Laine Bell

@lainebell

Writer, baker, chicken tender. Also love animals, nature, grilling, roller skating. Viable Paradise 2018 grad (VP22). She/her. Blog at lainebell.wordpress.com

345 Siguiendo573 Seguidores1194 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y lainebell.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Laine Bell@lainebell· 5d

Pretty sure we have 3 boys and 2 girls, looks like both black cats and 1 gray are boys. They seem to be doing ok but apparently a lot of cats this age struggle to survive with bottle feeding so fingers crossed. Here’s three of them from the afternoon feeding:

A tiny black kitten with a tail curled in an S shape is being held in a white woman’s hand.

A tiny gray kitten with a fluffy striped tail is being held in a white woman’s hand.

An even tinier gray kitten with a fat tail with stripes at the tip is being held in a white woman’s hand.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 6d

Heard a persistent mewing outside my bathroom window this morning and went out to find 5 baby kittens by the house. 🙃 monitoring and hoping mama cat comes back for them soon.

A tiny gray kitten tucked in some grass and dead leaves in front of an a/c condenser unit.

A pile of tiny kittens, 3 gray and 2 black, on a cozy bed of dead leaves.

A view of an enclosed space full of dead leaves. Two gray kittens can be partly seen behind the leaves; one has its mouth open in a demanding cry.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 12d

WORK IT BABY.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 12d

OMG you guys my chicken just found a #Bubica bee in the grass, or at least it appears to be a large bee of some kind with no wings? I moved her(?) to some flowers and she is climbing around and drinking nectar. ❤️

A red painted wooden board with a bee that looks a bit like a carpenter bee, but no wings.

The same bee is crawling on a pointy spike of tiny purple flowers, sipping nectar.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 12d

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS! no it’s not camping time unfortunately. It’s time to CLEAN the camper!! 😬 In preparation for maybe some future camping. Sometime soon. I hope. Who wants to go on a camping/writing weekend retreat??

Interior view of a pop-up camper. To the left is a small table with two blue-cushioned bench seats, and beyond that a small counter and sink. Ahead is an empty bed with a white mattress and blue privacy curtains. To the right is another small counter, a screen door, and a long counter loaded with outdoor floor mats and a disassembled table.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 13d

Also did a couple days in Louisville and a stop at the Buffalo Trace distillery. Saw lots of fun stuff even though it was super hot and muggy. (I prefer nature/caves to the city, but it was a good variety of vacation activities.)

A giant troll statue standing behind a fence. Signs in front say “please do not climb on Louie. Enjoy taking pictures with him. Thank you. Troll Pub Under the Bridge Management” and “before going in, take a picture with me, Louie the Troll” with an email address and FB page for the pub.

A street mural that says “Get down with the Hot Brown” and has.an image of anthropomorphized humanoid food items: bacon, tomato, and turkey, all cavorting atop a cheese-slathered toast with a derpy face on it. On the toast are words that say “toastest with the mostest.” In the corner, art and design by Robby Davis dot com.

A stone carved Viking ship in front of a stone wall in a park.

A sculpture of a buffalo made entirely out of living plants.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 13d

Just got back from a trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. Went through three caves in the area! So many caves! All different! Did two tours in Mammoth including a lantern-light tour which was super awesome. Phone photos don’t do any of it justice (and I was trying to be in the moment.) I love caves.

A steep staircase descending into a dark cave mouth in a wooded area, with a queue of people walking down into it.

An impressive wall of underground rock formations that looks like a large waterfall.

A long metal bridge in a cave going over an underground river, lit from underneath with electric lamps.

A square stone hut in a cave with a chain across the doorway, dimly lit by lantern light. It was used for tuberculosis patients. (Damp cool air is actually bad for TB so most of the patients died, but the doctors didn’t know that then.)

Laine Bell@lainebell· 20d

Saw a tiny green sweat bee friend collecting pollen on a flower today! Wanted a better photo but my other hand was holding the leash of an impatient dog so this was the best of the bunch. 🙃 I like honeybees and bumblebees but it was cool to see a different pollinator out and about.

A tiny metallic green bee, its coppery clear wings folded criss-cross flat on its back, rests in the middle of a yellow dandelion-like flower.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 22d

Temperature and AQI finally reasonable, so it’s time to grill! 😎 Corn and burgers tonight. The chickens will be excited to nibble the corncobs tomorrow.

A round kettle grill with 6 ears of corn roasting on it. On the grill table can be seen a plate and pair of tongs, and an open beer can rests in a teal insulated coozie decorated with a picture of a beaver wearing sunglasses and the phrase “Gone Boodlin.”

Laine Bell@lainebell· 23d

stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness:

Quark hugging Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They both look uncomfortable.

Laine Bell@lainebell· 25d

Well the AQI is down to 250 (from 340 this morning). Chickens are out under the trampoline run, because I’m assuming being on grass will be better for them than the dirt/mulch run. Fresh oxygen! (I wore a mask.) It is gross out there, looking forward to some incoming rain tonight.

A close up of a chicken wire fence, behind which can be seen 4 chickens of varying colors on a grassy lawn. Above them a round trampoline pad forms the roof of the run.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 5

Happy 4th from this dinosaur-themed fountain firework that surprised me so much I stopped filming. 😂 Me: “is this the volcano that ended the dinosaurs?” Fountain: <erupts>

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 4

I’m done painting the bathroom!! 🥳 good news, it was small, so not a ton of area. Bad news, it was small, so only 1 person could be in there to paint and sometimes I was bumping the roller or my elbow against a freshly painted wall. 🙃 Final phase (flooring and vanity) to come in the future.

