Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Revival of the Compost Bin

In the post on Imbolc Weekend, I mentioned that our compost bin needed rejuvenation by virtue of a new bag of worms. I ordered 500 wrigglers from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm at that time; today, the worms arrived and I followed the recommended instructions to introduce them to the heap within the bin. I assume that they are happily getting busy with their program of converting our compost items into vermicast.

When we replaced our old compost bin with this one, I predicted that it, also, wouldn’t last very long in Arizona, like it’s predecessor, but it has hung in there for nearly 10 years now. Here’s a photo of the bin then and now:

As you can see, the lid is a little warped and needs to be secured with a bungee, but the ol’ bin is still doing its job of keeping the compost heap, worms, castings and soil contained within.

05 Feb 2025 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden 0

Imbolc Weekend

Imbolc, also called Saint Brigid’s Day, is a Gaelic traditional festival. It marks the beginning of spring, and for Christians it is the feast day of Saint Brigid. It is held in early February, which is about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox (i.e. Cross-Quarter Day). Our ancestors (both of us) are western Europeans, many of whom were Celtic, Scottish or Irish. The actual day for Imbolc will be on the 3rd of February, but we’re going to start celebrating early by enjoying a weekend full of Celtic-like feasting.

First off, on Friday 01/31 we’re having Irish Beef Stew and Soda Bread. Then, on Saturday, it will be Irish Braised Chicken and Irish Coffee. On Sunday, it will be Corned Beef and Cabbage. I will come back to this post and put in links to the dishes we are preparing.

Compost Heap

In other developments, we seem to have lost our vermicomposting worms; they were in our outdoor compost bin behind the garage doing their thing, but when checking on them (which I apparently need to do more of), it did not appear that there were any active worms. So, just a while ago, I ordered 500 composting worms from Uncle Jim. They should be here in a few days.

One theory of why the worms are gone is that during our 2024 late summer and early fall, the daytime temperatures were usually in excess of 100°F. Since worms cannot survive in soil temperatures that exceed 85°F., we think that the increased soil temperatures might have done them in.

So, when the worms show up, we will stir up the compost heap and welcome them to their new digs. More on that later.

31 Jan 2025 by Culture Food & Dining Notions 0

Cardinalis Cardinalis

I took my Canon EOS Rebel SL3 camera with me on my morning walk, when this Cardinal lit atop the anti-squirrel cone on the bird feeder crook. Zoom lens set to 250mm in the camera’s “program” mode, which is the setting for automatically adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed. Clickable image.

It is a nice, sunny morning here with temperatures in the 50s F. The forecast is for possible rain over night and for the next few days. We need it.

UPDATE: [02/05/25] In the interest of being fair and balanced, I took an image of the Female of the Cardinalis species in a mesquite tree out back near the birdfeeders. Click to open the image viewer.

26 Jan 2025 by Arizona Critters Environment Home & Garden Notions Photography 2

Arizona Sunset

We’re cozy and warm inside our little house here in wintry Arizona where the temperature actually went below 32°F last night. B-r-r-r. Tonight is forecast to be a little warmer at perhaps 39°F.

I realize that much of the country here in North America has much cooler temperatures than we do, but we’re summer fans which put us comfortable at temperatures on the order of 100°F as acceptable. So, we’re allowed to complain.

I took the photo above just after sunset this evening while walking the dogs down to the road for their final outing until late tonight, when we will again brave the cold to walk them before bedtime.

Camera phone photo — click to open the image viewer.

Note to self – Today we had the plumber over to flush out the Tankless Water Heater which seems to be an annual necessity. ~$200 expense.

24 Jan 2025 by Arizona Home & Garden Photography 0

New Camera Working Well

This won’t be a very long post about the new camera in use here, but I wanted to display this photo of a Gila Woodpecker that perched on a backyard Mesquite tree this morning; the new camera seems to be doing an excellent job of delivering crisp and graphic photos of our fauna and flora, as well as astronomical objects, people and so forth.

Gila Woodpecker in Mesquite tree. Click to open the Image Viewer.

There will be more images down the blog as time and energy permit.

22 Jan 2025 by Arizona Critters Photography 0

First Cut at 2024 Income Tax

UPDATE: [02/05/25] This time it took a week for the Federal Refund deposit to the bank account. That’s not the record, but pretty quick nonetheless.

UPDATE: [01/29/25] Both State and Federal have been submitted and accepted. The clock is now ticking to see how soon the Federal Refund will be posted to the bank account. The record is three days.

ir.pngWe have had the 2024 tax program installed since last November, and have been inputting information since then, but today is the first time that we have run through all the preliminary data prior to getting the last of the IRS 1099 forms from our various Government and financial institutions.

I have put together a spreadsheet for each tax year which does many of the major calculations for the tax year with educated guesses and actual numbers. The form has several functions including a calculator for our Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from the retirement savings. That particular function, each year, establishes the RMD as soon as I input the year end savings balance and the age factors, which are used to calculate the actual RMD amount. That way, I can set up the periodic withdrawals to be made for the year which usually amount to within pennies of the required amount. We’ve already received the January withdrawal.

As I have said in earlier posts about this topic, I like to set things up such that the amount in the refund or amount owed are a small value. I don’t like loaning the government interest-free money. This year, it appears, we will be getting a refund a little further away from zero than we would prefer. We did the withholding based on the expected standard deduction and our effective tax rate from last year, but the IRS increased the standard deduction figure which displaced us a bit from the target we set. Oh well, we will do the usual and place the refund in long-term savings investment.

So, now all we have to do is wait for the last of the expected 1099s to become available on or about the 29th of this month (January), and run the missing numbers for which approximations have been used thus far. Then, we will e-file the returns at the end of January or the beginning of February.

18 Jan 2025 by Money and Business Notions 0

First Full Moon of 2025

Well, this (clickable) photo taken this evening is not technically the actual full moon which occurs sometime tomorrow afternoon, Arizona time, it looks full enough to us to qualify as the January “Wolf Moon.” The naming of the wolf moon supposedly comes from the howling of wolves that occur at this time of the year. All we get here, is the occasional coyote pack serenading the neighborhood.

Since this is the first post of 2025 on this blog, let me wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year. And for those displaced persons in the Carolina/Tennessee hurricane and California fire areas, Godspeed and prayers. We’re supporting those charities which will direct help to those areas despite the efforts of government bureaucracies to hinder their efforts. More power to those organizations and to the volunteers working the problem areas.

The image you see above will probably be one of the last taken by me, using my trusty Canon Rebel EOS SL1 camera, since I ordered a new Canon EOS Rebel SL3 to replace the old one. The new camera has several features which will enhance my ability to take and render photos. A couple of new features (which I cannot describe before using them), including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I’m sure they will be handy for me with the apps that Canon provides.

The lunar photo specs follow: Canon EOS Rebel SL1 with EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens. Settings: 1/640 sec, F9.0, ISO 800, Focal Length 250mm using the camera’s Normal Program automatic mode. Click on the image to enlarge.

The old camera is likely to wind up being used by my eldest granddaughter, who will be putting it to use in her professional photography endeavors. Our three grandkids (all girls) all live in Northern California. Our youngest granddaughter will be giving birth to her first child, our fifth Great-Grandchild sometime in February.

12 Jan 2025 by Astronomy Notions Photography 0

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