I’m at a store and I’ve been waiting 45 minutes for a stock person to get something out of the back. This is why people prefer to shop online.

Some time at the vise.

A nice Jack in the Pulpit I noticed this afternoon.

Took some stream water samples today for eDNA testing. Saw some bloodroot and Jack in the Pulpit.

Video tip: If you need portrait orientation/9:16 phone video, choose New > App Preview in iMovie.

I’m glad that works, but it is wild that we need to use workarounds in Apple’s pre-installed video editing app to edit videos from iPhones in their standard orientation.

What should I make with these ramps?

I used to want digital, internet-connected everything. Now I want:

• A pomodoro timer that actually looks like a tomato and has zero chips or digital displays.
• A wind up mechanical watch.
• A dryer without internet connection.
• No voice assistants in the house.

I put in a reverse osmosis water filter system under the sink today. Took about 90 minutes, which included collecting my tools, drilling a hole in my sink, and following the instructions.

I picked the iSpring RCC7AK. It is working nicely so far and we can taste the difference in a side-by-side comparison.

One low-key long-term project I have is trying different variations of the Kingston Negroni to find the best combination of rum + bitter amaro + sweet vermouth. Tonight’s version of OFTD + Aperol + Carpano Antico is the best so far, easily topping the 8 previous iterations.

High temp recorded on the weather station today was 87.6F.

It was hot enough that we realized our car’s AC needed recharging, so Charlie and I worked on that after dinner.

Charlie and I took a walk down at the pier tonight. I asked all the old fishermen, “Stripers here yet?”

They all said, “Not yet, 1-2 weeks.”

Time to tie some big striper patterns.

Excellent afternoon yesterday taking Charlie out for a row in Constitution Marsh after school. It is fun that he is at an age now where we can do this regularly!

Some yard flowers blooming today.

Trying out some float bags on the Guideboat. These are actually inflatable dock bumpers.

Why is call spam getting so bad? I’ve received 21 spam calls in the last 24 hours. I am now silencing all unknown callers, which I was hesitant to do before, but this spam is just too much.

How long until we only leave our internet plugged in when we need to use it, and disconnect it the rest of the time? I’ve been slowly dismantling the Internet of Things devices we rely on, but as AI models like Mythos come out, it makes me want to disconnect most things most of the time.

Caught a nice little brook trout today on a dry fly, a CDC little black stone, size 16. This one is probably 2-3 years old given the faint, fading parr marks.

Update on the forced rhubarb.

On a walk in the woods I came across some atypical daffodils. I think they might be called Double Daffodils?

Today was the day of too much paperwork. Taxes, filing reimbursements, bill payments, getting quotes on solar panel installation, quotes on life insurance, and estate planning documents. I’m exhausted.