#living under the compost pile

[headspace-hotel]

Tree stuff

Most trees should outlive you. If a landscaper tells you the lifespan of a tree is 10 years, they don't know what they're talking about.

Trees are free. Carefully comb over your yard for baby trees, especially in mid-spring!

Similarly, If you live near a gravel driveway or gravel parking lot, you can find baby tree sprouts that can be easily transplanted by gently removing the gravel bits from around the roots, wrapping the roots in wet paper towel, and transplanting to a large pot.

Do not pile up mulch around the base of a tree. You can mulch under the tree, but it should be a mostly flat layer, not a raised mound, and keep the mulch a few inches away from touching the trunk. Roots need some access to air or the tree will grow roots upward through the mulch, and the roots will slowly wrap around the trunk and strangle the tree to death. It's called root girdling and it is very sad.

Trees need friends!!! If possible, plant two or three trees instead of just one. Trees share nutrients through the mycorrhizal network and they protect each other from storm damage.

Always get a tree that is native to your area and suited to your local environment.

Growing an oak from an acorn is easy. Go to an area where there are oaks in the fall, and collect the acorns that have turned brown and whose hats have popped off. Get large pots at least 8 inches depth, and lay the acorns on their sides on top of the potting soil, then cover them with a layer of damp fallen leaves, and leave them outside all winter long. Just be sure to cover them with some wire mesh or something to protect them from squirrels

Please keep oaks and other large trees about 20 feet from any structure because they will grow huge. Websites will tell you to keep trees X distance away from "structures or other trees" but other trees can go as little as 6-10 feet apart whereas structures need to be like 15 feet away minimum, generally speaking

Prune the tree while it's dormant, NOT in the middle of summer!

If you happen to be from the Eastern United States, please consider getting an oak! They are keystone species and host plants for literally hundreds of insects. We have too many maples here too, so maybe consider a Sweetgum or Black Gum for pretty fall colors?

If you have a tree that's tied to a stake to keep it upright, get rid of that thing as soon as you can, particularly if there's zip ties holding it to the tree, because those can grow into the bark and kill the tree...

If your tree is dead, please consider cutting off the branches and leaving at least 6-10 feet or so of trunk standing. Dead tree snags like this are important nesting places for many birds and you might see a woodpecker

If you live in North America, whatever you do, do NOT get anything marketed as an "ornamental flowering pear tree." They're typically Pyrus calleryana, and they're virulently invasive

Bugs eating a few holes in the leaves of your tree? Good for them! (They aren't hurting the tree unless they're like, fully skeletonizing it, and they're just the caterpillars of butterflies and moths. Want Luna moths or Tiger Swallowtail butterflies? Let the caterpillars eat their dinner mmkay.)

Don't throw away the fallen leaves! Butterflies, moths, stick bugs, lightning bugs, ladybugs, and many other insects hibernate the winter in the fallen leaves. Use them as mulch for flower beds, compost them, or just leave them alone! You'll probably want to stop mowing after the leaves fall if you'd like to see bugs.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Open Your Home to the Common House Centipede

A common sight in homes throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia the common house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) is a medium-sized species of centipede originally from the Mediterranean. In the wild, they prefer grasslands and deciduous forests where they can hide under rocks, logs, or leaf litter. These insects have also adapted well to urban development, and are frequently found in basements, bathrooms, and garages,  as well as gardens and compost piles.

Like other centipedes, the common house centipede has less than 100 legs; in fact, they only have 15 pairs, with the front pair used only for holding prey or fending off threats. All those legs let the common house centipede move up to 0.4 meters per second (1.3 ft/s) over a variety of surfaces, including walls and ceilings. The actual body of S. coleoptrata is only 25 to 35 mm (1.0 to 1.4 in) long, but the antennae are often as long as the body which can give this insect a much larger appearance. However, they can be hard to spot, especially in their natural environments; their tan and dark brown coloration allows them to blend in seamlessly to surrounding vegetation.

Though they pose little threat to humans, house centipedes are predatory. Their primary food source is other arthropods, including cockroaches, silverfish, bed bugs, ticks, ants, and insect larvae. S. coleoptrata is a nocturnal hunter, and uses its long antennae to track scents and tactile information. Their compound eyes, unusual for centipede species, can distinguish daylight and ultraviolet light but is generally used as a secondary sensory organ. When they do find prey, house centipedes inject a venom which can be lethal in smaller organisms, but is largely harmless to larger animals. This makes them important pest controllers. In the wild, house centipedes are the common prey of rodents, amphibians, birds, and other insects.

The mating season for S. coleoptrata begins in the spring, when males and females release pheromones that they can use to find each other. Once located, the male spins a silk pad in which he places his sperm for the female to collect. She then lays fertilized eggs in warm, moist soil in clutches of 60-150. These eggs incubate for about a month, and the young emerge with only four pairs of legs. Over the next three years, juvenile house centipedes molt 7 times, each time gaining new pairs of legs. After they grow their last pair of legs, immature house centipedes molt an additional 3 times, at which time they become sexually mature. If they can avoid predation, individuals can live up to 7 years in the wild.

Conservation status: The common house centipede has not been evaluated by the IUCN, as it is relatively common both in the wild and in urban areas. Although they have been introduced to areas outside their native range, no detrimental environmental effects have been associated with their spread.

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Photos

Joseph Berger

David Paul

Conrad Altman via iNaturalist

[balkanradfem]

I'm looking for a new roommate, so I had to spend a few days cleaning and arranging the apartment to look like a normal person lives there. I'm not just talking about being messy (although I am), but also about all of the ...slightly odd stuff I have going on. Like, piles of nettle drying everywhere, newspapers with seeds drying on every desk, herbs hanging from odd places, my pumpkins, apples, and zuchinni on the floor, my balcony being a drying station, odd plants growing in pots that are absolutely not balcony plants, and then all the tools and resources for my various projects, like bunch of branches on the balcony for making baskets, bags of clay under the desk for my next clay project, bunch of fabric and used clothing meant for sewing.

It's screaming 'odd weirdo lives here' and I have to look at every of these situations and go 'okay, what would a normal person do', so I sigh, gather all my apples and put them in a fruit bowl. Even though I'm absolutely not going to keep my apples in a fruit bowl, are you serious? They're rotting faster in there, they're crushing each other, and I can't see each one individually to know which one to eat first because its going bad. It's colder on the floor so they stay fresh faster! And they're not touching each other there so they can't spread the bacteria if one of them starts being sick.

I put my pumpkins on the counter, put a purple blanket over the couch and my new halloween pillow, put all of my seeds into little envelopes and mark them, store all my jars with preserves in the basement, take the compost to the garden, tell fruit fleas to go elsewhere, change my sheets, wash all the windows and curtains, put up fall decorations, so the apartment looks like an aesthetic and pleasant space where nothing ever gets done except sleeping.

