Verna and Bob's Weblog

Bob

Aerial Views of House Progress


These three aerial views came from the Maricopa County Assessor’s website. I can’t be sure of the dates the images were taken but I can guess based on the progress. Click on the image to advance to the next image.

The first image was taken between 2008 and the first half of 2010; it was labeled 2010 on the county website and shows the parcel and the bare pad. The second image was taken in about November of 2010 judging from the building progress; this image was labeled 2011. The third and last image had to have been taken in late 2011, judging from the shrubbery and landscape; it is marked 2012 on the county site.

Unfortunately, the county only maintains images for three years; it would have been nice to have a view of the parcel prior to the pad excavation.

June 13, 2012 by Arizona Home & Garden Retirement

The RV Drive – Then and Now


I rummaged through some of the old photos in the archives this afternoon. One image from March of last year shows the RV drive as it appeared at that time; it was taken from the hill to the east. I walked to approximately the same spot on the hill and took another image of the RV drive as it appears today.

Click on the image above to alternate between the THEN and NOW views of the RV drive. Notice the growth of the rosemary planted on the slope, the addition of the screen porch enclosure and, of course, the presence of an RV in the drive.

June 10, 2012 by Arizona Home & Garden Retirement

RV Tandem Wheel Cover

cover.jpg

I installed the wheel covers on the left side of the trailer yesterday. I found a bungee cord in the trailer box of goodies that is just about perfect for holding the inboard side of the cover together. I will order another one of the covers for the right wheels later before we take the trailer on the road. Meanwhile, the wheels on the sunny side of the trailer are protected from UV. Click on the image to enlarge.

June 9, 2012 by Leisure Retirement Vacation

RV Excursion Summary and New Camping Gear

hosed.jpgDuring our recent RV excursion to view the eclipse, we enjoyed the facilities of several campgrounds. We spent one night in Flagstaff on our way to Page, AZ. The campground was nice, but did not have a 30 amp electric hookup; it turned out to be a non-issue however, since Flagstaff weather did not require us to run the air conditioner which could overload the 15 amp service.

Image: RV Sewer Hose Support. A nifty little accordion-like gadget.

The campground at Page, AZ, where we viewed the annular eclipse, was also very nice; they had full hookups including 30 amp electric. We did use the AC at Page, which was considerably warmer than Flagstaff. We also briefly used the sewer hookup to dump the black and gray water tanks after three days of use.

On our way back, we stayed at the Cameron Trading Post RV park which had full hookups; we only used electricity there though. Cameron is less than an hour from Grand Canyon’s east entrance.

We did not learn that Coconino County regulations prohibit sewer hoses to be in direct contact with ground until we got to the final campground on our trip; the previous three were all in that county, but I did not maintain a sewer hookup. As I mentioned above, I only briefly hooked up to dump.

Verna and I agreed that we should get one of the sewer hose supports like the one in the image above. I ordered a 20 footer and a tandem wheel cover on-line from Camping World. Both items arrived yesterday.

In the future, we will use the hose support which is a neat little accordion-like gadget that comes in a reusable storage case. The wheel cover will be used right away to keep UV off of the wheels while the trailer is parked behind the house.

June 8, 2012 by Retirement Vacation

Venus at Mid-Transit

mid-transit.jpgThis image taken yesterday at about 18:24 Arizona time, is the approximate mid point of the transit of Venus. I adjusted the image such that ecliptic north is up. Venus moved from left to right across the northern hemisphere of the solar disc.

Image: Venus at Mid-Transit. Camera: Canon SX-40, Rainbow Symphony Solar Filter, Shutter Speed: 1/2000′, Aperture: F 5.0, Film Speed: ISO 3200. I hand held the camera and did not use a tripod. Click image to enlarge.

We were not able to watch or photograph much more after I took this image, since the terrain at our house rises to the west and apparent sunset is about forty minutes before actual. Regardless, we would not have been able to see Venus exit the disc since that occurred well after sundown here in the 48 contiguous states. We feel lucky that we got to see the midpoint of the transit.

We also feel lucky to have witnessed two solar events in just a little over three weeks, the first semi-rare event being the annular eclipse and this extremely rare Venus transit. The next transit of Venus will be 105 years hence in the year 2117.

June 6, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography Something Shiny

Venus Transit of the Sun Tomorrow – June 5, 2012

transit.JPGTomorrow is the rare solar transit of planet Venus. Even though we’re going to be running errands tomorrow afternoon, we’re taking our cameras, solar filters and eclipse shades in an attempt to witness and record the phenomenon. The event starts at a little after three our time and will still be in progress at sundown. We will be home when Venus reaches the halfway point across the solar disc. We will be using the same cameras and techniques used for the May 20 annular eclipse.

Here’s some information I posted last month:

There is a listing of transit contact events for US cities (and another for international). The closest city listed to our location is Phoenix, AZ. The first event is when the disc of Venus first touches the solar disc occurs at 15:05:55 (Arizona Time); the sun will be 54° above the horizon. The second event is when the other edge of Venus crosses the edge of the sun and occurs at 15:23:32; the sun will be at 50° of elevation. The last transit contact listed is greatest transit which, I assume, is when Venus is halfway across its path over the sun; that occurs at 18:25:24 when the sun is at 13° of elevation.

There is supposed to be a live webcast covering the event. Remember – if you miss this transit, the next one will not be until the year 2117.

June 4, 2012 by Nerdliness Something Shiny

Avalon 1998

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