#rocky mountains rockies high country

[joegramoe]

Like a light in the forest

[fallauween]

Rocky Mountain Elk Herd by Elevated Imaging  

A happy little harem grazes the valley as the resident Bull watches for would be challengers. Instagram: @elevated.imaging.co Prints & Gifts: 12-christopher-thomas.pixels.com/

[hanludoyle]

On the way to Gunnison, Colorado.

[atlas-affogato]

"All country music sucks—" you have obviously not listened to John Denver

[lesbiantriphosphate]

john denver >>>

[sillylotrpolls]

(Relevant text below the poll)

Inspired by this post by @roselightfairy and replies by @herrhasen, @enide-s-dear, @unnamedelement, @dragonfirez, and @carlandrea.

If you'd like to refresh your memory of the Fellowship at its bitchiest (and Boromir at his best), the relevant text is below the cut.

Excerpted from The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter 3: The Ring Goes South

Gimli looked up and shook his head. 'Caradhras has not forgiven us.' he said. 'He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go back and down the better.'

To this all agreed, but their retreat was now difficult. It might well prove impossible. Only a few paces from the ashes of their fire the snow lay many feet deep, higher than the heads of the hobbits; in places it had been scooped and piled by the wind into great drifts against the cliff.

'If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might melt a path for you,' said Legolas. The storm had troubled him little, and he alone of the Company remained still light of heart.

'If Elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the Sun to save us,' answered Gandalf. 'But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn snow.'

'Well,' said Boromir, 'when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as we say in my country. The strongest of us must seek a way. See! Though all is now snow-clad, our path, as we came up, turned about that shoulder of rock down yonder. It was there that the snow first began to burden us. If we could reach that point, maybe it would prove easier beyond. It is no more than a furlong off, I guess.'

'Then let us force a path thither, you and I!' said Aragorn.

Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in height, was broader and heavier in build. He led the way, and Aragorn followed him. Slowly they moved off, and were soon toiling heavily. In places the snow was breast-high, and often Boromir seemed to be swimming or burrowing with his great arms rather than walking.

Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf or over snow-an Elf.'

With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow.

'Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. 'I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn.

The others waited huddled together, watching until Boromir and Aragorn dwindled into black specks in the whiteness. At length they too passed from sight. The time dragged on. The clouds lowered, and now a few flakes of snow came curling down again.

An hour, maybe, went by, though it seemed far longer, and then at last they saw Legolas coming back. At the same time Boromir and Aragorn reappeared round the bend far behind him and came labouring up the slope.

'Well,' cried Legolas as he ran up, 'I have not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet. There is the greatest winddrift of all just beyond the turn, and there our Strong Men were almost buried. They despaired, until I returned and told them that the drift was little wider than a wall. And on the other side the snow suddenly grows less, while further down it is no more than a white coverlet to cool a hobbit's toes.'

'Ah, it is as I said,' growled Gimli. 'It was no ordinary storm. It is the ill will of Caradhras. He does not love Elves and Dwarves, and that drift was laid to cut off our escape.'

'But happily your Caradhras has forgotten that you have Men with you,' said Boromir, who came up at that moment. 'And doughty Men too, if I may say it; though lesser men with spades might have served you better. Still, we have thrust a lane through the drift; and for that all here may be grateful who cannot run as light as Elves.'

'But how are we to get down there, even if you have cut through the drift?' said Pippin, voicing the thought of all the hobbits.

'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will begin with you.'

He lifted up the hobbit. 'Cling to my back! I shall need my arms' he said and strode forward. Aragorn with Merry came behind. Pippin marvelled at his strength, seeing the passage that he had already forced with no other tool than his great limbs. Even now, burdened as he was, he was widening the track for those who followed, thrusting the snow aside as he went.

They came at length to the great drift. It was flung across the mountainpath like a sheer and sudden wall, and its crest, sharp as if shaped with knives, reared up more than twice the height of Boromir; but through the middle a passage had been beaten, rising and falling like a bridge. On the far side Merry and Pippin were set down, and there they waited with Legolas for the rest of the Company to arrive.

After a while Boromir returned carrying Sam. Behind in the narrow but now well-trodden track came Gandalf, leading Bill with Gimli perched among the baggage. Last came Aragorn carrying Frodo. They passed through the lane; but hardly had Frodo touched the ground when with a deep rumble there rolled down a fall of stones and slithering snow. The spray of it half blinded the Company as they crouched against the cliff, and when the air cleared again they saw that the path was blocked behind them.

