iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 22h

Columbus was a brutal enslaver. He didn't discover America. He only found some islands in the Caribbean that weren't lost or uninhabited. Europeans just didn't know about them. Happy Indigenous People's Day to all who celebrate.

Banner with the text: Indigenous People's Day. Art work on the banner includes a stylized dreamcatcher at the top, stylized red feathers at the bottom, and flute players in traditional ceremonial dress on either side.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

@robcrank68.bsky.social Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Brown, any bird with Brown in its plumage. The Alt theme is #Blue, any bird with Blue in its plumage.

Male painted bunting with bright blue head.

Female indigo bunting. She has hints of blue on her tail, but is mostly brown.

The feathers on a wild turkey are mostly brown. The bird's head is blue, although not due to blue feathers but blue skin.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

That thing that looks like a snowy mountain is The Front. I'm glad we'll be turning south instead of north.

Clear blue sky above a solid bank of clouds masquerading as a snowy mountain.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Good morning, my Bleeps. After 24 hours of wind and rain from Hurricane Isaias, the sun is out and the clouds are breaking up.

View down the highway to the east showing clear blue sky and scattered fluffy clouds, with dark trees on either side of the road.

A view down the highway showing clouds in blue sky. The morning sun is directly ahead, shining through cloud cover. There is some ground fog above the roadway. There are dark trees on either side of the road.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

@robcrank68.bsky.social It's @alan678.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay today and his Alt theme is #Pigeons&Doves, any Pigeon or Dove species. Fat mourning dove wonders why the feeder is empty. 🫤

Mourning dove on red feeder perch peering into the camera with cocked head.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Indeed, listen to any so-called educated person, take note of their words, and, in a moment of quiet, measure them against known facts, and you will realize swiftly that the vast majority of humankind have no idea what they are talking about.

Book cover: Country People, a novel by Daniel Mason, New York Times bestselling author of North Woods. The cover art shows two terriers staring intently at a hole in the ground.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Holy crap. This $90 will be but a drop of spit in the cost-of-living morass we are struggling in.

Text of an email received from Medicare: A Message from President Trump. Dear Melissa, Congress provided 2 Billion Dollars to make improvements to the Medicare program for Americans enrolled in traditional Medicare. I believe the best way to do that is to put healthcare dollars back where they belong — directly in the hands of the American People. As a result, you are receiving a One-Time Payment of $90 to offset some of the cost of your October Medicare premium. This will ensure these funds benefit YOU and your individual healthcare needs.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

A hummer, probably a ruby-throated hummingbird, sheltering from the rain under the eaves. This bird has been sitting quietly on the feeder for some time, not eating, just resting. With binoculars, we could see water dripping from her tail. She should be migrating out of here soon.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Water striders make ripples on a stream's surface.

A water strider walking on water produces concentric circles of ripples. There are stones and fallen leaves on the creek bed below the clear water.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Good morning, my Bleeps. Today will be a wet, windy mess, courtesy of Hurricane Isaias, so here are a few Smoky Mountain wildflowers to cheer us up.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

@robcrank68.bsky.social It's @helenbennett.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay today and her theme is #Green, any birds or backgrounds that have Green in them. The Alt theme is #Geese, any Goose/Geese will do.

Two immature northern cardinals on a willow sapling with maples, palm fronds, and ferns behind them.

Greylag geese leaving in a collective huff after discovering the library isn't open.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Today's moment of Zen. Soco Falls, Maggie Valley, NC.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

We are in the dusk, but the setting sun lights the overhead trees on fire.

Lowering sun highlights fall color on higher trees. There are lavender mountains in the distance.

Fall color on distant trees at elevation is highlighted by setting sun. There is a paved road in the foreground.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Saw this harem of elk with their managing bull in Balsam Mountain campground, GSMNP, yesterday evening.

Four elk cows and a bull among trees. The bull is on the right, resting on the grass. He has an impressively large rack of antlers.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I was today years old when I learned what chipmunks sound like. We don't have them where I live. I kept hearing loud chirping near our rental cabin, yet Merlin couldn't identify any bird. I finally made the connection.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Sassafras. A crazy small tree that's fun to say, makes delicious (though toxic) tea, and has leaves that are variously simple in shape, or mitten-shaped, or double thumbed mitten-shaped.

Sassafras leaves in fall orange-red color.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

A nightmare for arachnophobes: dozens of grass spider webs revealed on a roadside by morning dew.

Dozens of grass spider webs on a roadside.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The crows are having morning meeting somewhere off in the distance. Sound up.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Observation tower at Kuwohi on a rare, clear day, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Observation tower from below. There is a long, curved ramp to access the top. The tower is 45 feet tall.

