I realized some years back that for all my Apple-bashing here on this blog (it is legion, and kind of embarrassing, though some of my takes on various Apple events still amuse me) I actually had a lot of Apple products:
iPod (nano and Classic)
AirPods
iPhone 12
iPad Pro
Mac Studio
Apple Watch
That’s just what I have now. I’ve also had Mac minis and a MacBook Air and Pro in the past. Of the still-have items, the only ones in active use are the iPad Pro (2020) and AirPods (3rd gen, and being used with a Samsung Galaxy S26, not an iPhone), so I’ve pretty much moved out of the Apple ecosystem. I no longer use Apple Music, Apple TV, iCloud, or any other Apple services. Once you break from the services, it gets a lot easier to move away from Apple, especially if you aren’t also beholden to an Apple-specific app (I still use Procreate on my iPad Pro, but am drawing more on a Galaxy tablet lately, so I can make the switch if needed).
And I’m happy with the decision to move away from Apple. I can’t and won’t drop every thing from every company I object to. It would be overwhelming. I’d end up being a monk living on a bamboo mat in a monastery up in mist-shrouded mountains. Monks are cool, but I still enjoy using and messing around with tech. Plus I’d probably look funny in a robe.
But I do what I can. And much as I loathe moving over to Android because of Google’s ownership and their nutty desire to shove “AI” into every part of Android, I make do.
Apple got the message from me: I’m done with it, its products, and its services. I’m just one little drop in their trillions-valued bucket, but I’m content with that. For me, it’s nice to have local backups again, to have more direct control over my tech, and to not feel trapped in what looks like a garden but feels more like a cell1OK, even I’ll admit that’s a bit melodramatic, but I couldn’t resist..
Anyone want a used Mac Studio? It doesn’t have Tahoe installed!
Today, the difference was all in the timing and weather.
Once again, it was sunny and warm, but the max temperature today is expected to be 25°C, which is a bit cooler than it’s been on recent run days. That helped, because it meant it would not be as hot, no matter when I headed out.
But I also left much closer to my usual start time and it was a mere 19°C at the start of the run, which feels almost comfy at this point in the summer.
The result is a much better pace (6:10/km), better BPM (147) and even a lap (the fifth) where my pace almost dipped below the six-minute mark (it was right on the nose–6:00/km).
The trail was pretty lightly occupied, probably due to the earlier start, and I didn’t experience any issues. The higher humidity was not a factor, given the lower temperatures. I still got all sweaty up in the hizzy, but not as much.
I went clockwise and this time decided to go up Roberts Road if the Trail Closed sign was out. But it was not, and it appears the trail work is complete, so I was able to finish my run without any puddle jumping. Neat.
A good start to the week. I implore everyone to go out and touch trees. Or at least get near them. You don’t have to run, I just do it because it’s cheap exercise.
Still Creek, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,052 Average pace: 6:10/km Training status: Productive Performance Condition: +1 Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:27 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 31:00 Weather: Sunny Temp: 19–21°C Humidity: 68–63% Wind: light BPM: 147 Weight: 169.9 pounds Total distance to date: 7,065 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (45/100/145)
In which certain aspects of the food chain are demonstrated live.
Serpentine Fen
The start of our trek at Serpentine Fen, featuring the Serpentine River.
As we often do, we saw some Great Blue Herons at the fen, standing in or near the river, waiting to stab fish. We saw a little action, but didn’t notice any great blue success.
That would change farther down the river, where some gulls were hanging out. One took off, circled over the river, came in to land and promptly snapped up a sizable fish. It then started gliding around the very still water and dunked its head in, coming up with an even larger fish that took several large gulps to swallow. I swear I could see the fish twitching from inside the gull on the way down. It was a vivid demonstration of how gulls can hunt and eat more than just French fries.
We also watched a pair of Kingfishers chase each other about in the sky above us. Whether it was love or war I could not determine.
