Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Retirement Milestone Fifteen

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of my official retirement. I say “official” because I had already retired ten years prior, but returned to the workforce at another company to continue my career in aerospace. This turned out to be an important step in building up our “nest egg” savings in the new company’s 401K program. I believe we were able to put away about a quarter of our income during those final ten years, with much of the savings “sheltered” from the IRS. That was a good thing.

So, in the coming year, we are contemplating more travel in the big RV. We both have ancestors in many states and we would like to travel to our places of origin – at least on this continent, since many ancestors further up the family trees were from European nations which we would like to visit but are unable at this time. First things first – we will visit the places we can by motorhome. As for the motorhome, we have several maintenance items and improvements to accomplish beforehand.

As we prepare for more years of retirement, we are placing our efforts in God’s Hands to provide for us as He has in the past. We anticipate that this coming year will be as blessed as our first fifteen years of retirement.

p.s. Register to vote and then vote. Bring ten other voters with you. This could be the most important election in the history of the Republic (NOT a democracy, but a REPUBLIC, if we can keep it).

01 Oct 2024 by Aerospace Ancestors Retirement Travel Wanderlust 0

Nineteenth Blogiversary

Well, here we are passing another milestone for this blog. We have had an interesting year thus far, with all the political nonsense going on, attempted assassinations of DJT a couple of times and the endless calls to save “democracy,” when we actually need to save our Constitutional Republic.

The political Left is intent on destroying the Constitution and the original nation envisioned and realized by the Founders. They can’t do that as long as there are several hundreds of millions of firearms owned by good, patriotic Americans, thus the endless calls for “assault weapon” (i.e. a political term for commonly owned carbines) bans and “red flag laws,” also a ploy to take lawful weapons from folks without due process.

We’ll hang in there, if we get everybody we know to get registered and vote this fall to oust the swamp creatures in congress and to elect those who defend the Constitution. Just do it.

Enough of that – now, we’re entering the third season of this year as the sun heads south of the equator for shorter days and cooler temperatures. Our blog will continue to post on occasion about our personal travels and events as well as posting about holidays and other significant occurrences.

Thanks for reading all these years and see you on the next posting. Happy Autumn, even though Arizona is still enjoying our “second spring.”

By the way, there was a partial eclipse of the moon on the 17th of September. I got this shot when the shadow was nearly at maximum obscuration . . .

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1
Aperture: F22
Exposure: 1/200sec
Focal Length: 250mm
ISO: 800
Lens: Canon EF-S55-250 f/4 IS STM

22 Sep 2024 by Beltway Kabuki Blogosphere Firearms Technobabble 0

Second Spring

The weather outlook in our little patch of Arizona looks to be cooling off somewhat; that is, high temps of less than 100°F. In our experience, this indicates not autumn, but our “second spring” for the next few weeks. As you can see in the image above, cactus flowers are now appearing on our “Devil’s Tongue” (ferocactus latispinus).

My camera caught some other interesting things as seen below . . .

This is a Black Hawk which soared above our place yesterday. They look similar to turkey buzzards, but they lack the bright red head the buzzards are known to have.

And, as fall advances, the fruit on our lemon tree are beginning to ripen. We will be making Limoncello around year’s end.

Some of the most commonly seen birds in the area are doves. This Mourning Dove perched in the mesquite tree where we place bird feeders year around.

Click on any image to enlarge.

14 Sep 2024 by Arizona Critters Environment Flowers 0

Patriot’s Day — 9/11/2024

It’s been 23 years since the attacks and we still will Never Forget. From The Patriot Post:

Today we solemnly mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attack on our nation, when 2,977 innocents were murdered by 19 Islamic fascists. There were 2,753 people murdered in New York, including the passengers and crew of AA flight 11 and UA flight 175. The victims included 343 firefighters and paramedics and 72 law enforcement officers. At the Pentagon, 184 people were murdered, including 59 aboard AA flight 77 and 55 military personnel. In Pennsylvania, 40 people were murdered aboard AA flight 93. More than 6,000 others were injured. Though mostly U.S. citizens, the victims were also from 77 other countries.

We continue to pray for peace and for justice to be done.

11 Sep 2024 by Never Forget Patriotism 0

Service Record Post Part 2
  Naval Air Station Duties

In part one of this series, after competing “A” school, the orders came through assigning me to the Naval Missile Center Command located at Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Oxnard, California. In June 1962, I reported for duty at Point Mugu NAS to be attached to the Naval Missile Center, but that had to wait until (as new NAS reports will testify) I was attached to the Naval Air Station Command to be washed through the usual menial chores duty of a new report.

My first assignment was to be attached to “Compartment (Coop) Cleaners” in the barracks on the Naval base. Of course this involved “swabbing decks” and general clean up of the areas where the station personnel resided. It was totally unrewarding save for the acquired skills of running a mop, a floor buffer and a broom. I still treasure those skills even to this time in my life, and use them in our daily maintenance of Casa Casandro here in Arizona.

After a few weeks of “coop cleaning,” I got an assignment to the base “Security Infantry” whose purpose was to augment the Naval Station’s Security force. Upon reporting to the barracks where about sixty of us had been assigned, we were indoctrinated to our new billets as security force members.

The Security Infantry program started out with a daily routine of calisthenics followed by compartment cleaning, training exercises (with M1 Garand Rifles) and other interesting classes with topics such as survival of a nuclear attack, dealing with biological warfare and protection from chemical weapons.

We all were made available to the base security force as gate sentinels, Colors Crew (Flag raising and lowering), post watches (guarding the perimeters of the NAS 24/7) and so forth. We were on a “port/starboard” duty cycle, with one day on duty and one day off and a 48 hour liberty pass every other weekend.

We served the security force for a total of two months after which we were to be assigned to one of the several departments of the Naval Missile Center. Our experience with the Security Infantry had many benefits including live time on the firing range with introduction to M1 Garand, Browning Automatic Rifles and Handguns (1911 .45ACP). The time in Security Infantry was of great value to me, such as to be equivalent to advanced basic training (boot camp).

When my tour as a Security Infantryman completed, I got myself assigned to the Targets and Drones Department of the Naval Missile Center. More about how that came about in the next part of this series.

09 Sep 2024 by Aviation Military Nostalgia Notions 0

Labor Day 2024

For us here at Casandro Castle, AZ, we’re celebrating Labor Day this year with a simple cookout of grilled Cheeseburgers on Keto Buns (thank goodness and Oroweat™ for those low carb buns). These photos are from a previous cookout, but I’m confident that Damsel will be able to repeat her past performances.

Click on either image to enlarge.

Labor Day for us, is in recognition to the hard workers that made this country what it is today; we’re talking about the pioneers in the industrial revolution, the pioneers who built villages and towns from hand-hewn lumber, the inventors of technologies and advanced concepts for better living and the hard-working Americans who funneled their industry and hard work to set America on the path to becoming the greatest Nation in history. We are specifically NOT talking about labor unions and the damage that they have done to our Nation in the 20th and 21st Centuries. (Thanks, in part, to Jimmy Hoffa, et al, where ever they may be.)

As we head into the fall and the imminent political season of a presidential election year, may we all be inspired by the men and women who made this country great and to Make America Great Again.

If you are a gun owner or a firearms enthusiast in Arizona (or anywhere else) get registered to vote, and then vote for candidates that will vote to keep the second amendment intact.

May God bless the true laborers in our Great Nation and keep them free and secure. Amen.

Keep your EDCs handy and watch your six over the next few months.

02 Sep 2024 by Food & Dining Holidays Notions Patriotism Second Amendment

Classic ’58 Chevy Convertible

We may have posted a classic Chevy like this one years ago on the Minstrel site when we saw it in Torrance back then. Today, however, this classic rolled up into the parking lot while we were collecting mail from the PO Box. A very nice gent allowed as how he would be OK with Damsel taking these photos of his treasure.

Images: 1958 Classic Chevrolet Impala Convertible with Continental Kit in mint condition – credit Damsel – click on any image to view enlarged.

29 Aug 2024 by Arizona Classics Nostalgia Photography

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