Not much to be done about crazy high tree pollen counts, so might as well enjoy the dogwood blooms popping up like daisies all around Raleigh.

#spring

The back deck turns yellow as spring is in the air and our lungs, the tree pollen count approaching infinity. A real The Last of Us (video game) vibe outside, except it’s not spores but microscopic grains containing sperm cells (not feeling better about that as I should).

#spring

Another day, another Apple Intelligence failure. This time Siri hallucinates how to hide the Menu Bar in macOS. In reality, the Menu Bar visibility options are in Settings under Control Center.

#AppleIntelligence

While weeding in the yard around the steps to the front door, I noticed life finding a way.

Lent Minus Thirty-Nine

Wherein a bitter truth is chewed upon.

The southern flying squirrel, or bird seed ninja, strikes at night whenever the feeder is left out. This one was only caught looking guilty because a raccoon wandered onto the deck and tripped the camera motion sensor.

I got a survey from Apple about my iPhone 16e, but there were a lot of questions about Apple Intelligence. Apple, If you are asking whether your house is on fire standing on the lawn backlit in orange through a haze of smoke, it may not just be the house that is the problem.

#Apple #iPhone

It’s spring around the mailbox.

I used the 2X telephoto of iPhone 16e for the first time walking to the car from Walmart without breaking stride.

#Apple #iPhone

A tan leather skin from dbrand makes for a nice finish to the cleaner design of the iPhone 16e.

#Apple #iPhone

It was 26°F (-3.33°C) this morning, but apparently trees in the neighborhood aren’t checking the weather.

E is for AI

Wherein I get a ChatGTP phone.

When feeling threatened, like by someone within ten feet of the door, this particular opossum does not play dead but panics, often running the wrong way and trapping itself in the corner of the second-story deck away from the stairs. Maybe some kind of technique acting class is order?

#Animals

Was there a slide puzzle difficulty contest between Apple UX engineers? Control Center FTW! That last spot is death by discombobulation. My workaround is to reduce the media player to a single row, fill in the “second” to bottom row, then expand media player.

#Apple #iPhoneOS #iPadOS

The will to live.

#Coffee

Evergreen year round and flowering twice, Camellia blooms through the snow, not knowing or caring it’s below freezing, living its best #Flowers life.

Juncos waiting patiently for me to throw birdseed onto the snow covered deck because they are too dumb to use the feeder…or are they. I just went out in the cold and cleared the snow and spread some feed.

#Birds

Overnight my iPad hides the nightingale, the weather widget moving from its place on the left side of the Home Screen to the right side. It’s a small bug, but a big deal in that Apple’s famed attention to detail continues to wander, a path that dead ends with Windows.

#Apple #iPadOS

Way back when iTools was a thing, I signed up with Apple, then shortly after iTunes came along. I made the fateful mistake of using different emails. 25 years later Apple has finally allowed the merging of account purchases–but not accounts. Here’s how it’s going.

#Apple #iCloud

After updating to iPadOS 18.3.1 three lights in Control Center become Home placeholders. My top three choices are: Barcelona, Turin, and Dublin. Fingers crossed.

#Apple #iPadOS

After updating to iPadOS 18.3.1 my Midnight (black) AirPods Max are now starlight (white). #Apple #iPadOS

Envy with Green

Wherein I count the cost.

Our municipality really leans into my chlorination and my wife won’t drink the tap water. She can tell the difference, passed a blind taste test when we bought the house, so every year I spend a morning changing filters and mopping water.

A One Minas Kind of Guy

Wherein my battery dies.

A pleasant surprise this morning, the first measurable snowfall, 1.5 in. (3.8 c.), in about three years fell overnight.