…flows, does not push, moves with grace to meet a goal
Author: righteffort
I am simply me! Follow my blog and watch how I can spend my time simply being me! I truly believe life is to be enjoyed and so I am on that journey to do so!
I was on my way to camp at the Salton Sea Recreation Area in California. I know no cold drinks are available there. I looked at the Google map to see if a store was on my route so I could buy an Arizona green tea before arriving at the campground. What’s this also on the map … the tallest flagpole in the world?
An advantage of solo travel is I can check out whatever I want. I decided to drive by this site, then buy a cold drink. Yes, and interestingly the TOP of the flagpole is at sea level! So this town of Calipatria, California is 184 feet below sea level. Okay, while they claim to have the tallest flagpole in the western hemisphere … truth be told there are taller ones in the world and USA.
I finally arrive at a store to buy my cold drink and before entering the place I am in a discussion with 2 bicyclists. A husband and wife team cycling from San Diego to Flagstaff, Arizona by way of the Grand Canyon … and this town of Calipatria. Jokingly I said, you too wanted to see the tallest flagpole in the world? Well they thought I was pulling their leg. I pointed it out to them. We laughed and talked plenty about cycling cross states and then each went our own way before the rain started to fall. All simply a fun day!
Here is the flagpole:
No flag flying above sea level here; maybe after their work at base.
It’s been a couple of months since my travel in Sicily and I miss eating real Italian food! Of course, when I was with my relatives in Rome, I was truly spoiled with absolutely delicious homemade Italian food! While back home in the southwest USA, I started looking for ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, eggplant parmigiana, and pasta made in Italy. Trader’s Joe has parmesan cheese and ricotta, neither of the quality one would find in Italy, but they will suffice. Costco, thanks to a friend pointing this out to me, does sell pasta products from Italy. (I cannot eat wheat products from the USA.) Buffalo mozzarella is available in various stores. But what I was really hoping for was a place to pick-up an Italian meal already made if they did not sell the individual items to make the meal on my own. So I went searching for Italian delicatessens and bakeries in my town, Tucson. Here are 2 places I stopped at and ate lunch:
Village Bakehouse: Great looking pastries, including various croissants. I ordered lunch: chicken caprese on ciabatta and an iced chai. Order at the register, pick up the drink at the other end of the counter, with food delivered to the table. I’m sitting outdoors in the cool shade. The sandwich was tasty, with mozzarella, tender chicken, tomato and pesto all toasted within the ciabatta. Half my drink was gone by the time my sandwich arrived. For a medium drink, lots of ice- no wonder it was half gone by my sandwich’s arrival. Next visit I’ll try a croissant!
Chicken, mozzarella, pesto on ciabatta… tasty!
Viro’s Real Italian Bakery: I actually was looking for green Italian olives. Not finding olives, I ordered and ate a delicious cheese and mushroom calzone! Many other people were here enjoying spaghetti, fish fry, piping hot soup and gelato! I have no room for gelato or any of the pastries today. While in Sicily, I saw their flag and here it was on the wall. Will have to keep this place in mind for future lunch stops.
Calzone with sauceSicilian flag
No doubt I need to continue my search. These places have food I enjoyed eating and when I look for pastries they both had plenty of that to offer. I’m not usually a pastry-eater, but if timed with a good cup of coffee, well then, that can be another story!
I appreciate Tank’s Green Stuff located in Tucson, Arizona. I needed mulch for my rainwater basins and around some plants. It also needed to be a product causing me no skin reaction. Other mulch and wood chips are dyed and that causes a problem for me; Tank’s has the original wood chip with no additional dye.
Recycling and Landfill areas are a great reminder to also think about my own trash. Our home garbage is separated, but seeing the piles of cardboard here is amazing. It takes on a different perspective when compared to the box or two we put in our home recycling bin per week. I also saw the blocks of decorative something or other that the staff here said people put around trees.
Just look at the piles of things to be recycled:
Tons of cardboard
I bought the mulch and am happy for it on the ground and also not irritating my hands and arms … win-win!
Blocks to pull apart and decorate tree trunk area.My mulch work is done!
