Barber shops in west des moines

Welcome to Durham, an English county that seamlessly blends a rich historical tapestry with stunning natural landscapes. Nestled in the northeast of England, Durham invites you to embark on a captivating journey through its ancient heritage, picturesque countryside, and welcoming communities. In this article, we will delve into the enchanting wonders of this county, exploring its historic landmarks, breathtaking landscapes, and hidden gems. Get ready to immerse yourself in the allure and charm of Durham, where each corner holds a treasure waiting to be discovered.

• Discovering Timeless History:

1. Step into the remarkable past of Durham Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Europe's most magnificent examples of Norman architecture. Marvel at its towering spires, intricate stone carvings, and awe-inspiring interior.
2. Explore the iconic Durham Castle, perched proudly atop a hill overlooking the city. Delve into its storied history as you wander through its grand halls, medieval chambers, and picturesque gardens.
3. Uncover the secrets of Beamish, the Living Museum of the North. Step back in time as you roam the recreated streets of a 19th-century town, experience life on a traditional farm, and ride vintage trams through a bygone era.
4. Visit the captivating ruins of Finchale Priory, nestled on the banks of the River Wear. Discover the tranquil beauty of this medieval monastery and soak in the peaceful atmosphere of its picturesque surroundings.

• Embracing Natural Splendor:

1. Immerse yourself in the breathtaking landscapes of the Durham Dales, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Explore the rugged beauty of High Force, one of England's most spectacular waterfalls, cascading into a deep gorge.
2. Take a leisurely stroll along the banks of the River Wear, where you can admire the scenic beauty of Durham's riverside walks and picturesque bridges.
3. Venture into the expansive beauty of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with its rolling hills, heather moorland, and charming villages. Discover hidden trails, ancient stone circles, and abundant wildlife.
4. Indulge in outdoor activities at Hamsterley Forest, a sprawling woodland offering picturesque walking and cycling trails, enchanting picnic spots, and a treetop adventure course.

• Exploring Charming Towns and Villages:

1. Wander through the winding streets of Durham City, with its cobbled alleys, independent shops, and charming cafes. Admire the riverside views and soak in the vibrant atmosphere of this historic city.
2. Discover the medieval market town of Barnard Castle, home to a magnificent fortress perched above the River Tees. Explore its quaint streets, antique shops, and visit the Bowes Museum, housing a remarkable collection of art and artifacts.
3. Experience the idyllic village of Blanchland, nestled within the North Pennines. Admire its picturesque stone buildings, cozy pubs, and enjoy peaceful walks amidst its scenic surroundings.
4. Immerse yourself in the cultural ambiance of Bishop Auckland, a vibrant town with a rich heritage. Visit the majestic Auckland Castle, discover local art at The Mining Art Gallery, and explore the wonders of the Kynren outdoor live show.

Durham awaits your exploration, offering a harmonious blend of history and natural beauty. Whether you're captivated by the awe-inspiring Durham Cathedral, enchanted by the tranquil landscapes of the Durham Dales, or charmed by the picturesque towns and villages, Durham promises a journey filled with wonder and discovery. Unveil its treasures, immerse yourself in its stories, and create memories that will last a lifetime in this captivating English county.
UPCOMING POSTS:

• Wrexham: Discover the Beauty of Wales' Historic Border County
• Enchanting Kent: Heritage and Natural Splendor
• Unveiling West Lothian

A1 Concrete Leveling offers steps, patios, & other concrete lifting services with other special services! Join our team of concrete leveling experts and repairmen in Des Moines, IA. Our technology for lifting your concrete is a proven process that saves time and money over traditional replacement.

A quite harsh (EN/GER) PvE/RP server, active Admin, is welcoming all PvE/RP players who want to explore the large Prison Island of Scum at their own pace.
The start can be harsh since there are a lot more puppets roaming around in Towns and Bunkers
Name: ENDZONE (GEEN -- PvE/RP) IP: 176.57.171.142:28402 Location: EU West
Metabolism: Is lowered just a bit, eating twice a day is now enough. Mech Damage: Is set to 1.2 Puppets: x9 exterior, x5 inside, x3 Wild, spawn chance for all is 70%. Puppet Respawn-Timer in Bunkers and Towns is raised to 30 minutes, so once you have cleared out the hordes of Puppets, you get at least enough time to loot what you can before they are back. Suicide Puppets: Active Puppet Damage: 2.8 Loot rate: for stuff found in the world 1.2 and for containers 1.8 RP: more than welcome, but in no way a requirement or must-do to play on this server. NPC Trader: Are active, but a lot of items, like military equipment and almost all guns, scopes and large backpacks, are removed to encourage looting POIs and make that AK you find in some crate feel a lot more special. Magazines and basic Ammo types for any weapon are for sale at the Armory for a higher, price. Building mode: Unrestricted, few rules in place like not building in Areas that are patrolled by Mechs, don't block Bridges or main roads. Cargo Drops: Active, 30-45 minutes in-between Vehicles: A few Cars are scattered all over the Map, the same goes for dirt bikes and bicycles, more can be bought at the Traders or maybe bartered for with other players if anyone has a spare (Engine install works on the server) Nighttime: Will start at 22:00 and Sunrise is at 04:00 (max darkness) Restart times: 06:00 CEST and 18:00 CEST
Discord: https://discord.gg/SuGKYwEScS
-No Bot-shop no P2W, the server is Bot-free
-The start can be challenging if you just run into a town without any preparations because of the high number of Puppets, but the current settings keep it interesting even if you are fully geared out, there is always a risk of losing everything, crafting a bow is the best way to start off.
So if you are having problems just ask in chat, someone can give you a ride to a safer location or a Trader.
--Some additional Info:--
Trade Routes:
Salt: 1Kg Salt pack can be sold for a better profit at the C2 Trader and looted in bigger numbers at the Salt Ponds down in the Z2 Sector
Fishing: All types of fish can be sold to either the Saloon or the Boat-shop at any Trade Outpost, both will pay the same amount.
Hunting Animals: Animal heads from Bear, Wolf, Horse, Donkey, Goat, Buck, and Doe can be sold to any General Goods Trader.Any Saloon will pay some good money for skinned animals and animal parts (no steaks)
Puppet Hunter: At any general Goods trader Puppet heads and Eyes can be sold for a bit of cash.
Stalker: Depleted Plutonium and graphite can be sold to the Armory at any Outpost for a higher amount of money if you survive the Radiation...
Farming: Now your garden can be used to make some money as well, any Saloon will buy crops you can harvest from your garden for a little bit of rofit.

