Atheist Forum

Well, even if we survive all of that then there is the drought and famine and shit. I'm turning full 50 this year and that is old too I guess. At least, I had good years when young...

Our beloved star finally said hi, it's UV hell outside over here. I'm going to the summer house today. I'm hoping the sea is still cold. What a weird year, climate wise. It was surprisingly cool and wet and then I heard 6 people died in Paris from the heat. Nature's gonna spank us so bad...

Hydra009 wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 7:01 pm I've never seen or heard a grackle, but they're permanent residents all over NC, so either I'm not fortunate enough to stumble upon one or I misidentified it. I'll be on the lookout now.

We have lots of crows all over the place. Also, cardinals and robins and the tufted titmouse (no jokes). I have an app on my phone that lets me know what birds are nearby by analyzing the birdcalls. I mostly just get the very common species.

Great Tailed Grackles are super common here. Annoyingly common. Where they show up, you don't see many other birds. The grackles just take over. Go to an HEB in the Winter, and they'll be sitting on every car, blacking out the sky when they take flight. The males are pretty, though. They're black, with a blue sheen. The females look like a different species.

Blackleaf wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 10:52 pm Great Tailed Grackles are super common here. Annoyingly common. Where they show up, you don't see many other birds. The grackles just take over. Go to an HEB in the Winter, and they'll sitting on every car, blacking out the sky when they take flight. The males are pretty, though. They're black, with a blue sheen. The females look like a different species.

There is considerable variation from male bird to bird as well. They know me and always fly over to this one oak tree and chit-chat while waiting for me to fill the feeder. Since I retired and have time, I see all sorts of things including some bluejays feeding a baby catbird, whom they must have adopted.

We have a row of Everglades tomatoes. I neglected pruning them and they were like "no problem, here is 100 tomatoes for Ya'll". I failed to fertilize them, so they were like "no big deal here, comes 200 more little red delights." I didn't get around to regular watering much and they are like "here, take these 300 sweet ones." I didn't fix the guide strings correctly, so half of their branches lay on the ground and they are like, "feels good to lay down, here, take 300 more fruits." From a distance they look like a French impressionist painting of a bundle of wilted sticks covered in red blotches. I even made delicious spaghetti sauce using one of those hand-cranking food mills.

I went to the local park today. Must've walked at least 7 miles. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.





I should've brought a banana for scale, but the tree stump is about 6 feet tall and the fallen part is super long, so it was a pretty tall tree.



None of the photos are edited, it was just really bright today and the interplay of bright light and shadow makes the greens really pop.



This white oak is older than the USA (estimated 270 to 300 years old). And absolutely stunning in the fall.



Great Blue Heron

It was just chilling out alone on the lake fishing pier, standing motionless for at least 30 minutes with its mouth open slightly.

And just fyi, there are lots of trees in North Carolina that are older than the US. The oldest are the Bald Cyprus trees, with one specimen dating back to 605 BC. So, when Nebuchadnezzar II was crowned, this tree was sprouting. And it's still around today.

Beautiful and man, that is OLD even for a tree! For vertebrates the age champ is the Greenland Shark estimated at 250 to over 400 years however there is the so-called Immortal Jellyfish for invertebrates. Never dies, just reverts to its juvenile stage.

What do you do with 6 lbs. of cherry tomatoes?

Sorry, had to do it. Pizza, lots of chicken pasta dishes, make your own tomato sauce, salmorejo.

Yes, I distinctly remember the uncomfortableness of that scene. I know a few who will not eat a cherry tomato because of the squishy texture, even though they like the sauce.

First good-sized Spring Pumpkin. I think there will be about a dozen more out there.