Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Desert Camping Again

Desert Camping Again

Damsel and I drove the usual route down US 60 to I-10 and on into the RV park in Palm Desert, CA. It was a good trip with lots of desert wildflowers, lots of sunshine and at one point, lots of traffic. The latter only lasting a few miles just east of Chiriaco Summit where there was some construction and a one-lane restriction on I-10 westbound. Regardless of the brief slowdown, it was a pleasure to drive the new RV along the route.

As I mentioned in the post about the maiden voyage, this is likely our last trip to this campground for a while. We will, however, be on the road again next month for a longer excursion.

One quick anecdote about this campsite; we backed in to the parking slot and set up camp as usual. However, when we went to deploy the Winegard DirecTV satellite dish, it got fouled up in the low hanging branches of the Chinese Elm tree next to the site. I wound up having to break camp and move the rig to the right and forward on the pad to allow the dish to have unimpeded access to the part of the sky where the geosats hang out. After the move, everything is working great.

17 Mar 2017 by California Retirement Wanderlust

Happy PI Day

pi1.gifThe date 3/14 has lately become known as “PI Day.” For those of us that have worked in science and engineering disciplines, the constant relating to the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle is ubiquitous and indispensable in a variety of applications.

The little animation above is a clever method of showing how the ratio π works. I found the graphic in the Wikipedia page on PI. Here’s some more interesting things about it:

Because its definition relates to the circle, π is found in many formulae in trigonometry and geometry, especially those concerning circles, ellipses, and spheres. Because of its special role as an eigenvalue, π appears in areas of mathematics and the sciences having little to do with the geometry of circles, such as number theory and statistics. It is also found in cosmology, thermodynamics, mechanics, and electromagnetism. The ubiquity of π makes it one of the most widely known mathematical constants both inside and outside the scientific community; several books devoted to it have been published, the number is celebrated on Pi Day, and record-setting calculations of the digits of π often result in news headlines. Attempts to memorize the value of π with increasing precision have led to records of over 70,000 digits.

Happy PI Day.

14 Mar 2017 by Science Technobabble

Springtime is Imminent in The Arizona Desert

Cactus Flower Buds Plum Flowers Lemon Flower Buds

We have been fortunate here in the Arizona upper Sonoran Desert region to have had increasing spring-like temperatures over the past two weeks. It seems like we have turned the corner for springtime with high temps in the upper 70’s to low 80’s. The overnight low temperatures are now at or above 60 degrees.

The three images above were taken this afternoon and are (left to right) cereus cactus buds, flowers on our plum tree and flower buds forming on our lemon tree. We also notice flower buds on many of the native cacti and there has been activity in the bird nests that we can see. As was mentioned on the other blog, we have spotted many of the migratory birds back in the area after their winter absence.

We realize that this is a poor time to brag about our wonderful climate since much of the north eastern part of our nation will be in blizzard mode for a couple of days. We pray for the safety and well being of those in that part of the country as they batten down the hatches.

13 Mar 2017 by Arizona Environment Flowers Home & Garden Photography

“The Science Guy?” Really?

The SunJordan Candler and Joe Bastardi each mentioned Bill Nye in their two articles about climate change. Candler wrote about “Shining the Light on Climate Science” and Bastardi wrote about “Fact-Checking Bill Nye.” Both articles took the “science” guy to task for his blatant misrepresentations of the facts concerning climate change. I used “scary” quotes in the last sentence to illustrate that Nye is a science suppressor rather than his science guy moniker that he has worn for so many years. His tactic is to attempt to silence the discussion rather than debating the facts.

Image: Indisputably, the major cause of Earth’s climate variations

In Candler’s report, he quotes Bastardi as follows:

In an email to The Patriot Post, meteorologist Joe Bastardi responds: “I have not read enough of the study to comment on aspects I have not researched. But given my stated position that the sun is the conductor of the climatic orchestra of the oceans, stochastic events and the very design of the system, it would make sense that the sun should be considered as the source of climatic variations rather than the increase of one molecule of CO2 out of every 10 thousand molecules of air over a 100-year period.” The lesson here is that man’s footprint isn’t just relatively small, it’s minuscule. Perhaps it’s not the skeptics who are, as Nye says, “denying the evidence,” but rather those who want to silence the discussion.

Both authors referenced here are contributors to The Patriot Post.

08 Mar 2017 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats

Throwback Hoodoos

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon

Damsel took this image of Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon in July of 2008. Seeing it in the archives gave me some serious wanderlust, so Bryce Canyon NP just may be one of our vacation destinations this year after the weather gets a little warmer.

We have several excursions in mind over the next few months, not the least of which is to see our first great granddaughter in April and to go witness the All American Eclipse in August. We anticipate that during the extended eclipse excursion, we will be visiting the only two states in America that I have not been in – North Dakota and Iowa.

We will be taking a shorter trip this month which is a repeat of the maiden voyage when we will be out in the California Desert visiting with the Kids and our Grandson who will be nineteen months of age. This will be the last such trip to Palm Desert due to conflicts in the Kids’ work schedules that make it tough on them to meet us halfway. We will see them in April when we will go by their home on our way to see the new great granddaughter.

02 Mar 2017 by Photography Wanderlust

Maiden Voyage

Palazzo in Palm Desert

On Friday, we finished preparations for our initial excursion in the new RV. We had been stocking the RV with the necessities ever since we brought it home from the dealer. Naturally, we didn’t remember everything, so we went without some items and improvised on others. Damsel has been keeping a log of things we need the next time. It will be better next month.

The drive out was a pretty good test for the new rig. We encountered gusty winds and the usual rough road on select places along I-10. The Palazzo handled much better than our previous class A. The new air ride smoothed out the teeth-chattering bad spots on I-10 between Quartzsite and Blythe to mere thuds underneath rather than the entire inventory of dishes and other things on board banging up and down. The rear-engine configuration allowed normal conversation in the cockpit rather than having to shout to be heard, especially when in lower gears going uphill.

We will be back out here again sometime in March for another visit. In April, however, we have a longer excursion planned to Northern California to welcome our second great grandchild who is due the middle of that month. We will also take some scenic routes along the way going and returning.

We are enjoying the new rig and accessories. The DirecTV receiver allows us to view our regular programming just like we were at home. Wait! We ARE at home away from home. 😀

19 Feb 2017 by Arizona California Environment Wanderlust

UNEXIT

UNEXIT

As you drive southeast on US 60 going toward Phoenix, you will pass the sign seen above just as you are leaving Wickenburg. This sign is the replacement for another message recently seen at this same location.

Now that there has been a change in the direction of our country’s leadership, perhaps there will be enough collective wisdom to move in the direction of defunding and kicking the UN out of Turtle Bay. Send it off to Geneva where it will hopefully wither and die. The UN has only been a drain on our resources and has provided nothing in the way of benefit to the United States. Actually, its actions have been continually detrimental to our view of how the world should be.

Why we have put up with the UN for so many years is beyond my comprehension. It is a malignant growth and a cancer should be cut out of a body to begin healing and recovery.

10 Feb 2017 by United Nations Whacko Politics

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