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And that’s when ur blessed with being elderly because life can be unkind between those points.
Bold of you to assume I’m gonna be able to afford a back yard.
dont have a bird feeder. my equivalent is wandering into my workshop to piddle with some scrap metal/wood
In fifteen years you go from 45, which still feels fine for most people, to 60, which is noticeably “old” for most people.
Age 15 to 30 you didn’t really notice, you noticed the changes to your life, but not the changes to your body. It’s mostly the same for age 30 to 45. Not so for age 45 to 60.
Guess it depends on how you grew up.
The number one thing I noticed about my body at 30 was my ducking teeth. They hurt like all the time, it’s like a hole in my mouth I throw money at.
Also there are a number of people by 30 that have had an accident that defines your life as a before, and after period. See most broken bones
It’s actually really weird that birds are cool as fuck but somehow most people ignore them until they are over 35. I don’t know why that is, but it’s a pretty common pattern, outside of ornithologists.
I’m approaching 30 but I started using Merlin a few years ago and have evolved into a casual bird nerd since.
Merlin was my gateway. Haven’t been able to stop noticing birds since. I just hear there calls man… always singing, always calling. Always calling
Dude, there have been some bogs (near me/for me) that were utterly scant of birds or much any other leg critters.
Nice. Sounds like me, only 10 years ahead of schedule :)
Merlin is really great. It works very well in several countries I’ve tried it in. Only complaint is that in Africa, the sound id is almost non-existent
Honestly I always loved looking at birds but in the city it started seeming like there were just so much less of them…
We started putting some bird seed out back, and I didn’t know so many were even in our neighborhood! It’s brought me a lot of happiness to see them all gathering around.
Especially the little sparrows and mourning doves. :)
… I’m in my 30’s so, damn. 😆
The math behind old person hobbies is easy.
Your body is slowly failing
You’re income limited
Your mobility is slowly declining
Your stomach is starting to limit your diet
You need a hobby with pretty low upkeep and super high availability.Also, masturbation becomes just work.
I feel singled out. Or grouped up!
I hated birds until I was like 30, and now I’m all like HELLO LITTLE FRIEND WOULD YOU LIKE SOME SEEDS OR HOW ABOUT EGGS I READ THAT YOU LIKE THAT I CAN HOOK YOU UP
Haha, Yeah I kinda hated birds too, tbh. Mainly because they would sometimes wake me up early, especially if camping. I’ve learned the error of my ways though!
Ive always been really into birds and trying to identify them, but I’ve always had old people hobbies lol
As someone who JUST got a birdfeeder for my backyard…
😬If it’s a hummingbird feeder, make sure you clean it weekly/regularly, otherwise it can spread disease.
Don’t get that red dyed nectar either, get the clear stuff; don’t fill the entire feeder; get a straw scrubber for the holes; make sure the feeder has those anti bee things, otherwise it can attract wasps. I don’t have to deal with squirrels, but good luck if you do.
Or like just get a bird bath if you’re lazy. It is like zero maintenance depending on how often it rains in your area.
They still come hang out often
Just make your own nectar, it’s sugar and water.
Boil the water to help not give em diseases we don’t care about as humans.
No dyes, no buys (except sugar, and water)
Those are good tips! We currently have seed feeders. and are attracting lots of house finches, gold finches, and chickadees (and occasionally pigeons). We’ve considered getting hummingbird feeders, so will keep this post in mind!
Well, crap, entropy really is nature’s tendency if we’re not constantly maintaining every little thing. Better go tell my mom in law…at least she uses the clear stuff but didn’t know anything about the rest!
We used to get a ton of hummingbirds too, but since we added bird seed feeders and see a lot more sparrows and stuff, we haven’t seen any hummingbirds lately. I hope they’re okay. :(
Yeah I learned from experience 😔
And I only say to use the clear stuff because it makes cleaning much easier. I’m sure it’s perfectly fine otherwise.edit: this is wrong, apparently; the red dye is in fact bad for them.But yeah it really needs regular cleaning. It may look OK on the outside, but those holes fill up quick.
I use an app called Sweepy to help me stay on track with what needs cleaning and when it needs it, otherwise I’d totally space it.
Yeah the red dyed stuff is bad for them, specifically the dye.
You don’t need to get special food though either. Some simple sugar water (watered down simple syrup) is all they need. 1/4 Cup of sugar into 1 Cup water and boil it for a minute. Let it cool down and you can store it in the fridge for a few days if your hummers are as voracious as ours and you want to make extra at a time.
I don’t have to deal with squirrels, but good luck if you do.
Title of your autobiography
This is your life now
One DAY, you’re young. And then the NEXT. You’re standing in your BACK YARD. Like this. Staring at your bird FEEDER.