It’s interesting what makes me think of my best friend who died almost a year ago. Recently I was enjoying bratwurst and sauerkraut, but still had half a jar of sauerkraut remaining. Then it struck me … a memory of a sandwich my friend made for me a few times during our 40 plus year friendship!
I never understood why I never thought of this sandwich on my own because I love Reubens! Maybe it was the fact that I always envisioned sauerkraut dripping all over the place. The trick was uncovered by my friend!
Sandwich laid out with provolone cheese and turkey breast:
Ready….
Then in the fry pan, heat the sauerkraut so it becomes drier than what was in the jar.
Easy…..
When satisfied with the sauerkraut, put it on your sandwich. So easy…and a delicious sandwich!
A beautiful dark sky … we’ll see stars and constellations … and other things flying by … I always find it a treat to actually identify constellations and flying objects. So when I heard about the upcoming launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, we decided to look out our backyard on launch night, and then discovered the launch was scrubbed due to weather. We did wonder if we would even see it in Arizona when it launched from California. But what the heck, no loss any time looking at a dark sky! If we did not see any part of the launch, there would be a live launch website to tune into, so in time we’d see this rocket … even hours or days later.
After a couple of days I forgot all about the possible launch as I traveled to Southern California. This was my “dry run” of the van before venturing thousands of miles cross-country in upcoming months.
It was getting late in the day and instead of an email to my partner, I asked, how about a phone call? I could stand outdoors, walk around and in short time be back at the van for the night.
While talking on the phone, I saw something that I knew was not an airplane plus the contrails were very long and wide in the sky. As I looked closer I could see the nose was definitely not an airplane. I asked, did the rocket just launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base a minute or so ago?
Yes, the weather was perfect for a California launch and here I was watching it from the Salton Sea camping area! I quickly sent photos to my partner of the rocket and contrails. Amazing! Here I was seeing the rocket in the sky 4 minutes after launch!
Wow! Let me share this observation…
Huge contrails!
Past reading about SpaceX was always fascinating to me. Such ambitious plans to build rockets where its boosters return to earth to be reused. I recalled the rocket returning within 8-9 minutes after the launch. The rocket sets down on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean, called “Of Course I Still Love You”. But I also knew this mission was to deploy 22 StarLink satellites. How was that to be done?
To refresh my memory and answer questions I had about how all was accomplished, I watched Spaceflight Now video. Their coverage begins 30 minutes before the launch window until the launch or announced delay. I watched their video which was very informative … minute by minute of what would happen in the sky. Two new pieces of information for me were:
They shift over to SpaceX with their cameras so one can see the booster landing on the droneship. Fascinating to watch as the legs are set and it slowly lands on the droneship.
The satellites are what appears to be a big stack of pancakes, looking like a box put into orbit. If I understand it all, in time each satellite will separate and open and go to the orbit it has been pre-programmed for during its duration of use. When the day comes that the satellite is old or whatever, it is programmed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up. This is so less debris is in space as equipment ages out. (If any part of this is incorrect, please write me, but so far this has been my understanding. Thanks)
Needless to say, I am in awe of the physics, computer technology and creative genius in accomplishing such a task. I applaud the individuals who have dedicated their energies to such work when you realize this booster has been used 15 times over! That is a huge accomplishment!
Check out Spaceflight Now if you are interested in a launch and do not live near where one may be launched in California, Texas or Florida. Really fascinating to learn what is being accomplished!
First off, technically a weed is a plant someone does not want at a particular location. My HOA (Homeowners Association) has no wildflower on their approved plant list; therefore, wildflowers are weeds. Wildflowers on my front yard are therefore considered weeds. When there are too many “weeds”, I receive a notice of violation.
Second, hydroseed was sprayed by our home builder when the house was built, thus wildflowers grow from the seeds. When the seed flowers I will not pick it. I’ll wait till the flower dies. Do I sound frustrated?
I think I’m six years into this weed/wildflower conundrum and I don’t think it’s my imagination, but the wildflowers are increasing in number! This is despite my weeding them out, applying salt/white vinegar/detergent combo sprayed on various areas of the front lawn these past number of years.
