Experimenting with SPAM callers - 17 June 2025

We have a landline.  We have it for A Reason, so do not shame me.  We have had it for 30 years with the same number.   We get buckets of SPAM calls on the landline and have for years.  We originally subscribed to Caller ID so that we could know when a "real" person is calling, but that has its limits.  Most of the time, we have ignored the calls and let them rollover to the voicemail recorder.  Over the last two to three years, the SPAM calls stepped up and we now get one or two per hour.  This is annoying.  I have noticed that a lot of them are silent calls - no evident caller, just silence. As an experiment, I recently I started to answer these calls.  Many are still silent and hang up after 10-15 seconds, but some are actual callers: still SPAM, but a real person calling on the line.  I ask these people to remove me from their list and tell them we are on the Washington state do-not-call registry, but that does not seem to affect them; they usually just hang up and I am only hoping that they stop calling.  This practice has done little to reduce the SPAM calling rates.  I have even tried calling back the numbers on the Caller ID, but that usually goes nowhere and I believe the Caller ID info from spammers is pretty thoroughly spoofed.

So I started a new experiment this week:  I answer the calls but say nothing.  Ideally, I would mute my end, but that is buried in some menu and I am too lazy to find it, so I just listen.  No response from me, just silence.  Our house is quiet enough that it really is silent.  My theory is that the calling system will hear the silence and conclude that ours is a dead number (e.g., that they have discovered another outbound-calls-only spammer).  I hope this encourages them to start removing our number from the spammer lists.  We shall see.

If there is an actual caller that comes on the line, I will ask some key questions - who are they calling, who are they, and so on.  This usually reveals some business just rolling through the (proverbial) phone book looking for business - calls from realtors who want to flip the house, from builders who want to do some remodeling, or some other damn thing.  I have just been asking for them to remove us from their call lists, but I am now going to try to collect enough informationt that I will be able to identify them.  I have not decided what I will do with this information (report them to the WA Attorney General, name-and-shame them on social media, perhaps something else).  We shall see.

Photo: Gargoyle, Hospices de Beaune, France, 2025.

Jury Duty Across the Years - 20 June 2024

I have had several calls for jury duty in multiple states across multiple decades.  My early jury duty was in Chicago in the 1980s, then there was a long blank period in Massachusetts, and then three calls to jury duty in Washington.  Each of them contributed to my understanding of the legal process in the United States.  Although not entirely pleasant, I strongly recommend that everyone serve on a jury duty at some time in their life, earlier if possible.

The first jury duty call was in metro Chicago.  Chicago had a one-day-one trial jury process.  We reported for jury duty for one day, and if not empaneled onto a jury, we were done.  If we were empaneled, we served for one case.  

For this case, we waited in a pool for the morning and were released for lunch.  When we came back from lunch at 1pm, we were told that the defendant had accepted a plea deal and we were dismissed.  Evidently this is common.

The second jury duty call in Chicago was for a drug case.  I was put on a jury for a drug case.  A defendant had been found in a basement apartment, fleeing from police officers.  An officer came into the room to see the defendant sitting on the bed in skimpy clothing (I no longer recall the details, but "underwear and a man's shirt" would not be too far off).  Searching the room, the officer found a syringe in the wastebasket.  The officer arrested the woman on drug possession charges.   A lab report (submitted in evidence) later confirmed the presence of an illicit drug on the syringe.  The officer told the jury that the defendant must have been holding the syringe when the cops burst in, she dashed to her bedroom and tossed the syringe into the wastebasket.

Complication #1: The officer did not see the syringe or any drugs in the hands of the defendant, and she testified that the drugs belonged to her boyfriend (not present at the time of the arrest).  

Complication #2: her fingerprints were not on the syringe.

If convicted, this would be the third drug conviction for the defendant and she would be sent to prison for a long, long time (10 years or longer).

The officer told the jury that a group of officers were responding to a report of domestic violence when they came across the defendant.  When she ran, they chased her into the basement apartment.

Complication #3:  The defendant did not live at the address associated with the domestic violence.  The police were at the wrong address. 

