We have had our spa since last July. We enjoy it a lot, especially on the warmer days. If we get into the spa late in the afternoon, however, the sun going down on the west side of the house shines directly into the spa.

I asked the gentleman who installed the screen patio enclosure to come out and install a roll-down shade for us. He installed a couple more extruded aluminum supports (the same material used for the original patio) to hold the shade on the west end of the patio.

Image: Before and after - click to enlarge

I say temporary in the title since this shade is a cheap Chinese plastic shade that won’t last in the Arizona sun. We are already planning on getting a custom shade from one of the warehouse home improvement stores. We saw one we really liked at our friends’ house on the Colorado River. The supports installed today will be permanent.

Now that spring is in full effect, we finally got around to hanging up the seed bell out back. One of the early visitors is a cardinal. Click on the image to enlarge.

I ordered some solar filters for all of our cameras so we can try to get images of the annular solar eclipse in May. The filters aren’t very substantial since they are made with cardboard tubing and have polymer filters, but they are cost-effective (~$10 each) and they work.

Image: Solar filter over Canon SX-40 with inset of solar photo I took - click to enlarge

The filters come with an adhesive felt liner that you install to allow a snug fit when you slip the filter over the objective lens of the camera. Once installed, the filter doesn’t interfere with the auto-focus mechanisms nor with any other camera function.

After some experimentation, I found that trying to use the cameras in auto modes (other than auto-focus) does not give good results; camera motion would blur most images. I tried using a tripod, but getting the image centered in the camera was taking too long. The eclipse would be over before getting all the proper adjustments.

I finally settled on using the camera in manual mode where you can independently set the film speed, aperture and shutter speed. I settled on ISO 3200 film speed, F5.6 for the aperture and 1/1250 second shutter speed. Holding the camera in my hands, the image was good enough to resolve sunspot 1445 currently transiting the solar surface. I uploaded a large image of the sun to the image viewer. Click on the link to view.

Bob and I had a wonderful visit with our friends Jim and Karen when we went to their riverside home on the Colorado in Earp, CA. It’s just across the river from Parker, AZ. We had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people that live in Jim and Karen’s riverside community.

This is Karen and I walking Bear, Cabela and Bay-Bay on the shores of the river just a stone’s throw from their home. We had a lot of fun during our visit. Click on the image to enlarge.

Now that the weather is turned to (mostly) spring weather, the grill comes out of storage to active use. Today, we enjoyed pork baby back ribs with Verna’s killer potato salad and bake beans. Yummers!

Tomorrow, we’ll be grilling rib eye beef and salmon steaks for surf ‘n’ turf Sunday. Click on the image to enlarge.

We took Bear, Cabela and Bay Bay to the dog park today. Our dog park is a no-leash park and boy, do the dogs love it. They all (including Bear) gallop all around chasing each other and any other dogs in the park (today there were two other dogs - all friendly). In the image above, Bay Bay is heading back to us at full-gallop. Click on the image to enlarge.

Verna and I are planning an excursion to Northern Arizona in late May to observe the Annular Solar Eclipse on May 20, 2012. We already have reservations to stay in Page, AZ, which is along the centerline of the eclipse path.

Image: The solar disk taken today with my Canon SX110IS camera. Click on the image to enlarge.

I bought several pairs of cardboard eclipse shades for us to be able to safely watch the event. Today, I taped one of the shades to my little camera and took a couple of photos of the solar disk. I took this image while holding the camera in my hands. I expect that image quality will improve by using a tripod. I will be experimenting with both cameras over the next few weeks to ensure that we get some good images when the time comes.