'Enough, enough!' cried Gimli. 'We are departing as quickly as we may!'

And indeed with that last stroke the malice of the mountain seemed to be expended, as if Caradhras was satisfied that the invaders had been beaten off and would not dare to return. The threat of snow lifted; the clouds began to break and the light grew broader.

As Legolas had reported, they found that the snow became steadily more shallow as they went down, so that even the hobbits could trudge along. Soon they all stood once more on the flat shelf at the head of the steep slope where they had felt the first flakes of snow the night before.

[astroismypassion]

Hi there, I would like to know what are some indicators in a natal chart for where you should live specifically a country, town, or city. As I am getting older, I am thinking of moving out of my family's home and living by myself, and also having a job or career with work and life balance. Yeah, I'm curious where people including myself could live.

Honestly, I think you can't really tell specific city, town with astrology. Maybe more so with astrocartography. But the sign over your 4th house, planets and IC sign actually give a general idea where you would feel comfortable (especially after retirement or in the old age)

ARIES IC/4TH HOUSE

in a hot climate

somewhere sunny

with not a lot of rain

TAURUS IC/4TH HOUSE

sunny weather

somewhere where vegetables, fruits, herbs can grow

probably near a pond, lake, a small body of water that is looking nice

probably near a park, forest or near flowers, botanic garden

GEMINI IC/4TH HOUSE

honestly probably a small city, that is very "compact" (the stores are near, the market is close, the school, workplace is nearby)

around close friends

near a library, maybe even elementary or high school

CANCER IC/4TH HOUSE

just move next door to your family

in your family home where you grew up

near a sea or a place where you can go swimming

near a garden or a barbecue, picnic place

LEO IC/4TH HOUSE

this one is very extreme, either in the city, in the spotlight, where there is cinema, theatre, stores, lots of events or in the countryside, there is no inbetween with this one

VIRGO IC/4TH HOUSE

near your high school, elementary school friends

near your workplace, the company, near your job

near dentist's, a pharmacy, a gym

LIBRA IC/4TH HOUSE

near a bakery,

a restaurant, where there are clothing stores

as near as possible to your partner's home

SCORPIO IC/4TH HOUSE

dude, somewhere in the forest, just away from big crowds and too many people

i noticed from experience they end up living sometimes near a hospital or cemetry

SAGITTARIUS IC/4TH HOUSE

in a different region, state than your home

or a foreign country, but still the same continent

you might like to live in a multicultural, diverse area, you might have an age difference with your neighbours or they could be more or less educated than you

probably in the city as well, unless you are very adventurous, then the countryside

CAPRICORN IC/4TH HOUSE

near your parents

or even grandparents

near your job, workplace

you may live near a care home for elderly

you may also live near the mountains or the terrain has is very rocky, stone could be prominent

could do well in a colder climate

AQUARIUS IC/4TH HOUSE

again, one that does well in a colder climate

probably in the city though, you know where the people and the culture is

because you like busy, lively gatherings

PISCES IC/4TH HOUSE

probably another country or even different continent not gonna lie

you probably don't have much luck in your own hometown, because you're just too different or somewhat "exotic" in comparison

near a lake, sea, pool, even on the road, like in a van, camper

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Who Killed the Colorado River?

From its source high in the snowy Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River runs through two countries and five states on its way to the Gulf of California. Or at least it used to. The river hasn't met the sea in decades.  (Video and image credit: PBS Terra) Read the full article

[mutant-distraction]

▪️The Massif de Hogar is a mountain range that rises suddenly to the west of Tamanrassete, Algeria. The region has an average height of 900 meters above sea level, the highest point is Mount Tahat, in the center of Atakor. It culminates at 3,003 meters high, and is also the highest peak in Algeria. The Hogar massif is essentially made up of volcanic rocks and constitutes a vast rocky region within the Sahara desert.

▪️The Hoggar Mountains are home to the Ahaggar National Park, one of the country's national parks. ▪️The Hoggar mountain range typically has hot summers, with a cold climate in winter. Temperatures drop below freezing in winter. Precipitation is rare and sporadic throughout the year. However, because the climate is less extreme than in most other areas of the Sahara, the mountains are an important location for biodiversity, including a number of relict species. The Hoggar Mountains are part of the Western Sahara montane xeric forests ecoregion.

▪️The park also contains a population of herbivores, such as the Saharan subspecies of the Berber sheep and the Dorcas gazelle.