Hello lovely readers,
Welcome to the second and final discussion of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. This autobiographical comic was Canada Reads (an annual "battle of the books") winner for 2023. You can read the first discussion here.
Summary
The story picks up one month after that horrible party. Kate sleeps with Mike. She continues to get weird sexual comments from the men she works with, but she has started to laugh the comments off. Many of the men seem to have problems with her giving them orders, and her superiors get pissy with her for minor things or for wanting ‘special treatment’. Joe, a fellow Nova Scotian, overhears her swearing in frustration and tells her that everyone at the mine is just yelling at the guy next to them for work they’re not doing themselves, but that people tend to be friendlier to people from their own region of Canada. Kate wonders aloud to Doug whether the oil sands make people better or worse.
The men at the mine have heard that Kate’s ‘little friends’ (her sister Becky and friend Lindsay) are going to be joining them, and she warns them to leave them alone. When Becky and Lindsay arrive, they are wearing skirts and they quickly notice the staring and weird behaviour from the men on site. Kate apologises for it, and they wonder why she is saying sorry.
Kate tells Becky and Lindsay that the other men have been leaving her alone since most people know about her and Mike, and they tell her it’s because in their eyes she’s ‘claimed’.
They take a trip to Gregoire Beach, but Kate doesn’t wear a swimsuit or go swimming. Becky asks her what’s up with her, as she’s noticed something is wrong. Kate talks about how everything at the beach seems so normal, but that she isn’t. However, she doesn’t explain further.
Kate looks for other jobs online, and sees a post for a job at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.
Not long afterwards, she sees the man who forced himself on her at that party. He and the group of men he’s with see her and they start laughing.
Kate hears a man playing Peter’s Dream on his guitar, and joins in singing the song.
She goes to Becky’s room and tells her that she needs to leave the oil sands for a while, even though she and Lindsay have just arrived. She asks her to promise that she and Lindsay will look out for each other, and finally tells her about the assaults. Becky tells her that it wasn’t her fault, and wishes she had been there sooner to protect her as that’s her job as the big sister. She tells Kate that it happened to her too, at her university dorm. She tells Kate she should go.
We leave the oil sands, for a year in Victoria. Kate gets the museum job but it’s no more than 21 hours per week, so she gets a second job. In a coffee shop, she hears the song An Innis Aigh playing, and tells a woman who was wondering aloud about the language that it’s Gaelic.
Victoria seems like a nicer place than the oil sands, but it isn’t perfect – the city big problems with homelessness and mental health, but none of the old, rich people living there care [read runner note – according to Victoria’s Wikipedia page, the city is known for its disproportionately large retiree population. Some 23.4% of the population of Victoria and its surrounding area are over 65 years of age, which is higher than the overall Canadian distribution of over 65 year-olds in the population (19%). A historically popular cliché refers to Victoria as the home of "the newly wed and nearly dead"]. Kate is fired from her job for not taking American money and not wanting to sell the merchandise badly enough. One of her colleagues (I think?) sees her drawing a comic, and suggests that she should make a website.
Kate tells her parents that on her days off she works at a grocery store, and her father wonders what her degree was for. Shortly afterwards, she is fired from the grocery store for yawning and ‘being surly’. She goes on a date, but panics when the guy tries to kiss her at the end.
Kate can’t get a reprieve from her student loan payments, even though she paid half of it off the previous year with her oil sands earnings. She decides to go back to the oil sands to pay the rest off, and says goodbye to the museum.
After that brief reprieve, we’re back in the oil sands, this time at Shell Albian Sands. Kate has taken a job in the warehouse office, and her living quarters are a bit fancier than at the previous sites. The site also has a Tim Hortons, Wi-Fi and a gym, even yoga classes. Lindsay tells her that a lot of the warehouse crew from Long Lake have moved up there too. One of her new colleagues is Hatim, who is creepy in a new way, plaguing her with messages despite having a wife and children.
The team get a congratulations message with a gif for achieving three million man hours without a lost time incident (LTI). Kate’s boss, Ryan, tells her that they don’t have LTIs at the site because they look bad for the company, I guess implying that they cover them up.
She sees Doug again, who seems to feel that she’s all high and mighty now with her office job, and struggles with her ‘bossing him’ since she’s younger than him (and presumably because she’s female). When she has to cover a warehouse shift, Doug laughs about how she’s down from on high and has gone soft. He tells her that he sang with The Men of the Deeps and even sang for the queen, which she doubts because he has a terrible voice. She sings a bit of Coal Town Road (which I’m kind of disappointed doesn’t sound like Old Town Road) and asks if she could be in the choir too, but he seems annoyed about her singing a mining song when she’s not a miner.
Kate’s sister Becky is still working at Long Lake, but lives in Fort McMurray, and Kate goes to meet her there; she says it’s much better than living in the camp. She tells Kate, that one time a guy jumped out of the closet in her room, but she was able to kick him out. She always locked her door, but often heard the handle jiggling at night. She even had a stalker, who managed to get into her room with a bottle of alcohol and suggested doing body shots – she didn’t report it, but when he got fired everyone thought she had.
Kate struggles to read some of the order sheets because many of the workers are bad spellers or have unclear handwriting; many of the older men at the mine left school in grade six. Lindsay tells her about one of the lead hands from Newfoundland, who can’t read, and was humiliated by the other workers when they tried to make him read the safety memo aloud so they could laugh at him. Lindsay says she’s never seen a grown man ashamed like that, and they discuss how he’s one of the nicest guys there.
A group from the Calgary office visits the mine site, and Kate has to find the nice hard hats and safety vests for the visitors, the ones the actual workers can’t have because they’re too fancy. Basically, they have to put on a show for the head office people – everyone has to look sharp, make things tidier than normal etc. One of the visitors takes a photo of Kate. After they leave, Damian asks if he can have one of the fancy new vests, but they were taken back to Calgary even though they don’t need them at head office.
Kate continues doing her comics, and her colleagues occasionally read them. Ryan finds some of them in the scanner, which she had used to upload them to her website, and tells her not to leave her stuff lying around at work.
