This is a portion of my rock garden alongside the RV drive. A boulder, several rocks and an old piece of desert deadwood (probably mesquite). The row of river rocks in the foreground marks the edge of the RV drive. Rendered in sepia, the image looks pretty artsy-fartsy.
You can view the non-sepia version here. Click on the image to enlarge.
I cannot remember the day this photo was taken. My Mother dressed me up in a sailor suit and took my picture with her little Kodak Brownie camera on the front lawn of our Long Beach, California home. I think I was about a year and a half old at the time. I think the little stuffed animal I was holding was named “Buster” by my Dad after he returned from his World War 2 US Naval deployment to the Mediterranean in 1945.
Of course, I enlisted in the US Navy in 1960 at the age of seventeen. It was in the Naval Reserve and I did not go on active duty until 1962. I was released from active duty in June of 1965 and discharged from the Naval Reserve in 1966 after a three-year hitch with the discharge rate of third-class petty officer.
I’m proud to say that I served in the United States Navy in the early 1960’s. When I joined, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the Oval Office. When I mustered out, it was after the Cuban Missile Crisis, after JFK had been assassinated, and while President Lyndon B. Johnson was busily escalating the war in Vietnam.
I went to Navy ‘A’ School in Memphis, Tennessee to be an avionics technician; after completion of school (I was first in my graduating class), I reported for duty to the U.S. Naval Missile Center, Point Mugu, California. When I first reported to the air station, I was assigned to a security infantry detail on the base – NEGDF (Naval Emergency Ground Defense Force). It was half intensive training and half security guard duty, complete with hard helmets, leggings and sidearms and M-1 Garand rifles.
After my security assignment was over, I was an air crew member, primarily as radar and radio operator for transport and patrol aircraft. I flew on missile test launch aircraft and also on other missions over the Pacific Missile Range. One mission transported a target remote operating platform to Holloman AFB, New Mexico in an old Douglas DC-4 (Navy R4D – Navy three seven two eight niner). When not on a mission, I worked in the avionics shop, maintaining the command’s aircraft communications and navigation gear.
I left active duty to work in aerospace and defense, but remained in the Inactive Naval Reserve until I was discharged.
Verna took this picture of me posing with the dogs on our driveway this afternoon. We were just coming back from a walk down the road. Left to right: Cabela, a five year old female blue and tan Miniature Pinscher (cropped and bobbed) and Beethoven (Bay Bay) a four year old male red Miniature Pinscher with original ears and tail.
The dogs keep us entertained and busy – Verna and I love ’em both. And yes, it IS tank-top weather in Wickenburg today. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this photo from the courtyard of one of our beavertail cacti. This one is along the side of the RV drive west of the house. At the time I took the picture, there was only one flower open. If you look, however, at the many buds on the many paddles, there will be a time soon when the flowers will be overwhelmingly the predominant feature on the cactus. Click on the image to enlarge.
Some of the bulbs I keep in the courtyard planter are starting to have flowers. Today. this freesia opened up. I expect to have paperwhites and daffodils soon. I will also have amaryllis and hyacinth flowers to post soon. Click on the image to enlarge.
I found this 3D image on the Astronomy Picture Of The Day today. You will need your free pair of 3D glasses to view properly. Sorry, no 2D image available. Click on the image to enlarge.
The panoramic stereo view is composed of images from the roving Curiosity’s Navcam taken at a rest stop during a 100 meter drive on Sol 548 (February 19). The 5.5 kilometer high peak of Mount Sharp, also known as Aeolis Mons, is on the horizon, its base a destination for Curiosity. In the foreground are rows of striated rocks along the Junda outcrop. Centered toward the south-southeast the scene spans 160 degrees.
