Time Change

Our "fall back" time change is coming - next week. I never really cared for it before, but I'm looking at it in a new way this year. It will give me an additional hour to visit the cosmos in the evenings, and not have to sacrifice so much of my sleep. It won't help my early morning sessions a bit, but I will get more opportunities in the evening after work.

Over the weekend, I had a few more successes with my astrophotography. In addition to getting some good shooting of the Orion Nebula, I found and photographed two more deep space objects: the NGC 891 galaxy, and the Triangulum Galaxy.

(NGC 891, 30 million light years from Earth)

(The Triangulum Galaxy, about 2.8 million light years away)

I many never find a cure for this "disease".

-Dale

Apartment for Peggy Sue

Last winter, we kept our camper (Peggy Sue) in the driveway and covered her with a tarp. This year, we rented some inside storage space to keep her in - for the winter months anyway. (I took her to her new "apartment" yesterday.) Should we decide to go camping, it's easy enough to go snag her and enjoy! No tarp to pull off and fold up, and she's protected from the elements. We kind of miss her sitting there in the driveway, though. *sigh*

 -Dale

Spaced Out

Back in July, I started pursuing a photography tangent that I find interesting and awe-inspiring: astrophotography. I bought a telescope capable of tracking a celestial body (star, planet, galaxy, nebula, etc.) as the world turns. Get zeroed in on it, flip the drive switch, and it stays right there where you put it. When I first got it, it either rained or was just cloudy - for a week or two. Figures. Unbox, assemble, and here come the clouds. As I understand it, it happens to everybody. Good ole Murphy!

Astrophotography is a different kind animal. It requires multiple long exposures of a single target. It requires special adapters to couple a DSLR to the telescope. It requires clear skies - dark skies. The darker, the better. And let's not forget that the object you're wanting to snag on "film" has to be visible. Star charts have to be consulted to find the exact position in the sky - especially those not visible with the naked eye. After the images are collected, the processing begins. There's a lot to astrophotography - more than I realized when I started.

I've been taking advantage of every decent night I can, as long as my desired target(s) is/are available. Sometimes I'll stay up well past midnight, sometimes I'll be up at 4:00 in the morning. I welcome Winter and the longer nights. Getting back to Standard Time will be a blessing, too. I won't lose as much sleep.

Here are some samples of my work.

The Orion Nebula (M42) and smaller Nebula above/left (M43).

The Lagoon Nebula.

The Great Nebula in Andromeda (Andromeda Galaxy) and smaller galaxy below/right - M110.

The Pleiades (Seven Sisters).

The moon is an exception to the above routine. It can be done quite suitably with a single frame.

Very nearly full Moon.

Apennine mountain range and Apollo 15 Landing site.

I didn't know the Apollo 15 landing site was in this image until later. Pretty cool!

I will post more about my spacey adventures as I have something to post. Winter will afford me more opportunities with the colder, drier air and longer nights - if the clouds cooperate.

  -Dale

Peggy Sue

I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post here. What a slacker I am! A lot has happened since. Probably the biggest thing has been Peggy Sue.

Peggy Sue is a small travel trailer we bought on Craigslist back in August of last year. She's a 1988 Sunline T-1350 - native to Pennsylvania. They are pretty rare West of the Mississippi. You just don't see them much over here.

When we first got her, she was a bit worn and needed some sprucing up. A couple of guys (dad/son) used her like guys would - not too concerned with decor. Oxidation was trying to take over her paint job. The good thing is that she was road ready, complete with a new axle that was put on the year before.

We had no trouble making use of her while giving her a bit of a makeover. We must have been on a dozen or so camping trips to date, enjoying every minute of it. We gave her a new inside paint job, new curtains, reupholstered the cushions, gave her new stripes on the outside, and a general clean-up. Here are the results:

Last year, we even spent Thanksgiving in Palo Duro Canyon with her - complete with the whole Thanksgiving Dinner, fixins and all. We're looking forward to many years of enjoyment with her.