Becky and Kate discuss what it would have been like if their father had gone out to the oil sands to work when they were children, as many people did. They wonder if he would have been like the other men they work with, and how they must all be normal at home. Kate says she tries to remember that there are a lot of men who don’t bother her, but she doesn’t remember them because they’re not the ones in her face.
Their safety lectures tell them basic information about how ice is slippery and is all over the ground, which presumably every Canadian already knows. One of the men remarks that it’s not about safety, but an arse-covering exercise so that a worker can’t sue them if they fall. Kate doodles a pony in her notebook (thank you u/Amanda39 for linking to this comic in last week’s discussion!).
Many of the staff have families that they don’t see very often. One of the men gets a phonecall from his wife’s phone, which he answers thinking it’s an emergency as she never calls during the day; it turns out to be his young son, who is calling to see when he’s coming home next.
Brian asks Kate if she heard about the ducks (TITLE DROP!!); three hundred of them got stuck in a tailings pond at another oil sands site [read runner note – two years later, Syncrude was actually found guilty of the death of 1,600 ducks]. The site begins installing anti-waterfowl devices, and the staff are reminded that they have to wear PPE at all times. They’re also told about the death Gerald Snopes, another worker; some of the men talking amongst themselves, and Ryan tells them to have some respect. He had a heart attack while operating a crane, and threw himself out of the cab so that he wouldn’t land on the controls and cause an accident.
Kate hears about a road accident involving some men from Cape Breton. She asks Davy about it to see if she knows them, but neither of them do. Kate finds the news articles and feels annoyed that they were misidentified as Calgary men.
Kate notices some welts on her back; Lindsay has them too but doesn’t know what it is. Kate mentions all the dust they have to wipe off everything, and how there’s so much crap in the air. Lindsay wonders what kind of cancer they’ll have in 20 years.
Kate finds Doug building a scarecrow for the tailings pond, which is meant to scare off the ducks. Probably another arse-covering exercise.
Activists from Greenpeace try to block an oil sands pipeline, and 11 people are arrested. One of the workers gets angry about it, asking who will put their life on the line to unclog the pipe Greenpeace has blocked, and that it sure as hell won’t be the president of Shell. Kate hears about another death – a contractor was in his trucks, and one of the heavy haulers drove over it, crushing him.
Lindsay writes an article for a grassroots paper, giving the inside perspective on working at the oil sands. Kate considers doing a comic about it for them. Lindsay later wonders if she made a mistake writing her article, as many of the comments are critical, including many from women which Lindsay did not expect.
Kate sees a video on YouTube of Celina Harpe, an elder in the Cree community of Fort McKay, talking about the effect of the oil sands on the First Nation. Kate had not realised when she arrived there that Fort McKay was a First Nation, nor that it was so close to Syncrude. She thinks about how she’s not the president of Shell, but she’s still working there, and she can’t extract herself from having come.
At another safety meeting, the staff are down the safety pyramid, which has different levels: at the base it has at-risk behaviours, then near misses, then minor incidents, and it all leads to a major incident or a fatality.
Kate receives a phone call from a reporter at the Globe and Mail who had seen her comics about the oil sands. She asks several leading questions about her experience as a woman at the remote sites and the harassment, but Kate feels uncomfortable giving her examples. She later tells Lindsay that she couldn’t talk to the reporter as she felt like she just wanted gossip, and that the story was already written before she called.
The leering of one of the other workers bothers Kate in the lunchroom, and she tells Lindsay about her assaults. Lindsay is horrified that Mike and Brian laughed at her when she told them about it. Lindsay tells her that it happened to her in university as well.
Kate calls her parents to tell them that she’s finally paid off her student loan, but she needs to keep working at the site because now she has no money. She’s going to try making it as a cartoonist, and her parents are unimpressed.
Kate notices that Ryan is acting strangely, being absent a lot and not doing his work, and it can’t fully be explained by his recent divorce. She hears about other workers who are taking cocaine and behaving strangely too. She asks Ryan if he’s ok and he brushes it off. Kate contemplates the safety pyramid again. She finds a piece of paper on Ryan’s desk with an appointment for the employee assistance program. Emily later tells her that Ryan has left suddenly, and that they need to figure things out until a replacement is found.
Kate wonders why there are so many safety meetings but none have ever talked about drugs or alcohol. Her coworkers say that everyone knows why there is so much of both, and that the company can’t have safety meetings about illegal activities anyway.
Kate finally gets to leave the oil sands and go home. Her colleague Norman gives her prints of some of his photos of the northern lights as a leaving present, including one of a rainbow. Before she leaves, the company organises a staff photograph with all the workers on the site. Kate sees the man who assaulted her the second time, and he recognises her but can’t remember her name or who she is, and asks her how it’s going.
Kate trains her replacement, and finds out that she’s earning more than her despite not having any experience in tools. She complains to John about it, and finally rants about all her shitty treatment in the oil sands. She goes to see Gary in the head office, and demands her full bonus, which was going to be docked because she was leaving. Gary tells her it’s company policy. She tells him about the harassment, and he claims she could have come to them about it, but she fires back that he knows she couldn’t have. Gary agrees to give her the bonus. Her colleagues organise a going-away barbecue, and even Mike attends.
Back in Nova Scotia, Kate is reunited with her family. While out enjoying the seaside air, she chats to a farmer who tells her he’s keeping a field for his son who is working out west in case he ever comes back and wants to build a house. A man called Lauchie visits the house before moving west himself, and tells them there’s something for everyone out there and that the young people have everything they want. Out in Halifax with friends, she and Becky see a man from one of the camps, who tells Becky that they had a bet on who would sleep with her first. Their friends who haven’t worked in the oil sands can’t believe they’d let a man talk to them like that.
In the book’s afterword, Kate talks about how the book chronicles her specific experience at a specific time. She is wary of sensationalism of her story, especially because sexual assault is so common that it’s not actually sensational. She notes that neither of the men who raped her probably consider it to have been rape. She is also critical of the treatment of Indigenous people, and says the YouTube video of Celina Harpe was a “sword that cut through my ignorance”. We also find out that Becky died of cancer, and that her former coworkers pooled money together to send to her.
Bookclub Bingo 2023 categories: Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel (grey), Mod Pick (grey)
Other links:

• The first discussion
• Canada Reads page about Ducks [I hadn’t realised that Station Eleven, another recent bookclub read, was the runner up]
• Kate Beaton on Wikipedia
• Hark! A Vagrant, the archive of Kate Beaton’s comics website
• The original Hark! A Vagrant sketch comic about the oil sands (links to all five parts; I’ve posted the parts individually below this in case that’s easier)
• Original Ducks Part 1
• Original Ducks Part 2
• Original Ducks Part 3
• Original Ducks Part 4
• Original Ducks Part 5
• Lindsay Bird was one of the people in the book whose name wasn’t changed, and in 2019 she published a poetry collection about working in the oil sands called Boom Time. There’s a CBC article about the book here.

The questions are in the comments below. Thank you for joining me and u/fixtheblue in reading this book!

Today's anniversaries are:
1937

• Alban Berg - Lulu (opera)

2009

• Jordan Rudess - Notes on a Dream (Rock)

2010

• Té - 敢えて、理解を望み縺れ尽く音声や文字の枠外での『約束』を。 (Aete, rikai o nozomi motsure kotogotoku onsei ya moji no wakugai de no “yakusoku” o.) (Asian Music, Pop)

2012

• Sean Archibald - Sean but Not Heard (electronic, ambient, bass, bass music, beats, experimental, experimental electronic, microtonal, numbers, split-notes, United Kingdom)

2015

• Codas - Currents (experimental, metal, drone, drone ambient, heavy, industrial, instrumental, mathcore, progressive metal, New York)
  
• Consider the Source - World War Trio (Parts Ⅱ & Ⅲ) (experimental, rock, world, instrumental, jazz, progressive, New York)
  
• Leprous - The Congregation (Rock, Hard Rock, Metal)
  
• Pyrrhon - Growth without End (extreme metal, metal, death metal, progressive death metal, progressive metal, technical death metal, New York)
  
• Sein zum Tode - Siamese Second Cousins Never Removed (metal, avant-garde metal, circus music, Columbia) Read our review.
  
• The ILY's - I've Always Been Good at True Love (Alternative, Rock, Indie Rock/Rock pop)
  

2016

• Féroces - Juliette (rock, new wave, post-rock, Besançon) Read our review.
  