The vegetation in this area includes trees such as Vachellia tortilis, Vachellia seyal, myrtle and Tamarix aphylla which are spread throughout the area. Other plants may include Citrullus colocynthis and Calotropis procera .

▪️The Hogar massif is the land of the Imuagues, a tribe of the Tuareg people. The oasis of Abalassa near the town of Tamanrassete is the site of the tomb of the famous leader Tin Hinan, the matriarch believed to have been the ancestor of the Tuareg people in the Hogar Mountains.

📸 By Дмитрий Дубиковский

[kyri45]

The Forgotten Island, AKA The Kingdom of Stars

A ISAT and Sky:Cotl Mix list of headcanons for a possible sequel of the main game.

MAP HERE!

Basic Information and Assumptions from the game:

From what we know, The Country is a rocky, forest, and mountain-filled island, close enough to be seen from Bambouche. Because of the cold climate, I’ll assume that it's located more northern than anything else in the ISAT world. Let’s also assume that it’s a highly humid country (it’s an island, so). Therefore, for a society built principally on the study of stars, I will further assume that the mountains there are high enough to well surpass the level of the clouds.

Another post also pointed out how the Country closest reference would be Iceland, which I couldn’t agree more ( even though I don’t think it would be THAT cold, I think the cold is more from the altitude than the position on the globe itself)

My personal take:

If even children are aware from a very young age of the physics and rules of the cosmos, then it’s safe to assume that these things not only are being taught in schools but are also present in their everyday lives in their homes. Just like the Change god is present in the form of statues and figurines around every house of Dormont, we could imagine that every house of The Country could have had its own observatory floor.

For an entire town, or city, or even country, to be able to see the stars perfectly at night, they would need to have their buildings more elevated than wide, so that the upper floors aren’t so affected by street lights pollutions or other form of illuminations for the roads.

As for the materials, we can drop down to at least:

Wood, from probably evergreen trees such as birch or even pine and spruce?

Basalt, from the (most likely) volcanic beach. It has also wonderful heat-keeping properties so It wouldn’t be strange to assume they use it in their buildings as well. The dark color also reflects less light during the night and would increase the star's visibility.

Other grey stones or concrete, from which they build at least the base of their tower-based architecture to be able to sustain multiple floors.

While an island such as The Country should technically be poor in metal, the presence of volcanic terrain and geysers should, on the positive side, mean that there is the presence of gold! So yes, shiny gold decorations for observatories or other star-related rooms are realistically allowed :)

I will take as a reference from the world of Sky 3 main realms for this AU:

Isle of Dawn: can be used as a reference for the surroundings part of the kingdom, using the same rocky and sandy morphology. Sky also has many boats scattered around the kingdoms, and since the Country mostly based its economy on trade and fishing was its main source of protein, I’ll take those as a reference as well.

Valley of Triumph: for its peaks, mountains, and climate. Also maybe for their transportation methods and house architecture from the Village of Dreams

Vault of Knowledge: the Vault itself is just one big building that could be well used as a like the main capitol center building for archive, research, and study of Wish Craft and stars. The architecture itself can also be used as an inspiration for other buildings such as libraries and schools.

I'll be updating this thread with possible more personal designs and sketch about the architecture!

Let me know if you finds errors in what I wrote or personal suggestions!

[plethoraworldatlas]

Conservation groups filed objections this week to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed final management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests in western Colorado. The plan would allow commercial logging on more than 772,000 acres of public lands, including mature and old-growth trees — a 66% increase from the current forest plan.

“A sizeable area of our beloved forests could be sacrificed to commercial logging at the expense of our already dwindling wilderness areas, wildlife habitat and recreation,” said Chad Reich with High Country Conservation Advocates. “Outdoor recreation is a far larger economic driver for our communities than the local timber industry that benefits from cutting these forests. The Forest Service would’ve known that if it had conducted an economic analysis, as required by law.”

Under the proposed plan mature and old-growth forests, which store massive amounts of carbon, could be commercially logged. Forest managers would not be required to identify and protect old-growth and mature trees. Steep slopes across the forests, including Upper Taylor Canyon and Slate River Valley, could also be logged despite the high risk of severe erosion and threats to water quality.

“The proposed plan directly violates federal policy on protecting mature and old-growth trees as a cornerstone of U.S. climate action,” said Alison Gallensky, conservation geographer with Rocky Mountain Wild. “The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests boast the highest carbon sequestration capacity of any national forest in the Rocky Mountain region. Despite this the Forest Service has failed to ensure these vital carbon sinks aren’t logged and sold.”