Given a choice of conviction or release, the jury did not find enough evidence of a crime by the defendant.  

The next jury duty call was in Massachusetts.  The MA rules were for two-days-one-trial and my first day in the pool was uneventful.  I was selected on the second day for a workman's compensation case.  A man working as a plasterer was standing on a moveable scaffold when it collapsed, injuring the man.  He had been studying to become a mycologist, and the injury meant that he was incapable of performing the physical duties of raising mushrooms (hefting heavy bags of compost, etc.).  The man was suing the scaffold company for lost wages and lost opportunities.  Each side brought in witnesses and experts to present their story.  The dueling experts were professors, one explaining that the caster would fail in a way to cause the injury, and the other explaining that the caster failing could not happen without damage to the caster (therefore the scaffolding company would not be liable and someone else would be).  Everyone agreed that the accident happened and that a failed caster contributed; the question was the cause and timing of the failure of the caster and the answer would point to a different party.  Some miscellaneous facts that I recall:  the scaffold was discarded after it failed and the claimant had to return to the worksite to pull it from the on-site garbage pile; there was no chain of custody of the scaffold;  and the casters were to be inspected each day before use by the workmen before they used the scaffold.  

It was a hung jury split down the middle, six and six.  We were told after the trial that the injured workman had already been covered for medical expenses under Workman's Compensation (fund, laws).  We were not told this and only presented with a question of liability and the damages (if any) were to be based on liability and lost income.  This was also the second trial; the first trial had also resulted in a hung jury.  I do not know if the workman went for a third trial.  

I was called for jury duty since then, but my wife received the call and explained that I had just served for a week of jury duty withn the year, and the clerk marked by records so that I would be exempted for two years.  That was twenty years ago and I have not been called since.

As citizens, we have few formal duties.  Follow the laws, vote, and serve on juries.  Service on a jury gives deep and personal insight into how the laws are applied and how citizens are deprived of their liberty.  We should each welcome jury duty.

Eclipsis Ipsa - 8 April 2024

Astronomy is the Sport of Optimists in the PNW. 

Twas a bit of a disappointment in Seattle today.  It was supposed to be the day of the great North American Eclipse of 2024, but we had two things going against us.  First, it was overcast and raining.  I know this comes as a surprise given the general climate in Seattle, but we had some sunny days this past week and will have a few more this coming week, but not today.  Second, we were only in the 10-20% band, so the eclipse, had it been visible, would have been a small notch in the bottom of the disc of the sun.  Not a terribly memorable visual and not much of an impact on the overall solar illumination.

As a small consolation, have some chocolate-covered gummi bears.

Washington 2024 Presidential Primary Results - 13 March 2024

Yesterday was the Washington Presidential Primary for Republicans and Democrats.  Washington does not require a voter to be registered in a particular party, but the voter does need to declare a preference or an affiliation for the election.  Once declared, a particular voter cannot vote for candidates from the other parties.  I did not see an Independent or an Other option, however there were protest votes.  On the Democratic side, there was a campaign underway for people to vote Uncommitted, and on the Republican side, there is a continuing effort for Nikki Haley even though she has formally withdrawn from the primary contest.  The results were that 85.6% of Democratic primary votes went to Biden while 7.5% of ballots went to uncommitted delegates, leaving 6.9% in some other category.  On the Republican side, Trump picked up 74% of votes, Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race but was still on the ballot, is pulling 22%, and the remainder were scattered for Ron DeSantis (also dropped) and some miscellaneous categories.  Some of Haley's 22% represents cross-over Democrats doing protest votes, but we cannot determine how many.  

The uncommitted-as-protest group will claim victory based on the 7.5%, however the significance of the Uncommitted vote is unclear.  The 7.5% participation is a small number of the whole and no one knows what it would have been without the protest vote.  Therefore the other side (who?) can also declare victory.  In the end, the uncommitted-as-protest campaign was much sound and fury signifying nothing.

As in the last decade, the vote was primarily by mail with scattered drop boxes usually located near libraries, post offices, and the like.   I have not heard any reports of irregularities.  