• Instar - Instar (metal, ambient, progressive, Austin)
  

2017

• '68 - Two Parts Viper (hard rock, noise punk, punk, rock, blues rock, math rock, noise rock, post-hardcore, post-punk, Atlanta)
  
• A Trust Unclean - Parturition (death metal, djent, metal, progressive metal, technical metal, heavy metal, United Kingdom)
  
• Art Contest - Two Songs (rock, indie rock, math rock, noise, pop, probability & statistics, Georgia)
  
• Dark Matter Secret - Perfect World Creation (technical death metal, progressive metal, Nashville)
  
• Dougmore - Outerboros (folk, art folk, avant-folk, banjo, chamber folk, dreamfolk, indie, indie folk, lush, mythic, progressive bluegrass, psychedelic, psychedelic folk, singer-songwriter, storytelling, New York)
  
• Dystopian Future Movies - Time (alternative, garage rock, hard rock, post-rock, prog-rock, psychedelic rock, Nottingham)
  
• Eidola - To Speak, to Listen (experimental rock, groove rock, post-hardcore, progressive metal, Provo)
  
• Elder - Reflections of a Floating World (rock, armageddon shop, doom, heavy psychedelic rock, prog, progressive rock, stickman records, Berlin)
  
• Emperor of Mind - Resistance (atmospheric, experimental, metal, progressive metal, djent, mathcore, Salem)
  
• Fabian Almazan & Rhizome - Alcanza (jazz, chamber music, cuba, piano, New York)
  
• Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon Trio - Eternal Cycle (jazz, Montreal)
  
• Ghost - Everything We Touch Turns to Dust (ambient, denver, electronica, experimental, idm, electro, electro-acoustic, Oakland)
  
• Gravetemple - Áthatolhatatlan félelmek (Impassable Fears) (experimental, drone, experimental, free rock, metal, ritual, New York)
  
• Hands that Lift the Oceans - Impetus (black metal, experimental, metal, post black metal, Würzburg)
  
• Hot Flash Heat Wave - Soaked (dream pop, oakland, pop, rock, bedroom pop, dreampop, new wave, post-punk, psychedelic rock, San Francisco)
  
• Human - Fractured Lands (improvisation, improvised, jazz, new music, London)
  
• Inertia - The Process (alternative, metal, pop, rock, alternative rock, ambient, dark, darkpop, djent, post-hardcore, post-rock, radio rock, Apple Valley)
  
• Miss Cantaloupe - Miss Cantaloupe (alternative, avant rock, enchanting, ethereal, fairytale, psychadelic, Philadelphia)
  
• Mutoid Man - War Moans (rock, metal, punk, New York)
  
• Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal - Under the Influence Suite (Jazz)
  
• Sikth - The Future in Whose Eyes? (Metal)
  
• Thunkfish - Renegades (jazz, experimental, funk, fusion jazz, pthronk, rock, sample-based, Edinburgh)
  
• Time Lurker - Time Lurker (black metal, atmospheric black metal, metal, atmospheric, France)
  
• Völur - Ancestors (ambient folk, metal, doom metal, folk, Toronto)
  

2018

• Spectral Wound - Infernal Decadence (black metal, metal, power pop, Montreal)

2019

• Alex Fournier Sextet - Triio (jazz, canada, canadian jazz, creative music, free jazz, improv, jazz, new music, toronto, Toronto)
  
• Άντη Σκορδή (Andys Skordis) - In… Se… (gamelan opera) Read our review.
  
• Bitter Lake - New Branches on Old Trees (metal, avant-garde metal, black metal, jazzcore, post black metal, United Kingdom)
  
• The Pen Club - Data Retrieval (contemporary jazz, jazz, free jazz, Sydney) Read our review.
  

2020

• Hex Wound - Averse to the Universe (blackened death metal)
  
• Pixel Archipelago - Intervallic Prism (experimental rock, microtonal)
  

2021

• Clément Janinet - La Litanie des cimes (contemporary classical)
  
• Ivy to Fraudulent Game - 再生する (Saisei suru) (math rock)
  
• Skeletonized Quartet - Future Shock (avant-garde jazz)
  

2022

• Black Particles - Loss Function (post-metal)
  
• Etno histeria World Orchestra - 2021 (folk)
  
• Neperia - Ptesmata (symphonic death metal)
  
• Nito - Awakening (post-rock)
  

5 Sons Naturescapes is your professional contractor that can handle all your landscaping needs. 5 Sons Naturescapes is a family-operated landscaping business for retaining wall construction & patio construction in Des Moines, IA.

We had to move from the west coast to the east coast because my husband switched jobs and they wanted us to move. I made it work with my job, but I do not like it here. It’s hard to make new friends with a toddler and a super busy job, and the daycare here sucks (we are thankfully switching daycares in September).
I do WAY more work “running the house”, AND I make more money than he does. Sometimes I feel like I’d be better off leaving him and having a full time live-in nanny to help with raising my daughter. I also know maybe this is a really hard phase because our daughter is so young and we’re both mid-career.
I need some perspective from working mums with older kids than my two year old. Please tell me it gets easier. I am drowning but my husband is not and it makes me SO ANGRY. He does not even understand why I’m drowning because he keeps telling me to just feed her defrosted food rather than cook. I do all the doctors appointments, grocery shopping and cooking, buying everything my daughter needs, coordinating with her daycare and our part time nanny and a million other things. Fuck him. In this moment I can’t quite recall why I ever fell in love with him.

Many people already know how large of a community the Steam Deck has online, even going off of this subreddit alone. Though even with how popular the system is on YouTube and other social media sites, I wouldn't really consider it to be a "mainstream" device if that makes sense? It is arguably the most popular handheld PC to exist as I said, and selling close to 2 million of them is nothing to scoff at, but I have yet to really see anyone using one in public.
There was one instance where I was at a barber shop, and the person cutting my hair said that they were interested in getting one (which stemmed from us talking about games since he saw me using a PS Vita while waiting), but that's pretty much it. Basically, I'm curious if any of you have seen people using Steam Decks randomly out in public, or if you happened to talk to people randomly and they brought up the topic of the Steam Deck themselves.

The end of days has come to Man,
the last Elf's sailed West.
Each Dwarven clan instead began
to weather this final test.

