Things have been rough much of the time since my last post. Besides the lockdowns and all the COVID stuff, my wife was stricken with PVD (Peripheral Ventricular Disease) that was characterized in part by intense leg pain. Because of the stuff going on around her, she was not comfortable going to the doctor. For two years, she struggled with pain and mobility issues because of it. I was helpless, but I tried to do what I could to make her life a little bit more tolerable. Things worsened gradually throughout those two years, until her Maker took her Home in November of 2022. Earlier this year, the Good Lord was very merciful to me, and brought someone to me in the midst of my grief (that had gone on for a good two years). Specific things had to happen at very specific times, or we still wouldn't know each other existed. She has proven to be a precious Gift, a widow of 3 1/2 years, an RN of 34 years, and someone with whom I've been very comfortable with (and her, me) from Day 1. Because of what each of us have been through, we understand each other. I have been very happy since meeting her. As time went on, I asked her if she'd do me the honor of becoming my wife. She said "Yes", and we will be getting married in December. My life has completely turned around. God brought me an Angel once before, and called her Home last year. This year, He brought me another one. As with all things He does, it's perfect! I have been Blessed, indeed!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring made its debut on schedule on the 19th of March this year. A roller-coaster of weather can be expected here for a little while. Temperature swings of 40 or 50 degrees are common in 24 hour periods, along with matching precipitation. So far, we've had highs of 40 - 95, and lows from the upper 20s to the 60s.

I finally retired to join m'Lady at the end of January. The numbers worked out to be to our advantage, and it would have been silly to wait any longer. I've been enjoying not doing anything but what I've wanted to: loafing, working with my lathe, a little photography, mowing the lawn, spring cleaning around the house, painting, etc. The nice thing about retirement is I can do what I want, when I want, if I want. I take walks every day, weather permitting. I started out only walking about a mile or so, but now I'm up to about 3 1/2 miles a day, keeping an average of about 3 1/4 mph. I've accumulated 152 miles since the end of February and had to replace shoes once so far.

Grumpy is 15 years old this year. We bought him a portable air conditioner for the garage so when it gets hot outside, he has some cool refuge. Yes, we're doing our best to spoil him (that is, "take care of him"). He's doing pretty well, considering his past hard life. He has a recurring, chronic upper respiratory thing that we have to give him antibiotics for when it strikes. I doubt he would have lasted this long if we didn't start taking care of him. We are blessed to have him with us, and I'd like to think he is blessed to be with us.

Grumpy.

Buster is 11 this year, and he is still Buster. 😊 He is one of us, for sure. There is a person in that little body!

Buster.

Our Crab Apple tree was loaded with blossoms this year. We thought a mild freeze (while they were blossoming) was going to undo all of that, but didn't seem to. Even though the blossoms have left now, we haven't noticed any apples yet. I hope the freeze hasn't stifled the apples. Time will tell.

Our Crab Apple Tree's Blossoms

We have always had trouble growing rhubarb here in the panhandle. It just doesn't get cold enough in the Winter, and it gets too hot in the summer. Our two plants are looking ok, they just don't have very large stalks and they don't have a lot of the "rhubarb" flavor.

We have been planting flower seeds more than anything this year, purchased online - Daisy family, Bachelor's Buttons, Lavender, and a few others. Only two urns have been planted with flowers from one greenhouse - 5 different colors of Coleus and 2 of Million Bells. We haven't been getting out much this year, for obvious reasons.

Be well.
Be healthy.
Count your Blessings!

Time Passage

Has it really been 5 years since I've posted here? Wow! Where does time go?

In 2015, my wife retired. In 2016, we bought a house about a mile and half away from where we were. Much better house and neighborhood - the first house we've ever owned, either one of us. It's about time! When we moved, we did bring Grumpy with us. We had to. After all, we adopted him as our own and became his people. To leave him behind would have been a knife in the back to him. (He first came to us in July of 2011.) His adjustment was painless. Never once did he show any signs of wanting to go back to his old neighborhood. The important thing to him was apparently that he got to stay with his people. He will be 14 years old next year.

Grumpy's New Home.

To this date, he has never tried to leave the confines of our privacy fence. He is not a climber, and doesn't follow me out when I have any of the gates open. He seems to be very content here. We have two small dog houses, both with heated beds in them. One is in the back yard, and one in our attached garage. His litter box habits aren't good enough to keep him in the house with us, so we made sure he has plenty of comfort wherever he is.

My magic numbers for retirement will arrive in the latter half of next year. I hope to be able to do so, but will have to run the numbers to see how we will be sitting financially.

Over the last several years, I have developed a fondness for fountain pens and have been able to improve my penmanship using them. I even made a custom nib holder so I can do some calligraphy. I'm left handed, and an "over-writer" without a "hook". So, to keep from having to learn to write all over again, I made that nib holder so I could do calligraphy like the big boys. It's working out pretty well so far.

My first "real" fountain pen.

Homemade nib holder and writing sample.

I've also acquired a small wood lathe, and have been turning various things like ceiling fan pulls, candlesticks, bowls, honey dippers, etc.

Turned honey dipper.

Turned bird feeder.

We are about to turn over another year. Here's wishing you a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2019!

Grumpy

There's a neighborhood cat that has kind of adopted us. I think he lives across the alley from us, but he seems to like the attention and kindness we give him - as well as a handful of goodies now and then. He spends a lot of time at our place.

"Grumpy".

With the cold weather we get, we thought it would be a good idea to give him the opportunity to use better shelter than wherever he has been hanging out. I made him a heated shelter out of a Rubbermaid-like storage box. I used styrofoam to insulate the top and sides on the inside. On the bottom inside, I secured a 6' heating cable - only 7 watts per foot, 42 watts total. I covered it with a double thickness of old bath towel for bedding. I've seen him go in it before, and this morning I saw fresh tracks coming from it in the snow. (We had 4" - 6" today, depending on where I checked it.)

