flock of birbs @dthompson@toot.cat

love to be awake from 1am to 4am and then dismiss my alarm at 7am and fall back asleep and then wake up in a panic 10 minutes later and rush out the door. definitely going to be operating at 100% at work today.

these birds are flappy

one of my eggplants was born with 3 cotyledons. I wonder how common this is? haven't looked into it.

once I start watching Nyango Star videos it is hard to stop.

I hate dealing with contractors. I got 3 wildly different quotes for fixing my gravel driveway. the guy I liked talking to best gave me a quote that was by far the most expensive. another one gave me a price so far below the other 2 that I am skeptical of the quality of work. I guess I can just go with that old "pick the middle price" advice...

the riff at the end of Rosemary by Deftones always gets me. it just comes out of nowhere. the whole song is great, but skip to 5:00 for a very heavy riff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcAQ0kuw1s

one significant downside to having baby chicks in the house: I can't play my dang drums!

I began drawing up a to-scale plan for a chicken coop last night. I'm not yet sure exactly where to put it, though I have narrowed the possibilities down a lot. following permaculture principles I'm hoping to "stack functions" by planting a pear tree to shade the coop and provide tasty fruit, and comfrey for nutrient accumulation that can be cut periodically to feed to the chickens or mulch the tree. need to think this through more and take some real site measurements.

I will not be at LibrePlanet this year. I'll try to go next year.

every time someone refers to their "DH" (dear husband) online I curl up and die.

my commuter rail train was broken down so long that I nearly completed a run of Frozen Bubble puzzle mode before we were moving again.

good morning chickies!

today I discovered the first of the non-bulb plants sending up new growth and I am very excited. this is the bud of a fuki plant. the bud is edible, as is the stalk, and they are used in some japanese dishes. it is perennial and grows massive (2-3 ft) leaves and loves wet, shady sites. I planted this as a bare root crown in the fall next to a downspout on the shady east side of my house where not many other plants will thrive. I think nature is telling me I chose a good location.

I don't know why but I'm having a hell of a time finding cheap windows for use in a shed/barn/coop. neither Lowes nor Home Depot have anything. Tractor Supply doesn't sell windows of any kind that I can tell. Menard's, a mid-west Home Depot-like store, has super cheap windows that are perfect but they aren't available to buy online so if I want them I need to drive to Ohio. I'm thiiiiis close to going down the rabbit hole of making my own.

got asked by a news crew on the street in Boston if I would be in favor of a 3 cent increase on gas tax to pay for infrastructure. I said "yes" but didn't have my thoughts gathered enough to say "but it's only a piece of the puzzle, fair share amendment needed, etc." welp, maybe I'll be on the news for a second later.

look at these cuties!

Andrea and I spent the morning building baby chicken house 2.0. Version 1.0 was a sterilite bin that they quickly grew out of. this should hopefully last until they are ready to go into the coop!