So, I do all that, and I'm supposed to show it to a woman, and I got a call from a 65 year old woman who wondered if I would mind to live with someone her age. And I don't mind! I immediately tell her that age is a non issue and she's welcome to move in if she likes the place. So she comes by train, and I go meet her at the train station to show her around.

I could tell immediately she's of poor health; she's walking slowly and very careful with the stairs, she tells me about her hips problems (which by now I understand all women get), she tells me about various therapies she's been in, how she has heart issues as well, and will maybe get a pacemaker. I'm patient and careful to not walk too fast, I express concern and sympathy for her health issues. She's not particularly listening to me when I speak, she interrupts me to say something else. She tells me she's gotten divorced a few years ago, and I express approval.

She loves the apartment, and assures me she's going to move in. I explain that in order to have the place reserved for her specifically, I'd need her to leave any kind of small deposit of her choice, which I had to feature because lots of people say they're going to move in, and then disappear forever, and I'm in financial trouble if I kept the place reserved. She's irritated that I'm suspicious of her, and I explain I am not at liberty to trust someone's word, because I could get in trouble that way. She combats this by saying this thing is 100% certain because she says so, and I'm insistent on 'we'll see'.

So then I ask, if you are moving in, for how long would you stay? And she looks at me and hesitates, and then tells me she has this boyfriend in America, and they've been talking for 4 years, and he will maybe come for her in a month or so, and then if he decides that she's up to his standards, he might take her back with her. I'm frozen for a second, because that is ... degrading (up to his standards?!) so I go 'okay, so what you're saying is that the future is uncertain' and she realizes that I don't like this entire thing, so she goes 'oh he's 100% not going to come' and now I'm even more confused, because I know that if it was 100%, she wouldn't have even mentioned it. She kept pressing me to believe her word again, but I stayed firm on 'uncertain'.

And I'm just disappointed. I expect women who have lived and struggled and divorced to be wise and sure in themselves! Whenever I get a chance to find a roommate older than me, I dream of the possibilities of learning from her, of asking her about her life and experience and skills and wisdom, but I never manage to find that. Usually women I do try to win over are tangled in some male drama that don't allow them to move forward, and keep them pressed on the idea that the male will resolve their life situations, if only they manage to 'fit his standards', and I know it's not the truth, I know it's not reality. How is the society capable of taking wisdom out of women like this? And their self worth? I can't imagine contemplating if I'm fitting some male standards. Insane that women can be fooled into thinking like this!

So I don't know if the woman will move in or not, but I am worried about having to listen about the ill-mannered american male instead of having her tell me stories about her life and her perspective on it.

[crevicedwelling]

do you have any tips on finding pseudoscorpions? despite their apparent ubiquity i’ve never seen one in many years of looking under rocks and logs. perhaps i am simply overlooking them due to their size.

size & season, I find that (in my northeastern US) early spring is a great time to find chthoniids and every piece of wood has several to dozens beneath it but they disappear when it gets too hot. I’ve also had a compost pile with lots of cardboard in it, and chernetids would live between the decaying sheets of cardstock in the hundreds, it was wonderful…

if in the tropics, they’re just about everywhere but they can take some looking. try under bark but don’t pull too much bark off of live or dead trees, that’s someone’s home

[pleistocene-pride]

Scutigera coleoptrata better known as the house centipede is a species of centipede that is native to the Mediterranean but has since spread/ been introduced to much of Europe, Australia, Asia, North America, and South America. House centipedes prefer to live in cool, damp places as centipede respiratory systems do not provide any mechanism for shutting the spiracles, and thus means they are easily susceptible to dehydration and hypothermia/ frost bite. As such house centipedes can be found under large rocks, fallen logs, wood piles, dense leaf litter, compost heaps, garden beds, and in buildings such as barns, sheds, cellars, garages, and basements. These nocturnal hunters primarily feed upon on spiders, bed bugs, termites, cockroaches, wasps, silverfish, ants, and other arthropods. To capture prey they either jump onto it or use their legs in a technique described as "lassoing", in which they use both their mandibles and their legs for holding prey, enabling them to capture multiple small bugs at the same time. They administer venom through forcipules. These are not part of their mandibles, so strictly speaking they sting rather than bite. Reaching around 1 to 1.4 inches (25 to 35mm) in body length, and 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100mm) in total length, house centipedes have a rigid body with long antennae, well-developed faceted eyes, and up to 15 pairs of legs. Its body is yellowish-grey and has three dark dorsal stripes running down its length; the legs also have dark stripes. Breeding occurs in the spring, and a female house centipede will lay 63 to 151 eggs. As with many other arthropods, the larvae look like miniature versions of the adult, albeit with fewer legs. Young centipedes have four pairs of legs when they are hatched. They gain a new pair with the first molting, and two pairs with each of their five subsequent moltings. Under ideal conditions a house centipede will reach sexual maturity after 3 years of age and may live upwards of 7.

[imababblekat]

This is Sheldon 😂 he’s an endangered gopher tortoise who showed up one day in 2022 (I think he was barely one because is was spring-summer time and mother gopher tortoises have been observed allowing their young to take shelter in their burrows over the winter) when I was replanting stuff in my greenhouse and he went straight for the old lettuce plants I threw in a compost “pile” by the greenhouse (they were starting to flower which turns their sap from clean to white and is gets sour). After that he went around and dug his burrow on the other side of my fence. He is still there and is about 3 ? I think and currently has been working semi weekly hole under my fence so he doesn’t have to walk all the way to the gate to go under. Occasionally we will get droughts and most of my grass and even the weeds will die off so I’ll occasionally sprinkle stuff randomly in my yard during those times of year for him to find when foraging to supplement his diet but I don’t want him to be reliant on me or too used to people. My recent ongoing project is to find native plants that gopher tortoises like to eat and plant them in my yard in accessible areas for him to find on his own. (Sorry for the very long adhd tortoise ramble 😅😂).

Ooooooh my goodneeeesss!!! Look at him scoots and him lil face!!! He is so stinking cute! And can I say how I absolutely love how he's just living his best life if your back yard like an un official pet of sorts! Where I'm from we got rattlesnakes, tarantulas, you name it, but nothing like this! I can't even imagine having a rattlesnake in my backyard that I'd just occasionally give some food or water lol XD

You're very lucky to have such a cute lil wild buddy, and he's very luck to have an adopted human such as you to help him out in hard times; he just a lil guy （；´д｀）ゞ

[writingrosesonneptune]

Pelican Queen/Rain Summoner Excerpt

Series Introduction

Here's the first half of Han's introductory chapter!

