Goodbye Vermont

On this day on our #AppalachianTrail journey, we hiked 20 miles before 4pm. We emerged from the woods to this quaint New England community where we met a former hiker who fed us and put us up for the night before sending us on way north into New Hampshire the next day. She was an amazing lady who had hiked the entiirety of the trail 3x, starting in the 50s.

Rolling green hills covered in dense trees stretch across the background, small houses scattered in the valley, under a cloudy sky, creating a peaceful rural scene.

Harris Lake, Wake County, NC

It may be trite, but each day truly is a new beginning.

Sun rising behind a tree-lined horizon, casting a warm, golden glow over a calm body of water, reflecting the light in gentle ripples across the surface.

Virgiinia Blues

It took us a little less than five weeks to hike south from the WV/VA state line to the VA/TN line - 550 miles of Appalachian Trail goodness. We saw 12 bears, had to hunt for water way too many times and finally got back to places where you can get grits with your breakfast. The last sectiom of the trail in VA is a nice day hike if you’re ever in the area.

A person wearing a blue shirt and black cap stands beside a wooden sign in the forest. The sign reads "Tennessee/Virginia State Line." The background features lush green trees.

New England Hiking is Hard

In the south, the #AppalachianTrail has lots of switchbacks and long, long gradual climbs out of gaps. In New England, you get stuff like this Vermont scene - straight up mountains on bare granite. On the steeper climbs, all the tree bark is worn off whereever hikers can grab for support. #hiking

A person is hiking up a rocky trail with a backpack and trekking poles. The trail features smooth, striated rock with a white blaze marking. Lush green foliage surrounds the path in a forested area. The view is from a low angle, emphasizing the incline of the trail.

Vintage Architecture

This building with its art deco facade, built in 1934, was once a Chevrolet dealership. It’s now used a garage by the city, which thankfully has maintained the design. (Fayetteville, NC)

Art Deco building stands under stormy skies, featuring vertical and curved architectural lines with red accents. Large green-tinted windows and brick base form the foundation.

ProcessSpy

The processes of Visual Stidio Code

When troubleshooting system issues or thoroughly evaluating a piece of software, experienced and knowledgable Mac users often turn to activity monitor to get information on memory, CPU usage, power consumption and more. It's often helpful but at times it can be cryptic. The developer of Process Spy has an example. "I was juggling several Java apps, each using a different JDK version — and I couldn’t tell which process was which in Activity Monitor. All I saw was “java”. No version, no path, no details. So I built ProcessSpy — a developer-focused tool that shows full command-line info, version details, environment variables, and more."

ProcessSpy has quite a few free features and even more in the inexpensive ($6.99) paid version.

Features of ProcessSpy

  • Advanced tree view -  can show cumulative totals for CPU, Memory and Threads.
  • Javascript filters - create complex filters with multiple conditions.
  • Version information - shows the version information of the process right in the main table.
  • Context menu actions - Show in Finder, copy path, search process online and more
  • Advanced process info (paid) - view advanced information like entitlements, Info.plist, and bundle ID and more
  • Environmental variables (paid) - view environment variables of the process.

ProcessSpy iis distributed as a signed app in a DMG or through Homebrew. It runs on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs using macOS 14 or higher. In the free version, there is a 10-second wait screen before the program loads. Buying a license gets rid of that and offers extra functionality as described above.

You can purchase a license for ProcessSpy on Gumroad.

To install with Homebrew

brew install --cask processspy

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A Couple of Visitors

Hanging out on the deck, taking pictures of the visitors. These freeloaders are looking for the inevitable handouts I use to bribe them into posing for me.

A bird with a red crest and a reddish-brown body perched on a wooden surface against a blurred green background.A squirrel is perched on a wooden surface against a blurred green background.

Appalachian Trail Memories

On this date on our Appalachian Trail thruhike, our friend Smokey surprised us by carrying hotdogs and buns in his pack over several mountains to share at day’s end. He also carried a Gatorade bottle full of bourbon. And some weed. I opted for a hot dog, not the party supplies.

MountMate - A Tool I Didn't Know I Needed

Settings and User Interface


I have an "always on" Mac on my desk with several external drives connected to it, drives I need frequently, but not continuously. I'd been putting up with a cluttered Finder and needless spin-ups for months when I discovered MountMate this week. MountMate is a menu bar app that mounts and unmounts external drives. Without MountMate, after a drive is ejected, I'd have to go into Disk Utility to mount it back, or more likely I'd just unplug and replug the drive, not a small task on a desk with three computers and eight external drives. Some people use shell scripts and other fancy methods to accomplish this, but that's a notch above my comfort level.

