Becky D

@bexrousse

Birds & cats & life in Maine. Public health nerd, they/them. Down by the water. Banner: Closeup of ruddy red galaxies drifting in a cat's olive green eye w/narrowed pupil. PFP: Blond me w/undercut, big glasses, floppy bangs & a certain kind of smile.

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Becky D@bexrousse· 27d

5:30pm today, trying to capture the uncanny light in middle Maine.

Becky D@bexrousse· 27d

Didn't get the yellow haze this morning, but this was along about 5:30 tonight in central Maine. Dusk in daytime.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jul 3

Hey central #Maine, the humidity and dew points fell off a cliff over the last hour. Not quite ready to open the windows but overnight might not be as bad as feared.

Screen grab of the humidity and dew point readings for Central Maine from a weather app. Humidity is 47%. Dew point is 64°F and falling, much better than the 74° or so we had just a couple hours ago.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jul 1

Right on cue. July 1 and the first day lilly opens up and says hello! 🌱🌿🏵️

Close up of a deep red-orange daylily bloom, with a golden yellow throat. Out of focus behind it, a greenish blur of other day lilies getting ready to pop, and a tree line in the background.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 15

Calling out sick tomorrow due to incredible geographic rabbit holes 🌀

The name Becky with each letter represented by a different satellite photo (a river, fjords, an island, glaciers, a river)

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 14

#AltText

Screengrab posted by Emo Phillps

A post from NPR: Scientists have found that pollution is linked to a significant decline in cognition, and the impact increases with... (link)

Immediately followed by a post from TV news station KTLA: Air pollution is making us dumber, study shows (link)

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 14

Sometimes, when two butterflies love each other very much... 💞 #Invertebrates

A pair of yellow butterflies with black edges and stripes, and spots of orange and blue on their lower wings. They are butt-to-butt on the deck; the larger female has her wings out flat and the smaller males's wings are folded upright.

Another tiger swallowtail pair, this one on the side of a dark brown house. The female has been crawling up the wall with the male along for the ride.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 13

We had such a storm last night, lightning splitting the sky just ahead of shattering cracks of thunder, a terrible deluge & the power out for hours. Today it's wiped all the humidity out of the air leaving just sun, a cool breeze & the powerful scent of lilacs. 🌱

A huge cluster of lilac flowers at the end of a long stem; this branch is maybe 15' off the ground. Almost all the pale purple flowers are open and the scent is almost overpowering.

A purple lilac bloom bent over above a deck railing, about 50% of the florets open. The scent is almost too much to bear.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 13

Rose chafer beetle (Hoplia), I think? #Invertebrates 🌱 (It's fine; flew off before I realized who it was. Very bumbly stumbly cute little beastie & check out the detail on its leggies...)

A very smol, tan, cabuchon-shaped beetle with darker brown patches on its wing covers. It has legges for miles and they look textured as if covered by lichen. It's staggering around on my red & tan plaid shirt, apparently drunk.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 13

Booped this lady beetle larva on the snoot and it froze long enough for me to scootch it onto a maple leaf propeller & relocate it across the way. Now wondering if this is who bit my elbow (3x!) on Weds... 🌱 #Invertebrates

An Asian lady beetle larvae, about 1/2 an inch long, in freeze mode on the edge of an outdoor table after having its snoot booped. It's sort of rectangular tapering to a rounded end, mostly black but with orange segments in the middle, black spiky hairs coming off its back half, and the four legs we can see coated in yellow pine pollen.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 11

Finished @caitlinrkiernan.bsky.social's Agents of Dreamland last night & have been thinking about it all day. A horrifying premise revealed in lyrical, hypnotic prose, crafted by an author who fully trusts the reader. 10/10 will re-read. #BookSky 📚

Cover of Caitlin R. Kiernan's novella 'Agents of Dreamland.' The title is in large sans serif font at the top, all caps, a sort of green yellow color. The author's name below. Under that, "One of our essential writers of dark fiction", a blurb from a New York Times review.

