Oh my effing G. I read "calling up the National Guard" as "on the phone with." 🤣🙄

Try teaching an essential biology course at a college near a cruise port. Students didn't seek permission to miss tests or assignments, but merely announced that they were off for a cruise they had signed up for months before, and to them, that was sufficient notice. I'm retired now.

Many Great Smoky Mtn NP facilities are OPEN despite the federal shutdown because local communities that depend on tourism are footing the bills. Visitor centers and some picnic areas are open, 'tho restroom facilities have been replaced with portable toilets. Rangers are patrolling high-use areas.

iIf you see this, quote with a vampire that isn't Dracula

Good morning, my Bleeps. It's a good day here to hunker down with a book and a warm cup of mud and watch it rain.

A day of leaf peeping deserves a good Carolina BBQ lunch. I take mine western style (western Carolina, that is).

Let's stay here, shall we?

You are here.

You are here.

You are here.

You are here.

Your moment of zen. Looking Glass Falls, Pisgah National Forest, Brevard, NC

Fall color on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Candler NC today. And no, I did not color enhance this photo.

I'm just gonna share this with everyone. Why should I have all the fun?

Good morning, my Bleeps. Lots of crow conversations going on out there.

Saluda, NC, pop. 631

See, kids? Science has practical value. 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️

Another entry in "Picnic tables of the Great Smoky Mountains"

This photo pleases me in an odd way, because there isn't a single horizontal line in it. If you're OCD, you'd better hurry on past.

Maggie Valley, NC today. Elev. 3310'.

First glimpse.

Good morning, my Bleeps. If it were Sunday, we'd be ready: wafles and church.

Imagine you're a British naval officer from 1847. Then imagine you've been time-traveled to the present day. Now, imagine your dismay at learning of the dismantling and diminishment of the British Empire in the intervening years.

Sometimes everything is hard.

Turtle yoga

Lunch

Spotify is running ICE advertisements and refuses to address it. Might be because their founder is basically another Elon Musk. It’s time to cancel your subscription, and we made it easy for you—just go to BoycottSpotify.com.

A reminder to all scientists & data viz people 🧪: It's Spooky Science Time. Adjust your models to use the paranormal distribution 👻from now until November 1st.

Good morning, my Bleeps

Squirrel yoga

Good morning, my Bleeps. Roadside scenery.

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

Three different volunteer vincas sharing a single pot.

Making chicken barley soup for the fam. Using boneless, skinless chicken breast, which, I'm sorry, is the most tasteless form of chicken, but they prefer it, and are in their minds allergic to bones. While cutting up the uniform, white hunks it occurred to me: "This may as well be tofu." 😕

Biology lesson for the day: Scrubbed out this birdbath and added fresh water. Some algae remained in the grooves (fake concrete tree rings) in the bottom. In the bright sun, that algae made oxygen during photosynthesis that rose to the surface (look closely) in rings of bubbles. Tada!

Evening movie. EVERYONE is in this one. A change of pace after watching Dracula movies all day. And the music is better.

Every horror movie has at least one ridiculously disappointing scene. For this one, it's the damsel being chased through a wood by a spooky carriage and black horse team. All she has to do is dodge behind a tree, but no, she keeps running in a straight line ahead of the carriage. Stupid victim!

This is a head scratcher for me. I know TV ad time isn't cheap. Seems to me if you're trying to sell beauty products on TV, you oughta at least shampoo and fluff your hair before you go on camera. And straighten your collar. "I'm a celebrity, so they'll buy it, no matter what?"

The Woggle of Witches, Adrienne Adams, 1971.

Time for tonight's double feature. 😱