iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 14/09/2026

I just spent a few days at Voyageurs National Park. It was beautiful. I saw cool mushrooms, amazing lakes, and great trails. You'd think I'd have some gorgeous photos. Alas, my best pics were rodents. Always rodents.

A chipmunk with pretty full cheeks standing on its hind legs. You'd never know there was a huge national forest and amazing lake from my photos.

A tiny red squirrel so intent on eating a pinecone that it did not mind the casual observer fumbling with her zoom lens trying to get a shot.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 10/09/2026

What's it like inside your head?

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 10/09/2026

A yellowjacket rode my windshield all the way home from work. I was on 35mph roads most of the time, so of course was wondering how fast they fly on their own. Their average speed is 7mph, with the fastest being 30mph. He was probably having a pretty good time.

Yellowjacket wasp taking a lift home on my windshield.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 31/08/2026

I spent the good portion of Sunday afternoon watching a Black-capped Chickadee fledgling. He was out in the open, so I was concerned with predators. No sign of him today and no piles of feathers, so I'm cheering him on wherever his journey takes him. And you too - may your Monday be less Monday-ish.

Fledgling Black-capped Chickadee sitting on lip of birdbath.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 30/08/2026

He's back. Confirmed now that he's a fledgling, as I watch him hop from the hedge back to the birdbath. This borb is my afternoon entertainment.

Very round black-capped chickadee sitting on lip of birdbath.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 30/08/2026

I saw this Black-capped Chickadee sitting on the solar fountain. He was there for 20 mins. Worried that he was an injured adult or a fledgling, I stayed within shrieking range for predators. He was drinking water, looking around. I went inside & then he was gone. Nice little Sunday gift!

Black-capped Chickadee sitting on the lip of a birdbath with a solar fountain.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 26/08/2026

We use something we just call a weed scraper, but it's listed as an "action hoe" which is a much funnier name.

Garden tool used to scrape weeds and clear soil. Long handle attached to a D shaped metal head that lays flat on the ground.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 22/08/2026

A gorgeous day for the inaugural Midwest Black Book Fair in north Minneapolis. Thrilled to see a fantastic turnout - hope it will be an annual event. Naturally I left with an armful of books. #nosuchthingastoomanybooks #supportauthors midwestblackbookfair.com

Books spread out on desk: Soil by Camille T. Dungy with a gorgeous botanical cover, Mr. Rondo's Spirit: A Story about a man and his community by Ericka Dennis, The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays by Mahmoud El-Kati, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World edited by Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, and Biggest Rainbows in the Sky by Jocelyn McQuirter.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 21/08/2026

It's been a few years since I've had one in my yard, but a little chaos agent has arrived to shriek at me from the deck railing. They can shriek for a good half hour and I don't know why, but I just love them. So angry and aggressive for an itty bitty animal.

A tiny red squirrel sits on a black deck railing readying itself to shriek for the next half hour. This is not a chill dude.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 20/08/2026

They're never going to let us die. Well, at least not the moneymakers like Val Kilmer. The rest of us can just fuck off or at least dole out money for the slop-u-tainment. This is grotesque.

Wikipedia entry for Val Kilmer's last film. The man died last year.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 14/08/2026

I present as a normie in every way except for my brain. It's weird as hell in there. When my brain is doing its freaky little dance and I'm spiraling, I go to my happy place, where I hear my favorite sound: psithurism - the sound of wind rustling the leaves. Where's your happy place?

A path in the woods in my favorite park with dappled sunlight.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 30/07/2026

👋. Call-and-response from MN.

Redwinged blackbird on cattails singing its conka-la-ree, conka-la-ree.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 30/07/2026

The first time I saw a bluejay in the moulting phase, I thought "oh no - a sick bird". They do really live up to the dinosaur connection in that state!

Moulting Blue Jay in Minnesota with a peanut in its mouth.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 21/07/2026

There's a fine line between cute and destructive. Leonard has crossed the line.

