Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Notions

Ringing in the New Year …

… and ringing out the old. So long 2022 – It’s been — weird.

But not all was bad in 2022 — we’re in good health and have been this year save for a major scare when Damsel got a mass report on this year’s mammogram — fortunately, the results of a biopsy (not fun) was benign calcification. My checkups with the urologist, the ophthalmologist, the nephrologist and dermatologist were business as usual with no complications.

Over the last few weeks, we did a first cut at the 2022 taxes and no surprises. It looks like we’ll be getting a small refund. We also calculated the 2023 Required Minimum distribution for the IRA — the new RMD will be down due to dramatic market loss in the IRA in 2022. That, and the Social Security cost of living adjustment is far less than might be necessary to offset Biden’s disastrous economy. It will be tight, but we’re going to be OK.

Over the last two years, we have seen relentless attacks on our God-given rights as guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. New gun control has been enacted thanks to the Marxist Democrats and a few spineless RINOs. The NYSRPA v Bruen decision by the Supreme Court of the US is a help but states and courts are still ignoring it – be ready to fight in ’23.

So that’s it for our New Year’s message. We’re wishing you good health and providence from The Almighty in the coming year. God Bless!

31 Dec 2022 by Beltway Kabuki Holidays Money and Business Notions Second Amendment 0

119th Anniversary of Powered Flight

December 17, 2022 — 119 years ago, Orville and Wilbur Wright accomplished the feat that mankind had dreamed about for millennia; to lift off the surface of the earth and to return safely after being aloft for nearly a full minute during one of the first of their flights on this day in 1903.

What I hadn’t realized is that the headwind during the first flights was 27 MPH resulting in a ground speed of less than 7 MPH and a much shorter flight in terms of distance.

From NPS:

December 17, 1903
Three days later [after their first attempt], they were ready for the second attempt. The 27-mph wind was harder than they would have liked, since their predicted cruising speed was only 30-35 mph. The headwind would slow their groundspeed to a crawl, but they proceeded anyway. With a sheet, they signaled the volunteers from the nearby lifesaving station that they were about to try again. Now it was Orville’s turn.

Remembering Wilbur’s experience, he positioned himself and tested the controls. The stick that moved the horizontal elevator controlled climb and descent. The cradle that he swung with his hips warped the wings and swung the vertical tails, which in combination turned the machine. A lever controlled the gas flow and airspeed recorder. The controls were simple and few, but Orville knew it would take all his finesse to handle the new and heavier aircraft.

At 10:35, he released the restraining wire. The flyer moved down the rail as Wilbur steadied the wings. Just as Orville left the ground, John Daniels from the lifesaving station snapped the shutter on a preset camera, capturing the historic image of the airborne aircraft with Wilbur running alongside. Again, the flyer was unruly, pitching up and down as Orville overcompensated with the controls. But he kept it aloft until it hit the sand about 120 feet from the rail. Into the 27-mph wind, the groundspeed had been 6.8 mph, for a total airspeed of 34 mph. The brothers took turns flying three more times that day, getting a feel for the controls and increasing their distance with each flight. Wilbur’s second flight – the fourth and last of the day – was an impressive 852 feet in 59 seconds.

This was the real thing, transcending the powered hops and glides others had achieved. The Wright machine had flown. But it would not fly again; after the last flight it was caught by a gust of wind, rolled over, and damaged beyond easy repair. With their flying season over, the Wrights sent their father a matter-of-fact telegram reporting the modest numbers behind their epochal achievement.

17 Dec 2022 by Aviation Notions

Native American Heritage Day

Actually, all of November (since 1990) is Native American Heritage Month and the day after Thanksgiving is the specific day declared as a holiday in recognition of that heritage. I bring this up since although I am 99.7% of European ancestry, there is a 0.3% trace of “Indigenous American” and “Broadly East Asian” in my DNA report. This ratio of trace ancestry is corroborated by the segment of my Ancestry tree shown below.

Fourth through Sixth Level Great Grandparents

This tree segment shows my 4th Great Grandfather J. S. Conaway, his parents and grandparents. My Native American Ancestor is simply shown as “Choctaw Wife” and I have not been able to find any more information about her other than what is shown. Mathematically, that works out to be that I am likely 1/256th Native American. To be recognized as a Choctaw Tribal Member, however, I would have to have at least one Great-Grandparent that was a full-blooded Choctaw. I’m not even close.

If the 1/256th ratio is true, then I have four times the Native heritage than does Senator Elizabeth Warren, so-called “Fauxcahontas,” who misrepresented herself as being of sufficient Native ancestry when applying for special college enrollment perks while being only 1/1024th Native American.

Damsel also has DNA results showing her Native American Ancestry, but we have as yet to trace her lineage in as much detail as my family tree. One of her sisters has that detail, but we can’t directly access it yet. We do know that one of her Great-Great Grandmothers was at least part Native American.

So, even though it is in greater vogue to call this day “Black Friday,” We reach out to our Native American cousins and wish them all a Happy Native American Heritage Day.

25 Nov 2022 by Ancestors Culture Notions

Lemon Harvest Coming Soon

The Lemon Tree with HUNDREDS of Lemons needing to be picked

Our Lemon tree (which is a “Lisbon” lemon variety) is nearing that time of year when we need to start harvesting the fruit. This year, the lemon crop appears to be much larger than in previous years (we have had this tree since 2012) and we may have to invest several days harvesting an estimated one thousand lemons. Last year, we filled the wheelbarrow twice with an estimated total of 600 lemons. There are many more than that on the tree now.