Art by @drawingrosesonneptune

Scene Summary: Han is a child laborer who doubles as a workplace spy for his employers. Here, he is receiving his next assignment. Approx. 1400 Words.

Content Warning for brief mention of death and corporal punishment, and some references to war and xenophobia.

Han let his gaze wander all around the somber halls of Dol's castle. He had worked in the barley field for a month, but no one had summoned him inside until today.

The great hall was narrower than he expected. He took in every sharp, unfriendly stone and the patchy spider webs overlooked by housekeeping. Long wooden tables lined the cramped walkway, decorated by a crowd of urns. Han’s imagination filled them with the ashes of Dol’s family.

The distinct sound of a bird flapping its wings echoed overhead. Han stepped under the thorny arm of a potted vine to avoid the bird as it passed, moving carefully away from the thorns as soon as the coast was clear. Standing so close to them made him uneasy.

The vines climbed from elegant brass pots in rows all along the hall. They looked like giant versions of the weeds Han spent his days pulling out of the barley field.

They weren’t the usual quiet, well-mannered sort of vines Han stepped over in the woods when he and his neighbors went foraging for blueberries. Ages ago, when Han’s parents were young and unwed, Dol received a gift of great power from a spirit. With it, he had once covered his castle in a blanket of thorns and defended the granary in a siege Han’s neighbors still whispered about.

Not much was known about spirits, but they were rumored to be a picky, malicious lot. Han’s father was petrified of them and said they were ghosts who had stayed too long in the world of the living.

The door was ajar when Han tiptoed past Dol’s counting room. He stopped and leaned close to the gap to peek inside. It was a dark room with few furnishings and only one small window. The faint, bitter odor of freshly turned earth and compost clung to the walls.

A fine-robed figure hunched over a desk in the shadows, groaning and mumbling as if doomed to eternal toil. Dol was wrinkled and pale, and his beard hung in a mossy braid over his chest. His wrinkled hands worked with small, shining piles in front of him. The soft clink of money told Han the old warlord was counting his coins.

Han liked to investigate. Damion, Lord Dol’s scribe, paid him two extra salt coins a week to do so. At not-quite-nine, he was already earning more than either of his parents.

Oddly, he had yet to accrue a reputation as Dol's stooge. Mostly, he just asked the other workers what they were about and reported their uninteresting responses to Damion. It wasn’t much of an investigation.

What Han preferred was sleuthing through Dol’s grounds. It was a green, sprawling place with gloomy corners and outside cellar doors that seemed to lead to nowhere. He often spent as much time as he could getting ‘lost’ between completing assignments and reporting back to Damion.

Once, he found a hall underground that seemed to stretch on forever, but the daylight only reached so far, and he knew better than to ask for a light of his own to explore it. The trickling sound of dirt shifting further in returned to him now and then when he was trying to fall asleep some nights. He wondered what use Dol made of a cellar like that.

Dol cleared his throat, wrenching Han out of his daydreams. His voice was hoarse and irritable. “Is that you wasting time out there, Damion?”

Han backed away from the door and hurried across the cramped walkway. He hid beside another of the potted vines in case Dol came out to punish him.

A door creaked open at the end of the hall. Damion’s flushed, square head emerged to glare at Han. “Come away from there, you fool.”

Han left the twisting shadow of the vine and followed Damion to a crooked room full of covered up furniture. He grabbed Han’s freckled hand and swatted it with the leather-bound account book he always carried at his side. “If I catch you wandering about like that again, I’ll send you back to work in the barley. Lord Dol doesn’t need any more cause to complain.”

Han hid his hands behind his back and stood straighter. “Yes, sir.”

Damion was none too tall, but he stood like a pillar in front of Han. His white-knuckled fingers held tight to the account book. He only seemed to write in it when he was frustrated, and Han was convinced he had filled it with insults directed at Dol and his many workers.

Damion snapped his fingers when he noticed Han’s attention had strayed. “I understand you know the errand girl who goes to market for Lord Dol.” His gaze was accusatory. “Is that so?”

Han chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I'm not in trouble for something she did, am I?”

Irritation conjured wrinkles between Damion's eyebrows. “Answer the question.”

Han took a small step back in case Damion decided to smack him with the book again. “She’s a neighbor in my father’s hamlet down the way.”

“Good,” Damion said. He didn’t sound any more pleased than he had before. “She won’t find it odd if you approach her. She’s been late returning these last few weeks. Lord Dol is prepared to pay you three salt coins to go and find out why.”

“Three?” Han was paid half a salt coin each day to rip weeds out of the field. The two extra a week bought him and his father each a fine dinner of sparrow and onions poached from Dol’s forest. Three salt coins for one day's work? He could hardly believe his fortune.

Damion didn’t seem to think much of the offer. “If it takes you the better part of the day to find her, you may forego your duties in the field," he said, a prospect that thrilled Han to no end. "Look at me. Under no circumstances are you to let her know we sent you.”

“What if she’s only meeting a sweetheart? Will I still get three coins?”

“If that's all, she’ll have her wages docked. She can be in love on her own time.”

Han’s interest rose. “Do you figure it’s something else?”

Damion’s forehead creased in unease. He was starting to look older than his forty years, a number he'd complained endlessly about the month before. “There are tales coming in from the countryside. Invaders from Isulfr. They send interlopers ahead and compromise towns before they strike. People one has known all one’s life begin acting strangely. The next thing one knows, one and one’s neighbors go missing in the night.” Damion dabbed under his chin with a square of lace. “I won’t have that happening here.”

Han cleared his throat. “Where did Lord Dol send her today?”

“To the capital. But she’s gone and disappeared in the hamlet’s direction again.” Damion tucked an ash-blond curl under his velvet cap. “I had one of the sentries watch her from the tower.”

A chill ran up Han’s spine. “The sentries? Do they mean to shoot her?”

Damion narrowed his eyes. “If she’s been dealing with invaders, we’ll want her alive for questioning. They can sentence her in the capitol.”

A cold, fuzzy feeling overtook Han's arms and legs. He opened his mouth to ask if they would really send Dagny to the capital's mercy just for talking to someone, but Damion knocked him on the head with the leather book.

“Don’t concern yourself with the details. Get a move on if you wish to see any wages today.”

Dizzy, Han scrambled out of the room with conflicting visions of crossbow bolts firing out of the tower and a string full of salt coins swirling in his head. He didn’t know what to make of Damion’s talk of invaders.

Han had grown up getting gossip from Dol’s errand girl. She was the closest thing he had to a friend his age, and she was ten years his senior. He couldn’t imagine her sneaking off to chat with invaders all day.