This year I decided to try a “weed experiment”; however, it requires a huge amount of my manual labor. I weeded a section of land by hand. I cleared out every plant. Then I raked the rock off the area, made sure every plant was gone, applied the salt/white vinegar/detergent combo and raked rock back onto the area.
In the photo below, front portion is totally clear of plant life, the back has many wildflowers.
Cleared area in front, wildflowers at top of photo. There are more in number every year despite my pulling them each year. What to do?
If you follow my blog, you know I travel. What will I discover when I return. Will that rock area have plant life and me finding my work was in vain? Time will tell.
Now to decide what to do in other areas of the front yard. Does anyone have a HOA list in southwest USA that DOES list wildflowers as an approved plant? If so, please share! Would be greatly appreciated!
My friend and I met at the Hawk Watch; something we have done for the last couple of years. Birding enthusiasts have an opportunity to stand with other birders, and people from Hawk Watch International each March, to observe hawks flying over Tubac, Arizona. We meet at Ron Morriss County Park with binoculars, cameras, coffee, lunch and comfortable chairs.
Upon my arrival, I asked a fellow birder if he had seen any hawks in the early morning. He arrived an hour before and saw two flocks of birds. Some were zone-tailed hawks. Okay, what do they look like? A quick check in my Sibley app of a zone-tailed adult hawk as I would see it from the ground, may look something like this:
Zone-tailed adult hawk
My friend arrived and we were patient observers. A couple of common ravens flew by. So did a black phoebe and Anna’s hummingbird, but no hawks. Just when you think we missed any observation, a gray hawk appeared! Another check of the Sibley app and then another look at the bird … yes, pale underneath with dark wing tips and bands of black on tail! So different looking from the zone-tailed hawk which is black underneath and one broad white band on its tail. Here is what a gray hawk looks like from the ground:
Many say and think, people who do not eat very often or much food at a meal, “you eat like a bird”. In reality, birds eat plenty of food per day. I know this to be true. I observed lesser goldfinch and house finch at my cylindrical bird feeder containing nyjer seed eating plenty of seed!
Smaller birds eat more seed due to their higher metabolism. That can be up to 35% of their weight in food. Amazingly hummingbirds eat 100% of their body weight! A medium-sized bird may eat 12% of their weight per day. For example, a human weighing 150 pounds then would be eating 18 pounds of food … not happening as we only eat 3 – 5 pounds or no more than 3% of our body weight per day! Birds need the calories! They eat constantly to have calories to fly, mate, and stay alive each day.
I feed my birds on a regular basis. Nyjer seed in a cylindrically-shaped bird feeder and another seed cylinder feeder with seeds attracting woodpeckers. I took photos of how quickly the house finch and lesser gold finch were eating the nyjer seed. See photos below:
Just filled it 12 hours ago!Later in the day. Gambel’s Quail stopped by and waits for seed to fall to ground.
I try to provide feed for the birds throughout the year; however, since I travel there are periods the birds need to visit other feeders in the area. I know they are communicating where different feeders are in the area because they will fly off and return here a short while later. I am glad they have so many options otherwise I would be more concerned with my feeders not providing food year-round. I want happy birds, not stressed birds.
At Tucson Botanical Garden there is a Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea display happening! Plastic pollution is an issue for our planet. Much of the plastic we do not see floating around in our oceans or being eaten up by the fish we may eat. But we do know recycling plastic and not using plastic at all has advantages for our planet.
A Brandon, Oregon organization is teaching us all about plastic pollution in our waterways and oceans by using our plastic waste in art projects, such as:
While these art projects are beautiful, I was most interested in the waste collection of some plastics, listed on the chart below and collected at specific places:
Also interested in ByBlocks where plastic waste is repurposed into building blocks!
ByBlocks here
I know we have many things on our mind, projects to be done, people to care about…. and our planet for life to be good and healthy for future generations. Leaders set land aside for our state and national parks. I’d like to think we could put our plastic trash to good use if we want to continue our use of it. I’d rather it not be ground/eroded to small pieces for wildlife to eat… especially if we then eat that wildlife! Take time to think what you can do to curb your use of plastic. Maybe then, make one change.
