Verna and Bob's Weblog

Verna

Announcing Our New Grandson – Baby G

Meet Baby G! Dad JJ and Mom Sara’s first baby. He’s a little boy, only five pounds two ounces at birth, but is a strong and healthy baby. Being he was a little earlier than expected, the staff held him in the hospital while they did some standard tests to see if he could be cleared to go home, which he passed easily.

JJ sent us the video seen on the right of Baby G sleeping, but active. We already have received a lot of still photos of him which we posted on Facebook and other places.

We are currently making plans to go see the new little guy who is staying with his mom and the other set of grandparents who live about three and a half hours drive from here. We sure are looking forward to meeting our new grandson very soon.

August 4, 2015 by Family Retirement

Goldfinch on Red Bird of Paradise

Goldfinch on Red Bird of Paradise

A curious goldfinch perched on one of the racemes growing on the red bird of paradise shrubs in the courtyard. Sort of like a yellow bird on a red bird.

The finch was probably attracted to the feeder I have just outside of the courtyard wall, but was momentarily distracted by the flower bearing shoots. It perched on several before lighting on this one. Shortly after this photo was taken, the finch returned to the feeder.

July 29, 2015 by Arizona Critters Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Cactus Cousins and Their Flowers

Star Cactus Bishop’s Cap

Two of my favorite cacti were in bloom today; the Star cactus flower on the left is the third flower that has opened this summer on my astrophytum ornatum. The flowers on the right are on my old reliable Bishop’s Cap cactus, astrophytum myriostigma. Both cacti are in the genus astrophytum of which there are five major species and a bucketload of variations.

The latter cactus above gets clusters of flowers on a monthly basis it seems, all spring summer and fall. The other flower is only the third one to open on that cactus, but there are more buds and I expect others to open as the summer progresses. Click on either image to enlarge.

July 24, 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Four F16 Jets and the Moon

F16 Jets and the Moon

After we dropped the trailer off for service today, we saw these four F-16 Air Force Jet training aircraft forming up for landings at Luke AFB near US60 in Surprise, AZ. It just so happened that when I took this photo through the windshield of Bob’s truck, the Moon was in the frame.

These weren’t the only Air Force jets we saw today; there were a couple of low flying jets over the RV service facility in Surprise and another overflight of two while we were in the parking lot at Walmart.

Here is an overview of Luke AFB from Wikipedia:

Luke AFB is a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. On 31 March 2011 it was announced that the F-35 Lightning II would replace the F-16 as the primary training aircraft at Luke, although the date of deployment of the new aircraft to Luke and reorganization plans were not announced. On 16 July 2013, the Air Force announced that Luke AFB will house a total of 144 F-35A Lightning IIs.

July 10, 2015 by Aerospace Photography Something Shiny

Heirloom Tomato Almost Ripe

Heirloom Tomato

Last year, I collected tomato seeds from an Heirloom tomato that we bought at a local supermarket. I planted them in the spring and now I am about to get my first ripe tomato.

It is widely acknowledged that Heirloom tomatoes have better flavor than the mass produced commercially grown ones. We tend to agree, although we do get some sweet Jubilee tomatoes (Arizona grown) with a nice texture and flavor.

Wikipedia has this to say about Heirloom Tomatoes:

An heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato in the UK) is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) heirloom cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. They are grown for a variety of reasons, such as historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste, which is widely perceived to be better than modern tomatoes.

I can hardly wait to have a taste of this tomato.

July 6, 2015 by Arizona Food and Dining Home & Garden

Handsome Bay Bay

Handsome Bay Bay

This is my Bay Bay, a Mama’s boy if there ever was one. Most of the time in the house, he follows me around to make sure that he knows what I’m doing and that I’m OK. He is a very protective little guy and we have a mutual love for each other.

One of the things he likes to do is go out on the patio with Bob. He jumps up on the spa cover and watches for killer jackrabbits and such. Bob took this photo of him this afternoon while he was intently watching for critters. Click on the image to enlarge.

June 30, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Photography

Avalon 1998

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