Verna and Bob's Weblog

Aerospace

Retirement Anniversary #16

Sixteen years ago, I pulled the plug on being employed. At first, it doesn’t quite feel like it has been that long, but again, so much has happened in the last 16 years that, when you think about it, the time seems to fill in with life’s events.

We have looked into our retirement past and recall many more events than we can list here, but a few of the most memorable and significant things come to mind.

Here’s a brief synopsis of some of those milestones:

  • 2009 Retirement
  • 2010 Bought property in Arizona and started building our desert home
  • 2011 Moved physically into the Arizona home
  • 2012 Began retirement travels – viewed annular solar eclipse from Page AZ
  • 2013 Bob’s Mom relocates from California to nearby retirement home
  • 2014 First great grandson born in California. Acquired travel trailer to facilitate more travel plans to see family
  • 2015 Completed the RV Drive around the house with full trailer hookups
  • 2016 Many trips to various places of interest throughout the west
  • 2017 Travel to Wyoming and beyond to see the total eclipse with new class A RV
  • 2018 First great granddaughter born in California – trips of course
  • 2019 Second great grandson born in California – more trips
  • 2020 Second great granddaughter born in California – trips pending
  • 2021 A relatively uneventful year save for hernia surgery
  • 2022 Lost Beethoven, our red Min Pin – gained Tucker, a long-haired Chihuahua mix
  • 2023 Discovered a leak in the water line between bathroom and kitchen requiring a complete overhaul of bathroom and kitchen cabinets
  • 2024 Travel to Waco, TX to observe total eclipse of the sun. Visited other interesting places in the RV before and after the eclipse
  • 2025 Travel in the RV to visit birthplaces and residences of ancestors in the eastern and southern U.S.

So, as we continue our retirement, we will keep our heads on a swivel, given the multiple left-wing groups out to get their perceived enemies. And, then, there is the crime epidemic, thanks to president autopen, et al. We are fortunate that The Lord brought us to this tranquil place in the desert, generally away from all that malfeasance, but we never know when that might break down.

Y’all stay safe!

October 1, 2025 by Aerospace Nostalgia Retirement

Watching the ISS Fly Over

One of our activities is, and has been for quite a while (since living in California) watching the International Space Station fly over when visible. Last Sunday night’s pass was quite a treat in that it had nearly everything going for it: cloudless skies, convenient timing and an almost direct overhead pass.

In the image above, you can see the ground track of the ISS as it passed over the Southwestern US. The maximum predicted elevation for this particular pass was 88° which barely missed our exact location to the southeast, but watching the fly-over, one could not perceive any difference from a direct overhead pass. Image credit Heavens Above.

Another attribute that is not always the case during a pass is that the ISS remained sunlit during the entire pass. We live in a slight hollow below surrounding terrain and saw the ISS rise in the southwest above some local hills and it few over us and set in the northeast behind some other terrain. We always enjoy watching the ISS and other satellites flying over, but this one was unusually spectacular.

May 16, 2023 by Aerospace Arizona Nerdliness Something Shiny

Retirement Day!

palazzo rvOn this day, October 1, 2021, we’re celebrating our twelfth year of permanent retirement. I say permanent because this date is actually my second retirement, the first being ten years prior to 2009. To make a long story short, we retired rather than take a layoff in 1999 due to a manpower reduction. I immediately found another job at a competitive company to the one from which I had retired which eventually was acquired by my first company. Thus, I retired from the same company twice and now receive two pensions from them.

IMAGE: Thor Palazzo Motorhome ready to roll. Click on the image to enlarge.

In our retirement post last year, we mentioned hitting the road sometime in 2021, but that has not happened (yet). We did not go anywhere in the spring or summer in the big RV for various reasons, but the thinking now is to at least have a two or three-day excursion semi-local somewhere in Arizona. Since I am still healing up from hernia surgery, we need the surgeon’s go-ahead for that, but plan to get it done before it gets too cold for camping.

As far as keeping the RV ready for our next excursion, we have a routine where the engine gets started up and run for a while every week. We run the 6KW generator about once a month with a load, like both A/C units running. We currently have the black and gray tanks filled with a water-bleach solution which will be purged and prepared for use prior to our next run.

We’re thinking that our destination might be in the high desert north of the Mogollon Rim, perhaps Winslow, Holbrook, Homolovi SP and Petrified Forest NP. More on that when we make final plans.

So, join us in celebrating our twelfth AND twenty-second retirement anniversaries!

October 1, 2021 by Aerospace Retirement Vacation

More Mars Helicopter in 3D

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity in 3D

Another 3D photo from Mars: Ingenuity as seen from the Perseverance Rover on about June 21, 2021, Earth time. Click on the image to enlarge.

From NASA Mars Helicopter Pages:

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is seen here in 3D using images taken June 6, 2021, by the left and right Mastcam-Z cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

As of June 21, 2021, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has successfully flown its 8th flight, traveling about 525 feet (160 meters) south-southeast from Airfield D to the new Airfield E! This marks the third flight in the Operations Demonstration Phase of Ingenuity, in which the team will continue to push the flight envelope of the aircraft while learning valuable operational lessons. Flight 8 was also the first flight the vehicle executed since performing an update of its Flight-Controller flight software and all telemetry indicates that the update was a success!

In the event that you do not have your 3D anaglyph red/cyan glasses handy, you can see the 2D photo here.

June 27, 2021 by Aerospace Bob's 3D Stuff Nerdliness

SR71 and Verna

SR71 and Verna

I took this photo of Verna posing with an SR71 at the Pima Air Museum near Tucson, AZ. I scanned in some images for throwback Thursday which made it onto the FecesBook® but missed this one on here a day late. The photo had to have been taken in the early 2000’s before we went digital. Click on the image to enlarge.

June 3, 2016 by Aerospace Family Photography Vacation

Avalon 1998

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