Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

Replacing the Compost Bin

Compost Bins

“Nothing lasts in Arizona,” was the warning given to us by one of the guys installing stuff when we first moved here. Sure enough, the old compost bin installed in 2011 is, literally, coming apart at the seams. Even though this location is in the shade most of the day, the UV and other damage has taken its toll.

Enter the new compost bin; we don’t expect this one will last any longer, but it will replace the decrepit bin tomorrow. We will lift the old bin off of the heap and put it in the recycle bin after disassembly. The new bin will fit the footprint of the old one within a couple of inches. We may have to rake the compost toward the center of the heap before putting the new bin over it.

Despite the triple-digit heat in the summer and the frosts in the winter, our compost worms continue to thrive. A quick dig into the heap reveals many, many red wigglers doing their thing. We take a couple of quarts of composted soil out now and then for various of Damsel’s garden projects.

UPDATE 28 Apr 2015: As I said we would do, I replaced the old compost bin this morning. The footprint of the new bin was slightly smaller than the old one, so I had to shovel the compost edges into the wheelbarrow and shovel it back in to the new bin once in place. Dress up the edges with some of the one-inch red gravel and it looks great!

Replacing the Bin

27 Apr 2015 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden

The Earth Day Scam

Instead of addressing the international and domestic issues of importance, the President creates a global warming distraction for his weekly radio address. Out-of-control spending, scandalous cabinet-level agencies running amok, Iran rapidly ramping up their nuclear weapons program and numerous other critical domestic and international issues go unmentioned in favor of the president’s proposed solution to no known problem.

This is all a subterfuge to deflect attention from the real issues mentioned above. We have cited dozens of examples that prove climate change, global disruption or whatever they are calling Global Warming these days to be a complete hoax. It’s in the numbers, stupid.

Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of Obama and some wealthy celebrity greenbats is demonstrated by the writers at Townhall.com:

Environmentalists use Earth Day as another opportunity to disparage the most important source of human prosperity and enriched quality of life – fossil fuels. Ironically, President Obama, whose method of travel makes him one of the single largest individual contributors of CO2 emissions, is once again firing up the engines of Air Force One on Earth Day. This time it’s a flight to the Florida everglades for a photo op to highlight global warming’s impact on the planet. Air Force One burns five gallons of fuel per minute. The flight to Florida will be around 150 minutes and use 750 gallons of fuel. And that doesn’t account for other military aircraft, C-17 transport planes for his fleet of limos and security vehicles, or the dozens of police escort vehicles used to move him around on the ground. It’s a very carbon laden trip for someone hoping to convince the public that CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming and the destruction of the Everglades. But this year’s Earth Day trip pales in comparison to overseas trips in 2011 and 2014, when President Obama’s travels used over 35,000 gallons of fuel and contributed 375 tons of carbon to the atmosphere.

These trips are the personification of hypocrisy, and typical of eco-hypocrites who don’t change their personnel carbon emission behavior while asking the rest of the world to do so. It’s the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ principle. President Obama is not the only environmental crusader who is producing a massive carbon footprint while decrying the use of fossil fuels. Hollywood eco-hypocrite Leonardo DiCaprio likes to talk the talk and not walk the walk. It was recently revealed that the movie star, who led the People’s Climate March in New York, flew by private jet from Los Angeles to New York six times in six weeks last year. DiCaprio, and other wealthy environmentalists like billionaire Richard Branson and Greenpeace’s Pascal Husting, want to save the planet by making it more difficult and expensive for the average person to enjoy mobility, while they jet set around the world in their private planes.

That’s the problem with their eco-ideology. The wealthy and privledged don’t have to suffer the consequences of environmental regulations that put average people out of work, and make it more difficult for the poor to maintain a basic quality of life that is dependent on the use of fossil fuels.

22 Apr 2015 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats Whacko Politics

Indications of Summer

Seasonal Brew

It’s still 17 days to Beltane, the mid-point between the Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice, the latter of which is still sixty-some days away. The daily Low and high temperatures are on the increase and the local supermarket is already carrying summer-seasonal products as shown in the image above. These are all signs that summer will soon be here.

