Celestial

In case you missed it, there was a grand celestial event this past Friday night. First of all, there was a luminous full moon. Then, there was a lunar eclipse. Finally, a comet, which looked green, was to pass through the night sky. I've mentioned how my dad was enamored with the night sky. He bought a telescope when we were kids and we looked at the moon, a lot, particularly in the summer. That was mainly because we complained about the cold, even though winter skies are clearer than summer skies.

Because of his interest, evening skies and celestial events are still a great draw for me. This August, part of Illinois will get to experience a total solar eclipse. I thought about trying to drive south, but everyone and their brother will be down there. I'll be happy for the 90% we'll get up here. It makes very interesting shadows. The last time we experienced this, Carole was in 5th grade and her school had an eclipse party. We made pin hole cameras for all the classrooms. I do remember street lights coming on where the street was shady.

The computer sits facing the east so I get a good view of the moon as it rises. On Friday, I thought the eclipse was to 'start' at 6:48 pm my time. The night was clear, which was, itself, wonderful because we'd had 3 weeks of near constant clouds. The moon rose and, well, nothing. In all the time I watched, I never saw any indication of a lunar eclipse. I was busy so I couldn't check astronomy web sites. The umbra color of the moon during an eclipse is always fascinating. I never saw anything green in the night sky either. Just the red and white lights of incoming aircraft headed to O'Hare airport. It was something of a let down.

But, I was able to take photos, back in November of the Super Hunter's Moon. This is from November 12th.

The actual Hunter's Moon was the 14th, but it was big and white on the 13th. Here it is, rising in the east.

It usually takes a bit of time to go from a light yellow to full white, but the November moon seemed to start out white and just get brighter as the evening wore on. I remember it was nice out, so standing on the front steps trying to get decent photos of it wasn't an exercise in frozen fingers.

You can see in the above photo that it's not quite 100%. Compare the above photo with one taken on the 14th at, roughly, the same time.

It's always an adventure to take moon photos when the moon clears the tree line. I often have to walk down the steps and get the moon in branches before backing up so there is only the white orb left. And, at times like this, I wish I had better equipment than a pocket digital camera or my phone, which is years old.

We've had a lot of celestial "It won't happen again in your lifetime" events in the last 20 years. This is another one. It's exciting.

Beverage:  Raspberry seltzer

Deb

Wordy

On the secretary in the living room is a 365 New Word-a-Day calendar. I have purchased one of these every year since 1980. That's 35, well, 36 since 2016's is in the box waiting for New Year's day, years of words. Some I know. Some I've never heard of before. Some I have just an inkling of what they mean. It's a great way to maintain my vocabulary.

It's always a source of immense humor when the word of the day accidentally corresponds to what's going on in the day itself. Let's look at the November vacation.

For some reason, I don't have a photo of November 3rd, which was a travel day, but I do have the words from the 4th through the 9th, when I returned. November 4th's word was perfect.

My "temporary or second lodging" was a hotel near the Anaheim Convention Center. How apropos.

Friday's word?

I guess I could say I used dirty clothes as dunnage to surround the few souvenirs I brought back.

Saturday and Sunday's words, on the same page now, (I remember when they were separate days.) are easier to tie to the day itself.

Ashley and I attended the Legion (World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion of the core game, with new quests and excitement) question and answer discussion on Saturday. There were seven developers trotted out onstage to answer fan questions. They might be a bit uncomfortable being referred to as a "pleiad" but it fits.

And, I made one of those facepalm connections which I'm sure everyone else knows, except me. One of the easiest constellations to find is the Pleiades, or The Seven Sisters. It's a cluster in kind of a stretched-out "w" near the north star. I looked at the word when I got home and had an "aha" moment. I don't know that I'll have a reason to use the word, since it requires a group of seven, but we'll stick this in our verbal arsenal and trot it out, assuming I can remember.

What to say about "mesmerize"? I know this word and, boy, if ever there was one more apt for the day we spent completely at Disneyland, I don't know what it is. This is a perfect example of how, sometimes, eerie it is when the word and the day dovetail.