He was so enveloped by worry, he walked into one of Dol’s vines. A white-hot sting in his arm nettled him into the present. He looked down. One of the thorns had pierced his sleeve.

He stepped back and tried to dislodge the thorn from his jacket, but it curled deeper into the weave. An ominous whispering eked from the soil in the pot.

Han grabbed onto the thorn and broke it from the plant. The whispering stopped, and he tore the thorn out of his sleeve. He cast it on the floor and bolted for the big open doors to the outside.

-

Heavy clouds rolled low in the sky as Han pushed aside the broken gate to his father’s hamlet. He covered his nose with his arm when the smell hit him. The reek of sewage from the river and fish drying on racks covered the scratchy dirt lanes in a fog.

He peeked through the doorways of a few houses, but there was no sign of Dol’s errand girl. He tried the riverside. His father was always out fishing at that time of day, and sure enough, the communal raft was missing.

The old widow who lived next to Han’s house bent over the parsnips in her garden. She waved to Han with a warm, gap-toothed smile. She waved to everyone when they went by.

If anyone knew where the errand girl had gone, the widow would.

The chickens in the widow’s coop clucked and flapped their wings as Han climbed over her short garden fence. It wasn’t as wobbly as it used to be. “Have you seen Dagny?” he asked, growing more afraid all the time.

“Dagny? She’s been sneaking off to the orchard over the hill with a big grin on her face.” The widow pursed her lips. “I figured she’s making extra wages helping the farmer over there. I told her not to keep going there while she’s working for Dol. Saints help her if she’s angered him.”

Han hurried up the hill and paused at the well to wrestle out a bucket of water. He gulped down a handful and poured the rest over his head. He knew it was wasteful, but he was sweaty and miserable, and the smell of the hamlet hung around him like a cloak.

A cheerful voice rose from the other side of the hill. “Slacking off, are we?”

Han snapped to attention. “You’re in trouble with Damion,” he warned.

“I expected so.” Dagny beamed as she hopped onto the rim of the well and took a seat. “But it’s no matter, now. I won’t be working for those old crabs much longer.”

Pelican Queen taglist: @cowboybrunch @saturnine-saturneight @tabswrites

As always, let me know if you'd like to be added or leave the taglist!

Sadira's First Chapter | A much later scene in Dol's castle (contains spoilers)

[haonote]

christmas ; kim mingyu x reader

warnings food/cooking ment. reader celebrates christmas. it is implied reader is shorter than mingyu. genre pure fluff, established relationship.

notes maybe this is very canadian 😭 anyways ever since i saw that photo of gyu with the xmas tree this has been on my mind🤭 mingyu kind of spoils reader.. very self indulgent. sorry.

it had been a year since you and mingyu started dating- you both found it sweet, how your anniversary was on christmas day.

you spent the morning lying in his arms, warm under the covers, cuddled next to him, still tired from the long night before. if you could, you would choose to spend the rest of your life like that- eyes closed as your boyfriend whispered sweet nothings to you, your head against his chest and his head nestled against the top of yours.

getting out of bed was a drag- your apartment was cold from the snow outside, leaving you shivering.

you walked into your bathroom, its tile floors freezing cold against your bare feet, and ran yourself a quick, hot shower before getting ready for the day.

the two of you stood at your kitchen counter, making breakfast side by side. only mingyu was good at cooking, but you insisted on helping, so you chose to make pancakes and scrambled eggs- it couldn't be that hard, right?

"oh my god, what the fuck," mingyu laughed, looking at your pan of… something. "maybe we should have ordered delivery instead, are these supposed to be scrambled eggs?"

"i don't even know," you laughed, taking the pan and scraping the eggs into the compost. "i thought it would be easy."

"we still have some eggs left, right? i'll help you." he put his plate of pancakes on your dining table before opening the egg carton once more.

you cracked the eggs, and he held your hands and guided you as you scrambled them in a pan. you found yourself messing up even more, flustered from the way he guided you and how he stood behind you.

and, at last, your breakfast was finished.

you sat across from each other, eating your food and reminiscing about your childhood christmases. in that moment, you were the happiest you'd ever been- eating food you made with the one you love, talking with him, feeling so absolutely enamoured by everything he did.

by the way he smiled at you, you could tell he felt the same.

as the day turned from white to grey, grey to black, you found yourself on the carpeted floor of your living room, beside your small, dollar store christmas tree.

it sat on top of your coffee table- underneath it was your presents for each other.

you felt a bit embarrassed when you noticed how many gifts were from mingyu and how many were from you- you couldn't help but feel bad, even though you and mingyu had already discussed this before.

"how about you open up your presents?" he smiled. "i couldn't help but buy you a lot. you know i'd buy the moon for you if i could."

"you're so sweet, gyu." you hugged him before beginning to open the pile of presents he'd bought you.

you ended the day in a new pajama set, but back in his arms, the same way you woke up. you smiled as you felt yourself drift off.

you hoped that, for the rest of your life, you would spend your christmas days like this. there was nothing you wanted more.

[panthertown]

So the red triangle in my path scheme:

is now a plum tree guild.

Tilled in some compost from our kitchen waste pile. I have three piles strategically placed around the yard which I call my dirt factories, and I've spent about three years building them up. This is the first year I've used any of it and I was pleasantly surprised to find some nice dark crumbly compost under the layer of half-decomposed recent additions.

That barrow load was only about 1/3 of what I have. It just sort of looks like dirt but u can see the difference in the second pic against that clay soil. Which should be subsoil -- I live in a damn rainforest but the topsoil on my slope has been stripped after decades as a grass yard.

Tilled the area by hand which was laborious. Generally I have a strict no-till approach but this area was so stripped I figured it was worth disrupting it to add some compost. (also I could use the exercise I've been on T for a while and I'm not taking taking advantage of the gainz)

Anyway here is my new fruit tree guild planted, lined out, and mulched.

I put in a santa rosa plum, white lisbon bunching onions, quinault everbearing strawberries, and one Balkan yarrow. On the right side I will add some lupines for nitrogen fixing. I have a bunch on the other side of the path so it'll look real cute.

Also I bought a $30 stone cat

hehe

[the-fiction-witch]

I Know That Look

Media IRL

Character Thomas Brodie Sangster

Couple Thomas X Reader

Rating Smutty

I did a huge yawn. So big I was convinced for a moment my jaw clicked. I sat on my uncomfortable plastic seat in the middle of the airport watching people go around the shops and information boards all the madness bathed in the fluorescent light that messed with my mind given it was 11:29 pm.

"Ooohh big yawn" Thomas chuckled beside me as he sat with his book in his grey sweatpants, his battered old triumph shirt, and his aviator's jacket with warm fluff on the inside and leather outside.

