Rachel Romanovski

@rachelromanovski

A Floridian in Kansas. BRCA Breast Cancer patient. Trash Gamer. A calligrapher & artist interested in indigenous & ancient writing systems. Retired Scenic Artist. Yes, those are my cats. Evolving into a backyard naturalist. Occasionally an idiot.

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Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Jul 14

This tiny little 5 legged Running Crab Spider is sitting on the rim of a plastic cup in the kitchen. Soooo flippin’ tiny I’m surprised I was able to get a halfway decent shot with my phone. Including the wiki screen-shot ‘cuz the courtship/copulation stuff is… disturbing? 🤣🤣 #spider #genitalplug

Close-up of a tiny Running crab spider in my kitchen. It’s sitting on the rim of a plastic cup. I figured it was catching gnats. It’s been there a couple days but def still alive. Only five legs left, poor thing. I like spiders so unless it’s in my food or my hair I tolerate them. #spider #spood 🕷️

Screen shot of Wikipedia page for Philodromus cespitum, common name Running crab spider.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Jun 22

Mallow plant (Malia neglecta) popped up in the back yard. Edible. #plants #weeds #wichita #kansas

Common Mallow, Dwarf Mallow, Round Leaf Mallow, etc… has a lot of names. Malta neglecta.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Jun 13

#caturday. Mr Scruffy using a brick for a pillow this morning.

One of my black cats, Mr Scruffy, using an old brick for a pillow. Laying in a brown tarp. A tangle of greenery in the background.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Jun 1

Mr Scruffy using a concrete paver for a pillow the other day… (alt)

Mr Scruffy, one of our black cats, viewed thru the sliding glass door. (Shush! I know it’s dirty, but he said most recent!)

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 30

It’s a comin’

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 30

I wanted to be sure I don’t have a patch of poison hemlock out back. INaturalist is telling me Common Hedge Parsley/Torilis arvensis. Seems accurate. That’s some Johnson Grass mixed in. #plants #flowers more in alt

I have what I call my wild strip. New to the prairie land I was curious what would come up if we left it alone. Whelp, ends up the tall grass we have here is not a native. Going to pull up the Johnson Grass before it goes to seed this year. Not going to to worry about the Hedge Parsley. Thinking of converting part of my wild strip to a hugelkulture bed. We’ve been throwing downed tree branches back here so can use them for a layer.

A closer look at the Hedge Parsley. Would go out and take a better pic but guys are out back building a shed & excuses & stuff.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 15

#notabirder but one day I was hoping the Swainson’s Thrush was back in town. Then I heard them. Yes! Later, for the very first time, a Baltimore Oriole swooped past me! Hear but don’t see them quite a bit. How a bright orange bird hides so well is amazing. #birds #wichita #kansas It was a busy day…

Screen shot of my Merlin app on a cacophonous day. 😃

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 15

Two more bubbies emerged. One was still in a just-hatched beige color. The other was already black. They are Kidney-spot Ladybugs. #bugsky #bug #insect #beetle #invert #wichita #kansas

Beige newly-hatched Kidney-spot ladybug sitting on its pupa, on it’s twig, on my empty spider box

All three of the 🪲 beetles. Newest on the short branch. One in the crotch in the middle. One at the very end of the longer branch.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 14

#Ladybug emerged! I saw it not long after it emerged & it was beige. A few hours later & the black with spots has developed. It’s not moving at all & I’m wondering if the spots color will come out more. #invert #insect #beetle #bug 🐞 3 more pupae left to emerge. #wichita #kansas

Terrible quality pic from my iPhone since I don’t have a macro. Kidney Spot Ladybug just born today. Will put it on the hibiscus where I found its pupae when it starts moving around. I keep the twig in an empty spider box. I lean the twig on a suet cage to try to get photos.

Not any better shot of the Kidney spot Ladybug. Macro lens is on my list for my Nikon. Hopefully it won’t put me in the poorhouse.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 13

I’m horrified. WTF. 😭😭😭 #animalshelter #humane #euthanasia #salina #kansas

Screen shot from on-line article. Shelter was euthanizing animals without sedation.

As a result… two managers… were arrested on charges of animal cruelty.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 11

Found these weird little cocoon-ish things on a dead twig of the hibiscus. My phone doesn’t do small well. INaturalist keeps telling me jumping spiders. I think it looks like something to do with small beetles. Help? #bugs #insect the lower right one is already empty. (Hatched?) #kansas

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 9

Had a visitor on the counter in the kitchen this morning. First looked for any tell-tale violin shape marking. Nope. HeShe just sat there unmoving for quite a while. Got a penny for size & still hadn’t moved. Looked away, then looked back & HeShe was gone. #spider #invert #wichita #kansas

Spider on my kitchen counter next to a penny. Penny is bigger than the body but the leg-span is bigger than the penny. Long skinny legs with brown/beige body.

Screen shot of INaturalist telling me (was 87% sure) this is probably Scytodes attacks

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 6

Did a yard wander. This is White Mulberry aka Silkworm Mulberry (morus alba). It’s native to Asia. The fruit is just starting to grow. I’ve found a few of these around the perimeter of the property. Not NA native, daaanggit! #tree #plant #wichita #kansas

The white Mulberry is inconsistent about leaf shape. A good example of the lobed shape leaves on the same branch with non-lobed. This is from one of the saplings on the opposite side of the yard.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 5

First collar/bell is gone. The orange one. Trying red this time.

