#i hate leaf blowers

[weepingfoxfury]

Winter is coming?

Beginning to think we should all check in with Sean Bean every so often.

As my friend put it on this sunny but freezing cold morning, "Thank goodness for that, thought there'd be no winter at all."

My Forsythia plant seems to have other ideas. Another nighttime ramble with Smallest Dog and another unexpected flower.

My friend also apologised for the amount of racket her leaf blower efforts had made the other day. I then smiled to myself as the rest of her message said that it had all been in vain anyway as the leaves were back to covering everything by the following morning.

Let the leaves fall where they may ...

[strangebiology]

[Poem] You Don't Have to Run in Rain

You don’t have to run in rain, or dash through heat or hail, When you use a treadmill you can stay inside, off trails. You don’t have to see the seasons change or feel the sun, Avoid the world, the hills, the friends, and never really run.

You don’t have to feed the cat or take her to the vet, When you buy a plush toy as your only furry pet. You don’t have to feel the warmth of someone you’re fond of, Avoid the purrs, the pets, the play, and never really love.

You don’t have to take the time to draw or paint or write, The AI does that for you in a minute on the site. You don’t have to search your soul or enter a flow state, Avoid new things and building skills; never really create.

You don’t have to see the world, to bond or build a life, Do it artificially and never feel the strife. Living with experience is nothing one must do, But what about the journey is so terrible to you?

[moonwoodhollow]

my neighbours definitely have too much money; their gardener comes more than 3 times a week and no matter the season he's always using a leaf blower because apparently you can't have fallen leaves on the grass or anywhere else in the garden!!

[justalilguyoops]

my enemy #1, my nemesis, the thing i despise more than anything in the world, it's fucking ON SIGHT, i hate hate hate it:

leaf blowers

[fionnaf1re]

[dykefungus]

I wish every leaf blower in existence a very DIE DIE EXPLODE DEATH DIE DIE DISINTEGRATE DIE DIE EXPLODE DIE DEATH DIE

[aroguexenolith]

What’s wrong with rakes. Why are we using leaf blowers when it’s been two days since the last time and there is a total of 18 leaves on the ground. Maybe some dirt.

Why are we cool with exclusively using noisy and polluting tools for something a rake and maybe also a broom are perfectly good for.

[modernmythic]

Me: Oh it's a beautiful, cool morning. I think I'll go enjoy the lovely weather and read a book outside where it is nice and quiet and the birds are singing and the sun is shining through the trees.

The lawn guys: :)

Me: Don't...

The lawn guys: :)

Me: Please don't...

The lawn guys:

The lawn guys: *LEAF BLOWER*

[stopfunkinwmyheart]

[maddiemuu]

LEAFBLOWER DIRECTLY OUTSIDE MY WINDOW YEA THIS IS HOW I WANTED TO START MY DAY. PERFECT. PEEERFECTTTTT

[weepingfoxfury]

Wind is picking up, orange and yellow weather warnings across the Emerald Isle. Time to batten the hatches, man the lifeboats and put on your water wings! There's leaves flying everywhere and I'm sincerely hoping to see some silly person using a leaf blower picked up by the next gust and blown into the next County! ;-D

In other news ... Busterson should be coming home today. Hooray! My biggest 7.7kg kitty cat has been staying at the 'Ritz' for the past two nights due to problems with an enlarged heart and fluid build up. Fingers crossed that he's now stable and his new medication will do the trick and he has some more happy days ahead of him ... though he still won't appreciate being on a diet.

Had to hit the shiny metropolis yesterday. Not fun at the best of times ... even less fun on a Friday. Busy, busy, busy! Halloween decorations to the left of me and Christmas decorations to the right ... next thing you know I'll be seeing the Easter bunny clad in a Valentine costume bringing me my post.

Time for this Victor Meldrew to sign off and go get breakfast ... wish me luck ... I may just find Santa Claus eating my porridge in the kitchen! ...

