iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yes! Everybody on board the native landscape train! I have been gradually transitioning mine and have documented about 750 total species of plants, animals, and fungi in the space since 2014. It’s very rewarding!

Goldenrod (bright yellow flowers) in the foreground. Pink New England asters and other plants in the background.

View of a native landscape where it converges on lawn space. Plants include goldenrod, lobelia, coneflowers, asters, and more.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This was not AS bad as I remembered. Still, if this was the best my good friend could say about my writing and I couldn’t get anyone else to blurb it, I think I would feel sad 😅

Text from the back of “Buck Alice and the Actor Robot,” a 1988 novel by Walter Koenig. Blurb from Leonard Nimoy reads “BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR ROBOT takes a wry and insightful look at human behavior after apocalypse. Mr. Koenig finds that people remain human - both mean-spirited and heroic, both aimless and persistent - in the gravest circumstances. It’s a complex worldview, all articulated in a well-conceived science-fiction thriller.”

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Lol one of the first thoughts I had when I saw this thing.

A Star Trek TOS Title Card. The Enterprise orbits a blue planet. Yellow text reads “Spock’s Ass.”

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

#BirdADay February 1 Lapland Longspur A #lifer as the month rolls over! Even got some (poor) documentation photos

A small brown bird on a roadside in front of a pile of snow. (Lapland Longspur)

Another view of a small brown bird on a roadside in front of snow. Facial and chest marking indicative of Lapland Longspur are visible.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

January recap - not bad! I am guessing I can keep this up until mid-March or so but we will see! #BirdADay #birding

A list of dates January 1 through January 31 with the corresponding bird next to each date. In order the birds are: American Coot, Brown Creeper, Western Kingbird, American Black Duck, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Merganser, Pine Warbler, Cooper’s Hawk, Winter Wren, Red-flanked Bluetail, Bald Eagle, Fox Sparrow, Eastern Screech-Owl, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Belted Kingfisher, Hooded Merganser, Merlin, Orange-crowned Warbler, Red-headed Woodpecker, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Purple Finch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Great Blue Heron, Great Cormorant, Pileated Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-shouldered Hawk, White-throated Sparrow, Red-tailed Hawk, Tundra Swan, and Turkey Vulture

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Chased the Western Kingbird at Sandy Point State Park (Annapolis, MD) then crossed the bridge to check out the harlequin duck on Kent Island - both birds put on a satisfying show! #birding Plenty of real photographers there but when a cool bird cooperates like this I have to use that phone camera!

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Second photo of the same bird - but can you see it? Shows how even a bird I think of as fairly boldly-patterned can be easily missed if it’s being quiet! They’re fairly common here in the winter but I personally don’t find them all that often.

The same tree as the OP, with the same bird in almost the same spot, but *very* well-camouflaged.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Only bird I bothered pointing the old phone camera at today. Yellow-bellied sapsucker at Gunners Lake in Germantown. Lots of good waterfowl too.

A yellow-bellied sapsucker in a y-branch near the top of a small tree.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

My 4 y/o asked me to build him an AT-AT to go with a bunch of Star Wars LEGO he got for Christmas. I think I did OK for not having instructions and using whatever we had. Thought I’d share here to have *something* on my feed other than politics.

A gray LEGO construction reminiscent of a walker from Star Wars sits on a white dresser in front of a stack of picture books

Rear view of the same gray LEGO construction, lit from the front.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

I fixed your profile with as much care as you gave the subject of your book.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I wouldn’t eat at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant here for a bit… these dumb motherfuckers really don’t GAF who or what they poison, even themselves.

A screenshot of Google maps showing the East Potomac Golf Links and East Potomac Park across one branch of the Potomac River from Hell’s Kitchen

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

“Is this ANTIFA?” “No, this is PATRICK!” #NoKings

Inflatable Squidward and Patrick from SpongeBob standing at 7th St NW in DC. A scattering of protesters in street clothes are milling around.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

The vibes were impeccable. Just… wow. IDK how to describe it but the energy was so overwhelmingly positive. Pretty sure the national guard member in the middle back there was falling in love with this guy.

A man on stilts dressed as Donald Trump with a “traitor” sign around his neck is leaning on a pole. In the background, members of the National Guard smile wistfully. Near the entrance to the Archives/Navy Memorial DC Metro Station.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Hey 47… where was that “heavy force”? Closest thing to a cop at Wheaton’s #NoKings was Captain Maryland helping people cross the street with his over-sized crab hammer. The only response was support from nearly every passerby.

