To commemorate being completely skunked by overcast skies during Sunday’s lunar eclipse, I give you this Sunday from last year. I don’t think there’s been a regularly scheduled celestial event in years that hasn’t been obscured by clouds where I live. It’s been a frustrating run. I plan to be in the path of the total eclipse of the sun as it traverses the central United States in 2017. At least I know that if it’s cloudy that day, it will still get creepy dark!
And, of course, pisces…
By Jimmy Johnson
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270 responses to “And, of course, pisces…”
as to comments to me yesterday – I’ve only had two in it so far, but they both love riding in my new 2016 Mazda Miata with the top down… … tooth veneers, OK I don’t think I’ve ever heard that term, I’m in, I’m gonna check that out
Well, I for one was inspired to bust out the cookware. After many hours of much appreciated sleep, I was up and about by six am – on my day off! Did some marketing and started cooking. Drug out the crock pot and made some beef stock and a big pot of chili. The chili *is* a tad spicy as I wasn’t paying attention to which side of the crushed red pepper bottle I opened before I poured. (It’s awesome!) Forgot the recipe I was trying for the beef stock (ultimately will be more of a stew) required red wine. I am not a wine drinker, so this meant another quick trip to the store for some cheap red wine. I’ve worked in retail too long – my first reaction after realizing I had buy wine was ti look at the clock to see if it was past seven. I also attacked the laundry and did some decorating for Halloween.
Lady Mindy: Quoting a friend: “Chili is like sex. The worst I ever had was wonderful.”
Jackie,
You have seen my Pinterest pins. Therefore, you know my name and face. If you find me on Twitter you can read my profile.
Ghost, about your chili comment. No to the first part and yes to the second. I have had some Bad chili.
OF due 1850-1910-1432 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Debbe et al.: The 6* Oct. ’15 “New Yorker” just came. The cover alone is worth the $7.99** list price. Click on the picture to magnify Peter de Seve’s “Catnap” to full size. He’s one of several top notch cover artists.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cover-story-2015-10-05
*That’s the date on the cover. The date on the contents page is 5 Oct.
**The first issues, 1923 or so, were 15 cents.
Peace, emb
Judy in Conroe: “. . . Waveland, MS to view the comet (the one that was a flop) across the waters without the competition of city lights.”
Would that be the return of Comet Halley in spring ’86? I had a sabbatical coming spring quarter [BSU is now on the semester system], which involved travel to several other universities. The times I visited them were not critical, but we scheduled a visit to wife’s stepmother near St. Pete, FL, so we could view CH over the Everglades from the Tamiami hwy east of Naples. CH had last passed Earth in 1910, and was spectacular then. CH did nothing wrong in ’86. Its orbit was the same, but we were not in the same place in our orbit. About 11 pm the girls [stepmom is 3 mo. older than me, was 11 mo. older than wife] and I headed out from our motel to a spot we’d found that afternoon. Clear skies [clouded up an hour later]. We peered at the S horizon and saw nothing. But, as our eyes dark-adapted, there was this fuzzy ball just where CH was supposed to be, with a bare hint of a tail. Stepmom danced a jig. That ball was a million miles across, tenuous but larger than Sol.
Kohoutek [sp.?] was a fizzle, but that was its first time by [to our knowledge]. CH has been by every 76 yr. for ages. Halley was the one who showed it to be a recurring comet, back to 1066 CE when it turned out to be an ill omen [after the fact] for Harold and the English at the Battle of Hastings, after which we learned to say mutton for cooked sheep meat.
Sand: “Our favorite star formation, The Southern Cross. Looking up at night from the deck and seeing The Cross is awesome.”
Are you S of the equator? The SC [Crux] is not quite at 90S, but it’s nearby. It’s also not spectacular, just 4 prominent stars, none at the center. Cygnus, the Swan, in the N sky and in front of the Milky Way, is large, has 5 prominent stars in a cross shape, and is sometimes called the NC, though it is nowhere near Polaris, the NP star, at the tail end of Ursa Minor [the Little Dipper].
Peace, emb
emb,
We reside in the Northern Hemisphere. The Cross is visible at certain hours in the “little lattitudes.” Usually it is most visible on the morning just prior to nautical dawn.
