Eleventh Blogaversary

Pruned Mesquite

Our first post on VERNABOB.COM was on July 17, 2006. We put up a couple of photos of us taken in our leisure time since we were still reporting to work in those days.

We don’t blog as much or regularly these days, well, because retirement finds so many ways to use your time and efforts otherwise. Today, I took off a major upright limb from the mesquite tree by the RV driveway. I pruned off the remaining low-hanging branches that were almost reaching the ground. Click on the image to enlarge.

In the Vase This Week

Yellow Carnation

We went grocery shopping on Wednesday this week primarily because we have plans on Thursday which is our regular day for it and secondarily, it is the first Wednesday of the month which is senior discount day (we saved 10% on our tab).

I made my regular stop at the flower concession counter and found some Variegated Yellow Carnations which I bought along with some Baby’s Breath. They are now in the vase on the sofa table and look very pretty as you can see. Click on the image to enlarge.

Lava Falls on Mars in 3D

Lava Falls on Mars

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is an image rendered in stereo taken by a Martian satellite. The depth of this image when using the red/cyan glasses is pretty amazing.

From APOD:

This stereo anaglyph was created by combining two images recorded by the HiRISE camera onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The multi-level falls were created as flowing lava breached sections of the northern rim of a 30-kilometer diameter martian crater, located in the western part of the Red Planet’s volcanic Tharsis region. As the molten lava cascaded down the crater wall and terraces to reach the crater floor it left the distinctly rough, fan-shaped flows on the steeper slopes. North is up and the breathtaking 3D view is 5 kilometers wide.

Cactus Flower Photography

Cactus Flower Photography

We enjoy raising cactus in the wild, in the rock and cactus garden and in the courtyard. When there are flowers on them, we both like to take photos of the beautiful blooms.

Above are a couple of images of today’s Astrophytum (Star Cactus) flowers open and I took a picture of Verna doing the picture taking of the flowers.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Six-Shooter Earrings

EarringsSince my birthday is very close to Christmas, Bob usually gets me something for my “Un-Birthday” in June (six months before or after). He bought me a nice pendant and some matching earrings made by an Arizona Native American jewelry artist in silver and turquoise, spiny oyster and a couple of other inlaid stones.

Before finishing the credit card transaction with the jeweler, I spotted these VERY CUTE miniature revolver earrings in the case. Of course, I HAD to have them too, so Bob got them for me as well. I’ve been wearing them all day. 🙂 Click on the image to enlarge.

Countdown to the Great American Solar Eclipse

The countdown has been underway here for almost five years since we first made our reservations at the RV campground near the centerline of the eclipse in Wyoming. Now, however, we’re down to the last few weeks before the big event. The Javascript countdown timer above shows the remaining time to the start of the eclipse (first lunar encroachment) in Arizona Time.

The date of the eclipse is August 21, 2017. The beginning of the eclipse is dependent on the location of the observer, but in our case is 16:22:20 UTC, The seven hour difference has been adjusted in the timer. Totality follows a bit over an hour later.