Thank you Mr Walken. And how do you feel about the amount of cowbell?
Maude Deep?
You’re not gonna believe this but I actually deem it sufficient at present!
Impossible
One daAay. You’re young. And. Then the next! … you’re standing in your… Back yard.
That’s a great Jackie Mason
You have a GARDEN?! That means you have property! Livin’ the dreeeeeeam!
You too can live the dream! Just as long as the location of that dream occurs in a state like Oklahoma.
And that’s where you put up little martin hotels, to encourage dozens of those adorable little high-velocity mosquito-slayers to move in, which could make living in Oklahoma somewhat bearable!
Yeah… We’ve got 5-6 different bird feeders in our yard. Our visit to tractor supply for bird seed usually clocks in around 100-150lbs. We’ve got purple martins, crows, hawks, brown thrashers, and even a wood pecker that all live on or around our property. Then about a dozen other birds that migrate through every year.
You need to watch Deric Cahill’s “Fuck This House” series.
Up until about 2022 it was living the dream. Now, you’ll need the cash for a down payment on another house to repair anything of significance. That’s not hyperbole. Repair has gone double or triple in 5 years, depending. And most repair is pay it all right now. For something like a roof, it’s like paying cash for a new vehicle. And property taxes went off the rails, most locales eager to reassess and cash in on those high sales prices. Remember, a mortgage is your minimum monthly payment.
I suspect the next couple years is going to see a severe rise in derelict level undisclosed problems in newly purchased homes. Repair used to be affordable. It isn’t, now.
Repair used to be affordable. It isn’t, now.
Almost every person we’ve hired to fix anything on our house has ended up screwing it up.
My goal now is to keep it holding together until I can retire and then fix it myself.
I’ve found that with time, patience, and a willingness to learn, I can get better results than most “professionals”.
With any luck it will be in good, sellable shape by the time I die, so the kids can get some money from it.
Licenses and bonds are public info at the state level. Like with most licensed professions, any issues are public too. Found this while looking up potential electricians. Most of the time, it appeared to be not enough higher level electricians per journeymen. One guy had a lapsed license.
In four years of owning my home I went an additional 50k in debt over things that were hidden and not revealed during inspection or random unlucky things like a pipe bursting in the same basement room twice in six months (bad fitting replaced with an apparently counterfeit fitting). I’m just about to close on the sale and have no idea what my next steps are because wow, that was a terrible financial experience.
I’m not even breaking even on the sale even though the house is now in perfect condition, because it’s a very small town and people noticed how many repairs were going on in those few years :(
A new roof on a basic straight shotgun house used to be $5-6k, in 2019. 2023: $15k. And it needs to be total paid on completion. This is why people don’t do repairs.
And they have someone feeding their birds 😤
For whatever reason, I have seen a lot of turkey vultures this year and they’re so underrated and awe-inspiring. Saw a massive flock pass overhead and it was like watching dragons coming from the horizon.
Brave to assume I will look that good when I am that age.
This will never happen to me. Tucking in your shirt when its not a special occasion is heresy.
Damn squirrels!
no way…fuck. I was feeding a rabbit.
As someone who grew up with elders telling him time speeds up as you get older, I spent a year or so researching with anxiety what I could do to mitigate this feeling.
The first thing to do is refuse to indulge this idea that one day being an elder just happens: as they say, if you declare it’s a bad day in the morning, you’re conditioning yourself to look for confirmations that the day is indeed going to be bad, while potentially overlooking the good.
Time, objectively, goes at the same speed your entire life— for most people, sans astronauts or regular mountain climbers. It’s your perception of it that changes, thanks to your memory. The theory is memory is a survival mechanism: it really only commits things to memory that it deems a potential threat. If your day is routine, you are safe, there is no need for your mind to automatically record it.
So instead you need to manually record it. At the end of the day, journal either physically or mentally what you did today.
I personally use Daylio (which records data points) and BeReal (forces you to take a pic at a random time of day of yourself and whatever is in front of you), and every now and again I get to look back and say “wow, it really has been an entire month, eh?”
The other thing to do to combat it is make new memories/avoid routine, but sadly many of us are not in a position to afford this one.
For me it helps I am really into movies; I can’t really afford to travel, but movies are new experiences to me in and of themselves, and are a hacky way for me to make new memories in an otherwise routine life.
Constantly indulging in new experiences especially those outside of your comfort zone will also make you perceive time as going slower than if you do the same routine every day.
Unfortunately our society is not set up that way for most people
I’ve also found that it helps when I celebrate solstices and equinoxes. Acknowledging and participating in each season keeps them from flying by
There’s a pair of goldfinches who have settled near my yard and eat there daily! Goldfinches!
There must be thistle seed in the mix you use.
You can also buy exclusively thistle seed specifically for finches