Objections also challenged the Forest Service’s failure to take urgently needed climate action by prohibiting new coal leasing in the plan.

...

The Forest Service recommended adding only 46,200 acres of new wilderness area in the final plan. The community’s conservation proposal had called for more than 324,000 acres of new wilderness lands. In addition, the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative offered a broadly supported proposal for new wilderness and special management areas in Gunnison County that was mostly excluded.

...

“Community members proposed special management area designations to protect pristine forestlands in the North Fork Valley from logging and oil and gas drilling,” said Peter Hart, legal director at Wilderness Workshop. “The Forest Service ignored those proposals and chose not to protect those areas in the new plan.”

The groups also raised concerns about the plan’s failure to address the myriad needs of plants and animals that depend on the forests.

“Over 20 years ago Colorado Parks and Wildlife reintroduced Canada lynx to the San Juan Mountains,” said Rocky Smith, a long-time forest management analyst. “This is a great source of pride for wildlife lovers in this state. Lynx are federally threatened and depend on mature forests with large trees. This plan allows for logging that could easily degrade or destroy much of the best habitat for lynx and their main prey, snowshoe hares, and undermine Colorado’s hard work to reestablish and maintain a viable lynx population.”

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests also provide habitat for the iconic bighorn sheep and lesser-known species like the Grand Junction milkvetch and the Tundra buttercup. These species, among others, need special designation the Forest Service grants to plants and animals when there is concern about their ability to survive in the area. Many struggling plants and animals were left off the list in the proposed final plan.

“Without the species of conservation concern designation the Forest Service has no obligation to make sure the plants and animals continue to exist locally,” said Chris Krupp, public lands attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “In many cases, the agency decided not to designate wildlife, plants or fish merely because it had no data on their population trends. Without species of conservation concern designation, the number of bighorn sheep in GMUG could dwindle down to almost nothing and the agency wouldn’t have to do anything about it.”

[northameicanblog]

Little Lougheed, Kananaskis Country, Canada: Little Lougheed, a 2483 meter high mountain in the Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park (Kananaskis Country) is a short and steep climb. Named after a former Albertan Premier, this peak offers an incredible view of the Spray Lakes Reservoir and Mount Lougheed. ... Kananaskis Country is a multi-use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Wikipedia

[petermorwood]

How on earth did these goats get there?

*****

In reality the goats are lying on their sides on rocky ground, looking up at a crane-mounted camera. The photograph was taken some years ago, part of a series reconstructing Central European folk customs and traditions which have fallen from favour or are now prohibited.

This old-fashioned rural blood-sport was originally practiced in parts of Anatolia, Turkey, where the game was called keçi fırlatmak, and also in the Carpathian Alps of Romania, possibly imported during the Ottoman conquest. The name there was aruncarea caprei.

*****

The goats would have been coated in a strong adhesive traditionally distilled from pine resin.(represented pictorially here by darker patches of dye on the flanks) and were then thrown upwards towards a cliff or rock-face with makeshift catapults, often a primitive form of counterweight trebuchet assembled from wooden beams and weighted with rocks.

The game ended when the glue dried and lost adhesion, and the goats fell to their deaths. They were then cooked and eaten, their meat being valued like that of Spanish fighting bulls.

The meat of the last goat to fall (başarılı keçi or cea mai durabilă capră) was prized as a special delicacy and selected cuts from the legs of this particular “winner” goat were often smoked and dried into a kind of jerky.

*****

In his “Grandes Histoires Vraies d'un Voyageur le 1er Avril” (pub. Mensonges & Faussetés, Paris, 1871) French folk-historian, anthropologist and retired cavalry general Gilles-Etienne Gérârd wrote about witnessing a festival near Sighișoara, Transylvania, in 1868.

There he claims to have seen catapults improvised from jeunes arbres, très élastiques et souples - “very springy and flexible young trees” - which were drawn back with ropes and then released.

Bets were placed before the throw, and marks given afterwards, according to what way up the goats adhered and for how long. The reconstruction, with both goats upright, facing outward and still in place, shows what would have been a potential high score.

The practice has been officially banned in both countries since the late 1940s, but supposedly still occurred in more isolated areas up to the end of the 20th century. Wooden beams from which the catapults were constructed could easily be disguised as barn-rafters etc., and of course flexible trees were, and are, just trees.

*****

Gérârd’s book incorrectly calls the goat jerky “pastrami”, to which he gives the meaning "meat of preservation".

