goddamn this pic goes so hard

source: Heather Khalifa, AP https://apnews.com/article...

When we bought our house in 2012, the backyard was full shade.

Right behind the house is a steep hillside, which had three tall hemlock trees and a few other evergreens - all in various stages of dying. Once those were removed, the sudden full sun exposure caused an explosion of weeds. It's too steep/rocky to just keep mowed. I've tried various methods to keep it looking somewhat managed, including something that looks like a hedge trimmer on a long pole, and at other times ignoring the problem. Ignoring at least brought some now large-ish self-seeded redbud trees, but the rest of the slope continued to be a mix of thorns, tall weeds, invasives, and poison ivy. It also has a bad tendency to look fine, and then go completely out of control in a matter of days.

I got a few prices over the years for brush removal, most wanted a lot of money to cut it all down or spray everything. Then I found out we had a local company that used goats for brush removal. Much to my surprise, our otherwise fairly restrictive village has nothing against temporarily keeping livestock right in town. The price was almost half what anyone else wanted to do the job - and we get a yard full of goats!

The crew of 22 has been hard at work since yesterday evening, and there is nothing leafy remaining within six feet of the ground. They don't seem to be interested in the black raspberry canes themselves, but most everything else is gone. What is left looks a lot more managed, and will easily be removed with the tools I have. I think we'll have these guys back early next summer when everything explodes again.

At some point we should figure out what to plant back there to keep the weeds under control.

I've been working on this for a couple of weeks now, and getting into the home stretch. This is from last night, drilling the last of the relatively dicey holes that it needs for electric connections. I got that ridiculous drill bit at an estate sale earlier this summer for $2 - i was planning to start this project, and i grabbed the bit as soon as i saw it, knowing i'd need it for this.

(ignore all the dimples in the neck pocket: they aren't holes, just centers from a forstner bit used to open up most of that space)

I'm grateful for our local tool library, which has a really nice wood shop. I did all the initial planing and jointing work there, then the drum sander on the glued-up slab, and spindle sander for shaping after roughing out the body. Their tools saved me dozens of hours and massively improved the result.

I should be able to post a complete shot in a few days, after a few coats of varnish and the slow drying time in our otherwise perfect early fall weather.

source: https://www.instagram.com/p...

Well, it's for a good cause.

Hi, I'm #4 for the week

sauce: https://www.instagram.com/p...

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026...

It’s good to be home.

I’ve tried various clipless pedals over the years, and always gone back to flats on all of my bikes. Modern spiky flat pedals and sticky shoes are such a great combination. I bought my last pair of shoes, canvas FiveTen Freerider Pros, on some sort of crazy sale just under three years ago. Other than the bottom being chewed up from my various pedals, they were still in seemingly good condition.

However, I've noticed this a lot of discomfort on my road/gravel bike this season (but still good on the mountain bikes). Weird aches and pains, numb wrists, numb toes, and such. I was chatting with a friend of mine about it, and he suggested shoes could be a culprit (and as expected for a roadie, tried to get me to switch to clipless). Once I started paying attention, I noticed my riding shoe had about the same flex as regular gym shoes instead of being super stiff. The real surprise though was checking my recorded rides, and realizing I've put over 4600 miles on these shoes in the three years.

New shoes arrived today. Also FiveTen Freerider Pros, plastic instead of canvas which is a bit of a bummer. These do have the boa system instead of laces though, so no more having to stop my bike to tie muddy laces with sweaty gloves. Hopefully the rain stops at some point so I can try them out.

source: https://thingsthatexist.tumblr.com/post...

Nude by David Lynch, now up in the Pace Gallery, in LA.

In 2028, there will be a retrospective in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

https://www.theguardian.com/film...

Jack Kirby

source: https://www.tumblr.com/roguetel...

I didn't really know Clarence "Trip" Barnes when I lived on the island. I knew of him and saw him around town but his son Mike was a good friend. Mike owned what was, at the time i lived there, one of three record stores on Martha's Vineyard in '01. A place called Aboveground Records(the logo was *a) at The Triangle in Edgartown.

Now as you might imagine I've spent a great deal of time in a great number of record stores all over the country and I can say without a smidgen of hyperbole that *a was one of the best. Second only to Jazz Record Mart in Chicago afaic. I spent a substantial amount of time and money there.

I ran into Mike on the boat on the way back to Boston yesterday. First time I'd seen him in probably 15-16 years. Since I last lived there full-time. And besides the grey hair, reading glasses and, slow, loud, creaky movements that typify aging for all of us, it was as if no time had passed.

A good friend, long missed.

I share this obit because Mike's old man was a larger, waaaay larger, than life character who left a lasting legacy of generosity and kindness on MV.

Not least of which is Mike who now, in addition to managing the substantial amount of stuff his father left behind, drives a truck for the island food pantry and volunteers whenever a need arises.

We plan to spend some time together once the season subsides fully in a few weeks.

And great thanks to Trip for all you did for MV some of which is outlined at the source: https://vineyardgazette.com/news...

a longtime favorite that i often forget is hidden away in the depths of my music library.

been meaning to track this down in physical format.
by the way, CDs are still available on o'rourke's bandcamp page:
https://jimorourke.bandcamp.com/album...

This has got to be 20 years old.

See below post for details.

edit- https://vineyardgazette.com/news...

source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals...

Leopardus tilcayo, a newly-discovered species of tiger cat (like an ocelot) from Bolivia, which weighs 3 pounds full-grown and is Very Mad about it. Photo by Joel Sartore for National Geographic.

What if I don't want to look...?

On a walk yesterday evening

source: https://bsky.app/profile...

A batch of Emu eggs in the Marrinup State Forest, south of Perth. Discovered during an archaeological survey we were doing in there. Dad would have been lurking around somewhere but wasn't seen. Mum shot through a while ago, as is the Emu way.

During some recent work on their home island, Rottnest. Happy to work for food scraps but complained that the sieves were too big and too heavy.

That's his sieve in the background, no forced perspective involved

More Quokka love here https://mltshp.com/quokkatown

by Ruan van Vliet

Taking a short break from city life. We’re high enough up in the hills that the clouds were kissing the trees this morning.

Santnerpass Hut is perched on a sheer cliff and resembles a giant Toblerone still in its foil – an eye-popping hit of modernity and innovation’. Photograph: Andrew Gilchrist

Picture from https://www.theguardian.com/travel...

An older friend of mine had a big party nominally about her house's bicentennial but really just to hang out and eat indecent amounts of snacks. I showed up two hours into a three hour party and this was "all" that was left. 😂 House is in the background, it's a nice house. This lady calls me whenever she needs to update her email signature file.

We’re ready.
Didn’t realize she was as physically small as she was until we had this life-sized cardboard cutout - where she didn’t even go al the way to the floor AND is wearing heels. But being petite never stopped her from being impactful!
May we all choose kindness and love, and the growth and benefit of others in need over our own financial gain! ❤️💃🏼🪩9️⃣2️⃣5️⃣

source: https://nakedmusicscore.tumblr.com/post...