Catharsis

  Instead of using an RPi3, I decided to stay with the RPi4 for birdNET, in anticipation of it also hosting a camera and media player for when there are people outside socializing.  Pi4's really need active cooling. This is an old CPU cooler fan running off 5 volts instead of the rated 12v. It is quite quiet as a result. I might raise that voltage. The CPU is reporting 50C, and previously I had it down to around 40-45C with the case open. Or maybe drill more holes to improve air flow through the case. The reducing shroud to fit the fan on the case is made from a yogurt container and my ghetto 3dprinter (aka hot glue gun) welded the three pieces together. Had to remember how to project a section of a cone onto 2D!

Funny. There was a bug on the side of our host which roughly resembled a tick. "Too narrow", I thought. But just to be sure, I took its picture and sent it to iNaturalist.  Their classifier agrees, not a tick. The next day, a weevil expert confirmed this identification. Who knew there were global weevil experts? I am an insect taxonomist, whose research focuses on the weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) of New Zealand and the South Pacific and with a working knowledge of global weevil diversity.  If you have found my identifications helpful and would like to show it financially, a thank-you card (containing original artwork) is available for purchase from  https://sdjbrown.itch.io/inaturalist-gratitude-card . Proceeds will go towards purchasing books and resources for increasing my identification skills, or to support my ongoing research on weevil taxonomy.

  According to BirdNET-Pi, these are the birds that are nearby and vocal. I did delete the very faint osprey it heard, as that's not believable. Also not sure of the Blue-headed vireo. Something to keep my own ears and eyes open for. Seeing the Northern Parula will be a challenge. They're tiny. 

 I was lolling about in the back, listening to birds and using the Merlin app to identify unknown sounds. I had the idea of setting up something to do that continually. As usual, someone got there before me, and I discovered  Birdnet-Pi . This software records sounds in 15 second chunks, then uses the excellent work by the ornithologists at Cornell U. to identify bird songs.  It took a bit of fussing about to build the machine, especially getting a microphone which works. Still getting a lot of DC hum on the recorded files for some reason.  But it's producing believable detections now. The web interface is comprehensive. The data can be uploaded to BirdWeather. It looks like my station is the first in the extended area. 

  Made these to go with a pot of chili con carne at a family gathering. All purpose (white) flour, sourdough starter and olive oil. My usual overly dense texture. They went in the proofing oven for the initial rise, but the cookie sheet I put them on wouldn't fit for the final rise. Still OK. Fairly subtle sourdough flavour.

  I think this happened because the dough got very dry while rising. It felt that way. I should have misted it while rising, and put water in the oven to steam it.

 We're having a heat wave, which triggered forest fires. It's too hot, dry and smoky to go outside. So I designed a printed circuit board for the dough proofer oven. A bit of a rush job, but it's simple enough I can probably bodge any mistakes. Stay tuned! Got the boards back from OSHpark. No obvious mistakes, and I have populated one.  Except I am out of WEMOS D1 minis!