Weirdness

Alien Stuff – Roswell, NM

We’re in Roswell, NM, home of the reported 1947 Alien spacecraft crash. The following account from History puts the issue in perspective:

In the summer of 1947, a rancher discovered unidentifiable debris in his sheep pasture outside Roswell, New Mexico. Although officials from the local Air Force base asserted that it was a crashed weather balloon, many people believed it was the remains of an extraterrestrial flying saucer; a series of secret “dummy drops” in New Mexico during the 1950s heightened their suspicions. Nearly 50 years after the story of the mysterious debris broke, the U.S. military issued a report linking the incident to a top-secret atomic espionage project called Project Mogul. Still, many people continue to embrace the UFO theory, and hundreds [thousands, I’m thinking – ED] of curiosity seekers visit Roswell and the crash site every year.

We are skeptical about aliens even considering the recent UFO controversy. Perhaps the sightings are of something more Biblical in nature, but who knows for sure but the Almighty.

After today’s dinner in Roswell, we went to the local gift shop and bought a couple of souvenirs:

We’ll be on the road again tomorrow heading somewhere southwest of here.

Water Heater Pooped Out!

Wouldn’t you just know it that the hot water heater had to poop out on a weekend. Verna noticed she wasn’t getting any hot water when she started to wash the dishes this afternoon. We have a tankless water heater and I went out to the garage and checked to see what was going on with it.

The heater, when working normally, will sound like a water pump is running only when someone has opened a hot water tap. Well, today, that sound is not happening. I looked on-line and at the owner’s manual and they both indicate that an error code should appear on the readout on the front of the heater. No error code shows up — just the temperature at which the heater is set, in this case 110°.

I will call our plumber on Monday morning. I don’t have any idea how long we will be without hot water since parts for repair may be hard to find. Meanwhile, we don’t have hot water unless we heat it up on the stove. I will report in updates to this post the steps it takes to restore our hot water.

Steps to restore Hot Water

The New Tankless Water Heater

  1. Call the plumber
  2. 10/17/2022 — Our reliable plumber “Pete” that we have used in the past says that he is semi-retired and doesn’t work on tankless water heaters. I called the plumber Pete recommended, “George,” who is very busy this week. He will “try” and stop by to evaluate the problem and will recommend work to be done.

  3. Troubleshoot
  4. 10/18/2022 — George came by today and inspected the unit. He recommended replacing it even though it suddenly started working again yesterday. We agreed to replace the water heater with a new and improved unit. George will get the new unit on Friday and likely schedule an installation next week.

  5. Removal and Replacement
  6. 11/03/2022 — After about two weeks, the number of emergencies subsided enough that George and crew were able to install the new tankless water heater. It took them from 0630 until 0900 to complete the removal of the old one and installation of the new one.

Conclusion

The new water heater (pictured above) looks roughly the same as the old one and works the same, but will be more reliable providing we do the annual flushing that we somehow overlooked the last ten or eleven years with the old one.

Casandro Wash Flowing

Casandro Wash

Perhaps twice a year the Casandro wash just to the southeast of our house, will flow after a monsoon rainstorm deposits a considerable amount of rainfall behind the Casandro Dam. This morning, Verna and I walked the 500 feet or so down the road to look at the wash after torrential rainfall last night.

Much of the town experienced floods, but we were high and dry with the exception of a small amount of flooding into the patio, on the order of less than a tenth of an inch runoff from the driveway in back. We, and the dogs, stayed warm, dry and comfortable for the duration of the storm.

Gun-Shaped Cloud Hole

Gun-Shaped Cloud Hole

Verna looked out the front window today and saw this hole in the clouds that appeared to resemble a semi-automatic pistol. I went out front and took this photo of the phenomenon.

Recalling from an article we posted about eighteen months ago:

Pareidolia

Pareidolia (parr-i-DOH-lee-uh) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.

Senior Tattoos

Senior Tattoos

One of the natural consequences of aging, is the potential for bruising easily. Last night, while taking the dogs out for their last call, I banged my lower forearm into the jamb on the patio screen door (with a considerable assist from Cabela, anxious to get out to do her thing).

It looks worse than it is; my left wrist bone is just to the left of this three-inch long hematoma which should fade to nothing within a few days. Click on the image to enlarge.

Bumps on Cabela’s Nose

Bumps on Cabela’s Nose

Sometime last few days, something bit me or stung me on my snout. My hoomins didn’t notice when it happened, cause I am always sticking my nose in holes wherever I find them.

The Mama took this picture of me to show the bumps on my snout just behind my nose. They don’t seem to be causing me any pain or discomfort. Click on me to make me big.