"I'm tired" I pouted

"I told you to have a nap earlier"

"But if I napped earlier I won't sleep on the plane"

"I will"

"Yes I know you will, you have a strange superpower Thomas you can sleep anywhere. I leave you alone anywhere for five minutes you can nap"

"True"

"I don't know how the hell you do it,"

"It's called being in my thirties. I'm permanently exhausted."

"Didn't you really scare that German hotel?"

"Yeah I'd been doing a lot of traveling I checked into my room and then just slept for like twenty-six hours they got really concerned they thought I died"

"I'm convicted you died and just came back to life the other day"

"I wasn't dead" he rolled his eyes

"You laid back in the leather chair in the living room and didn't move or say anything for six hours. I kept having to go over and check you were still breathing"

"I was tired."

"And I'm tired now"

"I'm not saying you're not I'm merely suggesting you could have napped earlier"

"Can we go wonder around the shops that'll wake me up"

"No, there's a WHSmith and a travel book store. I'm not stupid y/n your on a book-buying ban"

"I can't help that I'm a bookworm"

"You're not a book worm y/n you're a book dragon you just hoard piles of literature"

"Humm" I pouted "but I'm bored"

"Then do something to entertain yourself why do I always have to be the one to entertain you?"

"Because I like you entertaining me" I smiled leaning on his shoulder and nuzzling into his jacket

"Humm mummm" he glared

"What?"

"I know that look"

"What look?"

"That look." He says "Why do you always get horny when you're tired and bored?"

"I don't know,"

"Well drop it, it's not gonna happen"

"Why not?"

"Because I remember what happened last time we tried getting intimate on a plane. So no way"

I pouted "Maybe it wouldn't if someone could keep quiet"

"How the hell was I meant to keep quiet when you pulled your top down leant over the seat and proceeded to suck my dick like it was literally your only oxygen pipe in space,"

"I wanted to cheer you up"

"It was fucking awesome though I have to admit"

"So?"

"No."

"Fine" I sighed I nuzzled closer and tried to find things to do watching people go by, counties the windows, guiding item prices in the shops but I was bored so I moved my hand under his jacket which didn't draw much attention until my hand reached his stomach

"Y/n" he warns not looking away from his book but I ignored him and slipped my hand under his sweats and his boxers and found his soft cock I took it gently in my hand and began to palm and stroke across it immediately feeling him uncontrollably start to slowly get hard "y/n!" He warned but I ignored him until he was completely hard and I began to toy and play with him like my own little stress toy "y/n stop… people might see" he complained

"Then sit still" I whispered fixing his jacket a little to make sure my hand was hidden

"What if someone hears us"

"Then be quiet" I whispered getting nose intense making sure to do all the little things he loves me too it was obvious he was struggling trying his best to stay composted but he slapped my hand away and put his stuff in his bag

"Come on"

"Where are we going?" I giggled getting my stuff too

"We're going to find one of those little privet lockable pod things people use for business and naps"

"Why?"

"You started it you're finishing it" he glared

"Okay" I giggled cuddling his arm

I smiled getting comfy looking at the little place, so cool and luscious given the long flight with the little bed-like seats with pillows and blankets, a little table with drinks and even TV and a window I smiled relaxing on the cosy bed seat and I caught his eye

"No"

"What?"

"I know that look"

"So?" I giggled patting the space beside me

"Later. When I have some energy back"

[trivialbob]

We made a coffee bar in our kitchen. It has three coffee makers.

The Keurig is nice for ease of use and sampling differently flavored coffees. If we have overnight guests almost everyone knows how to use a Keurig without help.

Amazon sells a big box of K-Cups with about 24 different flavors. Right now though we have a box of only one flavor: New Mexico Piñon Coffee. This is good stuff. Sheila is not usually a big coffee drinker but really likes the Piñon.

in the middle is a $10 coffee pot from Target. This guy lives in the travel trailer all summer long. I love to smell the coffee brewing when camping. In the winter he comes in the house.

I always seem to have a bag of ground coffee around to use up in this machine. There is a K-Cup adapter for the Keurig so it too can brew coffee grounds that didn't come in tiny plastic cups, but that reusable thing doesn't fill the kitchen with the aroma of coffee.

On the right is a fancy brewer we got as a gift. The Spinn is wi-fi enabled. If I put a cup under it before bed in the morning I can have hot joe flowing before I walk down the steps. A fresh cup of coffee will be waiting for me when I enter the kitchen. It's easy to adjust the amount of water and the grams of beans to use for each cup.

The Spinn grinds whole beans, mug by mug. It doesn't use paper filters, which helps offset the hit my Earth Cred score takes with those plastic K-Cups. This machine is loud. But I know the noisy spinning is how the grounds are separated from the drink and deposited into a little tank. To empty the tank I pour it over my compost pile.

The Spinn was starting to make weaker coffee. Eventually a red warning light of death appeared. The milk frother in the Keruig stopped working some time ago.

Yesterday I got on Reddit and found some advice on fixing these problems. The Spinn needed cleaning that isn't user friendly, as evidenced by the me needing tools to open it up and clean and vacuum some parts. It wasn't difficult though. The red light went away, replaced by the soothing white light assuring me hot coffee is coming soon. And holy moley, the coffee started tasting amazing again!

The Keurig was easier to fix. I'd been monkeying around with settings and cleaning. When that didn't work I shunned the frother, hoping it was miserably enjoying being a selfish asshole. I looked away from when I walked through the kitchen. That seemed to have done the trick, because this morning, just for the heck of it, I tried the frother AND IT WORKED.

Oh my, that is tasty, hot, and caffeinated.

[13eyond13]

In honour of recently completing my 2023 challenge of reading 50+ books this year, here are 10 books that I enjoyed in 2023 in no particular ranked order. (My reading taste leans towards the atmospheric, dark, satirical, suspenseful, strange and horror-tinged, btw):

1 A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs

I'm currently in the process of reading this one (it's two small novels in one book), but I can already recommend it based just on the style and the quality of the first story. Somehow feels similar to me to catching an odd old foreign film on TV late at night when I'm the only person awake and then getting unexpectedly invested in it.

