Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is Risen!
We wish you a Joyful and Happy Easter!
Cardinal Camo Failure
and Happy Easter Weekend
With all the newly-grown green and yellow colors on the big mesquite tree out back, this Cardinal shows up big-time against the cooler desert hues. Seriously, these Cardinals come to the bird feeders up there and are a delight to see when they grace our area with their brilliant red-orange feathers and black trim.
I took this photo this morning (Good Friday, April 18, 2025) with my Canon EOS Rebel SL3 with the EF55-250 telephoto lens set to 250mm. I think that I took five or six images as the bird moved from left to right across the tree branch; this one was the best of the group.
Now for the message for all, that Jesus died on that fateful day when the sins of mankind were lifted from us on the cross at Calvary. We will be celebrating the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord this weekend. Happy Easter. HE IS RISEN, INDEED!
Happy Easter!
“Cherry Red” Cactus Flower
Our Cherry Red (or sometimes Red Torch) flowers are starting to open in the courtyard. This is the first of the spring season. There are buds on several of the cacti and we’re expecting more soon. Click on the image to enlarge.
About Trichocereus Grandiflorus:
The Torch Cactus (Trichocereus grandiflorus) is a species of cactus from the Patagonian Desert in Argentina. The Torch Cactus is notable for its huge display of dramatic red colored flowers that open in late spring. When adult Torch Cactus flower they can often produce displays of flowers that cover the top of the plant and can look like a carpet of red flowers from above.
V-22 Osprey Flyover
Late this afternoon (04/14/2025), an Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft flew nearly over our place here at an estimated altitude of about 500 feet above ground level. Damsel snapped this photo after retrieving her camera when hearing the unusual sound from this one-of-kind aircraft type.
It appeared that the Osprey, in tilted up rotor configuration, might have been heading for a landing at our local airport, a couple miles west of us. Ospreys tilt the rotors up for takeoff and landing, otherwise the rotors are tilted forward for cruise configuration.
As I mentioned above, this aircraft makes a most unusual sound signature when flying by, especially in the rotors up configuration. At this low altitude, the sound was clearly something foreign to our quiet little abode here in the desert.
I haven’t been able to distinguish from the aircraft markings visible in the photo whether this is a Marine or an Air Force craft. While we have seen Ospreys flying over the past few years, this may have been the closest pass to our home to date.
Click on the image to view enlarged.
Light Pollution in the Southwest
For those of us who are stargazers that love to look up at night, one of our primary concerns is anthropogenic illumination, a.k.a Light Pollution. Damsel and I remember one night in southwestern Utah at Zion National Park when we looked up to see so many stars that it was difficult to discern any of the major constellations since the sky was virtually filled with visible stars. Zion is remote enough that lights from major population areas are far over the horizon, thus providing a memorable and overwhelming view of the stars and galaxies in God’s wonderful universe.
Here in Wickenburg, we have fairly dark skies, but depending upon the time of night, we still have a little light pollution that interferes with our stargazing. However, just sixty miles southeast of here is the giant megalopolis of Phoenix and surrounding cities that don’t give a hoot about dark skies. As a result of that, our views in the direction of the Valley are clouded by that massive amount of candlepower.
Referring to the image above, Wickenburg is in the approximate center of the image on the border of Maricopa (south) and Yavapai (north) counties — you can see our little light blob just at the west end of the “notch” in the north side of Maricopa County. The giant light blob to the southeast of our town is the afore-mentioned megalopolis. You can see how their pollution might affect the dark skies of our area.
About the images on this page: due to a fluke in the GOES Southwest USA Imagery, I captured these nighttime images without the normally present clouds and other observed phenomena. These are the pre-programmed night images sans the clouds. The image at the top is cropped to show our area while the image below is the entire background for the GOES Southern Rockies nighttime view. Click on either image to enlarge; use the scroll bars to navigate the large image below.
Complete No Weather Southern Rockies GOES image:
New RV Internet Solution
Since our last RV excursion in April of 2024 to view the total eclipse of the sun, there were some lessons learned regarding internet connections and reliability during the trip. We were never completely without internet service most of the time, but there were places where our usual access via campground WIFI or the Samsung hotspot were spotty, unreliable, bandwidth limited and/or just plain awful. These conditions were, to say the least, frustrating to us who depend on our internet access for:
- entertainment
- campground reservations
- financial access
- social media
- VOIP telephone access
We needed something better.
Enter the new solution to the problems: Starlink Mini. Our package arrived today and within an hour after unboxing the system, we were on the satellite network with speeds of around 100Mb/sec. Good enough for each of the enumerated tasks above.
The mini unit is shown in the (clickable) photo below perched on the outdoor grill behind our house. The unit is self-contained and has the built-in Phased Array Antenna, associated electronics and a WIFI to facilitate access to the internet. MADE IN THE USA BY STARLINK!
Starlink Mini Unit
The next (clickable) photo shows the approximate sky view as seen by the mini unit. We live in sort of a low area looking to the north, with part of the sky obscured by rising terrain and structures up there. Regardless, the unit performed very well given the possible obscurations.
Approximate Sky View
A catalyst in our decision to go with Starlink now, was the terrorist attacks on Tesla and other Elon Musk enterprises. We saw this as an opportunity to support SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, by acquiring this system (in lieu of buying a Tesla) to support Musk, who endures daily threats as he continues to work the new Department of Government Efficiency.
We pray that the loonies doing the terror be found soon and be dealt with appropriately.
Spring Equinox 20 March 2025
Happy first day of Spring (northern hemisphere)! We’re off to a good start with daytime temperatures in the mid 70s and forecast to become in the mid 90’s in a week or so.
Greeting me on the first day of spring were these two critters — a cactus wren on the block feeder and an antelope ground squirrel foraging in the west side of the yard:
We always get a lot of comfort and enjoyment when the creatures which abound in our little corner of the desert show themselves to us and our cameras.
Both images were taken with the Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and an EF 55-250 lens at 250mm. Click on either image to view enlarged.