The Cute Animal Pics/Videos Thread

[Artemis]

 

 

[Artemis]

 

[Arcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 11:02 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Roughly how large an area does that cover, Arcadia?

Let's see … from left to right, that's about 5 miles. So maybe a 10-15 mile square area?

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 4:34 AM, Van Buren Supernova said:

On the other hand, I can imagine quite a lot of inconvenience, or maybe not? Like daily life, daily chores, pests (in big sizes) and limited choices of facilities? But you have Wifi, with that as the benchmark, I assume that means everything else should be adequate as well.

Well, it's weird … you can't drive half a mile without encountering a shopping center. But they all have about the same thing … grocery store, hardware and/or drugstore, beauty parlor, couple places to eat, maybe a gas station … that's about it. All the necessities, you might say. But if you want something specialized, like a car stereo repairman, or ink for your elderly printer … you have to go 25 miles to the next county. 4 mile round trip for a gallon of milk, which is not exactly convenient, so you learn to pick up everything else you might need in the future while you're at it. Could walk to the local library, if the road had sidewalks; as it is, you'd get squished by a car before you went ten feet. So it's sort a mix of convenient and inconvenient. It's a lot safer than in the city, that's what I like best about it. Fewer humans around … they're the only thing I'm afraid of.  

[Arcadia]

20 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

That photo was taken in the autumn, so it's easy enough to tell woods (darkest areas) from pastures and lawns (medium color) from crop fields (lightest).  Indiana is part of the old Northwest Territory, which is why everything's so rectangular.

Was everything forested out there when people first arrived? Or is it naturally treeless? Parts of the Shenandoah Valley look a bit like that, but I'm pretty sure it was once as heavily forested as where I now live. Trees hide a LOT, I think that's why my area seems so rural. But it's not.

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 6/2/2019 at 10:50 AM, Arcadia said:

For VBS ... here's an aerial view of the area I live in. [....]

 

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

… from left to right, that's about 5 miles. So maybe a 10-15 mile square area? 

Thanks!  As for mine:

On 6/3/2019 at 12:22 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Here's my area, obviously more rural than Arcadia's:

 

Let me see -- that's about four miles square -- so 16 square miles.

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Was everything forested out there when people first arrived? Or is it naturally treeless?

I've heard it said that a squirrel could have started at one side of the original Indiana Territory and gone from tree to tree clear across it without ever setting foot on the ground.  I'd guess that he might have needed to zigzag a bit, because there were surely natural glades here and there, maybe even the occasional savanna.  But basically this area was forest, as it still is at heart.  Our property would quickly revert if we left it alone -- we have mulberry trees and red cedars trying to grow in our lawn as it is.

[Van Buren Supernova]

17 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Let's see … from left to right, that's about 5 miles. So maybe a 10-15 mile square area?

Well, it's weird … you can't drive half a mile without encountering a shopping center. But they all have about the same thing … grocery store, hardware and/or drugstore, beauty parlor, couple places to eat, maybe a gas station … that's about it. All the necessities, you might say. But if you want something specialized, like a car stereo repairman, or ink for your elderly printer … you have to go 25 miles to the next county. 4 mile round trip for a gallon of milk, which is not exactly convenient, so you learn to pick up everything else you might need in the future while you're at it. Could walk to the local library, if the road had sidewalks; as it is, you'd get squished by a car before you went ten feet. So it's sort a mix of convenient and inconvenient. It's a lot safer than in the city, that's what I like best about it. Fewer humans around … they're the only thing I'm afraid of.  

Hold on. I think I live in a 'city' but most likely I have to do the things you mentioned as well, I might be able to get milk, easily, for example, but for the brand that I want (not about price of the brand) or the freshness of produce, I have to drive even further because there is no way I trust the grocery stores nearby. They even have specialty, for example, if I want seafood I really have to buy it from only certain place that I trust. And for a closer drive than the fresh seafood, I could go to an awesome beach. So I guess everything is relative.

12 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Thanks!  As for mine:

Let me see -- that's about four miles square -- so 16 square miles.

How come it look like something that has been unscrambled?  It's like, those squares are not very connected, are they? It really really looks like a puzzle. And those many brown patches, is it very dry area?

Let's throw some decoy to make it seems like we're still in topic...

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

11 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I might be able to get milk, easily, for example, but for the brand that I want (not about price of the brand) or the freshness of produce, I have to drive even further because there is no way I trust the grocery stores nearby.