While pastrami may be a printing error for the Turkish word bastırma or the Romanian pastramă, both meaning “preserved meat”, at least one reviewer claims that Gérârd misunderstood his guide-translator, who would have been working from rural dialect to formal Romanian to scholarly French.

Since this jerky was considered a good-luck food for shepherds, mountaineers, steeplejacks and others whose work involved a risk of falling, Gérârd's assumption seems a reasonable one.

However, several critical comments on that review have dismissed its conclusion, claiming "no translator could be so clumsy", but in its defence, other comments point out confusion between slang usage in the same language.

One cites American and British English, noting that even before differences in spelling (tire / tyre, kerb / curb etc.) "guns" can mean biceps or firearms, "flat" can mean a deflated wheel or a place to live, "ass" can mean buttocks or donkey and adds, with undisguised relish, some of the more embarrassing examples.

This comment concludes that since the errors "usually make sense in context", Gérârd's misapprehension is entitled to the same respect.

*****

The good-luck aspect of the meat apparently extended to work which involved "falling safely", since its last known use was believed to be in ration packs issued to the 1. Hava İndirme Tugayı (1st Airborne Brigade) of the Turkish Army, immediately before the invasion of Cyprus in July 1974.

Nothing more recent has been officially recorded, because the presence of cameras near military bases or possible - and of course illegal - contests is strongly (sometimes forcefully) discouraged, and the sport’s very existence is increasingly dismissed as an urban or more correctly rural legend.

The official line taken by both Anatolian and Carpathian authorities is that it was only ever a joke played on tourists, similar to the Australian “Drop-bear”, the Scottish “Wild Haggis” and the North American “Jackalope”.

They dismiss the evidence of Gérârd’s personal observation as “a wild fable to encourage sales of his book”, “a city-dweller’s misinterpretation of country practices”, or even “the deliberate deception of a gullible foreigner by humorous peasants”.

And as for those paratroop ration packs, Turkish involvement in Cyprus is still such a delicate subject that the standard response remains “no comment”.

[atlas-affogato]

I am a country music enjoyer, and I am unashamed.

[zprites]

June TMNT All 4-1!

It's time. The man, the myth, the legend... It's Bayverse Raphael! This month's prompt came to me surprisingly quickly as compared to some of the previous months so I'm riding this high!

The lovely hosts: @turtle-babe83, @thelaundrybitch, and @leosgirl82 <3

Prompt I chose: “Well, that didn’t go as planned…”

Bayverse! Raph x Female! Reader - SFW

As always, the turtles and reader are both well into their 20s!

Enjoy! <333

Taglist: @turtle-babe83, @manduse, @morning-sun-brah, @crazysarah-98, @pacoholin, @iamdefinitelytheratking

Summer Loving

If words fail… She'll know what I mean If words fail… She'll just take my hand She sees me like no one else has If words fail… She'll understand When Words Fail - Brian D’Arcy James

"C'mon you slowpoke!" You called back to Raph, your voice reverberating off the  walls of the sewer. 

"You know I can easily catch up to you, right?" Raph said, keeping a modest distance between the two of you. You gathered he was being slow on purpose, probably because he wanted to let you win a race for once, but you weren't having it. 

You knew what would happen if he caught up to you. So you goaded him on.

"I'd like to see you try, old fart!" You hollered before breaking out in a full on sprint, smiling widely as you rounded the corner. 

You heard the telltale sounds of him rapidly approaching you, heavy footsteps breaking through your constant giggles until he was right behind you. He reached out and ran his fingers along your sides, knowing it was one of your ticklish spots, causing you to squeal and try to squirm out of his grasp. 

"Raph! Let me go!" You managed to get out.

He didn't let up. "What was that you called me? An 'old fart'?"

"Okay, okay! You're not an old fart! You're a young one! A baby fart even! Please! I'm gonna pee!!" Tears welled up in your eyes as your cheeks quickly began to grow sore from the enormous grin on your face.

Thankfully he ceased his attack, allowing you to catch your breath. "So I'm a baby fart now?" He raised a brow ridge at you.

You slowly collected yourself before nodding. He let out a chuckle while shaking his head. "Suppose that's better than an old one."

"I don't know, you are kind of old." You teased. 

"I'm only a month older than you. Besides, if I was really old, I wouldn't be about to do this." He promptly picked you up, easily settling you against his chest with a singular muscular arm. 

You rolled your eyes in a playful manner. “Okay show-off. You made your point.”

He gave a breathy laugh as he set out further into the sewers, fully intent on carrying you the rest of the way. 

