Daniel & Rufus
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danielrufus.bsky.social
Daniel & Rufus
@danielrufus.bsky.social
390 followers 170 following 770 posts
Retired Internist 🩺. Former microbiologist 🔬. Army veteran, medic '70s.

Grow veggies 🌱🍅🧄🫛, fruits 🍓🍎🍇, flowers🌸🥀🌻. Quilting🧵.

Sarcoma survivor.

Dogs are gifts from heaven 🐾

History autodidact 📚

#quilting #GIST #quiltsky #BattleGroundWA 🪷
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danielrufus.bsky.social
Today I binge-watched #Boots on Netflix. The premise, a gay teenager in Marine boot camp, 1990. It set me to thinking about the past. My military history is 70's, Army, overlapping Vietnam era. I liked the series. Despite differences & foggy memory, it resonated for me. #bootcamp see alt txt.
Poster from screenrant.com for Netflix series "Boots." The series is based on a memoir, "The Pink Marine" by Greg Cope White. Things that resonated with me - -Cam enlisted to "kill off" his old self, and become something "more". That's a big part of why I enlisted, as a teenager in 1974. I wanted to kill off who I was, and become someone "more". But also, idealism and wanting to do something that I thought mattered. He also enlisted without telling his mother until it was already accomplished. I did the same thing. My parents were just as horrified. -The camaraderie - despite some clashes, and some backstabbing, the characters grow with each other and have each other's backs (the exception is the homophobia). That was true for me too, much more so than later civilian life. I still feel a bit nostalgic for that aspect of military life. -The gas chamber scene - I remember that really well! So it wasn't just marines. I remember trying responding similar to Cam, as well. -I don't recall a lot of specifics of physical training. I remember I added about 10 pounds of muscle, and needed a larger uniform after boot camp. I know the Marines are tougher and go through more rigorous training than Army, but it's a related experience. -The military homophobia wasn't as prominent when I enlisted. I think they were desperate to keep troops. Morale was down, and they needed all the good people they could get. Also, while it wasn't mentioned, AIDS wasn't around when I was in the Army, but would have been during this movie's era. Not mentioned, that I recall. I'm certainly not gung ho, far from it, and I'm uncomfortable with jingoism and performative "patriotism". But I respect the soldiers, sailors, marines, and coast guard members who serve with dignity, honor, and purpose. This series gives an interesting point of view and respects the young recruits and their training cadre.
December 7, 2025 at 2:48 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
I bought a soft silicone "licking mat" for #Rufus. He has the Labrador Retriever "I'm always hungry! Feed me! Feed me! Feed me!" gene. Spread on a spoon of peanut butter and he licks for 15 minutes, no begging! #dogsky
December 1, 2025 at 12:38 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Today's persimmon harvest. I should have checked weeks ago. Birds got a lot of them. This is Nishimura Wise, sold in the US as "Coffee Cake ". They require pollination to be sweet when crisp. These are very good! #Persimmons #HomeOrchard 🌱 #KitchenGarden
Freshly picked "Coffeecake Persimmons", known in Japan as Nishimura Wise. These require a second variety for pollination. They are crisp and sweet. Coffeecake persimmon on the tree. Fencing is for deer. Birds got about half of the persimmons but there are still some for me.
December 1, 2025 at 12:26 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Second #Schlumbergera to bloom. #HolidayCactus
Red flowered holiday cactus in bloom. Fake fireplace in background.
November 30, 2025 at 2:59 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
More Quilts of Valor presentations, this one is in Las Vegas. Many veterans have felt forgotten and their sacrifices unnoticed. I imagine this is quite a moving moment for them. I will work on my next one soon. #QuiltsOfValor
November 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Finished flannel quilt. This was 2 fat quarter bundles of "Woolies" line (see alt txt). It's all half square triangles or stripes made into HSTs. Fairly weighty but very soft and warm, very comfortable. Took about 2 months, fast for me. #MenWhoQuilt #Quilting #Quiltsky
Flannel quilt, home made. The fabric was "Woolies" line by Bonnie Sullivan for Maywood Studio, fat quarters. I cut each fat quarter into a square plus extra that was used for the striped triangles. All seams 1/2" due to flannel being more stretchy and easily frayed. I washed the fabric hot and dried hot to pre-shrink, and starched heavily with corn starch before cutting and sewing. Batting is thinnest cotton batting I could find. I don't have a long arm machine. Quilted on Kenmore sewing machine with a walking foot.
November 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
From my local paper, The Columbian. About 1 in 4 here rely on the food bank. I'm stunned!