Jackie,
Fair warning. On Twitter someone else is “sandcastler,”
Thanks, Sand! I had no idea that the Southern Cross was ever visible in the northern hemisphere. Yet another reason to spend a night at Fort Jefferson 🙂
For moon gazers, I came around a mountain on I-40 a little bit ago and almost ran off road. Moon came suddenly from behind and stuNing in Sze and brightness. Come to the Ozarks.
Ruth Anne,
Give it a try. Not certain Key West is far enough south. I know you can see it down in the Granidenes and Granada. Key West is best for people and chicken watching. Halloween in Key West is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, so schedule your trip accordingly.
The sky cleared tonight and the moon is almost too bright to look at. The best night for stargazing was the night after Hurricane Ivan. There was no light pollution and the shooting stars were great. Learning the constellations has always been on my bucket list along with earning to play the banjo. Please note prior comments regarding procrastination.
Sand et al.: Crux is not as far S as I thought, about 60°. I may have seen it from the equator at a Kenya lodge when I was looking for ? and ? Centauri. Crux in just to their right. I’ll send a Wiki site.
Peace, emb
Those ?? above are lower case Greek alpha and beta, only 4+ light years away [LYA]. You can enlarge the chart with a couple of clicks. On such maps in star atlases, size of circles indicates relative brightness. They’re all pinpoints, but they halate on your retina. emb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus
Forgot to mention you can see all of the above from most of the Gulf Coast and FL, weather permitting.
Peace emb
Just got this with pictures not reproduceable here (imagine smiling dog)
– but the words say it (well duh!)
Always Smile.
Life isn’t always full of reasons to smile,
but your smile itself ie a reason for others to smile too.
I often smile at people in the supermarket — hoping to start the smile circulating around. Maybe it’ll keep going and cheer lots of people up!
Debbe 😉 Mood – Classic song, classic guitar, classic cello, classic voice…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DeOSLNbhfg
Good morning Villagers…
Me too, how did I miss the above Sunday’s retro….and I’m like Arlo, the Big Dipper is the only one I can ever make out.
Rick, that is one awesome pic of the day….you guys need to go to the last of “Behind the Scenes” and click on Rick’s link….
Spent The Boss’s money yesterday…about $700 worth of stuff from True Value and cleaning supplies from General Dollar…..enough cleaning supplies I hope to last a month for both hen houses. Gearing up for the Avian virus season….Lysol and Bleach.
My ‘apprentice’ is going to work out fine. He’s worked with The Boss for several years. Quit some time back, got into some bad luck through his own fault. I once told The Boss he is running a rehab center….he’s a good man, and believes in second chances, and sometimes third chances.
Ya’ll have a blessed day
…looks as if fall is here to stay, temps for the next five days are not going to be above 70 degrees.
GR 😉 Santana’s version is beautifully done, but you made me do this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDs2Bkq6UU4
….I miss him and he was my favorite
…quick, what movie was this line in…..
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/7016700160/h820E8D13/
Emb, thanks for the New Yorker link….loved it.
Too bad you weren’t in upstate NY – we had a perfect view of the moon – sitting at a picnic table sharing the last ice cream dish of the season – it was very bright and big – then the dark shadow took over, and it ended up glowing a rust colour – then I went to bed
I remember Kahoutek (sp?) Burl Ives wrote a song about it, he sang on the Tonight show and Johnny and Ed left the stage to go outside and look for it. Debbe – you should be able to always find Orion’s belt, half the year anyway. … … I had a major life breakthrough yesterday. In my training to be a volunteer at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, learning all the items we call a Touch Cart in the hall of Texas Animals, (all the halls have them, so kids and adults can rub, touch and handle things) they draped a rattlesnake skin, not a shed skin but real skinned rattlesnake skin across my arms and I didn’t scream like a little girl ! My older lady friend is learning to be a volunteer at the zoo, which is walking distance. I smell a sitcom – Barbara, I’m in the butterfly center and I lost the iguana, do you have one in the zoo I can borrow? Houston is cool, with a museum district, all walking distance – science, art, contemporary art, holocaust, medical/health, children’s, Czech, more I can’t think of. . And we can tell the kids, no we don’t shoot animals, most of the animals in our displays died of old age in the zoo.