Not that you were complaining. You planned for this after all, knowing after he caught up with you he would opt to hold you in his arms for the remainder of the walk, like he always did. You used to question it but always got a simple ‘It’s faster this way’, so you’ve learned over the years to just accept it. 

After being away for five months at a time you found yourself wanting him to carry you at every opportunity when you were back home. Like now.

You decided to go out of state for your graduate program, wanting to further your education in data science at a gorgeous university located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Thankfully you only had two more semesters left and with each break you came  back to your hometown, staying with the turtles who graciously opened up their home to you since your family had moved out of the country during your previous semester. You used to live with April but since you began school in Colorado, she moved in with her boyfriend, Casey Jones. 

You didn’t mind. In fact, you were glad you were staying with the brothers who you had come to consider family. You looked back on the night you met them with fondness - April trying to shield their hulking forms in her living room when you raided the kitchen at 2am, squinting at the massive mutants behind her in the dim light, tension filling the air until you asked them, in your sleep-addled stupor, if they wanted some late night nachos. Five plates of nachos later and the rest was history. 

Over the past two weeks you spent as much time as possible catching up with the turtles. Leo joined you in yoga and meditation some mornings, Donnie enthusiastically discussed everything you learned while looking over your notes and textbooks (which you always let him keep), and Mikey was glad to have another person to paint with again. 

And Raph, well anytime you weren’t hanging out with his brothers you could be found by his side. The two of you did everything together, from watching movies to singing along while he played his guitar. However one of your favorite pastimes was when the two of you would lay opposite of each other on his bed, him knitting while you read outloud, your legs resting against his. It was comforting, those moments. 

Which did nothing to help your ever growing crush on the mutant terrapin. Soon after meeting him you were instantly smitten, feeling your heartbeat pick up whenever he glanced your way, or when he smiled at you, or when his hand would sometimes rest on your leg, running his fingers along your calf almost lovingly, causing you to stutter while you tried desperately to focus on the words you were reading to him. 

Yeah, you were fucked…

Raph was your best friend and while the others would text you everyday while you were out of state, he was the one who always wished you a ‘good morning’ when you woke up for classes and a ‘good night’ when you headed to bed. At least once a week he would call you up when he knew you were in bed, talking to you for hours until you both inevitably fell asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing. He made you feel special, as if you were the most important person in his life. 

And you supposed you were, since he told you so earlier when he tried to kiss you.

Okay, in your defense you should have seen this coming, but you figured he wasn't interested in you in a romantic sense, so you kept your feelings to yourself all those years. You told yourself that his wandering gazes and lingering touches were nothing more than what they were, just fixed looks and accidental brushes of skin. Oh how wrong you were.

For not even four hours ago the two of you were cleaning up after dinner, alone in the kitchen. You made a passing joke, one that might have been self-deprecating in nature, but it seemed to have caused something in him to snap since he took you by the shoulders and… 

Well, if you had the tiniest sliver of uncertainty in regards to his feelings for you before, you definitely didn't now.

He confessed everything, from how he was captivated by your laughter and smile from the very beginning to how you occupied his every waking thought. How he missed you when you were gone and always treasured every second he spent with you, wanting nothing more than to spend the rest of his life by your side.

If only Mikey chose to barge into the kitchen a few seconds later, not when Raph's lips were only centimeters away from your own. 

You bit your lip as you thought about that moment, remembering the sincerity in his voice, the way his warm breath tickled your face, the feel of his rough skin on your cheek. 

And you were hell bent on getting that kiss tonight, through hell or high water. You had just the activity in mind to set the mood just right for that to happen, and thankfully when you suggested it to him he agreed. 

“We’re here.” 

Raph’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. He had stopped at the ladder that led to the more affluent part of Staten Island, shifting you in his arms as he grabbed the rung closest to him. 

“Better hold on tight, spider monkey.”

Your full-bellied laugh rang through the tunnels as he began his ascent, your arms looping tightly around his neck. Soon the two of you were in the middle of the suburban street. Using the dark of the night to his advantage he kept to the shadows, keeping the two of you out of sight despite it being almost midnight. You pointed out a house to him and he moved towards it. A quick peek over the backyard fence confirmed that this house had what you two were looking for and effortlessly hopped the two of you over the fence with you still in his arms. 

Raph finally put you down and you immediately slid out of your flip-flops, the cool grass beneath your feet felt heavenly as you walked closer to the large in-ground pool. You bent down and tested the water’s temperature with your hand.

