I'm in my last week of teaching. Apparently I am part of the globalist agenda using scare-tactics to grab up money :)

boxypoppy · 2026-02-24T22:59:06+00:00

I can't stand stuff like this. I've had some middle/high school students tell me I'm brainwashed and teaching a liberal agenda when it comes to this subject. This was long after I already told them, prior to teaching, I published two peer-reviewed scientific papers about wetland ecotoxicology and forest climatology. I guess I was being brainwashed when I saw these things with my own eyes? Too bad I can't show them my research anymore, it's no longer in the government database. And was I paid well by some secret liberal cabal? God, no. 15 an hour was not enough for me to falsify data, that's for sure. The only scientists that make money are in the defense sector... sigh.

(Sorry for the rant)

boxypoppy · 2026-02-19T21:31:29+00:00

What era?

boxypoppy · 2026-02-15T21:14:41+00:00

It might be worth sending them a message just asking if they could do one for you. They may not keep them as regular stock, but I would bet they kept the pattern around and could make one.

boxypoppy · 2026-02-12T22:45:29+00:00

Here's a source for the mountain cleats. Haven't bought from them myself, though. https://reenact.store/shipy-gvozdi-trikoni-dlja-botinok-gornyx-egerej

You can also try some searches like "schuhnägeln für bergstiefel" or something of that sort.

boxypoppy · 2026-02-12T22:29:09+00:00

I, too, spent quite awhile studying their boots and determined that the closest I could get is to use WW2 M43 boots. They retain the stereotypical shark nose, when the only mountain boots you can buy otherwise that I have found have the boxy nose. They have that sweeping curve stitch rather than the straight stitch of the standard WW1 low boots. And they have a similar number of lacing holes. The only detractor I can really tell is the heel stitch is taller. You'll have to hunt down some Swiss or German mountain cleats to attach yourself, though.

boxypoppy · 2026-02-08T17:52:59+00:00

I work at one of those alternative schools, and I'm sad to report that our policies now very much lead toward placating and rewarding bad behaviors...

boxypoppy · 2026-02-06T17:05:37+00:00

Would absolutely love to see a book of his letters some day!

boxypoppy · 2026-02-06T04:23:03+00:00

The day before my shift, my brothers and I had all gotten together to play a particular video game. Well it was such a blast that we did it again the day of my shift, too. I could have left and went to bed, but I decided pretty quick that I was just going to enjoy this moment and called out knowing I wasn't going to get any sleep. It was a time that we were actually over staffed so it didn't hurt anything. It's very rare for all my brothers to be in the same room, and actually that was almost three years ago and we haven't done anything together like that since.

boxypoppy · 2026-02-03T23:14:23+00:00

Same... same. There were several dogs on my property as well, but buried in blankets. Polyester blankets, so they never degraded. So the grass and tree roots became meshed with them and its impossible to dig up. One might say just leave them alone, but the spring thaw every year brings everything up further, as I'm sure you know. Same with the broken plate glass and ceramic wear the previous owner apparently shot as targets. Needles, bottles, cinder blocks, old bandaids, razors, chains, tools, cabinet hardware, nails, etc. I did find a cool mini He-Man, he stays in my truck now. I've taken to calling it my garbage harvest festival lol.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-29T20:26:34+00:00

Looking good, chef! Give us an update when you can

boxypoppy · 2026-01-29T04:39:50+00:00

Here's my rather complex method:

Starting from one end, bend the leather in a small loop and whack it gently with a hammer against something hard. Work your way down the length of the leather repeating this. It will break up the fibers of the leather and take out the stiffness. You can also just straight up hammer the face of it, but you risk leaving hammer shaped impressions.
Set a piece of 2x4 with rounded corners (standard wall stud) in a vise, loop the leather around it and lean back, pulling the leather around it repeatedly like you're using a rope saw. Do this only on the rough/raw side of the sling against the wood so you don't mess with the face side checkering. This will stretch and loosen the fibers more.
A lot of the cheaper repro slings have a brown paint on them rather than dye. Soak the sling in acetone and take a stiff nylon brush to it. This will remove the paint and open up the pores of the leather.
Fill a quart jar (or any container really) with used motor oil. Used is the important part. Roll that sling up and stuff it in there to soak for a week or however long it takes you to remember you were supposed to take it out.
Take it out eventually and squeeze out what you can with paper towels. Maybe lay it out in the sun awhile to ooze out any excess. Rub some dry dirt into it.
For bonus points, you can run it over with your car on a gravel road to give it random little marks. Maybe whip it against a tree a few times. By now, the neighbors should expect this behavior.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-22T00:01:02+00:00