Monday was "go home day". The shuttle came to the hotel at 5:35 a.m. Technically, I got up at 7 a.m., my time, but tell that to my cell phone alarm clock. It took a full 75 minutes to go from the hotel to the airport, picking up three more people along the way, which resulted in a full shuttle, something I'm sure they like.

When I arrived, I was hustled through a different security line. This one went much faster than the line I could see when I walked through the door. Oh the goodness of deciding to download United's cell phone app which allowed me to check in completely, luggage and all, while waiting in line for the Cars ride.

I was able to by-pass a huge line by the front door and speedily get through the first check point. I don't know what benefic I was privy to, but I'd take it. That lasted until I rounded a corner to go to the TSA metal detectors. Um...yeah. As bleary and hungry as I felt, I was ever so glad I had been made to get up at 5 and get to the airport by 7:15 for a 9:30 flight. By the time I got through screening, got some breakfast and made it to my gate, it was time to board. But all benefics stopped once we were on the plane.

There was an issue with a paper copy of our flight report and FAA required paper manuals. Then there was a problem with a defect in one of the cargo sections of the plane. When I finally landed at O'Hare, a confused older gentleman tried to walk off with my luggage, even though a very nice security guard kept telling him the suitcase was mine and not his. My limo driver was nice about the whole thing, once we finally connected, but he was a bit put out when I didn't arrive at the destination point because I was dealing with my luggage.

The biggest benefic was good traffic so the drive home only took 45 minutes. My house was still standing and my cats were waiting.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

I'll Quit Making That Joke Now

Caution tape on the back up light. I'm keeping it there for a week kind of as a badge of honor, kind of as a medal for surviving and kind of as a reminder that "that" joke is no longer funny.

I left my brother cleaning up the shop after we put the new top on the Jeep, got gas (a fill -up for $35.00! Be still my heart!) and headed to my mom's. Mom lives out in the country on gravel roads. Her location got part of that blizzard that hit the 19th-21st through the Midwest. I had my worries about the gravel roads.

Just because I grew up with this doesn't mean I'm comfortable driving on it. But, if I go slow and use the 4 wheel drive on the Jeep, I'll be just fine.

The highways to Iowa were, for the most part clear. There were sections where drifting had occurred and the road was wet or slushy or had hard packed snow on it. I followed a semi hauling grain for a long time because I figured out when he slowed down, there was stuff on the road. He could see better than I could and 55-60 was a good speed to average on Highway 30 between Clinton and Cedar Rapids.

I headed north. There is a cross-country route to get from Cedar Rapids to mom's but I would stick with the roads I knew. I turned left to go to Center Point and started up the hill. The back side of the hill was slushy and had spots of packed snow. I slowed down and applied the brakes. At the bottom of the hill is a railroad track. The east side of the track was clear. The west side was ice with two trails where wheels go. It was packed snow.

I hit the snow and the back wheels went right and then left and then right again as I tried to steer out of the skid. Always turn your wheel with the skid, so I need to turn to the left. I could hear the calm voice in my head. But actually doing that in the franticness of a skid isn't always possible. I went right into the ditch and then the car turned. Whump. Stopped.

The engine was still running. The lights and my holiday music were still working. I probably won't be able to listen to Nat King Cole sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" again without remembering being in the ditch.

Breathe. I'm okay, just startled. I put the car in 4 wheel drive and tried to rock it back and forth. Nope. I was stuck. I tried to call my mother but her line was busy. That's when the panic started to creep up. Was my phone not working out here? I tried 3 times before calling my brother. "Yeah?" Okay. He answered. It's not the phone.

