meeks

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills "The Far Call" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. It was sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred.

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Someone asked about resources for more fannishness on Dreamwidth. I already have a bunch of relevant posts, so here are the links for those.

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We made it through the first week of January. This is enough to get an early glimpse of progress with New Year's resolutions. It's also malleable enough to make changes. Watch for the parallel check in post over on goals_on_dw. Its busy season is December-January, with weekly check-in posts for January, then monthly after that.

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A friend asked for suggestions of ways to maintain posting momentum after snowflake_challenge ends. There are plenty of ways to build momentum and keep up your posting frequency. Here are some ideas.

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Dogs Build Their Vocabularies Like Toddlers

Basket the Border collie seems to have a way with words. The 7-year-old dog, who resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, knows the names of at least 150 toys — “froggy,” “crayon box” and “Pop-Tart,” among them — and can retrieve them on command.

The number is average. Most dogs can learn 100-200 words, typically 150-160. However, a majority of those are verbs like "sit" and "fetch." Nouns are less common, but most dogs learn a bunch of things like "food" and "leash." Having a vocabulary that is mostly nouns is uncommon.

Why a collie? Because people used to teach them the names of the sheep. "All in" is useful, but "Cut Molly" (out of the herd) is even more so.

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This poem came out of the October 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and chanter1944. It also fills the "Black / Orange" square in my 10-1-25 card for the Fall Festival Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Practical Magics.

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This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...


Posted 10 Products to Help You Keep Your 2026 New Year’s Resolutions at goals_on_dw.

Posted "Reading Challenges" on 25book_pwd.

Posted "Reading Challenges" on 50books_poc.

Commented under 01/07/26 on abc_onceupon.

Commented under Hi There by dr_zook on friending_memes.
-- and under the comment thread by tamena.
-- and under the comment thread by forestofdreams.
-- and under the comment thread for autumninpluto.
-- and under the comment thread for adoptedwriter.

Commented under "Love Note to Quadrants" on 100quadrantedships.

Commented under "Love Note To The Sedoretu" in 40sedoretu.

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beavertech has posted the January batch of sponsored poems.  :D

"So Many Words for Wood" on first_nations_freaks

"The Infinity of Acorns" on scienceworld

"Birds and Snow" on the_magick_circle

"A Piecemeal Apocalypse" on thefreaksclub

Today is partly cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/7/26 -- I gathered the raked leaves from the ritual meadow, enough to fill the trolley twice, which I dumped on the daffodil bed. (That should have been done in fall, but better late than never.) One quarter around the firepit equaled two trolleys and covered the daffodil bed completely. The tulip bed will need at least twice that much.

I startled several cardinals and the great-horned owl in the ritual meadow.

EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I filled a trolley with sticks from the brushpile beside the driveway, then dumped that in the firepit.

EDIT 1/7/26 -- I filled another trolley with sticks, then dumped that in the firepit.

There's not much left of the brushpile now, mostly pieces too big for me to break down.

It's 5:05 PM. The western sky is still twilight, the east considerably darker.

I am done for the night.

And there goes Lilith. \o/