Gallery of Shadows and Reflections

Good afternoon. This is Janet, posting on Ysabet's behalf. She is without power today, as are large swaths of her community.  Best estimate at this time for her return online is late afternoon / early evening. 

Colorado’s ‘Tamales Act’ Restores Citizens’ Freedom to Buy and Sell Homecooked Food

Colorado’s government has restored the freedom of its people to prepare and sell homecooked food to one another.

Provided they take a food safety course, the “Tamale Act” is expected to be a boost to the informal economy by unlocking the commercial power of mama’s and grandma’s home-cooking.


This is a huge improvement for everyone.

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Thousands Donate to Help Nebraska Ranchers Who Couldn’t Feed Their Herds After Wildfires Burn Every Acre

A few months ago the largest wildfire in Nebraska history burned a thousand square-miles of ranch land. It burned every foot of grass on Mike and Kayla Wintz’s 11,000-acre ranch.

But when they and their neighbors faced the threat of losing their livelihoods, something remarkable happened. Thousands of anonymous donors stepped up from across the U.S. The Wintz ranch alone was gifted $80,000 worth of hay—from mostly anonymous donors.

This is a generous response to the disaster, but there's more to the backstory and the developments in upcoming months.

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Today we went out to several local places.

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Today is cloudy, mild, and wet.  It just started raining.

I fed the birds.  I've seen several sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/16/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

It barely rained at all, just enough to make things inconveniently damp. >_<

EDIT 6/16/26 -- We went out to the Charleston Food Forest and Grissom Family Orchard and Farm Market, along with other errands.  :D

There are a couple thunderstorms visible from here, but one is too far north.  The other to the west may or may not give us any rain.

EDIT 6/16/26 -- We've gotten light rain for about half an hour, then suddenly "the air is water" and "the sky is throwing rocks" briefly.  The hail was only pea-sized, lasted a couple minutes, and melted almost instantly so I doubt it did any real damage.

EDIT 6/16/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I walked along the road taking pictures of the sunset.  You can still see a little of the cloud diversity today.  It was definitely the kind of sky that made me think God had gotten to the bottom of her craft box and decided it was time for a stashbuster project.  At one point, I looked at a forming thunderhead and mused, "I wonder if God has enough to finish that one, or if She is just playing yarn chicken."  :D  Then I realized that "The God Box" poem wasn't on Dreamwidth because it was published elsewhere a couple decades back, so I definitely need to fix that.
 
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Glowworms turn cave ceilings into underground starscapes

In places sunlight never reaches, life still finds ways to produce light. Inside caves, beneath forests and across humid, hidden landscapes, tiny organisms emit an otherworldly glow that seems almost impossible. These creatures are known as glowworms. But this simple name hides a surprising level of biological diversity.

The term “glowworm” does not refer to a single species. It is a common name applied to several unrelated organisms that independently evolved bioluminescence. What connects them is not their ancestry, but the visual effect they create. These scattered points of living light make dark spaces appear stunningly celestial.

National Pollinator Week is June 15-21. In most places, this is a poor time of year to plant a pollinator garden. However, many summer flowers are blooming, so it's a great time to visit pollinator gardens or other wildlife sites in your area to look for pollinators. You could also collect seeds that have set from spring-flowering plants, many of which will be ripe by now.


6 WAYS TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL POLLINATOR WEEK

7 Things You Can Do for Pollinators

Encourages Pollinator Protection Every Day

Pollinator Week

Today is partly cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

The golden rain tree is blooming.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I potted up 7 Jonagold sprouts in two pots. I have a lot of stratified sprouts that I need to pot up. :D

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I potted up 3 Granny Smith sprouts in one pot.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I picked up branches along the south side of the driveway and put them in the firepit. I was unable to clear the whole length due to several huge branches and overall amount of cut brush. *sigh* But more is clear than it was.

We have decided to use the northeast corner of the parking lot as a staging area for chippable brush that is too green for the firepit.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I potted up 7 Ambrosia apple sprouts in two pots.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I potted up 30 Ginger Gold apple sprouts in six pots.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I potted up 3 yellow pear sprouts in one pot.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- I hauled the cut brush from the white garden to the northeast corner of the parking lot.

I walked around the yard a bit. Hundreds of fireflies are coming out. Some are in the fields, but more are in the grass and bushes in my yard. :D I saw at least one bat flying overhead too.

EDIT 6/15/26 -- We went out skywatching. We spotted Venus and Jupiter, but not Mercury or the first crescent moon.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

This poll covers the ideas proposed in the recent call for themes. Everyone is eligible to vote in this poll. I will keep it open until at least Wednesday morning. If there are clear answers then, I'll close it. Otherwise I may leave it open a little longer. If you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can vote in an anonymous comment or email to me, but include some kind of handle to distinguish yourself.

For this poll, you can vote for as many themes as you find appealing. I recommend that you don't vote for all of them, since that makes it harder to whittle down the list. The themes are arranged in alphabetical order.

Here are your options ...

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