Marie
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mariekung.bsky.social
Marie
@mariekung.bsky.social
130 followers 220 following 140 posts
Academic background: history, poli sci, education. Working with tech and data. Current interests: ecology, gardening. But curious and interested in pretty much everything.
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mariekung.bsky.social
Two part-shade #NativePlants flowering up in NE Illinois. Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) and Golden alexander (Zizia aurea). 🌱
A little growing area marked by some reclaimed wood boards, a paver walkway that also has a metal frog stepper, and a concrete walkway in the back. Three mounds of wild germaniums are on the left with little light purple flowers sticking out around the light green leaves. Two reddish-purple heuchera are alongside with one green and white hosta in the corner. The plants have not grown big enough to cover the wood chipped bed yet. A rounded patch of Golden Alexander ground out of a wood chipped bed. A couple flower bunches are turning yellow. Most of them are still developing, muted greens and yellows against the darker green leaves. The back of the photo shows a concrete walkway and a residential structure. A sliver of bright sun is around the corner but the plant area is in shade.
May 12, 2025 at 12:52 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) starting to send flowers. #NativePlants 🌱
Little, tight clusters of yellow flowers just starting out from a golden alexander plant. Nice green leaves fill the lower half of the photo. Dried leaves and wood chips are blurred in the background.
April 18, 2025 at 5:07 AM
mariekung.bsky.social
Watched Paige Drobny come into White Mountain and the squids were bopping along.

Learned the sea ice has extra friction-y sections, making for slower speeds. At least the blowhole is not blowing. They've certainly had a lot of different snow conditions this year. #MusherSky
Musher Paige Drobny is the figure in dark snow pants and blue jacket bent over getting water from a hole in the ice. There are stakes and shovels stuck around the piled snow, indicating people worked to clear the this access point. Footprints and snowmachine tracks mark the rest of the snow cover.
March 13, 2025 at 11:27 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Sorry again for the quick grabs. Gotta head out. Pls see Jeems for Q interview. I don't know him personally, but for me, having tasks to complete and others (esp. dogs) to take care of helps me get through. I hope this experience may do the same for as long as they choose to have it. #UglyDogs
A sled dog team running by the Kaltag Co-Op Store in the dark. They are illuminated by the single building light. White letters on the building identify the structure. Snow covers the ground and on parts of the building. The musher, Quince Mountain, stands in the sled. The dogs are wearing little jackets. A distant night-view of the Quince Mountain sled dog team from the back. They are moving over a snow-covered ground. The light source is off-camera, putting most of the team in shadow. The musher is standing in the sled. Dogs in jackets are in motion ahead of the sled. A dark, night scene - Pepe, a gray and white sled dog, in a red jacket faces the swing dogs and the rest of the team from her position in solo lead. This is the Kaltag checkpoint and the team is completing final prep to head out. The used bedding straw is at their feet, covering the snow-covered yard. An unused blue tarped straw bale, used as a wind screen, hides most of the swing dogs.
March 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Sounds like Gabe Dunham may be scratching at Eagle Island.

Matt Hall's sled flipped and pinned him. Glad he appears well in the interview video and is able to smile about it.

If enough snow comes down, it will help with the icy overflow ruts (good) but also slow the trail down (bad). *sigh* (2/2)
Musher Matt Hall demonstrating how his arm got pinned when the sled tipped on the trail. He's leaning over to the side of the black sled with his arm across the vertical handle brace bars. Matt's wearing a smart brown sweater featuring yellow and orange dogs. Musher Matt Hall smiling at the Eagle Island checkpoint. A yellow tent and a bush plane are in the background, showcasing the snow-covered Yukon river. A line of trees mark the horizon. Matt's wearing a smart dark brown sweater featuring yellow and orange dogs on the line. Also a dark knit hat with the red and white logo of (I'm guessing) his kennel.
March 9, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Two new things learned this year: 1) Drag kennels so dogs can rotate rest while on the move. The idea being- Riding the mat to conserve overall energy still means all dogs are pulling, just with higher resistance. Plus musher is using energy. (1/2) #MusherSky
Looking at musher Paige Drobny's dog sled team from the back. An integrated kennel sled is at the back of the sled configuration. She is standing in the middle section of the sled driving. Wearing a big blue parka and blue hat. There's a graphic on the back of the jacket but it is too blurry to read. The team is traveling over a snow-covered trail against a backdrop of tree-covered mountains. Looking at musher Jessie Holme's dog sled team from the back. He has a regular dog crate secured to a sled in the back of his sled configuration. He is standing in the middle section of the sled driving. Wearing a maroon jacket and dark hat. The team is traveling over a snow-covered trail against a backdrop of tree-covered mountains.
March 9, 2025 at 3:46 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
From the Tanana interview (posted March 6, 8:46 pm)

"Unbeknownst to me, Iditarod features a beach." Called it "hell beach" later in the interview.

