Haha I get it! I’m more curious than cautious when it comes to things like this, for better or for worse. So far, I’ve only had good experiences. Just offered because I don’t think we live all that far apart.

I’d go in with you if you wanted. I order stuff from Europe all the time and it’s fine. PM if you want.

I’d call it sauteed chicken. You could also call it pan-fried or pan-seared. Or pan-roasted, which can involve putting it in the oven. Fried chicken is this stuff, the kind that has breading and is deep fried.

Or how I usually say it when I’m talking to a friend: I just threw it in a pan and browned it on both sides.

Your picture looks good, makes me want tabouli.

Maybe if there were different divisions, like big/small or northern/southern hemisphere, that might give different ones more of a chance. And the winners of each division face off for owl of the year. I’m partial to big and majestic myself, or unique, but small and fluffy is always popular.

I’ve been able to hear that too, for as long as I can remember. I don’t think that’s necessarily anything unusual when you’re the type of person who can hear earthworms cough. It sounds different at different times, like if I’m stressed or dehydrated.

There’s really a lot you can hear if it’s quiet and you pay attention. Eyes opening and closing, eyeballs moving, joints moving (neck and spine sounds different than knees and elbows), muscles contracting (different ones sound different).

A real life Nibbler. It’s cute in a funny looking sort of way. They do grow fast.

I never noticed it before, but the cream colored markings above Koda’s eyes look kind of like tiny horns. A very cute little vampire.

I always look forward to your posts and the past couple days were a treat.

There wouldn’t be any “h” if you thought of it in terms of Spanish sounds.

If you really get into the weeds, the funky spelling can sometimes give you a clue about how the word is pronounced. (But only sometimes.) For example, “rhetoric” can have a bit of an “h” sound, especially in British English. I notice it some in American English too, but it can vary from person to person.

Or “gnats.” The “n” is a tiny bit different than if you said “Nats,” like the baseball team. You obviously don’t say the “g,” but the tongue comes up a little in the back of your mouth, almost like you were going to say a “g.”

That’s nothing to worry about, it’s just something I’ve noticed.

It sounds like you’re thinking about the words and playing with them, which is always a good way to learn. I remember being a kid and laughing about g-nats and k-nees. You know, when you say all the letters and really exaggerate. After a while, you just know it.

My go-to is to look at the word for a while, listen to the pronunciation a few times, and try to say it. If I hear the word again, I can usually see it too. I get a transcript in my head when someone says something, or even when I think something. It’s just always there.

If I forget the spelling, the transcript will get blurry or stop. So it’s usually easy to remember the spelling, and if I forget it, I really want to look it up.

I don’t need glasses. Haven’t had my hearing tested, but I think it might be better than average. I can hear high frequencies annoyingly well, 20kHz or a little more (checked with a spectrum analyzer). It’s fun to listen to the high harmonics in music. Vacuum cleaners and electric cars are less fun.

I can usually hear my muscles and bones moving. It’s very quiet and low frequency, and the muscles rumble. I can usually tune it out though.

Hearing is a backup sense.

That might vary by person, but for me it’s not. If I had to pick between being able to see and being able to hear, it’d be hearing, hands down. Being able to see is amazing and I’d miss it, but hearing is just a whole other dimension.

Being able to know how someone is feeling, just by hearing their voice. Listening to music and hearing all the shapes, colors, and feelings that come with it. The colors aren’t always ones you can see, like blue or yellow. It’s hard to describe. I’ll close my eyes and just listen at a concert (not the whole time) and same with TV, a lot of times. I usually remember it better that way.

If I have to find something in a backpack, I’ll often do it by feel. I probably look like a raccoon washing its food, but it just works for me. You can tell things apart by feel and sound.

It’s impressive to see the big ones in person. It takes them about 70 years to get 6 feet tall. They can live to be 150 and weigh over a ton. Seeing how the sun reflects off of the stone cliffs at sunset is neat too (Arizona). And how many stars you can see at night.

I don’t miss the desert (I’m made for the cold), but there are fascinating things about it.

!lemmySilver

Show some love to a big bird, and the light is amazing too.

Ohhh yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Fascinating. It almost seems like it would be a liability having a hole to your lungs right in the middle of your tongue. But I guess it works when you can just swallow your food whole and maybe don’t even have to drink water (?). Maybe a short path to the lungs is helpful for flying.

The title picture is amazing, both the mom’s expression and the fluffy chick that’s all mouth. Do you happen to know what the hole in the roof of their mouth is? At least it looks like a hole.

A light swoosh is a good way to put it. You can hear it a little bit when they take off and land, but otherwise it’s really quiet. They’re impressively big up close.

It looks so pretty like that. The eagle owls are striking too. Their orange eyes don’t stand out as much as you might think.

I’ve heard that a lot, and I always thought it had to do with lazy talking (not moving your mouth much). I do think that’s part of it, and some people do that more than others.

But the thing about having a potato in your mouth is it pushes your tongue down and back, into your throat. Which is something you need to say the American “r” and a lot of other sounds, like “w” and the dark L like in “pull.” It’s hard to teach, and very hard to unlearn. It’s part of the characteristic American sound.

German is basically the opposite. You can see the difference here, with a German speaker talking in an MRI. There’s a lot of space between the back of the tongue and the back wall of the throat. And here’s a picture of someone saying an American “r”. The base of the tongue is all bunched up in the throat.

Yep. That works well unless you’re cooking at altitude, then an overnight soak is the best and easiest way. Unless you own a pressure cooker.

Some beans you can get away with not soaking at all, just cook them low and slow for a couple hours. I’ve done that with great northern beans.