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  A puzzle walked into a bar. The bartender said, “You look like you’ve got a lot going on.” The puzzle replied, “I’m just trying to fit in.” #joke

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  Today's A.Word.A.Day is ideocracy. "The line between rule by ideas and rule by idiots really can be one letter wide." https://wordsmith.org/words/ideocracy.html #dictionary #words #AWordADay

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  Getting quotes for removing our last Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana) has been a learning experience. One local company told me Bradfords have allelopathic properties, meaning they can impact growth of nearby plants. Similar to black walnut (Juglans nigra) trees. I searched, but couldn't find any info for Bradford pears allelopathic effects. Anyone have experience/knowledge of Bradford pear allelopathic effects? I'm hoping to plant another tree near where the pear is now #ga...

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  Whee! Just saw a Ruby-throated hummingbird feeding on salvia blooms. Most hummingbirds have left our southeast Michigan area as they migrate south. I haven't seen a hummingbird for the past four days. #birding

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  "Bats, butterflies and birds skim the air; foxes rustle in bluestem and Indian grass. This is Sibley Prairie, Michigan’s largest remaining lakeplain prairie—a landscape that exists almost nowhere else on Earth." https://www.detroitbirdalliance.org/news-stories/just-outside-of-detroit-time-is-running-out-to-save-a-globally-rare-prairie #Michigan #SibleyPrairie #LakeplainPrairie

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  Whoa. The silk dress took 14+ years to complete. Worked on by 380 embroiderers from 51 countries who contributed an estimated billion and a half stitches. "They included female refugees from Palestine, Syria and Ukraine, women seeking asylum in the UK from Iran, Iraq, China, Nigeria and Namibia, survivors of war in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda and impoverished and disadvantaged women in South Africa, Mexico and Egypt." https://www.positive.news/society/the-world-in-a-d...

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  @mcnado@mstdn.social Found this news story: https://www.wfsb.com/2026/09/17/woman-sues-city-detective-10-million-over-wrongful-arrest-tied-facial-recognition-error/ "Lipps said she was released from custody with just four cents on her and no winter coat, in temperatures near 10 degrees while relying on an area nonprofit and a neighbor to get home to Tennessee."

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  Whoa. A commercial gas-powered leaf blower running for one hour can produce as much smog-forming pollution as a Toyota Camry driven 1,100 miles — roughly the distance from Los Angeles to Denver. https://scienceblog.com/d-a-commercial-gas-powered-leaf-blower-running-for-one-hour-can-produce-as-much-smog-forming-pollution-as-a-toyota-camry-driven-1100-miles-roughly-the-distance-from-los-angeles-to-denver/ #AirPollution #GasPoweredGardenTools

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  Enjoyed our first ever Kellogg's Breakfast tomato from our garden with dinner tonight. What a treat! It was much sweeter and less acidic than we expected. #gardening #Zone6b

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  Whee! BirdCast is active with fall migration data in the US with dashboard, maps, and real-time nighttime migration radar. Runs from August through November. https://www.birdcast.org/ #birds #BirdMigration #BirdCast

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  How do owls say goodbye? “Owl be seeing you.” #joke

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  @Tutanota@mastodon.social When is Tuta Drive planned to launch publicly? Your website says "in a few months," but provides no details on the expected date. Does that mean Tuta Drive will launch before the end of 2026? Or the end of 2027?

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  Replacing gas stoves with electric stoves greatly reduces asthma symptoms. "On average, participants went from having moderate asthma symptoms to having mild symptoms. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations for asthma fell by 70%. Missed days of work or school because of asthma dropped by about 80%. At the same time, indoor levels of nitrogen dioxide decreased by 70%." https://theconversation.com/replacing-gas-stoves-with-electric-stoves-greatly-reduces-asthma-symptoms-2877...

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  Since, June 22nd, more than 1,500 people in Michigan have been infected with cyclosporiasis. Not good news: the number of cases in Michigan is growing at a pace of 20-30% per day. https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2026/07/10/michigan-cyclosporiasis-outbreak-symptoms-cases/90863345007/ #Michigan #cyclosporiasis

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  For gardeners who grow garlic, what vegetables have you successfully grown in the space after you pulled the garlic? #gardening #Zone6b

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  In my unscientific experiment this year on barriers for my no-dig beds, I found newsprint (4-5 sheets) worked better than brown paper leaf bags. I mowed the lawn as close as I could, laid the barrier layer, and than laid 4-5 inches of compost on top of the barrier layer before planting native plants. For the three no-dig beds I added this spring, the only bed that is full of bindweed (my garden nemesis) is the bed where I used brown paper leaf bags. #gardening #Zone6b

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  Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. #joke

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  Good! Solar generates more energy in US than coal for the first time. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/11/solar-energy-us-coal #SolarEnergy

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  Helpful soil temperature guide for planting veggies. https://www.almanac.com/soil-temperature-chart #gardening

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  Saw my first-of-year wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) flower bud in my garden today. #NativePlants #gardening #Zone6b

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  For broccoli and cabbage companion planting (to keep white cabbage butterflies away), do you use mint, oregano, dill, or thyme? Or something else? https://www.housedigest.com/2160172/mint-herb-keep-cabbage-flies-away/ #gardening

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  Why was music coming from the printer? The paper was jamming. #joke

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  "At 440 acres, Sibley Prairie in Brownstown Township is conserving some of the last acreage of lakeplain prairie in the world. Lakeplain prairie, or a Lakeplain Wet Prairie, is a seasonally wet biodiverse landscape in the lakeplains of the southern Great Lakes. Less than 0.5% of Michigan’s original 160,000 acres of lakeplain prairie remain, according to the Michigan Natural Features Inventory." https://planetdetroit.org/2026/04/sibley-prairie-conservation-detroit/ #SibleyP...

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  My Michigan lily (Lilium michiganense,) has sprouted for the second year. The first year I planted it, our neighbor threw their dog's basketball-sized ball over our fence and it smashed the plant. Had a hard time recovering. Last year, it sprouted but didn't do much in terms of growth. I'm hoping this year we may finally see it bloom. #NativePlants #Michigan #gardening #Zone6b

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  My spouse asked how my latest craft project was going. I replied, "Sew sew." #joke

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  The last three nights we've had freeze warnings. Moved my potted plants into the garage and covered others that were too big to move easily. No frost to be seen the last two mornings. This morning, there's frost on the rooftops.

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  Not good. Lyme disease cases skyrocket in Washtenaw County in Michigan. https://www.wemu.org/wemu-news/2026-04-27/lyme-disease-cases-skyrocket-in-washtenaw-county #Washtenaw #Michigan #LymeDisease

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  One of my birding goals for the past few years has been birding in areas closer to my home. Rather than traveling 15-45 miles for birding. It's been lovely to discover my neighborhood park is home to over 111 species! A park you can walk through in 8 minutes if you don't stop. A nearby library sits among large stands of maples & pines, which I've been exploring for the past 2 years. I still do some long distance birding, but it's been delightful...

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  Early afternoon (Eastern Daylight Time) update on the Cheboygan Dam in northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan: "In addition to Cheboygan Dam – which was 6 about inches away from spilling over on Wednesday, April 15, – state officials identified six other northern Michigan dams as critical infrastructure under threat from the rising water." https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/04/15/cheboygan-lock-dam-flooding-michigan-update-water-level/89614817007/ #Michigan #...

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  Good news to read about lapwings along the Humber estuary in northern England. "So you might be talking in anything of excess of 10,000 birds, if not more, maybe 12, 13,000" using the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds sites. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge338vxdno #birds #lapwing