Pepè and Bob stepped up and worked together instead of having "their usual arguments" about which part of the punchy trail is better. (1/2) #UglyDogs
Close up of a smiling Quince Mountain being interviewed at night. A string of colorful lights is the only background. His face is lit up by a spotlight and we can see that he is in winter gear - olive green head covering with the strap of a headlamp just visible, many layers of clothing with the fur trim of the parka hood around his shoulders.
March 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Sorry for the bad pics. Too lazy to get proper screenshots tonight. Insider put up a quick video of Q arriving in Tanana. Here's the front and back of the team. #UglyDogs
Musher Quince Mountain standing in his black dog sled arriving at the Tanana checkpoint. He's wearing black wraparound sunglasses and a blue parka with the fur-lined hood down. His dark hair appears to be tied back. There are colorful tarps and bags around. The background shows snow and a wintery forest landscape. Seld dogs in harness coming into the Tanana checkpoint. Colorful bags, wraps, and boxes are spread around the snow-covered landscape.
March 6, 2025 at 11:58 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Just cooked with a tomato picked two weeks ago. Here's how the indoor ripening is going. (loc: N Illinois) 🌱
A black plastic harvest basket with three compartments and two orange handles. The left compartment holds lots of orange and red cherry tomatoes. The slim middle section has a 11 mini peppers, each about as large as a cherry tomato. The right side has about 15 full-sized tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. Most of these were picked two weeks ago to save them from colder temperatures. They've been sitting inside since then.
November 24, 2024 at 3:17 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
I don't know why I was expecting the dogs to be listed when I clicked through here. But also, is the black one about to pull a Flame? #UglyDogs (pro-dog hashtag)
Screen grab from the Hallmark Channel website for one of their holiday rom-com movies. A red web banner is at the top. The photo features a woman in outdoor winter attire (black pants, purple jacket, purple hat, light purple gloves) kneeling in the snow with bare wintery trees in the background. She has a white racing bib on, plus black snow goggles around her forehead, to indicate this is most likely the musher for the three sled dogs in the photo. The musher smiles randomly off into the distance while a fluffy gray and white husky puts two front paws up on her chest. The head of another brown and white husky is at the bottom of the photo. The third sled dog is black and hunched over a bit in the snow. They all have light blue harnesses on, with black gang lines. White text says, "Meet the Stars"
November 21, 2024 at 7:20 PM
mariekung.bsky.social
Peas in mid-November, on a 60-degree F Sunday. (Zone 5b, Northern Illinois) 🌱
A close up of a section of peas growing on a white trellis. There are pods and white flowers growing along the pea plant. A wooden fence, a tree trunk, and blue residential structure stand out in the background. Fallen leaves partially cover the lawn.
November 18, 2024 at 2:45 AM
mariekung.bsky.social
An image from the yard wildlife camera. Should I be worried?
Night vision (black and white) photo from a camera set up in the yard. A rabbit, surrounded by various plants, is looking straight into the camera while sitting in a stepping stone path. The night vision setting makes its eyes glow bright and eerie. A tree trunk and bare branches are in the back. Most of the image is too dark and murky to make out many details. A concrete walkway is between the rabbit and the camera. Everything feels a little ghostly.
November 17, 2024 at 3:52 AM
mariekung.bsky.social
Working on deleting stuff over there and while I know there are faster ways to do it, I'm finding the time travel worthwhile, though bittersweet. Saved the first ever for posterity, I guess.
Screen shot of a tweet in dark mode (white text on black background) from user (at) MarieKung. Content says, "Why is a snoring person almost always an annoyance but a snoring dog is almost always an adorable comfort?" Timestamp is 6:44 AM 18 Mar 13
November 14, 2024 at 1:46 AM
mariekung.bsky.social
First real post here will be of the last harvest basket for 2024. Compared to the last two years, the growing season started about three weeks early and is ending about three weeks later. 🌱
A three-compartment black plastic harvest basket with orange handles. One section holds maybe 100 cherry tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. The middle section has some small to tiny green bell peppers and a couple of jalapeños. The last section holds about a dozen full sized tomatoes that are mostly green with just hints of reddening.
November 9, 2024 at 9:24 PM