My elderly neighbor had amazing mandarin and grapefruit trees in her yard when I was young. I have a distinct memory of being up on her roof on a particularly cold and windy day, harvesting the mandarins, trying not to get poked by the massive 6-8cm spikes along the branches while we combed through each part of the tree. She was grateful to have our help and I really enjoyed time spent around her. Great memory that I didn’t think about until your post, so thank you!

Oh, thank you for this! Any excuse to enjoy one more weekend preparing/resting rather than doing the hard labor. Especially if it means I’m helping out our friends!

I’m still trying to determine what kind of fruit trees are growing in the yard. Getting closer to identifying them as the days pass! Getting more confident about the plum and apple guesses.

It’s been fun to see the grapevines waking up; I made a few wreaths with the trimmed vines last week. I’ll keep picking at the mint that I found lounging around the stairs so it doesn’t get too out of hand.

Cut down some invasives and trimmed up the trees a few weeks ago and everything is filling out nicely. Once the leaves and branches are fully raked and removed, I’ll be able to see what’s up for the rest. It looks like most of the pollinators are awake and about now that it’s warm enough so I feel better about tidying up the leaves to send to the city compost.

I pressed some of the freshly fallen PJM rhododendron flowers between parchment paper and set them under some weight. Looking forward to seeing what they look like in a few weeks.

No Mow May is in full swing - dandelions abound!

Hear hear. They’re fallible, make trash decisions, and bleed like the rest of us. It’s time we recognize them only as the scourge they are.

I’m discovering hyacinth (and gardening for that matter) for the first time this year! Yours has an incredible color! I’m on mobile using the Jerboa app so I’m not sure if the pic i added uploaded. We’ll see! Also our PJM Rhodie is in bloom.

We’re still trying to figure out what kind of fruit trees we have in the backyard but I’m assuming plum, and maybe apple or pear.

I’m very meh on the AWD as someone in the north. Not needed, but a/c is definitely helpful!

This is the way.

Smart approach to go to the union, didn’t think to do that. Thanks!

You’re at least making up for my inability to step away from it atm. I wouldn’t have bought into the environment had it not been for my partner, and work of course. I grew up on PS and PC gaming, just recently started using Xbox. Damn it.

I’d like to think I’m pretty decent at sticking to boycotts, but holy hell, my work platform is Microsoft and their products, and I run gaming servers for my friends online and play through game pass. This is going to be so hard for people to step back and not use their platforms and software if they’re in it like me. Not sure how to proceed.

We might not have them as you see them today, but there is building science that is centuries old that works with the environment to have architectural solutions that don’t even rely on electricity to retain heat or cool a space. There’s also the more modern passive house design. As someone born and raised in a hot climate like you mentioned, had we created a built environment like this instead of crippling ourselves to use fossil fuels and refrigerants with high global warming potential, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I agree that a/c changed the world. That change could have been a much more positive one had we taken a more practical approach!

Same. I stopped using non-Beehaw social media at the end of last year and haven’t looked back. I barely respond to texts as well. My social battery is pretty weak these days and I can only take so much irl interaction.

Neat! Sounds promising. Funny, I was just telling one of my friends about G4 (the channel) today. I miss that 2000s/early 2010s vibe. Everything just went to major commercialization too fast and it took so much fun out of the hobby. I think gamers are recognizing this nowadays and trying to claw their way out of it and this feels like a step in that direction.

It’s all so confusing when you put what you interpret to be “good” out into the world, only to be shit on, chastised, or ignored after the fact. Reading what Kwakigra responded to you with, and remembering the examples of Pals coming together and celebrating community despite the horrors they face, I’m reminded of a cliché - those who mind don’t matter, and those that matter don’t mind. In your struggles, despite them or because of them, you can still find community. I count myself as grateful to see your continued contributions here, and it sounds like others feel similarly. You’ve probably opened my eyes to a number of things that enrich my life in these two short years here. I just hope that this random Internet person (me) can somehow show thanks for your existence. Does this count for much? Maybe not, but maybe. All I know is that you seem to be a positive influence here, and I appreciate you.

I’m not going to try and find the “right” thing to say because I’ll surely fail. What I can say is that I’ve lost two people to suic*de, one a family member that I was just getting to know in my adult years and we were getting along so well, discovering we had lots in common. My heart hurts to see you in this position, and it hurts to be reminded that I didn’t pay attention to the signs that my family member would be taking their life upon reflecting on events that led to that day. What I hope to convey in this is that I see you, and I recognize that you’re reaching out. I don’t know if any of us have the answer, but I’ll be damned if I make the mistake of not recognizing when I could bring even a modicum of grace and kindness to my fellow human. I’m sorry this shit show of a timeline is so damn shitty. You surely deserve better.

Also only really lurk around beehaw, and maybe(e) it really is nicer here. Haven’t had any complaints.

It really irks me when there’s a good spot at the grocery or hardware store and someone leaves a cart halfway on a curb in the spot. They take the time to put two wheels up but can’t wheel it 10 feet to the corral? It’s been snowing a lot here lately and sometimes they freeze in place too, so they’re harder to get out. I get heated because it really is so inconsiderate.

What an incredible comment! Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom! I’m looking to start my first backyard garden journey this year and this is so helpful.

Sorry to hear about her grandmother. It’s typically not fun going to funerals, and it sucks to feel bad when feeling good or even just level is hard to do these days. This isn’t an answer to your question, but rather a “I think I understand how you feel, sorta” thing. This empathy you speak of is why I couldn’t end up going to one of my best friend’s funeral today (…aside from the fact that it’s a very expensive plane ride away). I would likely fall apart if I was around his family, and that feels weird for me because I never met them. His dad reached out to me to tell me the sad news, and while I’m still devastated and processing it all, I don’t know exactly why I feel uncomfortable with going. Maybe it would hurt more, dunno. Sorry, friend.

Ooh this is really insightful for someone who knows little about the details of tracking and browsing on the Internet. Thanks!