Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Arizona

Labor Day 2025

These AI-generated images sort of reflect our activities on this Labor Day. The theme is (of course) grilling filet mignon steaks in a desert backyard, which is what we’re doing today. I also got the AI to summarize the traditions and history of the celebration.

Happy Labor Day to you and yours. Many countries around the world celebrate Labor Day on this day to honor the contributions and achievements of workers. Here’s a brief overview of the day:

Labor Day History

  • Labor Day originated in the United States in the late 19th century.
  • It was first celebrated on September 5, 1882, in New York City.
  • The holiday was created to recognize the struggles and sacrifices of workers in the face of long working hours, low wages, and poor working conditions.

Traditions and Celebrations

  • Labor Day is often marked with parades, barbecues, and other outdoor events.
  • Many people take the day off work to spend time with family and friends.
  • Some countries also observe Labor Day with strikes, protests, or other forms of activism to advocate for workers’ rights.

So here’s hoping that everyone had a good holiday and God Bless.

01 Sep 2025 by Arizona Food & Dining Holidays

Happy 249th, America!

Happy Independence Day, America! On the 249th anniversary of independence from our tyrannical overlords of yore, we seem to be enjoying much in the way of prosperity, peace and the blessings from above.

From The Patriot Post:

On July 3rd, the day before the Continental Congress affirmed our Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that the 4th of July “ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.” He continued, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

He added: “You will think me transported with Enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

The defense of Liberty requires eternal vigilance…

Image above: Proudly flying our National and State flags over our little domicile. Click on the image to view enlarged.

Today, we celebrated with prayers and thanks for our freedoms, followed by a steak and salad dinner.

UPDATE: Here is an interesting AI generated spam comment linked to some irrelevant music platform:

Really appreciate how you tied John Adams’ words to the present moment—his vision of posterity ‘triumphing’ feels especially relevant as we reflect on 249 years of hard-earned freedom. Your mention of prayer and gratitude before a simple, celebratory meal struck a meaningful balance between tradition and mindfulness. It’s a good reminder that patriotism can be both spirited and reflective.

It’s interesting how the AI robot parses the post and then generates a somewhat apropos comment. Of course, we won’t link to their clickbait. AI comments are getting to be more frequent, but still caught by the Askimet anti-spam plug-in.

04 Jul 2025 by Arizona Holidays Patriotism

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!

18 Apr 2025 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

“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.

15 Apr 2025 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

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.

14 Apr 2025 by Arizona Aviation Military Photography

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:

09 Apr 2025 by Arizona Astronomy Technobabble

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.

20 Mar 2025 by Arizona Critters Culture Notions Photography

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