The image behind all the text shows a flat grainy desert landscape against a black sky filled with stars. A small house with a red tin roof sits on the desert plain, its door and windows glowing white. A golden red miasma swirls out from the glowing windows and door and from the horizon behind the house as if there's a dust storm brewing. The golden motes rise and swirl from the house and blend into the star spackled black sky above.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 10

Can you see the haze in the clearings in between the near and farther trees? Top left and bottom right where the Rule of 3rds lines cross? All pollen, borne on a light breeze. The pine trees are having sex again. 😂🤧🙃

Looking past some bird feeders at a group of large deciduous trees. Through the spaces between the branches, the farther trees appear as if through a yellowish haze. The pine tree just off screen to the right has just released these huge wafting clouds of pollen.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 9

'tis the season... My bouquet-making skills are entry-level, but the end result is still a house full of heady nostalgic lilac scent. 💜

A profusion of purple and white lilac flowers on cut branches from one of our bushes. Some flowers are open & others on the verge of opening, and there are a profusion of green oval leaves left on, which gives the arrangement a rustic (yeah that's it, rustic) vibe. I wish you could smell this photo.

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 5

Loons on the lake tonight. #Maine

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 5

So tired of talking and thinking about trashy boys. What's something that brings you silly unabashed joy today? For me, it's this calendar from my bestie.

A 12" long by 5" tall 2026 calendar, with the cover solid black and the title in all caps:

SHIT I THINK ABOUT
AT WORK BUT CAN'T
FUCKING SAY OUT LOUD

and in smaller font size:

2026: ONE YEAR CLOSER TO TELLING
EVERYONE TO FUCK OFF

The calendar page for June. The calendar itself is on the right third of the page, minimalist, white background w/black text. The left hand 2/3rds of the page, in white text on black background, says:

I LOVE HOW YOU
GIVE ME TASKS
TO DO AND THEN
MICRO-MANAGE
THE SHIT OUT
OF ME

Becky D@bexrousse· Jun 4

Crossed the yard to check on the new plantings & picked up this hitchhiker atop my foot despite being freshly coated in bug spray. Had to yoink it but got 'em before they'd properly dug in. The funeral pyre was small and uneventful. Fortunately just a dog tick; still gonna be itchy all night. 😒

Photo of a dog tick, still flat/unfed, crawling across a scrap of paper towel. It's teardrop-shaped with a U-shaped white "collar" on its thorax just above the abdomen. These aren't the Lyme/babesia/anaplasmosis/Powassan type ticks but still... ew.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 31

I just sneezed 14x in a row & here's two clues why 🤧

My weather app showing that grass pollen is low but tree pollen is medium today.

A close up of the tempered-glass outdoor patio table. The photo shows the coating of yellow pollen from the pine trees caked across the top of the table. It looks as if someone scattered kief across the tabletop.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 30

'tis an excellent quote "It is not helpful to quell protest for the sake of a false peace," she said. "There is no peace while we are torturing our neighbors on (the) government dime inside this facility."

Screengrab from an AP story:

"Demonstrators outside Delaney Hall Friday had mixed reactions to the new safety measures.

Rachel Cohen said she was concerned police were being sent to silence demonstrators "who are showing up for their neighbors, exercising their First Amendment right."

"It is not helpful to quell protest for the sake of a false peace," she said. "There is no peace while we are torturing our neighbors on government dime inside this facility."

Becky D@bexrousse· May 27

I didn't do a proper before & after bc the scraggle on the well cap has been so out of control I just cropped it out of every photo. This is 4 years ago and then after I emerged from my depression spiral 2 weeks ago.

2022, a well cap that has two old barberry bushes and one azalea growing up top, totally overgrown and horrid

The well cap, maybe 15' across, with the ancient thorny barberries and the azalea mostly cut back and bramble branches laying on the yard

Up close on the well cap; barberry and azalea shrubs chainsawed down to the ground, and new plantings of scarlet red blooming quince, spurge, honeysuckle, ice plant, and others taking root in the happy new soil.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 26

#AltText VOTE BY JUNE 9! Visit ACLUMaine.org/Vote to get ready for Maine's primary election. Registering to vote Voting by mail/absentee Voting early or on Election Day Your voting rights What's on your ballot Tracking your ballot Reporting a problem Seeking help YOUR VOICE. YOUR VOTE. YOUR POWER.

Mini-poater by ACLU Maine

Red banner: VOTE BY JUNE 9!
(To the right, a hand filling out a ballot is highlighted atop a yellow dot)

Visit ACLUMaine.org/Vote to get ready for Maine's primary election.

