Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

RV Gas Run

Image: All done with fueling and getting ready to back up the RV drive

Blogging has been sparse as of late, mostly due to an ongoing problem with home repair since June. That problem, which is now completely resolved, will be discussed in detail and will be posted in a subsequent blog later in September.

Given that we’re going to be traveling to Albuquerque in October (only about six weeks from this post date) to witness the annular solar eclipse in October, we’re getting the big RV ready for the trip. It has been idle in its parking spot in the RV drive behind the house for too much time (I am embarrassed to say how much time). So, today was the day to fire it up and head to the gas pit to take on some fuel.

I say the RV has been “idle” which is not exactly the case since I have a weekly chore where I fire up the diesel engine once a week for fifteen minutes or so and I fire up the 6KVA generator once per month. We check the fluids, air pressure the satellite TV receiver and several other functions just to make sure all is well. We have had some maintenance done in place with Air Conditioning and Awning Repair, and one big electrical problem.

So, after running the engine for all this time, we have been getting Zero MPG, but the big guy was getting down to the red arc on the fuel gauge thus requiring a trip for Diesel. I went through the preflight checklist and got the RV ready to go to the station for some fuel. The price of diesel, of course thanks to Bidenomics, was upward of $4.68/gal today, so I used my reward points from Safeway/Chevron to get the first 25 gallons at a $1.00 discount. I only put 25 gallons in (the tank holds 90 gals) and when I get another ten reward points on my Safeway card I will put in another 25 gallons.

So the big guy is again on the RV drive where we will be getting it ready for the upcoming excursion to Northern AZ and Albuquerque. We also might be upgrading the tires, since they have had some hard time sitting in the Arizona Heat and Cold. Nothing lasts very long in the elements here. More on that when it’s time.

29 Aug 2023 by Notions Retirement Travel Wanderlust

Almost Cloudless
Plus an Irish Feast

The (clickable) satellite image above was taken the morning of August 4th showing the southwest and Arizona in particular having virtually no cloud cover. There are a few cumulus clouds forming over the mountains north of the Grand Canyon at the time this image was taken. We seem to be having a lack of our usual monsoon rains with a side effect of warmer than usual temperatures. Rest assured that there will eventually be a return to normal to come hopefully sooner than later. The global climate scammers are unnecessarily worrisome over normal weather deviations.

Now that we’re about halfway between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox it is again a Celtic Cross Quarter celebration of Lughnasadh which means (to us) that there must be a traditional Irish or Scottish meal to be consumed. So, Damsel is being creative and will offer a hybrid Western/Gaelic feast consisting of a Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato Chicken Salad (western) served over Homemade Soda Bread (Irish). There may be a traditional Irish Cocktail involved.

We will be posting about our feast on our Food Website later this weekend. Meanwhile, everybody please enjoy your weekend with whatever you consider to be relaxing.

04 Aug 2023 by Arizona Environment Food & Dining Global Warming Notions

The Big “O”

The old and tired saying comes to mind: If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself. However, despite our reckless self-deprecation in our earlier years, we have managed to turn all the bad habits into less-worse habits and persevered this far down the road to eternity. We remain in good health and visit the specialists of the few ailments (now in remission) who monitor those functions and all gauges are in the green.

Our festivities for the day will consist of Steaks on the Barbie with a nice salad provided by the Damsel. There might even be a couple of adult beverages consumed as the day goes on.

We may get some rain and a possible Thunderstorm later today. As I look back on the years, I can remember quite a few times we had lightning shows in mid to late July. That would be nice if we have some of that today – we could use the cooler weather, but not so much the inevitable humidity that comes with it.

Here’s to another trip around Old Sol.

22 Jul 2023 by Medix Notions Retirement

Ancestry Anomalies – Part 2

This is the second of three posts about some of the anomalies we discovered while researching our ancestry and family tree. Part 1 covered a part of the family tree where one set of my great-great grandparents were first cousins twice removed.

In this part, we discuss the union between a pair of my third-great grandparents, William Burl “Squire Billy” Snodgrass and his wife Mary Joliffe Snodgrass. Her unmarried name and his were the same, since Billy’s father Francis, and Mary’s father John, were first cousins. Francis and John’s fathers were brothers, so Billy and Mary were second cousins. Brothers William and Charles Snodgrass (Billy’s and Mary’s grandfathers, respectively) appear in the third column in the (clickable) tree image below. Their parents were John Snodgrass and Hannah Vernon, appearing twice in the fourth column. Maybe that makes John and Hannah my double 6th great grandparents? I’m not sure how that works.

I can understand marriages between related people might have been common since the population in 18th century Virginia may have been limited to the pioneers and their offspring residing there at that time. These marriages took place just after the American Revolution and before the mass influx of more settlers from Europe and abroad.

