20. Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis This species is 'three thorns' and the is 'spineless.' Spineless three-thorned honey locust. Popular here, though disease prone.This is my first representative of the clade Fabales, the nitrogen fixers. #gardening #backyardwildlife #backyardbiodiversity

19. Prunus cerasus Now serving. Although the records from the landscaper show a sweet cherry, this is a sour cherry, probably Montmorency. Highly productive. I share with the neighbors, birds, squirrels, and beetles. #gardening #backyardwildlife #backyardbiodiversity

18. Acer tataricum Introduced to North America in the 20th C from southeastern Europe. Neighbor's tree overhangs my yard and seems to feed the squirrels. #gardening #backyardwildlife

17. Euxoa auxiliaris A migrant that comes from the plains in spring. In '23 there were hundreds in our house. Not too bad this year. Delicious to birds and bears. "Miller moth" is a very common common name and not useful except locally. #gardening #backyardwildlife

16. Apis mellifera There are plenty of honey bees in our neighborhood, and the helpful resource at www.pollinator.org/pollinator.o... tells me that all of them in Colorado are A. mellifera. One of these photos shows a swarm last year in the neighbor's tree. #backyardwildlife #gardening

15. Polistes dominula European paper wasp. One more today, because I enjoyed the picture. A pair of these wasps is guarding a nest on my gate. When I approach, they raise the fronts of their bodies in defensive posture. I retreat. #gardening #backyardwildlife

14. Bruneria brunnea Brunner's slantfaced grasshopper. It seems a good season for seeing grasshoppers then spending time trying to classify them. This one is certainly not the same as the two-striped, but whether my ID is correct, I can't quite say. #gardening #backyardwildlife

13. Melanoplus bivittatus ​ It seems that classifying grasshoppers (and insects in general) will be a detailed task. This is the two-striped grasshopper, though I would have said it has one dark stripe. #gardening #backyardwildlife

12. Papilio multicaudata I believe the black and yellow swallowtail butterfly that drifts through my yard a few times each day is the two-tailed swallowtail. I had to be fast to snap this photo with my phone. #gardening #backyardwildlife

11. Pisaurina mira Seems like spiders will be hard to identify, but from the way this one carries itself, and from body shape, I think it is a nursery web spider. Perhaps a young one. It was almost translucent. #gardening #backyardwildlife

10. Aceria malherbae I ordered bindweed gall mites last year, and they were delivered this week--a tangle of sickly bindweed in a Styrofoam container with some ice packs. I don't have high hopes that they will eliminate my bindweed problem, but at least they can try. #gardening #backyardwildlife

9. Syringa reticulata The Japanese tree lilac didn't bloom for a few years after it was planted, but now it is a late-spring regular, a bit ghostly against the green. #gardening #backyardwildlife

8. Lactuca serriola The mother of all lettuce. Ceremonial emetic. Maror for Pesach. Sedative. Analgesic. Euphoric. Associated with the Egyptian god Min. My new policy is "identify and learn before destruction." #gardening #backyardwildlife

7. Cirsium arvense Creeping thistle. Canadian thistle. Lettuce from hell thistle. Call it what you will, it is my spiky adversary in the west-facing thyme lawn. As Euell Gibbons would say, "many parts are edible." But the internet warns they cause flatulence. #gardening #backyardwildlife

Not everything is broken. In the park, above the dog walkers, roost a great horned owl and two owlets. Impatient for dusk, they call gently to one another, inviting me to notice, to seek, to find, to gaze into wild eyes and smile. Beneath the tree is a feather. Not everything is broken. #poetry

Having a monsoon season feels exotic, especially in the morning when all the shrubs are bowing down with the load of rain. I haven't even turned on the irrigation system yet this year. #gardening #denver

6. Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance' We put in several serviceberry trees when we re-landscaped, and they are all doing well. That said, I have never eaten a single berry. Perhaps this is the year. #gardening #backyardwildlife

This morning, I read a @mariapopova.bsky.social essay about a beautiful children's book called "The Wanting Monster." www.themarginalian.org/.../29/the-w... Although I am torn up about many much more difficult things near and far, over my espresso I wrote A Tale of Fulfillment #poetry