I took groceries to the FISH food bank today. There was a line a block long. This is my Thanksgiving treat. Followed their guidelines.

www.columbian.com/news/2025/no...

fishvancouver.org/about/
November 25, 2025 at 1:40 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
The back yard Magpie ducks love their hidden little wading pond! But no eggs lately. What's up with that? Has she gone through eggopause or something? #Ducks #Poultry #Gardening 🌱
Two Magpie ducks in a secluded wading pond. One is male and one is female.
November 24, 2025 at 12:24 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Seen on our country road walk. Rufus always snoops. It's his job. Some goats watching us walk past. The black horse was curious but I thought it safer to be on our way. A red horse barn #dogsky #Rufus #goats #horse #CountryLife
Rufus, black / grey wooly dog, snooping. Two brown goats in a pasture. One is sitting on a water tank. Black horse in a pasture. Red barn and trees turned gold, with fir trees in background and brown pasture grass in foreground.
November 24, 2025 at 12:15 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Still quilting flannel quilt. Learning by my mistakes. I think it will turn out ok. It's quite thick and warm, even before I wash out the starch.

If I push myself I can finish the quilting in 3 days. A week is more likely. I hope this works! See alt txt.

#quilting #MenWhoQuilt #quiltsky
Quilting a flannel quilt top. Colors are browns, golds, reds, greens in fall tones. Sewing machine is 1990s (?) Kenmore, pre-digital vintage. Backing is neutral / tan plaid flannel, a sheet because it cost about 1/4 what quilt store websites charge and no seams are needed. The top thread is a light golden brown. The backing thread is paler sandy tan, to blend with the backing fabric.
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Holiday Cactus is blooming! #schlumbergera #holidaycactus
holiday cactus blooming, pink edged petals with white centers
November 22, 2025 at 3:59 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Sometime I just can't handle things like this. Is there something about being a corporation that dehumanizes people? It's hard to imagine that any German corp. at the time wasn't involved in some way. By "corporation", I think we should include other institutions too. #WW2 ##History #otherizing
100yearsagonews.bsky.social 100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 18d
Nov. 21, 1925: Six of Germany’s leading industrial concerns, led by BASF, Bayer and Hoechst, agree to form a chemical and drug maker called I.G. Farben. During WWII this company will infamously employ slave labor and manufacture Zyklon B, the gas used to kill Jews in camps.
The I.G. Farben supervisory board, known as the “Council of the Gods,” painted in 1926 A share of the first I.G. Farben stock Labels on Zyklon B
November 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Checked out on Libby, the library app - A Test of Wills by Charles Todd. The first Inspector Rutledge detective story. Set in post WW1 UK, the inspector has returned to work despite shell shock and surviving the trenches in France. #booksky #DetectiveNovel #Mystery
Cover art for "A Test of Wills" by Charles Todd .
November 21, 2025 at 12:30 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
From today's walk, random observations. I can't believe how red those oak leaves are. #fungi #mushrooms #fallfoliage #horses
Unidentified, brown, mushrooms. White horses in a field Very red oak leaves in a juniper bush. Two types of mushrooms under fir trees.
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
This is my current "light read", also on Kobo app. Almost done. After returning to UK from France / WWI trenches, Inspector Rutledge has returned to Scotland Yard & solving crimes. The style & tone remind me of Endeavor, but set about 40 years earlier. #DetectiveFiction #Fiction #Booksky
Cover art for Wings of Fire by Charles Todd.
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Started reading fascinating "American Midnight" by Adam Hochschild, on the Bookshop app. The history is remote. It seems there's a lot of "history rhyming" with today's culture / politics / events. Compelling writing. I will also need some lighter reading. #booksky #AmericanHistory #History
November 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
I just finished reading Randy Shilts' book "Conduct Unbecoming" on the Kobo app. Published 1993. Quite a difficult read, important. Heinous behavior by officials & leaders. Glad I read it but need to move on / read something lighter or more remote. #booksky #AmericanHistory #LGBT #veterans
Cover for the book "Conduct Unbecoming" by Randy Shilts, published in 1993
November 18, 2025 at 2:46 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
A mushroom growing in the yard, under a spruce tree. My guess is fly agaric, Amanita muscaria. Second photo is two days ago. First photo is today. I will not be tasting this one. #fungi #mushrooms #AliceInWonderland #NorthwestFungi
Large mushroom. My guess is, Amanita muscaria. This is the mushroom in the Alice in Wonderland illustrations. Same mushroom, a day younger.
November 18, 2025 at 12:53 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
There's a gigantic mushroom growing out of this dead poplar tree trunk! #fungi #mushrooms
November 18, 2025 at 12:46 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
From the old photo box, this time my own past. I have more photos of my grandfather's Army year than of my own 3 years. I was a medic. I believed, then, in what I was doing. Teenagers can have a clarity of purpose, unclouded by decades of living. I was very lucky. #ArmyService #soldier #1970s
March, 1975, somewhere in Texas, shortly after completing boot camp. They had assigned me to truck driving training, supposedly so I could drive emergency vehicles. I was not a good driver of these big trucks. I kept stalling them and got lost from the convoy. Oops! They gave up and transferred me into medic training, which was what I wanted and what I had enlisted for anyway. Also some time in Spring, 1975. I don't remember much. This was at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. October (I think) 1977. By then I had been in Turkey for longer than anyone else in my unit. This was considered a "hardship" tour of duty due to isolation, hazardous situations, and other reasons. I don't recall minding it too much. I had a sense of purpose, I knew what was expected of me, and most of my fellow soldiers could be trusted. Unlike civilian life. I had asked to complete my active duty enlistment there, rather than a transfer to Ft. Hood, TX. As I recall, this was at a ceremony for changing of the command.
November 18, 2025 at 12:45 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Today is Veterans Day. Originally meant to honor those who sacrificed in WWI, and later for all US military veterans.