“Captain Maryland,” a local cosplayer, helps protestors cross a busy street. His outfit is a Maryland flag motif with a shield and white boots. He has an Old Bay holster and a large crab mallet. He is holding it out to signal turning vehicles to allow protestors to cross.

A crude cardboard sign reading “Nice to Meetcha “Very Heavy Force.” I’m “Quite Angry Citizen.”

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Probably about 1K in Wheaton, MD… small but mighty! I think the other local ones were much bigger. Usually folks here just go straight into DC for action.

A group of protesters line a large road near DC. Several passing cars.

Captain Maryland (a play on Captain America wrapped in a Maryland flag motif with Old Bay and a large crab hammer) helps protestors cross the street safely.

More protestors in at a busy intersection with a church in the background.

An intersection with protestors. A black car is turning right. Many people are holding signs. One man in a Hawaiian shirt holds his arms raised in the foreground.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Attaching here my comment on this proposed rulemaking from OPM. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Show me 4 pictures in your phone that have your energy that aren’t selfies.

A child lying on a cape red floor with a plastic basket on his head. He is covered in a pile of Halloween-themed children’s books.

A play-doh lizard. Blue with a goofy red tongue.

Over-the-shoulder view of a toddler reading a Star Trek Little Golden Book. A Star Wars Little Golden Book is in front of him, with more tucked under his arm.

View of a parking lot with an urban skyline behind it. The parking lot is surrounded by a fence with children’s characters on it. Inside the fence are dozens of deflated bounce houses.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Partial plates of two of the vehicles, should anyone need to refer to them for some reason; who could say why?

License plate appearing to begin with a 3 and end with 55

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

You might even receive your gift membership with a message such as these! If you like Greatest Gen and Greatest Trek, you’re sure to love hackish riffs on bits from the show!

I cannot remember what a podcast is, but I find myself compelled to grant you access to some. I’m told it’s from the “Friends of DeSoto, yet I do not know who that is.

Now, when you’re running a membership drive for a Star Trek podcast, you’re gonna want to make sure you start with a firm support. And you can’t go wrong with the Friends of DeSoto.

Glory to you, and your ears… which will be filled with a warrior’s boco! The Friends of DeSoto bring you honor.

Chu-La! Did you win? Hard- er, YES! Enjoy that sweet, sweet boco on the FODs.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

I can appreciate that, but they *did* repeat it here, and implied it will be a serious part of the NTSB investigation.

Screenshot from the linked article - two paragraphs. The first calls attention to “Presidential finger-pointing” at DEI and helicopter mistakes. The second encourages a wait for the NTSB investigation.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

When your 3 y/o should be in bed but wants to “deliver mail”

A row of children’s books on a carpeted floor lined up from a door.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 16 If anyone tries to tell you nature isn’t Metal 🤘🏻 , read up on parasitic wasps. These eggs were laid on the host caterpillar (a pandoras sphinx). The larvae will liquify its insides while it keeps munching away on Virginia creeper.

A large orange caterpillar with fuzzy white eggs attached to its back. The eggs are bad news for the caterpillar.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 15 In under the wire. Skippers are often abundant in my yard throughout the summer and fall, and they can be tough to capture (and to identify to species sometimes). This one cooperated enough.

A brown and orange skipper (butterfly) on a newly-opened flower with greenish petals.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 14 No landscape supporting biodiversity would be complete without spiders! She looks so sad, my anthropomorphising brain says. April 2023.

A brown spider with an egg sac on decaying wood.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 13 Photo from September 2023. New York ironweed grew out past my deer fence and the butterflies were happy to follow.

Two butterflies (one orange and black and one yellow with black stripes) taking nectar from purple flowers.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 13 I was fortunate for the placement of this American robin nest in my yard. Close and unobstructed enough for me to take this video, but high and covered enough the birds were not unduly disturbed.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 11 This isn’t my favorite photo, but I will never get tired of green bees visiting my yard. I am pretty sure this is Augochlora sp. but my ID skills are not super honed. Regardless love supporting the small native bees we mostly never think about.

A small green bee sitting on yellow plastic.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Best I could get of a common kingfisher in Xiamen, China. Probably my favorite bird species I have ever seen but I have also only ever had my phone with me and these fellas MOVE and are TIMID. Bonus magpie-Robin, also distant and out of focus 😂

Two birds on a stone wall over a body of water

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

#worstbirdpics The worst of a bunch taken with my phone through a window screen, because Dangit I was gonna document the brown thrasher in my yard. (OK, I just delete the *truly* awful ones)

A brown bird in foraging in the dirt adjacent to lawn.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar day 10 Buttonbush has such cute, funky-looking flowers and is absolutely lousy with pollinators when in bloom. This tiger swallowtail was one of about a half-dozen on just one of my bushes in July, along with bees, wasps, skippers, and more.

