“Here comes the sun…” 🎶 Made radio contact with Australia at >9,000 miles this AM and this afternoon I made a contact in South Africa also >9,000 miles. The sun is being kind today.

Thanks to the recent increase in solar activity I was finally able to make a HF radio contact to Australia this morning. Just over 9,000 miles. One more country checked off ✅

In a similar vein to your crows, these two vultures (?) alighted on our fence as I sat on the back patio. It was rather disconcerting - they were larger than they seem in my crummy photo. They’re an unusual sight here. @cheri 🦅

It’s the little things: I updated my iPadOS to 15 and went straight into the Home app to name my automations. A slight increase in peace for my little brain😊. Almost makes up for the “what happened to my widgets” reaction.

Ruffles have ridges.

So does the sky.

Morning rays - lovely.

It was 100F yesterday. Today a “cold” front is coming through and it will be nearly 20 degrees cooler.

Out 12 year old wants to program some robots in Python. So I splurged on the Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit. A bit pricey but if it works well then it is a decent value. There is a lot it should be able to do.

I usually ignore iOS betas since features sometimes disappear along the way leaving me confused when it actually releases. Virtually none of the new features at the top of the list interest me. My interests are in the bottom half.

This morning’s agenda: EPL ⚽️ followed by NCAA 🏈

The Dell ultrabook we ordered for our 17 y/o daughter arrived today and I set it up. Part of the reason we bought Dell is it has relatively little bloatware pre-installed. But a McAfee web “tool” that snoops everything you browse took 30 minutes to track down and remove. 💻

Well Apple put on a high quality event again today. Pretty fast moving. But nothing influences me much. An always-on watch is still what I hope to buy next.

With the increase in Apple Watch size I wonder if I can go with a smaller one next time? Even the current one seems a bit big on my wrist.

When the iPhone 12 came out, we didn’t plan to upgrade from our 2 year old iPhones. But AT&T offered a great deal. We’ve been happy with the iPhone 12 so I don’t think we’ll upgrade this year. I am keenly interested in an always-on watch. Either a S6 on sale or this year’s model

The summer has been cooler than normal so our Thai chili peppers are coming late in the season. But they’re producing in quantity now with lots more to come. We’re grateful because we use these a lot!🌶

9/11 is the most memorable day of my life that didn’t involve an immediate family member. The world, not just the US, changed for the worse. I’m thankful to those whose ongoing vigilance helps keep us safe®. Lest evil prevail. 🇺🇸

I watched Sony’s Playstation showcase this afternoon. There’s some cool stuff coming but a number of games had no release date. And there’s the new Spider-Man coming… in 2023. 🎮🤷🏽‍♂️

The weather is lovely this morning with low humidity. I spent an hour on the back patio this morning updating my playlists with Apple’s spatial audio music. Feeling very productive. 😉 🎶

Cool looking clouds this morning. I believe they’re mammatus.

Lotta hot air in the neighborhood this morning.

Exercising at dawn

It arrived and it is a beauty! @burk

The start of something good: my wife is making my mom’s recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. They’re the family favorite! 🍪

TFW you hear your son on a FaceTime call helping the principal’s son with homework 😄

I’m contemplating purchase of a modest table saw. I’ve “made do”, poorly, but have a new custom shelf project in mind. If I don’t get a table saw there’s pretty much no way it will turn out decent. Good ones are heavy so portability will be factor. 🪵

I got a cappuccino from a new indie coffee shop today. They use beans I’ve not had before - from a Houston roaster called Luce. They also serve boba and gelato. Here’s hoping they do well in spite of Covid. ☕️

N.B. all cappuccinos are too small 😁