Lmst

Dug up one grumpy looking potato yesterday.

Did I find Mr. Pin's reincarnation?
(Reference to #discworld book "the truth")

large irregularly shaped potatoes. the upper part looks a bit like a grumpy face.

Working in the garden with my little helpers.

#catsofmastodon #Caturday

Two adolescent cats pretend fighting. On the lower left is a brown calico in defensive posture. on the upper right is a ginger tabby on the attack. in front and behind them are plants, some of them dead and brown. in the background is the gray plastic wall off the greenhouse.

An adolescent ginger tabby cat peeking out from inside a shelf. it is surrounded by various garden tools, fencing posts, plants, and various random objects.

First hints of snow.
</fall>

early winter landscape of French Jura.
Foreground is trees, mostly firs and spruces. Background is rolling hills with a very light snow cover.
Above is a grey sky.

Did someone order a box of cats?

#Caturday #catsofmastodon

My chestnut tree (Castanea sativa) is in full bloom. Apparently it gets mostly pollinated by some kind of hover fly, or at least that's what is on it when I check. Not too sure about the identification, maybe a tapered drone fly?

fairly close up picture of a blooming Sweet Chestnut. the cream white male flowers are arranged by the hundreds in long strands called catkins. The female flowers are at the base of the catkins and not visible here. The catkins emerge from intensely green leaves with a sawtooth edge.
the background is out of focus grass and some white water tanks.

A close up image of a hover fly sitting on male sweet chestnut flowers.
The hover fly is with its back to the point of view, looking towards the top right. Its body colors mimic honey bees colors, dark brown body with much lighter stripes. A beautiful example of batesian mimicry.
The flowers are mostly composed of long stamen, the male sex organ of the flower, and small petals. both are off white.

To whoever designed the Crosshair VIII Impact motherboard: Who hurt you? I just spent over an hour to replace the CMOS Battery. I had to remove the motherboard from the case and then disassemble parts of it... Why is it in the IO back panel? Why?

#baddesign #justVenting

The first kitten of the litter to come beg at the door. The very cute pawing turned frantic once it realized that our dog was behind it, patiently waiting to be let in. It didn't get to come inside, but it got the opportunity to growl at the dog from the safety of a human's arm, and a few scratches.

#Caturday

picture of a ginger kitten pawing at a glass door to be let in. the picture is taken from the other side of the door. there are some reflections overlayed the kitten.
the kitten has a somewhat frantic look.

These two cuties joined the homestead this week. They were born on Thursday to a waaaay overdue mom.

#sheep #lamb #animals

Two 2 days old black lambs in tall grass. the lower one looks to the right, the upper one to the left. they are both wet from rain.

Kittens have reached the "epic battle amongst siblings" stage.

#Caturday

A picture of two kittens play-fighting in a barn. On their left is a metal fence, a small part of a plastic barrel, and a log. the floor is covered in straw. one kitten is laying crosswise over the other and pretend-bitting it. the top kitten is a very dark calico, the lower one is a white striped ginger.

Back at the homestead, back in the garden. Not everything is growing great, some sun would do worlds of good. But some plants are doing surprisingly well, like lentils. One thing that definitely is growing well is weeds, so much weeding to do...
And the kittens are starting to be curious. Still at a safe distance though.

a view of part of my garden. on the bottom right are red and green lettuces. above and to the left are rows of chickpeas and lentils. chickpeas are completely submerged by weeds. above and to the left are more lettuces. behind those are some 'red russians' kales from last year forming a tangled heap of branches and seed pods, the seeds should be ripe for harvest fairly soon.
further in the back are sweet corn and then potatoes.
in the background is one of our pastures with various fruit trees. under the walnut, the right most tree, our 4 sheep are barely visible.

our 4 kittens. they are 5 or 6 weeks old. most of the picture is taken up by our wooden sheep barn. in the center is the closed door of the sheep entrance. 2 ginger kitten are sitting in front of the door, a brown calico and another ginger kitten are peeking at the camera from a gap under the door.

#rhineriver hike day 10
Well, my holidays are coming to an end, so this is the last one for now.
Finished with a relaxing morning hike with a cousin from Steckborn to Stein am Rhein, where we had lunch among beautiful medieval buildings. With this, I reached the end of Lake Constance and am at the very beginning of the High Rhine towards Basel, but that will be for the next holidays.

All in all I managed to hike 245 km, so about one fifth of the total river. Looking forward to walking the rest 🙂.

A view off the lowest end of Lake Constance. At the forefront is a field of tall grass. Beyond it, except on the very left, is the lake in a fairly deep blue. Beyond the lake are hills and towns. The Rhine flows to the left.

The south facade of Stein am Rhein's town hall. It is a highly decorated 3 story building. Decorations are in part the timber framing, in part stonework and in part painted on. I recognize some of the paintings:
1st floor left to right: the flag of Zürich on top of a pillar; then same for Bern; then same for Lucerne; in the center is a large depiction of St. George defeating the dragon; a woman, I think a winemaker; a man, I think a fisher.
on the second floor in the center: I'm really not sure, but it looks like the flag of Zürich in opposition to a flag of Schaffhausen, under the coat of arms of the habsburg.