As of "Super Tuesday", Trump and Biden have clinched the required number of delegates to secure their nominations.  For all intents and purposes, the Presidential campaign season has begun.

Seattle Nisqually Earthquake 2001 - 28 February 2024

Twenty-three years ago was the Good Friday Nisqually Earthquake.  At 10:54am, I was sitting with my boss, Gene Pope, in his Amazon.com office near S. Weller and 5th Ave S in Seattle, near the International District.  At first, it sounded like a freight train rumbling from the distance and then, the shaking started.  The lights were suspended on cables from the ceiling and I remember watching them swing back and forth, swinging wider as the shaking continued.  Someone was standing nearby in an area of cubbys and I yelled something like "get under the furniture".  I do not recall if he moved or not.  After an eternity or two, the shaking stopped and we started to assess what we had.  The Seattle bus tunnel was closed for a couple of hours while the engineers checked it for damage.  After it opened, I took a bus home and continued work from there.  

There used to be an "earthquake rose" but the original seems to have been pulled from the internet.  You can read about it here -- 

https://inhabitat.com/a-beautiful-and-mysterious-rose-created-by-an-earthquake-and-a-pendulum/

Annular Eclipse - 14 Oct 2023

Swinging across North America today is an annular eclipse.  The path of the shadow enters the US west coast in Oregon and swoops southwest toward Texas.  Seattle is somewhere in the 80-90% range, yeilding a crescent partial eclipse.  If the weather were better, we might have gone southward to see it, but overcast and raining was the forcast, and that is what we got overnight with partial clearing in the morning.  Clearing enough to see some of the eclipse.

The photo shows the peak of the eclipse as projected onto our driveway.  The mechanics of this effect are complex.  The driveway is unusually reflective from the overnight rain.  There is a small maple tree in the copse of woods that produces an array of pinholes.  The same effect is not seen in other areas where only evergreens (trees with needles) or rhododendrons are growing.  Finally, one needs to be standing in just the right place to see the crescents.  When standing off to the side or too far back, one sees just a blur of light and no crescents.

Smoke has passed - 21 May 2023

Earlier this week, we had smoke in metro-Seattle that came from the forest fires in British Columbia.  At this writing, winds have blown the smoke to the interior, to central Washington, and cleared the air around Seattle and the Salish Sea.

If you look closely at the photo, there is a golden haze in the air, almost like a tint from an artist's brush.  This should set off alarms as those rhodies should be white, not off-white, and the evergreens should be a richer green and not be that brownish.  Smoke in the air.  This is early in the season for fires to be this big.  And the fires in Alberta are worse than those in BC; the BC fires just happen to be close to the border.  Not a good sign for 2023.

Visitors in the side yard, 30 October 2022 (15 October 2022)

 Bobcats, I think.

There are three, perhaps a small family unit on the prowl.  

Original image: 15 October 2002 in the middle of the afternoon.

ETA: formatting.

File Extensions - 19 February 2022

Many moons ago, in the times known as 1997 or so, I was working for Digital Equipment Corporation, commonly known as DEC.  Although the use of the name "DEC" was disparaged by much of the corporation in favor of "digital" (with the small 'd'), I was working in a location proudly known as DECwest in Bellevue WA.  I had been working in the UNIX OS storage software group, named variously Ultrix, DEC OSF/1, and eventually DEC UNIX, but it became time for a change, so I was interviewing for a position in the Windows group.  

In one of the interviews, I was talking to an engineer (rather senior, as I recall) and he asked a question:  how would my program check the file type.  In brief diversion, the file type was simply the type of information contained within a file, be it a directory, a text file, a photo file, an executable file, and so on.  Knowing he was in the Windows group, I gave first the Windows answer; viz., check the file extension.  In this way, ".txt" is a text file, ".jpg" is a photo file in JPEG format, ",exe" is an executable, ".doc" is a text file in WORD format, and so on.  Before he could go on to the next question, I added quickly that this was totally unreliable.  with a trivial name change ('rename'), a file could be marked as any type of file with no regard to the actual contents.  This would cause endless user confusion; "I open the '.doc' file and the application crashes all the time" because someone had renamed a '.txt' file to end with a '.doc'.  Therefore, I counseled, a careful programmer would open the file and look for signature information.  This signature inspection might be guided by the file extension, but the extension should only be treated as a hint or a starting point.  The interviewer did not like this answer because it was, in fact, a major short-coming in Windows.  

