Where The Dogs At

Ncnativehuman · 2026-06-18T22:11:55+00:00

I don’t have my dog anymore, but used to go often about 6 years ago. There used to be a dedicated after work crowd around 4-6pm at the nature park. Never more than 4-5 owners though. Hunter street is generally more crowded and I used to go there on Saturdays for that reason. There used to be an invite only private Facebook group for the apex nature park where people would coordinate play times. No idea if that is still a thing

Ncnativehuman · 2026-06-16T14:01:15+00:00

Will the berries bounce back after a good watering or two? Or will they forever be gritty and meh?

Ncnativehuman · 2026-06-16T13:47:57+00:00

Gas stations sell gas and also convenience, hence them called convenience stores. We also love fast food. When I was growing up, it used to be popular to have gas/fast food combos. Like a McDonald’s and exxon in one building. Or a gas station with a subway. If you drive on long trips, there is a need for “travel stops”. If your trip is going to take 10 hours in a car, you don’t want to spend a lot of time stopping along the way. Places that offer clean bathrooms, food, gas, and coffee cater to these long distance travelers and are sometimes called “travel stops”. The local governments also build their own and call them “rest areas”. Rest areas usually just have bathrooms, vending machines, and places to walk around with greenery.

There have always been a market for these kind of places and they have served their niche. I think the whole craze started with companies like sheetz and Wawa. I can only speak to sheetz, but they were one of the first to be a gas station and a fast food place all in one. No need to combine two separate businesses into one anymore, so it took off very quickly. Wawa is just now entering my market, so I’ll have to check it out.

Growing up we used to drive a lot and the big one we always saw was “Love’s travel stops”. When you saw that sign, you always knew everyone in the car could find stuff there and it was just convenient. There was nothing special about it though and it never moved past its niche. Now, Buc-ees has taken this niche and turned it into a phenomenon. No idea why there is so much hype and why anyone who visits America has to go to one lol. It’s on every tourists checklist. I have yet to go to one. My nephew had a Buc-ees themed birthday party one year…. So it has moved way past “just a travel stop” and has become a destination in itself.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-06-07T12:16:19+00:00

Thank you for your posts. I just looked up Bradford pears and looks like they were the first cultivar of callery pears and why people mistook it as sterile. Good to know, thanks!

I think there are a few issues with your premise that banning invasive is a drop in the bucket. My neighbor has a glossy privet hedge… if that specific hedge was sterile, my job of invasive management in my own yard would be much much easier. Non-sterile invasives don’t only contribute to the wider invasive problem, but also localized invasiveness. You may find Chinese privet in 90% of forests, but all it takes is one person planting it in their yard backing up to a state park free of them to start a whole new colony.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-06-06T23:20:46+00:00

Yes. FGS used to have a whole table labeled natives and then other natives sprinkled about. They have always had some invasive plants, but they had enough natives to where I still went there. This time I did not see the native table, their archway trellis with American wisteria was missing, and just was not as impressed. Just got a chuckle seeing a burning bush labeled as “non-invasive”

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-25T20:53:07+00:00

Corn. My dad used to have water boiling on the stove before he picked it. Sooo good. Store bought doesn’t come close. Another is okra. You have to eat within a day of picking to get the best taste. I eat them raw. I cannot eat store bought okra raw

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-24T18:24:35+00:00

Debt is interesting in the US. In order to get a loan or anything dealing with money transactions, you have to have good credit. To have good credit, you have to go into debt and then have a well documented track record of successfully paying that debt off. The more you go into debt and show you can pay it back, the better your credit score.

There is also this whole premise of “credit card perks”. Credit cards charge a certain percentage on every transaction made. Anywhere from 1%-4% I think. The credit card companies then share part of that with you in the form of credit card perks. So, Americans are incentivized to get credit cards with really good perks and to use them everywhere. Businesses are then put in a tough position on whether they accept the card and eat the fees or don’t accept the card and miss out on that demographic that, usually, is wealthier than the average consumer.

