (Google Docs)
Summary: Set in S6, some time between eps. 6x05 “Life Serial” and 6x06 “All the Way.” | Buffy catches Spike in a compromising situation. Will he get away with it?
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.

Prompts [#7—#10]: behavior - exotic - hilarious - serious

Also on my journal

—
( READ: Caught Red-Pawed/Triple drabble )

brithistorian

It occurred to me that the main characters of Burn Notice can be mapped 1:1 to the main characters of Pokemon:

Michael = Ash
Fionna = Misty
Sam = Brock

And so I made this:

Watch on YouTube

nanila

If you were a fruit, which would you be and why?

I would like to be a guava. They are a tropical fruit that does not export well, and are almost as tetchy as avocados. Unripe, unripe, unripe, unripe, unripe, RIPE AND SUCCULENT, hahaha you missed the 10-minute window when I was perfect and now I shall rot secretly on the inside so you won't be able to anticipate your disappointment.

When you do manage to catch them at the right moment, they are sooooo delicious.
If you wake up and smell smoke, and you have to get everybody (pets included) out of the house safely, but you have time to grab one item, what would you grab?

My phone. No question. Once upon a time it would have been passport or driving licence or some such, but we do everything on our phones now, so I can think of nothing more essential than that. Yes, the documents are a faff to replace, but how are you going to get online to do it without your phone?
If you were stuck on an island, who would be the one person you would want with you and why?

I hate it in films (and in fact in real life) when people are ordered to choose between beloved family members. I would want my partner AND my children with me, or else I would refuse to choose.
If you could change one thing about your physical appearance, what would it be?

I'm not sure changing one thing would make much of a difference.
If you could spend the day with one famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose?

I'd quite like to have a chat with Jaron Lanier.

solarbird

December 7th, 1941: the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it “a day that will live in infamy” in his famous speech to Congress asking for a declaration of war against Japan.

That particular epithet – that’s a strong one. And unlike most such epithets, it’s held up. People know it, still.

I mean, sure, slogans like “Remember the Maine!” rallied people at the time, but it’s an historical footnote; “Remember the Alamo!” has more weight, but not because of the attack – it’s because of the hopeless and romanticised defence.

(That it was, push comes to shove, in defence of slavery is important but not relevant to my line of thought here.)

Why was the Pearl Harbour attack somehow that much worse?

It wasn’t that Japan attacked a purely military target in a United States territory. Nothing wrong with that by the rules of war. Certainly nothing infamous about it, either. Within the rules of war, it’s fair play.

It’s not that it was a surprise, even – though it was, and that tends to be what people think of when they hear the phrase. Most people at the time assumed a Japanese Imperial attack would come in the Philippines, not in Hawai’i. But surprise attacks are the meat and gravy of war, and simply good strategy – again, not a source of infamy.

It wasn’t even, really, that they started the war with the attack. That’s kind of how wars tend to go. As a rule, one doesn’t go declare war and then stand around a while giving your enemy a week or two to get their defences in place.

So why were people who were absolutely expecting war – absolutely getting ready for a war – with Japan still so very angry about the way it started? What made a crowd certain that war was inevitable – a crowd that was getting ready for it, whether they liked it or not – go, “oh, that is too goddamn far”?

It was that Japan was literally still negotiating as the bombs fell.

Roosevelt mentions this in his speech to Congress asking for a declaration of war. It’s shallow in the specifics, but it’s explicitly there, in the first minute. He didn’t have to get into the weeds of details; everybody in Congress knew.

The Japanese attack started at 12:48pm Eastern time. The military finally got word sometime after 1:30pm Eastern time. The Japanese ambassador had scheduled a meeting with Secretary of State Hull for 1:45pm, and didn’t show up until 2:05pm, by which time the bombs had been falling for over an hour – and even then, they delivered a statement responding to a previous US position paper delivered on November 26th.

It was harsh, but it was no declaration of war.

The Japanese delegation were literally negotiating as their air force’s bombs fell.

That betrayal – that subterfuge, that backstab – coloured the entire rest of the war in the Pacific, up to and including the decision to use those atomic bombs.

Does that still-negotiating-as-the-bombers-let-fly trick sound like something that just happened this afternoon?

Maybe it should.

Japan’s plan was a quick but heavy knockout blow on a military target, to weaken American forces in the Pacific and force the Americans to accede to their demands in China.

Trump’s plan was apparently also a quick but heavy knockout blow on military targets, to force the Iranians to accede to Trump’s – and Netanyahu’s – demands in the Middle East.

Iran is in no way the 1940s US; Trump’s clown car criminal crowd is in no way the leadership of Imperial Japan. This is not World War II, and since Trump didn’t go nuclear, I don’t think it’s World War III; this is not that kind of projection, so don’t make it into one.

I’m just talking infamy. As far as infamy goes?

Yeah.

I could really see saying this is an act of infamy.

Obviously, that’s the kind of thing Iran would say, no matter what. Aside from that, times have changed. Asymmetrical war, disinformation, irregular warfare as a primary strategy – all those old ideas about war have rather gone by the way side. It’s hard to talk about something as infamous in war these days.

