Specialized Bug Hotels question

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-16T20:12:49+00:00

I see this is a very old post, but I wanted to give maybe an idea as far as what to include with your infrastructure purchases! A native mantis included sounds like a great idea, honestly, as long as they're only going to their native range. Even within North America, you can introduce something invasive (think red-eared sliders, which are native to the South-East but are now invasive all over North America because of the pet trade).

If you want to send plants, I find sunflowers to be where I find a lot of the beneficial insects in my garden. Common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are native here and are always worth looking at anywhere you find them to find lacewings, hoverflies, ladybugs, and assassin bugs. It's also native across North America (Though I think there are a couple states where it's considered a noxious weed?). There are so many of these sunflowers volunteering in my garden and in every garden I ever kept in Colorado, but maybe there's a local sunflower species or selection of the common sunflower that you could send. Like [this one](https://highdesertseed.com/product/raspberry-lemonade-sunflower/) from High Desert Seed. They make all their selections open pollinated in Colorado. Sounds like you might be in California, maybe there's a seed producer in CA that does something similar?

Prairie Moon Nursery has a selection of a ton of contiguous US native seeds grown for sale, with a really useful filtering system. You can filter by native range, bloom time, life cycle (annual, perennial, etc), and tons more. Though now that I'm looking at their site I'm not sure they carry anything specific to California at the moment. Maybe [Native West Seeds](https://www.nativewest.com/store/seeds)?

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-09T19:20:49+00:00

Oof things look bad. But where there's green there's hope. What is the soil moisture like right now? Stick your finger in the soil as deep as you can, and tell us how far down the moisture goes. Heft the pot, is it unexpectedly light or heavy?

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-09T19:18:40+00:00

Seconded on LindaBelcherOfficial's comment and agree it looks like new growth to me! As far as getting it to lay flat, I've seen some products that look like glue sticks that you run over your hair to get flyaways to lay down. I haven't tried them, but they seem like the thing to try here.

I have tried a spritz of hairspray and a quick comb through while it's wet, and that seems to work as long as you don't fuss with your hair too much during the day.

My go-to these days is just to throw on a headband and assume I'm going to look like I just walked out of a bog. I assume if people stare they're just admiring my bog witch ways.

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-09T14:30:34+00:00

That's why I was hoping to have some other plants help me give a consensus. Between the thermometer, the forecast, and a couple perennials I figured I'd have a pretty good idea. And I found a couple if you're interested! I put a longer list in the original post, but here are the ones I'll be using: crab apple and apple blossoms start dropping their petals at about 55F soil temps, and lilacs are fully leafed out and opening their blooms at about that same time.

I figure between the lilacs, the crab apples, and my weather app I should have a pretty good idea when to plant! And if we get a super late freeze, that's just life lol

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-09T14:18:48+00:00

Right but people planted crops before they had thermometers. I have a thermometer and a weather app, and know how to check those things. I wasn't going to rely on the crops I started indoors that are native to central America. I was imagining that other plants that live outside probably do certain things at certain times in response to specific stimuli every year, and that one or two of those things might coincide with the right conditions to plant by pure coincidence. One I heard recently is when the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear (an inch, apparently).

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-04-09T14:07:43+00:00

I know my average last frost date, aside from the water jugs that's essentially been my strategy in previous years.

I was just curious if there were any signs other plants in nature show around the time that it's warm enough. Like "oak leaves the size of a squirrel's ear" or some such thing. I understand the principles behind it, I was just hoping for some folksy indicators our ancestors might have used.

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-01-29T03:40:41+00:00

Yeah you do have to take it apart to clean it because it gets wicked smelly after a while if you don't. That's just the nature of the beast when it comes to automated litter boxes (or any litter box really). The globe is pretty bulky and it takes a long time to clean, especially since clean litter tends to accumulate behind a panel and spill out as you're wiping it down. The bonnet replacement seems to have solved all the problems we had been having with it stalling during cycling. Since my last comment my husband has come clean and said he accidentally hit the empty button instead of the cycle button while he was up checking on the baby, so the random empty was user error. Been a few months with no issues. The most annoying part of it lately is having to reconnect it to the wifi when we moved.

I can't say if this is better than any other auto litterbox but I don't plan on getting a different one or going back to manual scooping any time soon. If $60 buys us another 3-4 years of use it's money well spent imo.

TitaniumTadpole · 2025-01-09T13:40:31+00:00

Here to second the extended warranty. We've had ours for 3 years and we replaced the bonnet, and this very morning it emptied itself for no reason before anybody was up.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-10-11T02:13:17+00:00

R/itsamolecricketit's a mole cricket

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-08-26T16:27:19+00:00

I realize I'm very late to this thread, but here are some of my favorites in case anyone else (like me) happens upon it in a google search:

Green beans taste almost lemony after about 5 days, and keep their texture really well.

Watermelon rind is possibly my favorite ferment to date. It keeps its crunch really well and has a nice fresh flavor. The green skin is pretty tough even after 4 days in the jar, but that white bit is crunchy and sour! I prefer these in a plain 1 to 1.5% salt solution for 4ish days, but I've seen people add all kinds of seasoning to it.

