Great capture! I have a hard time getting a good shot of creepers since they so rarely stop moving

Cherry for me. Common flavor in lots of fruity candy mixes but not my favorite. I do like cherry sours on their own though

Canid and canine generally mean any of the dog-like animals: domestic dogs, wolves, fox, coyotes, dingoes, jackals, wild dogs

Parrot applies to members of the Psittacine family: parrots, macaws, parakeets, cockatiels, cockatoos, parrotlets, lorikeets

Herps and herpetofauna are used to collectively refer to amphibians and reptiles: frogs, salamanders, newts, lizards, turtles, snakes

Bear means all actual bear species but is also often used in reference to pandas and koalas (just don’t say it in front of my scientifically accurate kid)

Waterfowl is ducks, geese, swans

Depending on why or how you’re using categories, you can also group by characteristics: Do they have fur, feathers, or scales Do they lay eggs or give birth Are they predator or prey Do they eat meat, plants, fruit, pollen, or some combination

southsamurai has a great overall explanation. I would add it also depends on the age and any medical conditions of each.

We have a 45 pound dog (age 12) and a 15 pound cat (age 17). The dog is on senior/old man food but is otherwise in good health. The cat has kidney disease so we have to get only specific kinds. Per month the cat’s food is about $5 more than the dog’s, but that’s for a smaller amount.

Well done. Anesthetizing birds is always so tricky

My cat will also do this. And if I put a blanket on his spot he’ll go sleep somewhere else

Shows from my youth I’ve watched with my kid: The Muppets Full House Animaniacs

First time I left my spouse and cat alone, my cat trapped them in the bathroom.

Good luck!

Congratulations!

After WNS [white-nose syndrome] detection, insecticide use was about 1 kg/km2 higher in the WNS-confirmed counties compared with the non-WNS counties, relative to the year before WNS detection. After more than 5 years from initial exposure, insecticide use was, on average, more than 2 kg/km2 higher. These results reflect substantial increases, above 25%

The paper, if anyone wants to read it

But god made everything our domain, so surely we’re above it /s

I don’t know the actual answer. My theory is it’s this confusing so it’s hard for the general population to catch the mistakes. This allows insurance companies get out of paying as much as they’re supposed to. And hospitals don’t really care who does the paying, as long as they get paid

Mine are all in the ground

I’ll have to try the cinnamon next year. I ended up sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the bottom of it and that seemed to help. But I’m not sure how often a monarch caterpillar might move to another plant so I was worried the DE may harm them too.

Some of the plants do have aphids, but not all my plants with ants on them had aphids (at least that I could find). I know ants will sometimes carry aphids, so maybe they were scouting out new plants?

All very valid points and part of why American health insurance is such a joke

I had an incident recently where my spouse had to go to the ER because of a life threatening incident. One of those fix it right now or they might die things. (They’re fine now, thank goodness.)

We went to an in-network hospital and all doctors were also in-network. However the one who actually did the life-saving procedure was a specialist. Under our insurance plan seeing a specialist requires a referral, which of course we didn’t have time to get. So insurance tried to nope out of that doctor’s entire bill.

You need to know both your deductible and out of pocket maximum numbers. You’ve said your deductible is $1500. For the sake of this example let’s say your out of pocket max (OOP from now on) is $2500.

For simplicity, we’ll go with your insurance’s negotiated rate for the procedure is $1000*. Meaning at the end of the day you and your insurance combined will pay the hospital $1000.

Basically any bills up to $1500 for the year you pay 100%. Between $1500 and $2500 (or your OOP), insurance pays 50% and you pay 50%. Over $2500 insurance pays 100%.

Some examples to illustrate:

1. You’ve paid $400 this year so far. You pay the full $1000: $400 + $1000 = $1400 which is less than your deductible of $1500
2. You’ve paid $1000 so far this year. You pay $750 and insurance pays $250: $500 gets you to the $1500 deductible limit so you have to pay all that, plus you pay 50% of the remaining $500 bill = $250.
3. You’ve paid $1700 so far. You pay $500 and insurance pays $500. $1700 + $500 = $2200 which is less than your OOP of $2500
4. You’ve paid $2300 so far. You pay $200 and insurance pays $800. 50% of $1000 = $500 but $500 would put you over your OOP of $2500. $2500 - $2300 = $200. You pay $200 and insurance pays the rest.
5. You’ve paid $2500 so far. Insurance pays $1000

• If your insurance’s negotiated rate for the procedure is $1000, this means that’s what the hospital and insurance have agreed to pay. A lot of times you’ll see the hospital “charge” a larger number and then have an insurance “discount” but ignore this. It doesn’t factor into deductible or out of pocket maximum calculations.

That cat does kind of look like Nermal

You betcha

One of my birds had this. I always introduced new toys by first putting it in the same room, then slowly (over days) moving it closer to the cage. Then I hung it on the outside before finally moving it into the cage. If I just hung it in the cage without this introduction, she would get used to its presence but wouldn’t interact with the toy.

My other bird I just put it straight into the cage. She gave zero Fs lol