[everlocked]

why is the world so loud 😢

[crippled-peeper]

I hate leaf blowers. Shut the fuck up

[serxa]

THE PRINCE HAS TO LEARN THE HARD WAY — NINE

PART 2 PART 3

Word count: 2.1k

Summary: Telemachus took a stroll through the market one day, and accidentally broke one of the valuable selling items, which Penelope wasn't so happy about it, and made Telemachus apologize with a favor.

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Telemachus

Warnings: none!

Fun Fact, I got this idea from a post I made in an epic fan club community, they are all so nice there, and their ideas are so genuis! Hehe. I'll credit the people who gave me the idea after the story𝄞𝄞

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀, the same as any other prince. Yet, he's always imagined how could life be if he wasn't born royal. But he knew that life exists and it far away from here..

Telemachus was bored one day, not wanting to hear the suitors bickering, whispering and moping all around the palace. He hated that they treated his palace like it's their own.

He looked around his room and took his scarf, wearing it over his expensive tunics, and his gold leaf crown softly perched on the top of his curly dark brown hair. He looked at himself in the mirror, but he quickly took the crown off.

He didn't want to look a bit egotistical wearing the crown on a regular day stroll. He placed the crown back on his jewelry box, where his other rings, earrings, and crowns from the past years stay.

While Telemachus had his normal strolls in his parents kingdom, a few stores here and there. He skeemed through every single stand and store up and open. There were stores that sold tunics for cheap prices, on shop is a tailoring shop where him and his mother buys some of his tunics.

He glanced at two of the shops, and tried to decide where to skeem through. He realized that he and been in the more expensive shop loads of times, the shop having it's own doors and glass to display it's perfectly made tunics.

He glanced at the standee of the cheaper store, and noticed the man there waving a few customer to go and look at his shop. Telemachus smiled to see others actually coming towards the shop, but of course, there are others where they still go to the expensive ones. All in all, people who could afford go to the fancier tailoring shop.

He walked over to the shop with the cheap tunics and started to examine a few. The man that was tending to the shop, noticed Telemachus and lit up, excited that the prince was here. "Prince! Hey, you looking through here?" He smiled, noticing Telemachus. He immediately got flustered when the man selling them was trying to bribe him to buy a few.

Telemachus was running his hands through the fabric. "Yes, I am.." He folded the tunic and placed them back on the small table where it used to be. "Must take a while to make these.." He murmured as he looked at the others.

"Yeah, but.. That's what you gotta do to get you some money." The old man said as he started counting the money he had saved up. "Gonna buy anythin'?" The man asked before folding a few more tunics. "No, sir.. Just looking around.." Telemachus gave a small awkward smile.

"Yeah, if ever you want to check a few more of my sells, my shop is always here." He invited, making Telemachus nodded. "I'll take a note of that." He said politely. Telemachus then turned his heel and continued to skeem through the other shops.

Wooden toys, music boxes, wheats and flour, chitons and travel clothing, all in display for others to buy and to look through. But he stopped infront of one particular shop.

It was a glass and clay shop, where they sold vases with intricate designs, water pitchers with different kinds of colors, and glass display toys of swans, owls, wolves and other sorts of animals. He was amazed that glass blowers had the power to manage to make these.

A few of the animals and vases also had a clay version, it being dried and colored with the same designs and intricate look on them. Telemachus was busy gushing to himself about how pretty they looked. He took one of the glass swans and looked at the price.

He looked up and saw a young girl, maybe around his age, tending the shop. "Hello. Interested?" She smiled softly, as she continued to sculpt the clay to an Eagle's head.

"Uh-.. Yeah, actually. These look really nice." He smiled softly. The two quickly turned back to their own business. Telemachus was looking at a few more of the glass and clay animals, before suddenly..

SHATTER

Telemachus flinched and so did the girl who was tending the shop. "Oh! No no no!" She panicked, holding her face. She looked at Telemachus who was quick to scramble and get the pieces. "I'm sorry! I didn't tend to!" He apologized, keeping his head low as he gestured toward the shattered glass.