Junior with his next bell. He already lost the first one. Luckily I bought a pack of 12. This one is red.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 2

The Brown Tabby. Dun dun duuuun. Nemesis of my cats. Drinker from our water bowls. Evil squinter. 🧐 #caturday.

The Brown Tabby. He’s just sitting there squinting at me, at the end of the deck dock. (Reminds me of a dock even tho there is no water.) Brown tabby comes over to flip off my cats then run away. Not sure who he belongs to.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 2

Junior being happy. Ya see his new bell? Whelp, found a dead sparrow out back so now the boys have bells. Could have been the brown tabby that comes by. Who knows. 🤷‍♀️ #caturday

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· May 1

Morning visitor. Someone thought they’d find a maypole in my backyard. Sorry to disappoint. I’ve had to curtail my war on the hell-vine because there is a Brown Thrasher nesting in it atm. Ahhh, #nature ! #opossum #mayday #birdlife #wichita #kansas

Medium sized opossum running away from me across the lawn. “Come back! Come back! Can’t we be friends?” Backdrop is an old wood fence with vines.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Apr 26

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 31

My splurge of the week. The one I’ve been using is quite dull & has a bunch of notches in the blade now. My husband will try to sharpen it. That one was maybe $6 and this one was $8. 🎉 Told ya I splurged! 🤣 #yardwork (and my husband leaves me coffee rings on the counter)

My new clippers, aka, garden shears. Silver blades, black and red grip. They are actually heavier than the old one. They also open wider. Sitting on the kitchen counter where my husband left me a coffee rings. He says “I give you a new ring almost every day.”

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 30

Today I caught sight of a Binturong photo.They seem to have vertical slit pupils which surprised me. That’s usually the pupil of ambush hunters, like cats & fox. The ends of the pupil seem to be rounded tho. Is this a nocturnal tree dweller thing? #binturong #zoology #eyes #pupilshape

Photo borrowed from Dreamtime. A closeup of a face of Arctictis Binturong. They are tree dwellers in SE Asia on the island of Borneo and other islands there. Eye pupil is vertical on dark copper eyes. Lovely agouti banding on coat hairs with what we called on cats a ‘ticked tabby” look.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 30

Currently reading/listening to The Peoples Library audiobook by @veronicaghenry.bsky.social I’m on chapter 10 with around 9 hours to go. This author has a fertile imagination. Some books can really tell you that. Enjoying this story and the world it is within. No spoilers, please!

Cover art for the audiobook of The People’s Library by Veronica G Henry.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 30

Then and now. Do you see? Effing invasive and destructive vines with trunks like trees? #plantnative #wichita #kansas ps: there is a Mulberry trunk in the middle of that tangle I will save.

That shed I was calling our hellmouth. Rusty af but it hardly showed before. Fortunes Spindle vine trying to take over the world here. Was a fab privacy screen ‘til I discovered it’s a destructive invasive POS.

I’m down to the point where I need my husband’s man muscles with the saw. Or a friend with a chainsaw. WhyTF don’t we have a chainsaw? My husband helps me for about 15 minutes then takes off. Some of that there fat vinage is already cut but so hung up in upper parts we can’t pull it away. I may spray paint the shed so it looks less like a wart or a tetanus accident waiting to happen. Am I crazy? Maybe, but who cares, I’m mostly harmless.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 29

I need someone’s expertise. I’m sadly discovering a lot of my yard is invasive. iNaturalist told me this is Lonicera/honeysuckle. Are they all invasive? Does anyone recognize this one? #invasive or #native #plants #wichita #kansas One good thing: all this yard work is giving my muscles a boost.

Pink flower honeysuckle. Do I need to pull it out? Help!

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 28

I don’t mind what others call weeds. The front yard is less weedy but my back yard is more fun. I need to identify the purple flower one. Surprised to find wild carrot thriving. It’s all just about ready for the first spring mow. #weeds #bloomscrolling #wichita #kansas

The dandelions are busy blooming right now.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 28

Invasive vine growing up one of the mulberry trees. To start to kill the vine we sawed thru some low fat vine trunks. #rewilding #wichita #kansas #tree #mulberry

Fortunes Spindle, the destructive invasive vine, almost to the top of a mulberry tree. We cut the vine trunk near the bottom a couple weeks ago hence the leaves are starting to droop. The mulberry hasn’t started putting out leaves yet which makes it easy to see the vine. The green is the vine.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 28

I posted before about the horrible invasive vine in the back. We have been working on it and now the huge trunks, I assume I can call them vine trunks, are more visible. Started with small clippers, then loppers and now we have added a saw. #rewilding #wichita #kansas #tree #vine

The insane vine, Fortunes Spindle, with fat parts exposed. The only good thing about it is it’s forcing me to get out and use my muscles. 😃

Fortunes Spindle vine intertwined in the chain link fence.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 28

Move along… (moved to sidewalk next door) #nokings #andover #kansas

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 28

#andover #Kansas #nokings. As we approached. Love y’all! Standing here in solidarity.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 23

Not just Jews. Jus’ sayin’ 🤷‍♀️ Food for thought for the ones unaware.

Rachel Romanovski@rachelromanovski· Mar 23

Happy Monday, y’all. Hyacinth flowers in the front planter before one night of sub-freezing temps destroyed them. #bloomscrolling #wichita #kansas