These nice spider mums are in the vase on my desk this weekend. Click on the image to enlarge.

On an impulse, after seeing an item in the local newspaper that featured a “Pet of the Week” item, we went to the Humane Society of Wickenburg (NOT affiliated with HSUS) and adopted Beethoven, another Miniature Pinscher. Now, Cabela has a new little brother.

Beethoven (AKA Bay Bay) is a little underweight and has been through several adoptions that did not work out, but we have had him here all day and think that he will be just fine with us and our other two dogs. He is about eighteen months old and at this time, he is on my lap enjoying a nap and back rub.

Click on the image to enlarge.

My biggest problem today is getting the water chemicals adjusted in the spa. I have the MPS (monopersulfate) and the alkalinity in range, but the PH balance is a little high. I went on-line to find out how to lower the PH. The answer is to add a mild acid to the spa such as white vinegar or a commercially-available granulated acidifier.

I took a photo of a couple of water test strips showing the before and after results when I added chlorine today. You can see that the second strip (closest to the container) matches colors for in-range condition for the top two pads only.

The plan is to see if our local discount store has a granulated acidifier in stock. If not, plan B will be to order some on-line.

We have had spas in the past in California, but we never worried very much about the chemical composition until now. We want this spa to outlast us, so we better take care of both it and us.

There are many purple sage shrubs that grace the landscapes of homes and businesses. Now that “second spring” is here, many of the shrubs are in bloom. Click on the image to enlarge.

It has been a little over six years since we converted our old webpages to the WordPress publishing platform and started to blog. We try to have a new post up every day - some of them conservative political content, some of them about family activities and some of them posting Damsel’s photos. In fact, the first three posts from September 2005 were one of each type of post.

• My reply to Diane Feinstein’s ‘NO’ Vote on Judge Roberts
• The Famous Salvation Army Doughnut
• Damsel Sends You a Lovely Gardenia

The image at the right is the first of Damsel’s lovely flowers posted here.

Last night was just beautiful. We had a few showers and a gorgeous sunset. Click on the image to enlarge.

We did two things today (other than watching football on TV): we attended Smithsonian Day at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum here in town (free admission) and we dropped by our landscaper’s new store to ask about trimming and planting seeds from my Red Bird of Paradise shrubs. In the last few days, seedpods have sprouted from the flower stems. He gave us advice on how to trim back the shrubs for winter and how to prepare the seeds for planting. Maybe next spring I will have several more of the red birds in the garden. Click on the image to enlarge.

Here’s the latest report from NASA regarding UARS, the enormous satellite that will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere sometime today or tomorrow.

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere late Sept. 23 or early Sept. 24 Eastern Daylight Time, almost six years after the end of a productive scientific life. Although the spacecraft will break into pieces during re-entry, not all of it will burn up in the atmosphere.

The risk to public safety or property is extremely small, and safety is NASA’s top priority. Since the beginning of the Space Age in the late-1950s, there have been no confirmed reports of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects. Nor is there a record of significant property damage resulting from a satellite re-entry.

It is still too early to say exactly when UARS will re-enter and what geographic area may be affected, but NASA is watching the satellite closely and will keep you informed. Visit this page for updates on the satellite’s orbital track and predicted re-entry date.

Update #10

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 07:45:08 AM MST

As of 10:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 23, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 100 miles by 105 miles (160 km by 170 km). Re-entry is expected late Friday, Sept. 23, or early Saturday, Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time. Solar activity is no longer the major factor in the satellite’s rate of descent. The satellite’s orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent. There is a low probability any debris that survives re-entry will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted because of this changing rate of descent. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours.

We had beautiful blue skies yesterday. I paused out on the driveway to capture this image of the moon over our little house. Click on the image to enlarge.

Moose and Squirrel Skunk . . .