Between the mountains roam the Dead.
Beneath each hides a home.
Those few bred with the courage to tread
outside must go alone.

Such a dwarf is called a Runner.
Such a life is short but brave.
Each message he must deliver
even if it's from the grave.

---

Game is Play By Post on Discord and Roll20. I work 7 days a week at my computer and only have random awkward amounts of free time. I'm looking for a handful of players willing to try out a new system and who enjoy roleplay, writing, and storytelling as much as combat. Please contact me at Puppet#9945 for an immediate response, or send me a DM/chat here for a much slower response.
The Last Holds asks the question: What if the zombie apocalypse, but dwarves? Set in the one of the few surviving Mountainhomes, it explores stories of survival and community as the players explore the world and gradually ascend in position within the fortress or perhaps try to start their own fledgling hold.
This campaign uses a homebrew dice pool system with crunchy combat and player-driven skill resolutions. It also uses the setting of Brazenthrone for beautiful maps and a fully fleshed out dwarven society with a .pdf that players can refer to for lore.
For PBP, it is good to set some expectations:

1. Please only apply if you are a fluent English speaker with proficient grammar and punctuation. I'm not going to gatekeep writing ability to join or kick anyone out for bad writing, but I can only handle so much pyschic damage before I lose consciousness.
2. There is no minimum post length, especially for active scenes. 1-3 lines is fine for scenes and skill test prompts, but 1-3 paragraphs is preferred for story posts. As a GM, I will be posting multipara as appropriate.
3. The game is divided into scenes and story. A scene is any situation where other player characters cannot freely participate, such as a conversation, a fight, a dungeon, etc. Any post that isn't part of a scene is just advancing the story. If you notice that are part of a scene, please try to post at least a couple times a day or otherwise take the initiative to resolve the scene by using the game mechanics. To put it another way, you will never be forced to have a 20-post dialogue with an NPC. At any time, you have the agency to attempt to resolve the scene with a roll and advance the story.

How to join: 1. Send me a message on discord. 2. Confirm that you can post something roughly every day. 3. Join the server and look around. 4. Make a character on roll20. 5. Join VC and talk to me about how to play the system for ~40 minutes. 6. Introduce your character into the RP with ~2 paragraphs. 7. If these steps aren't carried out in a reasonable time frame, I'll bump you for someone else.
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I don't know if it's intimidating or inviting, but I'll post the opening scene where we will introduce our characters and get on with the campaign. Remember that there is no minimum post length and no one that joins is expected to write a novel!
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Colloquially referred to as the "Last Stop," Delvers' Rest serves as a way station between the the Great Hall and the Underdark. It lies about a day's travel from both and is adjacent to the hold's prison, the "Pits of Justice."
It is widely regarded as the worst-smelling place in all of Brazenthrone. Every person passing through has spent the last day or so traversing stairs and they all arrive bathed in sweat. It soaks into the floors, the walls, the barstools. And there is no rain to wash it away. Imagine a gym used by hundreds of people every day that has never been cleaned. For years. Imagine sweat that is not merely old or stale, but antique. It is vintage sweat. That is the smell of Delvers' Rest. It is a hateful smell. The locals are somewhat used to it.
With the notable exception of alcohol, all other goods pass through the hands of two provisioners: Henrik's Finest and Coalbeard's Choice. They are required by law to store all goods brought in from outside the hold until they can be claimed by the guilds or cleared for sale. They are located opposite each other on the main road, and will bid aggressively for the lowest quality garbage. Everything else gets hauled up to the Great Hall, and they have to feed the haulers.
Most of the other shops are most notable for what they don't do. The armorer's shop doesn't have a forge. The inn doesn't serve anything but Clangeddin's Stout. The bathhouse doesn't change out its water. The Mechanics Guild, the single largest employer in the Last Stop, doesn't do anything besides maintain the kilometers-long gauntlet of traps that isolates Brazenthrone from the horrors of the Underdark.
Our story starts in Wayfarer's Inn, an oppressive monument to practicality over comfort. Its walls, carved from the rock itself, are dark and grimy, bathed in the dim orange glow of sputtering torches that throw long, dramatic shadows. The stone floor, slick with countless years of spilt ale and grime, bears the mark of countless boots. There is no hearth to warm the room, no polished bar to invite weary patrons -- just a rough wooden counter, scarred and pitted from countless mugs slammed down in boisterous celebration or bitter despair.
In a corner, a massive cask of Clangeddin's Stout, the inn's sole offering, squats like a drunken god, the only thing in this place that seems well cared for. It's the stubborn, beating heart of the inn, its lifeblood half emptied. The innkeeper, a grizzled dwarf with a face as hard and worn as the stone around him, pours from the cask with a reverence that borders on the religious, his gnarled hands surprisingly gentle. His name is Kol, and he remembers the name of every Runner that has ever passed through here.

