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

Peggy Sue

I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post here. What a slacker I am! A lot has happened since. Probably the biggest thing has been Peggy Sue.

Peggy Sue is a small travel trailer we bought on Craigslist back in August of last year. She's a 1988 Sunline T-1350 - native to Pennsylvania. They are pretty rare West of the Mississippi. You just don't see them much over here.

When we first got her, she was a bit worn and needed some sprucing up. A couple of guys (dad/son) used her like guys would - not too concerned with decor. Oxidation was trying to take over her paint job. The good thing is that she was road ready, complete with a new axle that was put on the year before.

We had no trouble making use of her while giving her a bit of a makeover. We must have been on a dozen or so camping trips to date, enjoying every minute of it. We gave her a new inside paint job, new curtains, reupholstered the cushions, gave her new stripes on the outside, and a general clean-up. Here are the results:

Last year, we even spent Thanksgiving in Palo Duro Canyon with her - complete with the whole Thanksgiving Dinner, fixins and all. We're looking forward to many years of enjoyment with her.

-Dale

Catching Up

Yes, I've been a bit remiss lately. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to rectify the situation now.

We were both off on the 4th. There were a few options of what we could have done, but we decided to go see the 4th of July parade in downtown Canyon.

When we got there, we found a place to park less than 1/2 block from where we wanted to sit. We also found a spot to sit that would be in the shade the whole time. Apparently, we were supposed to be there.  :)  While we were waiting for the parade to start (and subsequently get to us), a little guy caught our eye. He hadn't been walking very long, and was trying out his new-found skills with his Daddy close at hand.

I have no idea why the expression.

All is right with the world again.

Another young man near us was apparently trying out his skills as a doctor while he waited.

What's the diagnosis, doctor?

People are interesting - especially kids. They can be so animated!

There were two different fly-overs at zero hour to mark the beginning of the parade. Given our spot under shade trees, we couldn't see them. I had to go out in the street in order to get the shots I did.
 

The parade was a good one. Floats, bands, military and their vehicles, firemen and their trucks, and a little bit of everything.

(Some of the cast of TEXAS! the musical.)

(This young lady was on a float.)

More like these are in my Pbase galleries.

It was the perfect day - not too hot, light breeze, and in the shade the whole time. Couldn't have asked for a better setup.  :)

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We've had a small leak in our power steering pump pressure line for a little while - nothing serious, just a "seeper". I finally got a new line and had to put it in over the weekend. It was one of those that had a factory seal that started to leak. I expected it to only take an hour or two, depending on how easy it would be to snake out of its position and get the new one put back in the same path. It can be a real challenge the way they put cars together any more.

As luck would have it, all went great - until I got to the last little bracket I didn't see at first. It was in one of those spots that was virtually impossible to get to. I could barely get one hand in the right place, but it needed two. When two hands found there way to the right spot, I couldn't see anything - not to mention having to be a bit of a contortionist. You get the idea. After struggling with the bracket for a while, I finally got it out. A little while later I got the new line snaked into position and the battle started again. I had to get that same bracket bolted down. Too often, "puttin' back in" isn't as easy as "takin' out". It wasn't this time either.

Ok, I finally got it all put in and mounted securely - just like the factory one. Now I had to get all the air out of the steering. Took forever! After 5 1/2 hours, this 1 - 2 hour job was finally done! I guess it had to happen some time.

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I kinda let our lawn grow a bit lately - to where it's long overdue for mowing. I was going to do it today after work, but it had been raining off and on and was still wet. Long grass holds moisture much longer than short grass. I won't mow wet grass unless I absolutely have to. It looks bad afterwards and is more of a chore to get the mower clean when I'm done. May not be able to tomorrow either. They are saying an 80% chance of more rain tomorrow. I'm not complaining at all. We need rain - lots of it. I'll just deal with tall grass when I am able to mow.

**********************

I think that's is about it. I hope I'm caught up now.  :)

June Jazz

Every Tuesday evening throughout June, Amarillo College hosts various jazz bands - a different band each Tuesday. These are free to all interested, and we've been going to them this year. (They last about 2 1/2 hours.) During yesterday's performance, I took some video highlighting two of the members of The Martinis and put them together in this short (1 minute) video:

Wedding Shower

(Follow-up)

My apologies for taking so long getting promised images up. These are some of the photos I took at the wedding shower I spoke of in my Saturday Stuff post below.

