Very happy to have foraged for mushrooms yesterday. Now, there is steady beautiful rain making sure there will be mushrooms next time.

RE: https://helmholtz.social/@geomar_de/117446081273617450

Ich habe die Ausstellung letztes Jahr in Hamburg sehen können. Wirkliche empfehlenswert!
#Meeresforschung #womenInScience

I find it so curious that the chickens all knew to vacate the laying boxes a few days before the first eggs. They stopped sleeping in there, moved to the perches, built nests, and started laying. Why the heck do they know this?

#KatesChickens

I ordered onion starts because I'd accidentally bought seeds the first time. I could choose between Mr./Ms./Hello for the salutation. Then, an opt-in for a catalogue. And then a checkbox to have out-of-stock items replaced with a similar item if possible. It felt like they tried to make it both flexible and simple to choose. I don't even care their icons were such low resolution that they were barely recognizable. It was just a nice checkout experience.

If you don't schedule time to maintain your equipment, the equipment will schedule the time for you.

The first chicken has been slaughtered. Unexpectedly, it was Robin who first left the flock. She could no longer bear her own weight and was suffering. Today, she didn't even eat from my hand. She would have died over the next days. We ended the suffering early. We won't even get meat because she was too thin and starving herself. I hope she wanted the chance to live. I am sad it did not work.

#KatesChickens

You might remember the sunflower turned habitat in the yard. The aphids took over yellowing areas, and ants farmed them. Well, the seeds grew to maturity, so the plant got it all done. And after the plants end, it fed many more animals. Nature as it should work.

#KatesChickens #gardening

Next to me, loud smelly ancient tractor are moving the endless heaps of turnips. Above me, military planes fly in loops. And I set here burning a bit of wood and feel bad about it.

And no, I'm not looking for pity. It's okay.

I'll be burning stuff today. It feels wrong. Well, it is. In my state, it's still legal this and next year and considering the about hundred twenty-meter spruce trees with multiple stems each that used to be a hedge, I am glad I am allowed to. But burning wood without even using the heat feels wrong. Because it is. We have heaps of dead branches in many places. We use the stems and as much of the branch stuff as possible for a Bentjes hedge but I can't use it all. Still feels wrong.

I asked a trusted colleague for comments on a written document and they fed it in to chatGPT and sent me back that output and I just want to cry.

Guess I won't be asking that person for help or advice on anything anymore. Enshittification happens in people's writing skills too, I guess.

I also have absolutely no idea how to respond to them. If you're that far down the genAI black hole I don't think pointing out the ethical/environmental/cognitive issues will help. Fuck.

I would so like to return to setting an appointment time, and then that axtually happens at the agreed upon time. Sure, 43 minutes (and counting...) are nothing for a doctor's appointment but that just makes it worse.

I finished spinning the first fleece I washed an processed myself. It has been quite the journey. It took quite some time but now I am done with it. I got it from a local shepherd in spring, and I spun the last 2 bats Saturday and plyed them yesterday. Also, I won bobbin chicken!

Things I learned:
Everything that is picked out before washing, will not bother later
Earthy dirt is easier to get out than strawy dirt
Keeping the lock structure kind of in tact helps
This fleece wants a lot of twist

Today will be long, too long. Drive an hour to the GP, wait, convince GP of things, pick up a friend, hopefully have time for coffee, drive to next doctor (yay, OBGyn, my favorite...), wait, convince Gyn of things, drop friend off, drive an hour home.

I don't want to...

A younger player is explaining a new encounter to my raid group. I understand about every second word, and it's not the 50/50 split between English and German.

I've got so many story ideas, so many partially planned novels. But I don't get around to writing because there are metaphorical little fires everywhere. I want to write. I want to read. I want to get lost in the garden. I want to be bored.

And because my parents made me read the Hitchhiker's Guide, I get the 42 references from the generation before. These have always existed.

You don't get why the kids chuckle at 6-7? Well me neither but my phone is at 69% battery, and my first thought is „Nice!“ like a well socialized kid of my generation.

I am making progress on the shawl and started with chart 2. And I am getting the hang of the pattern. I don’t need to look up what to do on the cart all the time and that means, progress is faster than in the beginning
#handspun #knitting

And that's why you all now get a video description without a linked video:

A jar with a citrus fruit (tangerine?) is filled with water to the rim. One after the other, kids stick their hands in and try to reach the fruit. The water spills over onto a plate underneath. They try everything from super careful to fast. No joy. In the end, a hand stirs the water until the fruit floats up to be gripped. In the background, the kids go absolutely nuts with joy.

There I was, wanting to boost a happy little video about teaching kids in a way that makes them excited to learn. It even has an alt text. Great. Okay, boost. And then the alt text turns out to be a link which I can't even check because you can't copy from alt texts in my app. Damn it. Okay. Unboost it is... Sad.