I got the job, anyway.

Siriously - 15 February 2022

After a trial period of three months, after repeated hounding, and with a final offer, I have succumbed to SiriusXM.

My then-new car came with a trial subscription to SiriusXM.  It was free (or included), so I gave it a try.  It had come with a rental car and  I had enjoyed that little experience, so I figured it would be something useful to listen to on those long highway drives.  During the trial, my actual results were mixed.  There were spots where service faded out.  I was not really surprised by the tunnels and overpasses, but driving down tree-lined roads seemed to be a problem.  In particular, there is a stretch of a nearby arterial, an uphill bit with overhanging trees, that repeatedly faded out.  At the end of my free trial, I decided that the value simply was not there.  The situation was compounded because COVID hit, and my time in the car dropped dramatically.  I will soon work out the numbers, but my daily car driving went to the odd trip out, so the implied value of the SiriusXM service dropped.  I let the free trial drop.

In December, I received a three-month trial offer from SiriusXM.  As it did not require a credit card, I was free of the automatic-sign-up problem and I took it.  I have been trying it in the car, and it has been OK.  Initially, there was a lot of Christmas music and then I switched over to Beatles and Oldies with a bit of Jazz.  It has been OK, but the fading seems to be unchanged (that same hilly bit on the nearby arterial continues to fade).  However, SiriusXM is branching out and now has a streaming service that works through the SiriusXM app and through Amazon Alexa.  That is a nice addition, and I am getting rather addicted to the capability.  

The final straw came when SiriusXM offered me a final-final-final deal:  five bucks a month for a year, plus the "premium" service (I think that means the streaming), and a free Amazon Alexa device.  Although I do not need yet another Alexa device, that basically makes the offer free, so I bit.  I have subscribed for a year.  We shall see where this leads us.  I did set a reminder for about 12 months from now so that I remember to make a decision about renewal.

 

Espresso and Preparing for Spring - 7 February 2022

Espresso machines have proven to be more complicate that I thought.  And the last couple days have had sunny spots that broke out of the pattern of rain.  I used the sunny bits to get some yard work done.   

I recently came into the possession of an older espresso machine made by La Pavoni, a manual machine called the Professional.  It is an advancement over the prior machine called the Europiccola by adding a pressure gauge, a drip tray, and a wand for steaming milk.  The particular machine was purchased in about 1980-1990 from a store in San Francisco CA that has since closed.  To test the machine, I need to get a drip tray and a portafilter-basket combination.  The drip tray should be simple (about $30) but the portafilter is proving to be harder to find.  It seems a design change was made in the closing days of 1999 and that affects the size of the portafilter.  The "pre-millennial" units have a 49mm portafilter while the Millennial units have a 51mm portafilter. I may have my acquisition date wrong because I think I have a 51mm unit, but I am not sure what to measure.  At $80, I am not in a hurry to make a speculative purchase.

There are some stickers on the bottom with potentially useful information.  The readable sticker gives the name of the retail shop, the one that has since closed.  The hard-to-read sticker admits the Professional name and a few other details, but not a serial number, model number, or date of manufacture.  I am in the process of opening the base to see if there is anything inside that admits to a date or identifying number. 

I do not actually need another espresso machine, but I would like to get this one working on general principles.  It was a fine device when manufactured and has many years of life remaining.  I can say that now because I have not examined the state of the internals.

We did have snow recently, but it is since gone.  It was a significant amount for this area - six to eight inches - and it shut down a lot of activities in the area, but it melted within about three days and was followed by a week of nice weather (see earlier posts about snowshoe trips).  The routine winter rains have resettled over the area but we still get "sun breaks", some as long as a day.  I use these breaks to get out, address garden tasks, and fill up the compost bin.    For reference, I think the compost bin has an official volume of 96 gallons and gets picked up each week (mostly).  In addition to yard waste, we are able to throw in food waste, so it is busy all-year round. The contents go to a professionally operated compost facility.  Back to our story.

