Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

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

Musk Hog Day — February 02, 2023

Musk Hog (Javelina) in our back yard. Clickable

Well, we didn’t seem to have any groundhogs handy, so a Javelina (a.k.a. “collared peccary” and “Musk Hog”) will have to do. Anyhow, the critter saw it’s shadow today and I guess that means that we in Arizona will have six more weeks of Winter. You know, the kind of winter weather that makes places like we live in very popular for people who don’t have mild weather at this time of year, hence the infusion of “snowbirds” into our community.

So that means it will be at least six more weeks of extra bodies in the stores and extra vehicles on the roads before the part-time residents begin to head back to their tundra. Maybe more than six weeks since our experience shows a couple of snowbird exodus dates being IRS Day (4/15) and Memorial Day. By Flag Day (6/14) they should be mostly gone.

I shouldn’t focus on only the snowbirds, since there are a lot of other temporary visitors this time of year. We have the influx of Team Ropers (rodeo), the Senior Pro Rodeo, Gold Rush Days and the carnival and parade that go along with those events. It’s good for the community and the businesses here.

So, getting back to the topic of the environment and the weather conditions here, we expect to have gradually warming days leading up to spring equinox and more significant warming thereafter. As we age, our bones and joints seem to appreciate the warmer conditions, so we are looking forward to the highs in the low 100s and lows in the mid 80s that should be here in a couple of months. That and the nearly empty roads, parking lots and shopping aisles will be welcome as well.

02 Feb 2023 by Arizona Critters Environment

Solar Ephemeris Back On-Line

Solar Ephemeris from the Wandering Minstrel Sidebar — March 24, 2018

Remember the Solar Ephemeris sidebar widget from the old Wandering Minstrel blog theme? The widget gave daily information about the sun cycle: you know, daybreak, sunrise, sunset and so forth. Well, I have it back on-line in the form of a sidebar link to a dedicated page that has the old widget code embedded in it.

I had some problems with making it work with the newer versions of the PHP server-side software that the ISP uses. There were some minor, but show-stopping changes to the software that killed the Ephemeris code that ran on the old Minstrel site. I spent a couple of hours debugging the code yesterday and now have the prototype running again in the “Solar Ephemeris” page. Click on the link or select the page from the sidebar. Disclaimer: it’s still a work in progress and is subject to formatting changes.

One of these days, I might start on an interactive widget where users can put in their own geographical coordinates to see the sun’s daily times for their location.

06 Jan 2023 by Astronomy Environment Notions Technobabble

Cooler Weather Is Now Happening

Damsel took this photo earlier this month before we cleared out the Red Bird shrubs in the courtyard. A nice butterfly lit on one of the last flowers of the season to sip its nectar. The shrubs are now cut to the ground and will be dormant for the next several months. Photo courtesy of Damsel — Click on the image to enlarge.

We had some rain showers over the last week or so and today the temperatures are quite a bit cooler than when Damsel took the photo above. Then, the highs were in the mid-nineties and today the high was below eighty. Brrrr. It’s time to break out the longies and put the shorts away until spring.

We enjoyed the weekend despite the cooler weather. We had excellent food on the table both days: Cajun Gumbo on Saturday and Jägerschnitzel today. Click on the links for photos and details. Both meals were consistent with our low-carb, low-sodium diets (within reason, that is) and were excellent. Damsel did most of the work, but I collaborated by performing the sous chef tasks she required. What a good eating weekend — and there are leftovers for during the upcoming week.

We will be changing out of our summer garb in favor of the flannel and hoodies we wear during the cooler months. Of course, we are blessed that we live in a climate that isn’t as harsh as some places in the world. We will deal with our climes just fine as we have in the past years since we moved here.

In closing, just a quick note — we’re suffering as many in the nation who are on a fixed income with the increased cost of living due to Brandonomics™. We’re dealing with it, however, and hope that after the coming midterm elections that we can turn the corner back towards fiscal sanity, border security and (thanks to the SCOTUS) Second Amendment rights restoration. Just remember to get out and VOTE. Tell your friends, neighbors and family to do likewise

23 Oct 2022 by Arizona Critters Environment Flowers

Donner und Blitzen

Damsel and I were awakened this morning to the sound of thunderclaps rather nearby. Rain showers started shortly afterwards with some periods of heavy rain but not enough duration to make the little creek on the west side of the rock and cactus garden flow.

As I write this mid-day, the forecast is for more showers and possible embedded thunderstorms this afternoon and evening continuing into Monday. We’re under a flood watch and possibly a flood warning later. The electricity is on, we’re comfy inside and the rain lets up long enough for us to walk the dogs. Life is good.

Clickable image taken from the Windows 10 weather app.

15 Oct 2022 by Environment Notions

End of Red Bird Season

It’s that time of the fall when the Red Bird Of Paradise (a.k.a. Pride of Barbados) shrubs in the courtyard are about through with their annual production of gorgeous flowers (and pea pods). Within the next few days, we will be cutting them back to the ground for the winter. However, they will be back by next late May or early June for another colorful season.

This year, we’re going to remove the shrubs one per week; trying to cut back all three of them in one day is pretty labor intensive and fills our trash bin to capacity. So we’re going to attack the first one this week, perhaps in the morning.

We have an appointment with the hospital lab tomorrow morning for blood work — we visited our primary doctor today who ordered some routine tests for us, so the courtyard work will come after we get home and eat a late breakfast (the tests require that we be fasting).

The image above (click to enlarge) is of some of the last flowers on one of the shrubs. Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1, 1/200 sec, F28, ISO 1000, Aperture Priority, Lens EF-S55-250mm @ 135mm.

UPDATE 1 — 10/07/2022: One down, two to go. There are still viable flower pods to open on the remaining shrubs, so they will likely remain there for another week or two, to the delight of hummingbirds, bees, sphinx moths and butterflies – and, of course, the humans watching them.

UPDATE 2 — 10/16/2022: We took advantage of a break in the weather (we’ve been getting some rain) and removed shrub #2 and part of shrub #3 this morning. We don’t usually do chores on the Lord’s Day, but the whole operation took less than half an hour, so I guess we’re going to be OK with it.

UPDATE 3 — 10/17/2022: Damsel and I finished off the removal of the last Red Bird shrub today. The courtyard now has only the bottlebrush shrubs which are winter hearty in this climate. There was one last cluster of flowers still remaining on the last red bird.

So, with this last (clickable) image, we say good-bye until spring to these beautiful flowers.

04 Oct 2022 by Arizona Environment Flowers Notions Photography

Return of the Turkey Buzzards

buzzard.jpg

We know that spring is about to begin when we see cactus flower buds starting to form and the migrating Turkey Buzzards return from their winter repose down in Mexico.

Despite the cooler weather we’re currently experiencing due to a cold frontal passage, we see new cactus flower buds on our Beavertail and Hedgehog Cacti as well as seeing Turkey Buzzards soaring in the skies above. It should start warming up soon probably towards the middle (Beware the Ides) or the end of March. By June, we ought to be in our “dry heat” season during which the Buzzards remain and will so until after October when they again depart for Mexico’s warmer climate.

The photo above is an old one which I took in May of 2011, soon after we made the permanent move to Arizona. That was before we assimilated. Now, after nearly a dozen years, we can foretell seasonal changes via flora and fauna indicators. Click on the image to enlarge.

07 Mar 2022 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

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