So I started my campaign on a prison ship and there are a few players in my group that it was their first time playing. i used them breaking out of the brig and gathering their gear as sort of a tutorial on some game mechanics such as stealth, combat, working with npcs, and boss fights. The captain of the ship was a vampire named Desmond that went on about some big plan and how they were ruining it deciding not to listen to him and his ramblings they fought him and he escaped right before they actually killed him vowing he would return. It worked out pretty well and they took over the ship burnt it to the ground just before they reached the shore floating to land on pieces of the ship and a few life boats. Then once they got to land they were trying to figure out who put a bounty on their heads (also I should mention at this point none of the characters had ever met before so they sort of bonded by breaking out of captivity.) Of course they wanted to shop once they got to a town as well but they had no money so they went looking for jobs. I set them protecting a caravan of the towns main resource as it ships off to the main city. as they were on their way to the main city with two of the towns folk they were set on by a horde of zombies. That lead to a really cool sequence of them riding the caravans mowing down zombies to the tone of crazy train and thunder struck. (Everyone liked that) however they decided to keep on rolling and not look back. Not finding out where the zombies had come from or why they were there. once they made it to the main city they got paid half the job for getting it there ( they would receive the other half upon the return of the caravan to the town) so of course we had a boring session where they just shopped around and enjoyed the main city while also avoiding contact or discovery by the city guards. After the fun was had in the city they were now setting back off towards the village with payment and a few supplies as well as the two towns folk. They once again ran into an even larger zombie horde but this time they lost the two towns folk and one of the horses in the conflict resulting in them trying to figure out where the horde was coming from. The fought and snuck their way to a cave where they found two necromancers they fought them and eventually prevailed and discovered in the room with the necromancers was an alter and atop this alter was a box that seemed to defy physics. One of the party members grabbed the box thinking it would be valuable, however upon grabbing the box they were transported to another dimension. It was a really cool sequence that had flashing lights and crazy music and the dropped them into a world where there was still the same d&d races but it was much further along in technology also there was no magic in this world. The high elfs in this world set on eradicating the other races and complete world dominaton attacked the other relms and people's. It was a ww2 setting and they had a lot of fun grabbing rifles grenades and fighting in the trenches they were quickly picked up by the resistance or allyed forces and tasked with saving some POWs in a camp behind enemy lines. Sneaking across no-mans land they had their first taste of real and fast paced environmental hazards they were moving in the dead of night as to not be shot by a sniper and they had to roll every few dozen feet to make sure they didn't fall on the holes created by the intense shelling. Once across they kept going through enemy infested trenches where through the woods they discovered train tracks and followed them almost to where the POW camp was once there they saw it was not a camp and in fact a large castle where the high elfs were taking POWs to be experimented on and tortured the man in charge of this operation was simply known to the allyed powers as the torture. They snuck into the castle to find hundreds of POWs as well as a whole organ trade where they axis army was taking blood and organs to keep them alive in the war but also using them and the people they came out of as experiments (think group 735 type of experiments) they freed the prisoners most of them anyways and blew a hole in the castle wall stole a bunch of vehicles and drove down the train tracks and got them to safety some of the POWs however wated to return with them to help bring down this evil ( I had two more people join the campain and figured this was a good way to integrate them into the team they were a huge help in escaping the catle the first time) before turning around and taking out the torturer once and for all catching the military personnel off guard after their escape they returned in the dead of night fighting their way into the castle until they reached the main guy who I modled off Heinrich himler the second in comand of the in our world german empire at the time. He was obsessed with the occult ans magic and whatnot however in this world he was in fact a vampire as well seeing this the group listened this time as he went on about his plan. He was quite full of himself and they were in a bad spot so he figured he could monolog and it fit idk. Anyways the plot they had uncovered was the box they had stolen was an interdimentonal portal anchor that allowed someone to travel the different dimensions using this box once they had concured this world they would then concur the multiverse. They discovered that this was a version of the captain Desmond they "killed" in their world apparently upon discovering the boxes the various versions of Desmond were able to communicate and come up with this multiversal domination plan. Then after learning all of this they got tired of his yapping and attacked. The battle was great and two of the players went down with most of them left with only 5 or so health. One player died permanently. However once defeating the torturer and his forces in the room they discovered another box most likely the one he was using to communicate with our world's Desmond. Upon this discovery they were going to take the box to the allied forces int the hopes of keeping it out of enemy hands. At this point the player that they "saved" from the torturer that had also been the one who had the permanent death ( he failed 3 death saving throws and the teems clearic was down) stood up and slowly clapped his hands congratulating the team on showing him magic and telling him about how the boxes really worked and allied plans for the war. Revealing himself as a double agent the whole time calling in more reinforcements to take them captive but before they could the team opened the case the box was in and touched it whizzing them put of the room and throug a portal dropping them in what is from what they can tell the wild wild west where I now have to write the rest of the campaign for here. I guess I just would throw this up here and see if any of you had any cool suggestions this is definitely a shortend version of what has happend so far we have had this campaign going for the last six months and have built up to this point. Everyone is super excited to see what dangers and adventures the wild west has to offer. So if anyone has any cool suggestions or something they would throw in I'm all ears.. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this by the way :)

⛏ The 'Minelanders ⛏
Server address: mc.minelanders.com
Version: 1.19.4 [Java Edition]
Discord: https://discord.gg/QeBkd3Z
Overview:
The 'Minelanders is in its 5th Summer Server Edition now! Our new server opened on May 19th, and the community pitched in to create an incredible new spawn. We're a server with plenty to offer! We believe that Minecraft can be inherently political and strategic when other players get involved. So whether you are interested in building grand designs, griefing and PvP, growing an influential clan, running a commercial empire, or even just playing some Minecraft with a regular crowd, you are a part of something bigger than just yourself. Feel free to join the Discord, explore our community built spawn, and talk with the active community to see if you’re interested in playing on the server. And any time you're ready to start - survival is only 50 blocks away. Hope to see you playing on the 'Minelanders soon!
Vanilla Reimagined
General Information
We love the potential of vanilla Minecraft but feel some aspects of the game have not been properly balanced to allow for vanilla to flourish. Through the use plugins and extensive player feedback we have rebalanced villager trading, Elytras, autofarms, and more. No longer is there one "right" way to play, as we have allowed for all sorts of other forms of gameplay to be valid!
Features

