Winter Solstice Total Eclipse

Two nights ago, while most of you were in bed sleeping the sleep of angels your intrepid blog host was out in the crisp Florida air taking pictures of a unique astronomical event. After a jarring phone call at 2:30 from my lovely daughter telling me what I already knew by reading the papers that morning. I arose from my nice electrically warmed bed to proceed to the dog-walk area to take pictures of this impressive happening.

A total eclipse of the moon coinciding with winter solstice won't happen again till 2095. By then your loyal blogger may have a different perspective.

Night photography is tough for me. I don't have the knowledge or equipment for truly startling images, but these seem to be the best I can do. Hope you enjoy it. Now, I'm going to bed.

I have learned how to add text to pictures.

At this point it was around 4:40 am.

The reddish tint in the early pictures is due to the earth's atmosphere draining the usual blues and grays. Well, that's what my astronomer friends tell me.

Speaking of the skies, I used to arise in the early morning hours to see the special sights such as Comet Kahoutek, Halley's Comet, Comet Hyakutake, and Hale-Bopp. I remember Kahoutek happened in college and became quite a fun campus event. It turned out to be a dud, but our astronomy professor, "Kookoo" Robinson, sponsored a viewing with the school's big telescope had all of us students doubling over with laughter when he couldn't spot the comet in the sky. Flustered and frazzled he finally discover what we already suspected, he forgot to take the lens cap off. This professor was renowned for flaky behavior, such as combing one side of his head and leaving the other wild. Apparently he would forget to comb both sides. Guess his mind had trouble relating to such mundane tasks.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

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