2 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

I'd read the first few chapters of this over a decade ago and they were so instantly memorable and vividly told that they remained burned into my mind ever since. Love the attention to detail in bringing this grotesque version of 1700s France to life, and how much the story made me think about my sense of smell and other familiar things in new ways

3 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Funnier than I expected! Almost more a comedy than a romance in my opinion. Just very pleasant to read in general. I laughed out loud several times

4 The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

This was a childhood favourite of mine that I decided to revisit, and it actually held up very well. I found the dark and cruel and gossipy little village that Beetle has to try to survive in fascinating, and same with learning about all the weird (historically accurate!) shit that was involved in medieval midwifery

5 Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

I've mentioned this one on this blog already, but it feels like a surreal and melancholy bad dream in the best kind of way. More going on here to think about than just being the "lesbian piss book" (though you will find a generous helping of both things in the pages haha). Sticky and unsettling to read, like living in a compost pile, and probably not for everyone. But also poetic and lush and tense and and yeah, kinda gay

6 Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

As fun and compulsively readable as a modern thrillers while also being complex and atmospheric and literary all at once. Somehow I still didn't have all the twists and turns spoiled for me beforehand! A definite 5/5 from me

7 Come Closer by Sara Gran

A strange, unsettling and brisk little book about demonic possession that was very easy to fly through in less than a day. Might have benefitted from being left a little more ambiguous overall (imo), but still entertaining to read, and grabs you right from the first page

8 The Fisherman by John Langan

An extremely imaginative and detailed little universe is fleshed out here that includes some fascinating true-to-life history (did you know sometimes entire towns were vacated and stripped bare so giant water reservoirs could be built on top of them? And that the buildings are still just sitting down there under all that water sometimes? Well, you'll learn all about it here). Some very haunting imagery and characters and scenes that will easily burn themselves into your brain

9 Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Creepy science fiction that feels a bit like embarking on a D&D campaign with some companions you don't actually trust or know very well. This one grew on me more over time as one that continued to stick with me a while after I had finished it. The mysteriousness and ambiguity of what's actually going on can either spur you to finish the whole series or simply give you a ton of food for thought to mull over and dissect

10 Contact by Carl Sagan

ALIENS! A very timely topic considering the types of news stories we've been getting in 2023. I was already familiar with Carl Sagan because of his Cosmos TV series, and only recently found out he wrote some fiction as well. Very pleasantly surprised at how well-written it is and that he put a female protagonist at the helm, and how he can share his expertise and knowledge and theories in the books in an easily accessible and entertaining way

[blacktofade]

Feb 21 — Masturbating and thinking of other

Dustjim

CW: camboy!Dustin, nsfw

This one is for @whysamwhy123 who came to me with this incredible idea and they’re very kindly letting me gnaw on it!! As soon as I’m done with my fic fest, I’m gonna try to write a full length version of this because it’s FUN.

Jim’s an adult. He’s an adult with a well-paying nine-to-five, and how he decides to spend his disposable income is his own choice.

If he decides to throw an embarrassing amount of tips at a faceless man who provides services in the form of live videos, that’s Jim’s business. And if Jim sometimes plans his weeks around said live videos, that’s also his own business.

Sexy Chuckie T is online now — has been for half an hour or so — and Jim’s already tipped enough to draw Chuck’s attention. He can’t see Chuck’s smile, but he can hear it in the way he thanks him before he reaches down and gives his cock a slow tug.

“This one’s for you, FreshlySqueezed01,” Chuck says, thumbing through the precome at the tip of his dick and Jim bites his bottom lip and strokes himself faster.

He has no idea what it is about this man that gets him going so much, but he’s trapped now. Like a worm in a compost pile, Jim’s brain thrives on the filth.

Chuck’s never shown his face, his camera only ever pointed at his chest and below, but Jim’s hooked.

He’s never jerked off more in his post-teen life. It’s like a switch. He gets a notification that Chuck is online, and he immediately gets chubbed up in his slacks.

He’s just so intrigued by a man with pecs he could smother himself in and a soft belly that jiggles whenever Chuck laughs. It’s probably a malfunction in his hindbrain, but Jim wants to be under him. Wants to be over him or even just beside him — whatever he can get.

Jim taps at his laptop, throwing another ten bucks at Chuck, who rubs a hand across his stomach and makes both of their dicks twitch.

“A man could get the wrong idea with donations like that,” Chuck tells him, which prompts a slew of other donations — smaller ones, Jim notes. More desperate ones.

Jim doesn’t like that he has to share, but Chuck doesn’t do private videos, so Jim suffers through, trying to ignore the other messages and donations, pretending that Chuck is there for him and him alone.

“You folks are too kind to lil ol’ me,” Chuck drawls. “I think y’all deserve a little something for your time. What do you say?”

The donations trickle in, pinging, even as Jim jerks himself off, unable to look away from how Chuck sits with his thighs apart, cock jutting up towards his belly button. It looks like the perfect place to sit. Jim can almost imagine himself there, riding Chuck slowly, making him choke out pleas for Jim to move faster, maybe making him call Jim his favorite.

Jim shuts his eyes, body tensing. He doesn’t want it to end so quickly, but he doesn’t get a choice. His cock jerks twice in his hold and he comes, shooting up the front of his shirt — his work shirt, because he hadn’t had time to change before he received the Live notification.

He lets out a shuddering breath, opening his eyes again to see Chuck jerking himself faster, with more intent, like he wants to give the audience a proper show.

Jim wants to drop to his knees and get his mouth around Chuck, show him how good he is, how good he can make it.

“You guys wanna see me come?” Chuck asks and that’s exactly what Jim wants.

With come across his knuckles, he taps at his laptop to donate another ten bucks.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chuck says and Jim knows he’s got it so bad.

[quaranmine]

Utah Resident here- I’ve lived p much my whole life in Utah, and nearly every summer here has had one bad fire or another. I have vivid memories of watching smoke billow over the tops of the mountains I lived next to, or driving past massive columns of the stuff while on the way to a trip in southern Utah (we lived in the north, but have a cabin in the south and visited frequently). The Brian Head fire was just over the mountain from our little cabin, and I remember having to leave a trip there a few days early for fear of our whole campground being overtaken by the fire. There were a lot of evacs that year, and a lot of the trees on the north side of the Brian Head Ski Resort are still charred black from where the fire hit the worst.

There was another time a few years later, back in Utah valley this time, where we had to evacuate for a night bc the mountain that was just behind our house caught fire. It was much smaller, and the evac wasn’t official, but it still scared me. The fire had gotten under control before it really took hold thankfully, but it really scared me at the time.

There were another two massive fires that happened at the south end of Utah Valley, near Nephi and on the west side of the lake. They happened on separate years but I have vivid memories of both- even a picture floating around somewhere of my little brother and I watching the west lake one burn from a healthy distance.

Not to mention all the days I’ve seen where the sky was completely clouded over with smoke from massive fires in California. It was terrifying to wake up to the smell of smoke and a gray fog that persisted for days, covering up the sun enough you could look directly at it without hurting your eyes.