The poem is by Wilfred Owen, who returned to the trenches and was killed there. It symbolizes the old sending the young to war. #VeteransDay #Veterans #War
Poem by Wilfred Owen, a battlefield poet of WWI. He rewrites the story of Abram and Isaac, which becomes a parable of betrayal of the son by the old father, sending his son to die in war. Owen returned to the war and was himself killed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen
November 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
From my local newspaper, the SNAP food situation is confusing. It looks like some states will cover the differences.

www.columbian.com/news/2025/no...

#SNAP
Food aid getting to SNAP recipients in some states
People in some U.S. states were able to buy groceries with federally funded SNAP benefits this weekend, while those elsewhere are still waiting for November food benefits delayed by a protracted legal
www.columbian.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 AM
danielrufus.bsky.social
African Violet starts, mostly from last summer. Some are much better growers, than others. Starting from pups (suckers) seems faster than from a leaf, but both work even for a novice like me #AfricanViolets
Four African violet plants, started last summer from pups removed from larger plants. Front row, a Russian hybrid type. Left front about to start second flush of flowers. Right front blooming for first time. Back two are from grocery store generic dark blue variety. They have grown a lot. No flowers yet. More African Violet starts. Front left bought as a start from Etsy. Growing very slowly and irregular-looking. Front right, started from a broken leaf, last summer. Needs dividing. Vigorous growth. Back, a pup from same parent as right front, but taken two weeks ago. Leaf appearance is completely different.
November 9, 2025 at 7:14 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
Last summer I sold some furniture and a sewing machine via the internet. I set aside the money for a treat. So now I spent some for another contribution to the county food bank. Mostly generic so the $ goes further. I hope it helps. #SNAP #Donation #RandomKindness #Kindness
Food items to donate to county food bank. All keep a long while without refrigeration. Mostly generic so more can be bought. Mostly canned beans, canned meats, dry milk, dry beans (go further for less $ than canned), plus some rice, tortillas, peanut butter, and some dog food.
November 9, 2025 at 7:04 PM
danielrufus.bsky.social
This is as true as any words ever written. Siegfried Sassoon knew my soul, many decades before my birth. #dogsky
arealmofwonder.bsky.social Cian McCarthy @arealmofwonder.bsky.social · Sep 27
One for all the canophiles 🐾

• Siegfried Sassoon •
November 6, 2025 at 12:04 AM