The girl took the glass and threw it away to prevent any other people to get hurt. "I'm sorry- I can pay-" Telemachus rambled and the girl just raised a dismissive hand. "Yeah, sure.. It's just.. Yeah, just pay for it." She sighed, making Telemachus even more guilty.

He gave the amount he needed to pay and just fled away, too embarrassed to even stay in the market anymore. A few people stars at him after seeing the whole issue that just happened, which made him hurry his feet back to the palace.

Meanwhile, Penelope was in the market also, witnessing the whole happening as she bought a few fabrics and yarn for her to weave with. When she saw Telemachus rush away from the market, she trailed her eyes to the young girl.

The girls father walked out from the back, and started scolding her for something she didn't do. "I told you to be careful!" He yelled at her. The girl just shrunk in embarrassment as her father raised his voice in front of everyone in the market, feeling the same embarrassment Telemachus might feeling.

The girl tried to open her mouth to explain it wasn't her fault, but her father threw a dismissive look, giving her a warning if she spoke up, he'll do something he might regret. The girl stayed silent, her head down, her hair covering her face.

"One more mistake like that, and I'll make you blow the glass to experience how hard it is to make the glass decorations!" His father yelled before turning his back away and walked to the back, where Penelope guessed where they make the glass creations.

Penelope kept a low head as she started to dart off to the castle, holding the small bag full of fabrics and yarns she would use later on.

Telemachus then walked up the steps of the palace, and walking in, nodding to the guards in front of the palace as he walked in as a small thank you for working.

Once he was inside, he tried his best to not notice the suitors so he would get teased, and quickly went to the garden, where there's a few trees and plants the servants and gardeners take great care of. He looked around, to see if there we're any servants working.

When he made sure no one was there with him, he relaxed and stretched his back. He laid down on the grass patch under a tree. As he started to play with the grass, flowing his hand through them, Penelope suddenly walked in.

"Telemachus, what was the whole issue at the market?" She said, her tone scolding, making Telemachus shuffle to his feet, opening his mouth to explain, but just let out stutters like 'uhm-, well-, I'

Penelope stared at her son before sighing. "Fix your self, we're going back there." She stated, making Telemachus' heart beat really face, to the point he can hear it. "But- Mother- I'm embarrassed enough! I said sorry- I-"

"You we'rent the one that was screamed at in the market, come on, you're apologizing to her. Again." Penelope tugged at Telemachus' arm as she dragged him out the palace like she was dragging out a kid having a tantrum.

"Mother- I already paid- and I can't dare to look at her in the eyes anymore!" He covered his eyes with his free hand as his mother pulled him down the steps of the palace. He also covered his eyes to not see the smug looks on the suitors after taking accountability that Telemachus was in trouble.

Oh those suitors always wished bad things upon the young prince. But once they were outside, he uncovered his eyes and looked over at his mother. "Mother- please don't make me-" Penelope cut him off.

"Not every mistake is fixed by money, Telemachus. You have to know that." Penelope scolded, making Telemachus' shoulders sag, like a hurt puppy.

When Penelope and Telemachus made it to the shop, the girl immediately got to her feet once she saw the queen. "Your majesty-" she started, before Penelope cut her off with a small smile and dismissive, yet soft wave.

"No need to call me that right now. I just went here so my son, Telemachus, will say sorry." She reassured, making the girl look over at Telemachus who was shuffling on his feet, his face flushed, looking anywhere but her in embarrassment as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

"Oh- It's alright- really." The girl smiled softly. "You're really nice.. What's your name?" Penelope smiled softly, making her blush. "Y/n, Lady Penelope." I said softly. She nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well, Y/n, I hope that Telemachus can repay you by working here in the shop for a few days, just so he would know how it feels to work, and that everything isn't fixed by money." Penelope explained. After heard her explanation, Telemachus perked up and panicked a bit. "Wait- I'm going to work here?" He blushed even more, not knowing if it's because he'd be working with the girl he just embaressed himself to, or because of the weight of working all day.

