K and I took the dog for a hike this morning and now I have a Birding Conundrum. We heard, distinctly and repeatedly, a Great Horned Owl calling, accompanied by the sound of baby owls doing that shrieking begging call, and were of course trying to spot the nest, but instead of a Great Horned, a Barred Owl flew past from the direction the calls had come from.

It was close enough to be 100% sure on the ID, and in fact had a dead something in its talons that it paused on a tree limb to eat right in front of us, so I have no doubt we saw a Barred Owl. But Barred Owls have a distinctive call that is quite different from what we heard, and, although it seems unbelievable, my only explanation for this is that we stumbled across a Barred Owl in the act of disturbing the nest of a Great Horned Owl (or possibly vice versa? the chicks’ calls are very similar).

question for folks with long hair, for no other reason than idle curiosity: do you braid your hair before bed (or otherwise contain it), or sleep with it loose?

(if loose, HOW do you STAND it touching your skin???? how)

downthepub:

goddamnshinyrock:

@irrepressiblenaiad replied to your post:
just mowed the lawn using a grass whip (a sort of……

I know you say this a lot but you are a parody of yourself ❤

I KNOW. I KNOW. 

@hennahead replied to your post: just mowed the lawn using a grass whip (a sort of……

Scythes and sickles are great! Make sure it’s sized to you, is all, but they’re versatile and green and wonderful!

yeah!! there’s this company in Maine that will do a custom handle to your measurements, I’m very tempted.

@pipcomix replied to your post: just mowed the lawn using a grass whip (a sort of……

I Love My Sickle but I do want something with a longer handle…. .… . Fer’s dad got her a machete when he visited and i’m jealous

GET A SCYTHE. Pip. pip a scythe would be the MOST on-brand farm implement you could possibly acquire. 

i was looking into this just the other day!  i found this video really interesting (although i don’t think the kid should be in the background playing with one tbh): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD8xZvFRWgk

i ended up ordering one of these for trimming weeds (haven’t gotten it yet).  then i saw it demonstrated in this video: https://youtu.be/nvlp0lRO09I?t=2m20s  

in the end i’m not sure how much manual weeding is going to be a “thing” since I’ve found a manual push reel mower more challenging than i expected.  but yeah.  lawn care is an interest right now (if only because i have so much catching up to do!)

cutting weeds/grass with a blade is way easier than a push mower imo! those things are a pain. If you want something longer-handled that requires less leaning over, you might try a grass whip, which is what I used today to cut our lawn! they’re really fun and made me want to get a real scythe