As we begin the lemon picking, we will be doing the usual thing with them, that is, giving them away to neighbors, the food bank, the senior center and anyone else that we can convince to take a bag home. Of course, we will reserve some for our annual Limoncello production.

We still have a little time before any frosty weather happens; the forecast for Thanksgiving week should be highs in the low 70’s and lows well above freezing. That’s still cool enough to layer up on the clothing, but will be OK for this variety of frost-tolerant lemons for the time being.

Our plan for Thanksgiving dinner is going to be similar to the past couple of years when we had a Keto-friendly menu featuring some of Damsel’s homemade goodies. We’re looking forward to the dinner, but more on that in a later post.

20 Nov 2022 by Arizona Food & Dining Home & Garden Notions

2022 Bluegrass Music Festival

Yesterday, 11/11/2022, Damsel and I attended the first part of the opening session of the 43rd Annual Wickenburg Bluegrass Festival Weekend Classic. The Everett Bowman Rodeo Grounds are hosting the Festival as usual this year. The Rodeo Grounds are also hosting food vendors and various other vendors like jewelry, folk art, crafts and some other merchandise. The T-shirt vendor sold us a hooded sweatshirt with this year’s festival logo freshly silkscreened on it (pictured above – clickable). We try and buy a T-shirt or a sweatshirt each year we attend the festival.

A group called The Arizona Wildflowers came on stage first to perform a set of tunes. These three sisters and (recently added) 8 year old brother performed some great tunes including some gospel and other favorite tunes. We thought they were great! In the (clickable) image above, you can see little brother almost dwarfed by the bass fiddle he was playing. Everyone in attendance seemed to enjoy their performance as much as we did.

We made the tour of the vendors to see what was available; as I mentioned before, we bought a Sweatshirt for me. We also bought a beautiful pair of Moonstone Earrings for Damsel. At this point, we were ready to head back home. We can’t leave the dogs alone for very long, so we said adios to the Bluegrass Festival until next year.

12 Nov 2022 by Arizona Music Notions

Samhain Celtic Cross-Quarter Feast

Samhain is the cross-quarter day that marks the halfway point between Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice. The day was traditionally considered to be the “end of summer” by ancient ancestors in northwestern Europe and the British Isles. Samhain is observed worldwide by Wiccan and Pagan cultures*.

Damsel and I both have had our DNA tested by two of the popular on-line Genealogy entities and their conclusions are that we both have significant branches in our family trees that trace back to the areas where this holiday and other cross-quarter events were and are celebrated. We have traces of DNA from other parts of the world, but our European ancestry is very much in the majority.

So, since it is a feast, then feast we shall. Our “feast” consisted of traditional corned beef and cabbage with turnips, brussels sprouts and carrots. “Traditional” in the case of this meal means that it traces back to our Irish American ancestors; the dish would have been pork, potatoes and soda bread with trimmings back in the old country. I read that pork was too expensive for poor immigrants and that corned brisket filled the entrée role. We choose turnips rather than potatoes because of the lower carbohydrate count. I don’t notice the difference.

So, wherever you are and whatever your traditions, we hope you enjoyed the weekend and maybe got to feast a bit.

Image excerpt above taken from the Archaeoastronomy website.

* Disclaimer — we are neither Wiccan nor Pagan but celebrate the feast because of our heritage. Of course, we celebrate Christian events as well when they come up.

06 Nov 2022 by Ancestors Culture Food & Dining Notions

The Tankless Water Heater Saga

The New Tankless Water Heater

October 15, 2022 — Damsel discovered that there was no hot water when she went to wash the dishes that morning. I went to the garage to investigate if the Tankless Water Heater was doing its usual thing where you could hear the gas burner, the blower motor and the sound of running water. Well, the water noise was there but neither the burner nor the blower could be heard.

Damn! Just our luck that it would poop out on a weekend when the plumber was likely not available. So, we waited until the following Monday, 10/17, before calling our reliable plumber “Pete.” After talking to Pete, come to find out that he doesn’t do tankless heaters and is now semi-retired. He recommended another local guy, “George,” who does work on tankless heaters. I called George and he said he was busy with other jobs but would try and stop by to have a look.

Finally, on Tuesday, 10/18, George was able to come to the house and check on it. He asked me when the last time the unit had been “flushed out.” That was a shock since we have never flushed it out — we did not know that was a necessity until now. George’s initial diagnosis was that the heat exchanger likely is internally caked with sediment (we have ‘very hard,’ but potable, well water). He recommended a new water heater installation. I received a quote and authorized him to proceed. We were now on our fourth day with no hot water, with a projected replacement time of over ten days.

We planned on getting by with heated water on the stove for dishwashing and sponge bathing but then a miracle happened; the unit started producing hot water again after following George’s advice to set the water temperature control to max. I embellished his recommendation by — you know — bashing the unit on the side — and it worked! The internal flow detector that activates the heater may have had some sediment jarred loose by my love tap. Luckily, the old water heater kept on working while we waited for the new one to be installed.

As for the new water heater installation, it took over two weeks of waiting while George ordered the new unit, tended to various emergencies all over town. Finally, this week, he made an early morning appointment to do the work. It took George and a helper from 0630 until 0900 on Thursday, 11/03, to complete the removal of the old one and installation of the new one. The new water heater (pictured above) looks roughly the same as the old one and works the same, but will be more reliable providing we do the annual flushing that we somehow overlooked the last ten or eleven years with the old one.

Tankless water image diagram below — credit to The Zebra. Click on the image to enlarge.

Click here to view the animated operation of this type of water heater.

04 Nov 2022 by Notions

Categories

Archives