I almost missed that today, April 18, is the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It is a good reminder to put together or inspect your emergency kit #Geology #Earthquake

And now for something completely different: a Robin hunting along the edge of a man-made marsh #AmericanRobin #TurdusMigratorius #Birds #BirdPhotography #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #SOoCA Robin, with a nice red belly and chest, looks out over the edge of a watery marsh. There are spears of green popping up here and there and a lot of brown vegetative material and soil. The bird looks very patient but also poised to launch after a meal.

Trump admin attempts to contain blowback from Forest Service ‘reorganization’

Because when you tell a scientist with twenty years of place-based research, a mortgage, a spouse with a career, and children in school to pack up and relocate to a consolidated office that has nothing to do with the ecosystem they’ve spent their career studying, they don’t move. They leave.

Yesterday: my wife’s view of San Diego International tower from an E-175 (I’m not traveling with her) #AvGeek #Aviation #E175

An over wing view on an Alaskan Airlines (SkyWest) Embraer 175 upon landing at San Diego International Airport. The speed brakes are up and the winglet with blue to green swooshes is prominent. The tower is visible along with an assortment of jets, including FedEx. It’s a cloudy day with very thin stratus.

My wife is near Yosemite for work. It’s a gorgeous day there. #Yosemite #Halfdome

A view down the Yosemite Valley with Half Dome in the center. It’s a partly cloudy day and there’s a dusting of snow atop the mountain peaks. Patches of bare granodiorite contrast with the surrounding conifer forests.

Decent M5.7 earthquake east of Carson City, Nevada. I personally didn’t feel it but my RaspberryShake did #Earthquake #RaspberryShake #CitizenScience

A clear seismograph of a earthquake east of Carson City, as detected by a RaspberryShake 274Km away, west of Chico

In 2025, a rogue mullein plant began growing in the front. It has flowered and it is a Wand Mullein or Twiggy Mullein. I’ve no idea where the seed originated. I’ve never seen it in the neighborhood. I like its flowers. I’ll harvest the seeds and sow them somewhere more reasonable #BloomScrolling

A big central spike of alternating flowers and buds. The flowers have yellow petals with a purple center. The leaves near the bottom of the spike are serrated. The background is blurred.

Please enjoy these 737 speed brakes, courtesy of my wife. Landing at ONT and then SMF  #Aviation #AvGeek #B737 Overwing view of a Southwest 737 Max 8 with speed brakes fully deployed when landing at Ontario, California. The brakes are not quite vertical and the flaps are probably around 30 degrees. It's a smoggy day in Ontario, CA.An over wing view of a Southwest B737-700 landing at Sacramento International on an overcast day. The speed brakes are about half deployed while the flaps are around 30 degrees. Arrows near the window point the way off the jet during an emergency.

So these stickers are real. Photo taken by my wife in Ontario, California #USPol

A gas pump panel with a sticker of Trump pointing at $5.99/gallon regular gasoline and saying “I did that”

My wife flew over Yosemite today on the way to SoCal. She snagged a nice photo of the Yosemite Valley & Half Dome (center) #Aviation #AvGeek #Yosemite

A view out a left passenger windup with a view of a 737 Max wing with Southwest style winglets. It’s a mostly clear sky with Yosemite below where the Sierra Creat still has some snow and Half Dome rises prominently over the green & snowless U-shaped Yosemite Valley

#SilentSunday #Rabbit #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge

A rabbit sits across a road with crosswalk stripes, facing left. Its shadow is long on a sunny day. It is surrounded by compacted tan dirt of a levee and just beyond the levee is dense vegetation. There’s a sign post to the rabbit’s right with an arrow facing right.

At the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, a beautiful and lonnnnng gopher snake was sunning on the trail #GopherSnake #Snake #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #FujifilmA three or four foot long gopher snake, mostly stretched out, along a barren sun-scorched path. It is mostly dark brown with even darker brown patches, though its pattern is hard to see here. The sun is glinting off its back along its farthest curves.

Yellow-rumped warblers are still actively hunting in our backyard, especially in the afternoons when the sun is low and highlighting flying insects #YellowRumpedWarbler #BirdPhotography #Birds #Fujifilm #SOoC

A male Yellow-rumpef warbler, perched on the top of a blue tomato cage, is poised to take flight after flying insects. The oblique profile view clearly shows wings are slightly out and its yellow rump and throat are blazing. It is a very serious hunter.

Our milkweed are literally popping up now. This is their third year #Milkweed #Yarden #NativePlants

Several milkweed stems with young vertical leaves are popped out of the ground. They have very thick stems despite being only a few inches high. There’s a trunk drip line visible and a 1/4-incu line with an emitter in view.

The two avocado trees (type A & B) are in full bloom & the bees are going to town. Meanwhile, the two oranges, ceanothus, poppies, and sages are flowering. It’s a lovely but intense smell out there 🤗 #Yarden #HomeOrchard

Today the yellow-skinned New Century asian pear is in full bloom. It is just in time to help pollinate the brown skinned Hosui asian pear, which is at the end of its bloom. The New Century asian pear tree wants to be a cherry tree. #BloomScrolling #Yarden #HomeOrchardA New Asian Pear tree, quite young, has many clusters of cherry-stemmed white flowers with yellow centers. The leaves are narrow and freshly green.

My wife seeded these tomatoes indoors February 1st 😍 #Gardening #Yarden

Four juvenile tomato plants, about 6-8” tall, in medium compostable pots green to teas leaves. Some leaves are narrower than others as they’re all different varieties

In the central valley, it’s very much Iris and California Poppy Season/ #YardenA giant Iris flower, very purple or indigo, with orange in their petal center, stands among bright orange clusters of California Poppy that are not quite open for the day. A coil of hose and a trigger sprayer is on the ground below the iris.

After over a year of being fallowed (b/c life), our crop rows are now dressed with compost & fresh drip tape deployed. In a few weeks, planting our seedlings of peppers, tomato, eggplant, & holy basil will begin #Yarden #Gardening

Three crop rows, separated by about 1.5 feet of gravel, have fresh drip tape down their centers. A corrugated shed is open in the distance. The yard is surrounded by wood fencing and shrubs

Natural compost, years in the making. Mostly thanks to worms & other decomposers. Time to transport some of it to our three crop rows

A dark, moist mound of ready compost next to a mound of active compost filled with organic matter and lots of coarse lignified material.