Roberta Ecks
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robertaecks.bsky.social
Roberta Ecks
@robertaecks.bsky.social
1.4K followers 300 following 6.4K posts
Writer, retrotchnologist, owner of many typewriters and yet fond of digital widgetry, too. An amateur monkey pusher in re human origins. Most of all, a friend of cats. I block AI.
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robertaecks.bsky.social
The gauge is a little misleading due to sticky snow, but there's around an unofficial inch of snow in my back yard here in Indianapolis.
A home made snow gauge, white metric graph paper with purple lines, stuck on brown cardboard and covered in clear tape, is stuck into about an inch of wet, fluffy snow. The gauge has two scales, one in inches and the other, with lines every centimeter, is labeled "kilopascals," just to annoy fussy people.
November 10, 2025 at 1:20 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Amazing. This is Indianapolis, right now, well into the urban heat island. It's still snowing.
A city from yard. A thin layer of snow covers the yard and a small, weedy flowerbed. Sidewalks at left and in the middle distance are wet, as is the street. Front yards and roofs of houses across the street are covered in snow.
November 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
I keep building these.
October 30, 2025 at 10:13 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Maybe you shouldn't.
October 23, 2025 at 8:22 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
"I don't have to worry about the cat getting up here. It's much too high."

The cat:
A large, fluffy, gray, cream and gold tabby tomcat sits in an 11 in.² shelf. the bottom of which is over 5 feet above floor level.
October 12, 2025 at 1:19 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Not going anywhere non-urgent for awhile.
Two very large tomcats, the closest one a yellow tabby and the furthest, one a long-haired sable, gold and tan, semi tabby, lay across a woman's blanket-covered legs.
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Can you make potato pancakes with instant mashed potatoes? Yes. And they're pretty good, too.
A dark brown or dark charcoal, gray griddle top holding three "potato pancakes" fried mashed potatoes made using instant mashed potato mix. Cooked out a little bit of bacon grease, they are yellow, gold, and golden brown sort of mottled. Each one is about 6 inches in diameter, irregular in outline. One of them is possibly dark brown in the darker spots. It might've gotten a little too cooked. But it'll taste OK with ketchup.
October 4, 2025 at 12:11 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Here's an idea: let's not put fiddly wire trap connectors in hard-to-reach places.
The back of a widget, with 9 small wire trap connectors that require a tiny tool to hold open each connection point while you shove the wires in, one at a time. The most-used connector is sandwiched between a big DB-25 plug and socket and the shelf the thing sits on. The panel is bare aluminum, the connectors are white, the DB-25 back shell is gray.
September 21, 2025 at 9:38 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Holden the cat has a comfy spot to nap.
A fluffy gray, tan and sable tomcat is sleeping on top of an olive-green cloth briefcase that is sitting on a golden brown oak floor, with a tall stack of paperback books on each side.
September 21, 2025 at 8:52 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Home library cat has found a balance.
In the center of the image, a very fluffy gray sable and 10 tomcat balances on the edge of a long narrow box. It's about 2 inches wide 20 inches tall and over 6 feet long. It is standing on the end, balanced with boxes off to the left side of it and the books and the edge of a window seat to the right. There is a bookshelf visible in the background. More books are stacked in the distant background to the left.
September 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Behold: the power of LEDs.
An illuminated sign is mounted on a panel 19" x 1 and three-quarter inches. It is sitting on top of a cardboard box, on a very messy desk with part of a computer monitor visible in the background. In orange letters on a black background, the sign reads PCR ON AIR. I'd love to tell you where it will be used but that has to remain confidential.
September 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
X marks the spot, or, "Lookit me! I'm a quadruped!" I'm not fooled, Mwwwmn-Wwmmw, or however you sign it.
A golden legged orb weaver spider, seen from the back of its web. The web has running vertically a much brighter, white line of webbing that appears to be composed of capital and lowercase M and W's. This is why they're known as "writing spiders." The spider has black legs with golden bands and from this angle, its body is almost entirely dark black with a little bright yellow. In the background, the faded wasabi–green siding of my house can be seen in this picture. It's running diagonally from lower left to upper right. There's a yellow window frame partially visible at the upper left. At the lower right, just a little bit of a much darker green tulip tree leaf.
September 6, 2025 at 6:01 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
A mantis, mantising on my tulip tree sapling.
A dark brown sapling trunk rises at left with a small branch from It, starting at middle left to upper right. It is covered with shield shaped tulip tree leaves and many more are visible on other smaller branches in the background. Upside down on the branch, at the center of the picture, a praying mantis, the exact same shade of green as the leaves, waits very patiently for something tasty to come along. It's looking back towards the trunk of the sapling. The entire thing is photographed through a window screen, which lays a black grid over all of it.