Dan organized his daughter and her husband and my mom. Mom came and got me and took me to the farm so I could be warm. Once the crew arrived, we headed back to the Jeep. At this point, I realized I had put the Jeep into the ditch completely perpendicular to the highway. It was completely square, at a perfect 90 degree angle. I couldn't have done that had I tried. I also noticed that it was a completely clear Iowa December night. There was snow all around and not a cloud in the sky. There wasn't a breeze either. You could see the black velvet of the sky and millions of twinkling stars. If I hadn't put the Jeep into the ditch, I would have marveled at this. I remember hundreds of nights like that where I'd stand in the driveway with my dad, my feet and fingers getting numb with cold while dad would look up and pick out constellations. I saw Orion but that was all I looked for.

Dan had to shovel some snow away from the Jeep. Then he hooked a tow strap to the back frame and Blake hooked a strap to the Suburban he and Christina have. On the count of 3, Blake pulled and Dan gunned the Jeep. There was some wobbling but it popped out of the ditch. I was so happy I started to cry. Dan said, with all the stress of putting it in the ditch, he'd drive me to mom's. This was the first time, since buying the Jeep in 2002, where I have ridden in the passenger seat.

The caution tape? Well, between the time mom came and got me to the time we got back, the county sheriff had been down the road and had tagged the car. There had been a green sticker on the back window. I should have pulled that off because we lost it somewhere between the ditch and mom's. Why save it? Well, I wanted to see if the guys at the office would notice. Usually the sticker has a time frame for when they want you to get the car out of the ditch. This did not. Blake joked that they looked at how it was in the ditch and thought, "Good luck getting that out."

The stress of this mini-adventure caused my RA to flare up. I guess that's to be expected. I felt so badly that people had to drop whatever they were doing on a Saturday night to come help me, even though everyone said it was okay. "Families do things for each other," my brother reminded me. This is true but I'm usually better about things like this. I did notice, as I sat in the car waiting for mom, that people coming from the east were moving over into the middle of the road. I probably should have done that, but I didn't realize it was as bad as it was.

And, there was a wobble in the car as we drove to mom's. Dan surmised that the snow had packed in around the wheels. Before I left to come back home, I chipped out what I could see. There was still a wobble when I hit 60 but when I stopped for gas, all the snow had melted and the wobble was gone. 

So, I shall cease making the following joke. "If you don't like my driving, get out of the ditch." Give me a couple of months and this whole incident will be funny. Right now, I still get the shakes thinking about how I could have rolled my brand new top. It did keep me warm while I waited for mom.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

No Gifts Please and We Ignored That

Dale was adamant that he didn't want presents. It's totally understandable. When you have lived 80 full years, what is left to acquire that you don't already have in some fashion. Donations to charities are popular as are gift cards to those establishments you know someone like Dale frequents. It's also suggested you give the gift of time. Hand them a coupon book with coupons good for "Two free trips to the doctor's office." or "One full day of yard work" or "A weekend of dinners". I ignored all that and Dale's admonition that he didn't want anything.

One marvelous thing about Dale that you need to know is, he loves to point out the moon and the constellations to his grandkids and great-grandkids. Many nights when Makayla has stayed overnight, the two of them will be in the sunroom window with him pointing out the moon as it rises over the fields. His joy in showing her the heavens is palpable. It reminds me of my dad and how interested he was in stargazing.

So, I decided we would get Dale a star. What that means is, you contact one of the hand full of companies who have naming rights to stars. For a fee, they will select a star and attach the name of your choice to it. These don't really have recognized astronomical cache, but, if you are given sky coordinates, any good astronomer or observatory should be able to find "your star".

I went with one of the oldest companies doing this, the International Star Registry. There are a lot of companies that are cheaper but ISR let me pick the constellation where the star is located. I did not want to fork over hard earned cash only to get a star visible only from Australia.

Here Dale looks at the initial certificate.

 

I was expecting a nice little 8 x 10 inch certificate. We had debated whether to frame the certificate or just let Dale decide. I was amazed when the box came and this is 12 x 18 inches. So much for framing them. We'll let Dale decide if he wants to do that. 