We also saw a sole Hooded Merganser, which allegedly don’t migrate, but like coots, pintails and shovellers, seem to hide somewhere during the summer.
One of the three viewing towers has a hole in the (wooden) floor and it seems to be getting a little bigger each time we visit. I guess if you stick to the parts of the floor where the planks are intact, it’s still safe?
We also saw a million grasshoppers because it’s grasshopper season. They continue to demonstrate the power of excellent camouflage, as I often did not see them until we got close enough to prompt them to vamoose.
It was nice to return to the fen, even if birds were a bit in short supply. This is expected in summer, but we could at least appreciate the lush vegetation and warm weather.
Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach
Small bay at Blackie Spit.
Blackie Spit’s parking lots were full, so we had to park on a nearby street. This meant we started a bit further down on Crescent Beach, where I saw a hydrant that I had to shoot (with my phone). Nic said he overhead some guys walking by commenting on the weirdo shooting photos of the hydrant. Yes, I am that weirdo!
Here is the hydrant:
A sturdy little plug.
We saw bunches of herons here, along with some Greater Yellowlegs, and Killdeer. Sadly, most of them were a bit far away, but we were lucky to see them at all, as the tide was actually in when we arrived (it’s usually not just out, but way out).
The beach and picnic areas were very active, so with birds, especially songbirds, a bit on the rare side, I took more scenery shots of boats and random objects.
Brydon Lagoon
Looking north across the lagoon.
Our final stop was Brydon Lagoon, which gave us a single Grebe and our first Wood Ducks. There were gulls here, too, but instead of hunting, they were mostly bossing around the ducks, establishing just which floating objects they could sit upon. We saw one rather young Wood Duck that still could not fly and it was either parent-free or the parents were letting it test its freedom. It seemed to be fine.
Overall, a perfectly cromulent day of birding. The fall/winter migrants should be arriving soon, so variety should be improving. Also, the mostly absent squirrels might return. I have no idea where or why they are hiding. Maybe they don’t like the sun. I mean, if you were fur-covered, would you?
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Gull flying over the fen.
Gull landing on the river.
Gull gobbling up a sizable fish it plucked out of the water.
Grasshopper, great camo, wrong terrain.
Grasshopper, great camo, better terrain.
Belted Kingfisher in flight over the river.
Belted Kingfisher at rest on the river edge.
Great Blue Heron looking alert.
A muddy shallow where the water looks like the No. 2.
Heron sizing up potential prey.
Heron attack! (It missed.)
Artsy interpretation of high voltage wires.
European Starlings gather on an electrical tower.
Black and white shot of antennae on top of a pump station.
A tour boat running past Blackie Spit.
A boat with people, rust and two hitchhiking gulls.
Looking out from Blackie Spit, smoke haze in the distance.
Kayakers establishing landfall on a tiny spit.
A Cedar Waxwing looking elegant as ever.
A sand wasp furiously digging a hole, as they do.
A happy (?) Mallard.
Deluxe grooming Mallard.
A young White-crowned Sparrow.
A Canada Goose dreaming of…honking? Flapping? Pooping?
A gull standing on a piling with signs on it.
A Pied-billed Grebe plies the waters of Brydon Lagoon.
Mallard spreading out on a grate.
A Wood Duck swimming through very green water.
A gull observes from above.
A young Wood Duck just swimming around on its own.
I realized I used the one that has the Subway colours again. Whoops. I mean, it works fine, but I don’t want someone expecting to get a six inch ham and cheese from the site.
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Calm and warm again.
Today’s run was mostly a replay of Wednesday’s, with almost every stat and condition being very similar to the last run:
Similar temperature and humidity
Similar pace and BPM
It was marginally better overall (and air quality was much better), but mostly it’s a rounding error. I started out stronger with an initial pace of 6:09/km, but that dropped off after the 2K mark. I detoured to the Nature House and got a drink at the fountain. This revived me enough to improve my pace…for exactly one km. After that, it was slow again, but in the end the watch declared the run Productive, so who am I to argue?
