anon6789

100% this. I “played” guitar and bass for about 20 years, doing tabs and YouTube lessons. I could do plenty of stuff passably, and have been in a few bands and played a few shows in public that went fine.

I got a Rhodes piano for free, and started doing the same learning on my own. My wife signed me up for 6 months of lessons with a real teacher as a gift. I learned so much in my now 2+years with her than the 20 years on my own.

You can get any lesson you want somewhere online, but it isn’t tailored to you or what you want/need to learn.

My teacher asks me what my goals are, and she figures out how to get me there. She sees where I’m at, can pick pieces and lessons to study that aren’t too hard or too easy, and corrects me before bad habits set in. I’ve learned the benefits of reading sheet music vs tabs, I’ve learned scales and how to apply them, and everything I learn is in proper order to allow it to make sense!

As I spend more time learning with her, all the random stuff I “learned” in my own actually clicks into place because I’m getting taught it all in proper context. It’s like building a kit by having someone read you the instructions step by step as opposed to you just opening a box full of pieces and trying to figure out what it is you’re building randomly as you go.

The photos make it look like a movie set. It doesn’t look anywhere near 1400 years old. They must have been so excited to find a place like this.

That is amazing! Can’t wait to get some more photos of that. Thank you so much for tagging me.

In the meanwhile, there’s someone here that may enjoy this even more than me!

@MisterNeon@lemmy.world

The Critic was amazing.

Most hoots will be them guarding their territory. Owls have a home range of a few miles they will defend. They will allow a mate and first year offspring in that area, but anyone else is typically unwelcome, as they need to protect their food supply and safe resting areas. Both are limited and crucial for their survival.

Owls can identify each other by their hoots. They are unique just as you can tell other humans’ voices apart.

They have a vocabulary of around 2 or 3 dozen sounds, but owls are capable of all kinds of noises and non verbal cues as well.

While not helping people directly, wild animal rescues usually only require one 4 hour shift a week. I do weekends and we have plenty of openings where we could use more help. You can’t just come and go as you please, you pick a shift at the start of the season (March/April to Sept/Oct) and stick to it so we can know we at least have minimal staff. Our shifts are split 8-noon, noon-4, and 4-8.

You will meet a ton of great people, see some truly amazing sights, experience the strength and delicateness of nature, and provide a valuable service to your local ecosystem.

And don’t feel bad “just donating money!”. We can’t do anything without cash. Wildlife rescue doesn’t receive any public money anywhere in the world I’m aware of, and I’m sure many causes are the same way. Yes, groups need people’s time, but we could do a thing without supplies or just plain paying utilities and all the boring overhead costs.

He took a quick drag off the stinger before he tossed it. 😄

It really just got blasted in the face with some flashlight bigger than it is. Their pupils adjust much faster than ours, but I’m sure it’s still unpleasant.

I started with guitar, then bass, then piano.

Guitar over only really played for fun with other people. I’ve played bass in 3 bands, 2 of those publicly. Piano I’ve played solo at recitals and publicly a few times as part of an ensemble group. Guitar and bass were self taught, so I plateaued early on, but I take piano lessons now. I also have a sampler/drum machine I play around with and use to make backing tracks to practice the other instruments.

I’m not very good at any of them in my own opinion, but it doesn’t take much to have fun. I think it’s harder to be good alone than playing with other people, though as an introvert, it’s hard to get over the initial hump of getting together with people.

Even the tiny Elf Owl, the smallest of all 250ish owls, at 5 inches/13 cm, loves to snack on scorpions.

Owls are beasts!

Owl is a doll.

Here’s a baby Saw Whet Owl, one of my fav owl babies.

It was a blast. We went to grab breakfast on our way out of town and this place popped up as I was looking for the best breakfast along the way. It intrigued me that a pharmacy was the number 1 rated breakfast spot.

It’s Lincoln’s P&G. Half the place is a regular pharmacy, and the other is a diner/soda fountain. This is the menu with the soda specials and they have a bunch of old photos of the place on this page.

They advertised top notch pancakes, which I’m usually meh about, but these were light and had a nice crispy outside that seemed to set them apart. Good stuff if ever anyone is ever passing through there.

I like the olde tyme medicine / cocktail bitters type taste!

I had a fun time last year outside of Pittsburgh there was a diner that had the original soda fountain in it, and I ended up talking with the soda jerk about a lot of the oddball ingredients and he gave me some of the phosphates and I was tasting them straight up and mixing them with flavors in different proportions and such.

A-Treat has an online store now, with the brown and white birch beers both available, as well as the pumpkin cream and cranberry ginger ale holiday flavors, which I also love. There’s a few other Pennsylvania birch beers, the PA Dutch red version and the clear Kutztown ones are on Amazon I saw, but the A-Treat is the most local to where I live.

I love regional drinks as a quick and cheap way to check out local food culture!

Coffee milk sounded so good and I bought 2 tall bottles to bring home with me. It was… interesting… 😁

I maybe had 3 glasses trying to “get it right” but it may have just not been for me, but I still think about it after 10+ years, so it made a lasting impression, if nothing else.

Cheerwine is possibly my favorite regional soda, but Dr Enuf was good too. I had the red one, as it looked like the Cheerwine on the same trip.

In Pennsylvania, A-treat is still around under new owners, and people seem to be surprised by the clear birch beer.