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Learn how to care for a Thai Constellation Monstera indoors, including light needs, watering habits, and potting tips. I share how I keep mine healthy in northern Indiana without overwatering or burning the variegated leaves. Monstera Thai Constellation Care The Monstera Thai Constellation grows best in bright, indirect light with moderate watering and chunky soil. Avoid harsh southern windows or over-potting since variegated leaves can burn easily and excess moisture causes root rot. Let it get a little root-bound before repotting and it’ll do fine in normal house conditions. Finding a Thai Constellation I went to the Tinley Park Reptile Expo and got this Thai Constellation Monstera for $25, which is wild considering how it used to go for around $600 online. I remember seeing that on Steve’s Leaves. They’re a plant seller in Texas and an awesome place if you want to check them out. Why Prices Dropped Now Thai Constellation Monsteras are everywhere. You can find them in Lowe’s, Walmart, other big box stores. They’ve just gotten easier to reproduce because of new propagation methods, so the price dropped a lot. Light and Burn Risk I’ve had two of them. The one I have now has a leaf big enough to start fenestrating. The other one is smaller with no fenestrations yet. I don’t have a long history with variegated Monsteras, but I’ve had regular green ones and those were super easy to care for. I assume this will be similar. From what I know about variegation, you just have to be careful about light. Too much light on the white parts burns them. If you put this plant in a southern window for hours of direct sun, you’ll probably get brown patches on the pale areas, especially on a new leaf that’s still hardening off. When to Repot I’m planning to keep this one in its 4 inch pot until it’s really ready to move up. I like to see it a little root bound first. I personally kill things when I pot them up too early. In my environment in northern Indiana, with big north windows and normal house conditions, I wait longer than most people to repot. The cooler temps and lower light here make tropical plants more sensitive to overwatering. If the pot is too big, there’s too much soil staying wet too long. That’s when roots suffocate or rot. Soil, LECA, and Root Health I’ve grown Monsteras in chunky mixes with bark, perlite, and peat moss, and I’ve also done it in straight LECA, those expanded clay balls that wick up moisture from the bottom. I liked LECA. You don’t have to worry about the soil compacting and the roots get good airflow. Don’t Overthink It Overall, Monsteras tolerate a lot. Honestly, don’t fuss. Most people kill plants because they love them too much. Same with Hoyas. They mess with them constantly, and in my experience as someone who kind of neglects plants, you’ll kill them faster by hovering. Corky Lorenz November 11, 2025

Snake feeding tongs work best when they have blunt, rubber-coated ends and a strong grip so the snake doesn’t injure its mouth during a strike. Here’s what actually matters when choosing tongs and how they help prevent the snake from launching out of the enclosure. Snake feeding tongs for boas Snake feeding tongs work best when they have blunt, rubber-coated ends and a strong grip so the snake doesn’t injure its mouth during a strike. Sturdy tongs keep the feeder animal stable so the snake doesn’t launch out of the enclosure. Tong types My friend was feeding his boa pets. They’re boa imperators. He has three of them. One is a large female. He has a male that is smaller just because he’s a male. And the third one is a female albino boa. She’s the really light-colored one in the photo. Something he mentioned about his feeding tongs is that they’re covered in rubber on one side to protect the snakes when they’re striking their meal. They’re built really solid, so you can hold on to the feeder animal and not worry about dropping it or hurting the snake as it strikes. Rubber-coated ends When a boa sees food, they hit pretty aggressively, and they will launch right out of the enclosure if the item is dangling. They don’t slow themselves down. They just follow the strike. If you have a firm grip on the feeder animal when the boa hits, you can basically catch the snake at the point of contact instead of having the snake fly out of the enclosure with the rat. Then you can set the snake back inside to coil and eat. These tongs have a long reach, and you squeeze a handle at the end. It clamps tight. There are no pointy parts at the end, so the snake isn’t going to hurt its mouth or teeth when it hits. That’s one of the most important things. No skinny sharp metal ends. I want everything to be more like paddles holding the feeder animal. Rubber-coated is helpful. Boa launch He found his on eBay for cheap. The main thing is that they’re sturdy and thick. Nothing flimsy. Nothing with loose hinges or little gripping teeth. Just something that can hold a rat firmly without twisting or slipping, and that won’t injure the snake on contact. After the snake strikes and firmly bites, he uses the tongs to set the snake back onto the enclosure. This wouldn't be possibly with flimsy or pointy tongs. What to look for If someone is shopping for tongs, the most important details are the build quality and the safety of the gripping surface. Rubber padding or silicone padding protects the snake. A thick metal bar and paddle-style grab. Long handles keep your hands out of the strike zone. A strong hinge makes sure the feeder animal doesn’t slip. A lot of tongs look the same in photos, so the easiest way to pick them is to avoid anything thin, sharp, or flimsy. The thicker and blunter the ends are, the better. Corky Lorenz November 23, 2025