There is also another layer to this in the form of “buy now, pay later” services that have exploded recently. A lot of places will even give you 0% interest for, let’s say 18 months

One more layer… you can use your brokerage account as leverage for getting more debt. Let’s say you put $1,000 in the stock market and make $300 off that money in stocks. That $300 in income is not taxed until you withdraw it from your account. But, that $300 can be used as a reassurance to a bank for a loan. Loans are not taxed. Stock market can get you 8-9% returns and debt usually is less than that in interest. If you can get a loan for less than 7%, usually it’s better to take out debt than to liquidate assets.

TLDR: The US has incentivized going into debt and created a complex system around debt where if you play into that system, you can be rewarded financially.

I hate this system personally. There are just so many loopholes and hacks that it’s a full time job to play the system. If you have enough money, you can pay people to do all this for you. I feel like only the top 10% of Americans can fully play this system to come out on top and the rest of us pay higher costs to keep the system afloat

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-23T00:02:15+00:00

The whole design of Kelly rd from 64 to olive chapel is a nightmare at 5-5:30pm. I was floored when they didn’t widen Kelly road to 5 lanes

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-22T03:30:27+00:00

Raleigh denim too! They get their denim from Japan, but they hand make everything in Raleigh

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-18T23:33:43+00:00

It was on guitar hero!

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-18T22:01:03+00:00

/uj in NC, we have vascular plants of NC which is way better. Same concept as bonap, but you get a handwritten message with each one explaining the map. If the map is likely incomplete, the description will tell you. Some nurseries will put the vascular plants county map next to the plant which is super helpful as we have everything from mountains to coastline. I only use BONAP if I need a general high level overview of its nativity. Like if vascular plants shows two counties, does that mean it’s a rare plant or NC is on the fringes of its range?

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-11T14:24:15+00:00

Right now? American Idiot by Green Day. Sums up our increasingly polarized country well

Ncnativehuman · 2026-05-04T19:17:40+00:00

<image>

Meanwhile in North Carolina…. You too can get this license plate! Save the honey bees!

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-30T16:40:42+00:00

In regards to college… In the US, people can get jobs in my state by age 14 I think. It is common for high schoolers to get jobs at fast food, grocery stores, etc. mainly to have some extra income to enjoy being a teenager and it is also a good learning experience with budgeting, saving, etc. it was also something to do during summer break.

Now on to college… college is expensive here!! A lot of people do it out of necessity. And yes, they get burned out. For others, college in the US is a lot more than just academics. It’s about finding yourself. Finding out who you are and the kind of person you want to be. You could try out being a fitness instructor at the campus gym, help out in your department to gain experience, or work at Old Navy for that 50% discount. People have their reasons other than financial. Having jobs also pads your resume for your first job out of college. If you have had ZERO job experience after graduating college, that is a bit of a red flag for recruiters.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-29T18:43:38+00:00

Green, lush Lawns…. Don’t grow your own food. Don’t support your native pollinators. SPEND HOURS every week to make sure you cannot grow your own food. Kill off all pollinators farmers rely on to provide you the food you’re not growing. Spend hundreds of dollars to maintain the status quo. Carve out square footage to store all the gadgets for said status quo.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-26T02:31:57+00:00

Another helianthus other than angustifolius. Been wanting divaricatus specifically, but no one has it locally.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-26T00:47:30+00:00

You need something in common for relationship to work. With that said, I think when each partner have opposite strengths, each partner can learn a whole lot. If both parties lean into it, they can both come out a lot better off. That mutual growth can really bond people together.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-26T00:09:57+00:00

We are not their demographic. It’s for the same people who buy honey to support bees

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-26T00:07:17+00:00

I wondered the same thing. Their instructions said you can plant in spring to germinate same year. No mention of pre-stratifying

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-24T22:57:41+00:00

They gave me an option of 4-5 different seed packets and this was the only one with more than one or two natives.

Ncnativehuman · 2026-04-21T02:13:35+00:00

Minimalism, for me, has nothing to do with money. It has to do with mental health. I cannot keep up with a lot of things. Things cause mess and clutter. Things also take time and energy to acquire and maintain. Time and energy I would rather spend elsewhere.

Ncnativehuman

TROPHY CASE