I think that's just about the same everywhere.  There's one perfectly normal grocery store not too far from where I live (maybe only a 20-minute drive), but I don't go there unless all I want is some very common item.  We generally travel about twice that far, to get to a store that carries more things that we like.  However, I think to most people, a grocery store is a grocery store.

11 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

How come it look like something that has been unscrambled?  It's like, those squares are not very connected, are they? It really really looks like a puzzle. And those many brown patches, is it very dry area?

This area gets a moderate amount of rain.  The brown areas are crop fields in the autumn, so either the crops (mostly corn and soy beans) are mature and dry or else they've already been harvested.  If you look very closely, you may be able to see some light-colored lines running mostly straight up-and-down or straight left-and-right.  Those are roads, which are generally a mile apart.  The curvy lines with dark areas along them are rivers and creeks with trees growing beside them.  And yes, I suppose it does look a bit like a jigsaw puzzle!

[Caya]

I found this nice aerial shot of our neighbourhood online. Our house is in that pic (and at that distance, you can't see what a mess the garden is) .

Required "still on topic" doggie pic:

[Caya]

[besleybean]

Love me a collie.

[Arcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 3:12 PM, Caya said:

I found this nice aerial shot of our neighbourhood online. Our house is in that pic (and at that distance, you can't see what a mess the garden is) .

 

Are the big white buildings municipal buildings? I'm thinking either that, or some very imitative rich folks.  

And the red roofs! That's something you don't see much of around here. Are they a sort of terra cotta substance, or is it just a color choice?

I remember when I had a new roof put on the house, and they showed me about 30 different color samples to choose from, and there's me thinking "but they're all just shades of grey!" 

[Arcadia]

Oh, right ... animal thread. Here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

24 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I remember when I had a new roof put on the house, and they showed me about 30 different color samples to choose from, and there's me thinking "but they're all just shades of grey!" 

I know!  I was wanting rust-colored shingles, but nobody seems to make colors any more.  We finally found a type that's supposed to look like wood shakes, so it comes in a brownish shade, which is fine.

When I was a kid, we had a nice blue roof, and other people had green or red.  Seems the only way you can get that sort of color range nowadays is to get a steel roof, so I'm seriously considering having one of those put on, once our shingles need replacing.

[Arcadia]

My nephew the Air Force engineer says a steel roof is the best roof, but I don't know why. But they do look cool. Cost more, I bet.

[Carol the Dabbler]

21 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

My nephew the Air Force engineer says a steel roof is the best roof, but I don't know why. But they do look cool. Cost more, I bet.

Yup.  But they're supposed to last a lot longer.  (I assume they might need a coat of paint now and then.)  And if they get hit by major hailstones, you don't need a new roof, as long as you don't mind a few dents (which might need a paint touch-up).  They've become very popular for houses and barns around here recently, so it should be easy to find customers to ask how they like them and who installed them -- whereas back when our house was built, only a few commercial buildings had them, and our builder didn't know of any local installers.

[Caya]

3 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Are the big white buildings municipal buildings? I'm thinking either that, or some very imitative rich folks.  

And the red roofs! That's something you don't see much of around here. Are they a sort of terra cotta substance, or is it just a color choice?

I remember when I had a new roof put on the house, and they showed me about 30 different color samples to choose from, and there's me thinking "but they're all just shades of grey!" 

The big white buildings are a hospital. The red roofs are just red ceramic roof tiles, they're still widely in use here (and in much of Europe, afaik). Here's a pic of our city centre:

Obligatory "still on topic" pic:

[Fantasy Lover]

Since it's been awhile since I posted something in this thread so in compensation here is some spam

[Arcadia]

Thanks, Fantasy, I needed that!

4 hours ago, Caya said:

The big white buildings are a hospital. The red roofs are just red ceramic roof tiles, they're still widely in use here (and in much of Europe, afaik). Here's a pic of our city centre:

 

That cathedral is stunning!

 

 

[Caya]

8 hours ago, Arcadia said:

That cathedral is stunning!

That's St. Stephen's, and it's one of our biggest tourist attractions (still a surprisingly nice and quiet spot in the hustle and bustle of the inner city, though).

[Artemis]

*Plonk*

 

[Arcadia]

Ooooooh! I'll bet that dog paid dearly for that later.....  

[Artemis]

On 6/16/2019 at 1:30 AM, Artemis said:

I'm about to leap over some lawn games and make off with a hotdog from the neighbor's grill, they smell so good.

I'd like to hire a cat, please...

 

[Arcadia]

Now that's a good kitty, bringing home the bacon.....

[Caya]

Why assume the cat stole the sausage, anyway? One look from those big pleading eyes was probably all it took.