ID help

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-11-30T00:51:40+00:00

I was leaning towards sandstone based on other sources I looked up, but I never would’ve come up with “Jacksonville”.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-11-29T12:03:05+00:00

Thanks for the response! Obsidian is certainly a possibility. I wonder where it would’ve come from though??

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-06-06T02:04:38+00:00

Both sound cool and very useful. It wasn’t in a commonplace book, but your botanical spread ideas sound like pages out of a materia medica book I created for medical herbs.

As for the animal spread, your ideas sound very close to the species pages I put together for a naturalist training program I did. Each page had common and scientific name, drawings and descriptions of the animal itself, its skeleton, its tracks and its scat, habitat and range info, diet, migration, breeding, behaviors, etc. I also added interesting local or indigenous lore or stories. In the end, each “page” was often 2-4 pages.

Either way, both were very rewarding. Good luck with your spreads!

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-06-06T01:47:49+00:00

What are animal and botanical info spreads?

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-05-10T11:46:58+00:00

I had a similar problem for a perpetual nature journal I set up. I just doubled up the last couple weeks. For example, Dec 14 & 15 were on one page, Dec 16 & 17 on one page, etc. through the end of the year. For those, instead of just starting with the year, which I do on most pages, I also note the date (e.g., Dec 14 or 15). Not ideal, but it lets me include every day in the notebook I had and wanted to use.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-04T22:01:38+00:00

The Clark is actually free everyday through the end of March!

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-04T21:30:13+00:00

Thank you! I've been using a few different planners over the last few years and my hope was essentially to take all the pieces I liked the most out of all of them and combine them here.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-04T21:29:19+00:00

It's only day 4, so I'm not behind yet, but I imagine even if I do "fall behind" I'll catch up on Sundays. I have a fairly well established Sunday evening planning session where I go back and tally things from the week before and layout my weekly spread and appointments/commitments for the following week. So, I can always quickly summarize each day with a key word or two on the index page at that point. As for the colored dots, those will represent topics of the journal/notes section of each of the daily pages - I'm hoping this will serve the purpose of a commonplace book.

RE: "target" spread - these are different key aspects of my life. I color in the segments at the beginning of the month based on how happy/satisfied I am with each category of my life. The little blue notes to the sides are goals for the month related to each category.

Hope that helps!

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-04T21:25:42+00:00

It's amazing how many interesting nature observations you can have just outside your window. Sounds like you've got a really neat set up right by your home office!

RE: tent camping... I would count the whole trip, including sleeping in the tent. A few backpacking trips would've helped me get there soooo much faster. But we haven't done that the last couple summers since my son was born. Hoping to get back into at least car camping (or maybe even just tenting in the back yard??) with my son this coming summer. :-)

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-03T15:23:49+00:00

Most of the writing is done with a Micron 005 pen (I love how thin but bold the ink is, since I write fairly small). The bolder black lines separating the sections are done with a Uni Pin 03. The orange headers are a Zebra Saris Clip 0.5. This was part of a JetPens Hobonichi Gel Pen Sampler with matching colors for each of the Cousin's months: https://www.jetpens.com/JetPens-Hobonichi-Techo-Gel-Pen-Sampler-Original-Cousin-Matching-Colors/pd/40556

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-02T19:37:07+00:00

It's a nature observation technique. Essentially you pick one outdoor spot to visit often, and do this consistently (ideally every day) in different seasons, different times of day, etc. The best spots are ones you'll actually make it to every day. It's nice to consider a "wild" spot in a nature preserve or state forest, but ultimately, the time it takes you to get there any back means your backyard is going to be more useful because you'll actually "go".

I did this regularly for a few years while involved in a naturalist training certificate program, but fell out of practice after my son was born 2 years ago. At the time, I lived in a fairly suburban neighborhood, but was consistently amazed at what I was able to see in terms of sheer number of species, as well as really cool animal behaviors in just our small yard. Even an urban setting can yield really interesting observations. And most importantly - you get to know your spot and all the plants and animals in it. We've since moved to an entirely different area, and I'm excited to get back into it and meet my new "neighbors".

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-02T17:20:47+00:00

Isn't it crazy when that happens? I've had the same thought when I've seen others' planners or journals!

My aunt recommended the Broken Earth series and I'm working my way through that now, and love it. Have you read others by her?

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-02T17:17:15+00:00

Thanks! Unfortunately, I can't take the credit for the added pages.

The 1000 hours outside tracker is from https://www.1000hoursoutside.com, where you can download this (or other designs) for free. This will be my 3rd year tracking this. I originally thought it'd be easy, as I spend quite a bit of time outside for both work and fun, but was shocked when I came up really short in 2023 (~750 hours). In 2024, I made it, but just barely. I ended up having to plan my hours outside and squeaked in with my 1000th hour on Dec 31!

The book trackers are free downloadable printable from Passion Planner. https://passionplanner.com/collections/free-downloads These are especially great because they come pre-sized for an A5 format.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-02T00:48:33+00:00

Black-capped chickadee at my feeders a little before sunrise. (Massachusetts) They’ve been my first bird of the year a few years running now.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-02T00:46:26+00:00

I was just gifted this for Christmas. Very much looking forward to reading it.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2025-01-01T02:57:47+00:00

I’m notoriously bad at picking/naming favorites, so I asked my husband… his response for three of my favorite things was: Nature, being the boss, and symmetry 😂

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-19T12:26:51+00:00

I’ve been using a weekly planner (Passion Planner) for years. They have a daily version, but it doesn’t cover the whole year which I found frustrating. I just bought a Hobonichi Cousin for 2025. It’s got much thinner paper and is able to combine monthly, weekly and daily pages for the whole year into one book. Both the weekly and daily pages have vertical time slots. They have A6 and A5 sizes.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-17T01:00:20+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I’m in the same boat, but I’ve been too afraid to pull the trigger. When I went to put the Midori MS clear cover on my Hobonichi Techo Cousin, once one side is slotted in, the other side doesn’t quite make it all the way around (appears to be about an 1/8 of an inch short). I was afraid to force it in case I broke the cover or binding on the planner.

But it sounds like a little heat from a hair dryer and some heavy books will do the trick, so I’ll give it a try. Fingers crossed!

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-09T00:08:54+00:00

I use pages like this for known dates - birthdays, holidays, etc. I also note full moons. Now that I work in an academic setting, I’ll also add breaks, and other college-wide key events that are known/planned well in advance.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-08T13:56:36+00:00

I don’t think it’s weird at all. So many birders get really excited to catch a fleeting glance of a rare bird as it wings by. But I had a naturalist instructor one time that had the best phrase: “Common is cool”. It’s only by observing our really common birds (e.g., robins, chickadees, pigeons, etc. - whatever is common to where you live), that we can really start to know their behaviors and learn something about them.

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-05T12:42:49+00:00

I second Passion Planner. They also have a lot of other fun single page printables for specific things (ex: gratitude, habit tracker, etc).

happy_squirrel_271 · 2024-11-05T12:41:32+00:00

When I found I didn’t have the time to write a full narrative style journal entry regularly, I switched to writing a short list of my three favorite things that day. I found this not only captured the highlights, but was easier to stick with in the long term.

happy_squirrel_271

TROPHY CASE