Verna, who has a lot of Irish Heritage, put on the colors and décor for St. Patrick’s Day a few days early for our weekly trip to get groceries. There was a little wind that tried to blow her hat away, but she managed to keep that from happening.
She sure looked cute during our weekly excursion for vittles.
During the morning walk-around, I noticed that there were several birds helping themselves to the goodies in the feeders out back. I took several pictures with my Canon Rebel SL1 camera. Those photos are below (clickable).
This is a sparrow in the mesquite tree waiting its turn for the feeders.
Here are a couple of sparrows and a finch on the round feeder.
And finally, a finch attending “Bird Church” in the big mesquite tree.
We posted a 2D picture of this truck about five years ago in the Other Blog. It is a classic old Ford stake truck that sometimes sits in the QuickLane Showroom, just up the street from our house. We have seen other old cars on display there, but the old truck keeps on coming back. Today, I took an image pair to render this stereoscopic anaglyph while waiting for my truck to be serviced. Click on either image to enlarge.
In case you don’t have a pair of red/cyan 3D glasses handy, here is the non-stereo view:
Our RV Technician came out today to replace the Chassis Batteries (upper image above) in the motorhome. He also serviced the House Batteries (lower image). Everything is working like a champ again. Click on the image to enlarge.
Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year in 2024! We don’t have a lot of news to report for the past year and, at our ages, that’s a good thing, I expect. In the coming year, we are going to resume some travel in the big RV, probably starting soon. The main trip this year will be to travel to Waco, TX, for the total eclipse of the sun.
Have a happy and prosperous 2024!
Image – an unusual snow day in Wickenburg (2014-12-31)
The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the winter solstice, which occurs on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at 8:27 P.M. Arizona time or 0127Z if you’re into Greenwich mean time. Today is the shortest day of the year with only 9 hours and 53 minutes of sunshine at our latitude here in Wickenburg.
We’re not expecting any snow of the magnitude depicted above this season. The snowfall in Wickenburg on New Year’s Eve 2014 was the most snow we have ever seen in town since we moved here in early 2011 when our house was finally completed. As a matter of fact, we can count our snow days on one hand over our nearly 13 years of living here.
The 61-key digital keyboard shown below is the replacement for an older version of the same thing that I’ve had since March of 2010 (and there were many before that). This one has much more capability and I have been enjoying exploring the different voices, songs and styles included in the unit.
I have been playing keyboards (without much formal training) since age 5 or so. I have messed with MIDI quite a lot although that isn’t my peak interest now. I’d much rather play favorites and try to compose some things now and then.
The new keyboard is a Yamaha PSR E373 which is still considered an entry level unit, but it has a lot more features than I probably can figure out how to use. I have an app for the Smart Phone which allows me to record sound and video from the unit. Maybe I will post some of it on social media and link it here one of these days.
Here is the new unit in my studio (a.k.a. Master Bedroom):
This is Yamaha’s Blurb about this keyboard:
The PSR-E373 features a newly developed tone generator that delivers stunning improvements in sound quality as well as high-quality effects. You can enjoy a comprehensive library of 622 instrument Voices perfect for playing in any genre you choose, as well as unique Super Articulation Lite Voices that reproduce the subtle nuances of stringed instruments such as the cello and mandolin that are typically difficult to emulate on a keyboard instrument, delivering realistic and authentic performances.
The old keyboard will be retired to the Motorhome for practice when we’re on the road.