-Dale

Catching Up

Yes, I've been a bit remiss lately. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to rectify the situation now.

We were both off on the 4th. There were a few options of what we could have done, but we decided to go see the 4th of July parade in downtown Canyon.

When we got there, we found a place to park less than 1/2 block from where we wanted to sit. We also found a spot to sit that would be in the shade the whole time. Apparently, we were supposed to be there.  :)  While we were waiting for the parade to start (and subsequently get to us), a little guy caught our eye. He hadn't been walking very long, and was trying out his new-found skills with his Daddy close at hand.

I have no idea why the expression.

All is right with the world again.

Another young man near us was apparently trying out his skills as a doctor while he waited.

What's the diagnosis, doctor?

People are interesting - especially kids. They can be so animated!

There were two different fly-overs at zero hour to mark the beginning of the parade. Given our spot under shade trees, we couldn't see them. I had to go out in the street in order to get the shots I did.
 

The parade was a good one. Floats, bands, military and their vehicles, firemen and their trucks, and a little bit of everything.

(Some of the cast of TEXAS! the musical.)

(This young lady was on a float.)

More like these are in my Pbase galleries.

It was the perfect day - not too hot, light breeze, and in the shade the whole time. Couldn't have asked for a better setup.  :)

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We've had a small leak in our power steering pump pressure line for a little while - nothing serious, just a "seeper". I finally got a new line and had to put it in over the weekend. It was one of those that had a factory seal that started to leak. I expected it to only take an hour or two, depending on how easy it would be to snake out of its position and get the new one put back in the same path. It can be a real challenge the way they put cars together any more.

As luck would have it, all went great - until I got to the last little bracket I didn't see at first. It was in one of those spots that was virtually impossible to get to. I could barely get one hand in the right place, but it needed two. When two hands found there way to the right spot, I couldn't see anything - not to mention having to be a bit of a contortionist. You get the idea. After struggling with the bracket for a while, I finally got it out. A little while later I got the new line snaked into position and the battle started again. I had to get that same bracket bolted down. Too often, "puttin' back in" isn't as easy as "takin' out". It wasn't this time either.

Ok, I finally got it all put in and mounted securely - just like the factory one. Now I had to get all the air out of the steering. Took forever! After 5 1/2 hours, this 1 - 2 hour job was finally done! I guess it had to happen some time.

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I kinda let our lawn grow a bit lately - to where it's long overdue for mowing. I was going to do it today after work, but it had been raining off and on and was still wet. Long grass holds moisture much longer than short grass. I won't mow wet grass unless I absolutely have to. It looks bad afterwards and is more of a chore to get the mower clean when I'm done. May not be able to tomorrow either. They are saying an 80% chance of more rain tomorrow. I'm not complaining at all. We need rain - lots of it. I'll just deal with tall grass when I am able to mow.

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I think that's is about it. I hope I'm caught up now.  :)

June Jazz

Every Tuesday evening throughout June, Amarillo College hosts various jazz bands - a different band each Tuesday. These are free to all interested, and we've been going to them this year. (They last about 2 1/2 hours.) During yesterday's performance, I took some video highlighting two of the members of The Martinis and put them together in this short (1 minute) video:

Wedding Shower

(Follow-up)

My apologies for taking so long getting promised images up. These are some of the photos I took at the wedding shower I spoke of in my Saturday Stuff post below.

Amanda and Jeff

Bride-to-be's mother, bride-to-be, groom-to-be's mother.

Opening gifts.

Guest book.

Refreshments. Delicious!

(More shower photos can be seen HERE.)

Saturday Stuff

The "daughter we never had" is getting married to her best friend next month (a pretty cool guy), and she had her wedding shower yesterday. I will be shooting her wedding, so naturally I got some shots at her shower, too. (I haven't gotten permission yet to put any up publicly. When I do, I'll probably put some up on my PBase site as well as a couple of them here.) Amanda says Shelley and I are her "other parents". We consider her our daughter, too.