Amanda and Jeff

Bride-to-be's mother, bride-to-be, groom-to-be's mother.

Opening gifts.

Guest book.

Refreshments. Delicious!

(More shower photos can be seen HERE.)

Saturday Stuff

The "daughter we never had" is getting married to her best friend next month (a pretty cool guy), and she had her wedding shower yesterday. I will be shooting her wedding, so naturally I got some shots at her shower, too. (I haven't gotten permission yet to put any up publicly. When I do, I'll probably put some up on my PBase site as well as a couple of them here.) Amanda says Shelley and I are her "other parents". We consider her our daughter, too.

After we got home from the shower, Buster was not out in plain view as he is most of the time when we get home from anywhere. We didn't think too much of it. He takes spells where he just likes to camp out under a bed or somewhere secluded. Time went by, and still no Buster. The search began. I did a cursory check of his usual spots, but no Buster. I got the flashlight and did a more thorough search. It is kinda dark under beds and other hidey-holes he uses. I even checked the bathroom. (We've closed him up in there accidentally before.) Called for him, tempting him with "wet food" - not a sign or sound. The search continued. Why is it you always find what you're looking for in the last place you look?  ;)  Turns out, when I opened the closet door in the hallway, there laid a little furry boy - looking up at me with an inquisitive look on his face. Don't know if he was asking me "What?", or maybe "Why did you shut me up in here?" He didn't seem real anxious to come out. We have no idea just how long he was there, but we suspect it was hours! Never had an accident, even though we wouldn't blame him if he did.

That boy...!  :)

The Simple Things - A Poem By Edgar A. Guest

The Simple Things

I would not be too wise—so very wise
  That I must sneer at simple songs and creeds,
And let the glare of wisdom blind my eyes
  To humble people and their humble needs.

I would not care to climb so high that I
  Could never hear the children at their play,
Could only see the people passing by,
  And never hear the cheering words they say.

I would not know too much—too much to smile
  At trivial errors of the heart and hand,
Nor be too proud to play the friend the while,
  Nor cease to help and know and understand.

I would not care to sit upon a throne,
  Or build my house upon a mountain-top,
Where I must dwell in glory all alone
  And never friend come in or poor man stop.

God grant that I may live upon this earth
  And face the tasks which every morning brings
And never lose the glory and the worth
  Of humble service and the simple things.

 

Recent Happenings

Friday night, we had some storms going through the panhandle. Normally, they split and go around Amarillo. Don't know why. It just happens - far too often to ignore. It's referred to as "the Amarillo split" among other things. Out of the all the rain crossing the panhandle, we got a whopping "trace" - just a little bit of water covering the bottom of our rain gage. It poured all around us, but not here. Typical.

Friday night, we were going to see the stage show "TEXAS!" down in Palo Duro Canyon State Park's amphitheater. We had an English (aka "British") friend of ours with us who has never seen the show. This was his chance.

I kept a close eye on the radar to see how things were going, and it looked like we might be ok. The rain was staying right next to where we'd be. I even called down to the Park to see if it had been canceled - right before we got in the car. Still not canceled.

As it turned out, when we got to the entrance to the canyon, they had to cancel the show - not because it was raining, because it wasn't. The stage was flooded! Well, we went in anyhow and stayed up on top at the main overlook. Thought we might get some lightning shots if things worked out. It did.

The lightning wasn't real prolific, but we did manage to score a few good ones.
 

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Our English friend, Dean, was telling us about hummingbirds he got photos of at the zoo here. (He works at the zoo.) After some discussion about their habits and such, I decided I'd park myself near the trumpet vines in our back yard that next morning. The trumpets were flowering really nice, and we knew that those little rascals love things like that. (Coincidentally two or three days before, Shelley saw a hummer flit past the car as we were getting ready drive off to work.) I sat there for about 10 or 15 minutes with camera in hand and at the ready before I caught sight of one. It was only there a minute or so, partaking of the nectar of maybe two flowers before slipping away. Not much time to make adjustments and shoot in the dim light, but I did get him.

(Female Black-Chinned Hummingbird)

Since that morning, the flowers were going through a cycle where the full ones were dropping off and the newly emerging ones were not yet open. I haven't seen any more hummers yet, but come the weekend I'll be sitting back out there early in the morning. Since the first sighting, I got a new hummingbird feeder and hung it on a shepherd's hook in a shady spot in the back yard - with homemade nectar in it. Hopefully I picked a good spot. We shall see.