Discover the Sims Education Center at Fernwood Botanical Garden, a peaceful library and event space featuring nature books, bird watching stations, sensory play areas, and modern design. What is the Sims Education Center at Fernwood? The Sims Education Center at Fernwood Botanical Garden is a library and event space. It focuses on nature education, with books about plants, wildlife, and conservation. It also includes bird watching stations, hands-on learning areas for children, and rooms available for community events and private gatherings. The Sims Education Center at Fernwood is basically a library with many interesting and eye-catching books about plants, wildlife, and preservation. Some of the books look like knowledge you wouldn’t be able to find easily anywhere else. The education center also has several bird watching stations with binoculars and chairs positioned in front of large windows. You can sit and watch birds land in the trees or near the feeders outside, which makes it a peaceful stop during your visit. There are multiple seating areas, including one room with a rug and rock-shaped pillows that look like a toddler’s dream. The rock pillows match the rock stacking activity in the same room, creating a fun balance between sensory play, exploration, and learning. It feels thoughtfully designed for families. If you have multiple kids, it’s a great spot to rest while they explore in a contained, safe space. Whether you’re just arriving or taking a break from the trails, the education center offers a calm place to plan your next activity at Fernwood. This building also serves as an event space for weddings, receptions, and private gatherings. Each room has a different capacity, and the atmosphere fits everything from small meetings to elegant celebrations. I especially liked the lighting design and the use of raw materials in the flooring, simple but sophisticated in a way that suits Fernwood’s natural setting. Corky Lorenz November 3, 2025

Geode style tie dye is known for concentric bands of color that are created with a resist style of tying with waxy thread. Here’s how you create those crisp lines. How to tie crisp lines in the geode tie dye style? Getting crisp lines without blotchiness requires making the ties really tight and properly spaced. When I say that the ties have to be tight, I don’t mean that you’re actually tying knots. What you’re actually doing is grabbing a bunch of fabric and wrapping the sinew around the fabric 4 to 5 times. Then you pull it really tight until it starts to lock down on itself because of the wax coating. If you want the line to be thicker, you can wrap 3 more times and pull again. It works better to wrap 3-4 times and pull, multiples times, rather than try to wrap it 8 times and get all of those wraps to cleanly tighten down. The next trick is figuring out how to pull the sinew without hurting your hands. Usually, I just use a scrap piece of PVC pipe that I wrap the sinew around. Then I use the pipe to pull the sinew. When applying dye, you want the liquid to be able to reach all of the tight space between the ties. It helps the lines to appear crisp and well defined, if there is enough space between the ties for the dye to fully saturate. Corky Lorenz October 8, 2025

How to photograph the northern lights with an iPhone. Recommended Night Mode settings, focus tips, and exposure adjustments, with an example image taken near Paw Paw Michigan at 9:43 PM. iPhone camera settings for northern lights? These settings work on recent iPhones and help pull in the color and structure of the aurora, even when it looks faint to the eye. This image taken on an iPhone 12 Pro Max by Robin Ravenscroft. Near Paw Paw, MI, around 9:45pm, Nov 12 2025. Recommended iPhone settings for photographing the northern lights Night Mode exposure • Use the longest Night Mode exposure your phone allows • Handheld: usually 3 seconds • On a solid surface or tripod: 10 seconds This increases the camera’s chance of capturing vertical pillars and color separation. Robin’s photo used a 3.4 second exposure. Lens choice • Use the 1x wide lens • Avoid the 0.5x ultrawide unless the aurora is extremely bright The wide lens has better low-light performance and cleaner color. Focus and exposure lock • Press and hold on a distant light or star until AE/AF LOCK appears • Tap the ± icon and drop exposure to –0.3 to –1.0 This keeps the sky from blowing out and helps maintain detail in the beams. Stabilization If you don’t have a tripod, lean the phone on your car window, hood, or a fence Any vibration will blur the light pillars. Robin’s image shows clean edges in the red and green zones because the phone stayed still for the full exposure. Capture in RAW if possible Settings → Camera → Formats → enable Apple ProRAW RAW gives stronger color recovery later, especially when the aurora is faint to the eye but intense to the sensor. Do not zoom Digital zoom turns aurora colors into noise If you need a tighter crop, do it in editing afterward. Keep the lens clean Even one fingerprint can create haze or glowing edges around the aurora. This is especially noticeable with red arcs. Why iPhones capture stronger colors than your eyes The phone stacks multiple low-light frames and pushes color saturation to reveal wavelengths your eyes can’t fully see in darkness. Robin’s shot near Paw Paw shows bright red pillars and a soft green base, colors that often look muted in person but appear vivid on the sensor. See what the northern lights looked like the same night, further south, in Elkhart, IN. Corky Lorenz November 13, 2025

