iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lil buddy emerged this morning! I missed it. Based on how he looked yesterday I thought I had one more day with him. I'm glad he's well and on his way though. It's getting late.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 11h

Haha I very stupidly thought after taking some Tylenol that I was good and I went outside and did some winterizing tasks like draining the hoses and now I can barely type this skeet because my hands are shaking 🥴 mistakes were made

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 13h

The COVID shots always make me feel horrible so I got Novavax this year hoping it'd be different. Nope, still up all night sweating/shivering/delusional looping thoughts. I'm thankful for these vaccines and will continue getting one every year! I just Do Not Enjoy it

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Federally legal THC is so funny. An employee of the US federal government brings it to your door, and inside there's a note that's like "congrats on taking this step in your Wellness Journey" Brother I purchased Drugs because I want to Get High we don't have to pretend this is some noble thing

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

On this day a year ago, Matt was 6 days post surgery. I was in need of some joy, so I bought some - 216 spring-blooming bulbs. We had yet to learn that he had one of the bad types of thyroid cancer.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just found a third butterfly, but it was already a very capable flier so I wasn't able to catch it for tagging. Feeling more hopeful about my other two butterflies now. It does seem the warm weather is helping these guys get moving quickly. Still watching my chrysalis too. It's getting clearer!

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Extremely troubling update on the butterflies. They are both gone, and I found a praying mantis near where they were 😭

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Found another gal this morning!

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What a delightful surprise coming off of three days of hideous weather to find this newly-hatched monarch. I tagged her and submitted her data to monarch watch. Let me know if you spot her in Mexico this winter!

The monarch where I initially found her, clinging to a grape vine. Likely her chrysalis was well hidden inside the tangle of this vine.

The monarch, post tagging, hanging out on my goldenrod and posing nicely next to a stained glass butterfly I have on display in my garden. Her wings are splayed open.

The monarch, clinging to goldenrod, with the tag visible on her hind wing. The stained glass butterfly is still visible in the background.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This has still not been paid for btw lmfaoooooo

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

On this day last year, Matt got his cancerous thyroid removed! Today he is, as far as we know, fine! He'll need periodic imaging for awhile more but we have every reason to be optimistic.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Matt referred to the middle finger as "resting Boston hand" and I will be calling it that for the rest of my life

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We got him a heating pad and now he literally lives in this basket. I think he spent 16 of the last 24 hours in there.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Inspired by a skeet I saw on here, I am now keeping a yard species list for everything alive - birds, plants, bugs, mammals, etc. - I've observed in the yard. It's at 331! If you exclude "imported" stuff (e.g. plants I bought and planted), then it's at 191.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In my dream last night I stated that the only places worth living were places where "you can reliably see a duck without having to get in a car." My current house does not meet this benchmark so I suppose I will be needing to move 😔

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hard to overstate just how much Life is buzzing around the goldenrod at midday this time of year. It's why I love this plant so very much.

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Reposted by Rachel

Stephanie! 💜✌🏻 @craniatology.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This one does look a smidge young. At about 6 weeks babies will free roam but will return to the den. So the den is nearby but it’s almost to the “getting kicked out” age.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Young chipmunk spotted in the garden today. I realized I don't think I've ever seen a juvenile chipmunk before now. His tail is so thin, he's slow and clumsy, and he is mostly unafraid of me.

a very small chipmunk in grass. His eyes are bit squinty, his ears are pulled back, and his tail is very thin. He is perhaps 75% of the size of a normal adult chipmunk.

The same chipmunk, more alert looking in this photo, sitting upright and nomming on some weeds in my garden.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Peppy sleeps wherever the sun patches are. Even if it's somewhere...kinda weird.

My cat is fast asleep on a hard TV stand in bright sunlight.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Most of the time when Peppy sleeps on my lap, he's in a loaf or some other upright form factor, but exactly once he sprawled out on his side and I'll be chasing that high for the rest of my life

A little black cat is totally conked out on his side on my chest

I am looking down at my little baby cat with absolute adoration

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

She's done y'all!!! My magnum opus 🥲 Stained glass window based on Audubon's painting of Baltimore orioles. Wood frame by my partner.

A stained glass window with light shining through it. The window depicts two Baltimore orioles and their nest in a blooming tulip poplar.

A photo of me holding the stained glass window.

The Audubon painting the window is based on. His painting was oriented vertically, so I had to "crop" it to get the more horizontal orientation I wanted. In his painting, there are four birds.

A zoomed-out shot showing the panel placed in a window in my home. It fills the lower half of the window.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Locust borer, a very cool looking beetle! This guy reliably shows up in the garden every year once the goldenrod starts blooming.

A beetle with a cool black-and-yellow zig-zag pattern and long antenna perched in some bright yellow goldenrod flowers.