View from the observation deck on a clear day. The farthest peaks are 45 miles in the distance.

Elevation at the top of the observation deck: 6680 feet.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Traditional mountain log construction, showing how logs were notched at corners to created a strong, stable structure.

Corner of a log building, showing how logs were notched to fit together at corners. If you ever played with Lincoln Logs, you have some idea how this worked.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Elk have been successfully reintroduced into the Great Smoky Mountains and are often seen grazing on roadsides. It isn't unusual to see a bull elk with a harem of ten to fifteen cows during the fall mating season.

Two elk in a meadow on the edge of woods. The male on the right has prominent antlers, with some vines dangling from them.

A group of about ten elk cows grazing in early morning on a mowed roadside. The male tending this group was just across the road, lying down, but alert.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Iron was a limited commodity in early mountain settlements, and was never discarded, but reused. Here, horseshoes have been used to create door hinges on an outbuilding.

A door on the left made of vertical boards is hinged with horseshoes to a shed built from horizontally stacked logs.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

John Cable Grist Mill, built in 1867 in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Still in use to make cornmeal for tourists to buy in support of the park.

Cable mill, showing water flume and water wheel that provide power to the mill. The mill uses original locally quarried granite millstones.

Sample millstones. Stones are 3-4 feet in diameter and about a foot thick. Grooves in the stone allow ground meal to drain off the stone into a receptacle below. There is an old-style split rail fence behind the millstones.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Time for a relaxing spin through the countryside.

A yellow diamond-shaped hazard warning sign with a pictogram of a figure tumbling headfirst over the handlebars of a bicycle that is standing precariously on its front wheel, with its back wheel in the air. A warning sign below says: "Danger. Steep grade. Sharp curves. Walk bikes". There is green forest behind the sign.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My dears, I hope you find some time to relax, like this black bear spotted yesterday in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains.

A young black bear resting at the edge of a field of tall grass. The bear was casually grooming its paws and ignoring all the excited tourists nearby. Visitors are warned to maintain a distance of 50 yards from bears, but this one was lolling about 25 feet from the roadway. This image was shot from the safety of our vehicle.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Good morning, my Bleeps. Here are some autumn wildflowers from the Great Smoky Mountains.

Goldenrod, with a bright yellow flower cluster atop a stem with many thin, spear-like leaves. This flower head has a bald-faced hornet in attendance on its left side.

Scarlet beebalm, with red tubular flowers radiating from a central point atop a stem with green leaves that have well-defined venation.

Blue flowers with yellow centers from the Aster family, possibly Symphyotrichum. The green leaves below the flowers are spearhead-shaped.

Michaux's saxifrage growing in cracks on wet rocks at Kuwohi, over 6000 feet elevation. The plant has small serrated arrowhead-shaped leaves and small white flowers. I have found this plant reliably in this location for many years.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

@robcrank68.bsky.social Today's #BirdOfTheDay Alt theme is #Eating, birds with food in their beaks. Here's an American white ibis washing the dirt off an earthwarm in a driveway puddle.

American white ibis facing left, with an earthworm dangling from its beak. The ibis is standing in a shallow puddle on a concrete driveway. There are ripples in the puddle caused by the bird washing the worm in the puddle.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Good morning, my Bleeps. Here are some butterflies of the Great Smoky Mountains, all seen at the same location around a patch of blue cardinal flowers.

Gulf fritillary butterfly in grass, dark orange with black and white highlights.

Cloudless sulphur butterfly, pale green with a few tan spots, on the tright side of a blue cardinal flower inflorescence.

Pipevine swallowtail butterfly on the left side of a blue cardinal flower inflorescence.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

@robcrank68.bsky.social It's time for @alan678.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay Alt theme is #Perched, birds standing on anything except branches. Here are Royal terns on a dock piling.

Two royal terns on a dock piling, an adult facing right, and a juvenile facing left.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

@helenbennett.bsky.social Today's #BirdOfTheDay is #BirdSupermodel Any bird captured looking like it's posing for a magazine cover shoot... bold eye contact, dramatic lighting, uncluttered backdrops. A female northern cardinal poses for the cover of Backyard Birds

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Good morning, my Bleeps. Generations of lichen greet the day.

Several species of lichen layered onto a weathered fence rail.

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Melissa NicWitch of Clan Witch @microdoodles.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social Today’s #BirdOfTheDay alt. theme is: #BadWeather; any bird in inclement conditions. Here's a rain-soaked female northern cardinal and a wind-blown male northern cardinal.

Wet female northern cardinal. She is facing a quarter turn to the left.

Male northern cardinal with feathers on his head and wings ruffled by wind. His back is to the camera and his head is turned to the right.

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