The scent of an infant. The light when cresting Donner Summit at sunset. Graffeo Roast coffee with bacon, fried eggs, and toasted sourdough bread dripping in butter and marmalade.

The smell of puppy breath.

The last three seconds of a brain freeze.

The sight of my grandchildren’s faces when they see me. ♥♥♥♥

The smell of rain.

@rebbel is a sicko. Can’t wait to see what Ragingloli has to say!

The smell of the interior of a just bought new car
Border Collies
Firm, pert tits that have that perfect sway & bounce
Running

CHEESEBURGERS!!!!
Today is national cheeseburger day.

Chocolate
Caramel
Scratching off a third $10,000 on a lottery ticket
‘65 Mustang perfectly restored
——————on YouTube—————-
Sylvester the talking cat
Lucas the spider

My favorite new band. They are frikkin amazing.
Greta Van Fleet: https://youtu.be/zXdM1rqSlSQ

@Dutchess_III There’s a word for that, petrichor.

(singing My Favourite Things-Julie Andrews)

My favorite thing is reading a good book, with my two dogs beside me, listening to cicada’s (country bugs) mating/singing.

Tesla Model 3

This car is unbelievable. If you have the ability to plug in to a drier plug nightly (one can easily be installed in your garage or outside of your house by an electrician) and drive less than ~250miles per day, don’t need offroad capability, and regularly take 4 or fewer passengers (5 can squeeze), this car is probably the best on the market at it’s price. It’s very quiet, fast, comfortable, high-tech, clean, practically maintenance free (no oil changes!), much cheaper to drive than gas, and is one of the top few safest vehicles on the road (safest in its class). Every friend/family member that has driven it has had a huge grin on their face and told me they want one. I cannot recommend it enough.

The Scottish mountains on a sunny morning after a night of snow.

Birds! Birding can be fun for everyone.

- Do you like video games? Birding is the closest thing there is to real-life Pokemon. Collecting sightings or photographs of different bird species is like filling up your Pokedex!
– Do you like hiking? Birding is basically just hiking where you pay extra close attention to your surroundings. It just adds a little extra thrill to your walk.
– Do you like photography? Trying to photograph a small, quickly-moving bird could be a next-level challenge for you. It’s so satisfying when you get a good shot.
– Do you wish you had more to look forward to in your every day? If you get into birds, there’s always the chance of seeing something that will excite you literally every time you step outside!
– Do you like traveling? Different birds live in different parts of the country/world, so traveling to a new place comes with the promise of getting to see species you’ve never seen before, which adds a little extra excitement to your vacation.

Birds are some of the flashiest, most brightly colored animals you’re likely to see on a regular basis. There’s also a huge variety of species so you probably won’t run out of new species to see. It’s the hobby that keeps on giving!

I love sleeping too @Jane15818! It’s like, my favorite thing in the world. I have a waterbed with a feather mattress on top AND an attic fan to pull the cool air in through the window above my head.

@Mariah I have two birds, love them. The old man is pretty grumpy at 22 yrs old, but he’s hanging on. My female is only 12 but she’s incredibly smart and beautiful.

@KNOWITALL Wow, how fun! I’ve never had a pet bird, just appreciation for wild ones. My friend has a lovebird though. They make for sweet, if challenging pets.

@Mariah Birding always struck me as so arbitrary. People could go “Spidering” or “Butterflying” or any other form of observing some classification of lifeform. I’ve got dozens of species of birds that fly in-and-out-of my back yard and many are really beautiful/interesting/neat/quirky, but as far as observation of backyard creatures goes, the squirrels chasing each other, building nests and other shenanigans have them beat 1000:1 from an entertainment factor. Odd you don’t hear of people going “squirreling.”

@Mariah Mine are pretty low key. I don’t clip them and they fly around whenever they want, my dogs run from them. They aren’t loud or anything, love their spray baths and fresh fruits. I prefer wild animals myself, but I can’t stand seeing caged animals, so I got my girl, then the male was a rescue. Can’t turn an old man loose on people, he’s so cranky nowadays! lol

@gorillapaws I have heard that argument before! Allow me to defend birding:

- There are a lot more varieties of birds in a given geographical area than, say, mammals or reptiles. For many birders, a huge part of the joy is the “collecting” aspect of it and getting to add a new species to their life list. So the large variety is important. Additionally, most birds are awake and active during the daylight hours where they can be observed pretty easily.
– You’ve got to admit that birds have a more innate appeal than insects. Butterflies, sure – I think plenty of wildlife enthusiasts also enjoy observing butterflies, but spiders? I can appreciate a cool spider, but I’m not going to go seeking them out, no thank you.
– Fish rival birds in terms of colorfulness and variety, but are much harder to observe or photograph.
– If you watch more closely, you might find that birds have entertaining behaviors too! Crows and mockingbirds will “mob” hawks, other predatory birds, and even cats to try and annoy them into leaving their nesting ground. It’s amazing to watch groups of small birds beating up on a big predator who could decimate them in a second if they wanted to. Woodpeckers BREAK TREES by SMASHING THEIR FACES INTO THEM. Metal AF. Green herons will stand absolutely still in a pond for 20 minutes, then suddenly, SPLASH! Out pops 2 feet of neck that was completely retracted before, and Mr. Heron’s got a fish speared on his beak. During nesting season, male mourning doves will fly around gathering sticks and grasses and bring them to the female, who is sitting on their half-finished nest. He’ll stand on her back and assemble the nest around her. American woodcocks do a hilarious dance to agitate the ground and lure worms up to the surface. I could go on and on.