I’ve seen…. So much fire, and I’m not even that old (early 20’s). I’m thankful most of these fires were put out within a couple of days/weeks, but I think these kinds of fires always gonna be part of living here tbh.

OUGH i'm so sorry you had these experience but also so many of these experiences. you need a break! that sounds so scary!

anyway i looked up the Brian Head Fire and HELLO??? I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS A THING????

Unbeknownst to Lyman, the fire he started wasn’t just burning the pile of branches above the surface of the ground, it was also spreading underground, creeping through what’s known as duff, a thin layer of composting organic material just above the mineral soil. Lyman said he noticed the “weird looking” burn, which he described as “kind of a drippy burn, like oil or kerosene.”

(source) i've unlocked a new fear lol. no but seriously, despite doing sort of research on the subject for a few months now, I didn't know until I looked up the fire in your ask that fires could burn underground. Even when I googled it, I got a lot of articles about coal seams burning, which I did know about. But I found this article out of Canada that explains the phenomenon well. Basically: "When this happens, it's because there are just enough tiny spaces in the soil and between pieces of wood material to hold oxygen and keep the combustion going. These fires can smoulder metres below the surface."

Fascinating. Some fires can survive the winter like this and pop back up the next season and keep burning.

Anyway, I'm sorry you've had to experience so many fires. I think you are right, though, that fires are always going to be part of living there. Utah is geologically, geographically, and ecologically part of the region that experiences wildfire as a regular part of its natural life. There's a lot of dry montane forests, basin brushland/plains, etc. Now, humans certainly exacerbate this in more ways than one. Humans can cause out of control wildfires through negligence or arson, and humans can more indirectly impact wildfire prevalence through climate change. As the seasons get hotter and dryer, the more severe and common fires might be. But yeah, fires in general cannot (and should not) be eliminated completely. So fire management is a complex task in order to balance natural ecology with (unnatural/extensive) human impact.

in other news, big fan of your state's geography and nature by the way. utah is devastatingly beautiful and i haven't seen enough of it! i also headcanon utah to be basically the same environment as the badlands biome in minecraft, and therefore base my headcanons about Tumble Town in ESMP2 off of it.

[twicearoundthesun]

WAIT 10,13,14 HURTS SO MUCH TOO😭😭😭

ok so here's 10. i tried to work in 13 but it got too long.... I have a bunch of requests for roommates au 13, tho, so don't worry I'll do that, and i did 14 here

prompt list, if you're curious

10. "it's okay to cry, you know" [Roommates au, tw past abuse implied]

...

Dahyun was already in bed when Chaeyoung got home. It was only eleven; her boss had let her off early tonight as the bar was kind of dead anyway. She tossed her bag by the door, popped her completely dead phone on the charger (she desperately needed a new one), and opened the fridge, digging for a diet Pepsi, but stopping as she found a takeout container with a bright blue post-it note. She plucked it out.

‘please enjoy these. Jihyo’s mother’s special recipe. - Mina’

She smiled and opened the container to find it half full of dumplings.

“Nice.” She popped one in her mouth cold as the others heated up, humming in delight. They were delicious and filled to the brim with pork and vegetables.

She carried the container of now-warm dumplings to the counter and leaned on it as she ate. She sorted through the mail pile – mainly a bunch of ads, or bills meant for previous tenants. Nothing of importance. Her eyes wandered the counter as she took a swig of pepsi.

Dahyun’s lesson plan book lay open – she’d stopped mid-compostion, it seemed, the pen laying under the next page as if she’d flipped back before giving up. She raised a brow. Dahyun wasn’t one to easily be pulled from her work. Maybe she’d gotten stuck?

Chaeyoung swung around the counter to look – it’d been the beginning of a cute little melody, an easy one that even she could sight-read. She must be working with the younger class this week.

She turned the page, to where Dahyun had left off, and found the rest of the melody blocked by an envelope. A very official looking envelope, hastily torn open and empty. She had a horrible feeling she knew where it came from.

She flipped it over to check the return address.

Kim Suseong-gu, Daegu

It felt like a rock sunk into her stomach. Her mind raced.

How had they even gotten their new address? How did Dahyuns parents know where they lived? Why were they reaching out when they hadn’t seen their daughter in nearly two and a half years – and before that, when they had, they were nothing short of awful to her.

She dropped the envelope and made a beeline for their bedroom, opening the door as softly as she could in her panic so she wouldn’t wake Dahyun.

Or rather, so she wouldn’t wake the empty bed.

Fuck.

She got back to her phone and ignored the notifications when she saw none from her roommate. She dialed Dahyun’s number in an instant, but got no answer twice.

Fuck, fuck.

She typed out a text.

‘I’m home, please call me back when you can and let me know you’re safe’

She watched it deliver and stared at the screen for a few extra seconds. Where would she have gone? She couldn’t picture Dahyun leaving the building so late at night, not with how jumpy she’d been lately, but that letter could have messed everything up; she was positive her friend wasn’t in any sort of headspace to be thinking anything through.

Out of desperation, she walked down the hallway and stopped in front of Mina and Jihyos door. She felt bad – she knew Mina woke up super early to get to the hospital most days, and their apartment was pretty quiet by ten. She knew they’d panic, too, no matter how calm Chaeyoung tried to pretend to be.

But she needed help.

She knocked. Ray barked immediately, which was odd.

Within seconds, the door opened to reveal Mina, brow creased and frown etched onto her face. She was still in her work clothes, though she must have gotten home hours ago.

“I’m so sorry to bother you-”

“She’s here.”

“What?”

“Dahyun’s with us. I tried calling you but your phone was dead. Come in. It’s okay, she’s safe.”

Chaeyoung could have cried on the spot, she was so relieved. Mina seemed to sense this and pull her into a hug, patting her on the back

“She came by right after dinner. We’d stopped by to drop off some dumplings, so she knew we were home. She… She knocked on the door and asked if she could stay here, because she didn’t feel safe alone. Chaeyoung, what’s going on?”

She didn’t know what to say for a second. A rush of emotions met her: Dahyun had gone and asked for help, which was good. Amazing, even. But the letter had obviously shaken her, and now Mina was asking questions Chaeyoung didn't have the right to answer.

“Are you two in danger?” Mina leaned back to make eye contact. “You can tell us, Chaeyoung, we’ll keep you safe.”

It was so… certain. So absolute. They’d keep them safe, if they needed it. A second of calm.

“No. I don’t… I don’t think.” Chaeyoung whispered. Then, more sure of herself, “No. We're adults."

“Chaeyoung…”

“It isn’t my place to tell you any more than you know.”

Mina nodded, accepting it with a grimace. “Okay. She’s in the spare room. She’s been there for about an hour. We can’t get much out of her, just that she doesn’t want to be alone and she – I think she must have thrown up before she left your apartment, we gave her a new shirt.”

