The Wandering Minstrel

. . . are a thin disguise.

Seriously - I’ve lived in California all my life, worked in Florida for months at a time, been to Hawaii, the Bahamas and Tahiti, and I have never seen a palm tree like this one along US Hwy 60 near Surprise, Arizona. Who the hell are these green enviro-freaks that think this is any less an eyesore than a good cell tower? In fact, being a techno-person, I think cell towers are a functional piece of infrastructure with an aesthetic appeal and not in the least offensive in metro areas.

Clickable image credit The Better Half - but don’t get her started on the rampant cellular-conifer eyesore issue. She has yet another discourse on those.

. . . and that’s all I have to say about this . . .

The Better Half and I were enjoying an afternoon on the patio swing watching the birds at the feeders and whatever else we fancy. At one point, a bug (yellow jacket, I think) lighted on the swing canopy (left). Of course the bug isn’t in the picture because I grabbed our air soft pistol (right) and sent it to bug-Valhalla with a single shot. I usually use the air pistol to run off a couple of pigeons or a squirrel or two that come around from time to time. This was the first use against an insect. We both laughed at the sight of the bug getting hit square in the thorax.

Image background - Grand Canyon Yavapai Point View - Clickable image.

When I get up in the morning, I consult my list of RSS feeds to see the latest posts. I got to DrJim’s Every Blade of Grass blog and saw that he would be setting up for the annual ham radio Field Day contest sponsored by the American Radio Relay League. I asked The Better Half if she would like to take a drive down to their setup site at historic Fort MacArthur “Topside” in San Pedro and meet up with DrJim - something we have been meaning to do since we found out we’re practically neighbors. So, we drove the short trip down there and finally got to meet up.

In the clickable image above, DrJim and I are chatting about the amateur radio satellite communications setup he was setting up for the contest. When DrJim finishes the setup, he will have a couple of uplink/downlink antennas mounted on the stub tower with full azimuth and elevation control. The satellite communications will allow the United Radio Amateur Club to claim the bonus points for including his operation in the list of stations.

Ace posted about the shifting population to and from Harris County (Houston) TX. In the post an article on the AEI blog about California and Texas population migration trends. The AEI post referred to an interactive feature on Forbes, “Where Americans are Moving.” Having an interest in Maricopa County Arizona, I went to the Forbes site to see the moving trends for the Arizona county where Phoenix is located. Our new place will be located in northwestern Mariposa County.

The data used for this map is from 2008 IRS records, so it’s not exactly up-to-date. The black radials show influx to Maricopa County from various counties around the country. Red radials show influx from Maricopa to other counties around the country. I was surprised to see such a large volume of moves away from the county. It would be interesting to see the demographics of the arrivals versus the departures. Clickable image.

Of course, the chart doesn’t show the huge ingress from south of the international border. If the chart were to show that movement, there would be a fat black line connecting Mexico with Maricopa County.

The Better Half took this photo in May while we were in Kingman, Arizona. The old part of town along Route 66 is lined with old-style motels, diners like Mr. D’s and the inevitable gift and souvenir shops.

I really liked Mr. D’s old Chevy pickup parked by the diner, It was one of many 40’s and 50’s classics we saw while we were in town. Clickable image.

Across the street from the diner is the Kingman Powerhouse which houses model trains, information counter and gift shops. I bought an aloha shirt with illustrations of Arizona-specific Route 66 landmarks and autos.

Old Glory waves in the foreground as the Blue Angels fly overhead. Clickable image.