Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

NWS Weather Radar Limitation

Blank AreaThis is a screenshot segment of the National Radar Mosaic showing the remnant of Hurricane Newton over Arizona and New Mexico. I thought it strange that there should be a blank, almost rectangular feature in the radar echoes until I realized what it was. A quick look at the surrounding radar installations revealed that the blank spot, which is located almost entirely within the southwest corner of Catron County, New Mexico, is beyond the range of the four adjacent radar installations from which the composite is made. That area is unseen by the radars at Tuscon, El Paso, Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

The population of the entire County affected is a little over 3600 total, so there aren’t that many people affected by the lack of radar coverage, although Reserve, NM, the county seat appears to be in the blank area. I just thought the blank spot was amusing enough to post about it here.

07 Sep 2016 by Environment Technobabble

More Tropical Weather Headed for Arizona

Hurricane Newton Track Forecast Tropical Clouds over Wickenburg

We’re in for some effects resulting from Hurricane Newton, currently crossing the Sea of Cortez in Mexico heading northward. In the images above, left to right, the visible satellite image showing clouds over the area, the probable path and intensity of the storm and a photo of some of the upper level clouds and moisture over us. Click on any image to enlarge.

Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico are expected to endure some tropical weather over the next couple of days with isolated rain showers and flash flooding. Up here, we can already see the effects of the storm. Today started out crystal clear then after about 3 PM, the clouds associated with Hurricane Newton started to cover the area.

The following is an excerpt from a NOAA prognosis:

Newton continues to be a large tropical cyclone, and hazards extend well away from the center. These hazards will affect a large portion of Baja California Sur, northwestern Mexico, and southeastern Arizona during the next day or so. Moisture associated with the remnants of Newton are likely to cause heavy rains and localized flash flooding over parts of Arizona and New Mexico Wednesday and Thursday.

We’re not expecting high probabilities of storms (only 10 to 20 percent) but we’re well-stocked and will be ready for it if it comes.

06 Sep 2016 by Arizona Environment

A Black Butterfly Browsing the Red Birds

Browsing the Red Birds

Late this morning, I noticed a butterfly in the courtyard among the Red Bird of Paradise flowers. I quickly got my Canon EOS camera and went out front to see if I could get some shots of the butterfly before it flew away.

The butterfly flitted here and there for a while after I got out front, but it finally settled on one of the flowers long enough for me to capture it and its pollen laden wings in this image. Click on the image to enlarge. I also got some other good images here and here.

04 Sep 2016 by Arizona Critters Flowers Home & Garden Photography

CB&D Website Changes Underway

Smartphone on WeblogNow that I have upgraded to a smartphone, it has become obvious to me that our websites are definitely not handheld mobile friendly. Shortcomings we have noted include small text size and flaky mobile application plug-in support for our various Flash® animations.

I have already taken the first step toward compatibility by replacing our animated banner with a static image. Next steps will be (as we get to it) replacing the little animated doodads with static images, or removing those that do not have a static equivalent, including the Never Forget animated tribute.

It troubles me to do away with this animation which has been a memorial to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on this site for over ten years, but the traffic count on the hit indicator at the right under the animation has been diminishing steadily. When the hit counter passed sixty million in February of 2010, the hits per hour were nearly 1300; when the counter passed ninety million, the hits per hour had diminished to 529. The current hits per hour is under 200, so it is time to phase the tribute out.

Image: How this site looks on my new Samsung Galaxy mobile

I will clean up the incompatible items on all of our sites over a period of time (read when I get around to it) and begin looking at ways to detect device type and to issue a compatible format. This latter effort may take a while since I use a very old version of WordPress and I will have to customize things in the old code rather than upgrading to a new version incompatible with the current database structure.

It might just be too much work to convert the whole site, so I might incorporate a mobile only splash page that directs the mobile user to switch to a larger tablet or a full-size computer screen. I have only begun to research the changeover, so stay tuned.

29 Aug 2016 by Blogosphere Technobabble

Black Bee Pollinator

Black Bee Pollinator

I did not have the camera handy when the hummingbirds and butterflies were browsing the red bird flowers in the courtyard, but I did manage to get this big black bee doing its thing. We have pollinators of all kinds including this guy, the afore mentioned hummingbirds, bees of all kinds and yellow-jackets that frequent these beautiful summertime flowers.

We saw, but did not manage to photograph more critters today. We had the usual little ground squirrels, cottontail rabbits, black-tailed jackrabbits, a bunch of lizards of varying species and one lonely coyote crossing the north property line eastbound. We hope he keeps moving on . . .

Click on the image to enlarge.

25 Aug 2016 by Arizona Critters Flowers Home & Garden Photography

The All American Eclipse is One Year from Today!

Commemorative Eclipse ShadesOne year from today, we plan to be in Casper Wyoming to observe the August 21, 2017 total eclipse of the sun. We have been getting ready for the event for over four years.

“Ready” includes making reservations at a campground near the centerline of totality, planning the trip to include some optional, scenic side excursions and purchase of a couple dozen commemorative eclipse shades from Rainbow Symphony. We are also preparing to use the camera and telescope to record this spectacular event.

Image: August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Commemorative Shades. Click to enlarge.

This post from May of 2012 has a map of the path of totality and some details about the eclipse. I also did some on-line research and found Eclipsophile.com/Wyoming which forecast a 75% chance for clear skies in August. We’re hoping that it will be so.

21 Aug 2016 by Astronomy Environment Wanderlust

Road Closure

Road Closure

Damsel snapped this photo of one of the ADOT highway advisory signs a couple of miles south of Wickenburg, AZ on US 60/93 Northbound. I thought this was interesting since the section of I-15 that is closed is over three hundred road miles from this point. I presume the Interstate 15 closure is due to one of the California wildfires currently raging out there.

We were returning from a urology appointment in the Valley. The urologist had a little bad news when he inspected the interior of my bladder and found a small, non-invasive tumor. This is not as serious nor as invasive as the tumor he resected three years ago, so it will only involve an office visit down in Litchfield, AZ to resolve. Sedation, similar to that given to colonoscopy patients, will be applied during the trans-urethral procedure. This will not take place until October, since we have plans for much of September.

It’s a bummer that there is a recurrence, but we likely won’t have to endure more than the office procedure. Good thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

19 Aug 2016 by Arizona California Environment Medix

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