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Our hot water side of the tub has been leaking through for a little while - the hot side. After work, I shut the water off and tore it apart to see what was going on. The valve stem (core? spool?) was split down the side and its seals were about shot. A quick trip to the faucet parts guy and $6.49 later, I had the new stem (core? spool?) assembly in hand. A few minutes after getting home, it was in and the water back on. I'm not a plumber and don't really like plumbing, but that's something I can do - so I did.

Birding

I was out in our back yard after work yesterday looking for "our" Kites, and came across a pair doing their usual Spring fever dances. I got out my telescope and coupled my camera up to it to see if I could get it adjusted right for some shots. I wound up taking some video of a female Mississippi Kite grooming herself in a tree a couple of houses down the street. Here is the result, not cropped or anything.

(A female Mississippi Kite grooms herself.)

The telescope I used was a 1200mm Maksutov-Cassegrain catadioptric 'scope. A "catadioptric" telescope is a hybrid reflector and refractor telescope. Used with my camera (without eyepieces) it's about 4x as powerful as our biggest camera lenses.

Eclipsing, Mowing and Musing - Oh My!

On May 20th, the solar eclipse passed nearly over top of Amarillo. It would pass directly over Lubbock to the south of us and put us in the 90% area, scheduled to max out just before sunset. Skies were overcast in the morning and were forecast to be so all day and night. What better way to blow a good eclipse? We didn't have much hope at first.

As the day progressed, the sky cleared off and was almost perfectly clear come time for the eclipse to start - about 7:30pm CDT. Only a few spotty streaks of clouds still hung around. Shelley and I took up position on the west side of town that afforded an unobstructed view of the sunset, got our cameras ready and watched for other photo-ops while waiting for the sun to weaken to the point we could take some photos.

Below are some of the shots I took, along with an animated GIF I assembled. (Click on any image to see the full size version.)

(First shot I could get - safely.)

(Nearly maxed out.)

(Shortly after maximum, nearing sunset.)

(Ok, I had a little fun with the last one.)

What clouds stuck around actually enhanced our shots, I think. Unfortunately, it was completely obscured by clouds around its peak. I managed to pull a few images aside to create an animated GIF. At the start of the animation, it was just coming out from behind the clouds that hid the peak of the eclipse.

(Note the sun stop setting and wait for the trucks to go by. It was accidental when I created it. )

We were lucky the clouds disappeared and we got to see it. It was a sight we will likely never see again.
 

---------------------------------

I finally got to mow the lawn again after work today. Yes, I anxiously look forward to it! Haven't had to do it for a little while. Parts of the lawn show it, too. After mowing, I made some artificial rain. Gotta make it a little bit green to keep fire danger down. Would love to have a few more inches of rain. We were tickled to have gotten the 1/2" and 3/4" increments we got earlier this year.

You know you're from the Texas panhandle if you consider a rainy, gloomy, stormy day to be "beautiful weather".

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 Musings. Hmm. Well, actually it's something a-musing. Something that Shelley and I both do, and sometimes chide each other for it.

Most of you know we have a very interesting little boy that came into our lives about 3 years ago - a gray and white tabby cat named "Buster". Well, not really a cat. Not sure what he is. Anyhow, he's as much a family member as any 2-legged child. He is one of those boys who can do virtually anything he wants to, sleep where he wants, will smack you on the tush as you walk by and then act like he didn't do anything. Well, you get the idea.  

(If you want to get an idea of how "people-like" he is, check out this sneaky little thing playfully trying to tell "Momma" he wants some treats:  http://tinyurl.com/6mujxlk.  Some say it's not possible, but he has a very cool sense of humor.)

Now, what prompted me to start about Buster in this post is that I just witnessed (again) him snoozing on half of the couch. Yes, he's a big boy. Not overweight, just big. When he stretches out, he easily takes up half the couch. 

Shelley and I have our customary places to sit on the couch. We all have "our spots" to sit and get comfy, right? A little bit ago, I saw her taking up an alternate position and not bothering "that boy" - who was snoozing peacefully on "her side" of the couch. "That boy" (as we refer to him very affectionately in casual conversation) is so spoiled (or is it "revered"?) by both of us that we refuse to make him move when he's commandeered "our spots".

I shake my head at how he's managed to rule Shelley's life in just three short years, all the while knowing I'm just as guilty. "That boy" has us wrapped around his little paws for sure - and he knows it!