I want some coffee!

Congratulations are in order: we've made it *most* of the way to 2025!   These are getting harder to catch with so many clouds recently. And a Merry Whatever-your-choice! It was a great year (we're still alive and kickin'!) and we even had some moisture to celebrate the year's end. The street has the tell-tale rivulet that says 'it's raining!' Rain in December? Very welcome in these parts. We often see very light snow in December (1/2" to 1-1/2") which never accumulates in our (relatively!) warm climate. But this year is so warm I guess we got the moisture from the produce section instead of frozen foods! Mmm... moisture vs. rain? My paternal grandfather remarried after my grandmother died. His new wife was Margaret Smith. Margaret was the birth mother of 2 men who owned and operated the Smith Ranch near Buffalo, Wyoming. Decades ago I learned from them that, in a climate where rain is rare, sparse and highly prized, you don't get rain but ins...

... here in our version of Winter Wonderland in Arizona. Sunrise on a mostly cloudless winter morning. We're not used to seeing warmish weather and consistent sunshine during the winter months. It's, mmm... weird. We had a high of 78°F yesterday and again today. I used to blame things like this on Russian conspiracies (yes, I'm joking!). I guess I need to find a new conspirator. Snowbirds have arrived and settled in. Prices in the stores are at all-time highs to celebrate their arrival. At least the Canadians aren't going to feel like they're being financially abused since they apparently aren't coming to the US this winter... our pres seems to have offended them sufficiently that they are finding new winter-vacation spots to spend their $$$. Yet another hit to Arizona winter income. ( Thanks a lot Mr. Pres .) To celebrate the season the Admiral - my Admiral - led a celebratory parade to the dentist's office to have a crown re-attached for the 3rd or 4th ti...

 ... when it starts with a photo-worthy sunrise. A November sunrise here in San Pedro Valley. We've had strange weather this past year- largely notable because there were no big temperature extremes. Plus we were cheated a bit on monsoons- the weather gods think we need to do a diligent job conserving our water and apparently that's not happening.  But a really strange thing is the very few times we got above the 100°F mark- the most notable was when we hit 110°F. Yeah, it got hot, but not unbearable. My blog posts on previous summers contained a lot of very descriptive analyses (I think the technical term is 'whining'), but those episodes were strangely missing this year: "... and the times they are a-changing ". But we should know clearly when fall is upon us as that's when snowbirds start arriving in the park from the North country. Well... US snowbirds this year. I read today in BBC news that large numbers of Canadian snowbirds are making other plans f...

 ... right from the git-go. Looking to the South. Looked threatening but it was all bluster. Rainy season (properly monsoons) are technically over for the year. But weather being weather it gets to do what it wants. And a little more bluster the next morning. But that's all we got. So the best move was to ignore the weather. The weather gods were apparently offended and stopped entertaining me. Those clouds down against the horizon dissipated not long after I got this shot. It's Fall now and dawn is much later- so we made a change. I was given a diet plan by a nutritionist in Key West maybe 20 years ago. That plan said I was to first eat my meal, then sometime in the 15 min to 2 hr interval which follows I was to walk for at least 10 min. I did that for a time while living in the Florida Keys then later in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then we discovered RVs and 3 walks per day after meals went out the window till we landed in Southeast Arizona. But Arizona weather drove me to do a lon...

Dawn after some rain Yeah- the morning after. The morning after a bit of rain here in the San Pedro Valley.  July & August, normally the first and second months of our three month long monsoon season, were disappointing. Then along came September... September (if I remember the rain gauge readings!) managed almost 2" of the wet stuff. Excellent! Not enough to fix the drought but much appreciated none the less. The photo above is looking East toward the Dragoon Mountains as the sun was about to put in a wet-ish appearance. You can see the wet streak down the road-center of the 300 row. And yes... I'm a sucker for sunrise and sunset photos! Here are a few more gratuitous sunrise/sunset shots from San Pedro Valley... The Dragoons in the distance, to the East across the San Pedro Valley Another morning shot off to the Southwest. Our back yard neighbor is Paula who enjoys these 'pixie-lights' around her lot  

Road trip! (photo by Quintin Gellar) How many times must I have asked that as a child? Yikes! Must have driven my parents nuts. Makes it sound like I hated long road trips but the opposite is actually the case: I loved exploring the world by driving.  We were a family hooked on travel by car. No doubt motivated in part by gas rationing during WW-II. Even as a very young child sitting in the back seat I enjoyed the passing scenery. Besides, a Sunday drive often meant we were going to get at least one meal out at a restaurant: "Are we there yet?" Wartime Reminiscences. The truth is I loved it when we went on those drives or went on a summer vacation. After WW-II when gas rationing went away we would go for a long drive on Sunday. Lots of post-war families did that... "the Sunday drive". But a Sunday drive for our family often involved hundreds of miles! But that was post war. Gas was rationed during WW-II. Most cars were left parked and just sat. If the owner had en...

I should quit and accept my academic losses but as usual I have yet another "oh btw...", this time related to the Northrop 'flying wing'. Apparently Northrop isn't done with its involvement in the 'flying wing' concept. Northrop-Grumman Corp has a current contract to design and build aircraft for a flying wing variant of a bomber which uses the flying wing (sort of) configuration. The plane is the B-21 which is pictured below. Note this is not an X (eXperimental) variant which would have been designated XB-21. The contract includes production of 40 - 80 aircraft.   Northrop-Grumman B-21 prototype. Not the 'boomerang' configuration I think of when I think of a 'flying wing', but it meets the essential criteria. The B-21 surface configuration is intended to minimize radar reflection to make weapons-tracking of the bomber more difficult. To my eye this photo is of a smallish plane. The published specs, however, say the bomber in these photos h...