While waiting for Sly and Family to move on out, I have put my thoughts into words. Probably somewhat risky, given medication and pain. #kidneystones #poetry

The naming is now official. I await the (even more painful) emergence of "Sly and the Family of Stones." Sly clocks in at 6mm. According to experts and ChatGPT, I will be mice elf again. #kidneystones

Moving my cartoons with me from twitter #NephSky #MedSky #Nephrology #Kidney #KidneyStones #Stones #Urine #microscopy

The pain scale should be based on soccer competitions. "My pain reached Champions' League levels overnight." Or "My pain is in the Isthmian League." #kidneystones

5. Sciurus niger For a couple of years, my fox squirrels have been unable to reach the bird feeder. Instead they raid my fruit trees. Squeeze here and it will come out there. #backyardwildlife #denver #biodiversity

"our entire culture seems to have forgotten that identities and opinions are the least interesting parts of people — ripples on the surface of the ocean of the soul, shimmering but shallow, pervious to every windsweep, irrelevant to the depths."

Cornus stolonifera. For number 4, I want down a bit of a rabbit hole into the taxonomy of dogwoods. Who knew? Is it Cornus alba, Cornus sericia? Call it 'red osier.' And I'll get to that bug, too. #denver #backyardwildlife #biodiversity #gardening

#poetry from the fragility of the heart.

David is a dear friend, and someone who has dedicated his entire career to supporting exploited workers. If you can give his Attorney General campaign a few dollars (or a lot), I would really appreciate it. secure.actblue.com/donate/jeff_...

No. 3 Colaptes auratus cafer, the western red-shafted flicker provides the soundtrack for mid-May, calling, drumming, ak-ak-ak-ing. #denver #backyardwildlife #biodiversity

Here's a mothers' day poem I wrote for all the mothers and one in particular. #mothersday #poetry

For some time, I have wanted to catalog the plants and animals in my yard and house--a combination of wild, domesticated, cultivated, invasive, and native companions to semi-urban #Denver life. The plot is at 39.7135, -104.921. Off we go, in no particular order. #backyardwildlife

I know who you are! A nascent peach on 1 May. #denver #gardening #fruit

Priorities are clear here.

“Something like only 43% of the cells in your body are actually human cells.” — Annaka Harris, Lights On, Ch. 4 #science #consciousness open.spotify.com/show/5KNrTzu...

Clouds.

Rava bar Rav Huna says: If one crushed nine ants and brought another one that was alive and thereby completed their measure to an olive-bulk and ate them, he is flogged with six sets of lashes…There is no halakhic dispute in this case. #dafyomi #makot 16b www.sefaria.org/Makkot.16b.12

“harmful to moose and to young salmon” But so sweetly perfumed it will wake you up in the night. Prunus padus #plants

We can’t photograph every English Bluebell in our woodland as it would take years, but we will share some every day Bluebell #19

Pope Fiction

My friend Greg has a friendly face, but that’s not the point. The point is that he has created a quantitative rating method for comparing presidents - akin to the QBR used by sports fans to more objectively compare quarterbacks. Check it out.

As If // כאילו Buried. Cramped. Blinded. Clipped-winged angels Choke down bitter tears, For life. We know them. We know them not. c’ilu כאילו #poetry #passover

Note from last Pesach: "Sunday 4/21/24. 03:15pm Dog stole brisket. Not a whole one." I still own this dog. #passover #doodledogs

Is there an equivalent of perfect pitch for color? See something and know the wavelength.

Traditional peach blossom snowstorm in #Denver. Last year was a bumper crop, so we’ll see how they hold up this year. #gardening

Thames night lights. #London #StreetPhotography #Photography

Primary colors at Camden Town. #London #StreetPhotography #phtography

Self portrait on the Underground. #london day 3 #urbanphotography #photography

USMNT: The leadership of our defense makes critical turnovers in key spots to the wrong people. Pete Hegseth: Hold my beer.

Self portrait at Waterloo Jubilee line platform. #London day 3.

Perhaps respect for OPSEC is proportional to respect for information is proportional to respect for truth.

Not sure if there are geographical limitations. #London day 2