A interior shot of a VERY narrow bathroom; open shower on the right, an open area for a sink on the left, and a narrow passageway to the toilet ahead, with a shuttered window in the wall at the end.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 4

End of day inspections by the crew leads.

A gray cat standing in a bathroom sink which is covered by a plastic drop cloth. Her head is barely visible and her ears are back as she digs in the plastic.

A gray cat lounges in a bathtub next to a bath mat with a slightly curious look on her face.

A gray cat on the right stands on the edge of a tub with one foot on a step stool. She is staring down at a tabby cat on the floor who is surrounded by a litter genie, plastic drop cloth, and a can of paint.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 4

Painting assistant / crew manager has arrived on site.

A brownish-gray tabby cat sits on the edge of a bathroom sink. Next to him is a paintbrush inside a ziplock bag; on the floor is an open can of paint in an aqua color, and a paint roller resting in a tray full of paint in the same color.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 3

Spackling assistant / site supervisor.

A gray cat sits on a bath mat inside a bathtub, craning her neck to peer over the edge at a putty knife and jug of pink spackle. The wall to the left has been spackled along the lower edge.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 1

That was a photo from yesterday; they are much more excited about the treatsicle today!

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jul 1

It’s currently 94°F outside, feels like 107 (almost 42C) due to humidity. 😬 A/C is running almost nonstop. Gazpacho and charcuterie chilling in the fridge for dinner. The chickens have a fan and refreshed water/cool treats every couple hours. (They are a little wary of the treatsicles.)

A picture of a shady chicken run with a raised red coop. A square plastic pan of water is in the middle, with a brick and a floating chunk of ice studded with peas, corn, carrots, and blueberries. Around it four chickens of various colors are staring intently at the ice chunk.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 29

Guess who we visited again today? THE BEES. They seem to be doing well. Ursula’s hive is still ahead of Buttercup’s in both construction and vigor, but they’re all keeping busy! (It’s really hard to tell where my camera is pointing in full sun and a bee veil.) 🙃

The bottom corner of a beehive frame tilted oddly in the picture, covered in bees and honeycomb, with blurry grass in the background.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 21

I’ve been tooling around with watercolors this year; I’m still very new to it but had to make an attempt at painting Bubica the little bumblebee who couldn’t fly that @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social cared for and shared with Bluesky.

A painting of a fuzzy bumblebee with tiny shriveled wings on a stem of purple flowers. Her name “Bubica” is painted on the card as well.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 19

Happy Pride from the trans flag sunset over downtown Columbus. 🏳️‍⚧️

A view of downtown Columbus Ohio as taken from a freeway; above it the sky is light blue streaked in white and light pink clouds.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 17

Also it takes like 3-4 hours so it can be challenging to fit into a work day even when I’m working from home. But it’s worth the effort!

A basket of fully steamed bao. They have puffed up significantly, with just six almost filling the basket, and several have opened slightly at the top, letting the meat filling peek through.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 17

Whenever I have leftover pork roast, and if I have the time, I like to make a version of char siu bao. I’m not great at forming the dumplings, and the dough is hard to work with (bc I don’t usually let it rise long enough, I don’t think.) But they always taste amazing.

A lump of dumpling dough on parchment paper beside a rolling pin, and a bowl of shredded meat with a spoon in it.

Two bamboo steamer baskets with pinched round dumplings on squares of parchment paper. The left basket is full with six dumplings; the right is in progress with only two dumplings.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 17

Made a moth friend while sitting in the grass at kid’s summer band practice.

A field of cut green grass with a large pale moth sitting head upward on a blade of grass peeking out.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 16

Me now: that’s weird, I made pork roast in the crock pot, not on the grill, so why do I keep catching a whiff of smoke as I do dishes? Me 1 hour ago: *manning the smoke pot while helping husband inspect beehives, choking on smoke when the wind changes* Me now: So weird. (Bees: omnomnom)

Close up of the inside of a beehive; some honeycomb has been built up over the top of the frames, and a small crowd of bees is slurping honey out of the open wax cells.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 14

Home from vacation now, but this was last night’s Pride-themed sunset over the lake.

A vast expanse of dark water with small waves, and the sky above is hued in a rainbow sunset, with red orange yellow green and aqua stacked up over the horizon, fading into deeper and deeper blues.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 12

Crocodile Rock. 🎶 Laaaaaaaaa la la la la laaaaaaaaaaa 🎵

A round rock painted with goofy eyes and a wide crack around the perimeter painted red with white teeth to look like a crocodile.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 12

June art project: painting rocks up at the lake.

A rock painted to show a landscape of a wavy lake with a pier and a flagpole, with boulders and a tree in the foreground.

A plastic bag as table protector; on it is a paintbrush and a 6-pocket palette with paint all over it. In the foreground is the same rock with a lake landscape, and in the background is a rock painted to look like a bird skull.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 11

Ahhhh. Vacation.

A sandy beach with shallow water; in the distance two manmade rock islands can be seen, the right one with a light at the end. Above is a gorgeous blue sky with layers of swirly white clouds.

View of trees, lake, and sky from the top of a white and red lighthouse. The observation area railing is seen in the foreground.

View of a wide grassy lawn with picnic tables and a few trees framing a tall white and red lighthouse. In the distance, the lake.

Laine Bell@lainebell· Jun 3

Evening walk: blue heron on the dam, with birds (turkey buzzards?) circling high overhead.