Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Thanksgiving Day 2022

The Holiday Season is upon us again and we are rapidly getting in the mood to celebrate with all the accompanying festivities. The first order of our holiday festiveness is to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with all the appropriate feasting and borderline gluttony. We are currently preparing the Smoked Breast of Turkey entrée and several side dishes for today’s dinner.

We are thankful on this day for our feast and for the hands that prepared it. We are thankful for those who serve and are on duty on this day. We are thankful for our neighbors, our family and our friends. We are thankful for those who read these words. May the Lord bless and keep them all in His grace.

So, if you’re celebrating and feasting, enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

UPDATE: Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner comprised of Smoked Turkey Breast, Dressing, Mashed Fauxtatoes, Gravy, Green Beans and Baked Squash. Ice Cream over a Pumpkin Muffin for Dessert.

24 Nov 2022 by Culture Food & Dining Holidays

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

Veterans Day 2022

11/11 at 11:00 — ARMISTICE! The end of hostilities in 1918 is still celebrated today as Veterans Day. So, here’s to all who served before, during and after that date. May we remember those who have fallen with reverence and dignity. May we honor those still serving with high regard and our deepest thankfulness for what they do.

My Dad served in the Navy in WW2. Damsel’s Dad served in Naval Aviation during the post WW2 era at the beginning of the Cold War. My older brother served as a Naval Officer from the 1960s until about 1980. My younger brother was in Naval Aviation, as was I during the 1960s. I am proud of the Naval Service tradition in our family.

As for my service, it was during a mostly peaceful time even though the cold war was underway. Toward the end of my active duty, The Vietnam War had started to flare up, but I mustered out of active duty and began a career in aerospace, still serving, but in the capacity of support to the armed services through supplying the DOD with tools to get the job done. I have no regrets about that.

So Happy Veterans Day to all who served, are serving and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

As an aside, we will be attending the annual Bluegrass Festival up at the Rodeo Grounds today. We may post about that event later this weekend.

11 Nov 2022 by Military Patriotism

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

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