I live about three miles from where I grew up. Everything is very similar in both places. Pine and birch trees, sandy soil, weather is the same but over the years there have been some changes that I have seen and can’t explain or understand.
As a pre-Onescore I spent a lot of time outside, nature studies of a sort, mostly with a fishing rod or a rifle. When my Dad was doing the teaching we brought a chainsaw and a tractor so we could cut trees into short lengths and bring the pieces inside to examine them better. After a time we would burn up the evidence in a barrel stove located in the living room.
Classes started in the fall, after the weather had cooled and the flies and mosquitoes had slackened off. Classes were mostly on weekends but if a holiday fell during the time period there would be bonus curricular time. Mostly it was on-the-job training and grades were of little importance.
There was lots of biological studies conducted. In the warmer weather we would see lots of grasshoppers, the big brown or black winged species, flying ahead of us on the dirt roads. Early mornings would find frogs, the common green Spotted Leopard frog, hopping in the tall grass. They would be looking for the flying grasshoppers. My Dad said they were friends and the frogs wanted to share a meal with the grasshoppers. I know that some city folks liked to take the frogs fishing. They’d introduce the frogs to the fish and the critters would enjoy a hearty meal together.
I would actually get orders for frogs, some city people would ask me to catch a half dozen or so. They would pay me for the fun I was having catching the frogs. That’s a good deal. I’ve forgotten the rate but probably about a dollar or so. Garter snakes were plentiful and my competition. They wanted both grasshoppers and frogs. I’m not sure why because I never saw a garter snake fishing.
In later years, some sort of snake fell into our canoe as we were paddling down a narrow creek. It wasn’t a garter snake and we gave the snake a flying lesson with a paddle. Back to the story.
On the field trips in the winter I would sometimes bring a rifle, kind of for personal protection. There were quite a few snowshoe rabbits in our area, the variety that turns white when the snow shows up. They would play hide and seek with us and if we could spot them we’d get a free shot and we would take them to dinner.
Nature was running things pretty well. The grasshoppers, the frogs and the garter snakes had a pretty good relationship. They seemed to depend on one another.
My Dad said it was sort of symbiotic, everything was in harmony. They had evolved together.
I moved away as young people tend to do. I didn’t get home too often and my study of nature was interrupted for a few years. When I finally did get a chance to return to my roots I found a lot of changes had occurred. One of the first things I missed were frogs on the road jumping up to hit the bottom of the car. That was always a summertime game. At first I didn’t pay much attention, I’d been gone a few years and had forgotten the rules. I wondered if any locals had any idea. Seems it had been gradual and no one had paid much attention at the time.
When I pointed that out my local friends commented that they too had forgotten about that. As I spent more time walking I noticed the flying grasshoppers were scarce. Sure, there were a few but not the same as in the days before. Could there be a link? How about the garter snakes? I started paying more attention, sure enough, there were very few. I’d occasionally see one but not the same as my kid days. I did see more hognose snakes, as kids we called them ‘blow snakes” but not a lot.
The puzzle was puzzling. Nothing had changed, at least noticeably. There was still no farming to speak of, logging operations still going on, though with much different equipment. Winter came, I’d be out in the woods walking, looking for the elusive snowshoe hare. Well, now I’ve spent the last 40 years here, I’ve seen one about 20-25 years ago.
There never was a lot of grouse, now there’s even less. There are a lot of positive changes though, critters that weren’t here when I was a trainee Score. Instead of spending a week in the woods hoping to see a single deer, now we expect to see some the first day or two of the legal deer season. While that’s not always the case it’s often that someone in the party will need help dragging in some big game.
The Canada geese have become local residents, a few are hunted but mostly adapt to being welfare recipients of the local cabin owners. Whistling swans are a new welcome addition as well. Another newcomer is the not so wild turkey. They were introduced in the southern part of the county and quickly learned the tricks of the homeless, begging for a handout. Like some of the homeless their personal habits leave a lot to be desired. They have spread to cover the entire county and I’d be surprised if a young resident doesn’t bring one home on occasion.
The old Central Migratory Flyway has shifted west, with Dakota grain fields sporting man made potholes and leaving us barren of ducks. We can enjoy the soft dove coos on early summer mornings and nesting robins are more plentiful.
There has been a biological Revolution in my lifetime. If the future is anything like the past I will have to continue to adapt.
When I was a child we’d catch horned lizards. And we’d avoid the big red ants. Now they are both gone.