Registering to vote

Voting by mail/absentee

Voting early or on Election Day

Your voting rights

What's on your ballot

Tracking your ballot

Reporting a problem

Seeking help

YOUR VOICE. YOUR VOTE. YOUR POWER.

ACLU ME

Becky D@bexrousse· May 23

🪶 Bird nerds of Maine, question for you--do Great Crested Flycatchers ever come to seed feeders? Didn't get a pic but had what I thought was a skinny female finch but with a pronounced crest, at the window feeder today. Right after, Merlin gave me this:

Screencap of the Merlin app that identifies bird songs & calls. This one shows a graphic of a series of short calls that sounded like "wheep" and the app IDs it as a Great Crested Flycatcher call. 8:21pm near Augusta Maine. The image shows a slender bird with a raised brown cap, grey/brown upper parts, a yellowish belly and a long tail.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 22

Catbird date night at the suet crumbcatcher café. 🪶💞 #Maine

A pair of catbirds perch side by side on a platform feeder that hangs below a suet cage to catch the crumbs. Imagine a bird shaped like a robin but a scoche smaller, solid grey with darker wings and tail and a deep black stripe on the head. Their longish beaks are solid black. The overall impression is that we've just interrupted two CIA agents having lunch.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 20

Current sitch:

We find lorge tuxie Mr Moo passed rtf out on his left side under the coffee table in front of the bird-watchin' window. He is holding onto the carpet with both arms. We've all been there, Mr Moo.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 20

Coda

Tuxedo cat Mr Moo appears to have passed out with his face resting on his arms which are stretched across his plate of catnip.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 20

Mr Moo curates his patch of the devil's lettuce, then realizes he's being Perceived 😸🙀

Becky D@bexrousse· May 13

First of year black & white warbler and a gangly first-year Baltimore oriole swung by the snack bar today! 🧡🖤🪶 #Birds

A small rotund bird with a short straight beak perches on the edge of a gray deck railing. It is black and white striped, with a buffy cheek and white belly. It's eyeballing the seed feeder on the window calculating angle of approach.

A platform feeder has been set on a wooden ledge while deck renovations are underway. It holds a sliced open orange. A skinny little orange-bellied Baltimore oriole perches on the edge of the platform feeder, its head still brownish, its posture alert. He has just spotted me through the window and is deciding whether I am scary enough to chase him off the orange. (He decided I was too scary.)

Becky D@bexrousse· May 11

MAGIC AFOOT: I put out the orange halves yesterday and voilá--Baltimore orioles manifested! #Birds 🍊🪄🧡🪶

An orange half is stuck on the top of a curved shepherd's hook. A male Baltimore oriole stands with his left foot gripping the shepherd's hook and his right gripping the edge of the orange, as he leans over it & takes a huge monch. His bright orange belly is the same color as the orange peel, and he has a black head and black wings with 4 white streaks.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 9

It's here! 🎉 @peculiarityshop.bsky.social posted this gorgeous spiny oyster ring, and the colors reminded me so much of Hazel Babycat's fur that I treated myself... It's even more perfect in person. 🥰 12/10, give them a follow & check out their shop: www.peculiarityshop.com

A heart-shaped polished spiny oyster ring in the shape of a heart. There is a splash of orange from bottom left to top right across the stone. At the top of the heart on either side there is a vein of dark grayish material, and the general backdrop of the stone shades from pearlescent white to pale lemon to gray.The sterling silver setting surrounds it with a border of delicate beading.

Hazel (aka Hazel Babycat, our grumpy plumpy diva) stretches out on her left side in a beam of sunlight coming through a door. She has a white collar, chin, mittens, and tummy, and the rest of her is tabby striped in a mix of gray and orange. Both arms are above her head, her tummy is fluffy, back legs and tail relaxed. The sunbeam illuminates her orange right side, her white tummy, and part of her grey left arm. The shades of each of her colors are almost perfectly echoed in the ring.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 9

Wanted to show you a cute pic of Mr Moo tonight bc wow, was this a hard week, but he is not speaking to me atm bc I Marie Kondo'ed the very good mouse he brought me into the woods across the road. Instead, an older pic with a similar facial expression...

A tuxedo cat with white collar and mittens and a sugar kiss reclines on the back of an armchair that's covered by a pale blue fleece blanket with a pattern of cats & cat toys. His left front paw is extended toward us, his head back, ears alert. He looks extremely offended, horrified even.

Becky D@bexrousse· May 5