I minimized the overall workout by doing a short loop, running about 2.75 km CCW, then turning around and heading back. I originally planned to skip the side trails on the return, but the main trail is a lot more exposed to the sun and the shade was very inviting.
I feel there were a few more runners out today, but maybe that’s just a Friday thing.
Other than sweating a lot and feeling like the whole thing was a bit of a slog, I experienced no real issues. In all, a perfectly okay run, but I’m really feeling that six-week gap when I was recovering from surgery and the weather went from pleasant to kind of hot. 25 feels like 30 to me. At least it’s not actually 30.
Brunette River, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,051 Average pace: 6:23/km Training status: Productive Performance Condition: +1 Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop) Start: 11:00 a.m. Distance: 5.02 km Time: 32:05 Weather: Sunny Temp: 24–25°C Humidity: 54–51% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 169.8 pounds Total distance to date: 7,060 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (40/92/132)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Haze in the distance.
Canada has a colour-coded weather alert system and when weather is fine, it is colour-free. When it is bad, it can be Yellow, Orange, or Red. Today it is Yellow.
Environment Canada described today’s alert thus:
Issued By
Meteorological Service of Canada, CA, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Affected Area
Metro Vancouver - central including the City of Vancouver Burnaby and New Westminster
Description
Smoke is causing or expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility.
Yellow Air Quality Warning in Effect (High Health Risk)
Limit outdoor activity. Reduce activity duration and intensity.
The weather app on my phone described the air quality as “unhealthy”:
I ran anyway.
Did I regret it? Not exactly, but I can also say the run did not make my socks roll up and down in excitement, either.
It was not as hot as Friday, but humidity was significantly higher and I sweated like crazy. The first few km were fine, but the heat/humidity/haze triple combo began wearing me down just past the midway point. I kept going because to the west the sky looked more blue than yellow, and I was running toward the west.
Along the way, I noted precious few other people out jogging, so most were smarter than me. I didn’t experience any specific issues while running–no cramps, creakiness, or whatnot, the whole thing just started feeling like a long, sweaty slog.
Which it was.
In the final km, I reached the rowing pavilion parking lot, crossed over and was greeted by a Trail Closed sign. The last time on this stretch there was only a Trail Closed sign on one end and no sign (ho ho) of any work activity. I paused to contemplate whether to turn back, ignore the sign and assume no work was actually being done (which was the case last time), or go up Roberts Road and reconnect with the trail somewhere over yonder. I couldn’t recall where Roberts Road came out in relation to the trail, so decided against that and could not hear any activity, so I decided to continue running past the Trail Closed sign, telling myself I’d turn around if I saw any people and equipment.
I saw people and equipment right at the very end. Whoops. I felt bad, but at least they were working on the little spur of the official Burnaby Lake Loop and not the part of the trail I was defying the sign on. Ironically, my run ended about 20 seconds later, anyway.
Despite the conditions, I ended up being only four seconds slower than Friday, which surprised me. I guess that’s good. And the watch, which does not know anything about air quality, declared the run productive, so also good.
Now I am off to drink three kegs of water.
Still Creek, post-run, with bonus geese and a not very blue sky.
Stats:
Run 1,050 Average pace: 6:24/km Training status: Productive Performance Condition: 0 Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:40 a.m. Distance: 5.01 km Time: 32:11 Weather: Sunny Temp: 22–24°C Humidity: 62–57% Wind: light BPM: 153 Weight: 170.0 pounds Total distance to date: 7,055 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (35/84/119)
Lately I’ve noticed people shortening the word podcast to just pod. I understand the reasoning–a podcast originally referred to an audio program meant to be played on an iPod (kids, ask your parents) but with the iPod dead and buried, if not forgotten (I still have two) I can see why people might want to use a different term now. And this is before you get into what even counts as a podcast now, since a lot of them are now also on platforms like YouTube, where they are…videos.