“Squire Billy” and Mary Joliffe Snodgrass were the parents of Civil War Veteran (W. Virginia Infantry) Enos Snodgrass, who was my Dad’s Great Grandfather. Pictured below are four generations with Enos (seated), James (my great grandfather), Mary (my grandmother) and Jack (my Dad at about age six or so). Clickable Photo circa 1920.

Thanks to my cousin Erin, who provided the photo above a couple of months ago when she and her Dad (my first cousin Kim) met up with us here in town for the first time. We might have never been in touch except for the DNA results from a couple of on line sources, which showed us our close relationship and put us in touch with each other.

I am working on Ancestry Anomalies Part 3 which might be the final chapter in my anomalous genealogy.

08 Jul 2023 by Ancestors Family Nostalgia Notions

Happy Independence Day!

Best wishes for a Happy 4th of July Holiday! We’re going to be celebrating by going off our diets a bit and splurge with some goodies on the grill, despite the forecast high temperature of about 108°F. That’s cooled down from the weekend’s highs of 112°F.

Clickable Image: US and AZ Flags flying above our little abode.

We’re keeping a positive attitude for our Country’s Freedom and Prosperity given some recent positive-for-freedom decisions by the Supreme Court of the U. S. There are also some promising decisions in Inferior Federal Courts that deal with the restoration of our Second Amendment Rights. Really, these are God given rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the U. S. We might point out that recent news coverage of Bruen and other Second Amendment Cases declare that these rulings are “expanding” our rights, when, in fact, these decisions are merely restoring those original rights according to the original text of the founding documents and historical tradition.

We continue to pray for our Nation on this 247th Anniversary of it’s founding. May God’s blessings fall on our Country and all the inhabitants therein. So, we hope everyone has a safe and sane Independence Day Holiday. Keep cool and God Bless.

04 Jul 2023 by Holidays Notions Patriotism Second Amendment

Amateur Radio Field Day

I took a break from our usual Saturday activities at home to visit with the Hassayampa Amateur Radio Klub at their Field Day site in the Garcia Schoolhouse near Old Downtown Wickenburg.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day is an annual event in which amateur radio clubs and individual amateurs can participate to demonstrate their emergency communications capabilities.

I took my camera and got a few shots of the operation; there were three stations working in the schoolhouse. The first station seen in the (clickable) image below is the CW station, or communications via Morse Code. I am surprised that having been off the air for a while that I could still copy the Morse callsigns and text in my head as I listened.

The next station seen below is a digital modes station; there are several digital modes available and they all work to transmit text or possibly images via a computer interface.

The third and final station is a voice mode station that probably is using a popular voice mode called Single Sideband (SSB).

All of the stations had a computer on the side to perform the logging necessary for the contacts made. Logs are submitted to the ARRL which issues awards to contest winners in the various categories.

I have to admit that I thought about getting back on the air, but some matters related to home repair will have to take precedence. More on that situation at another time.

24 Jun 2023 by Arizona Notions Technobabble

Ancestry Anomalies – Part 1

Several years ago, Damsel and I decided to join the Ancestry® Genealogy Service to start tracing our heritage back a few generations. Damsel’s sister, who is an ancestry enthusiast, got us interested in getting started in the whole genealogy thing.

We both did the DNA testing and each of us have found and have been in contact with cousins we never knew about. That is a subject for another post since this one will highlight the first in a series of anomalies in our family tree. We already posted about a Native American Ancestor a while back. Damsel’s tree will not be detailed here since her sister has most of that on a separate account.

Common logic dictates that a person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and so forth up to a large theoretical number in eons gone by, most commonly on powers of two. We have traced only as far as to our 6th great grandparents, which, in theory, should be a total of 256 6th level ancestors. Of course, this is not the case in my tree as we shall discuss below.

Consider the image above; the lowest level couple would be my 2nd great-grandparents, i.e my Dad’s great-grandparents on his Dad’s side. The highest level couple are my 6th great grandparents (one of 128 possible couples). Looking at the left side of the diagram, you can see two generations between the top couple and my great-great-grandpa John. On the right side of the diagram, you can see three generations between the same top couple and my great-great-grandma, Rebecca. That would seem to make the top couple, John B and Dorcas D both my 5th and 6th level great grandparents. In the first generation below John B and Dorcas D, John B Jr. and Elizabeth are siblings, making the union between John M and Rebecca as first cousins twice removed.

Here is a 1895 photo of John and Rebecca who were related as shown in the diagram. None of their descendants, to my knowledge, had any symptoms of close inbreeding. This photo taken late in their lives at the hotel they managed in Pacolet Springs, South Carolina. Photo not clickable.

20 Jun 2023 by Ancestors Family Notions

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