“It’s a bit cold, but thankfully it looks like no one is home to hear you bitch.” You teased, standing back up to your full height.

He let out a huff. “I don’t bitch. You’re the one who squeals like a little girl when the water… isn’t…”

He trailed off as he watched you get out of the oversized shirt you wore over your swimsuit, letting it fall to the ground and fully revealing your bikini-clad body to him. You looked at him over your shoulder, a knowing gleam in your eyes.

“When the water isn’t what?”

His mouth opened and closed several times as his eyes raked over your form. If this were anyone else you would have smacked them or at the very least yell at them for ogling you, but this was Raph, and now that you knew how he felt, you felt nothing but flattery for the way he took the sight of you in.

“Hello? Earth to Raph…” 

He blinked and shook his head, as if he was trying to get rid of whatever mental image he had conjured up.

“Just get in the pool.” He grumbled, already taking off his gloves. 

You snickered and took a few steps back from the pool’s edge, knowing getting in the chilly water would be easier if you jumped in. So you did, cannonballing into the pool with a modest sized splash. 

Surprisingly enough your body adjusted to the water temperature rather quickly as you began moving gently across the water’s surface, seeing that Raph was now busy removing his knee pads.

“Any day now.” You taunted.

You couldn’t hear what he said in response because you went underwater, doing a few flips as you waited for him to join you. Finally he lowered himself into the chlorine water, wearing only his shorts. 

As you came up for air you were prompt splashed. Raph chuckled as you sputtered.

“Really?!”

You were met with another splash.

“Alright, that’s it!”

The two of you started an all out war, attacking each other with never-ending barrages of water. Soon you had to surrender as there was no way to win against his powerful sprays he produced with ease while you struggled to land any hits on him. He basked in his victory, letting out several whoops while you snuck around behind him, latching onto his shell and pulling back with all your might, effectively sending both of you under the water. 

You broke the surface and giggled as you felt his hands come to your waist before he joined you, his own laughs intermingling with yours in the quiet of the night.

Eventually the amusement of the situation died down. The two of you stayed that way, simply enjoying each other's presence while crickets chirped in the distance. He was crouched in the five-foot deep water so that he was eye level with you, holding you above the surface since he knew your mouth would be submerged if you were to fully stand. Time seemed to slow down as you stared into his golden eyes. 

You decided now was the time to lure him in. 

���Did you really mean what you said?” You asked softly, voice barely above a whisper. 

Hook…

He seemed confused so you clarified for him. "What you said, back in the kitchen…"

Raph frowned while you felt the hands on your waist tighten their hold. "You think I would joke about something like that?" 

You hummed, your own hands coming to run along his shoulders and upper arms in a repeated motion. "No, but I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”

Line…

His breath hitched as you gave him a gentle smile. It took him a moment before he licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak but no words left him. This continued for a bit until he shook his head and let out a sigh. “Sorry, I’m… Having a hard time thinking right now.”

“That’s okay, take your time.”

Raph took a deep breath. “I just… There’s not much I can say that I haven’t already said.”

One of your hands moved to cup his cheek, running your thumb across the pebbled green skin. 

His gaze never left yours as you felt him nuzzle into your caress. 

“You’re everything to me.” His voice was low, as if he was afraid this was all a dream. “You… You have this way of making me feel like I really am someone; not just a giant mutant turtle, but an actual person. I know I can’t give you a lot, but I can’t keep pretending that I don’t love you. And…”

He trailed off as his eyes glanced down to your lips so quickly that you would have missed it if you blinked. 

“And…?” You breathed out.

“And I really want to kiss you.”

Got him.

"Well, good…" You leaned in a bit closer to him before continuing. "Because I really want you to kiss me."

 His eyes widened at your admission. The seconds ticked by as you allowed him time to gather his nerves. Finally he began to close the distance between you. Your heart pounded in your chest as you closed your eyes once his lips were a hair’s width from yours.

“MOMMY!! There’s a strange lady in the pool!”

The two of you froze.

“And she’s kissing an alien!”

Shit… Guess someone was home after all…

In your periphery you could see a small boy running back inside the home and several lights turn on, most likely from his mother checking to see what all the commotion is about. 

“Run?”

Just as the question left your lips, Raph picked you up once more and hauled the two of you out of the pool.

He gathered up both of your belongings in one arm while he held you with the other, getting the two of you back into the sewers as quickly as possible before being seen again, jumping down into the dark tunnels and replacing the manhole cover with a skill that came with years of practice.