Chaeyoung winced. Mina led her to the door opposite their bedroom.

“I thought she was drunk when she first showed up here.” She admitted.

“She doesn’t really drink.”

“Yeah. But she’s… super out of it.” Mina said the last part softly. She turned the door handle slowly, and spoke in a soft, melodic voice. “Dahyun, sweetie. It’s Mina, and Chaeyoung’s here. Can we come in?”

A bit of silence.

“She nodded.” Jihyo’s soft confirmation from within the room came and anxiety surged through Chaeyoung’s veins.

The door opened slowly to reveal her poor roommate, wrapped snugly in a big blanket, curled up on the little sofa they had in their extra room. She was still crying, albeit silently; her face was splotchy and red, her hands in fists pressing in on closed eyes. Jihyo sat a few feet away, in a desk chair, looking nearly heartbroken as she met eyes with Chaeyoung. It was hard seeing their smiley Dahyun like this, and Jihyo had never even seen the girl cry over something minor.

“She’s so scared.” Jihyo whispered. “It’s like, a massive panic attack. I can’t get her out of it.”

Chaeyoung nodded and gently went to sit on the couch next to her. Dahyun jumped when she put a hand on her back.

“Just me.” She whispered. “I’m here.”

One bloodshot eye opened to meet hers.

"Chaeng..."

“I know, Dahyun, I saw the envelope.”

Dahyun doubled over, hiding her face in Chaeyoung’s chest, allowing a terrified sob to leave her lips. Chaeyoung wrapped both arms around her.

“It’s okay. You’re an adult. They have no power over you. None whatsoever. This is just a panic attack, Dubs.”

Dahyun still shook.

“You’re financially independent, you’re stable, you never have to see them again.”

“They know…” It sounded hard to get out. “They know where we live.”

Chaeyoung closed her eyes. “I know.”

“Wh-what if-”

“They wouldn’t, Dahyun. There’s nothing in it for them to come find you. You made it clear you weren’t… one of them anymore.”

There was a poignant silence.

“I know I’m prying, but please, please tell us if you’re in danger.” Jihyo whispered. Dahyun tensed. “Whoever this is – whoever found you, we can protect you from them.”

“Do you owe people money? We can help you, just, please tell us.” Mina added. “We just don’t want you in harm’s way.”

Chaeyoung was frozen. It truly wasn’t hers to share.

“We’re not in danger.” Chaeyoung said, and she made sure she was addressing all three of the people in the room. In reality, she wasn’t sure what was going on – what could they possibly want from Dahyun? What more could they take from her that they haven’t already taken?

“You’re scaring me, Chaeyoung. One of who?” Jihyo pressed.

Dahyun took a sharp breath.

“A K-kim.” She said, shakily. “My family.”

There was silence again.

“Are they looking for you?”

“I didn’t think they were.” She whispered. “But now I don’t think they… they ever lost me. I think they know my every move-” her voice was getting choked up again, so Chaeyoung shushed her.

“Are they dangerous?”

More silence.

“No.” Dahyun whispered. “Not.. anymore. Not dangerous. Th-they can’t do anything to me.” It sounded a bit like she was trying to convince herself. Jihyo closed her eyes. Chaeyoung could tell she was getting the picture.

“Did you move here to get away from them?”

A quick nod. Chaeyoung rubbed her back.

“B-but they haven’t been a problem since, I m-moved out three years ago to live with Chaengie and her mom.” She said. “They aren’t dangerous, not when I’m not living with them.”

“Okay, sweetie.” Jihyo whispered. She shared pointed eye contact with Mina before turning back. “Did something happen? That sparked this panic attack?”

Dahyun nodded. Chaeyoung felt her dig through her sweatshirt pocket and pull out a paper – what must have been the contents of the letter. She put the crumpled paper in Chaeyoung’s hand.

‘Miss Kim Dahyun,

We regret to inform you of the passing of one Kim Yeong-ja. You have been included in the will for a total of 1,134,700.00 won. Please see enclosed check. Acceptance of this check means you confirm you will not protest the contents of the remainder of the will…’

Ice filled Chaeyoung’s veins; then something more sinister. Rage.

She stood, not wanting Dahyun to sense the change in mood, though Chaeyoung was sure she knew it was coming. She kissed Dahyun on the head and let herself into the hall, shutting the door and doubling over, hands on her knees.

Mina joined her a minute later. Chaeyoung just passed her the paper.

“Is this her grandmother?” Mina whispered. She nodded. “1,134,700.00 won? That’s... not much. And so… Specific.”

It’s so specific, it’s deliberate. She wanted to say, but the frustration, the rage, the pain was closing her throat. Her head was pounding. She thought she’d gotten her friend to safety, finally, gotten her some peace of mind and here it was falling apart around them both.

“Chaeyoung, shh…” Mina pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s okay to cry, you know. It’s hard watching someone you love go through so much. You’ve both clearly been through a lot, I don’t know exactly what you’ve both had to do, but I know you’re so strong for her.”

“Dahyun’s parents are… the worst pieces of shit to ever walk the earth. Her grandmother would have given her more than that.” She could feel tears burning behind her eyes.

Dahyun and her grandmother had had a decent relationship. To Dahyun, her grandmother’s house was a place of respite; of safety and warmth. To Chaeyoung she was another in a long list of adults who knew what Dahyun had to put up with and failed her… But she knew the woman loved Dahyun.

“You think they messed with the will?”

“I know they did.” She could barely get the words out. “1,134,700.00 is our rent, Mina. They messed with the will and they’re telling her they know everything about her, still. They know our every move. They know how much comes out of her account every month for rent.”

Mina frowned.

“Well, that’s illegal and we will deal with that when everything calms, okay?" Her voice was strong, unquestioning. "Until then, will they try anything-”

“No. They just wanted to wreck her peace. Revenge. Her mother is a vengeful little shit, blames her for their marriage falling apart – god, she was in highschool, Mina, everything turned bad and she was in highschool, none of it was her fault.”

“Shhh, I know.” Mina whispered. She rubbed her back and Chaeyoung found it calming, and a little odd to be wrapped up in such a comforting hug from someone she hadn’t known two months ago.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t home.” She whispered.

“We’re happy to help. Any time either of you needs anything, okay? You never have to be sorry. We’re here for you both.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

[crippledanarchy]

Currently obsessed with the family of groundhogs that live under the neighbors garage.

I spotted two babies about a week ago and every day they get a little more adventurous and I'm pretty sure there are 6 of them total.

There's one baby that's the boldest by a long shot and they almost ventured all the way to our compost pile today