Now, don’t get us wrong; we like the triple-digit temperatures and the fact that all of the snowbirds are gone. The roads and the aisles in the supermarket are clear of the ‘snow zombies’ as we like to call the town’s itinerant winter population.

Plus, I like the Summer Ale.

18 Apr 2015 by Arizona Environment Food & Dining

A Simple Equation

The drone from the Greenbats continues without pause. Now, the Greenbat-in-Chief has directed FEMA to withhold disaster relief funds from states with sane governments. We so-called “deniers” are unworthy of federal money or some sh1t like that.

The worst part of it all, is that they know it’s all fabricated bovine feces. Yet, they peddle the poop as though it were real, in order to gain CONTROL. It’s as simple as that.

Well, I’m a “denier” and proud of it. There is real science that proves that solar activity is the principal factor in global climate variations.

24 Mar 2015 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats Whacko Politics

First Day of Spring

equinox.jpg

Image courtesy of Archeoastronomy dot com. Click on the image to enlarge.

Our first day of spring here in Arizona is our usual March high temp around the mid-to-upper 70’s. Not so good for folks elsewhere in the US who are getting weather of another type: c-c-cold!

News from the National Weather Service

Although astronomical spring officially begins Friday evening, it will feel more like winter across much of the Northeast. Winter Weather Advisories are in effect from Northern Virginia to southern New England, with 3-6 inches of snow possible for some locations. Meanwhile, heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast across southern Texas and the Gulf Coast.

We contend that these are the normal weather patterns that have been experienced for decades. There is no anthropogenic signature in any weather anywhere other than possibly some urban heat islands which don’t seem to be working for the cities in places mentioned in the NWS News above.

Sorry, Al Gore and the Greenbats. It’s only weather as usual.

20 Mar 2015 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats

Curve Billed Thrasher Nest and Eggs

Thrasher Nest 
Thrasher Cholla

For the third year in a row (that we know of), the curve billed thrashers have built a nest in the cholla cactus in front of our house. We discovered three eggs in the nest today.

The nest is in the inhospitable-looking cholla cactus seen at the lower right. One of the thrashers is seen in the lower left photo perched on a cholla. Click on any of the images to enlarge.

We were worried that the wall and RV drive construction projects would have discouraged the nest-builders, but, obviously, it didn’t bother them. The nest is typical of those we have seen in the past and you can see our used dental floss that we scatter outside in the winter and spring months woven in with the fibers and twigs.

If we have the chance, we may post some pictures of the thrasher chicks when they hatch, but we don’t want to disturb the birds as they nurture their young. In the past, they have laid eggs in the nest twice, so we may not get the opportunity until the second brood.

15 Mar 2015 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

There’s a Fungus Among Us

Fungus Cleaned Up

Well, there is still a fungus among us, but it’s just not as visible. This is the before and after photos of the base of the compost bin taken today when Damsel and I set out to eliminate the toadstools flourishing around the bin. Click on either image to enlarge.

We’ve been composting here in Arizona virtually since we moved here. We had a long time tradition of composting when we lived in California, and brought that with us here. We’re not enviro-freaks, but just interested in recycling what we can to our advantage.

When we noticed the toadstools we thought that it would be wise to eliminate them, given the habit of one of the two dogs to randomly pick up something off of the ground and eat it. We worried that this might be a toxic form of the mushroom genus.

I found several references on-line to fungus in the compost and they all indicated that this was a normal occurrence if the compost is not turned regularly. The references all said that toadstools would not hurt the compost.

So, we raked the red gravel rocks away from the bin, scraped the toadstool flesh off of the ground and tossed it into the bin. We used a couple of gardening tools to toss the contents of the bin to turn it over after taking some of the castings to use as soil for Damsel’s spring garden projects.

As I scooped out some of the rich compost soil, I could see that the worms are alive and well and will continue to do their natural thing as we recycle kitchen scraps, napkins, facial tissue, paper towels, flower petals and so forth. We find that the composting results in Arizona are, overall, better than we had in California.

14 Mar 2015 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden

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