Veggie sushi for dinner tonight.

cutting rolls of sushi on a blue cuttingboardplated sushi

Gilias were the first annual flowers to bloom in our yard. Can you believe these are just as or more aggressive at spreading compared to poppies? 🌱

purple round gilia flowers

First bloom for our Valencia orange tree. About three weeks early compared to 2020 & 2021. 🌱🌳

Ladybug larva gorging on aphids gorging on sage. And nearby, a bright orange ladybug pupa. 🐞 🌱

side view of black with orange spots ladybug larva on safe lead.top view of black with orange spots ladybug larva on sage leaf.bright orange ladybug pupa on dead sage leaves

Honey bee approaching a nectarine flower. 🌳🌱

Our New Century Asian Pear tree, seeing as it’s already showy as heck, will be glorious in a few years. 🌱🌳

many white flowers on new century asian pair tree

Our cultivated native grapes are leaking water from pruning cuts, and that is normal. But unexpected. 🌱

water accumulates at a grape pruning cut against a blue rainless sky.water accumulates at a grape pruning cut

Today I noticed my cultivated native grapevines we’re leaking water where I recently pruned them. A quick search revealed that is totally normal. I’ll try to grab a photo tomorrow. 🤯 🌱

Here’s three more flowering cultivated native plants from the front yard: sage, then manzanita, then western red bud.

light purple sage flowersbell shaped manzanita flowers with a foraging european honey beepink western red bud flowers amongst seed pods

… and here’s a lovely jumping spider hanging out on a manzanita leaf that’s surrounded by a creeping sage bush. Some white manzanita flowers show through the leaves.

a hairy jumping spider on a smooth manzanita leaf.

Sure feels & looks like spring in our front yard. I think this is an assassin bug on a newly blooming Ceanothus. 🌱

assassin bug atop purple Ceanothus flowers

…. and here is our new (this year) New Century Asian Pear about ready to burst. 🌱🌳

white flower buds

Our Nectarine is very close to blooming. This is its second year in the ground here. 🌱🌳

pink tip on a nectarine flower bud

California Towhee from this morning. First sighting ever in the backyard but have seen these around the neighborhood. They don’t seem to care much for the white crowns & house sparrows. This is my kind of bird.

California tanager on a patio. has a rusty bib that fades to grey down its chest.

Almond bloom season is already upon us 😒. You can’t avoid it in most of California.

Okay, for once in my life I managed to replace a key home feature without any frigg’n drama. Kitchen faucet replaced & why didn’t we do this sooner? The last faucet not only started leaking last night but years ago had seized into place - no swivel. Local Ace hardware was ace

Thanks to a Honeywell leak detector, at 22:30 we woke to an extraordinarily loud beeping from under the sink & found there a fresh leak. Could have got worse fast. It’s leaking at the braided hose & coupling. That hose is integrated -not replaceable without a new faucet.

screen shot of Honeywell app alertshot water supply line leaking below kitchen sink

Took a walk around a small lake today and saw: 1) turtles sunning on a log; 2) a western meadow lark; 3) redwing blackbirds; 4) long billed curlews; and 5) a duck with a cool hairdo (hopefully).

many turtles sunning on a log in a small lakewestern meadow lark in flightredwing blackbirds in flight long billed curlews foraging for food near a lakea duck with a toupee

Audio calls where I have to talk are literally bad for my health hah. The two heart rate peaks after 9am were Teams calls. If not for my anxiety med, my peak heart rate would have likely been higher and sustained longer after a call.

I looked out into the backyard just in time to see a Nuttall’s Woodpecker investigating our cultivated elderberry and Ceanothus bushes. So cool!

woodpecker in ceanothus. the bird has white stripes on a black back.woodpecker climbing around an elderberry.