I’m never outside too late in the evening anymore, but when I was coming home from NH I didn’t arrive until ~11:00 at which point I learned that fireflies still exist and they live in my yard.
I’ve never seen fireflies in NH.
I still see them sometimes in PA but not as often as I used to.
Some years back we had a friend from Ottawa visiting us here in SW OH, and she was utterly enchanted by the fireflies (or, more properly among my cohort, “lightning bugs.”)
Lightning Bugs are just the electrical element morph of the same critter.
/computer gamer.
In the years before AC, the kids (me and my siblings) would lay around in the grass after dark and watch the lightnin bugs until it was time for bed.
We used to catch fireflies in mason jars.
I only realized later that I was cock-blocking them.
Not to be confused with firebugs which are found all over the country.
We had fireflies in Shelburne, not sure if any more.
few fireflies where I grew up but more glow worm things.
Many more mammals up here than where I grew up and a lot fewer reptiles.
Winter favors the warm blooded.
I still have no idea how the bugs keep surviving it.
The last couple years have been virtually mosquitoless here. Minnesota’s reputation is on the line! Whatever the reason, I’m grateful, to sleep without the constant annoyance of a couple mosquitoes bent on biting me.
Days/nights not long ago required long sleeves and bug spray.
I’m curious if this phenomenon is more wide spread.
Seemed like average wood ticks this year but haven’t seen one in about a month. I picked off a few, a couple stuck, but I don’t go in the woods from mid-May ’til September.
The bats are basically nonexistent and were everywhere when I was a lad. The mayflies don’t seem to be around like they used to be. They were so many in May you would loose traction on the road going across the river. Thankfully the gypsymoths are now basically a thing of the past.
There are still plenty of fireflies, rabbits, woodchucks, and birds. Bald eagles are no longer rare.
I forgot about the bats, they’re gone as well. Surely they didn’t eat all the mosquitoes and move on. OTOH we’ve eliminated many of the hideyholes in buildings where they used to hibernate.
The feds will be coming to take your property over that admission.
Bats are sacred.
Garters will go after small fish if they get really hungry, but they prefer frogs, toads, and other small-bodied invertebrates.
Probably a Northern Water Snake. They like to check out boats, both for a place to rest, and to see if you have any fish you might want to get rid of. I’ve had Water Snakes swim right up to me and take fish off my stringer – they have absolutely no fear when it comes to getting something to eat.
…snapping turtles like an easy meal as well…
This year is grasshopper year. And the meadow larks already came and went.
Reminds me of the late 80s. The grasshoppers were super plentiful then.
Careful – if they get too plentiful, they transform into Locusts.
I live 3.5 miles from where I grew up. My current neighborhood has lots of mature trees, but my childhood home had a small wood behind it, never developed into modest working class houses because the water table was too high. It had a nameless stream running through it, flowing from a large storm sewer pipe all the way to a creek large enough to have a name. We never hunted and we avoided snakes religiously, but we caught a crawdad once and kept it for a while.
We certainly never got the proper outdoor education you did because we were usually ***GASP!!!*** unsupervised!
I thought unsupervised time is when kids got the best education 😉
In later years, some sort of snake fell into our canoe as we were paddling down a narrow creek. It wasn’t a garter snake and we gave the snake a flying lesson with a paddle.
🙂
At first I didn’t pay much attention, I’d been gone a few years and had forgotten the rules. I wondered if any locals had any idea. Seems it had been gradual and no one had paid much attention at the time.
I haven’t noticed much difference in wildlife over the years I’ve lived in southern NH or comparing now and then with where I grew up. The biggest constant? Deer playing Frogger in the road at night.
Here is Texas the poisoning of the red ant led to the rise of the tiny fire ant and the rapid decline of the Texas Horned Lizard.
I was told that the fire ant just moved in and annihilated the red ants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A
We started using massive amounts of pesticides on them (in comparison to the past), it weakened them and then the fire ant moved right in.
FUCK THE FUCKING FIRE ANTS SO FUCKING MUCH!!!
I’ve nuked about half a dozen mounds so far this year and I’ve on 6 bottles and counting of the perimeter/yard spray you attach to a hose. Haven’t had any new mounds for a few weeks, but I know I’ll be spending another $100 at least on pesticide before the season’s out.
Who runs a shotgun in a tube top?
OTOH, the brief bit of the test match looks ridiculously fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Qd-in05KA
Titty streamers farming for content?
“What about the children!!!”
