Kīlauea is erupting, and at night it is mesmerizing: www.youtube.com/watch

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

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.

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.

Black Saddlebags spotted on my walk just now #BlackSaddlebags #Insects #InsectPhotography

A black saddlebag insect on Russian thistle(?). The insect has clear long rectangular black areas on its wings.

Here’s our Northern California seismograph for the M8.8 earthquake at Kamchatka. Impressive. Took about 10 minutes to reach our town. Not sure what the signal was 15 minutes before it though.

Edit: Looking at the timing, the 15-minute earlier signal was likely me coming home from work & closing the front security door #Earthquake #RaspberryShake #Seismograph

A screen capture of a RaspiShake seismograph showing the M8.8 spiking clearly at around 23:34 GMT.

Another nectarine harvest. This time, 4 pounds. Smelling more fragrant this time! A few came off with a tug (yellower stems) but most still need shears. Also, our milkweed has busted open their pods and omg the tufts are so soft! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Milkweed #Yarden

Four pounds of dark red to red to yellow nectarines piled up in a metal colander.A milkweed pod is releasing its seeds, which are ready to wind carried away by their fluffy, white tufts. The pods are cone shaped and split down the middle to release their seeds.

#RedSidedGarterSnake #Snakes #SnakePhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOCA Red-sided garter snake is amidst grass and forbs, with its head facing the camera and its body resting in a U-shape such that part of the snake wraps around to comes towards the camera. The snake has red and dark grey patterned sides with beige stripes along the bottom and top. The snake's upper head is red with large eyes. Its mouth is beige.

Trail on the Trillium Falls Trail at Redwood National and State Parks #FootPathFriday #RedwoodsNP #Redwoods #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoC

A dirt footpath that is set with diamond cement stones has shadows cast on it in a wooded area full of ferns and conifer trees. A person with dark clothes, a back pack, and a shade hat is down the path. A tree casts a shadow directly on the path.

#WhiteTailedKite #Birds #BirdPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A White-tailed kite, soaring above under overcast skies, is gliding away from the camera, showing its belly and an eye. It has a mostly white body with its wings fading to grey. Its neck has a rust-red collar.

#Wrensday #MarshWren #Birds #BirdPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A tiny Marsh Wren, kind of far from the photographer, is perched on a reed, just below a fluffy cat-tail head. The Marsh Wren is looking to the right, with its near vertical short tail just visible behind the reed. It is within a sea of other cat tails, all with fluffy stuff hanging off them.

#Rabbit #RabbitPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A relaxed brown little rabbit, in profile view, sits on a path in front of some thorny berry bushes.

Redwoods, likely grown together, on the Trillium Falls Trail at Redwood National and State Parks #ThickTrunkTuesday #RedwoodsNP #Redwoods #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SOoC

A very thick trunk red wood is straight down a foot path through a wooded area. The tree top of the giant redwood can be viewed at the top of the photo, as it has broken through the canopy and is shining brightly in sunlight. Below its canopy, everything is shaded with some dappled sunlight.

Our lone Mexicola avocado! Maybe this’ll be its first fruit to make it to maturity? It’s a long slog. #HomeOrchard #Avocado #Yarden

A small avocado, about 5-fingers long & 3 fingers wide, hangs alone in the canopy of an avocado tree. A hand front provides scale.

#GreaterYellowLegs #Birds #BirdPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A Greater Yellowlegs shorebird has a small fish or minnow hanging from its beak. The bird is mostly grey with black vertical markings here and there, especially on its wings. Its eyes are very dark and its legs are orange yellow. It is standing alone in a very shallow pond on an overcast day.

Started our Nectarine harvest. Last year they got bug infested but not this year. So far. One branch got majorly overloaded 😬 so I harvested it first. #HomeOrchard #Yarden

A metal colander filled with ripe red to yellow nectarines and a few green leaves.A tree laden with nectarines stands in a rocky garden area. One branch, the closest one, is seriously overloaded.

#SilentSunday #GreatEgret #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

Far in the foggy distance, a hoard of bright white Great Egrets commune atop very tall trees. This is likely a rookery. They can be seen near each other and sometimes there are further away introverted egrets. The trunks of the trees are just visible below the egrets resting in the canopy.

#GreatEgret #Birds #BirdPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A very close Great Egreg stands tall in a pond, both black legs visible, looking to the right. Its yellow eyes and closed orange beak stand out. The Egret has traces of brown sludge on its neck and tail. Its reflection is in the pond, though it is slightly obscured by some extremely blurry vegetation.

Outdoor backyard irrigation system fixed & weeds removed. That’s it for outdoors stuff! #Yarden #CaWx #DripIrrigation

A freshly reseated irrigation 20 PSI pressure reducer with drip hose T adapter. The area is freshly dug out for access. Dropped leaves cover most the ground.Bundles of 12V irrigation wires in a compact above ground black valve assembly, surrounded by dry leaves. Pressure reducers abs drip adapters are visible.

That’s a beak-full. Took some time for them to swallow the whole fish. #GreatEgret #Birds #BirdPhotography #NorCalCoast2025 #Fujifilm #SoOC

A Great Egret. all white except its black legs, stands on the shore of a pond, with a fish horizontal in its beak. The fish head and tail can be seen. An uncaring brown duck paddles past. Behind the egret is a grassy area that has been cut back to bare soil by past pond high water.