Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

Camping – Flagstaff

Tonight, we’re in Flagstaff, AZ. Yes, there is light snow falling on our campsite. We got here this afternoon when it was still partly sunny, set up camp and ate lunch. When we went out to walk the dogs, it was snowing a little. That’s about when I took the (clickable) image above.

We had an uneventful trip, albeit there is still quite a bit of construction on AZ-74 and I-17. The traffic was generally light with the usual idiots mixed in with us sane folks.

We’re here in Flagstaff to relax a couple of days and will be departing Wednesday morning on our next leg of our vacation from retirement. The next stop is planned to be near Monument Valley. Stay tuned.

Update: 26 MAR 2024 — We had a little more snow overnight . . .

25 Mar 2024 by Environment Retirement Wanderlust

Cloudburst Runoff


We finally got some rain and hail today after several weeks of storms missing our area. It got quite noisy in our little house when it started hailing outside. I took these photos of the road in front of the house with lingering runoff looking toward the east (top) and west (bottom), both clickable images. The runoff was gone within 15 minutes and the hail had already melted save for a small pile or two below the rooftop drain spouts.

While all this is going on, we and the pups are warm, dry and safe indoors. Our house is on a slab which is about 10-12 feet higher than the road below us out front. The retention walls we had built behind the RV driveway diverts the water behind the house to the east and west and thence down to the road.

We appreciated getting the rain. Even though it is normal to have rain this time of the year, we have been a little short of normal and today should get us back to the usual amount.

Looking at the radar forecast just now, it looks as if we will be having a couple more showers before this system moves off to the east-northeast.

07 Mar 2024 by Arizona Environment Notions Photography

Winter Solstice 2023

Image – an unusual snow day in Wickenburg (2014-12-31)

Solstice Notes

The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the winter solstice, which occurs on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at 8:27 P.M. Arizona time or 0127Z if you’re into Greenwich mean time. Today is the shortest day of the year with only 9 hours and 53 minutes of sunshine at our latitude here in Wickenburg.

We’re not expecting any snow of the magnitude depicted above this season. The snowfall in Wickenburg on New Year’s Eve 2014 was the most snow we have ever seen in town since we moved here in early 2011 when our house was finally completed. As a matter of fact, we can count our snow days on one hand over our nearly 13 years of living here.

Music Notes

The 61-key digital keyboard shown below is the replacement for an older version of the same thing that I’ve had since March of 2010 (and there were many before that). This one has much more capability and I have been enjoying exploring the different voices, songs and styles included in the unit.

I have been playing keyboards (without much formal training) since age 5 or so. I have messed with MIDI quite a lot although that isn’t my peak interest now. I’d much rather play favorites and try to compose some things now and then.

The new keyboard is a Yamaha PSR E373 which is still considered an entry level unit, but it has a lot more features than I probably can figure out how to use. I have an app for the Smart Phone which allows me to record sound and video from the unit. Maybe I will post some of it on social media and link it here one of these days.

Here is the new unit in my studio (a.k.a. Master Bedroom):

This is Yamaha’s Blurb about this keyboard:

The PSR-E373 features a newly developed tone generator that delivers stunning improvements in sound quality as well as high-quality effects. You can enjoy a comprehensive library of 622 instrument Voices perfect for playing in any genre you choose, as well as unique Super Articulation Lite Voices that reproduce the subtle nuances of stringed instruments such as the cello and mandolin that are typically difficult to emulate on a keyboard instrument, delivering realistic and authentic performances.

The old keyboard will be retired to the Motorhome for practice when we’re on the road.

21 Dec 2023 by Astronomy Environment Music Notions Retirement

Almost Cloudless
Plus an Irish Feast

The (clickable) satellite image above was taken the morning of August 4th showing the southwest and Arizona in particular having virtually no cloud cover. There are a few cumulus clouds forming over the mountains north of the Grand Canyon at the time this image was taken. We seem to be having a lack of our usual monsoon rains with a side effect of warmer than usual temperatures. Rest assured that there will eventually be a return to normal to come hopefully sooner than later. The global climate scammers are unnecessarily worrisome over normal weather deviations.

