Daily Archives: June 16th, 2010

Bout Dang Time!

Comet McNaught

Finally another comet

Finally, there’s a new comet out there. The photo above was taken by a guy in Austria on June 6. Comet McNaught. Hale-Bopp was pretty cool when it showed up in 1997. My favorite was Comet Hayutake in 1996. I remember looking for it each evening. During that time, I was in Hawaii for a couple of weeks. Hayutake in the Hawaiian sky was pretty amazing. Doubt I’ll ever forget it.

But back to Comet McNaught – here’s a nice little reward for us weirdos who are up at 3:00 in the morning getting ready for work:

“If you want to get a view of the comet, you’ll have to get up early in the morning. Set your alarm clock for at least two hours before sunrise. For most people that will mean around 3:30 a.m. local time. The comet is currently moving through the constellation of Perseus, the Hero, which at that early hour will be low in the northeast part of the sky.”

Okay. You gotta love that.

It’s nearly past it’s prime brightness now, but it’s still visible in the morning sky.

Beach Bums

As Stella gets older and time with her feels like it’s getting short, I want to make sure that she and I spend as much time at our favorite place in the world – the beach. We went over a couple of weeks ago and the sun managed to come out so that we could walk on the beach several times.

Here’s the path to the beach from the house and then the beach itself. The beach at Gleneden is one of the most changeable I’ve ever known.  From day to day the patterns of the sand changes – one day the beach is smooth from shore to waterline, and the next a cliff has been carved out of the sand at the wave line. One day there are just a few pebbles and bits of driftwood on the beach and the next, you have a rocky beach like the one below.  No two walks along the beach are the same. Ever.

Path to the Beach

A Rocky Gleneden Beac

Stella at the Beach

And here’s that Stella girl trotting on the beach.  All that fresh air — okay 30 miles an hour winds — up her bumper nose gives her a big blast of energy. That and the feel of the cool sand between her toes . . .  Been thinking we need to make it a point to get over there at least once a month.  One way or another.