"I.. Well.. I might have to talk to my dad about that.. Just, wait here." Y/n said softly as she dusted her hands off that were covered in clay on her apron. "Take your time." Penelope smiled softly before Y/n rushed to the back.

"But mom- I can't even do pottery- let alone glass blowing!" Telemachus panicked. "Well then, you'll be working here until you learn both skills perfectly. And, it's a big opportunity for you to have more friends of your age." She said, indicating to Y/n, making Telemachus blush a bit. He didn't know why he was so flustered, yet he just hit his own face before closing his eyes and sighing.

Y/n and her father went back our to Penelope and Telemachus, and her father and Penelope started arranging and planning a schedule for Telemachus. Telemachus just stayed there next to his mother, not wanting to look at Y/n.

But he started to take small glances at her. Her hair cascaded down her face, as it was also up in a bun and her forearms covered in drying clay she would have to clean later. She was wearing a black apron where there were smears of drying clay also. He quickly pulled his gaze away when Penelope called his name.

"Telemachus, you'll be working here until you have learned the skills of pottery, and Y/n here will help you. And of course, you have to sell them." Penelope said softly, as she pointed at the other pottery displayed.

Telemachus hummed and sighed, knowing there was no escape now. But.. At the same time. He thought of how he would get to know this daughter of a merchant. Or even if she wants to tell him about herself or vice versa.

He started to feel a sense of dread, of what if she hates him because of what he did with the creations her family had made. He quickly shook his head and payed attention to his mother again. "You'll be working at 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon." She stated, keeping a high stance.

Telemachus just nodded again, before looking over at Y/n. She smiled softly, which made Telemachus soften up a bit. Atleast she's showing she's welcome. "You'll attend tomorrow, okay?" Penelope stated. "In the mean time, let's buy you a tunic you can wear for this kind of job. You can wear your silk one." She told to Telemachus as Y/n's father went back to the back fo their shop.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Telemachus." Y/n mumbled softly before waving bye to the two as Penelope dragged her son to the cheap store that sold tunics. The same store Telemachus was skeeming through.

Y/n sighed and continued her work, he hands worked on the vases she was planning to make. Meanwhile, Telemachus was looking at the tunics, feeling how soft the cheap fabric that was used. "Let's get you the normal brown one." Penelope stated.

"Little prince finally bought a tunic." The guy who was selling, smiled, as he took the money from Penelope and put the tunic in her bag of fabrics and yarns. Telemachus just chuckled awkwardly along. "Uh huh.." He rubbed the nape of his neck.

He started to follow his mother back to the palace afterwards, but he still continued to think of the possibilities he might have with Y/n...

Part 2

Again, Idea from: @grayed-pages and @fablehaven-rulez

[contritecactite]

Since @fandomtrumpshate starts up again soon, I thought I would babble a bit about my experience last year! Specifically, let's chat about podficcing. A nice and arbitrary 9 reasons to do the thing below the cut!

Thing 1: It's so much fun! I am bouncing up and down at the prospect of doing it again. In fact, I am planning to offer a slot for any fandom this year rather than just ones I'm familiar with!

Thing 2: Nobody was bothered by how amateurish my readings are, how basic my recordings were, or by the extra whistle and sibilance and mouth sounds that sneaked in. Nobody was annoyed that I don't do accents or intense voicework/character voices. It's something I want to improve in the future, but it's really not necessary—reading a fanwork aloud is first and foremost about making it accessible in a new format. Anything else is just icing!

Thing 3: People who want their works read are going to be communicative! The folks I worked with last year were happy to go back and forth until we decided which works were the best fit for me, and they were happy to answer my questions about how to read/interpret certain lines, etc. It was so much fun to toss around idea with them (even if we didn't end up using them all)!