Admission is $12 for adults, $9 for seniors, and $7 for children at Fernwood Botanical Garden. Members visit free all year. Includes membership and event pricing info. What is the cost of admission at Fernwood Botanical Garden? Tickets to Fernwood Botanical Garden cost $12 for adults, $9 for seniors, and $7 for children. Kids under 4 get in free. Members visit free all year, and some events or photography sessions may have extra fees. Fernwood memberships are available for individuals, couples, and families. A membership includes free daily admission and reciprocal access to many other gardens across the country. Locally, that includes Wellfield Botanic Gardens and Potawatomi Conservatories, both excellent companion destinations if you enjoy plants, trails, and calm spaces. Special events like LIGHTS at Fernwood may have separate admission pricing. For the latest discounts and details, visit Fernwood’s official website . Corky Lorenz November 3, 2025

Corky Lorenz is a photographer who documents local life in Elkhart, Indiana. See events, people, and process notes. Corky Lorenz A photographer documenting creative work in Elkhart, Indiana. Events See large events like the Marshall County Blueberry Fest , or smaller events like the Urban Artisan Market . Textiles Browse tutorials for sewing and tie dye .

Inside the box you’ll find the outdoor air conditioner unit, the interior plenum, and all required hardware, filters, and gaskets. It’s a complete installation kit with nothing extra needed. What comes in the box with an AC heat pump unit? The box includes the main outdoor air-conditioning unit, the plenum assembly for inside the RV, and all necessary mounting hardware and filters. Everything needed for a standard installation, bolts, brackets, gaskets, and screws, is included. Standard System Installation Parts List Main parts: BELAIRE air-conditioner outdoor unit ×1 Outlet gasket ×1(In A3501/A3800 modes, the outlet gasket is fixed to the outdoor unit) Outlet air duct ×1 Plenum mounting bracket ×1 Return air filters ×2 Plenum assembly ×1 M8 × 120mm hex head bolts ×4 (T3500)M8 × 180mm hex head bolts ×4 (A3501/A3800) Metal clamping bars ×4 Large M8 washers ×4 Truss head tapping screws ST4×10 ×8 Plenum screw – ST4.2×19 pan head screws ×4 Countersunk head self tapping screws ST4.2×16 ×6 Corky Lorenz November 4, 2025

Photos from the 2025 Tinley Park NARBC Reptile Expo featuring lizards, snakes, frogs, and other reptiles. Includes candid shots of displays and animals from vendors and attendees. Lizards, snakes, & frogs at the Tinley Reptile Expo There was so much variety to see among vendor booths! I was also impressed by the number of vendors I recognized from the previous two visits to this NARBC expo location. Here’s a collection of images from the 2025 Tinley NARBC Expo that don’t yet have vendors or categories. If you see an animal that belongs to your display, please let me know so I can credit/tag you! Corky Lorenz October 14, 2025

What we expect to see for 2026: here's an overview of the typical yearly schedule for the Marshall County Blueberry Festival in Plymouth. See what usually happens each year, including the Balloon Glow, fireworks, blueberry donuts, music, bike ride, parade, carnival, vendors, tournaments, and kids activities. Marshall County Blueberry Festival 2026 Expected Schedule Here's a list of main events that usually happen each year at the Marshall County Blueberry Festival, based on long-running patterns that return every Labor Day weekend. Main Weekend The festival runs Friday through Monday over Labor Day and fills Centennial Park with food tents, vendor booths, live music, carnival rides, and blueberry desserts. Most visitors treat the weekend as a full-park experience. Blueberry Donuts The blueberry donut booth is a festival icon. People line up early for donuts, ice cream, slushies, pie, and other blueberry-heavy desserts. Music Multiple stages run throughout the weekend with a mix of local musicians and festival acts. Evening sets draw larger crowds as temperatures cool. Bike Ride The annual Blueberry Festival Bike Ride typically happens on Saturday morning and offers several route options for cyclists. Parade The Labor Day Parade takes place Monday morning and acts as the closing event for the festival. It’s one of Plymouth’s biggest annual parades. Carnival The carnival operates all four days with rides, games, and a large midway area. Families often plan their visit around ride hours and nighttime lights. Balloon Glow Sunday night is one of the largest draws of the entire festival. Hot-air balloons light up the field after sunset, followed by the festival’s annual fireworks show. Fireworks The fireworks happen immediately after the Balloon Glow and bring the biggest evening crowd of the weekend. Getting a seat near the front usually requires arriving early in the afternoon but is not required to be able to see and enjoy the display. Vendors More than 300 vendors usually take part in the festival, ranging from handmade crafts to specialty foods and retail items. You can see vendor registration info, here . Tournaments Softball, volleyball, pickleball, and other sports events appear most years, drawing local teams and spectators. Kids Stuff Face painting, activity tents, contests, and blueberry-themed games rotate each year. Families often search for these details even before schedules are posted. Extras Some years include classic car shows, maker demonstrations, or special community exhibits. These aren’t guaranteed annually but appear often enough to be considered recurring features. Updates Links to official event info will be added here when schedule announcements are made for the 2026 Marshall County Blueberry Festival. Corky Lorenz December 25, 2025