Still, “pod” bugs me because it still retains the “pod” part of “iPod”, which seems to me to be the part you’d want to replace. But mainly it just sounds just too twee (yes, I have a kind of twee meter in my head that tells me when something crosses the “too twee” line) and doesn’t really make sense because peas are in pods, not people talking to each other. Also:
Podcast > Pod
Broadcast > Broad
If the latter becomes accepted usage, I will embrace pod.
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay (Delta) Weather: Sunny, 18–23°C
The first birding of August, just before the fall fliers1bird and consumer joke rolled into one start arriving.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Marshland and distant mountains at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.
We started at Reifel, which was packed in the morning with both hardcore birders and their Very Big lenses, and assorted families and holiday goers (today is BC Day here in, well, BC).
We did a reverse of our usual route, which isn’t especially radical, but does give a slightly different view on things.
As expected, no fall arrivals have shown up early, but the barn swallows are still hanging around. In fact, we saw one actively maintaining a nest, so at least one more batch of babies is on the way.
Nic shot a billion swallows in flight. I shot a few and the results were not horrible, nor good, but somewhere in the middle. Horrigood.
Most of the ponds were devoid of any waterfowl, but we did see some:
A pair of Spotted Sandpipers in the pond by the viewing platform
A pair of Greater Yellowlegs in one of the small ponds east of the viewing platform
A large group of Long-billed Dowitchers in one of the large main ponds
The dowitchers and sandpipers were not very close, alas, but the yellowlegs compensated.
Sparrows seemed to be mostly hiding from the sun, but some chickadees and House Sparrows were out. And we saw a scruffy young Yellow-rumped Warbler, who was just starting to show some of its yellow.
The geese had filthy mouths and fluff beards, but were well-behaved. A large gaggle on the shore past the marshland may have been migrating.
The oddest moment came when a bird of some sort flew directly over us on the outer dyke and landed on the trail ahead. The profile seemed to be a hawk of some sort, but having one land on the trail is very weird. It flew a bit into a shadier spot, and we got some photos before it…walked into the grass, then popped out and finally flew off. I correctly ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk because it’s one of the few I know are local.
And near the end we saw the Sandhill Crane family, so in all, a fine outing, even if many of the ponds are a little too green.
Boundary Bay
Boundary Bay minus the bay, due to low tide.
We originally went to Centennial Beach, but for some reason it was so busy the parking lot was full and backed up. Nice weather + holiday = overcrowded? Whatever it was, I finally relented and agreed to go to Boundary Bay. As always, the scenery was nice, but the tide was extremely low, so seeing shorebirds meant walking about a km across the mudflats to find some water and hoping for the best. We did not do this.
Instead, we walked a few km along the trail mostly populated by cyclists and a few people on horseback, and shot a lot of grasshoppers. We did see a few errant birds, such as some Cedar Waxwings, but that was it.
I am sated on this stretch of Boundary Bay for, let’s say, the next year. Or more. 😛
But overall, the weather was lovely (not too hot) and we saw some birds we don’t see often, so a good time was had.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
One more clutch of Barn Swallow babies before migration.
A barn swallow yawning. Or screaming? Scream yawning.
Barn Swallow sitting pretty.
A bumblebee getting its pollen on.
Honeybee in zany portrait format.
Pollen is life.
A very shiny blue wasp grooming itself.
The Black-capped Chickadees are appearing more.
A Cooper's Hawk lands on the trail ahead of us. Very odd.
The Cooper's Hawk then sought shade. Not odd at all!
A Sandhill Crane getting its feathers ruffled by the breeze.
Sandhill Crane snoozing in the grass.
A damselfly hanging out on a leaf.
Collared Dove in a tree, its red eye shining in the sun.
A dragonfly hanging out.
A bearded Mallard.
A House Sparrow drinks.
A Canada Goose eats, table manners optional.
Canada Geese flying through the heat haze.
One of several geese flying overhead, caught mostly in silhouette.
Grasshopper showing off its boss-level camo.