Hey you out of touch tards, kids haven’t walked to school for decades. Their helicopter parents drive them or aborted them and they don’t exist.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-faces-republican-rebellion-over-daylight-saving-time-senate-bill-nears-dead-end
fuck dst
permanent standard time
that is all
ENOUGH.
Just for that, we’re changing clocks FOUR times a year, with a two hour swing. No opt outs.
This is AMERCIA!
Why the fuck are we using time zones based around some telescope in England?
We should have our own time zones, based on the Grand Meridian! And to keep our lives in sync with the circadian rhythm, time zones should deliniate 15 minute shifts, not 60 minute ones!
One Time zone for the whole country.
Sorry Hawaii, your sun don’t come up till noon!
In keeping with the ideas offered so far let’s also rename the hours. Noon will once again be the start of the day, and will now be known as Donald J. Trump o’clock. Each of the 24 hours will have it’s own name selected by vote from a list Trump will come up with in between imposing tariffs for random slights, with a rule imposed insisting that no more than one hour can be named Huuge.
Jar, the golden hour will henceforth be renamed to the Orange hour.
Kinnath, fuck DST.
Yeah I’d hit that
A riot is an ugly thing, and it’s just about time we had one
In the weeks since his body was found, civil rights leaders have also joined the call for answers about Wells’ death. The Rev. Al Sharpton officiated the service on Monday, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump is serving as the family’s legal representative.
“For an 18-year-old young man to no longer be with us, we want answers, not bias either way: just answers,” Sharpton said during the eulogy. “I think that for the family, the closure can come if there is justice.”
The usual suspects are doing their best to cover things up. The boy was obviously lynched.
a rule imposed insisting that no more than one hour can be named Huuge.
Save time and name them all the Hour of Vengeance.
I posted this a couple of days ago. It is a good visualization.
https://savestandardtime.com/maps/
There are only two days in the year (spring and fall equinoxes) when the equal-sunrise (or equal-sunset) time lines generally follow a “direct north-south orientation.
If the winter, the sun traverses the sky way below the equator. Thus, the equal-sunrise time line runs from Northeast to Southwest. In the Northern states, we lose far more sunlight that the people in the Sothern states.
The opposite occurs in winter. The sun traverses the sky way above the equator. Thus, the equal-sunrise time line runs from Southeast to Northwest. In the Northern states, we gain far more sunlight that the people in the Sothern states.
This took me completely by surprise when I moved to Phoenix after college.
So, people down south would really like to get that extra evening hour — it makes a difference for them. The loss of morning sunlight is not as big a deal.
Up here, we get plenty of sunlight in the evening without doing DST and the loss of sunlight in the morning is not really worth it. In the winter, it’s a absolute no-go concept.
The opposite occurs in summer
always double check before you hit the button
and close your tags while you’re at it.
The Ann Sothern states?
(Sorry)
The time zones definetly need shifting. For example where I’m at mountain to pacific zone needs to be shifted to be between mountain home and Boise. Why part of Oregon is in mountain time zone is stupid.
The north east should be in its own time zone shifted one eastern.
And DST needs to be made permanent.
People in hell want ice water too, their chance of getting what they want is about the same as everyone that wants a constant clock time
I saw a proposed time zone map that had EST start at NJ/PA with CST being a diagonal line from ME to TX.
If you abandon political boundaries as a starting point, it is quite easy to design effective time zones.
You have to set up a system where the average moron can figure it out. Even then your exceptional morons mess it up.
People whinge about sending their kids to school in the dark.
The real fucking problem is getting young kids to bed on a school night when the sun is still up.
The issue with schools are that government is in charge of it. Homeschool, let the market set the times for private schools.
Problem solved.
I used to teach art lessons to home schooled kids. They got a great education in just 3 hours a day. In public school most of the time is just wasted moving from room to room, taking breaks, passing out papers, etc. But maybe that is a more realistic model for people who only do about 45 minutes of real work every day.
There have been a few times this summer when I went to bed and the sun wasn’t quite set. It felt like a luxury. I guess this is a sign I’m old now.
I know that some city folks liked to take the frogs fishing. – in romania frogs are not much used for bait except for maybe catfish.
garter snake – i guess those are gifts for girl you like.
There has been a biological Revolution in my lifetime. – SUVs killin Gaia
That would be the purple helmeted trouser snake.
You use the French for fish bait?
That’s even harsh for me.
In the Northern states, we gain far more sunlight that the people in the Sothern states.