Leonard, the Eastern cottontail rabbit fully esconced in a planter full of half-eaten marigolds.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 16/07/2026

Hitting "Refresh" on the EPA Air Quality App even though I know it's going to be bad for a couple of days. Maybe now. How about now? Now?

EPA Air Quality Index screenshot reading at 370 AQI, Hazardous due wildfires in Minnesota.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 16/07/2026

Up since 2am due to air quality. Changed AC filter, lugged out air purifiers. I have to be out in the world today, so thinking about packing water and masks to hand out, lest I see anyone out on the street. Mom mentality. The bottomless purse.

EPA Air quality meter at 1:58am reading 526 AQI, Hazardous due to the wildfires in Minnesota.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 12/07/2026

The downside to going to a cheapo hair franchise place is that I have now, on my head, a cut that I will be calling the Ted Koppel for the rest of the summer. It's slightly worse than the Dorothy Hamill/Amy Klobuchar I got the last time. Just rolling the dice every time I go in.

Ted Koppel with white hair cut in layers in a way that suggests a flowbee/bowl cut gone awry.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 10/07/2026

The crime, the criminal. And the camera doing its thing, focusing on the gnawed broccoli instead of the live, very cute criminal.

Baby eastern cottontail sitting behind a gnawed off broccoli plant.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 10/07/2026

Stubbs has been visiting us for 3 years, her tail lost in some unseen accident. Today she decided she would not longer rush away with peanuts to dine elsewhere, but rather sit in luxury having a nosh on the deck. Her children also come for a nosh on our furniture, hence the gnawed up chair arms.

An eastern gray squirrel, missing most of her tail sitting on a tan cushion on a brown deck chair while chomping her way through a couple of peanuts.

Stubbs, the eastern gray squirrel with a partial tail, sits on the arm of a brown patio chair eating peanuts. The chair arm has been gnawed at by her numerous children who always taste test and sharpen their teeth wherever they want to.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 07/07/2026

MISSION POSSIBLE: Destroy marigolds on deck.

Eastern cottontail perched on brown planter working its way through orange marigolds.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 28/06/2026

Just to be clear, none of my nature pictures are AI. Oh, you already knew that due to the lack of quality control, weird focus, and poorly cropped photos? Fine. Have another bunny pic. Their eyeballs in the sun make them look like someone just told them where they are in the food chain.

Adult Eastern Cottontail rabbit sitting in the grass/weeds, the sunlight clearly illuminating its brown eye with a black pupil. They look pretty freaked out.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 28/06/2026

What? Is there something on my face?

Ducks in the Muck. Two North American Mallards on an algae covered pond with green muck all over their heads from dipping in for snacks.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 27/06/2026

Trained from childhood to be both hypervigilant and to assume the worst (not good things), I wake up this morning in awe of being surrounded by books, hearing the birds singing, and seeing the bunnies hopping about the yard. It is all temporary, but very lovely regardless.

Baby eastern cottontail bunny sitting amidst loads of creeping ground ivy.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 27/06/2026

Evening chat at the woodpecker feeder. Was hesitant to do an internet search on hairy versus downy woodpecker and slightly disappointed that all the results were G-rated. Still can't tell the difference. May have to turn in my birder's license.

Down or hairy woodpecker hanging on side of suet feeder while a black-capped chickadee hangs from the wire looking down at the woodpecker as if they're in conversation.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 26/06/2026

Because I have a long list of things that I'm supposed to be doing, I did this quiz instead. It's as consequential as a horoscope, but I had some procrastinating to do, dammit. britmonkey.com/2020s-politi...

Political quiz, "Your Results". Goofy little quiz about one's politics. Just confirms my bias that I hate AI, love progressive policies, am both hopeful and doom-laden, and didn't understand some of the questions on the quiz.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 16/06/2026

I tracked down this noisy bugger, an American Toad. I wish I were a better photographer, but sometimes the joy is just in the seeing.