A Northern Harrier on the hunt, with the marshland, mountains, and strait in the backdrop.
A Great Blue Heron flies by.
A Great Blue Heron stalking fishies.
I'm not sure if the heron was swallowing or celebrating its catch.
House Sparrow on a fence.
House Sparrow having just gobbled a seed and wanting more.
A distant shot of a Belted Kingfisher, still clearly showing its weird fake eye.
Marshland scenery.
More marshland scenery.
A Mallard in shadow.
A Woodland Skipper pausing on dry grass.
Another Woodland Skipper, showing off its proboscis.
Snoozing Mallard.
Ducks on a log.
The best action shot I got of a swallow.
I kind of like this silhouette of a swallow, it looks as fast as it is.
A scruffy young Yellow-rumped Warbler.
The Yellow-rumped Warbler somehow looking even scruffier.
A pair of Greater Yellowlegs looking for snacks in one of the shallow ponds at Reifel.
Boundary Bay, looking toward the U.S., mostly absent of water at low tide.
A Sand Wasp on a tansy.
Horses, people, and a dog on the mudflats at Boundary Bay.
First, this photo I took midway down the path to Lower Hume Park, showing trees and the park further below beyond them. I like the spot of sun on the centre tree.
My camera is a Samsung Galaxy S26, which I keep meaning to write a mini-review on.
And looking at the photo, which nicely obscures that it was taken in the middle of an urban sprawl…
The green to the left is Burnaby Lake Regional Park, where I jog. On the trails, not in the lake.
…I was reminded of an infection I got back in 2018. That might seem odd, and it is. Let me explain (or read this post, because I tend to chronicle all of my health issues and injuries for some reason). It was a kidney infection, which turned out to be a much gentler version of another I would develop six years later. This first one still resulted in me not being able to walk very fast as without a lot of discomfort while I recovered. Being forced to slow down made me pay more attention to my surroundings and I started snapping photos of local scenery and especially flowers. I dubbed this “flower therapy” because I found it very soothing to find some flowers, frame them, then snap a few shots.
And I still find it soothing. Lining up the shot of the trees above put me in an almost meditative mood. I’m sure there’s some science about chemicals being released into my brain. Maybe just plain old dopamine. Whatever it is, I like it, and it’s a simple pleasure I still indulge in eight years later, even without any infections (that I know of).
My first official™ post for Blaugust 2026 comes with me at a crossroads when it comes to blogging.
A few years back I began exploring options to move away from WordPress, which started as a blogging platform but has evolved into something that does way more than what is needed for a simple blog with words and images.
Also, the head of WP started making…interesting public statements and committing actions that left me uncertain about the platform’s future.
I explored many different sites and platforms, and several came close, but always lacked something. I admit I am a fussy person, and it may be impossible to fully satisfy me. WordPress works, not because it’s exactly what I want, but it gives me flexibility to bend it to my vision, such as it is.
But it’s also complicated, and much of its UI and way of accomplishing tasks are things I’ve simply grown used to and tolerated, never enjoyed.
And now, with seemingly everything tech-related going up in my price, my Dreamhost unlimited plan is seeing a significant price increase, no doubt to move me over to one of the limited plans (the unlimited plan is already no longer an option for new customers). This huge price increase has rekindled my interest in thinking how and where I blog.
More thoughts on this soon–my billing renews on August 15th, so I’ll have to commit to some course of action by then, even if it’s just paying the increased cost of sticking with the Dreamhost unlimited plan.
(I will quickly add that I very recently saw a reference to Pure Blog on Mastodon [somewhat hilariously, I initially misread it as Purple Blog and was a bit disappointed that’s not the actual name] and it’s intrigued me. It looks like it’s Static Site Generator software, but tailored more specifically for blogging. I also feel like I’m more willing to get “to the metal” again with CSS and the like now than I was in the past. Anyway, what I’m saying is I’m actively looking for new options and this is one of them!)
Meanwhile, I remain as cool and collected as typing cat.
