A stunning clear day today. Here’s Mt. Lassen from the Black Butte Dam. Quite the change from burn pile smoke of the last several days A scenic landscape featuring a rustic barn on rolling green hills, with sparse trees in the foreground. In the background, a snow-capped Lassen and mountain range is visible under a clear blue sky.

A nice, if breezy, day at Black Butte Reservoir. It was not great for bird watching… unless you prefer seagulls and vultures View of a dam with a concrete structure in the water, surrounded by hills and greenery under a clear blue sky. An orange floating boom extends across the water around the dam workings, with rocky terrain in the foreground.

A fire pit at a Christmas Market in Berlin, 2023 #Berlin #Travel #Fujifilm #SOoC People warming their hands around a fire pit with glowing logs.

USGS reports a M6.6 off Cape Mendocino. Here’s my seismograph curtesy of Raspberry Shake. Be sure to log a Did You Feel It at the USGS site. #CaWx #Earthquake The image shows an earthquake event off the coast of Northern California with a magnitude of 6.6, recorded on December 5, 2024, at 18:44:19 UTC. A map indicates the earthquake’s location off the coast of cape Mendocino.

well that was an earthquake that I felt. Thought I was losing it for a moment #CAWx #Earthquake

Berlin, December 2023. Looking across the Spree toward the Berlin Cathedral #Berlin #Travel #Fujifilm #SOoCA silhouette of a person stands under an archway with graffiti. In the background, a snowy scene features a river, a large historic building, and a domed church. Birds fly in the sky.

Frankfurt Airport train station on December 4, 2023 #Travel #Trains #EDDF #Fujifilm #SOoC A modern train station with a sleek, white train on the left platform. Passengers are walking and waiting near platforms 6 and 7. The scene is well-lit with a reflective ceiling and digital displays showing platform information. The photograph must be shooting from an escalator.

On this day in 2023, we began our trip to Germany. We flew KSFO-EDDF (Frankfurt) on United 777-3 reg. N2250U #Aviation #Avgeek #Travel #N2250U #B77W #KSFO An airport scene at SFO with a United Airlines 777 on the tarmac, a monorail train in the foreground, and a parking lot filled with cars. The background features airport buildings under a low overcast sky. The ground is damp. A United Airlines 777-3 is parked at the airport gate on a rainy day. Ground crew and equipment are visible around the aircraft. Overcast skies are in the background.

A random San Francisco photo, looking south down Main Street from Market Street. January 2023. #SanFranciso #Fujifilm #SOoCA San Francisco city street lined with tall buildings, some modern and some classic in design. There are tram lines above the road. A parked white truck is visible on the right, and blue glass modern skyscrapers are in the distance under a clear blue sky.

A very grim story - it doesn’t candy coat the great human tragedy of airplane crashes: “Chaos in the Clouds: The Crash of TWA Flight 514 and Its Lasting Impact on NoVA”

Our first frost! And so the birds are having a lousy morning (re)discovering frozen water #Birds 🪶 A pair of small birds, one with a red head, perched on the edge of a birdbath against a wooden fence background.

November 26 and we’ve already heard Last Christmas.

I nearly forgot to show-off this Ruby-crowned Kinglet that foraged in our backyard today. It loved the asparagus fronds, sweet basil, and grapes. It’s quite the rare to see their full crown! #RubyCrownedKinglet #Birds #Fujifilm #SOoC 🪶A small Ruby Crowned Kinglet with an olive-green body and a distinctive red mark on its head is perched among dry and green sweet basil shoots and leaves.

Big storm coming, the air is thick with smoke, so all the ag piles must be burning 🤢 glad we’ve an decent air filter This image shows a PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI) reading with two channels: Channel A at 169 and Channel B at 166, indicating poor air quality. A PM2.5 AQI history graph is displayed for the last half day and it’s all bad.

Yawman Arrow is celebrating MSFS2024’s release with a sale on their fantastically portable controller - $149 USD #YawmanArrow #MSFS2024 #FlightSim #XPlane #Aviation #AvGeek https://yawmanflight.com

More big birds from yesterday: a White Egret, a Red Tailed Hawk, and an Air India 777-2 VT-AEG flying SFO-DEL at 30,000 ft #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #WhiteEgret #RedTailedHawk #B77L #AI174 #AvGeek #Aviation #Fujifilm A white egret stands by a body of water in a marshy landscape with tall grasses. The background features distant trees and a clear sky. A red tailed hawk flying in the sky with wings spread wide. The bird’s plumage is a mix of light and dark brown patterns. A photo from below 777-200 LR Air India flight 174 from SFO to Delhi at flight level 30,000 ft. The plane has a red belly flying in a hazy blue sky.

Today’s best birds at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge includes a Bald Eagle, a Belted Kingfisher (!!!!!!), a well hidden Meadow Lark, and a Black Phoebe #BaldEagle #BeltedKingfisher #MeadowLark #BlackPhoebe #Birds #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm 🪶 A large Bald Eagle soaring in the sky.

A King Fisher perched on a bare tree branch against a blue sky, with some foliage visible below.

A Meadow Lark is hanging out among dry grass reeds near the edge of a pond.

A Black Phoebe is perched on dry, tall grass in a field.

“We have about the same number of federal employees than we had in the 1960s, even though the government does and spends a lot more now. As a percentage of the total population, the federal workforce is at historic lows” from Some basic math about cutting government - by Don Moynihan

Tankless Water Heater citric acid flush day! About 1.5lb citric acid to 3.5 gallons of water. Long ago I did the math to get the right pH and now I just trust it 😆⚖️A tankless water heater maintenance setup is shown. Two hoses are connected to the heater, with their ends immersed in a bucket filled with almost 4 gallons of water and 1.5lbs of citric acid crystals. An electric sump pump is in the bucket, connected to a power cord. The setup is on a concrete floor.

Big X-Plane 12 beta release! ATC now support SIDs, STARs, and the AIRAC cycle is now 2402, iirc updated from 1801. There’s lots more.. What’s new in X-Plane 12.1.3? #XPlane #FlightSim