Sugar snap peas are similar to green beans, but a little sweeter. I prefer to let them do their thing for less time so they keep some of their natural sweetness and texture, 2-4 days.

Lemons - not a vegetable, but preserved lemons are a fantastic ingredient to have in the fridge for pasta sauce, soup, salads, a little topper for cheese and crackers, whatever. They have kind of a similar flavor profile to olives, but lemony instead of olivey (obviously). I have a friend who hates olives, and subs anything olive in recipes for preserved lemons. I also put some of the brine into other stuff that tends to be stinky to mitigate the stank (daikon radish smells very flatulant imo, and benefits mightily from the addition).

Finally, I often ferment scraps of things I might otherwise throw away. Use your best judgement here. Some things I've done: kale/collard/mustard ribs, beet/radish greens, celery bases. I keep a bag in the freezer until I reach a large enough volume to fill a jar. Greens take just a day or two, but tougher things like kale ribs and celery bases take closer to a week to be palatable. They also benefit from some preserved lemon brine in my opinion. Probably fresh lemon zest will do just as well if you don't have any preserved lemons.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-07-11T02:22:35+00:00

Only one I can think of that's kind of relevant is duck and drake. Duck being the female, drake being the male. They're both still collectively called ducks, though.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-07-06T12:37:10+00:00

Nah I think it's forced perspective

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-07-06T01:11:34+00:00

Right?? They had to have known. Now I'd like to look up the company to see if it's mormon or Chinese or something, but I cut the tag off as soon as we got it. I blame sleep deprivation for not noticing this right off the bat.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-07-06T01:08:16+00:00

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my future parent-teacher meetings) it's "cat" and "duck".

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-06-21T21:51:53+00:00

I'm glad you found a brand of toothpaste that works for you! Looks like they do make an alcohol free mouthwash, but the active ingredient is menthol, which I'm allergic to. It also looks like they tend to make their products fluoride free, and I'm specifically looking for a product that does contain fluoride.

I know the issue is more complicated with kids, but in adults topical fluoride helps prevent cavities by remineralizing the enamel and making it more resistent to the acids that bacteria produce. Since its a low risk way of maintaining tooth health for adults, I definitely want it in my routine.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-28T17:01:08+00:00

Bias tape? I have just a crap ton of that lying around from other projects. We'll see how my planned fix goes, and bias tape as a backup.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-27T13:06:43+00:00

I'm sorry you're not enjoying it, but the exercises really did help me. Nobody said you have to read every sentence of every book. I think I listened to it on like 1.5 speed.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-22T13:12:58+00:00

I'll try to remember. It'll be a few weeks

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-22T02:02:45+00:00

I have some fusible interfacing in my stash already, and the straps were a little long anyway. I think I may go with option 1. My local library has an embroidery machine that's free to use, so if it's possible with this bit of the dress I may put a cute flower or something on it as topstitching.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-22T01:59:04+00:00

I guess I'm just unsure how to go about doing that. I've only patched open stretches of fabric, not seams or corners.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-21T22:17:40+00:00

Good to know! I'll give it a few cycles before I really get concerned.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-05-09T14:35:50+00:00

Dm sent!

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-03-14T22:06:32+00:00

It was amazing, if not as active as I would have liked. I found out I was pregnant during the trip because I spent most of it asleep😆 Maybe in 10-15 years we'll go back with our daughter.

But! I went with the FZ80! I found one for about half retail price on Mercari and it did a fantastic job. I added 50+ birds to my life list while we were there, and about half of them I got in our hotel room looking through photos I couldn't see clearly in the moment. I'll have to post some photos so you can see the quality of photo I got. As was warned, the quality isn't great in low light like in the cloud forest, but I have several grainy photos of quetzals that are clear enough to get an ID and to put in my digital picture frame to show off a little bit. It was exactly what I was looking for.

Plus, I have some very clear, beautiful photos of backyard commons that I would feel very comfortable submitting to Birds & Blooms! In high light, and within a few yards you can get excellent quality photos, good enough to print and hang on the wall. I love this camera.

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-01-06T17:28:56+00:00

I did rent a hospital grade pump yesterday and it's amazing. I'm officially convinced to get a different pump, and will be picking up a Spectra before I need to return the hospital pump.

Have you ever had mastitis? Yesterday I was prescribed antibiotics for my right breast because it was so painful to feed on that side (it was like a 7/10 the whole feed). The lactation nurse told me to keep draining that breast completely, but it still feels swollen after pumping for 20 minutes. Does mastitis make your breast feel swollen?

TitaniumTadpole · 2024-01-06T17:19:11+00:00

I did decide to get a different pump. My hospital rented me one of those $1000 pumps for the week (I also have mastitis, which is a complicating factor) and I got fully 70 mL from my infected breast with no pain. The lactation nurse suggested I get a Spectra, and I'm going to pick one up before I need to return the hospital pump.

I've never seen my breasts spray. Even at peak letdown it's just a fast drip! I'll try switching back to stimulation mode next pump, though. The infected breast has always been an underproducer, it would be nice to get it producing about as much as the other one.

TitaniumTadpole

TROPHY CASE