Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Retirement

At the Birdfeeder Today

black-throated sparrow curve-billed thrasher
cactus wren white-tailed antelope squirrel

I ventured up on the hill behind the RV drive today to replace the bird seed block and bell that Damsel and I like to hang up there to attract the birds and critters. Well, I guess it must be working since today the critters seen above were impatiently waiting for me to finish. I retreated about eight or ten feet away from the post that holds the feeders and took photos of a few of the critters-in-waiting as they approached to gather fallen seeds and to peck on the block and bell.

These four are black-throated sparrow, curve-billed thrasher, cactus wren and white-tailed antelope squirrel. In the past, the squirrels have been known to closely approach while I am still on the hill, but this is the first time any of the birds have shown little apprehension to my presence. Click on any image to enlarge.

03 Jan 2016 by Arizona Critters Photography Retirement

‘Tis the Season

Christmas Decorating

With the advent of the Christmas Season, each year, I put out our usual ornaments and decorations. The red balls on the green palo verde tree, the poinsettias around the mailbox, the wreath on the courtyard gate and the Nutcracker Guards on either side of the walkway.

Inside, we have a little Christmas tree, some Christmas troll dolls and a chili pepper wreath, among other various and sundry Christmas items. We are ready for our fifth Christmas in our wonderful retirement palace.

04 Dec 2015 by Arizona Holidays Home & Garden Retirement

Lemon Harvest

Lemon Harvest

It has been quite cool here for the past several nights. We actually found some ice topping one of the rain barrels this morning. It was then that we decided to harvest the lemons from our little lemon tree. The tree will be covered afterward to prevent any frost damage.

This harvest was a bit smaller than last year, but there are plenty of lemons to provide for our needs as well as for giving away to one of the senior care centers. One of the ladies on the staff makes lemon pies from scratch, so they appreciate them.

As for us, we will be skinning a bunch of lemons for Limoncello, and freezing “juice cubes” to be used as needed for cooking this coming year. Click on the image to enlarge.

01 Dec 2015 by Arizona Food & Dining Home & Garden Retirement

Gas Under Two Bucks

Under $2Gas prices have been coming down all over the country since the summer season ended. The lowest prices here in our town are still over two per gallon, but when we were going down to the Northwest Valley today, we saw gas advertised for under $2.

Having recently made a commitment to a new gas consumption entity, we have been tracking gas prices. When we take delivery of the new beast after Thanksgiving weekend, we will need to top off the 80 gallon tank. Searching on Gas Buddy reveals a lot of prices near the delivery location to be just a shade over two bucks; hopefully, those will go down by the time we get there.

One of the business magazines (I don’t link to any Bloomberg sites because they are rabidly anti-second-amendment) speculates that gas prices could fall to $1.70 or below by Christmas. That will be good for us since we will be going to Palm Desert California one more time before then and gas will probably keep coming down in price.

20 Nov 2015 by Arizona Money and Business Retirement Wanderlust

Work Day

Ready to Transplant In the Ground

Now that the temperatures have cooled (only 90° today), we started some of the chores we have been putting off. My first order of business was to put Damsel’s Prickly Pear cactus in the ground in the rock and cactus garden. She grew this cactus in a pot from a single paddle over the last year or so and it is now ready to make it on it’s own. The two images above are of the cactus in the pot transported to the spot we picked for it and the cactus in the ground taken later in the day. Click either image to enlarge.

There was another prickly pear cactus we planted in the yard that needed to be moved since it was in close proximity to the new RV drive. This variety spreads like crazy and we didn’t want to chance it growing over the concrete. Since it was still small enough, I dug it up in one piece and moved it thirty feet or so over to the west property line fence.

Meanwhile, Damsel was doing her thing inside the house and on the patio; she mopped the tile floors and started draining the patio spa, the latter needing the water changed for the fall season when we heat the spa (it is at ambient temperature when we use it during the summer).

We decided to remove some other invasive cacti, also in close proximity of the RV drive. These were Beavertail cactus that we rescued from the back of the lot and that we no longer wanted by the drive not only for the proximity issue, but they had some sort of malady that was eating holes in the paddles. I took out one on each side of the RV drive and, with Damsel’s assistance, transported via wheelbarrow and put in the dumpster.

At this point, we called it a day for the yard work. Perhaps over the weekend we will refill the spa and get the heater started. We might also remove a couple more Beavertails that are close to the RV drive. Or we might postpone all of it until next week.

09 Oct 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Retirement

Six Years Down the Road

six.png

It’s hard to believe that I have been retired for six years. October 01, 2009 was the first full day of official retirement from big aerospace, although excess leave and personal time off hours allowed us to take most of the last three months off. But on this day, six years ago, the first pension check from the second stint at the same company I had retired from a decade before. Sorta weird, but I get a separate check (directly deposited, of course) for each term of service.

I say that retirement has been damn good because we have had ample opportunity to relocate, build a new home, travel and just enjoy the leisure time. There have been a few pitfalls, but the outcome of those (so far) have not had a very negative effect on our retirement.

As we go forward with our life of leisure, we will be able to travel a little more often than we have in the first six years which is important now that our families have presented us with a new grandson and a great grandson. We will be visiting them and going to visit our other extended family from time to time. We envision an upgrade in our RV status in the future and will be organizing a vacation get-together with some of the family who also have that capability.

We eagerly anticipate the next six years of retirement and even more, God willing.

01 Oct 2015 by Aerospace Arizona Retirement Wanderlust

Sixth, Seventh and Eighth/Ninth Day Out Camping

Sixth day – Stockton, CA

Stockton, CA

Our excuse for not posting when we were in Stockton is that we were camped at Damsel’s sister’s place. Naturally, having not visited with family for several months demands that we sit and yack about whatever until after midnight. It was a good visit and the sister took good care of us, feeding us supper and breakfast the next morning.

Seventh Day – Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield, CA

We were unable to post anything while staying at Bear Mountain RV south of Bakersfield. The WIFI connection was so piss-poor, that we were barely able to check mail. Trying uploads resulted in timeouts and extremely slow uploads, so we threw in the towel, set up the TV and watched some DVDs we brought along.

Eighth and Ninth Day- Palm Desert, CA

Palm Desert, CA

We are currently in Palm Desert this evening and will be here for a couple of days while visiting the other grandparents, the new baby grandson and his parents. Damsel set up the little charcoal grill and cooked up a delicious porterhouse steak, which we split and still had leftovers much to the puppies delight.

21 Sep 2015 by Panorama Retirement Wanderlust

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