Grumpy's Winter shelter.

Notice the tracks coming from the opening. He took a couple of steps into the snow, and then backed up and took a clear path - as much as he could. I found this after he met me on the front porch and I back-tracked him. I don't know if he uses it all the time, but I know he does use it and he knows it's there for him when he wants to.

-Dale

Summer is Gone

It's looking like our warm weather is over and done with in the panhandle for this year. It has been in the 60s and 70s up until today. It's one of those days when the high temp came early in the day. From up close to 60, to about 25 now, and going to be in the teens by morning. A little sleet, maybe some snow and ice to scrape off the cars. It'll be below freezing all weekend, with possible total snowfalls of 7" - 14" for the area.

It had to happen. After all, this is the panhandle. :)

Thanks Giving

What am I thankful for? I am thankful...

...He died, and thankful He lives.

...for every minute He gives me, so I may be what He wishes.

...for those I love, and those that love me.

...for those that object and those that concur.

...for all that I am, and all I am not.

...for all that I have, and all I'm without.

...for the stars above, the grass below.

...for the creatures that swim and those that fly,

...for those that walk and those that crawl.

...for the good that I've seen, the bad that has been,

...for whatever there was and whatever there'll be.

In short - for every thing and everything,
be it above or below, be it within or without.
I am what I am, and have what I have
because of the good, because of the bad.
It all had to be, to be what I am.
For that I am grateful, ever so thankful.

This is my wish, if you all will see:
That you are as thankful, as thankful as me.

Thank You, my Lord, for allowing me to be me.

-Dale

Comet Season

In case you haven't heard, the comet ISON is making an appearance. It's a one-time visitor that is never supposed to return - ever. During December you'll be able to see it with the naked eye, after its journey takes it around the sun and if it survives. It will pass very close to the sun but could be broken apart by the stresses in doing so. Hopefully it will emerge unscathed. If it does, it will likely be brighter than PanSTARRS was in the spring. It will be in the Western sky right after the sun goes down. If you miss it this time, you will never see it.

(Estimated positions of ISON during December.)

I got up early this  morning and got my telescope out to see if I could capture ISON. It was a bit nippy out, crystal clear skies, and no wind. ISON was supposed to be around Leo's rear foot, and that's exactly where I found it. I "calibrated" my 'scope by zeroing in on a nearby star ("sigma Leo"), and moved it to the comet's coordinates. Got it! Being so low in the sky (and me being in town), I couldn't see it with the naked eye, but my camera found it pretty easily. Mounted on the telescope and using it as a lens, this is what it saw:

("Sigma Leo" is the star on the left - Leo's rear foot. ISON on the right.)

I may be able to get more of it before the sun gets in the way. I will post here if I do.

Time Change

Our "fall back" time change is coming - next week. I never really cared for it before, but I'm looking at it in a new way this year. It will give me an additional hour to visit the cosmos in the evenings, and not have to sacrifice so much of my sleep. It won't help my early morning sessions a bit, but I will get more opportunities in the evening after work.

Over the weekend, I had a few more successes with my astrophotography. In addition to getting some good shooting of the Orion Nebula, I found and photographed two more deep space objects: the NGC 891 galaxy, and the Triangulum Galaxy.

(NGC 891, 30 million light years from Earth)

(The Triangulum Galaxy, about 2.8 million light years away)

I many never find a cure for this "disease".

-Dale

Apartment for Peggy Sue

Last winter, we kept our camper (Peggy Sue) in the driveway and covered her with a tarp. This year, we rented some inside storage space to keep her in - for the winter months anyway. (I took her to her new "apartment" yesterday.) Should we decide to go camping, it's easy enough to go snag her and enjoy! No tarp to pull off and fold up, and she's protected from the elements. We kind of miss her sitting there in the driveway, though. *sigh*

 -Dale

Spaced Out

Back in July, I started pursuing a photography tangent that I find interesting and awe-inspiring: astrophotography. I bought a telescope capable of tracking a celestial body (star, planet, galaxy, nebula, etc.) as the world turns. Get zeroed in on it, flip the drive switch, and it stays right there where you put it. When I first got it, it either rained or was just cloudy - for a week or two. Figures. Unbox, assemble, and here come the clouds. As I understand it, it happens to everybody. Good ole Murphy!

Astrophotography is a different kind animal. It requires multiple long exposures of a single target. It requires special adapters to couple a DSLR to the telescope. It requires clear skies - dark skies. The darker, the better. And let's not forget that the object you're wanting to snag on "film" has to be visible. Star charts have to be consulted to find the exact position in the sky - especially those not visible with the naked eye. After the images are collected, the processing begins. There's a lot to astrophotography - more than I realized when I started.

I've been taking advantage of every decent night I can, as long as my desired target(s) is/are available. Sometimes I'll stay up well past midnight, sometimes I'll be up at 4:00 in the morning. I welcome Winter and the longer nights. Getting back to Standard Time will be a blessing, too. I won't lose as much sleep.

Here are some samples of my work.

The Orion Nebula (M42) and smaller Nebula above/left (M43).

The Lagoon Nebula.

The Great Nebula in Andromeda (Andromeda Galaxy) and smaller galaxy below/right - M110.

The Pleiades (Seven Sisters).

The moon is an exception to the above routine. It can be done quite suitably with a single frame.

Very nearly full Moon.

Apennine mountain range and Apollo 15 Landing site.

I didn't know the Apollo 15 landing site was in this image until later. Pretty cool!

I will post more about my spacey adventures as I have something to post. Winter will afford me more opportunities with the colder, drier air and longer nights - if the clouds cooperate.

  -Dale