Michelle
@thegreenstudy
Writer, Minnesotan, Army Veteran, Bird Nerd, Parent, Spouse, Atheist, GenX. I've named the squirrels in my yard & I swear a lot. At thegreenstudy.com. She/her. 2025-26 Loft Literary Mentor Fiction Fellow. Ruining workplaces since 1985. Unpaid agitator.
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?
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.
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.
The crime, the criminal. And the camera doing its thing, focusing on the gnawed broccoli instead of the live, very cute criminal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
I like people how I like books - they're eclectic with quite a lot of information about birds, writing, and regular ole' bullshit.
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!
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.
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?
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.
Enjoyed some time digging in the dirt today. And then spotted this beauty on the roof.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.