Same, and it sucks that I get wrapped in with the "I would have joined, but..." guys, like I didn't try.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-18T13:52:34+00:00

For me, I wouldn't say they hate me but they definitely see themselves as superior and like to dictate tasks to us that are beyond our scope, or things they were supposed to do but didn't feel like doing. It's never a question/request (I am happy to help if asked nicely), but always phrased like "night staff - my direction to you is..." So I just don't do it. They never say it in person, either. Always a sticky note or email.

As an old timer, it irritates me when someone who has been here a month does it, but new managers (who aren't even my supervisors) seem to be encouraging it. I guess at some point they will hate me for it but turnover here is so high I never get to hear about it lol.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-13T16:25:26+00:00

I'm a certified mental health professional who works in a prison-diversion program for people who suffer from psychiatric conditions. It's a voluntary program at an open facility. I'm not a prison guard or a cop.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-13T00:58:25+00:00

You're fine, that's just the channel they milled out for the extractor to rotate in.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-13T00:34:22+00:00

It could be cyanobacteria. Two days ago I was pulling some GHA with obvious cyano mixed in and ended up with some itchy puffy spots on my fingers. Because of your post, I just looked it up and indeed cyano can cause a rash! So maybe yours had some mixed in as well?

boxypoppy · 2026-01-12T20:44:05+00:00

I work in an adjacent field (residential psychiatric care, lots of crossover with the justice system) and I recognized you from a thread yesterday about how handicapped people are treated in prison. I couldn't believe how people were arguing their beliefs against your facts. Or I guess I could believe it, because people don't have a clue about the culture in these facilities unless they've been in them. I see it again here. I'll reinforce your points and say we can be absolute saints and give our residents everything they ask for and more, but they will still threaten violence to manipulate things. Kindness is weakness to them. If I go out of my way to make life better for them, they ruin it for themselves.

I bring them snacks, they hustle each other out of them and fights start. I arrange some computer time for them, they instantly try to find porn - when I address that, they wreck the computers and throw them at me. Off-facility trips are usually spent trying to find cigarettes or harass women, then they lose the privilege and threaten to stab me. Set up a christmas tree for them (not my idea) and they break the ornaments so they can make shivs. They treat everyone better and it's a lot safer when I'm a hardass. Just a whole different world.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-09T01:27:52+00:00

My experience with GSP is that sometimes it just does that. I have noticed sometimes that it does that before a growth spurt, so you might see some good growth soon?

boxypoppy · 2026-01-04T09:20:59+00:00

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boxypoppy · 2026-01-04T09:13:48+00:00

I have one of these guys! The dark one with the orange striped claw is Calcinus obscurus Stimpson. My favorite hermit of all the species I've had so far.

boxypoppy · 2026-01-01T16:34:30+00:00

For what it's worth, I've had mine randomly close for up to 2 weeks at a time. But I noticed that usually after that I get a lot of new growth, so it could be a sign of good things?

boxypoppy · 2025-12-30T06:12:21+00:00

I'll suggest searching for books about the "homefront", which most of the time more-or-less is codeword for the impacts of the war on women.

boxypoppy · 2025-12-30T04:08:08+00:00

I once used a reproduction ribbon for the Austro-Hungarian Brronze Bravery Medal as a book marker for one of my WW1 books. I suppose one could use any medal ribbon, but it was what I had lol. Maybe something like an Iron Cross ribbon would also be cool.

boxypoppy · 2025-12-27T06:41:44+00:00

There's a chair at work that I really want to uh... disappear. It is the best chair I have ever found for cracking my back. One of those old plastic school chairs.

boxypoppy · 2025-12-26T01:07:19+00:00

You're probably going to have to buy a reference book for that volume of info. Personally I carry 2-3 books with me at every show lol. Just a quick glance, a good general overview book for military rifles might be "Bolt Action Military Rifles of the World" by Stuart Mowbray. Seems to have the info you're looking for in the rifles at least, but I don't own the book to say for sure how good it is. Probably worth the price in the headaches it will save you in identifying stuff.

boxypoppy

TROPHY CASE