November Cactus Flowers

It seems unusual to have flowers from the Cherry Red (Trichocereus Grandiflorus) cactus this late in the year. Nonetheless, these two opened up today on one of the several Cherry Red cacti in the courtyard. I looked around for more flower buds but found none.

The late arrival of these flowers may be due to our unusually warm temperatures in September and part of October. Keep in mind, however, that the Sun and not man-made climate is the cause of weather fluctuations on planet Earth.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Halloween 2024

Damsel has the Halloween decorations up in our little house for us to enjoy. Since we’re located on a dirt road in a semi-rural area with no street lighting and the potential for nocturnal critters like Javelina and Coyotes to be present, we get exactly zero trick-or-treaters. So, the decorations are for us alone.

The (clickable) image above came from the Bing® AI Image Generator with the Halloween lettering overlaid with Irfanview™. I suggested that the AI generate an image that was “dark and sinister,” and this was the result. I assume it figured out that Halloween was nigh and this seemed appropriate.

So, for all who celebrate “All Hallows Eve,” we wish you a happy time of it. And watch your six. Be safe in these “dark and sinister” times.

Early Voting Day

We both voted today in what could be the most important election of our lifetimes. Basically, (depending on your viewpoints) a good vs. evil contest at most levels. Be sure and cast your votes.

Service Record Post Part 3
  Naval Missile Center

In the second installment of my Navy experience, I alluded as to how I may have had a hand in getting my ultimate assignment to the Targets and Drones Department at the Naval Missile Center. Well, one of the Avionics Techs assigned to Targets was none other than a ham radio acquaintance from my earlier days involvement in the radio hobby in the western Los Angeles County area, Emmett, WA6COT (SK). Emmett found a way to influence the Master Chief Petty Officer, Chief Stringham, to select my name from the list of sailors becoming available in mid-1962. I was assigned to the Targets and Drones flight line as a result.

The flight line at the Targets Department had two categories of aircraft; looking from the line shack, on the left were “chase” aircraft equipped with remote control systems for the drones, and on the right were the drones themselves, several QF-9G Drone Aircraft. Better known as the Grumman Cougar, these planes were brightly colored with red-orange fluorescent paint, thereby identifying them as drones.

When I checked into the line shack for duty, the chief petty officer in charge assigned me to be a driver, since I was then 20 years old which was enough to qualify for a Navy drivers license. I became qualified to run the various tow tractors and utility vehicles on the line. I also qualified for several other vehicle types including fork lifts, NC-5 mobile power generator carts and what the Navy referred to as a “fox-van” which contained the remote control equipment used for piloting departures and arrivals of drone aircraft.

I spent several months on the Targets Aircraft line tending to the “fleet” of vehicles on the line which I had been put in charge of seeing to their fuel, maintenance and usage. There was an event that took place during my time on the line that was very significant in the history of the USA – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For several days prior to JFK’s interment, the base played dirges and other grim music over the 1-MC (public address system). We were sad to hear of the death of the Commander in Chief, but were glad when things got back to normal.

The last few weeks on the aircraft line, I was commissioned as a “plane captain” for one of the QF9G drones and became responsible for this particular airplane to keep it clean, maintained and ready for operation by a live pilot on the airfield. NOLO Operations (no live operator), were restricted to our auxiliary Naval Air Base on San Nicolas Island located 60 NM due south of Point Mugu.

The next (and final) chapter of my service record will account for the time spent as an avionics technician assigned to my actual training as an Aviation Technician Navigation Striker in the avionics shop. Stay Tuned.

Grilling Weekend

And here’s the stickers on the grill:

We’re running out of room on the cooler places of the backyard grill for decals identifying us as an Arizona Redneck – LOL. At any rate, it is a beautiful weekend with temperatures finally below 100°F. Very nice grilling weather. Today, we enjoyed a grilled pork loin filet drizzled with honey mustard sauce. Damsel prepared sides of broccoli salad and braised (in bacon drippings) Brussels sprouts (Rose Cabbage in some cultures). Delicious!

Tomorrow’s faire will include Beef Steaks – Hers a Filet Mignon and mine a Tri-tip. Damsel will prepare a green salad on the side. I may update this post with photos after tomorrow.

Click on either image to open the image viewer for larger size.

UPDATE: Steaks on the Grill.

Retirement Milestone Fifteen

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of my official retirement. I say “official” because I had already retired ten years prior, but returned to the workforce at another company to continue my career in aerospace. This turned out to be an important step in building up our “nest egg” savings in the new company’s 401K program. I believe we were able to put away about a quarter of our income during those final ten years, with much of the savings “sheltered” from the IRS. That was a good thing.

So, in the coming year, we are contemplating more travel in the big RV. We both have ancestors in many states and we would like to travel to our places of origin – at least on this continent, since many ancestors further up the family trees were from European nations which we would like to visit but are unable at this time. First things first – we will visit the places we can by motorhome. As for the motorhome, we have several maintenance items and improvements to accomplish beforehand.

As we prepare for more years of retirement, we are placing our efforts in God’s Hands to provide for us as He has in the past. We anticipate that this coming year will be as blessed as our first fifteen years of retirement.

p.s. Register to vote and then vote. Bring ten other voters with you. This could be the most important election in the history of the Republic (NOT a democracy, but a REPUBLIC, if we can keep it).

Nineteenth Blogiversary

Well, here we are passing another milestone for this blog. We have had an interesting year thus far, with all the political nonsense going on, attempted assassinations of DJT a couple of times and the endless calls to save “democracy,” when we actually need to save our Constitutional Republic.

The political Left is intent on destroying the Constitution and the original nation envisioned and realized by the Founders. They can’t do that as long as there are several hundreds of millions of firearms owned by good, patriotic Americans, thus the endless calls for “assault weapon” (i.e. a political term for commonly owned carbines) bans and “red flag laws,” also a ploy to take lawful weapons from folks without due process.

We’ll hang in there, if we get everybody we know to get registered and vote this fall to oust the swamp creatures in congress and to elect those who defend the Constitution. Just do it.

Enough of that – now, we’re entering the third season of this year as the sun heads south of the equator for shorter days and cooler temperatures. Our blog will continue to post on occasion about our personal travels and events as well as posting about holidays and other significant occurrences.

Thanks for reading all these years and see you on the next posting. Happy Autumn, even though Arizona is still enjoying our “second spring.”

By the way, there was a partial eclipse of the moon on the 17th of September. I got this shot when the shadow was nearly at maximum obscuration . . .

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1
Aperture: F22
Exposure: 1/200sec
Focal Length: 250mm
ISO: 800
Lens: Canon EF-S55-250 f/4 IS STM