Verna and Bob's Weblog

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.

July 19, 2015 by Arizona Weirdness

VERNABOB.COM Ninth Blogiversary

pointvicente.jpg

We posted this photo on the blog on July 17, 2006, shortly after converting our website to the WordPress blogging format, hence our first blog post. We posed for the robot camera at Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

That was exactly nine years ago. At that time, I was still working in the aerospace business and Verna was a full-time home maker. Less than a week after this photo was taken, we would be in Arizona visiting The Grand Canyon.

nine.png

July 17, 2015 by Blogosphere Nostalgia

Protecting the Orange Tree

Orange Tree Screen

Verna’s little orange tree sapling has been doing fairly well since being almost completely destroyed last summer. There is a lot of new growth coming out, but lately, the little squirrels and rabbits have been helping themselves to the tender new leaves.

I went on-line last week looking for screened enclosures that would keep critters away from the little orange tree. I found this ‘kit’ of tubes, plastic joints and a net for sale, so I bought it.

This afternoon, I put it together and with Verna’s help we covered the tree. The netting has some shortcomings since it fails to cover the frame, but we stretched it in places and used some of the many rocks on the property to shore up the places that needed to be reinforced.

If I were to give up to five stars approval of the product, it would only get three. When the netting fails (and it will) I plan to use some wire mesh to cover the sides and top in place of the netting. I’ll post on that eventuality when it occurs.

July 16, 2015 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden

Vulture Mountain Panorama

Vulture Mountain Panorama

We took the dogs to the groomer today. While we were out running some errands, we took a very short drive out into the Vulture Mountains south of town. We seldom do this, but had some time since the dogs were otherwise occupied and we felt like seeing some of our wonderful desert scenery up close.

I composed this panoramic image along the roadside of a local mountain ridge with a rock outcropping on the left in the foreground and Vulture peak in the distance on the right. This view shows a saguaro-studded landscape with a sprinkling of teddy bear cholla and palo verde trees. Click on the image to view the full-sized panorama.

July 14, 2015 by Leisure Panoramas Photography Retirement

Four F16 Jets and the Moon

F16 Jets and the Moon

After we dropped the trailer off for service today, we saw these four F-16 Air Force Jet training aircraft forming up for landings at Luke AFB near US60 in Surprise, AZ. It just so happened that when I took this photo through the windshield of Bob’s truck, the Moon was in the frame.

These weren’t the only Air Force jets we saw today; there were a couple of low flying jets over the RV service facility in Surprise and another overflight of two while we were in the parking lot at Walmart.

Here is an overview of Luke AFB from Wikipedia:

Luke AFB is a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. On 31 March 2011 it was announced that the F-35 Lightning II would replace the F-16 as the primary training aircraft at Luke, although the date of deployment of the new aircraft to Luke and reorganization plans were not announced. On 16 July 2013, the Air Force announced that Luke AFB will house a total of 144 F-35A Lightning IIs.

July 10, 2015 by Aerospace Photography Something Shiny

Staging the Trailer

Trailer

I pulled the trailer across the road today because we’re going to hook it up with all the sway bars and such for a trip to the dealer. The reason we’re going to the dealer instead of going on a nice road trip is that the trailer air conditioner is malfunctioning and that item has to be 100% or no go.

We will plan on taking a road trip in August and September to possibly visit our California children, grandchildren and a great grandchild. A new grandson is expected to debut in August and we don’t want to miss that. Our great grandson will be turning one year old in September and we don’t want to miss that either.

So, it’s off to the dealer this week to drop off the trailer which, hopefully, will be ready to pick up next week. Then we can get it back to the RV drive where we can prep it for the road trips.

July 8, 2015 by Arizona Retirement Vacation

Avalon 1998

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