cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
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turtlesoup.bsky.social
cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
@turtlesoup.bsky.social
Cartoonist, illustrator, fanperson. Budding professional science writer & hobby naturalist/nature photographer. They/them. http://linktr.ee/alliekleber

Expect lots of bird photos (and sometimes plants, bugs, etc).

GenAI is not welcome here.
Pinned
To my steady & confusing stream of new followers: welcome! I'm a sporadic poster who treats this as more of a personal account than anything publicity-oriented. I'm an enthusiastic amateur nature photographer, a somewhat lapsed cartoonist, and sometimes share political posts but try not to deluge.
A little recent #birdart, as a treat?
November 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
Time to swear in Adelita Grijalva, let her cast the final vote to release the Epstein files!
November 10, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
10/10 take. No notes.
November 7, 2025 at 5:49 PM
LRS: I will admit, I got a state ID with an "X" on it, because I was so tired of feeling like I didn't exist. But I've come to believe that the thinking was flawed.

I still refuse to change it BACK to an F, because that feels painfully invalidating, but I want the whole field gone.
November 6, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
This is why when folks were fighting to get an X gender marker on government ID, I went so hard on the idea that government ID ~shouldn’t have any gender on it at all~ It serves absolutely no purpose other than discrimination.
"without subjecting anyone to differential treatment."

This is flatly false! Trans people with a passport that does not match with their plain appearance when presented to a border agent is subject to additional hassle compared to a cis person presenting a passport.
NEW: On the shadow docket, the Supreme Court lets Trump resume misgendering trans Americans on their passports, claiming "the government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment." All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
November 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
Zohran was polling at six percent in January. Nothing is impossible
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I'm so happy for you, NYC friends. Thank you for showing all of us that no really, it IS possible to get it right.
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 AM
It feels a little early to be calling Weird Duck Time just yet, but then again ... hooded mergansers are here now. And they're quite possibly my favorite weird/winter resident ducks of all, with their delightful hairdos and absurd courtship displays. 🪶
November 4, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Why does S.T. Gibson keep writing vampire books which imply that they are adaptations of classic works, but actually have absolutely nothing to do with those works except character names or a bit of set dressing? Leave Stoker and LeFanu ALONE and just let your books be YOUR BOOKS, please! /grump
November 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Perfect afternoon: an hour and a half walking around a sunny pond surrounded by fall foliage, with the first hooded mergansers of the season working hard at their courtship displays, followed by several hours cozy art/crafts time with good friends and company. Bike rides in between. I needed that.
November 2, 2025 at 10:52 PM
(Age is not the enemy. No, really.)
Maybe it was way more than seven million? "8% of Americans say they participated in a No Kings protest on October 18."

p.s. Older people are really showing up.
November 1, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Happy Halloween! 🫰🏻🫰🏻
October 31, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
October 30, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Tough week. Here are a few shots from a restorative walk I took on Sunday, featuring a great blue heron (with lunch), maple foliage, an American red squirrel (I love them! it's not mutual), and a surprisingly late black-and-white warbler. I would like to be back there now. 🪶
October 30, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
It’s still remarkable that Disney produced - and released - this segment in 1940. A horror short that should rank with its Universal monster movie contemporaries… The animation is lush and experimental, and really shows off the Disney special animated effects team…
October 24, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Help Babs move and get some handy art reference! Plus, feel good about helping someone delightful!
Hello! I'm moving! Like a very sudden, gotta move in like a month, move! I know I post a lot of free poses on here, but if you'd like to help me out by buying a Google drive folder of almost 300 poses for figure drawing, I'd really appreciate it!

ko-fi.com/s/fdb4f9c631

#figuredrawing #lifedrawing
Big Folder of Poses - Babs New's Ko-fi Shop
Link to a Google Drive folder of almost 300 (soon to be over 300) poses for figure drawing!
ko-fi.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Please help if you can. ❤️ RB is a delightful human as well as a talented wildlife photographer and she and her daughter are in a tight spot.
Sorry to ask for help again but my total amount of SNAP benefits which I'm totally dependent on for food is $250 per month. If you can donate, it would be greatly appreciated. Best way is with a Walmart gift card. Megan.e.rowell@gmail.com. Rhapsodyinblu2@gmail.com for PayPal. Thank you vry much. 🥹❤️🪶
Donate to Please Support Mom and Me Through a Crisis, organized by Megan Rowell
Through no fault of our own, Mom and I have lost a major portion of our income… Megan Rowell needs your support for Please Support Mom and Me Through a Crisis
gofund.me
October 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
Subscribe to this list 👇 and preemptively block the GOP .gov accounts who have suddenly appeared over here en masse - before they can screenshot and hassle you here and/or elsewhere: bsky.app/profile/did:...
Remember folks. The original bluesky ethos by us bluesky elders (apparently I count?) is block and move on.

Don't quote dunk, don't pick fights.
Block, and move on.

This is what made this site unpalatable to the right early on, and we can continue to make it unpalatable to them.
October 18, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Time to step back from upsetting things for the rest of the night and do something fun and indulgent. Maybe do my Yuletide sign-up on the first day for possibly the first time ever.
October 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Incandescent rage.
1. In a major capitulation to Trump, Fenway Health, a center ostensibly dedicated to LGBTQ+ healthcare, has ended its trans care program under 19.

It could have fought for its patients. It chose instead to roll over.

Community members are devastated.

Subscribe to support our journalism.
Fenway Health Restricts Treatment for Patients Under 19 In Capitulation To Trump
“This is a fundamental betrayal to the core mission of Fenway and the patients they serve.”
www.erininthemorning.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
"You make the best of it all and hope you can help make it a little better for the gurl after you."

- Miss Major, 2023 💔
October 14, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Doing some sketching at home today ... to color next time I'm at my studio (where my markers and color pencils live).
October 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
The earliest vanguard of Weird Duck Time has arrived! Delightful diving ducks that we only see from October-March or April: ruddies and ring-necks. #birds 🪶
October 12, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by cranky ol’ Auncle Allie
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this TikTok since yesterday. Sherman was stressing those ladies out.
sherman, for the love of god!
October 10, 2025 at 11:04 AM