A new red maple poking out, one of so many I saw on my hike. I’m going to keep tabs on this particular one to see how it fares. Another native species.

Bright green leaves of a new red maple contrast with the surrounding brown fallen leaves on a forest floor.

Here is some yellow star grass I came across in the mountains of Maryland. Along with the mountain laurel I shared yesterday, this is another species native to the United States. I think I’m finding a new hiking hobby: document at least one native species each hike.

Yellow star grass.

Cleaning out the attic. Why do I still have this? Behold the Toshiba T3400CT from 1994: i486SX-33 microprocessor, 120 MB storage, 4 MB RAM, a Megahertz 14,400 bps Fax Modem in the PCMCIA slot, and 640x480 color LCD (which was a big deal at the time). Ah, the memories.

A vintage Toshiba laptop in my workshop

The mountain laurels are blooming early this year in the Maryland mountains.

White and pink flowers on mountain laurel in the Catoctin mountains, Frederick, Maryland

Please consider leaving a federal register comment. This is why I just reluctantly took early retirement from my civil service job at NOAA, which I loved. My position was included on this list, even though my job had absolutely nothing to do with partisan politics. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is…