Apple

    The whole house fan is really nice. It actually cools off the mass of the house so its temperature doesn’t rebound like it did with floor fans positioned at window / slider screens. It is also really cheap to run at about .25 kilowatt-hours. Thumbs up!

    To no one in particular… Please remember to wipe your smart phone camera lenses off before taking photos. You don’t need to suffer with that fog in your photos.

    My @raspishake detected the M4.4 earthquake out of Santa Rosa, CA. Too far for me to feel though.

    Covid booster ✅ Flu shot ✅

    Got a proposal back from a contractor. It includes a ducted mini split which is a new concept to me and they are awfully tempting. Seems to be better in almost every way than than a classic American-style central heat pump system.

    For the next week, ~record hot temperatures! Once again, time to protect our Hosui Asian Pear’s central leader with shade cloth. I had to lash an old pruned apricot branch to the tree stake for height for the shade cloth. The tree put on several inches in the last week! 🌱

    hosui pear covered by shade clothupcoming weather from WeatherStrip app

    Seems the first contractor I asked for an estimate from for a heat pump ghosted me. Takes a lot out of me for me to call anyone and have them in my home so I’m probably more dismayed than most would be.

    We’re very happy with Trader Joe’s Bavarian Bratwurst. Pretty close to Nürnberger style but much bigger. Of course we had no choice but to prepare it as part of Currywurst.

    Plated currywursttrader Joe's bavarian style bratwurst label

    Super happy with our peppers this year. Best harvest ever (and much more to pick). Mostly serranos in the bowl. Love ripe peppers. Can’t get those at the market where we live.

    Based on my spreadsheet, it’s time to replace our ~20 year old A/C & nat gas heater with a new heat pump. Nat gas is now almost as expensive as electric per BTU (assumes heating seasonal perf factor of 9.5). No surprise gas cost is rapidly 📈. Just got to get thru summer.

    Introverts that have to go to the office at least once a week find fridays amazing. Or at least I do. Fridays in the office: Empty - The Washington Post

    All is not great in our garden though. We still have a heck of a time with end rot on our tomatoes despite amendments with calcium. Into the compost these went! 🌱

    With insanity at European airports I’m thankful our early June trip to Germany was nearly flawless. We 😷managed to not get Corona (we tested ourselves before leaving though the US lifted that requirement while we were there). Almost 4 years of planning! Photo is Frankfurt Intl

    Aircraft at Frankfurt terminals

    On my Mac Mini I have NetNewsWire pulling Tweets by specific users. Meanwhile, I’ve set my eero to block Twitter on my mobile devices. With NetNewsWire’s iCloud sync, NetNewsWire on mobile devices gets those tweets for me to read. Terrific way to reduce my Twitter use.

    6/12: in a forest southwest of Bautzen, Saxony, Germany.

    mountain biker crossing a stream under forest cover

    I emergency bought a Ratio 6 coffee maker after my old Ninja broke. Best of all, and I didn’t know about this, @RatioCoffee just refunded the cost ‘cuz I won their drawing 🎉 can’t remember the last time I won anything this good!

    Germany trip recap: some 787-9 photos while boarding FRA-DEN. I love it when boarding is at a stand and not a gate.

    Our peppers exploded. Best yields ever. Already we roasted some shishitos to go with quesadillas. 🌱

    We concluded our trip to Germany. It ended nicely despite the current upheaval of travel. Best unexpected thing to happen was the captain of the United 787-9 we flew on back to the States let me snap photos of the flight deck! Heaven.

    Eurasian Coots in the Pagodenburger See at the Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich.

    A nesting coot in the lake and a coot on the shore foraging for food.
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