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It’s been offered to me. It’s been offered to patients like me. I said no… and I am still waiting for healthcare and social supports. That’s coercion. You can’t ethically administered assisted dying when you won’t commit to assist people with surviving.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

One day when I was a stupid child my sister said "if ur happy and u know it clap ur hands" and I clapped because that was simply what one did upon hearing that phrase, and my sister, ever the evil mastermind, was like "oh so you're happy that terrorists blew up the twin towers?" Yeah. It was 9/11

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

As of this morning he was still in the J-shape, but by lunchtime he had transformed! The camouflage is crazy good. I spent a solid ten seconds in despair thinking he'd been eaten before I managed to spot him.

A zoomed-out photo of a rose of Sharon with - very tough to spot here - a green monarch chrysalis hanging from a low branch, near center frame.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Lil buddy has formed his body into a J-shape. He'll be transforming into a chrysalis within a day or two now.

A monarch caterpillar hangs from a rose of Sharon branch. He's hanging from his butt end and has curled up his front end so that his body is in the shape of a J.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I was gardening in the front yard today when I saw this chonker monarch caterpillar come galumphing through the grass. Very far from any milkweed! He climbed the fence and then into my neighbor's rose of Sharon. They only leave the milkweed when they're ready to pupate.

A large monarch caterpillar scaling a chain link fence.

He's hard to spot here, but he's clinging to the underside of a low branch on a large rose of Sharon shrub.

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 07/09/2026

Rejoice with me, Internet! With the ID of Ord’s Kangaroo Rat, we have hit 200 species ID’d in the yard! 63 plants, 52 birds, 7 mammals and 68 insects. (Some are only to the genus level, mind you.)

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Success?????? The meadow is still standing as of yesterday, which is quite a bit later in the year than the mowing happened last year. However.....the milkweed was frighteningly devoid of any insects, even aphids, so I suspect the town used pesticides on it 😩

A lovely meadow consisting of goldenrod, common milkweed, joe pye weed, thistles, asters, and some less desirable plants like purple loosestrife.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Planted this American beautyberry this spring and getting to see the beautiful berries for the first time now.

A twig of American beautyberry, with clusters of berries up its length. The berries are ripening from the bottom up, so the bottom cluster is a gorgeous purple, the top are unripe green, with a gradient between them.

A closer view of the ripe purple berries.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Help settle a bet: what color is the lil man on the pedestrian walk signal

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Charles Gaba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 03/09/2026

🚨🚨🚨 There's been a lot of fretting about folks losing Medicaid via the upcoming "work reporting" requirements. In fact, by my estimates, over 10 MILLION Americans have *already* likely lost healthcare coverage during the Trump 2.0 Regime. acasignups.net/26/09/03/rep...

acasignups.net

The Republican Healthcare Disaster is already here: OVER TEN MILLION Americans have likely already lost healthcare coverage.

Yesterday I wrote about the standard monthly Medicaid/CHIP enrollment report published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). I noted that as of April 2026, total combined Medicaid & C...

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

See if you can spot all 7 monarch caterpillars in this pic :)

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Holy fuck I have no fewer than THIRTEEN big fat monarch caterpillars in my milkweed bed rn

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DrDucko 🦆 @drducko.myatproto.social · 01/09/2026

As someone who has lived here all his life, Seth Moulton has always been an empty suit with the morals of a weathervane. Throwing trans kids under the bus when it became popular in the media was just the latest. They're making the issue age because that's his only pro. That's what the polls show.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

New-to-me plant that is sparking joy this year. Blue mistflower.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Every night lately, Peppy goes in the living room by himself and just sits in the darkness and stares at the fireplace. Tryna figure out if this means there's, like, bats in the chimney, or if this is just his introvert time

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Some bug sex for your timeline.

Monarch butterflies mating while hanging in a pine tree.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Whewwww done for today! I didn't actually finish the soldering because it was clear I was going to run out of 60/40 solder 🤦‍♀️ so just the front is complete for now. VERY pleased with how it went today though. The solder and I were vibing.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Soldering this beast tomorrow. Will probably take, not exaggerating, six hours. The scariest part will be flipping it over to do the back. Hopefully I'll have some stamina left over at the end to do patina too but we'll see.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Was completely confounded by this sight today but now I think I've figured it out: whirligig beetles!

A large number of shield-shaped creatures are floating on the surface of a pond.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The cyclospora outbreak has reached 13,895 cases across 47 states. The FDA has recalled 1.6 million eggs due to salmonella contamination. Screwworm cases continue to rise. And we’ve just surpassed 2,500 measles cases — breaking 2025’s record. “Make America Healthy Again.”

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

These days I have a 1 hour weekly meeting on my calendar that is so utterly soul draining that I have to strategize ahead of time for how I'm gonna make it through. Like my plan for tomorrow is to make myself a nice little chai tea to drink during it to fortify myself against the psychic damage

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The president is refusing to spend taxpayer money assisting Americans suffering from natural disasters solely because their states didn't vote for him. I know there are a thousand scandals at the moment, but this one deserves some more oxygen at every level.

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Rachel @raythewren.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Good news fam it was the laptop lmao

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