September 6, 2025 at 5:22 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
If you see this, repost with a vampire that's not Dracula.
September 6, 2025 at 2:23 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
My microwave is from the future. Me, I'm from old. Oh, well.
An inexpensive white microwave oven, seen from the front. It has a touchpad at the right with a green numeric display above it. There's some sort of a Chinese-writing label to the right of the control panel, and the "magic chef" logo appears to be a square headed robot with a funny expression. There's a person reflected in the door of the microwave. It's a woman in very late middle age, seen from about shoulders level to above pocket level. She looks old.
September 6, 2025 at 1:43 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
On the grill: somewhere between vindaloo and barbecue.
On the rack above glowing coals, an oval graniteware pan black speckled with white holds a golden boneless Boston butt with orange slices on top of it and around it or onions, quarter cherry tomatoes, Shishito, peppers, turnips, celery, parsnips. Still to come, Hatch chilies, sliced fresh mushrooms and finely diced tomatoes with fresh basil. This is going to get at least three hours over low heat.
August 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
"Smile and wait for the flash."
The dark steel-gray cutting jaws of a "bunny" cable cutter, overlapping half-circles with a lighter-gray cutting edge on the inside. At the center of each curved cutting edge is a ragged, melted notch. A little copper has been sputtered into the steel of the left hand edge. The dark steel-gray cutting jaws of a "bunny" cable cutter, overlapping half-circles with a lighter-gray cutting edge on the inside. At the center of each curved cutting edge is a ragged, melted notch. A little copper has been sputtered into the steel of the right hand edge.
August 29, 2025 at 7:37 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Holden says hello!
A long-haired gray gold and tan tomcat who weighs 15 pounds is sitting on a shelf approximately 12 inches wide and 12 inches high. Above and below it are similar shelves holding 11 inch fabric cubes that are tan with zigzag stripes of green, yellow, red and blue. The shelves are made of yellow pine. The cat is remarkably cute.
August 25, 2025 at 12:48 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
They're not even trying to hide it. Here's the original German:
A propaganda drawing of an engraved stone tablet from Nazi Germany saying, "Der fuhrer hat immer recht," or "The leader is always right."
August 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Second round, waiting to hear back. Wish me luck.
A Frikkin' mammogram machine stands in a dimly lit, carpeted exam room with pale gray walls. There's a yellow fabric laundry bin at the left, a dark pink gown draped over its side.
August 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Here's a more straight on view of the web. You can see some large holes in the netting, where she's caught large prey. The twist in the web is barely visible from this angle. If you look closely, you can see a bend in the top portion of it.
A large spiderweb is barely visible white lines against a black sky. There are some holes in the regular netting of the web, left, probably with a large insect landed on the web, and the spider grabbed it and wrapped it up. There's a yellow downspout visible at the upper left of the photograph and down the left side of the image.
August 15, 2025 at 2:47 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Here's the web from the side, showing the saddled or twisted plane.
A white spiderweb angles from lower left to upper right. It is seen from the side, and the plane of the web is slightly twisted or saddled as the spider has fitted into the space. Behind the spiderweb is mostly black sky into the left of it and below our large green leaves lit from above. They are the enormous shield shaped leaves of a tulip tree. At the very left side of the picture, a yellow downspout angles from top to bottom. The spider is not in the picture. She's climbed to the top of the downspout and hidden behind it where it connects to the gutter.
August 15, 2025 at 2:45 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
"Screw you, fruits and vegetables! You're not the boss of me!"
We had healthy choices in the honor-system break room vending for about 2 weeks.
An honor system, vending cooler, with a glass door behind, which can be seen wire holding sandwiches that consist of bread, meat cheese, highly processed meat or meat bread a little condiments. There is also something that claims to be peanut butter and jelly. At the bottom, a shelf of sugary carbonated beverages is barely visible.
August 14, 2025 at 8:40 PM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Here's the photo.
At the left, a yellow painted overhanging eve with a yellow painted gutter coming down from it, a little bit of green siding, visible blue sky in the background with some wires that are further away than they look and the roof of the garage. At the center of the picture is a very large spider. You can't see her web very clearly, but it spans from the eave to the gutter and has anchor strands. They go all the way to ground level, out of the picture, running from upper left to lower right.
August 13, 2025 at 1:21 AM
robertaecks.bsky.social
Could it be...the sea and large lakes? I know it ain't Uber, the app doesn't allow it.
A snippet of a screen capture shows a stormy sky, a storm-tossed sea, and a green and white striped lighthouse with the light lit and an enormous wave, breaking behind and over it. Below it text reads, "Enormous rogue waves don't come out of nowhere."
August 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM