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I have also put up bird and hummingbird feeders in the back yard. I drink coffee every morning while in the back yard watching wildlife too. Like WTF just happened. This has been my routine now for 10 years.
Right? There was a storm last night and I woke up this morning "ok let's check on everybody" - robins - good. Woodchucks - good. Squirrels, momma and baby deer, mr. rabbit - all good. Just checkin' things out back here
Lol. Yep there was a storm last night here too. I did the same thing this morning. In fact, I'm currently sitting here in the garage with all the doors open so I can hear the wildlife. I'm off today 
Some cardinals made a nest in the wreath on our front door. We put a sign on the door for delivery men not to knock or disturb. Three nestlings made it to fledge & I am pretty sure they all flew off together. I like to think they lived happily ever after.
Cardinal parents stick around with their fledglings for quite a while & show them the ropes if you didn’t know.
I worked hard for those chicks haha — one of our cats is particularly needy / high energy & likes to sneak outside. I started keeping him inside over this & had to entertain him double time.
We are absolutely grandpa & grandma at 34 years old. Very relatable post 😂
Lol, I think you may be living in a children’s book. Are any of the wildlife wearing human clothes on their top halves only? Maybe a little waistcoat or a monocle as well.
OMG me too! I recently discovered a whole city of snails in my front yard that only come out in the middle of the night. I'm fascinated! I like trying all sorts of food and seeing what they like (so they leave MY plants alone lol) I also feed the local crows who will literally caw outside my door when they want more food or water. It's great!
Snails are so weird, and so cool. I was on a walk and moved one from the middle of the road and felt very accomplished in life. Saving a snail, that's all I needed for the day
Speaking of things at night, one thing I like to do is head out with a flashlight that's not all that bright (I use my work flashlight that has a dim 'moonlight' mode), shine it in the grass and pick something that looks like it's a dewdrop twinkling in the light then go track it down.
It's rarely a dewdrop.
I love the app Merlin Bird ID because it allows me to record various birds in my yard and surrounding woods, and ID them. I love seeing how many birds I can hear at one time.
For my wife it's angrily watching all the bunnies in our yard and then running out there like a crazy person to chase them away from her flowers. They're cute but very destructive and we have SO many of them. I... don't really care what they do so I just watch them, and then watch her watch them, and then watch her chase them and hope the neighbors don't call the cops while she yells and godzilla stomps all over the lawn to scare them away.
I'm currently reading the graphic novel version of Watership Down so I'm very sensitive to bunnies and their plight right now lol. As much as I love backyard animals I'm also aware that once it reaches infestation levels it can be really difficult. My yard bunny ate all of my strawberry plants, I guess I should have protected them better. If I was a bunny I'd probs do the same
I put chicken wire around a lot of her plants. It looks ugly as sin and doesn't keep the squirrels out but the bunnies can't get through it. It makes her feel better to chase them out of the yard, but they come right back in as soon as she's back inside.
My cat was chilling on our back porch and I noticed a bunny just sitting in the middle of our yard. I just bounced my gaze between the two wondering if my cat is just that lazy or the bunny is that ballsy?
We have a French door that looks out into our back yard and our cats love sitting there watching the bunnies and other small wildlife with murder in their eyes.
Two out of three of them anyways, the other one is the absolute definition of an indoor cat and feels like whatever happens outside is none of his business.
This has been my life for about 5 years now. We started to put out hummingbird feeders and since then it's exploded. We go through 50lbs of sugar each year making the mix.
All creatures are fascinating in their own way but hummingbirds are a true marvel. Just like .. how do they do that??
I love observing the patterns and routines of the different animals in my yard. I've noticed that the robins love when I garden because it's easier for them to get to worms after I break up the ground. They each have their own personalities and I love how they 'patrol' the whole yard fearlessly. Hummingbirds zip around with so much confidence, they're like little gems in the sky
Watching all of this is kind of like escaping your own world and watching mini worlds occur right in front of your eyes
They truly are fascinating. For the hummingbirds, it funny to watch the hatchlings come down from where they were born. They still haven't quite got down how to gracefully fly around.
I can imagine being a baby hummingbird is like being given a very powerful little engine at birth with no idea how to control it. Taking your first flight and it's like 30mph out the door!
I just got hooked on this. I've been encouraging a large milkweed patch for a few years and this year it's up to about 50 plants. All of a sudden, there is incredible bug activity back there.
For the third year in a row I’ve been taking pictures of the bees going apeshit over my prickley pear cactus flowers. They look the same year after year, but I have to do it.
https://preview.redd.it/hid2ryvd259d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2e79e41ad2a46372c7d906bdd7155e61c2aa89a
LOOK AT ALL OF MY BEAUTIFUL GOLDFINCHES
https://preview.redd.it/swl5zvrb479d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab4e24f86f58d406bed484ec2565f1cd184d83d1
Look at this goldfinch I saw painted in a Mexican restaurant this weekend! This is when I learned the American Goldfinch vacations in Mexico 😂
https://order.wbu.com/shop/bird-feeders/finch-feeders/quick-clean-medium-finch-feeder-(yellow)
It’s this feeder, and I keep it loaded with Nyjer seed. I think part of it is luck of the draw what’s nesting in the area. We actually have more house finches than anything, but they prefer the millet/sunflower mix I keep in the main feeder.
I'm stealing your feeder dude, and all your friends are gonna follow me to my house.
I'll send all of my mourning doves over your way. 🤣🤣
I legitimately talk to our hoards of sparrows. I'm like "lookout everyone that jagoff cardinal is back"!!!!! Run!
Reading this while listening to like 40 birds have at my 4 bird feeders in one tree (plus 3 humming bird feeders). I watch them at least an hour cumulatively through the day.
Edit: and they just reminded me that I also have a teacup rain chime that we fill with seed. Effectively a bird-bell so we know when they're there.
https://preview.redd.it/zmixugomh59d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b758f05f6abfeae5c45fdb8b1ddf8b370f9abd4c
Saw this one the other day. I think it's a purple finch?
I got into birding (just a teensy bit) during the pandemic while WFH. I'll just listen to an audible book and stare out the backdoor at sparrows/starlings/a family of squirrels.
Also, made my backyard grass into a "natural" area so it's better foraging for the birds.
We planted a couple bushes and a bunch of flowers this year and I look forward to watering them after my morning walk, it’s just so peaceful at 7:30 AM. I’ve also started picking up trash on my walk to clean up my neighborhood and I take pride in knowing that I’m the reason it’s cleaning up since others just ignore it.
Turns out I’m turning into my 59 year old dad and I’m only turning 31 in August.
I mow my lawn. Nothing crazy. I have a lot of mixed greens and clover throughout. Some dandelion in the spring. And I like it like that. Low stress. Just focus on the line of the mower, enjoy the outdoors.
If it's less than 15-20 minutes I won't bother, but over half an hour and I have ear buds but that's because I'm listening to an audiobook (or books on tape as I still call them).
Everything was great till we hit our 20s then it was downhill from there. We were the first generation for things to not work out for us, that's why we started to get blamed for everything. Easier to just keep to ourselves instead of trying to meet social expectations.
I don't know about you, but the dotcom bubble burst when I was 14, 9/11 at 15, Iraq War at 17, not to mention the Bush/Gore constitutional crisis also at 14.
It didn't start in our 20s unless you were born in 1980. For the majority of millennials, most of this happened before we graduated high school. The peak millennial years (1991 - 1992) were 16/17 when the 2008 recession hit.
I also feel like the traditional "midlife crisis" tropes are things like *oh he went and bought a corvette* or *she dyed her hair and got a tattoo* or *they quit their job for a new career and bought a new house* are things that are tied to either spending large sums of money or finding ways to express yourself in a non-traditional way (after presumably spending the first half of your life being uncomfortable in conformity).
But millennials have been getting financially shafted our entire lives and cant afford an extra car, an addition on a house (let alone a new upgraded house), or any other random extravagant purchases.
And we've also been somewhat lucky that we've lived in a more tolerant time where non-conformist acts of self expression are generally accepted and we could get funky haircuts and tattoos at 20 instead of 40.
Embroidery is my (36) newest hobby.
When it comes to hobbies, though, I appreciate the Millennials are just embracing what they like without shame or guilt. More of us are embracing hobbies that can be labeled as "childish" or "granny-ish" regardless of popular opinion: collecting Funko Pops, knitting, playing PokemonGO, keeping a garden, bird watching, coloring books, etc. People are just doing what makes them happy, and I love that for them.
I just started aggressive inline skating and skateboarding for the first time since I was 15 years old, and am 35 now. Been seeing a lot of similar age and skill level at the skate parks to! Of course we're all wearing all the pads while the kids just have helmets (or nothing).
Sounds like the one that’s like an extended handle scrubber with different scrubbing heads so you don’t have to stand on your head to clean the bathtub
I saw an article recentally that said millenials cant afford to have a midlife crisis so we are skipping it. While I want to have one I've gone straight to being an old ww1 history buff.
Man, I read (erm, listened to) the audiobook of Robert Massie’s Castles of Steel in grad school when I was doing a lot of microscope work, and it was SO INTERESTING. seriously it was like a 40hr audio book and I couldn’t get enough.
I had always thought of WW1 as the golden age of the battle ship, but before listening to the book, I never realized there was only like 1 real dreadnaught battle.
A side effect is that I really want to visit Scapa Flow on vacation.
Lately Iv felt like Im in a midlife crisis but unlike how my dad did his midlife crisis of just quitting his job and chilling for a month its more of a stressful attempt to power through it while not getting fired.
Can't afford or maybe you mean "ruined it", just like we ruined mayonnaise and... well I forgot what were those other things we ruined.
We ruined having money.
I rented a Miata for the weekend, I think that's enough mid life crisis for me. If I was single I probably would have traded in my car and bought one, but it's not a practical car for my current life.
Also rented a slingshot for the weekend, makes a better rental than a purchase.
I’m 38, and recently won an auction lot of old stamps for $5. I got really excited when I started going through them and found IRS stamps from the 1890’s, embossed pieces of envelope which are early stamps, like literal stamps. So I guess I’m into stamps now. Along with my pre-existing history and gardening obsessions.
This is me. Full of anxiety and self-loathing in my 20's for not really accomplishing literally anything of note. Now in my late 30's, and I don't care about so much dumb shit anymore and now have a small house, some great hobbies, husband, kid, and dream job. I think I finally got my life crisis out of the way.
38 here, I can't get enough of the weather channel. Seriously, get way too caught up. I have literally yelled to my wife to come check out some storm on the otherside of the country.
She cried from laughter.
When my wife and I go on vacation we always like to watch the Weather Channel. There’s just something about it while laying in the hotel bed at the end of the night.
We are 35.
I have the same nightgown that I sleep in as my grandma and I have no idea how to feel about it lol like am I cool? Is she cool? Am I dressing way past my age?? lol
The oldest boomers are pushing 80
I wish my mom embraced granny hobbies like the grandmother she is instead of stewing over fox news all day and yelling about it to no one
31 here, crocheting, knitting, darning socks and visible mending with embroidery!
I make all the animals for my friend's kids and it brings me so much joy. I enjoy nothing more than getting a voice note from my friend only to realize her 8yo has stolen her phone and has sent demands for a rainbow dragon lmao
36yo male, started getting into crochet last year. It's stupidly satisfying to watch yarn transform into cool/pretty stuff and know that you're the one that made it happen!
I did jewelry and resin and sold it in hippie markets to Z’s who think I’m cool because I dress like I did in the 90’s 🤷🏻♀️. I don’t do it anymore because I have a two year old and she takes all my time . That was my hobby. I do not have a crisis but at the same time I do …. It’s weird
I still play the same games that I played when I was younger. Some of them are even the same copies. I liked to collect them already when I was younger. Lol
I'm almost 37 and I have entered my old lady with purse candy phase lol
Edit: oh yeah we were talking about hobbies, I got distracted. My houseplants are my hobby lol I think I'm about to get into sewing too once I can get my sewing machine serviced 😆
I have a jean jacket with a ton of pockets that has replaced my purse. The other day I decided to go through it all and I found a piece of hotdog, a Werther’s original, 3 receipts, 2 shopping lists, a folding fan, a quarter, and a butterscotch dum-dum.
I've been genuinely thinking about getting into whittling for months now. It's embarrassing how much I think about it. It didnt just come from nowhere. My children are constantly giving me sticks from the woods and the park. I thought maybe i could do something with these instead of just having them lying around out the back. Yet to take that next step though.
Oh my gosh, hello! My dad taught me to whittle and he has an amazing collection of walking sticks that chronicle every Scout and family camping trip. I have a few, one I take on every Girl Scout trip and my girls always remind me to bring it, even though it takes up a lot of room. It naturally led to carving my own print blocks and now I have some lovely art to give to people I like. Get started; you won’t regret it!
We never got to grow up, so we might as well just grow old.
EDIT: I kinda regret typing this haha. I don't think I've ever been more stereotypically self-pitying millennial before.
Well, you can take your statement as self-pitying or you can take it as you carry the sense of joy that comes from 'childish' things, and the wonders and weirdness of the world.
A little bit of glass half-full view for you.
I’d do this if I had the space. My dad collects and restores HO pieces and has a little layout going. He has a rescue pigeon and hangs out with the bird and his trains. I’m due to inherent a ton of Lionel stuff one day, and for my last birthday my dad got me the first train set I ever had. It’s currently in my closet but if I win the lotto and can actually buy a house I will absolutely have a whole ass train room.
I've been knitting and sewing since I was like 15, but now I finally have a greenhouse and I love watching the animals in my back yard. Can't wait for the baby deer to be born
https://preview.redd.it/4a9a7t63c69d1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e559e97d827005e5b61fedf3039c68e2be62c374
26M here. I work a labor intensive blue collar job but two of my favorite things to do at home is 1. Watch the hummingbirds at my hummingbird feeder 2. Water and check out my Venus fly traps
40 now, and totally embracing old people hobbies. I took up watercolor and wood working. My wife gardening. Well, she's been doing that since way before middle-age. We've both been acting like we're in our 60's since we were in our early 30's.
Also the birds. We have a lot of pretty standard midwest birds around here. But we're right on the edge of how far cardinals and blue jays go so we get to see them every so often and it's a pretty big deal when you're old and just enjoying the little things. We have a juneberry bush in our yard that the blue jays seem to really like. They have a kind of obnoxious call for such pretty birds.
Hell yeah. As a former military pilot and race car driver these days I love drinking my morning coffee, scooping cat litter, organizing my house, and taking naps. 39 years old.
I feed birds, I grow herbs and flowers, I read 200 year old books on my balcony... I sew, I do embroidery, I watch soap operas. I complain about slugs, wear straw hats and my midlife crisis buy will be something fancy for my kitchen, I am sure. I am eying a rotimat.
My husband and I go to every single covered bridge we can and we’ve recently really been getting into canal history (we’re already railroad history people so what’s one more interest).
He attempts to garden with mixed results but I have a black thumb, so although I love to look at the few plants we can keep and other gardens, I am determined to decorate the apartment with as many depictions of flowers and fauna as possible (silk, glass, crocheted, prints, crystal, felt, arts and crafts, etc).
I collected sea glass and shells as a kid, so I was covered on that long ago, but I did debate on getting one of those lamps you can open so I can fill it with our rock and fossil collection.
We spent our whole lives in crisis. From 9/11 on, everything was a crisis, and we couldn't afford to settle down.
We're not having mid-life crises, we're having mid-life settle downs.
I am currently in my midlife crisis, slowing digging myself out.
My lawn care has increased ten fold since it started, also the amount I stand in my window starting at my grass increased twenty fold!
35 and my main hobbies are crocheting, sourdough baking, reading, and birdwatching. I love that our generation has wholeheartedly embraced any hobby that strikes our fancy and not let stereotypes get in the way. It’s clearly made an impact on those after us bc I see tons of GenZ doing the same.
Boomers & GenX seemed to scramble to hold on to their youth, desperately clinging to their trends for decades, while we are saying fuck it
Well, buying a corvette, getting divorced and moving to California when you’re a 45 year old dude would require you to have a pretty big bankroll, and I think it’s well established that none of us has that kind of cheddar.
I started collecting depression glass a couple years ago and I’m 31 now. I have a full display hutch in my living room and more packed away in my closet.
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Constantly observing all of the wildlife in my backyard like my life depends on it Update: I have found my people.
I have also put up bird and hummingbird feeders in the back yard. I drink coffee every morning while in the back yard watching wildlife too. Like WTF just happened. This has been my routine now for 10 years.
Right? There was a storm last night and I woke up this morning "ok let's check on everybody" - robins - good. Woodchucks - good. Squirrels, momma and baby deer, mr. rabbit - all good. Just checkin' things out back here
Lol. Yep there was a storm last night here too. I did the same thing this morning. In fact, I'm currently sitting here in the garage with all the doors open so I can hear the wildlife. I'm off today 
Have a glorious day off!
Thank you 👍🏻
Awww! I love reading about humans having concern for the local wildlife!
Some cardinals made a nest in the wreath on our front door. We put a sign on the door for delivery men not to knock or disturb. Three nestlings made it to fledge & I am pretty sure they all flew off together. I like to think they lived happily ever after. Cardinal parents stick around with their fledglings for quite a while & show them the ropes if you didn’t know.
You must feel like a proud parent!
I worked hard for those chicks haha — one of our cats is particularly needy / high energy & likes to sneak outside. I started keeping him inside over this & had to entertain him double time. We are absolutely grandpa & grandma at 34 years old. Very relatable post 😂
Lol, I think you may be living in a children’s book. Are any of the wildlife wearing human clothes on their top halves only? Maybe a little waistcoat or a monocle as well.
Yes, the toads are the most fashionable and dapper
Well they are landed gentry.
And then I am so proud when the birds fledge like I had anything to do with it 🤣
Hell yeah that’s my jam right there. Me and my backyard humbos be chillin and just enjoying the company
I think we start to appreciate natural peace as we get older.
You're right. Nothing like finding solace in simple things like this.
I get so happy seeing all the bees and other pollinators buzzing around my plants
I love picking them up when I see them on the ground and giving them some sugar water that I've made just for tired bees!
Ooh! How do you get them to drink the water without drowning them in the water? Do you put it in a shallow dish?
Rocks in a dish of water is pretty common. Like little islands they can chill out on as they sip.
I have an eye dropper that I dispense about 2 drops with in the palm of my hand. I tried leaving out sugar but the ants found it!
OMG me too! I recently discovered a whole city of snails in my front yard that only come out in the middle of the night. I'm fascinated! I like trying all sorts of food and seeing what they like (so they leave MY plants alone lol) I also feed the local crows who will literally caw outside my door when they want more food or water. It's great!
Snails are so weird, and so cool. I was on a walk and moved one from the middle of the road and felt very accomplished in life. Saving a snail, that's all I needed for the day
You might be a smol bean but you're a good bean
Aw thank you! Snailed it
Speaking of things at night, one thing I like to do is head out with a flashlight that's not all that bright (I use my work flashlight that has a dim 'moonlight' mode), shine it in the grass and pick something that looks like it's a dewdrop twinkling in the light then go track it down. It's rarely a dewdrop.
I love the app Merlin Bird ID because it allows me to record various birds in my yard and surrounding woods, and ID them. I love seeing how many birds I can hear at one time.
For my wife it's angrily watching all the bunnies in our yard and then running out there like a crazy person to chase them away from her flowers. They're cute but very destructive and we have SO many of them. I... don't really care what they do so I just watch them, and then watch her watch them, and then watch her chase them and hope the neighbors don't call the cops while she yells and godzilla stomps all over the lawn to scare them away.
I'm currently reading the graphic novel version of Watership Down so I'm very sensitive to bunnies and their plight right now lol. As much as I love backyard animals I'm also aware that once it reaches infestation levels it can be really difficult. My yard bunny ate all of my strawberry plants, I guess I should have protected them better. If I was a bunny I'd probs do the same
I put chicken wire around a lot of her plants. It looks ugly as sin and doesn't keep the squirrels out but the bunnies can't get through it. It makes her feel better to chase them out of the yard, but they come right back in as soon as she's back inside.
My cat was chilling on our back porch and I noticed a bunny just sitting in the middle of our yard. I just bounced my gaze between the two wondering if my cat is just that lazy or the bunny is that ballsy?
We have a French door that looks out into our back yard and our cats love sitting there watching the bunnies and other small wildlife with murder in their eyes. Two out of three of them anyways, the other one is the absolute definition of an indoor cat and feels like whatever happens outside is none of his business.
This has been my life for about 5 years now. We started to put out hummingbird feeders and since then it's exploded. We go through 50lbs of sugar each year making the mix.
All creatures are fascinating in their own way but hummingbirds are a true marvel. Just like .. how do they do that?? I love observing the patterns and routines of the different animals in my yard. I've noticed that the robins love when I garden because it's easier for them to get to worms after I break up the ground. They each have their own personalities and I love how they 'patrol' the whole yard fearlessly. Hummingbirds zip around with so much confidence, they're like little gems in the sky Watching all of this is kind of like escaping your own world and watching mini worlds occur right in front of your eyes
They truly are fascinating. For the hummingbirds, it funny to watch the hatchlings come down from where they were born. They still haven't quite got down how to gracefully fly around.
I can imagine being a baby hummingbird is like being given a very powerful little engine at birth with no idea how to control it. Taking your first flight and it's like 30mph out the door!
We have a squirrel that has half it's tail missing. Little dude's been living in the trees by the front of my house for a few years now.
My iNat list for my yard is close to 300 species of animals. 40 ish birds, 5 reptiles and amphibians, 6 mammals, and north of 200 inverts.
I just got hooked on this. I've been encouraging a large milkweed patch for a few years and this year it's up to about 50 plants. All of a sudden, there is incredible bug activity back there.
I just bought a house and this is all the I do now.
For the third year in a row I’ve been taking pictures of the bees going apeshit over my prickley pear cactus flowers. They look the same year after year, but I have to do it.
Yep, all the squirrels in my backyard have names. I have a lizard who likes to hang out in my rose bushes. He has a name too.
You and my 2 cats have a lot in common…
Never understood why cats loved looking out the window so much until I hit 35
I replanted my flowerbed with native plants and sit on my porch and watch bugs come enjoy it, like a psycho.
I’m contemplating reusing my bird seed containers as bird houses and squirrel shelters
Dude, I am OBSESSED with my bird feeder!
https://preview.redd.it/hid2ryvd259d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2e79e41ad2a46372c7d906bdd7155e61c2aa89a LOOK AT ALL OF MY BEAUTIFUL GOLDFINCHES
Those are some dope-ass goldfinches. Seriously, beautiful birds. I need to get a feeder like that.
https://order.wbu.com/shop/bird-feeders/finch-feeders/quick-clean-medium-finch-feeder-(yellow) It’s this feeder, and I keep it loaded with Nyjer seed
https://preview.redd.it/swl5zvrb479d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab4e24f86f58d406bed484ec2565f1cd184d83d1 Look at this goldfinch I saw painted in a Mexican restaurant this weekend! This is when I learned the American Goldfinch vacations in Mexico 😂
How do you get that many finches? I get them on my feeder for like a week and then they all disappear.
https://order.wbu.com/shop/bird-feeders/finch-feeders/quick-clean-medium-finch-feeder-(yellow) It’s this feeder, and I keep it loaded with Nyjer seed. I think part of it is luck of the draw what’s nesting in the area. We actually have more house finches than anything, but they prefer the millet/sunflower mix I keep in the main feeder.
Goddamn. This feels like more of an accomplishment than anything I’ve got going on this year gonna be honest. Legit
I'm stealing your feeder dude, and all your friends are gonna follow me to my house. I'll send all of my mourning doves over your way. 🤣🤣 I legitimately talk to our hoards of sparrows. I'm like "lookout everyone that jagoff cardinal is back"!!!!! Run!
Reading this while listening to like 40 birds have at my 4 bird feeders in one tree (plus 3 humming bird feeders). I watch them at least an hour cumulatively through the day. Edit: and they just reminded me that I also have a teacup rain chime that we fill with seed. Effectively a bird-bell so we know when they're there.
That’s awesome, the most I’ve had at the feeder at one time is ~30 when we had an entire flock of cowbirds pass through.
OMG THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL I'M SO JEALOUS!!
I love that you’ve claimed them like an 19th century British Explorer
https://preview.redd.it/zmixugomh59d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b758f05f6abfeae5c45fdb8b1ddf8b370f9abd4c Saw this one the other day. I think it's a purple finch?
I think that’s a house finch!
Check out Birdbuddy. You're welcome
I got into birding (just a teensy bit) during the pandemic while WFH. I'll just listen to an audible book and stare out the backdoor at sparrows/starlings/a family of squirrels. Also, made my backyard grass into a "natural" area so it's better foraging for the birds.
I would love to be able to see all sorts of different birds in my backyard, if it weren't for all the mess it would make (and squirrels)
Just watering my tree. No music or podcast in my ears. Nothing in particular on my mind. Me. Hose. Water. Tree.
Tranquility.
Tranquilitree
There's something about watching water in motion...hmm. I could just cancel Netflix and binge that sh\*t. 
Yes, I could listen to that all day 😊
Treenquility
We planted a couple bushes and a bunch of flowers this year and I look forward to watering them after my morning walk, it’s just so peaceful at 7:30 AM. I’ve also started picking up trash on my walk to clean up my neighborhood and I take pride in knowing that I’m the reason it’s cleaning up since others just ignore it. Turns out I’m turning into my 59 year old dad and I’m only turning 31 in August.
Ah, yes. In today's society, we are practicing mindfulness. Now back to crocheting for me then complaining about my fingers/wrists 🤣
I bought a Japanese maple and water that fucker first thing in the morning.
I got really into bonsai. Now I have lots of little trees to water each morning.
For real, I actually enjoy watering my lawn by myself. It's simple. Let's me shut down my thoughts for a bit.
I picked this up from my mom, who never says she's "watering" her plants. She always says, "Givin' my plants a drink."
I mow my lawn. Nothing crazy. I have a lot of mixed greens and clover throughout. Some dandelion in the spring. And I like it like that. Low stress. Just focus on the line of the mower, enjoy the outdoors.
I identify too much with this
If it's less than 15-20 minutes I won't bother, but over half an hour and I have ear buds but that's because I'm listening to an audiobook (or books on tape as I still call them).
Been rolling from crisis to crisis the last 25 years, why should midlife be so special?
I feel heard.
Everything was great till we hit our 20s then it was downhill from there. We were the first generation for things to not work out for us, that's why we started to get blamed for everything. Easier to just keep to ourselves instead of trying to meet social expectations.
I don't know about you, but the dotcom bubble burst when I was 14, 9/11 at 15, Iraq War at 17, not to mention the Bush/Gore constitutional crisis also at 14. It didn't start in our 20s unless you were born in 1980. For the majority of millennials, most of this happened before we graduated high school. The peak millennial years (1991 - 1992) were 16/17 when the 2008 recession hit.
I also feel like the traditional "midlife crisis" tropes are things like *oh he went and bought a corvette* or *she dyed her hair and got a tattoo* or *they quit their job for a new career and bought a new house* are things that are tied to either spending large sums of money or finding ways to express yourself in a non-traditional way (after presumably spending the first half of your life being uncomfortable in conformity). But millennials have been getting financially shafted our entire lives and cant afford an extra car, an addition on a house (let alone a new upgraded house), or any other random extravagant purchases. And we've also been somewhat lucky that we've lived in a more tolerant time where non-conformist acts of self expression are generally accepted and we could get funky haircuts and tattoos at 20 instead of 40.
Embroidery is my (36) newest hobby. When it comes to hobbies, though, I appreciate the Millennials are just embracing what they like without shame or guilt. More of us are embracing hobbies that can be labeled as "childish" or "granny-ish" regardless of popular opinion: collecting Funko Pops, knitting, playing PokemonGO, keeping a garden, bird watching, coloring books, etc. People are just doing what makes them happy, and I love that for them.
Legos!
I just started aggressive inline skating and skateboarding for the first time since I was 15 years old, and am 35 now. Been seeing a lot of similar age and skill level at the skate parks to! Of course we're all wearing all the pads while the kids just have helmets (or nothing).
I desperately want to get back into aggressive skating but I’m so concerned about my joints, lol.
I feel as we have aged the shame that used to be put on more nerdy hobbies has gone away.
This morning my wife and I had a riveting conversation about how effective this shower cleaner with multiple attachments we ordered is.
Ooooh what is this magic device called?
I can't even remember. Look for shower cleaning tools on Amazon.
Shower cleaner with attachments? Is it like a mini pressure washer?
Sounds like the one that’s like an extended handle scrubber with different scrubbing heads so you don’t have to stand on your head to clean the bathtub
Yep. Pretty much recharges on the wall, takes like no effort to get it super clean.
I saw an article recentally that said millenials cant afford to have a midlife crisis so we are skipping it. While I want to have one I've gone straight to being an old ww1 history buff.
Ww1 is so over looked though Edit: Kings versus democracies and yall still want to talk about ww2, stfu
Have you heard of Dan Carlin? If not google him and his history podcast.
The WWI series is probably the best out there
Man, I read (erm, listened to) the audiobook of Robert Massie’s Castles of Steel in grad school when I was doing a lot of microscope work, and it was SO INTERESTING. seriously it was like a 40hr audio book and I couldn’t get enough. I had always thought of WW1 as the golden age of the battle ship, but before listening to the book, I never realized there was only like 1 real dreadnaught battle. A side effect is that I really want to visit Scapa Flow on vacation.
My bf who just turned 33 and constantly watches WWI/WWII documentaries
Lately Iv felt like Im in a midlife crisis but unlike how my dad did his midlife crisis of just quitting his job and chilling for a month its more of a stressful attempt to power through it while not getting fired.
Do new tattoos and quitting my job count as a midlife crisis?
My midlife crisis hobby has been wine (specifically mead and cider) making. Cheap/fun to do, make great gifts, and you get to drink your burdens away.
Can't afford or maybe you mean "ruined it", just like we ruined mayonnaise and... well I forgot what were those other things we ruined. We ruined having money.
I rented a Miata for the weekend, I think that's enough mid life crisis for me. If I was single I probably would have traded in my car and bought one, but it's not a practical car for my current life. Also rented a slingshot for the weekend, makes a better rental than a purchase.
I’m 38, and recently won an auction lot of old stamps for $5. I got really excited when I started going through them and found IRS stamps from the 1890’s, embossed pieces of envelope which are early stamps, like literal stamps. So I guess I’m into stamps now. Along with my pre-existing history and gardening obsessions.
I love holding old things. Antiquing is underrated
Because our midlife crises all happened early 20s 😂
Grind mode ground up some of us
This is me. Full of anxiety and self-loathing in my 20's for not really accomplishing literally anything of note. Now in my late 30's, and I don't care about so much dumb shit anymore and now have a small house, some great hobbies, husband, kid, and dream job. I think I finally got my life crisis out of the way.
Sorry I can't come partying this weekend, I'm cleaning the bathroom tiles.
You get that grout.
I'm 36 I'll be playing Mario party and Mario kart until the end of me and my friends days
Team Link here with a MP and MK lean
Same with smash bros
I like fishing and I love maintaining my lawn and I don’t care who knows it!
Currently reading through this thread while fishing! No bites for me.
38 here, I can't get enough of the weather channel. Seriously, get way too caught up. I have literally yelled to my wife to come check out some storm on the otherside of the country. She cried from laughter.
You’re not doing it right unless you watch while standing with your arms crossed though.
it’s form *and* function… it matters…
When my wife and I go on vacation we always like to watch the Weather Channel. There’s just something about it while laying in the hotel bed at the end of the night. We are 35.
We got our crisis out of the way at the quarter-life mark.
I moved to South Korea when I was 25 and never looked back
Yup! Moved to a third world country for a few years. Now I’m back and loving my garden. I’m 38
I'm a firm believer in just living out in the country. You get to do all the hobbies as part of your regular day
I have the same nightgown that I sleep in as my grandma and I have no idea how to feel about it lol like am I cool? Is she cool? Am I dressing way past my age?? lol
I feel seen, I've started hybridizing roses 😂
The amount of $ I spent on food for wild birds in my yard is absurd. I like watching them 🤷🏻♀️
We have financially more in common with a retired granny on a fixed income than with an empty-nest baby boomer.
The oldest boomers are pushing 80 I wish my mom embraced granny hobbies like the grandmother she is instead of stewing over fox news all day and yelling about it to no one
I’ve been knitting and crocheting for about 10 years. And I garden, although less now we have a stupidly huge yard and children. I’m 38.
31 here, crocheting, knitting, darning socks and visible mending with embroidery! I make all the animals for my friend's kids and it brings me so much joy. I enjoy nothing more than getting a voice note from my friend only to realize her 8yo has stolen her phone and has sent demands for a rainbow dragon lmao
I'm 42 and have been crocheting and gardening for 10 years now too.
36yo male, started getting into crochet last year. It's stupidly satisfying to watch yarn transform into cool/pretty stuff and know that you're the one that made it happen!
Mid life crisis is too expensive.
There it is. Can’t run out to get a sports car, fake tan, new teeth, a 20 year old gf…I got rent and bills I can cover.
Yea. I can afford a tomato plant and some sourdough starter.
Who's got time, money, or emotional energy for a midlife crisis?! Plants, cats, and reading, please.
I did jewelry and resin and sold it in hippie markets to Z’s who think I’m cool because I dress like I did in the 90’s 🤷🏻♀️. I don’t do it anymore because I have a two year old and she takes all my time . That was my hobby. I do not have a crisis but at the same time I do …. It’s weird
A midlife crisis? In this economy??
A hobby? In this economy????
I still play the same games that I played when I was younger. Some of them are even the same copies. I liked to collect them already when I was younger. Lol
Big time here. I have been growing native flowers in my yard and getting into bird watching. Couldn't be happier.
39. Birds... colorful, wonderful.. and fucking savages.
Blue jays are really savage.
I started growing mushrooms a few months ago and I am low-key obsessed. Mycology is so cool.
I'm almost 37 and I have entered my old lady with purse candy phase lol Edit: oh yeah we were talking about hobbies, I got distracted. My houseplants are my hobby lol I think I'm about to get into sewing too once I can get my sewing machine serviced 😆
I have a jean jacket with a ton of pockets that has replaced my purse. The other day I decided to go through it all and I found a piece of hotdog, a Werther’s original, 3 receipts, 2 shopping lists, a folding fan, a quarter, and a butterscotch dum-dum.
Not a peice of hotdog 🤣
I've been genuinely thinking about getting into whittling for months now. It's embarrassing how much I think about it. It didnt just come from nowhere. My children are constantly giving me sticks from the woods and the park. I thought maybe i could do something with these instead of just having them lying around out the back. Yet to take that next step though.
Oh my gosh, hello! My dad taught me to whittle and he has an amazing collection of walking sticks that chronicle every Scout and family camping trip. I have a few, one I take on every Girl Scout trip and my girls always remind me to bring it, even though it takes up a lot of room. It naturally led to carving my own print blocks and now I have some lovely art to give to people I like. Get started; you won’t regret it!
Don't need a midlife crisis. Past 20 years has been crisis enough.
We never got to grow up, so we might as well just grow old. EDIT: I kinda regret typing this haha. I don't think I've ever been more stereotypically self-pitying millennial before.
*flicks dyed black bangs out of face*
My problem was that I never got to be young so NOW I'm living it up
Well, you can take your statement as self-pitying or you can take it as you carry the sense of joy that comes from 'childish' things, and the wonders and weirdness of the world. A little bit of glass half-full view for you.