Thing 4: This is a zero-entry-cost hobby (assuming you already have a device of some sort to read fic in the first place). You don't need fancy equipment and software. You can get the job done with an inbuilt audio recording app on your phone, and if you're in a quiet and non-echoey place, it can sound just as good as something made with a dedicated mic and such. Don't let "but I don't have a recording space" hold you back! Sit in your favorite chair and put your phone by your face while you read me a story. That's really all you gotta do.

Thing 5: In direct contrast... it is a good excuse to dip a toe into gear and software. There are lots of fairly cheap suitable microphones, and Audacity is free. I recorded one short fic via three different methods just to troubleshoot for fun!

Thing 6: You don't have to get it right the first time! (Or second or third or...) I save outtakes (profanity warning!) for the creators whose work I read. Sometimes a cat walked in and told me a mournful tale at top volume. Sometimes the neighbors turned on a leaf blower. You can even get silly with it on purpose if you need to warm yourself up! I do a lot of yelling "this is so silly and I am so embarrassed!" into the mic before I try a serious read.

Thing 7: You get to spend so much time with a work and its characters! You're gonna read that thing so many times to make decisions and to alert yourself to what's coming next. You'll be able to recite it around a campfire and it'll feel cozy and familiar (or, you know, extra painful if it's heavily angsty).

Thing 8: If you play things back and tweak them as often as I did, it goes a long way toward getting past hating the sound of your own voice or feeling disconnected from recordings of yourself. I've always been so so shy and hesitant to speak aloud in real-life conversations. I won't claim that I'm completely over any of those things, but spending time getting familiar with what I sound like in an objective, task-oriented setting has helped me learn to listen for my own vocal cues when I'm feeling too overwhelmed to process other kinds of feedback. I'm much more aware of what my uncertainty sounds like, for example, and am better able to cover for it now.

Thing 9: If you're also a writer as I am, it helps you look at your own writing through a new lens! I have been known to write 50+-word sentences, but now I (sometimes) stop to consider the punctuation breaks. How readable is this paragraph? Where would I take a breath if I were reading? Where would the emphasis naturally end up and how do I change that of it's not what I wanted?

I think people who are Better At Things might not necessarily have all the same experiences I shared here, but personally, I'm grateful for the opportunity, and I look forward to doing it again!

Here are the works I read for FTH last year:

Evil Plans by Sodium_Azide

The Night The World Didn't End by Aethelflaed

and the one that belongs to the earlier outtakes:

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by my dear friend QuothTheMaiden, who still seems to like me just fine even though there's a terrible whine behind the whole thing (this was the troubleshooting fic btw. Software updated and defaulted to the wrong device, but I picked the better read over the better sound quality in the end).

[uncleasad]

top ten favorite hosie fics of all time, go

What a fun Ask! 🙏 Also, are you trying to kill me?! 😂

A few weeks ago, TheDarkestHour13 introduced the concept of Hope and Rafael keeping a list of “Landon’s Top 10 deaths” in Such Is Our Fate. I commented that that particular chapter (for reasons other than the deaths list) was a Top 10 chapter of the fic, though I also noted I didn’t have an actual list of my Top 10 chapters—there were approximately 120 chapters at that point. I also thought, in a related manner, that I didn’t have a “Top 10” list of Hosie fics…and perhaps that should have been my cue to start thinking about such a thing 😂

As of late June 2024 CE, there are nearly 2600 fics in the AO3 Hosie tag and I’ve been reading since the latter part of 2019…so I’ve probably read ½ to ⅔ of them…

I came up with 7 fics right away, but as I started to make links and such, I realized that 5 of those were incomplete (ongoing, but mostly either rarely updated or, practically speaking, abandoned); I don’t know what it says about me that my “top ten favorite hosie fics of all time” is full of fics that may never be finished.