A black and yellow butterfly pictured from below. White ball-shaped flowers are in the foreground with green leaves in the background.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 9 One of my favorite MD native plants, great blue lobelia. I love the late season color this plant provides, a little later than the bright reds from the closely-related Cardinal flower. Photo from July 2023.

A flower stalk with many small purple orchid-like flowers. Other plants provide a background in varying shades of green.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 8 Native insects are the main reason I plant native plants. I really liked the way this planthopper looked against the cabled fringes of our sun umbrella.

A small green bug (a planthopper) with veiny wings and a white eye clings to some cabled cords.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 7 Ivy-leaved morning glory (a locally native variety) started volunteering in my yard a few years ago, and in 2024 I was able to propagate it from seeds I harvested last year. Great to be able to replace some annuals with natives too.

A single blue morning glory flower centered in frame. Its vine is climbing a brown pole and it has many pointy tri-lobed leaves that resemble ivy but with a softer texture.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 6 Our toddler pauses play at his water table to take a closer look at the garden. He wasn’t quite two when this photo was taken (July 2023)

A toddler wearing an orange shirt, striped pants, and water shoes touches some yellow flowers (black-eyed Susans). He is standing in the grass and holding a water play toy in his right hand. There is a hanging basket of flowers in the upper right.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 5 Fleabane is a native flower in MD that doesn’t typically feature in gardens. I let it fill in where it wants to in Spring. It sets off the dominant yellows and greens nicely, and has a long bloom period. It can be culled mid season without damaging the population.

White daisy-like flowers with yellow centers and a pink tint to some of the petals

A zoomed-out view of flowers in a large garden space. Fleabane mixed with blooming golden Alexanders in bloom and many other green plants not yet ready to bud.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 4 See? The plants do all the work! I grew this redbud from seed and now it never disappoints in Spring.

A small tree with many pink blossoms. Behind it is a chain-link fence and to the right is a black ornamented garden fence.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 3 I almost didn’t participate in this - don’t really consider myself an “artist.” I’m not serious about photography, I am serious about my landscape, and the plants do most of the work for me. Re-framing as partly art has been liberating.

A red bell-shaped flower with yellow stamens and pistils in close-up foreground. Background out of focus and includes green leaves.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Dec 2 Here we have a shot of our dog sitting on a stump I used as a planter for annuals for a couple years. Had to have a tree taken down due to the hole in the middle.

A brown dog (dachshund mix) sitting on a tree stump behind a mix of flowers planted in a hole in the stump.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

#ArtAdventCalendar Still enough time to get in on this. Since I’ve been sharing old photos anyway… this one is from my pollinator garden in June of 2017. The entire area consisted of grass with Japanese honeysuckle climbing the wooden fence when we moved in in 2014.

Image of flowers in front of a chain-link fence. Morning glories and petunias on the left, milkweeds on the right, small yellow flowers (partridge pea) in the front middle, asters in the back middle, and taller green plants (green coneflowers not yet in bloom) in the back left.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

A favorite garden photo of mine from some years ago when the morning glories were doing particularly well. Not native to my area, but they always saw good activity from the carpenter bees in particular.

Blue morning glories in bloom with leaves, vines, and unopened buds visible

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I’ve been enjoying grabbing old nature and garden photos from my camera roll, so why stop? This is an American bison photographed in Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR (highly recommend, by the way) in September 2017.

An American bison standing on a prairie.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Canada geese. We all hate ‘em, rig— oh. (Another old nature photo, this one from May 2017 in Wheaton Regional Park)

Four Canada geese (goslings) in a pile on gravel.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Apropos of nothing, this is a favorite spring ephemeral of mine, bloodroot. Photo from Rockville, MD in 2017. Apart from its simple beauty, this flower has a fascinating mutualistic relationship with ants.

Bloodroot - a white flower with water droplets on petals against a background of leaf litter.

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Ben Plume @pittbaster.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

So, what to do with a first “skeet” or w/e we’re calling them here? I guess a thing about me is the pollinator garden that’s turned into a full-on landscaping for biodiversity project. So here’s a monarch on a zinnia in my yard in 2016, two years after we moved in.

Monarch butterfly taking nectar from orange zinnia flower

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