I also decided to pick a constellation that never sets. That way, any time of the year, he could go out in the yard, look up and see the constellation where his star is located. I chose Ursamajor, the Big Dipper. There's probably not a constellation more familiar to North Americans than that one. They sent a large star chart with the location circled.

You can see how they outlined the "bear" in the constellation and where Dale's star is located relative to the familiar dipper and handle. It will probably take binoculars to find it. I wish I'd known about this when my dad was alive. This would have been perfect for him, too.

Dale's sister said, "Well, that's the closest you're going to get to heaven." And his kids were teasing him that it's appropriate that his star is located near the bear's butt. I like to think it was the perfect gift. Didn't need to be wrapped and he doesn't have to find a place in an overstuffed curio cabinet for it.

I am very pleased with this company. If you are looking for a unique gift, I can recommend this wholeheartedly. I think, in this case, breaking the "no gifts" request was worth it.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Why Does it Always Have to Rain?

Maybe you've seen a news article about this. This weekend, we are going to be able to see a star in the throes of a supernova. It's exciting because this was discovered as the star started to go nova. Astronomers say we usually only see the remnants of the event and not the event itself. Even if we do find a supernova in progress, it's with the big telescopes and we backyard astronomers can't get a look at it. We amateurs will still have to haul out the binoculars or a small telescope to really see it. It's not supposed to be visible to the naked eye.

If you're interested, it's in the constellation UrsaMajor, also known as the Big Dipper. More information can be found in this article which says, "It will appear, blueish-white, just above and to the left of the last two stars in the Big Dipper handle." Mercury runs tandem with Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation, Leo the Lion. They are visible in the early morning. This is a great time to be a star gazer. The super nova is expected to peak between Friday and Monday nights.

It's supposed to rain starting tonight and going through Sunday. (sigh)

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

I think I'd like to go here.

Maybe you missed this on the news.

LONDON (AFP) – The Channel Island of Sark has been designated the first dark sky community in the world in recognition of the lack of light pollution that allows clear views of the stars at night, officials said Monday.

The tiny island, located west of France's Cotentin Peninsula and about 80 miles (130 kilometres) off the south coast of England, hopes the designation from the US-based International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) will help boost tourism from star gazers.

"Sark becoming the world's first dark sky island is a tremendous feather in our environmental cap, which can only enhance our appeal," said Paul Williams, chairman of the Sark government's agricultural committee.

The island, which is three miles long and 1.5 miles wide, has no cars and no public street lighting, but local residents and businesses have also made an effort to reduce the amount of light spilled upwards.
As a result, the Milky Way is clearly visible stretching from horizon to horizon and streaking meteors can be picked out among bright stars.

After an audit last year, Sark now joins a select group of global dark sky sites, although it is particularly special, according to Martin Morgan-Taylor, chairman of the IDA's international committee. He notes that all the other sites are uninhabited natural parks, with the exception of Flagstaff, Arizona, which has a major observatory -- making Sark the first "dark sky community".

"Here we have a living, thriving community that has made a conscious effort that they themselves will help to protect and help to restore the view of the night sky," Morgan-Taylor told AFP.

Hungary's Hortobagy National Park has also been newly designated by the IDA, Morgan-Taylor said. The other two dark sky sites in Europe are Galloway Forest in Scotland and Zselic Park in Hungary.

"This is a great achievement for Sark," said Professor Roger Davies, president of the Royal Astronomical Society. "People around the world are become increasingly fascinated by astronomy as we discover more about our universe, and the creation of the world's first dark sky island in the British Isles can only help to increase that appetite."

I remember, growing up, the large swath of the Milky Way visible from the backyard on summer nights. I remember spending hours looking up at the sky, finding the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Orion, and the Seven Sisters. In winter, the Aurora Borealis jumped and undulated across the sky. Purples, greens and the occasional blue. For a time, our backyard was dark enough to make out some constellations. In the winter, it still can be, but, for the most part, you have to drive far away from the suburbs to find clear sky with the light only on the horizon.

This place must be beautiful at night. Too bad it's close to France and not at all easy to get to.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb