Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

June 2016

Kamping in Kalifornistan

Kamping in Kalifornistan

We’re here again to visit the little grandson, his parents and the other set of grandparents. The drive was OK, albeit with a lot of 18 wheelers on the road, but we’re here and camp is all set up.

The weather was good with thin overcast and haze. Not exactly a boon for scenic photography, but the conditions were such that the temperatures were lower than they have been and the winds were mostly not enough to make the drive in the 32 footer unmanageable.

The baby’s Mom and the California Grandpa dropped by this evening for a visit. We enjoyed seeing the baby after our absence of longer than we like due to logistics and other life events. We’re already planning the next visit in July and will have the dates figured out before we depart for home.

The Baby’s Dad was still in the L.A. area this evening, but will be out tomorrow for the BBQ we’re planning here in camp. The baby is cuter than ever and sporting four upper and four lower teeth. We just love him.

10 Jun 2016 by California Wanderlust

Wanderlust Throwback

Four Corners

We took a trip to Arizona and beyond in about 1995 or so, just to see the sights and enjoy the desert west. We had escaped from Kalifornistan to visit Indian Country, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Four Corners Monument near Teec Nos Pos, AZ.

In the composite image above, we had taken turns standing on the point where the four states (AZ, UT, CO and NM) converge. We were in Arizona looking toward Colorado from the camera perspective.

Lately, our RV trips have been frequent, but limited to visiting family in K-Stan. We are happy to see the kids, grandkids, one great grandkid and other family on those visits, but we are yearning to head out for more interesting, touristy places. Perhaps this summer, we will load up the dogs and head out to see some of the scenic west as yet unexplored by us.

09 Jun 2016 by Wanderlust

Red Bird of Paradise Flowers Now Open

Red Bird of Paradise Flower

Even though some of the Pride of Barbados (a.k.a. Red Bird of Paradise) shrubs elsewhere in town have had flowers for a while, the first week in June seems to trigger my three shrubs in the courtyard to open their flowers. It was this week a year ago that my first Red Bird flower opened.

Some places, like the Caribbean islands, enjoy this shrub all year long, but since we have frosts, the shrubs go dormant after summer and fall. We are glad to have them when they have flowers like the one above.

From Wikipedia:

[Caesalpinia pulcherrima] is a shrub growing to 3 m tall. In climates with little to no frosts, this plant will grow larger and is semi-evergreen. Grown in climates with light to moderate freezing, plant will die back to the ground depending on cold, but will re-bound in mid to late spring. This species is more sensitive to cold than others. The leaves are bipinnate, 20–40 cm long, bearing 3-10 pairs of pinnae, each with 6-10 pairs of leaflets 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm broad. The flowers are borne in racemes up to 20 cm long, each flower with five yellow, orange or red petals. The fruit is a pod 6–12 cm long.

07 Jun 2016 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

The Warmer Weather is Back

temperature.jpgToday is the first of several days that are forecast to be triple digit days. The National Weather Service calls it an “Excessive Heat Warning” and it is forecast to continue through Monday. Even the Low temperatures are around 80 degrees which doesn’t provide much relief.

The thermostat is set to 82 degrees and the A/C unit keeps it near that temperature which feels REALLY cool when coming in from walking the dogs. We also have the ceiling fans turning in the office and the great room during the day and in the bedroom during the night. The fans circulate the air so the temperature doesn’t have hot and cool spots as could be the case.

The warm weather also activated some of the local reptiles. Yesterday, we found a dead rattlesnake on the road near the neighbor’s wall across from our driveway. I can’t be sure about the species, but it looks like it might be a Western Mojave rattler – either that or a Diamondback. Click on the link to view the image of the dead snake.

There is somewhat of a mystery about that snake and how it met its fate. Damsel and I observed that the Town’s recycle collection truck paused at that exact spot on the road where we later found the critter. Did the driver kill the snake? Did he run it over? I dunno. When I see him next week I plan on asking about what happened.

The other part of the mystery is that later in the day I went out to fetch the carcass and dispose of it but it was gone. Did the turkey buzzards beat me to it? Some other critter, two or four legged? I dunno that either.

03 Jun 2016 by Arizona Critters Environment

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