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I have a lot of ladder angst. So pole pruners are a revelation. I’m very happy that I finally bought one! So, with some help from my wife to support the pole in awkward positions, our oldest, and tallest, apricot tree is now top pruned and is ready for spring #HomeOrchard

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It is almost asparagus season! Last year we had enough for a snack. Perhaps this year we’ll have a nice side dish #Asparagus #Gardening #Yarden

A reddish green asparagus spear about 1/2” thick is in front of a hand. It is about twice as wide as the hand.
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Finally, I got a telephoto of the hawk hanging out around our backyard. Looks like a Red-shouldered Hawk, not a Red-tailed
#RedShoulderedHawk #Birds #BirdPhotography #Fujifilm #SOoC

A Red-shouldered hawk sits in a Tree of Heaven, ever watchful. It is mostly brownish-red with white patches, especially on its chest. It has some slicked back feathers upon its head. Its beak is black at the tip and orange closer to the face. Some blurry elderberry leaves obscure a portion of the bird.

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I wasn’t home but a hawk visited our backyard this morning AND the eggplant seeds sprouted (talk about spring-loaded) #RedTailedHawk #Gardening

A photo from under an awning, looking past grave vines toward a red tail hawk about 20 feet away, in a tree, with a bit of morning glow upon its feathers. A tiny green sprout in the center of a seed starting tray sugg moist soil. It’s brightly lit and the back of the plastic cover can be seen in the distance with condensation dripping down

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“I ONLY HAVE ONE LEG, COME AT ME!” - Western Meadowlark #WesternMeadowLark

#Birds #BirdPhotography #LlanoSeco #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #SOoC

A meadow lark is perched upon a swing gate, with only one leg, and its back to the camera. Its head is turned to the left, beak open, as if it is singing. A patch of orange can be seen on its throat and behind its beak. The rest of the bird is mottled brown and white. The background is blurred out but there's a strip of green among the brown.

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Last night's rising moon, near the horizon, through a whole lot of atmosphere and some wispy clouds #Moon

A yellow-orange glowing moon where some of the darker maria can be seen as splotches. There's a shape kind of like a dog wearing oversized sunglasses. Or so my partner says. There's a vague hint of glowing clouds in front of the moon.

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My wife started seeds today. Lots of peppers, tomatoes, and Japanese eggplant. Spring is coming.

A seed starter tray with a grow lamp turned on. A thermometer reads 70.5° in front of the tray
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Today I juiced & heat pasteurized about 20 pounds of backyard mandarins for breakfast juice. Quite the bounty this year. Here’s a photo of one compost bucket filled with some of the remains #HomeOrchard #Yarden

A small 1/4 gallon (maybe?) plastic bucket full of bright orange mandarin skins, pith, seeds, and pulp. It’s sitting in front of a sliding glass door, against cabinets on a linoleum floor with a speckled leaf pattern.
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Today we stumbled across some magnificent Sandhill Cranes. These badasses were right off the side of a California state highway #SandhillCrane #BirdPhotography #Birds #Fujifilm #SOoC

Nine Sandhill Cranes in a shallow pond, slowly walking to the left. All the surrounding vegetation is brown. The large birds, with viciously sharp bills, have bright red on their foreheads. Their feathers are white to brown with a bit of rust red on the wing feathers.

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I better prune my fruit trees & grapes today. The trees are already a few weeks away from flowering #HomeOrchard #Yarden

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At the refuge yesterday, we spotted a Bald Eagle nest and suddenly both eagles swooped down and flew low along a pond, disturbing a whole lot of Snow Geese

#BaldEagle #SnowGoose #Birds #BirdPhotography #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #SOoCA Bald Eagle Nest is visible high up in a eucalytpus tree. It's massive, maybe the size of a VW bug. A bald eagle is exiting the nest, with its wings stretched out.A bald eagle soars along a pond, showing off its prominent white head and tail, with some grassy islands and snow geese floating away a short distance along a shore.A whole bunch of snow geese, maybe several dozen, are flying upwards after being disturbed by a couple of bald eagles. They were resting on land where there's some green vegetation but beyond it's all brown along with the trees. The black tips of the snow geese are prominent. There's some other geese mixed in of unknown species.

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A moment of calm.

Lesser Goldfinch at the refuge today #LesserGoldFinch #Birds #BirdPhotography #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #SOoC

A yellow bodied and gray winged lesser gold finch, in sunlit profile view, facing to the right. It is on a bunch of long stemmed, brown, hive-shaped dried seed heads. The backgroud is completely blurred out.

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Tule fog is back in time for the geomagnetic storm. I shouldn’t of jinxed myself earlier #NorCal #CAWx

A foggy residential neighborhood with about a quarter mile visibility. The end of the street is barely visible about 5 houses down.

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This Orange-crowned Warbler was flitting between our backyard nectarine and grapevines, snatching gnats that had beacons made of sunlight shining off their bug wings

#Yarden #HomeOrchard #OrangeCrownedWarbler #Birds #BirdPhotography #Fujifilm #SOoC

A very yellow Orange Crowned Warbler is perched on a tiny dormant stem of a grape vine almost as thick as the bird is round (maybe 2-3 inches). The bird is looking to the left, with something reflecting in its eye. The grapevine’s bark is splitting off. The background is completely blurred.

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Short Flight Factor 777-2 v. 2 for X-Plane 12 Review

Wherein Ryan mostly gripes but then recommends other aircraft without those gripes #Aviation #XPlane12 #FlightSim

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Nass geworden (Got Wet) #FotoVorschlag #VancouverAt Stanley Park, Vancouver, with copper sculpture of modestly dressed, cross legged, senior lady, with bunned hair and big sun glasses, that has had her nails painted violet and looks like she's crying because of the rain drops

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May 2, 2025: Lufthansa B747-8 (D-ABYM) SFO-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany)
#HumpDay #B747 #Aviation #AvGeek #PlaneSpotting #FujifilmA Boeing 747, owned and operated by Lufthansa, taxies at SFO to 28L. Its at an angle, but the sun is fully illuminating its right side. It is set against buildings and brown hills of South San Francisco. The bay in front is a bit choppy and the photo was taken somewhere above powerlines, as they are visible at the bottom edge of the photo.

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December 14, 2025: Emirates A380-8 (A6-EUF), SFO-DXB (Dubai), using 28R  #ThickTailTuesday #A6EUF #A380 #PlaneSpotting #AvGeek #Aviation #Fujifilm

An Airbus 380 is nose-on to the camera, showings its clearly thick tail reaching high above the ground. Its nose gear is turning so it is about to leave the taxiway for a runway. The sky is hazy yet still tinted blue. The bay in front of the runways is calm.

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‘Kartonagen’ (Cardboard boxes) #FotoVorschlag #CatA orange cat is in a box outside a dumpster on blacktop. It is upside-down and open with korean lettering on it along with a tree graphic.

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#SilentSunday #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm

Dozens of blackbirds are evenly perched in four leafless, dormant trees against a hazy blue sky. Some of the birds may be starlings as they more brown than black,