One day, I pruned the roses by our back deck and filled the compost bin with trimmings (a climbing rose).  Other days, I have pruned the hydrangea shrubs we have scattered about.  I have lost count, but there are at least six, with sizes that were 6-8-feet-plus in diameter.  I also pruned some of the large rhododendron shrubs.  In the summer, I chip them into mulch, but because the winter ground is so soft, it is hard to get the chipper to the work areas, so they go off to the commercial compost pile.  More recently, I have trimmed back many of the ferns, especially along the walkway behind the garage and house.  Today, I pruned the apple tree and the holly.  I have cut back the holly more times than I can count; it is a vigorous tree.  I am pretty sure it is a volunteer.  Usually lurking among the plants are blackberry canes, so I must be sure to wear leather gloves.  I got ahead of myself this weekend.  After filling the compost bin with hydrangea trimmings, I got a second load from the apple tree, so the bin will be full again as soon as they haul away the hydrangea contents.  I may have to get out the chipper.

While I am on the topic of landscaping, I am glad that I do not yet have to mow.  The grass is growing, but growing slowly, so I can postpone mowing.  I have a spiffy new mower - battery powered and self-propelled - but I would rather not start the mowing season.  Further, I have spread some grass seed to fill in the muddy patches and I want to do a run with the dethatcher to get out more moss.  This is proving to be another good year for moss (that is - if you are the moss).  The demoss treatment for the roof has worked well, and we shall reapply later this year to stay on top of the problem.  I should find out more about the materials used so that I can apply them at Keats.

Snowshoe hike and video for 28 January 2022

Mount Rainier was a good hike but we decided it was not enough so on Friday, 28 Jan 2022, we did a snowshoe hike at Mount Baker.

Summary - 3.0 miles, 2:30 hours, 767 feet elevation gain.

We drove up toward the Mt. Baker ski area and then to the parking above Artist Point around Heather Meadows.  As a Friday, there was plenty of room to park.  As we passed the Mt. Baker White Salmon ski area, it looked pretty busy (three of four cars turned off there and we continued past).  The Heather Meadows facilities were closed as was the ski area, and that gave us some relief.

There were a few skiers but most were snowshoers.  The remaining few were in boots, often with Yak-traks or similar traction devices.  If one wanted to stick to the well-trodden trails, boots were sufficient.  We went off-trail in several places and the snowshoes were necessary to avoid postholes.  The day was sunny and warm, the wind relatively still.  It was not as warm as it had been on Rainier earlier in the week, so I kept a jacket on.  This was probably a mistake as the jacket arms were sodden at the end of the hike.  I unzipped the main zipper and the pit-zips, so my torso stayed dry.  

I have a lot of still photos from this area, in summer and in winter, so I used this as a chance to practice more with my GoPro (Hero 8 Black).  On Rainier, I generally went for long shots, many minutes at a time but on Baker, I tried a different filming technique.  I took more short shots, mostly panning shots of the scenery when I stopped, and a couple of walking shots on the way out.  I used my GravGrip stabilization device for the first half-hour, but it proved annoying to get in and out of my pocket.  More importantly, it did not seem to be doing anything to help.  I wanted it to help keep a level horizon, but it seemed to want to settle off-kilter.  I have a recollection that the counterweight could pivot to balance better, but it wouldn't move.  As a result, it did stabilize the shots a little but it was not aligned with the horizon.  I will play with it to find better technique, but I when to conventional handheld for the rest of the hike.  The in-camera stabilization seemed to work pretty well; I have forgotten if the camera does any horizon leveling, but the results are acceptable.

At the top of the hike, overlooking Mt. Baker and a large valley (must have been the Chain Lakes Loop Trailhead overlooking Ptarmigan Ridge), I got a phone call.  Given the quirks of geology and topology, it was a service area for cell phones.