In the dead silence of the sewers the two of you gave one quick look at each other before devolving into fits of laughter. He gently set you down before handing you your sandals and shirt. 

“Well, that didn’t go as planned…” You jested while you tugged your shirt over your head, the hem reaching your knees due to how large it was. Beside you Raph was busy securing his knee pads back on.

He chuckled while you slid on your flip-flops. “No, but that ain’t stopping me anymore.”

“Oh?” You asked, mouth curving into a smile. 

Raph tossed aside his gloves and reached for you, pulling you towards him before he promptly pressed his lips against yours. 

Yeah, definitely worth the wait…

[lady-raziel]

Do you also find it annoying how people will trash talk the USA by using statistics for the whole country instead of looking at them by state?

Like, for example, how they’ll claim we have terrible standards for paid maternity leave, but they’ll use the baseline for it and completely ignore the fact that paid maternity leave is different in each state.

Yeah. I think it’s difficult for people from other countries, especially smaller countries who are geographically small and overall more culturally cohesive, to grapple with the idea that America as a whole is a very challenging country to generalize. Like, yes, ok. I work at a government agency that looks at federal level statistics— the work my coworkers are required to do by statute requires them to look only at federal level data and draw conclusions based on that data. With large scale statistical analysis, you CAN say “based on census data of everybody, the AVERAGE demographics are x, y, and z and the AVERAGE income is x, the AVERAGE person pays this much in taxes, etc.” And those sorts of conclusions are valuable in certain senses and in certain situations.

However, making generalizations like that for a country of 333 million people is really only a very narrow view of the whole picture. People have said before that it’s more like America is actually 50 small countries in a trenchcoat, and honestly that’s not far off! It is pretty difficult to say “all Americans are x” when conditions in Alabama and Colorado can be literal opposite ends of the spectrum.

Even the “red state” and “blue state” generalizations can be pretty misleading— take Colorado again, for example. Colorado is widely considered a “blue/liberal state” because of the large high-population density progressive cities on the front range of the Rocky Mountains where most of the residents of the state are. However, this discounts the fact that in the rest of the rural areas of the state, especially the eastern half bordering Kansas, attitudes and policies are much more conservative.

Here’s a map that might be illustrative:

These are Colorado’s 8 congressional districts. Congressional districts are required to have approximately equal levels of population—therefore, you have geographically tiny districts in population centers and geographically large districts in rural areas. So the ENTIRE purple portion of District 3? That has the SAME number of people living in it as the tiny district 1 that contains the capitol of Denver. I’ll add another layer— despite Colorado being a “blue state,” that purple district is represented by Lauren Boebert, a notable MAGA conservative. So really, even in Colorado it’s hard to generalize and say “all Coloradans are x” because no they’re not—you have a variety even in the same state.

If you want to get EVEN more in the weeds, you can have wildly different types of demographics even within Congressional districts.

Here’s the map for Colorado’s 6th congressional district, currently represented by Jason Crow, a Democrat.

This district includes the city of Aurora— known for being a highly diverse area that has a high refugee population. You might also know the city of Aurora for being the site of the 2012 theatre shooting as well as being the home of Elijah McClain, a young African-American man murdered by police officers in 2019. So this Congressional district contains a large POC population and is not homogeneous. But this district is also interesting in that it also encompasses the WEALTHIEST CITY IN THE STATE, the 96% white Cherry Hills Village— which, considering Colorado has highly wealthy mountain resort towns like Aspen and Vail, is saying quite a lot. And this city is mere miles away from Aurora, where economic outcomes tend to be very different. Yet they are in the same Congressional district— so even on a local level its hard to make sweeping generalizations about most things and say “this is the one number or set of numbers that represents everything for everyone.”

Now imagine situations like this in every state and every congressional district across America. There is, of course, a place for large statistics, but such wide generalizations especially with context removed really don’t say much of anything unless you’re a data analyst studying something specific. It is hard to say definitively, especially on national data, that all Americans are a certain thing. This isn’t just an American problem with statistics, of course, not all people in any given country or population are going to be the same. Generalizing statistics can be good at a VERY broad overview that represent things worth conducting more specific crosscutting analysis to form more specific conclusions. However, a lot of people tend to view large stats as ways of stereotyping or confirming biases about groups of people in a way that SEEMS scientific or data based. They remove all context or specific crosstabs that actually paint a more accurate, but often messier, picture.

Big clean numbers are nice. But they rarely tell the full story or allow for nuance.