A reddish American Toad sitting on a log in a swamp area. He's got a resting grump face.

A reddish American Toad sitting on a log in a swamp area. His throat is fully expanded doing a loud mating call.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 13/06/2026

Taking the kids to the beach.

Two adult Canadian geese with three fuzzy goslings hanging out on the beach shoreline. Not a great shot, but I didn't want to disturb the family outing.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 13/06/2026

Looking at vacation photos from New Orleans last month. What we choose to photograph says a lot about us. Not too many tourist shots, but SO many pictures of barges, plants, trees, birds - and gators, of course.

Chinese indigo growing near Mississippi River in New Orleans. A variegated pink flower that hangs down from bright green leaves.

Small alligator sunning himself out on a log in the bayou with his mouth open to keep cool.

Store front of Faulkner House of Books down Pirate's Alley. Light blue doors on a white storefront. Only six customers are allowed in the store at a time.

Bald cypress with Spanish moss and Tupelo gum trees in the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 08/06/2026

This Monday is really doing its thing. No, Janice, I do not want to take another meeting - unless it involves cake. Have some fuzzy geese butts.

Four adult Canadian Geese with a passel of fuzzy, duck-sized youngsters faced away from me, of course.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 08/06/2026

I like people how I like books - they're eclectic with quite a lot of information about birds, writing, and regular ole' bullshit.

Graphic from skirkle.me showing my big ass head surrounded by people I follow and interact with most.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 07/06/2026

I couldn't leave New Orleans last month without stopping at Faulkner's House of Books and Crescent City Books for books I absolutely didn't need. Barely made the checked baggage weight limit. One more book and I would have been repacking at the airport!

Books strewn across a hotel comforter: Russian Poets edited by Peter Washington, All the Places We Love Have Been Left in Ruins by Ariel Francisco, Requiem for a Nun and Sanctuary both by William Faulkner, black creole chronicles, poems by Mona Lisa Saloy, and Language as Liberation by Toni Morrison.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 31/05/2026

Just taking the fam out on a Sunday stroll.

Two Canadian adult geese with five (one is behind a big goose) very fuzzy goslings walking on a gravel path lined with tall green grasses.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 24/04/2026

April has been a bit of a shit month for me, but this morning the sun is out and I've been spotting some of my feathered friends. I had forgotten about this gem I purchased last year - The Birding Dictionary by @rosemarymosco.com. It is very funny - today I learned about turkey snoods.

A small pair of black Bushnell binoculars next to a yellow-covered book called The Birding Dictionary: A tongue-in-cheek guide for people who find themselves obsessed, against all logic and reason, with birds. Written and illustrate by Rosemary Mosco.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 23/04/2026

It arrived just in time for my vacation reading pile!

A book next to a pen. The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook by David M. Perry. It's a cream colored cover with black print and a picture of a megaphone.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 11/04/2026

For the Twin Cities denizens: Someone donated these signs for our community bookstore and people keep asking about them to put in their own windows. Does anyone know where I can get more of them?

Sign with red print that says "We are Family: Stand with Immigrants" with Love Hope Rise in a small box. There is a large butterfly in the middle.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 07/04/2026

I took this photo a couple of years ago while in Vancouver. It makes me laugh to think about it, because the answer is always "YES!" for me. Even now, when the existential dread is suffocating, it still makes me laugh.

Art in Vancouver. White letters attached to wood pylons at the edge of the bay read "Should I be worried?".

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 07/04/2026

Enjoyed some time digging in the dirt today. And then spotted this beauty on the roof.

Female North American Mallard checking out the neighborhood from our roof. The mister wandered down the other side.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 05/04/2026

Since I'm not religious and a writer, I always see Easter as the metaphor for spring. This morning, my little urban yard did not disappoint. The critters are ready for it as well!

Eastern cottontail waiting patiently for a toss of seeds and lettuce scraps.

