EXCELLENT explanation of the wildfire situation in Canada & how CA forests & forest management are VERY different than anything we have in the U.S. Maybe our president should get informed before threatening tariffs in response to smoke floating across the border. 🤦‍♂️ www.facebook.com/share/p/1BcN...

Not often that you see an “Snacks” in a book index. Not often enough! 🤣

First legit run in a month! Lungs felt a bit elevation de-acclimatized (if that’s a thing) but at least my legs felt fresh. Coming home from vacation isn’t as painful when home looks like this.

We’ve now decided it is definitely a humpback. The dorsal fin is a better match and the fluke shape too. Now we’re trying to figure out which specific one it is from the white fluke markings.

Minke whale apparently don’t fluke much (showing their tails) but the small dorsal fin on its back made us pretty sure it wasn’t a grey whale.

Another unreal day. Hike around Vendovi Island (only accessible byboat) in deliciously-moss-covered & fern-choked forest, tide pools w/ anemones, harbor seals in the water spying on us & sunning themselves on rocks, views for days of the San Juans, AND A MINKE WHALE!). Can’t believe I grew up here.

Some unexpected new mammalian friends at the Larrabee tidepools - an American mink and a raccoon! Also caught some kelp and rock crabs. And daughter saved a jellyfish that had gotten stranded.

First Battle and Grove Creek Canyons 8-mile loop of the season. Felt horrible on the 2,600 ft climb but great on the descent. Gloriously cloudy.

Another book to read & interview to prep for my @writingwestward.bsky.social podcast & my schedule finally allowed for a #MountainOffice day. 1st in a year! Slightly concerned about the hawk who showed up after I set up (didn’t notice the nest above me) & has been dive bombing my hammock. 😬

More symposium in the AM and then Canyon and the Escalante River followed by the Escalante River Overlook with lichenologist Steve.

Environmental science symposium during the day, Barrier Canyon Style pictographs, lizards, cryptobiotic soil crusts, the wind whistling off the sandstone walls, and ZERO PEOPLE during the evening. Escalante. 😍

We knew our seats for Yo-Yo Ma at BYU but we didn’t realize we’d be sitting right behind him with the whole place staring at us. 😮 As a cellist, Julianne is obviously a fan. She saw him once in the 2000s & we saw him with GOAT Rodeo a few years ago in SLC (amazing!). This solo show should be great.

Apropos... I was scrolling through FB conversations with Ardis and came across this exchange from last fall when I alerted her to a nice shout-out in Jonathan Stapley's Holiness to the Lord book. See, acknowledging people isn't that hard to do.

Thanks to Doug Miller for zooming in to class for Q&A on his book, "Indians on the Move: Native American Mobility and Urbanization in the 20th Century" (@uncpress.bsky.social, 2019). I can't recommend it highly enough. It worked perfectly w/ class themes & students REALLY connected w/ it (& him)!

Happy 150 to Constantin Brâncuşi. La mulţi ani!

Exciting developments this AM: 1. A LEGITIMATE SNOW STORM!!! 2. @cetracey.bsky.social’s new @wwnorton.com book “Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History” arrived in the mail! (Tracey worked on it as visiting fellow 2 years ago here at the @byureddcenter.bsky.social) Woot woot!!! amzn.to/3ZIVaf0

This “cognitive surrender” may be what I find most troubling about the seemingly uncritical foisting of AI into education—the outsourcing of critical thinking skills. Do this for a few gens & I don’t think we’ll like the kind of society and culture that develops. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I still don’t know if anyone will top Prince, but that was a great show!

Different angle clearly shows his undrawn weapon being removed by an agent &tossed aside at about the 25-second mark. Then, they strike him multiple times (see the nbsnews link above) before shots begin over 10 seconds later after his weapon had been removed: www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/v...

Additional video, clearly showing agent striking Petti while on the ground at about the 18-second mark: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

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A new semester starts tomorrow so today includes my semiannual deep tidying & organizing of the office, followed by loving how much better it feels & wondering why I let it get so cluttered. I always say I’m going to do a weekly declutterring, but don’t. Maybe 2026 is the year when I follow through.

I thought this black garlic cheese the in-laws brought from the Netherlands was covered in black wax. Nope. The cheese itself is black! 😮

Finally, a Duolingo sentence I might actually use in real life.

Friends! I need tips for fun things to see/do in this region w/ teens in summer (castles, etc). We're set to drive Paris to Amsterdam via Bruges, but are debating the exact 2-3-day route to complete the clockwise loop via Germany & Luxembourg. Thus, tips in the circled areas are especially welcomed.

Awoke to a bonkers sunrise. Pictures can’t do it justice. Big day of grading and wrapping up the semester…but doesn’t the saying go “Red sky in the morning, professors take warning?” 😬

And, depending on how you search, it hallucinates differently. It's almost as if it's not conveying reliable consistent information. 🤔

And now this! A home town friend just posted that a google search about school closures (due to flooding in NW Washington) produced an AI summary that some Whatcom County school districts were closed. Except...they're not. Don't trust information from an AI summary, ever. Corroborate always.