@KNOWITALL Oh, that’s wonderful that they get free roam of your house! I hate seeing animals in cages too, especially ones that are too small, which is all too common. How do you deal with the poop issue though?

You just got a ♥ GA from me @Mariah!

I would like to add that birds sing, and that may be the only way you know they are there…so you have to try to sneak up on them for a picture. I can imagine it resembles the satisfaction of “the hunt.”
Spiders and squirrels don’t make much noise.

Good point! I do a lot of my birding by ear, meaning that I identify the bird based on its song before ever spotting it. It helps me know when I need to stop moving because there’s a bird hiding nearby that I REALLY want to see. It can be frustrating though when you’re in thick forest and the bird is hiding really effectively!!

Squirrel do make sounds though! Their noises are strange and the squeakier ones can be confused for bird calls. I had a coworker play a recording of a call for me because he wanted to know what bird it was. I had to break the news to him that it was, in fact, a squirrel. He was embarrassed, lol.

@Mariah I don’t know if you are in to YouTube videos watching, but if you are, check out Mark Smith’s channel.
He’s a great storyteller, very knowledgeable on birds (and nature in general), and a fantastic photographer (in my opinion).

Ooo I’ll take a look, thanks for the rec!

Yosemite in the Snow

Blaze Pizza

Vintage Airstream Trailers

Libera Angel Voices

Unisoy Vegan Jerky

This Guy

This Vermeer Painting(Vermeer)

Chocolate Peppermint Stick Soy Milk by West Soy

Ruby Red Grapefruit

Homemade Macaroni Salad

Sherlock Holmes Book Covers

Deviled Eggs

Christmas Trees

Ring of Fire Hot Sauce

Mango Lassi

I must thank this thread for helping me realize that I’m dangerously close to depression these days…

I saw this thread yesterday and attempted to answer, but I found it hard to find anything worthy to list. I told myself to wait until tomorrow, and today I come back and still found nothing to write about.

And it scares me. Why is it so hard to think of something I can recommend?

I’ve been through some changes in my life lately. As much as I try to keep myself from being distracted from my goal, I still have that fear that I’m going the wrong way and I will end up being a loser.

And that’s when I realize from this thread… I’ve been working too hard to enjoy anything. Sure, there was a bad job that took all of my time and I’m in the process of getting out of it, but I’ve turned too many things into goals. I’ve tried too hard to walk so fast…

For now I can’t really recommend anything good I have my list of movies, but I’m afraid they are too depressing to recommend. So I think I’ll settle down with the recommendation you all listed here.

If it worths adding, I like having long conversation with my loved ones about life. So far I can find few people to do it with me.

HUGS!
And right now, a group hug for Mimi.
Who’s in?

Me.
Hug from me, Mimi <3

Hugs!

(((Hugs.))) Here is something to make you smile. I hope. ...No. That was dumb. Someone else want to give it a go for our Mimi??

@Mariah Thanks for clarifying more. I still think birding is kind of arbitrary, and I’m still not a convert, but I have a better understanding of your perspective. It sounds like it’s firing the same neurons that Stamp collectors have, but with a more interesting subject (I really can’t think of anything less interesting than collecting stamps).

We have a lot of Monarch butterflies around here, but the other day, under the SUV, was the most beautiful butter fly. His wings were black, with vivid blue at the ends. I’ve seen pictures of that kind, but I’ve never seen one in real life.

We saw an actual bluebird out at the lake once. I’d never seen one of those either. It was cool.

@Mariah Bird poop isn’t much of an issue in my house, they have perches and a room with their cages where they hang out the most (and snooze…lol) In the main house, they fly and only occasionally let one rip that I’ll clean up if I can beat the dogs to it, they’re good birds.

Can birds be house trained?

I always wanted a pet fox.

@Dutchess_III Mine can. They’re very smart, especially parrots. My girl talks and says I love you and Night Night, plays ball with me, laughs, etc…great companions.

I have heard that about parrots and macaws. They are also very, very long lived and, in many cases, out lived their original owners.

@Dutchess_III Yes, I got a conure which is the smallest parrot, and they live about 30 years. I’ve had her over a decade now, so we’ll grow old together…lol My other one probably doesn’t have much time left. A 20 year old cockatiel is unusual, they are only supposed to live to 14 yrs or so, so I guess I’m doing something right.

Macaws and cockatoos can live up to 80–100 years in captivity! I want one, but we leave our back door open a lot for the dog to go in and out and we’d probably lose it. :( Wow. That was the first time I used the singular of “dog.” That makes me sad.

@Dutchess_III Oh no, you can clip their wings and they won’t be able to fly off. Some of my friends use leash/ harnesses so the birds can go everywhere with them, too.

I just chose not to do that because I feel like they should be able to live as natural as possible, even in captivity. I didn’t take them from their homes, but I’ll make sure they come to no harm and are as happy as possible.

So, how did you house train them?

@Dutchess_III I didn’t really on the potty part, but they get put up in their own room when they potty somewhere they are not supposed to, so they trained themselves in that aspect I suppose.

The talking and things is just repeated loving phrases they hear a lot and repeat back.

Something that amuses me this morning is how bird watching can be so sophisticated :)

Jocularity.
I love jocularity.

@Patty_Melt Jocularity

Yes! Exactly that.