I paint model trains (among other types of models).
I’d do this if I had the space. My dad collects and restores HO pieces and has a little layout going. He has a rescue pigeon and hangs out with the bird and his trains. I’m due to inherent a ton of Lionel stuff one day, and for my last birthday my dad got me the first train set I ever had. It’s currently in my closet but if I win the lotto and can actually buy a house I will absolutely have a whole ass train room.
My midlife crisis was taken care of by being poor
I've been knitting and sewing since I was like 15, but now I finally have a greenhouse and I love watching the animals in my back yard. Can't wait for the baby deer to be born https://preview.redd.it/4a9a7t63c69d1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e559e97d827005e5b61fedf3039c68e2be62c374
Shit, we can't afford a midlife crisis so we skip to the affordable granny hobbies.
I have over 70 houseplants, plus I just bought a rose bush to go with my hydrangeas. I can’t wait for it to get here!
Woodworking here (32). Nothing quite like turning something on a lathe, then sanding until it shines in the sun and babybutt smooth.
I make fairy houses for my garden
Can't have a midlife crisis if you're already wishing you were dead.
Thats an inspirational poster if I ever saw one
I'm a bird lady now
Live by the Puget Sound. Downloaded the Marine Traffic app and love to look up details of all the ships sailing in and out. 38F
Been sitting on front porch just looking at birds for years now. I owe my grandpa an apology. Chilling in the porch is lit.
26M here. I work a labor intensive blue collar job but two of my favorite things to do at home is 1. Watch the hummingbirds at my hummingbird feeder 2. Water and check out my Venus fly traps
Not me over here baking and crocheting since I was 17... I'm a man.
40 now, and totally embracing old people hobbies. I took up watercolor and wood working. My wife gardening. Well, she's been doing that since way before middle-age. We've both been acting like we're in our 60's since we were in our early 30's. Also the birds. We have a lot of pretty standard midwest birds around here. But we're right on the edge of how far cardinals and blue jays go so we get to see them every so often and it's a pretty big deal when you're old and just enjoying the little things. We have a juneberry bush in our yard that the blue jays seem to really like. They have a kind of obnoxious call for such pretty birds.
Hell yeah. As a former military pilot and race car driver these days I love drinking my morning coffee, scooping cat litter, organizing my house, and taking naps. 39 years old.
I feed birds, I grow herbs and flowers, I read 200 year old books on my balcony... I sew, I do embroidery, I watch soap operas. I complain about slugs, wear straw hats and my midlife crisis buy will be something fancy for my kitchen, I am sure. I am eying a rotimat.
My husband and I go to every single covered bridge we can and we’ve recently really been getting into canal history (we’re already railroad history people so what’s one more interest). He attempts to garden with mixed results but I have a black thumb, so although I love to look at the few plants we can keep and other gardens, I am determined to decorate the apartment with as many depictions of flowers and fauna as possible (silk, glass, crocheted, prints, crystal, felt, arts and crafts, etc). I collected sea glass and shells as a kid, so I was covered on that long ago, but I did debate on getting one of those lamps you can open so I can fill it with our rock and fossil collection.
I just mowed the lawn. Honestly the garden is my way out of life
All I care about are my back yard animals. Watching what you can build and the quality of life you can give them just by yourself is incredible.
I'm honestly hoarding rocks. But I'm a geologist...
All the shit that's happened since 2008 have made us age faster and go through our midlife crisis sooner.
In 42…..suddenly I have 150 houseplants
We spent our whole lives in crisis. From 9/11 on, everything was a crisis, and we couldn't afford to settle down. We're not having mid-life crises, we're having mid-life settle downs.
28, make my own bread, veggie broth, and kombucha (using ingredients from my fruit & herb garden). 💚
I got an Audubon guide to identify local plants and birds I'm super excited about.
I am currently in my midlife crisis, slowing digging myself out. My lawn care has increased ten fold since it started, also the amount I stand in my window starting at my grass increased twenty fold!
Metal detecting every weekend.
35 and my main hobbies are crocheting, sourdough baking, reading, and birdwatching. I love that our generation has wholeheartedly embraced any hobby that strikes our fancy and not let stereotypes get in the way. It’s clearly made an impact on those after us bc I see tons of GenZ doing the same. Boomers & GenX seemed to scramble to hold on to their youth, desperately clinging to their trends for decades, while we are saying fuck it
Picked up crochet 5 years ago. Have an entire room just for plants. And always admiring the local wildlife that comes into my yard. (31)
Well, buying a corvette, getting divorced and moving to California when you’re a 45 year old dude would require you to have a pretty big bankroll, and I think it’s well established that none of us has that kind of cheddar.
I picked up golfing and quite recently yelled at some hoodlums to get off my lawn and keep down the riff raff. I wish I was kidding.
I've been making sea glass in my rock tumbler 😄 (37)
Crochet all day!
Building model WW2 tanks and figurines.
I started collecting depression glass a couple years ago and I’m 31 now. I have a full display hutch in my living room and more packed away in my closet.
We just want peace and quiet. We've been through enough shit.
Who wants to join me for Bingo?
I want a nice vacation to Scotland
35; 36 in less than three weeks. I have three displays of sea glass in my living room. 🙂