And above the artic circle, the sun travels around the horizon without going down. So what?
So what?
People who’ve never gotten north of the Maxon-Dixon line don’t seem to grok the concept.
I used to travel to Moscow on business — summer and winter. Moscow is as far north of Iowa as Iowa is above New Orleans.
You have to get up to St Petersburg to get to the white nights of summer, but Moscow gets pretty extreme too.
I’m in northern Idaho.
Want permanent DST.
Because I grok the issue.
When I was young we would catch gusteri – european green lizard in americanese. there was no actual hunting an no one under one score would have access to a rifle. In the woods we would see red deer and fallow deer and I glimpsed a lynx once. Now in the countryside where I grew up it seems the wild boar are getting out of hand and the brown bears are starting to make an appearance.
.
Every june the frogs are screaming their ass off in the lake by mom’s house. stupid frogs.
I see snakes and the water rat thing like back in the day. swans and ducks and coots and egrets and cormorants and herons. Newcomers are some weird golden ducks and some huge ass pigeons larger than normal pigeons. Foxes are rare. pheasants disappeared. birds are getting thinner as there is house building on previous fallow plots.
I’ve seen more foxes in the past 2 years than the previous 10.
I saw the first fox in over a decade this year.
It was roadkill
🦊😢
Coyotes moved into Eastern Iowa a decade or so ago when mange killed off a big portion of the fox population. They fill similar ecological niches.
We have coyotes and foxes here.
Far fewer foxes then yotes though. And the foxes tend to be more urban and in rougher, more vertical territory.
We live in a subdivision where everyone has a really big yard, and we’re on the edge of farm country. I think we’ve been here 18 years, and the wildlife has changed for sure. The first few years we never saw a rabbit, now they’re all over. Same with chipmunks (the little bastards). We used to have tree frogs all over the house, now there are just a few. Right now it’s all about the birds. I can sit outside with my bird ID app and it will find 10 or 12 different types in about 2 minutes, especially in the morning. Now we have a pair of Coopers Hawks living in the back yard, I guess they feed on smaller birds. It has been fun, and it’s probably a good sign that we keep getting different critters each year.
A Red squirrel showed up for the first time in my neighborhood this year.
They are common in town, a 10 miles drive and I’ve seen them at one farm between town and us.
When we first moved up here in 2012 there was one lonely Robbin in the neighborhood. Now there are a dozen or so.
In my early years grey squirrels were rare, reds were everywhere. The greys learned to eat pine cones and the trends have reversed.
We have a few local foxes, no chipmunks but the neighbors have a few, not like the old days. There are occasional reports of opossums, I’ve not seen any here but a few miles south are reporting them. ‘Possums are mostly hairless and don’t hibernate so they’re gonna to have a tough time surviving winter.
A couple bears in the neighborhood, one was casing my bee hives, he had an ‘accident’.
He’s swimming with the fishes?
Deep six
The possum was introduced to CA in the 20s. They have migrated north and east since then.
The furthest north east I have seen possum road kill as about a mile north of Dayton WA.
It gets pretty cold there.
Is this day dragging for the rest of you? It feels like they passed that law and added 4 hours to the day.
It wasn’t four – we went to a round thirty hours.
Yes
“Effective time zones”
How do you define effective? What is your supposed end goal? What time is Wapner on?
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/2079606543843037282
The thing that never happens, happened again (6,000 times).
Fuck NJ.
Not to worry, it’s illegal for them to vote, so I’m sure they were deterred.
Cato assures me that people who violated immigration law by their very arrival are more law abiding than native citizens, so I can’t imagine they would do something like cast an illegal ballot.
“And if it did happen, it’s a good thing that it happened.”
Oregon DMV and automatic voter registration. chuckles.
Anybody want to buy a house?
Baltimore woman says she inherited a $228,000 water bill tied to entire neighborhood
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/baltimore-woman-says-she-inherited-water-bill-tied-to-entire-neighborhood-homeowners-association-maryland-springwood-estates
Even if she manages to get the lien removed is the new buyer going to be providing water for the entire homeowner’s association?
Waterboard the HOA.
Funny which way the mistake went.
“These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/6600-noncitizens-registered-vote-nj-software-error-governor-says-rcna588524
“Was that wrong?”
The same software glitches could never happen on election day though. The companies with partisan ties who spend tens of millions of dollars on lobbying to secure their contracts to provide voting machines assure us that their entirely proprietary work product is invulnerable to error or manipulation. What incentive would they have to lie?