Snowshoe hike and video on Monday - 26 January 2022

Trapped for days in a ground-hugging fog, we sought escape on Monday, 24 January 2022.  The weather report had gotten monotonous: day after day of heavy fog warnings in "lowland areas" covered the entire Puget Sound area.  Fog filled the valleys of metropolitan Seattle all day and the Weather Service extended the warnings each day for yet another day.  We had some days of pretty steady rain before that, so we were getting stir-crazy.  Another case of COVID cabin fever struck.  The fog went up to about 3000 feet and there was rumored to be sun above, so we knew where we had to go - to the mountains.  But not just any "mountains".  Stevens Pass is only about 3000 feet, barely above the fog, so we decided to go for Mount Rainier.

We usually head for the Henry Jackson Visitor Center at the Paradise area in Mount Rainier National Park (MRNP).  We have been there many times over the years, usualy a couple times each year.  It is easy access, has plenty of parking (if you arrive early enough), and the Paradise area is open year-round.  We visit the Sunrise area during the summer and shoulder seasons, but it is a bit farther and, well, it closes in the winter so it is not open until June or so?  The route to Paradise takes us through Puyallup, Elbe, Longmire, and up the part road to Paradise.  Our travel was uneventful.  We left the house about 9am (against an 8:30am target departure) and arrived with plenty of room to be found.  Of course, the 24th of January was a Monday, so we were riding the benefits of a retired life.  On the weekend, the crowds are sure to be much larger.

We grabbed our snowshoes, poles, and packs, and headed for the trail to Camp Muir.  Normally, there are some broad stairs and asphalt trails to welcome visitors, but all that was buried under snow.   We rather followed the asphalt trails but they are hard to find under the snow - and irrelevant.  However, muscle memory in the legs from all those summer visits lead one to familiar routes.  A few people were out with hiking boots but we were glad to have snowshoes.  Very simply, we did not have to look where we were walking.  Postholing was not a concern and we did not have to choose compacted routes;  the area of the snowshoes spreads our weight.  With the claws and heals on the snowshoes, we could walk a straight line that took us straight up a slope or allowed us to wander without fear of sliding sideways.  The younger set may not need poles, but the older crew finds them helpful to pull or restrain on slopes and very handy for balance.  We walked to a point a bit above the Dancefloor, closer to the Nisqually canyon, appreciated the views, and then headed down by the Dancefloor.  

The views were grand.  We could see the whole area above the fog in the valleys.  Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens stood proud on the horizon to the south, the Tatoosh Range clearly visible, and, of course, Tahoma herself to the north.  There was the odd cloud or contrail across the sky, but bright blue burned all around and above.  The temperatures were astounding - hot.  We did not measure the temperature, but a fellow hiker told us it was in the upper-60F range.  He said 67F, and while I am reluctant to believe that exact number, I did have to stop twice to remove layers of insulation.  I ended up wearing a wicking t-shirt and a "fishing" shirt.  It did get chilly in the shade, but we spent most of the time above the tree-line, so the sun warmed us virtually the entire time.  It was quite comfortable when walking, but I did put on my puffy sweater when we stopped.  Most of the people around us were also hiking in various ways (mostly snowshoes but several boots), and one guy even had a sled that he was pulling.  I guess he was going to spend the night at Camp Muir.  And there were a handful of skiers.  The overall hike was 2.5 miles (round-trip) in 2:00 hours, and the vertical rise was 870 feet.  Paradise is right around 5000 feet altitude.  

I grabbed some photos, but I used this outing as a training ground for GoPro video.  In the past, I have done timelapse and even Time Warp to some degree of success, but with this trip I wanted to do some post-processing to produce a more structured video. I did skip the bit about preparing a story - my "story" was to be a snowshoe hike on Mount Rainier - so I planned for a series of clips.  To this end, I chose Video > Cinematic at 4K, 24fps, SuperView, and auto-steady (I think GoPro calls it hypersteady or similar).  I used handheld with no special adaptations (no external stabilizer, just the in-camera features).  On the route up, I started with shorter clips, a minute or so each and mostly panoramas, and on the return down, I took longer clips while in motion.  I ended up with about 20 minutes of video that I cut down to 14 minutes in DaVinci Resolve 17.  My first edit ran over the YouTube limit of 15 minutes, so my second version cut that down to almost exactly 14 minutes and I added some titles.  I did nothing with the audio and I only used fades on the title sections - no fancy crossfades.  