With MountMate, those days are over. When I need to add or access files on one of my drives, I can do so with just a couple of clicks. MountMate has a lot going for it. It's a native app, not electron, and it has no dependencies. It doesn't require Internet access or root permissions and it doesn't access your files. It even has a bonus feature - reporting used/free space.

The developer, Homielab, is very responsive. The original release of MountMate didn't have Intel support, and he added it in just a couple of days when I requested it. He's also working on a solution that will display the authentication prompt in MountMate when encrypted drives (e.g., Time Machine) are mounted.

MountMate can be downloaded from the HomieLabs website or GitHub. It's free/donationware.

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The Mad Moose of Stratton Mountain

We reached the summit of Stratton Mountain to be greeted by the first moose either of us had ever seen. They’re huge BTW. Wonder Woman pursued the thing for several minutes trying to get a good photo. I was way too tired for all that, so I just rested. Side note: It was standing on this spot that Benton McKaye conceived the idea of the Appalachian Trail.

A moose is standing among the trees in a forest.

Vermont Hail Storm

On our second day in #Vermont, a sudden hailstorm caught us and all we could do was hike through it. Felt kinda badass TBH #Hiking #AppalachianTrail

A dense forest of evergreen trees is under a cloudy sky.A picnic table in a forest is surrounded by a ground covered in light hail.

The Long Trail (Vermont)

One of the oldest sections of the #AppalachianTrail is the Vermont section that overlaps that states’s long trail, which was first blazed over 120 years ago. It is one of the most beautiful sections, muddy perhaps, with more bugs than many might like, but still a memorable part of the experience. #hiking

A man wearing hiking gear points to a wooden sign about the Long Trail in Vermont amidst a forest setting.

Five Recent Finds at MacMenuBar

MacMenuBar.com is the best place on the Internet to find apps with that particular interface. Its recently added section is always worth checking out for new free, freemium and paid apps. Here are five recently added apps that are worth checking out.

Always on Top

Always on Top lets you choose any window on your Mac to pin above all other windows. It's got a nice menu-driven interface and is a nice addition to your multi-tasking routine. (Free)

Always on Top

Signal Shifter

Signal Shifter gives you a convenient location to control the inputs, outputs, Bluetooth devices and volume control right from your Menu Bar. (Free)

Signal Shifter

QuickGif

QuickGif provides a searchable Gif menu for use in any app. Drop GIFs into Slack, iMessage, Discord, and more. Save your favorites. (freemuim)

QuickGif

AppLockr

Applockr allows you to password protect any app on your Mac to prevent it being opened by anyone who should not access it. it's better suited for apps like Apple Notes that have an internal database rather than apps that create separately accessible documents. You should also lock Terminal and Activity Monitor to prevent unauthorized users from using those apps to force quit AppLockr itself. (one time payment)

AppLockr

Calendr

Calendr provides quick calendar access from your menu bar, complete with reminders. it has 1600 stars on Github, so plenty of people find it useful.

Calendr

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The View from Mt. Greylock

My Greylock is the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, coming in at 3491 feet. There is a restaurant at the top and a kind stranger had given us money to buy a meal there, but alas, it was closed when we arrived. No worries thoguh, we just hiked to the next town and ate there instead.

A scenic view of a lush green valley with rolling hills in the background, under a clear blue sky. The valley is dotted with patches of farmland and clusters of trees, and there are small towns scattered throughout the landscape. Dense green foliage is visible in the foreground.

My Mac Contacted 63 Different Apple Owned Domains in One Hour - While Not is Use

During a one hour period today, my computer contacted 63 different Apple domains while i was not logged on and using it.

I have been trying to minimize to the extent possible the reach of big tech into my life. A full 25% of the DNS queries from one of my computers (M2 MBA with macOS 15.4) are to Apple owned domains - even though my DNS provider (NextDNS) blocks Apple's native telemetry. Additionally, since I do not use Apple for my mail, contacts, calendars, podcasts or news, I already have the routes to those Apple services blacklisted.

MBA Report


Interestingly, my 2019 Intel MBP with the same DNS settings has less than 3% of it's DNS queries hitting Apple domains.

MBP Report

Here are the domains Apple contacted during one 60-Minute Period When I Was Not Using My Computer

One Hour - 63 Apple Domains

  • 1-courier.push.apple.com - Apple Push Notification Service
  • 1-courier.sandbox.push.apple.com - Apple Push Notification Service
  • api.apple-cloudkit.com - CloudKit, Apple's backend service for developers to store and sync app data
  • api.apple-cloudkit.fe2.apple-dns.net - DNS/gateway services for Apple's infrastructure
  • app-site-association.cdn-apple.com - Used for Universal Links
  • apple-relay.cloudflare.com
  • apple.com - Core Apple websites
  • bag.itunes.apple.com - iTunes/App Store purchase container
  • configuration.apple.com - for fetching various system configurations, including location services
  • configuration.ls.apple.com - for fetching various system configurations, including location services
  • cts.cdn-apple.com - CDN for network content
  • entitlements.itunes.apple.com - Checks your entitlements for apps and content
  • fbs.smoot.apple.com - for crash reports, analytics, or user feedback.
  • fpinit.itunes.apple.com - Initialization for iTunes/App Store services
  • gateway.fe2.apple-dns.net - DNS/gateway services for Apple's infrastructure
  • gdmf.apple.com - Device Management Framework
  • gsa.apple.com - Apple ID (IDMS) and Game Center Services (GSAS)
  • gsa.idms-apple.com.akadns.net - Apple ID (IDMS) and Game Center Services (GSAS)
  • gsas.apple.com - Apple ID (IDMS) and Game Center Services (GSAS)
  • gsas.idms-apple.com.akadns.net - Apple ID (IDMS) and Game Center Services (GSAS)
  • gspe1-ssl.ls.apple.com - related to Location Services (LS) and certificate validation (SSL)
  • gspe35-ssl.ls.apple.com - related to Location Services (LS) and certificate validation (SSL)
  • iadsdk.apple.com - Apple's iAd advertising network SDK
  • init-p01md.apple.com
  • init.ess.apple.com - Apple's Entitlement Services
  • init.itunes.apple.com - Initialization for iTunes/App Store services
  • kt-prod.ess.apple.com - Apple's Entitlement Services
  • lcdn-registration.apple.com - related to Software Update and (CDN) registration
  • musicstatus.itunes.apple.com - For checking the status of Apple Music or iTunes Match
  • ocsp2.apple.com - Online Certificate Status Protocol
  • p44-buy-lb.itunes-apple.com.akadns.net - related to the iTunes Store and App Store purchase
  • p44-buy.itunes.apple.com - related to the iTunes Store and App Store purchase
  • pancake.apple.com - telemetry
  • pd.itunes.apple.com - related to the iTunes Store and App Store purchase
  • proxy.safeBrowse.apple - for Apple's Safari Fraudulent Website Warning (Safe Browse)
  • sandbox.itunes-apple.com.akadns.net - used by developers for testing in-app purchases
  • sandbox.itunes.apple.com - used by developers for testing in-app purchases
  • sas-uw2-pcms.apple.com - related to purchase or content management systems within Apple's retail or media ecosystem.
  • sas.pcms.apple.com - related to purchase or content management systems within Apple's retail or media ecosystem.
  • setup.fe2.apple-dns.net - DNS/gateway services for Apple's infrastructure
  • st11p01su-lcdnreg.isu.apple.com.akadns.net - related to Software Update and (CDN) registration
  • suconfig.apple.com - related to Software Update and (CDN) registration
  • swallow-apple-com.v.aaplimg.com - related to content delivery or image services
  • swallow.apple.com - related to content delivery or image services
  • testflight.apple.com - for TestFlight, Apple's platform for beta testing apps
  • time.apple.com - Network Time Protocol
  • token.safeBrowse.apple - for Apple's Safari Fraudulent Website Warning (Safe Browse)
  • us-ne-courier-4.push-apple.com.akadns.net - Apple Push Notification Service
  • us-sandbox-courier-4.push-apple.com.akadns.net - Apple Push Notification Service
  • use1-wps-prod.apple.com
  • weatherkit.apple.com
  • wps.apple.com
  • www.apple.com - Core Apple websites
  • xp.apple.com - telemetry
  • gateway.icloud.com
  • p177-content.icloud.com
  • edge-062.usatl5.icloud-content.com
  • p104-content.icloud.com
  • setup.icloud.com
  • p150-content.icloud.com
  • p176-content.icloud.com
  • p101-content.icloud.com
  • mask-api.icloud.com

Apple Domains I Already Block

  • apple.news
  • apple.tv
  • podcasts.apple.com
  • siri.apple.com
  • caldav.icloud.com
  • contacts.icloud.com
  • mask.apple-dns.net
  • mask-api.icloud.com
  • doh.dns.apple.com.v.aaplimg.com
  • doh.dns.apple.com
  • apple-relay.cloudflare.com
  • mask-canary.icloud.com
  • mask-h2.icloud.com
  • mask.icloud.com
  • p120-caldav.icloud.com

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Hiking the Berkshires

Western Massachusetts is a pretty place. The Berkshires aren’t too daunting but they have their moments. I’d been brainwashed as a southerner to thinnk that the Northeast US was a big urban jungle. It isn’t. New England is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been. #hiking #Appalachian. Trail

A person with a large backpack walks through a grassy field under an overcast sky. The field is surrounded by dense green trees, and a cluster of buildings is visible in the distance at the base of a wooded hill. The person appears to be hiking, using trekking poles, with their back turned to the camera.

A Photo Management Workflow Without Big Tech

Digikam


One of the things that make the tools of Big Tech so seductive to use are their rich feature sets. Photo management apps from Google, Amazon, and Apple require little more than flipping a toggle switch to begin uploading photographs from your phone. Each company provides you a ready-made website with the ability to create albums, share photographs, and do basic editing. All you have to do is to give them your data, your privacy, and I suspect your soul.

This year I opted to remove all of my personal photographs from the servers of the big tech companies and to manage them on a self-hosted server in my home. My challenge was to automate the process as much as possible for both me and my wife and to get the same benefits: iOS access, backup and sharing.

The canonical location of our photos is located on the hard drive of an always on Mac which has multiple backups including Time Machine, two different European based cloud storage companies (Koofr and kDrive)and multiple external hard drives. The iOS app of my cloud service, kDrive by Infomaniak automatically uploads all images added to the phones library to their server and those are synced to to the Mac in our home. I created an Apple shortcut that runs once a day when triggered by a Keyboard Maestro macro that copies all of the photos added in the past 24 hours from the upload location to the canonical photo location. Then Hazel moves those photos to a folder corresponding to the current year and month. During this process, images are converted from HEIC to JPG.

I use the powerful and full featured open-source photo management app, Digikam, to rename and tag my photos and to make any adjustments to the geolocation. Digikam also does editing and duplicate detection. I have Syncthing running on the Mac to two other computers. One is my server which uses Unraid. The other computer is a 16-year-old iMac with Xubuntu, a good distro for old hardware, that serves as a 24 inch digital picture frame to rotate our photo collection in a never ending loop. On my server, the synced photo library is used by the photo management application, Immich. I have Immich connected to the Internet through a secure Cloudflare tunnel. It allows us to view our photo collection on the Immich iOS app and to create shareable albums with our friends and family.

Hopefully, if you are interested in removing your photos from the clutches of big tech, this will give you some ideas on how to use some of the software I've reviewed to create your own solution. Feel free to hit me up with questions.

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Crucial Track for June 10, 2025

"Baba O'Riley" by The Who

Listen on Apple Music

I was a farm kid in the 70s and 80s. When I hear Pete Townshend's guitar play those unmistakable chords and Roger Daltry's voice sing this song, I've felt like I could take on the world. The Who and the Kinks were the more intellectual bands of the British invasion with more and better imagery than some of the pop stuff from the lads from Liverpool and their dirty London Cousins.

*"Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals I get my back into my living I don't need to fight to prove I'm right I don't need to be forgiven

Don't cry, don't raise your eye It's only teenage wasteland"

Entry image

View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

Ice Gulch

This is Ice Gulch, located on the Appalachian Trail just north of Great Barrington, MA. It’s a mile long and a hundred feet deep. It’s on a stretch of the trail that makes for a good day hike if you are ever in the area.

A lush forest scene features dense greenery, large moss-covered rocks, and towering trees with a soft, diffused light filtering through the canopy.

State Line

That brook is the state line for Connecticut and Massachusetts on the Appalachian Trail. There was supposed to be a bridge there, but oh well. If there is one thing I leaned on that hike, it was how to be resilient.

A person is crossing a shallow stream with trekking poles, surrounded by a forest.Two wooden signs on a tree provide directions and distances in a forested area.