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We got the flu and covid vaccines today. No issues at the CVS in town. We did not want to take any chances, so we got them earlier than usual. It’s good to get that task out of my brain.

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The first storm of Fall over the California Northern Coast Range means I should be hearing the song of White Crown birds very soon! (they summer in the foothills and mountains, overwinter in the valley; seemingly they appear shortly after the summer weather breaks)

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Update: Voting is over and Azurite lost.

Here’s a photo of Azurite with smaller amounts of Malachite at the Freudenstein Castle in Freiberg, Germany. Let it lull you into voting for it in Mineral Cup 2025! Only a few hours left… #MinCup25 #Azurite #Geology #Minerals

A professionally displayed hunk of dark blue nodular Azurite or Azurit (German) from Seabra, Brazil. There are some greener nodules of malachite. It looks like clumps of candy making a rock, all but ensuring that you’ll vote for it. Photographed with permission.

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My wife discovered another, smaller avocado fruit in our “Bacon” avocado tree. So that’s two! Very exciting. We still need to continue research harvest time for this variety. It’s a minefield on the internet for that 🤨 #Yarden #HomeOrchard #Avocado

A small, finger length avocado amongst broad dark green avocado leaves and tree tape.
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A Nuttal’s woodpecker visited our front yard Toyon yesterday! #Yarden #NuttalsWoodpecker #Birds

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Update on check engine light: loose gas cap! 😅

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Grumble. We all know the check engine light is just a catch-all these days. Probably an emissions fault. #CheckEngine

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Goodyear Blimp reg. N3A just passed by. They’re headed to a college football game at Eugene, OR from Livermore, CA. If you’re in Redding, I think it’s heading your way… #GoodyearBlimp #N3A #Aviation #AvGeek

FlightRadar24 screen shot showing the Good Year blimp about to pass Orland, CA at 2400 ft and 44 knots A heavily cropped photo of the Goodyear Blimp passing far in the distance. Its cylinder shape can be made out but otherwise there’s no detail. The foreground is a residential area with lawns, power lines and trees.

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Adult California Gull and their chicks at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary last July #CaliforniaGull #BirdPhotography #Birds #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoCOn a manmade island, covered in short grass, an adult white and gray California Gull looks away from their three chicks. The chicks have fluffy brown plumage.

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Brown Pelicans occupying an island at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary back in July #BrownPelicans #BirdPhotography #Birds #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoCA Brown Pelican comes in for a landing on a very small island in a large pond. The island is full of other brown pelicans, mostly grooming themselves. They're a dirty brown with awkwardly long necks and long, thick beaks.

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Last time I was in Mendocino County, for the first time I finally saw the Stellar’s Jay. The fancy looking birds were a riot to watch flitting between trees. They were not easy to photograph being high up in the canopy. #StellarsJay #BirdPhotography #Birds #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoC

The back of a Stellar's Jay, with its signature mohawk head crest, sitting on a dead branch. It is looking to the right, so its face with a very large and dark eye can be seen. There's green foliage in the background, slightly blurred.
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Monday. Here’s a Song Sparrow #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoC

A close-up very round brown-red Song Sparrow is hanging out at the stem of a fennel plant, looking just off axis of the camera lens. Its chest is white with speckles.

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It’s the backyard Asian Pear harvest! Yellow are New Century variety and the brown skinned are the more familiar looking Hosui variety. They are odd spindly trees right now. I’m not used to pruning central leader trees, but vase shape. #Yarden #HomeOrchard #AsianPears

A colander with a mixture of yellow and brown skinned Asian PearsA very spindly Hosui pear tree with multiple stakes and lots of tree tape. It has pears still. The sky is blue and there’s more vegetation along a fence in the background. Drip line and gravel are in the foreground.A New Century Asian Pear tree with small yellow skinned pears. It’s better branched and dilated compared to the Hosui tree. In the background, there are ugly metal structures behind a wood fence. In the foreground is gravel and drip line.

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Our cultivated California native seedy grapes are ready. The two plants mostly feed Northern Mockingbirds, Western Scrub Jays, and in the late fall, Kinglets, but some grapes will be for the humans in the form of a compote. As a bonus, gaze upon our lone avocado! #Yarden #HomeOrchard

Many bunches of ripe purple grapes hang from a grape vine.A hand is holding a metal colander filled with ripe red grapes. It's being held under a grape vine.An avocado is hanging from an avocado tree. It has a long stem and a narrow, green speckled body. A hand is nearby acting as a scale. It's about five fingers long and three fingers wide.

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Randomized Albums in Track Order on Sonos (and Jellyfin)

A solution for Sonos, and other music player software, to generate M3U playlist files with shuffled albums by track order using various *nix tools and Mac apps.

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Small lizard friend at work today

A small lizard is standing with its forelegs extended on a slab of unknown material surrounded by dry dirt and scattered twigs.
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Kīlauea is erupting, and at night it is mesmerizing: www.youtube.com/watch

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It’s been a few months & Return to Office is still exhausting

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Sorry to those that are squeamish about spiders, but this Western Spotted Orbweaver was just asking for a photoshoot. This spider took the night-shift last night in our front yard #WesternSpottedOrbWeaver #Spider #InsectPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #SoOC

Plan-view of a Western Orbweaver spider with a fat, round abdomen and a tiny brown cephalothorax (head). The abdomen has patterns of brown within a matrix of coffee with cream. Its spider web can be descerned from the background, which is all blurred out. Its legs alternate between brown and coffee with cream. It has hairs on its head. It has spikes on its legs.The underside of the Western Spotted Orbweaver, which appears reddish probably because of light conditions. It has four clear white spots on its abdomen and an elongated white spot just below its head. Its chelicerae are visible. The background is completely blurred out.

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I think this is the last nectarine harvest. About 6 pounds. The shield bugs were showing up and nectarines were dropping fast from wind and bird pecks :-( They were effortlessly plucked off the tree. Next harvest: Asian pears! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Yarden

A nectarine tree with almost a dozen dropped fruit on the gravel and dirt area below. The tree still has a few dozen nectarines on it.A collander of very ripe dark red to orange colored nectarines sitting on a scale. The scale is on a plastic covering upon a tile counter. The scale reads 6 pounds and 5 ounces, so there’s about 6 pounds of necartines.