But in terms of recommendations for reading, I know lots of folks will not want to start reading a work that hasn’t been updated in years and has a high likelihood of never being finished, no matter how amazing it is (or how much someone else liked it). And even for ones that are currently ongoing, it’s possible (though unlikely) that the author could do something crazy to make me hate the fic later on. So I thought I’d spin off all those works that were incomplete into a separate list and come up with 10 favorite finished fics…I could mamage that, right? As I started trying to do that…nope, that’s not done, either; that’s been abandoned 😳 oh, what about that fic? wow, how did I forget that one?! (Like I said, are you trying to kill me?! 😂)

So…to save my life (and to stop spending hours upon hours on this), the end result is about 30 fics all-told, completed and incomplete. (I further subdivided the incomplete fics into those that are updated at least once every few months and those that…aren’t 😢) They’re ordered roughly by time, with the earlier/older fics towards the tops of the lists and the more recent ones (mostly) towards the ends of the lists. Two of the fics on the “Completed” list had promised an epilogue that has never appeared, but you can read the entire story arc, so I think it’s fair to label them as complete.

So without further ado…

Completed:

it's a date (the only problem is it's fake) by avengerskye / @avengerskye

Coffee on Monday, Flowers on Friday by Redezzy

The Missing Piece by intribridsname 

slept next to her but I dreamt of you all summer long by hackingxbiochemist

what you got (cause I want it all) by ToriWritesStories / @toriwritesstories

summer lovin' had me a blast (wait, no, that's just the leaf-blower) by AdeleDazeem

Our Last Life by taengoo1 / @taengooxlove

I'll Never Give Up Hope by O_M_Jee

HM+JS by tellingtouch

Invisible String by luthorbae

Then why's it feel so good? by callipoicepole (Killing Eve AU)

This Is Your Home by Shadowmama55 / @shadowhuntermama

Shivers (A Lifetime of crimes, but the worst was loving you.) by ch8rlie

The Stages of Grief by endgamesonly

'tis the damn season. by wandererghost (complete, though promised epilogue still outstanding)

Lizzie Saltzman, Matchmaker by TheNutcase (complete, though promised epilogue still outstanding)

In-Progress – still updating regularly or at least every few months:

Such Is Our Fate by TheDarkestHour13 / @persevereforahappyending (updated every Friday)

The Power Field by Joho_meh

4 Years, 6 Months, 8 Days by Limon_Skittles

To Know My Heart The Best (You’d Have To Cut It Out My Chest) by mambaregz

Incomplete – rarely updated, on hiatus, or orphaned:

Dive bar on the east side by Bluejay720 (7 chapters to go)

summer rush by sabrinasfadingmoon / @sabrinasfadingmoon (incomplete)

im not gonna let you go so easily by allweseeislight (1 chapter to go 🤞)

'tis the damn season by blckmaqic, LizMikaelson (1 chapter to go 🤞)

Redemption by MysticSlurp (Red Dead Redemption AU, incomplete)

Sad Bedroom Eyes by EvilPenguinRika / @evilpenguinrika (on hiatus)

Hell Hath No Fury by ElegiesEulogizeMe (Ringer AU, 6 chapters to go)

the stages of waking by dandelionlighters / @dandelionlighters (incomplete)

let’s watch it all burn down together by iris_on_the_moon (zombie apocalypse; orphaned)

A number of the authors are no longer active in writing Hosie fics (not surprising in 2024, considering), but many of them (including the authors of the incomplete works I like) have substantial catalogs, so if you read and enjoy one of these, be sure check that author’s list of other works (and of course leave kudos and comments! 🙏)

—

If anyone would like to see other fics I’ve enjoyed, there’s the fic recommendation tag here on my tumblr that captures a few from the last couple of years, and I also have a few AO3 collections of specific themes/subjects:

Hosie Zombie Apocalypse (HosieZombieApocalypse)

Hosie Summertime Vibes (SummeryHosie)

Hosie Season 2 “What If?” (Hosie_Season_2_What_If)

Hosie Post-Season 4 (Hosie_Post_Season_4)

Sorry I couldn’t get it down to 10, @tribridsireline 😂 But I hope everyone reading finds something new and exciting to read!