“Hey Siri, play some music.” “Okay, let’s kick things off with Widespread Panic.” 😳
Working from home today - nationwide stress test of VPN.
It’s high time we start taking photos behind the flowers. Apricot flower.
Sous Vide London Broil (Beef)
We had a two pound London Broil in the freezer chest and nowhere to go because of SARS-CoV-2. Might as well try Sous Vide!
We did the water displacement method with a 1-gallon freezer bag. I massaged out as many air bubbles as possible. I also pinched the sides of the bag together. The idea is to make sure as much direct contact happens with as much meat surfaces as possible with water.
Glad lots of people are learning about public library eBooks. My library in rural California has had them for a while now and I love it. They’re also open saturdays!
Not going anywhere unless necessary so time to try Sous Vide London Broil. Just under two pounds of meat held at 132°F/55.6°C for 8 hours. Just salt and pepper for the beef. Will sear it to finish.
Cherry tree in full bloom.
At the USDA, I’m not allowed to telework as I haven’t been personally affected by SARS-CoV-2. I’m capable of telework and I prefer it. Guess they’re waiting for mass infections at workplaces first. USDA significantly curtailed telework ~two years ago.
There’s a retirement party this Saturday. Could be up to 100 people. So far it’s not postponed or cancelled. I started getting very anxious over SARS-CoV-2 so I’m no longer going.
This morning’s view out the backyard window. The California Lilacs (purple!) are out of control. Mandarin in the foreground. Elderberry to the far left.
A successful section of our vegetative fence line screen. Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), California Lilac (Ceanothus), and a Mandarin tree. A few years in the making.
Wow first earthquake I’ve experienced in a very long time. Off Cape Mendocino. It was a slow roll. Made me slightly nauseous and confused at first. Filed Did You Feel It.
Sunset over the Pacific. Two versions, no filter, just different exposure settings. iPhone 11 Pro 2x. Northern California.
Gray Whale spouts (center photo) off the coast of Northern California.
Western toad hanging out in one of our irrigation boxes. We have a wildlife ramp in there for this reason.
A Very Good Overcomplicated Journal Workflow
Our journal workflow is probably more complicated than it needs to be. There’s room to optimize this workflow. It grew out of our moving away from Day One when they went to the subscription model. At the time there were some terrible limitations and we wanted none of it. Instead, we went with a semi-automated method involving iOS Shortcuts, iOS Notes, 1Writer, Homebrew (for Pandoc and LaTeX toolchain), and my favorite Swiss army knife GraphicConverter. The final archival format of each journal entry is a beautiful, open standard and searchable PDF generated by Pandoc using LaTeX (MiKTeX distribution).
European honeybee on a California Lilac (Ceanothus). 🐝
Our front yarden sage plants (first two photos) and all the Ceanothus are now flowering.
Our apricot had its first bloom today. A few weeks ahead last year. This tree has rarely yielded fruit. 🤞🌳
Our cherry tree had its first bloom today.