Handsome North American Mallard inspecting the yard with his missus for a possible nesting site.

Well-fed Eastern gray squirrel enjoying his morning peanuts.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 24/03/2026

Last year, I visited a spot on the Mississippi and saw a heron rookery I'd not seen before. An entire flock on a little island sitting high up in the trees. It always feels like spring when they start showing up.

Blue heron standing on a top tree branch on the Mississippi river.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 24/03/2026

The squirrel I've been feeding for 3 years has now started to train the other yard critters to come to the door. I'll be disappointed if birds don't start landing on me while I'm out for a walk.

Eastern gray squirrel with its paws on our deck sliding door. A polite request for peanuts.

Eastern cottontail at our deck door reminding me that it's feeding time at the zoo.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 19/03/2026

In today's episode of Turkeys DGAF, they blocked the road & proceeded to attack my car. I honked my horn, but like most Priuses, it just sounded like a dog toy getting stepped on. Did not intimidate these guys. Finally maneuvered around them. Magnificent birdies out of their damned spring minds.

Wild turkey in my backyard from last spring. They run amok in large gangs around the Twin Cities and they do not give a fuck about people, roads, or fence lines. Quite marvelous.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 18/03/2026

The world is on fire, our government is shit, and the worst humans in the planet are in charge of it all. But this morning I felt joy when a light snow revealed the busy critters outside my door...bunny tracks everywhere. I love them even though I know they'll nip off every tulip bud come spring.

Three sets of bunny tracks in the snow indicating their hops across the yard.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 14/03/2026

I've been feeding this squirrel peanuts for the last 3 years. She is missing most of her tail. Ever since she figured out she could see me eating at the kitchen table, I've rarely eaten without company. Her children gnaw on our deck furniture every spring.

Female eastern gray squirrel looking in through glass patio door with her paws resting on her chest. This is her "where are my peanuts, dammit" stance. Reader, she got her peanuts.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 13/03/2026

Look at these poor SOBs, painted during dinner time, when their mouths are full and everything.

Painting of four chipmunks scrambling over a mossy tree stump. Brown with black stripes and white bellies. All looking startled and one has its mouth chock full. Painter didn't even let him swallow.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 06/03/2026

Time to wrap up my ragescrolling for the evening. On a happy note, crows visited me today. It reminded me it's time to get the camera out and to keep my binoculars at the ready. Looking forward to some springtime birding.

Song sparrow with its beak open singing on the bare spring branches of a tree.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 25/02/2026

Today, I'm going to be intentional about finding joy. If only to shake off the moldy vestiges of politicking. Going to spend an hour writing before work. It will be goofy. What's your joy going to be today?

Two young eastern gray squirrels on a bench. One is sitting on the bench while the other is hanging upside down on the underside of the bench.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 21/02/2026

New books arrived today. A little light reading. Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activistis in Crisis edited by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social and Jackie Wang's Carceral Capitalism. Bought the 1st book after checking it out at the library - needed a copy to highlight & write notes in!

Two books: Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activistis in Crisis edited by Kelly Hayes. The book has a dark blue background with an illustration of a pool in a forest with a bright yellow moon. There is a figure wading waist deep in the pool, surrounded by lily pads.
Jackie Wang's Carceral Capitalism. The cover is a medium blue solid background with the title in white. Subtitled semiotext(e) intervention series 21.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 14/02/2026

Oooh...Happy Valentine's to me. This gorgeous book arrived today. Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism by @jessicasroux.bsky.social

Book with dark teal background and colorful illustrations of birds titled: Ornithography: An Illustrated Guid to Bird Lore and Symbolism by Jessica Roux.

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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 14/02/2026

I wanted to make fun of all those people buying Swarovski collectibles, but... Not going to buy it, because it's ridiculously expensive and any money this month goes to mutual aid projects, but I see the temptation.

Cute Swarovski crystal owl sitting on green foliage with black and yellow eyes.

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