Almost certainly brought in. I live in a suburban hell scape (actually it’s very lovely for a suburb and has natural spaces, but still. Very suburban) and Latte almost certainly filched all these from neighbors’ landscaping.
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I picked up a really neat rock at the beach in Florida, and my bil the geologist said “Well! That’s not local!” He said it was probably ballast on a ship.
I’m regretful that I left that rock at school when I quit.
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Follow up random question, does this term have racist origins? Researching now just brings up stuff on “Harry Potter and racism” because of the character’s name.
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It seems to be Middle English - google “filch etymology” for more details.
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Dictionary.com says it is from Middle English.
From Merriam Webster:
Did you know?
“I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-box: his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer—he kept not time.” So says Falstaff in William Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Bard was fond of filch in both its literal and figurative uses; Iago, for example, says to Othello, “But he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him / And makes me poor indeed.” Filch derives from the Middle English word filchen (“to attack” or “to steal”) and perhaps from Old English gefylce (“band of men, troop, army”). As a noun, filch once referred to a hooked staff used by thieves to snatch articles out of windows and from similar places, but this use is now obsolete.
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Very hard to say much about what those are then from the picture and without location data. Would you like me to consult my resident expert for a wild-ass guess?
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If you don’t mind! Wild ass guess is perfect. So far my best guess is “ehhhh granite and basalt?”
Thank you both! I often use all of the random folksy terms I inherited from my family, but then find myself pausing now and then to be like oh wait damn I don’t know where that one comes from it’s possibly racist.
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- Either basalt or gabbro, which is a more coarsely crystalline basalt, basically.
- Granodiorite (very similar to granite, but without the quartz. Resident Expert (RE) notes he’d mark an answer of granite correct on a freshman exam.
- RE: “Oooh. Hunh.” Probably also granodiorite. The round marks are crystals (phenocrysts, which are basically individual crystals that are much bigger than the general background crystal in the rock. RE wants to know if the straight line structures are scratch marks or a feature of the rock.
- “Something felsic.” Likely igneous, but can’t rule out metamorphic completely from the picture. Likely quartzite or a quartz-rich granite, but may be a felsic gneiss given the foliation on the edge. I’m PMing you a link to one of RE’s class videos with better explanation for felsic.
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Scratch marks. Toddler has been smashing it against various surfaces and scraping it against the cement to see what noises it makes 
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Excellent science
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Send many thanks to RE for their knowledge and time! 
The toddler was delighted. When I showed her the pic before I could even say she was chanting “name mama! Mama namesssss!”
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She is a very good little scientist. For example, she enjoys retesting the “mommy will hold a boundary?” Hypothesis some days to see if the data is consistent 
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Chapeau, RE!
Which colour should i get this hoodie in??
Based on this picture…
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Gold!
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Ooh, love the art for that post. I’ve seen the quote turned into a post several different ways but that’s sweet.
Gold does look nice with the design, though it’s a terrible color for me. I’d personally pick purple, navy, or black.
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Purple or gold!
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Does anyone have a recommendation for a waffle maker? Waffles are a daily staple around here and L can’t have the dairy ones anymore so we want to make our own dairy free waffles.
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Cuisinart Classic Waffle Maker, Round, Silver https://a.co/d/0WUqlgT
We “waffled” on what to get for a few weeks. I think this was a consumer reports budget pick or something. We’ve been quite happy with it. We bulk cook waffles and freeze every 1-2 weeks. So it gets pretty heavy use. We’ve had it 2 years now I think?
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