But still. I could see it.

And more importantly… I could see people believing it.

Couldn’t you?

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

james

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tcpip

I must prefix this entry with a note of appreciation to Kate R., for looking after "mes animaux de compagnie", Mayhem and Mayday, during my first recent trip to China and Rafe EC for the second. It's good to have such excellent neighbours in my life. My companion ratties are now approaching an entire year of age, which, by a rule-of-thumb, is about 30 years on a human scale. As always, I prefer to let my rodent friends a friend range lifestyle and in this case the study is their home. Poor Mayday, however, is currently in protective custody as his larger brother has power-groomed him a little too much, and his back has too many bite marks. Whilst he disagrees, I assure him it's for his own good, and he seems to be recovering in his relative solitude, spending most evenings snuggled up on my shoulder; it's good to be a rat in my home.

This week, after returning from China, I have, as can be expected, caught up with a lot of work-related business. But I have not neglected my social life either. Kate took me out to the "Ballet of Lights: Sleeping Beauty". It was a very family-friendly affair and, as Kate described it, "P-plates for experiencing ballet". But it was at the Capitol Theatre, a venue I adore, and the costumes with embedded lights were attractive and effective. The following day I caught up with Mel during the day, whom I haven't seen for too long, and then Liza D. for dinner and discussion about her forthcoming performance. The following evening I found myself at Carla BL's Winter Soltice gathering where conversation was vibrant and diverse, but spent most time with Julie A., who joined me today at the Australia-China Friendship Society meeting which was addressed by Dr Fiona Swee-Lin Price on bi-cultural experiences, history, and understanding. Frankly, the presentation was nothing less than glorious, and all attendees thought very highly of the presentation and insights.

It has not been all smooth sailing on this return week, however. I have, unfortunately, experienced a couple of disappointments, one in the form of an otherwise knowledgeable person who stubbornly refused to accept a descriptive error on their own part that was objectively wrong. This occurs more often from political partisanship and typically results in increasingly aggressive responses as the cognitive dissonance kicks in. The other, which I look upon from the benefit of extensive lived experience, is a somewhat sub-optimal life-choice for the person, assuming they care about their future success, but normatively it's their prerogative. In situations like this, one can only offer future support, and then we will remember ("memories in future tense", as "The Church" described it decades ago).

Current Mood: disappointed
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Arcangelo Corelli, Dodici concerti grossi Op.6

andrewducker

First climbing experience, and after an hour of trying different walls Sophia made it to the top!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

rolanni

What went before: Taking a small break.

Rook and Tali assisted me in a nap; I take them so seldom that it was felt I needed spotters. I believe I acquitted myself well, though I declined an immediate review.

I'm still working and will be working a while longer. I want to hit a Certain Point this evening, so that I can hit another Certain Point tomorrow.

Tomorrow is, by the way, predicted to be warmer than today, and Monday warmer than that, peaking with really dangerous (for Maine values of dangerous) heat on Tuesday, then easing back to something approaching normal on Thursday.

Coon cat happy hour in about an hour. In the meantime, as I said, still working here -- oh. And I need to water the roses.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Sunday. Glowering and damp. Heading for warm and damp.

Breakfast was hummus, naan, cherries. I'll think of something for lunch.

BEGIN FB-specific Well. I seem to have created a stampede yesterday. You all do realize that if we already share FB friendship that you have already passed through my vetting process, yes? And that the people I was talking to specifically are those who send me a new request for friendship, but have their page locked down so tight, I have nothing to vet.

Which in one way, makes my job very easy, but apparently makes me look churlish and aloof to those I reject.

Yes, yes. First world problems.

END FB-specific

Speaking of which, I see we're at war. I suppose that makes sense: war's good for the economy, after all; and it's a convenient way to get rid of all those excess and annoying non-millionaires -- draft 'em and let 'em get blown up. And there's also that pesky question of elections and the wartime powers of presidents.

Man, I hate this timeline.

deep breath

I'm getting ready to go bury my head in a manuscript.

What's everybody else doing?

Today's blog post brought to you by Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime"

Tali and Rook working on their technique:

mific posting in

drawesome

Title: Joan and Meredith on AO3
Artist:

mific
Rating: Mature (NSFW)
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Content Notes: Watercolors (flag background done with acrylic inks), finished digitally.
Summary: They're lesbians, Harold.

oursin

Happy birthday,

woldy!

fred_mouse

Between one thing and another, I haven't been keeping up on dreamwidth. I'm spending the next hour or so attempting to clear out - there were 317 tabs open in the dreamwidth window when I started; it will be interesting to see where I get to. So many posts from mid-May I was going to reply to; giving myself permission to abandon. And then I'm going to do the same thing with the backlog of my inbox.

And how do I get to 317 tabs? By every day or two scanning my reading list, and opening everything longer than a paragraph that I expect to want to read. This means I can get 'caught up' over breakfast, even if not everything gets read!