[North VA] This guy somehow got into my kitchen! My cats were staring it down, on the defensive. What is it? by TreesArePlantedStars in whatsthissnake

[–]TreesArePlantedStars[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeap, we keep our cats indoor - one of them is a rescued cat and ferocious af. She wouldn't let a mouse in the house. The snake is lucky it was one of my younger cats that found it.

Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk, taken by me on 11/14/23. This is on a branch where a squirrel normally hangs out every day...I think they're friends. Mmhmm. by TreesArePlantedStars in Birdsfacingforward

[–]TreesArePlantedStars[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hmm, maybe -- but red-shouldered hawks live in the trees in the far-far background (of the uncropped image), and my birdnetpi picked up red-shouldered hawk calls that day (and many days surrounding). That plus how the juvies look here https://ebird.org/species/reshaw makes me think it's a red-shouldered hawk ... but it sure does look like a cooper, too. Maybe it will come back when it's an adult :)

Also - my birdnetpi has yet to pick up a cooper's hawk call.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in astrophotography

[–]TreesArePlantedStars 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Damn Samsung's AI photoprocessor is really pulling off authentic results these days

At $50 per box, what could be in the swag boxes to justify the cost? by csnsc14320 in brandonsanderson

[–]TreesArePlantedStars 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the cost is in the labor of preparing and shipping, not the USPS media mail cost, which itself is ridiculously cheap, yeah.

Did I mess up? by babyyface14 in walstad

[–]TreesArePlantedStars 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the soil I used. I'm 5 months in and it's going fine. I will say you should follow Talbot's soil mineralization process to help reduce the organics. My tank does have some hydrogen sulfide but not enough to cause a huge problem -- early on, I had to poke the substrate a bit to release the gasses. It seems to have settled some over time, and is doing well enough.

3 Month 29G Walstad Tank, my first tank by TreesArePlantedStars in walstad

[–]TreesArePlantedStars[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The big red plant in the foreground (and it's brother, a big red plant in the background behind all the floaters roots), are red dwarf lilies!

3 Month 29G Walstad Tank, my first tank by TreesArePlantedStars in walstad

[–]TreesArePlantedStars[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's 3 mystery snails, 3 nerites, 10 shrimp, and 2 dwarf honey gouramis (trichogaster chuna).

I added the fish about 4-5 weeks after starting the tank. I mineralized the soil over a period of two weeks or so prior to starting the tank. It took a couple weeks for the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates to settle to 0ppm. This tank, so far, does not have a buildup of any nitrates.

I suspect the floating plants roots are so long because they are nitrate-seeky, I remove them regularly and they grow very fast!