No hike today. Therefore, my balcony acquired new plants. And I acquired a new puzzle. This was a good, restful day 😊.

a black, rounded flower planter on my balcony. in it's center is a Coleus (Coleus Scutellarioides), taller, purple leaves with golden borders, no flowers. It is framed by two plants of Graceful Spurge (Euphorbia Hypericifolia), smaller, green leaves, many small white flowers. on the left of the planter is brown bottle with tubing coming out the top, it is a réservoir for automatic watering.

#rhineriver day 9
Wisdom of the day:

When ducks swim on your path
look for a different way

I was too slow for a picture of the ducks, but here's a picture of the pond, err, I mean path.

A flooded path goes over a bridge, between tall grass and willows.

#rhineriver hike day 8

Nothing much to say today.
Beautifully landscapes.
Too much wealth on display, too many fenced off villas.
I did meet many many fishes all in one go.

a swarm of thousands of tiny fishes in a gentle forest stream. the picture is taken from above, from a bridge over the stream. the stream reflects trees on the left and the sky on the lower right.

a view on Lake Constance. the foreground is a tall grass meadow. on the left is half of a tall tree. The lake, lightly rippled, forms the middle ground. the German shore with forests, villages and rolling hills forms the background. the sky is partially clouded.

#rhineriver hike day 7 part two
Well, today turned into the "go around flooded paths" day. The lake is very full. At least the water fowls are enjoying it 🙂

A path goes between two treelines. after a few meters, the path is completely flooded.

a large willow tree stands un a lawn in front of what should be a promenade. the promenade is completely flooded. a bench stands in the water behind and to the right of the tree. red and white construction caution tape blocks of the flooded part, it goes across the whole picture and wraps around the tree once. A swan is grooming itself on the left, three ducks are chilling close to the bench.

My hiking boots standing in a few centimeters of water on a street in Rorschach.

A promenade in Arbon is covered in water, forcing pedestrians to walk on a low stone wall. there are trees, benches and signs on the promenade on the left. The lake on the right is cowered in reeds.

@jupitersigh
I didn't expect that question to throw me so much. I needed to think about it for quite a while. I don't think I have ever used that sentiment in a non sarcastic or facetious way. I guess I'm too utilitarian for that sentiment. The only way I could ever see myself using it is 3.

#rhineriver hike day 7
Reached Lake Constance right on time for lunch. With another great view of course.

This is the end of the section of the river called "Alpine Rhine". The next few days will be along the Lake.

view from a restaurant at the "Rheinspitze". the last 100 meter or so of the Old Are visible on the right. the right bank is marked by partially submerged trees. the left bank is a marina full of small boats. Beyond that is Lake Constance and further back the German shore of the lake. the sky is blue with large white clouds

#rhineriver hike day 6
Started early and did a long non stop hike. The path soon went to the top of the embankments, through tall grass. It was beautiful and peaceful. We met only a handful of people on the way. After a late lunch in St. Margrethen, I said goodbye to my mom and kept going for a little bit along the old Rhine, a few km of the original river that are not part of it anymore due to humans meddling 😅. It now is, partially, a beautiful nature reserve. The path was flooded in part, so I got wet feet for the first time on this hike. Until now, my shoes held up amazingly, but they weren't watertight when being completely submerged. Shocking, I know. /s

Didn't quite manage to reach lake Constance on foot today, but caught a ship for the ride home, so I still got a view of the lake.
I tried to take a panoramic picture of the Rhine delta, but the algorithm got confused by the moving ship. I really like how the picture came out nonetheless.

a picture of the Rhine. it is taken towards downstream from an embankment on the left bank. the river is on the right of the picture and does a slow right turn in the distance. On the embankment, a small footpath disappears among tall grass. In the distance, there are hills and forest. the sky is overcast and a patchwork of various greys.

a picture of a pond inside a bend of the "old Rhine". the closer part of the pond is still and mirrors nearby mountains and forests. the further part ripples from the wind. There is a light green island in the middle of the pond.

picture taken from the upper back deck of a small passenger ship. the right part of the picture is the ship itself. the center is water, the Old Rhine. on the left is the left bank of the Old Rhine, covered in willow trees and reeds

attempted and failed panoramic picture. While trying to take a panoramic picture, the camera software got confused by being on a moving ship and failed to stitch the images together correctly. most of the image is Lake Constance water. in some distance, the Rhine delta shoreline is visible, but there is like a tear in the middle of the image and the shoreline suddenly, but somehow organically, jumbs lower in the picture.

#rhineriver day 5
My mom joined me for today and tomorrow 🙂. We left Vaduz on the same "Rheindamn" I was following yesterday, big earthen works on each side of the straightened river.

After lunch we left Lichtenstein, did a very short 700m incursion into Austria before crossing back into Switzerland. From there, more Rheindamn until Oberriet. Tomorrow we should reach lake Constance, and I'm excited to see something else than a straight river with earthworks on either side. It is pretty, but also monotonous.

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