(Note - although I can adjust the placement of the photos, Blogger insists on centering the video.)

Seeding for Spring - 21 January 2022

Early, I know, but I have put down some grass seed.  We have had a period of dry weather (meaning 24-36 hours without rain), so it remains relatively cold, but I am optimistic that the seed will germinate given a chance.  The bag officially says 60-80 degrees, and we are in the 40's, so consider this an experiment.

The daffodils are peeking abovve the ground, a good six inches up, and the hellebores have been showing for a couple weeks, so life is active.  At the worst, I am feeding the birds.  I admit that I did apply it far more thickly than advised.

Most of the delivery trucks are fine, but a couple of them are challenged by the long, narrow driveway.  The occasional driver will leave the drive and plow through the grass.  One would think that the cement curbs could serve as a hint, but they seem insufficient in practice.  I try to ignore the stripes, but they eventually get to me and I head out with yet more seed.  Further, there are a couple areas that get limited sun, so I reseed often.  I am starting to think that I need a couple patches of shade garden.

I am also looking into pruning.  The apple tree will need to be pruned and the raspberries will be helped by a good pruning.  I did prune the apple tree last year at this time, but evidence suggests I did precisely the wrong things.  We ended up with about four (4) apples even though the tree appears healthy.  Clearly, I cut all the wrong bits.

  

Lawn and garden - 28 December 2021

We have bird feeders out around the house, partially for our entertainment but also for the cats.  The suet feeders get the attention of "larger" birds and the cats while the hummingbird feeders attract hummingbirds and the people.  In the past, we have had problems with squirrels who seem to think the feeders are for them.  After a few years of battle, the squirrels have largely given up.  A "witch's hat" protects the suet feeder, an anti-squirrel cage protected another feeder, and we have switched to shuttered anti-squirrel feeders for the seed feeders.  The squirrel-cage approach was effective on keeping out the common gray squirrels but it also blocked the medium and larger birds; the cage did not block the native red squirrels (smaller than their gray cousins) and it seemed to confuse a lot of birds who clung to the outside, unable to solve the riddle of entry.  In the end, we abandoned the cage in favor of shuttered feeders.

the shuttered feeders have an internal spring.  For light creatures like the birds, the weight is not enough to counter the spring, but when a squirrel gets on the feeder, their weight squashes the spring and that closes the shutters so that food is no longer accessible.  It takes a couple days of failed attempts, but the squirrels eventually give up.  The area under the feeder is kept clean because we buy the shelled seed.  there is some spillage onto the ground, but birds (and the odd squirrel) patrol the ground under the feeder and keep the area clean.  Occasionally a neighbor will warn that feeding birds attracts rats, but there is no evidence of this.

the suet feeder one time attracted a rather large critter.  A bear entered our suburban backyard and trashed the suet feeder in a successful attempt to eat the suet within.  We never did find the suet feeder.  I went out the next day and discovered a hole in the cedar fence.  I patched the hole with some scrap wood and we have since replaced the fence, so I expect our ursine friends will take the easy route and search for easy pickings among the neighborhood rather than out backyard.  Any neighbor concerned enough can put up their own fence.

To counter the squirrels and the bear, we have switched to hot-pepper suet.  It turns out that birds cannot taste capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, but the mammals can.  A mouthful of hot-pepper suet is nothing to a bird, but it will be long remembered by a mammal.

In an unusual turn, the nectar in the hummingbird feeders froze yesterday.  A winter storm had brought 20-something-degree temperatures to the area and remained overnight, so be brought in the feeders overnight to thaw them.  I redeployed them this morning and the hummers have been battling over the feeders all day.  An "alpha" hummer seems to own the feeder and they chase off interlopers all day, feeding occasionally.  It is supposed to get down to 24F tonight, so we will bring them in again to redeploy tomorrow.