• Currently a new player town has been founded for players looking for company at -650 150.
• We have clans, which allow you to team up with existing players or make your own clan with your friends.
• We offer plot protection in four sizes for in-game currency. You have to earn them! Note: Plots intentionally do NOT protect chests - only blocks.
• We have player shop plots available in spawn to sell things to other players. Our admin shops are already set up for players to earn money.
• The map size is limited to keep players relatively close - but it is still spacious with a 6k block diameter. The Nether has been increased in size (3:1 ratio rather than 8:1) to compensate for the smaller map.
• Donations to keep the server running are welcome, but give no in game advantages.

Rules:

1. Play in good faith
2. Be respectful of other players
3. No asking for stuff, advertising, or being annoying
4. Griefing is allowed, Lavacasting is not
5. No cheating
6. Alt accounts must be known to staff
7. No releasing personal information about another player
8. Circumventing intended server behavior is prohibited

Pictures from the last edition of the server It's too early for big builds in this edition!
Our resident small business, The Tiny Tavern
TRS main base
Vix's Cottage
Bina's Parenting School
Ponlm00's Wild West
Whysobad's Hogwarts
Our server has opportunity for building great things with the protection of plots, but don't forget to be cautious! Some players have sticky fingers.

Thursday June 1, 2023
Board Game Night at Bookhouse Cinema
Craft + Canvas at Chaos Brewing Company
Joplin Outlaws vs Des Moines Opening Night at Joe Becker Stadium
Downtown After Dark: Wine Walk at Just a Taste (Webb City, MO)
Adult Skate Night at Roller City
Gravehuffer, The Coventry Sacrifice, Chimaeric, & Face The Wheel (all ages) at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub
Friday June 2, 2023
Fool's Paradise, Master Gardener at Bookhouse Cinema
Fast X, 65 at 66 Drive-in Theatre (Carthage, MO)
Randall Shreve at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub
Joplin Outlaws vs Des Moines (Fireworks Night) at Joe Becker Stadium
Downtown Joplin Alliance First Friday Wineshare at Mitzi Starkweather Photography
Vintage Swing Movement and Jomo Jazz First Friday at Just a Taste (Webb City, MO)
DJ Chuck G at Whiskey Dick's
Saturday June 3, 2023
Joplin Empire Market
Webb City Farmer's Market (Webb City, MO)
National Trails Day at George Washington Carver National Monument
Food Not Bombs Joplin Free Community Meal at Ewert Park
Master Gardener at Bookhouse Cinema
The Okee Dokee Brothers at the Cornell Complex
Fast X, 65 at 66 Drive-in Theatre (Carthage, MO)
Saturday Night Bingo at American Legion Post 322 (Webb City, MO)
Banned Camp Sumer Series Kickoff Party (featuring The Itch) at Bookhouse Cinema
Backyard Brews and Tunes with Randall Shreve at Flag City Brewing (Webb City, MO)
Joplin Outlaws vs Show-Me League (Bark in the Park) at Joe Becker Stadium
Cruisin' Main in Downtown Joplin
Open Mic Night at Fuzzy's Taco Shop
Trenton Tanner at Christine's Vineyard(Webb City, MO)
Leeper 'n' Simpson at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub
Pride on the Patio & Drag Show at Whiskey Dick's
Blues Doctors at Redings Mill Inn
Sunday June 4, 2023
Archaeological Investigations at George Washington Carver National Monument
Master Gardener, The Launch at Bookhouse Cinema
Fast X, 65 at 66 Drive-in Theatre (Carthage, MO)
Open Mic Comedy Night at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub
Looking for events during the week or things not listed here? Check out:
Connect2Culture
What's Happening in Joplin Facebook Group
Visit Joplin MO

Hello, Carpentry! I’ve been building a small woodworking shop in my back yard and after looking unsuccessfully for commercial doors that fit the style of the building at a reasonable cost, I decided to try and build the doors myself.
My friend has built doors professionally, so I spoke to him about options for the look I wanted and came up with this design:
https://i.imgur.com/RmJlT3A.png
https://i.imgur.com/jSd8HnC.png
Some construction details:

• The inside frame is made up of 1”-thick white oak and the horizontal slats that make up the inside and outside faces are 3/8” sapele, for a total door thickness of 1 3/4”.
• The oak rails and stiles of the frame are mortised and tenoned together (except for the diagonal braces which are just glued in place.)
• The door light is a double-pane insulated unit.
• The hollow triangles will be filled with 1" foam insulation.
• Finish will be a few coats of Waterlox sealer, followed by several coats of Waterlox Original.

My concern with this design is around wood movement… all that cross-grain glue surface between the oak and the sapele freaks me out. My carpenter friend doesn’t think it will be an issue and he showed me pictures of doors with similar construction that he’s built and installed with no problems, but I figured I’d ask the knowledgeable folks here for your input. For what it’s worth, I purchased the wood kiln-dried and it's been sitting in the shop where the door will be installed acclimating there for about 8-9 months.
So what do you all think? Am I freaking out over nothing or should I scrap this design altogether? Also, what glue would you use for this? I would normally use West Systems 105 with the slow hardener (206, I think?) for something this large, but any benefit/disadvantage to using something like Titebond III?
Thanks in advanced for any feedback or comments!