Now that we’re about halfway between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox it is again a Celtic Cross Quarter celebration of Lughnasadh which means (to us) that there must be a traditional Irish or Scottish meal to be consumed. So, Damsel is being creative and will offer a hybrid Western/Gaelic feast consisting of a Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato Chicken Salad (western) served over Homemade Soda Bread (Irish). There may be a traditional Irish Cocktail involved.

We will be posting about our feast on our Food Website later this weekend. Meanwhile, everybody please enjoy your weekend with whatever you consider to be relaxing.

04 Aug 2023 by Arizona Environment Food & Dining Global Warming Notions

Flowering Paloverde Trees

This is the time of year when most of the paloverde trees get bright yellow flowers on them. In addition to the naturally occurring native paloverde trees in this part of the desert, we asked our landscape guys to provide some additional trees for us. In July of 2021, they planted a mesquite and a paloverde along the west side of our lot. The tree in the (clickable) image above is how the 2021 paloverde looks today, all decked out in little yellow flowers.

Last August, 2022, we had the landscape guys plant two more little paloverdes in front of the house along the road. Those trees are also showing off their flowers this week (pictured below).

In the preceding (clickable) image, you may notice a few native desert paloverdes also with yellow canopies on the hillside west of our abode (image left). As we took our afternoon stroll today, we enjoyed seeing not only all the desert paloverdes in bloom, but some of the saguaro flowers are starting to open up. Spring is a beautiful time in the desert. Cool too – only 97 today in the shade.

22 May 2023 by Arizona Environment Flowers Home & Garden Notions

Vernal Equinox 2023

OK — the first day of Spring and the Equinox are here. The nights of darkness and days of sunlight are of equal lengths, according to the official astronomical ephemeris. However, at our particular latitude and longitude here in Arizona, the day length grew to just over twelve hours last Wednesday per the actual observed sunrise to sunset times. So, we can look forward to longer days peaking at the Summer Solstice and then on to the Fall Equinox when they fall back to be less than 12 hours again.

As of a couple of weeks ago, the Turkey Buzzards have begun to migrate back to Arizona and other northern places, I assume. These vultures bring the promise of warmer conditions for us, although there is still some cooler weather and precipitation still headed our way.

Even though it will be a month or more before the Pride of Barbados or Red Bird of Paradise shrubs to return from their winter slumber (we cut them back to nearly ground level in the fall). We expect that the hummers will begin to take advantage of the nectar when the gorgeous flowers return to our courtyard.

Enjoy the warmer weather and longer daylight. We know we will be enjoying the spring weather, birds and flowers.

Images courtesy of Damsel.

20 Mar 2023 by Astronomy Environment Notions

In Like a Lion

Now that I’m finally posting Damsel’s photo of a light dusting in the local foothills, it has all melted or sublimated away. However, we did get some snow in the area with freezing temperatures in early March which isn’t totally unusual for us. We’re at about 2200 feet above sea level here and have on occasion had snow stick here in town.

I know that other regions in our Nation have had much colder winter weather than we’ve recently experienced and, in fact, so have we here in past years. However, this is the coldest we have had this winter and it’s happening in accordance with the March Proverb.

Normally, this would be the time of late winter when we’re beginning to have cactus flowers blooming and other signs of impending spring. And, as a matter of fact, Damsel and I just walked out into the rock and cactus gardens and verified that there are tiny flower buds appearing on the prickly pear, beavertail, hedgehog and Argentine Giant cacti. I’m sure that Damsel will be posting a few early spring cactus flower pictures in a few weeks or less.

All that remains now, is for the March weather to go out like a lamb and then, in a few more weeks, come back like a fire-breathing dragon when the summer temperatures return to our Sonoran Desert — and we’re OK with that.

p.s. If you think that weather and climate can be influenced by anthropogenic (man-made) activities, please refer to our on-line paper about The Great Climate Hoax.

06 Mar 2023 by Arizona Environment Global Warming

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