After we got home from the shower, Buster was not out in plain view as he is most of the time when we get home from anywhere. We didn't think too much of it. He takes spells where he just likes to camp out under a bed or somewhere secluded. Time went by, and still no Buster. The search began. I did a cursory check of his usual spots, but no Buster. I got the flashlight and did a more thorough search. It is kinda dark under beds and other hidey-holes he uses. I even checked the bathroom. (We've closed him up in there accidentally before.) Called for him, tempting him with "wet food" - not a sign or sound. The search continued. Why is it you always find what you're looking for in the last place you look?  ;)  Turns out, when I opened the closet door in the hallway, there laid a little furry boy - looking up at me with an inquisitive look on his face. Don't know if he was asking me "What?", or maybe "Why did you shut me up in here?" He didn't seem real anxious to come out. We have no idea just how long he was there, but we suspect it was hours! Never had an accident, even though we wouldn't blame him if he did.

That boy...!  :)

The Simple Things - A Poem By Edgar A. Guest

The Simple Things

I would not be too wise—so very wise
  That I must sneer at simple songs and creeds,
And let the glare of wisdom blind my eyes
  To humble people and their humble needs.

I would not care to climb so high that I
  Could never hear the children at their play,
Could only see the people passing by,
  And never hear the cheering words they say.

I would not know too much—too much to smile
  At trivial errors of the heart and hand,
Nor be too proud to play the friend the while,
  Nor cease to help and know and understand.

I would not care to sit upon a throne,
  Or build my house upon a mountain-top,
Where I must dwell in glory all alone
  And never friend come in or poor man stop.

God grant that I may live upon this earth
  And face the tasks which every morning brings
And never lose the glory and the worth
  Of humble service and the simple things.

 

Recent Happenings

Friday night, we had some storms going through the panhandle. Normally, they split and go around Amarillo. Don't know why. It just happens - far too often to ignore. It's referred to as "the Amarillo split" among other things. Out of the all the rain crossing the panhandle, we got a whopping "trace" - just a little bit of water covering the bottom of our rain gage. It poured all around us, but not here. Typical.

Friday night, we were going to see the stage show "TEXAS!" down in Palo Duro Canyon State Park's amphitheater. We had an English (aka "British") friend of ours with us who has never seen the show. This was his chance.

I kept a close eye on the radar to see how things were going, and it looked like we might be ok. The rain was staying right next to where we'd be. I even called down to the Park to see if it had been canceled - right before we got in the car. Still not canceled.

As it turned out, when we got to the entrance to the canyon, they had to cancel the show - not because it was raining, because it wasn't. The stage was flooded! Well, we went in anyhow and stayed up on top at the main overlook. Thought we might get some lightning shots if things worked out. It did.

The lightning wasn't real prolific, but we did manage to score a few good ones.
 

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Our English friend, Dean, was telling us about hummingbirds he got photos of at the zoo here. (He works at the zoo.) After some discussion about their habits and such, I decided I'd park myself near the trumpet vines in our back yard that next morning. The trumpets were flowering really nice, and we knew that those little rascals love things like that. (Coincidentally two or three days before, Shelley saw a hummer flit past the car as we were getting ready drive off to work.) I sat there for about 10 or 15 minutes with camera in hand and at the ready before I caught sight of one. It was only there a minute or so, partaking of the nectar of maybe two flowers before slipping away. Not much time to make adjustments and shoot in the dim light, but I did get him.

(Female Black-Chinned Hummingbird)

Since that morning, the flowers were going through a cycle where the full ones were dropping off and the newly emerging ones were not yet open. I haven't seen any more hummers yet, but come the weekend I'll be sitting back out there early in the morning. Since the first sighting, I got a new hummingbird feeder and hung it on a shepherd's hook in a shady spot in the back yard - with homemade nectar in it. Hopefully I picked a good spot. We shall see.

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Our hot water side of the tub has been leaking through for a little while - the hot side. After work, I shut the water off and tore it apart to see what was going on. The valve stem (core? spool?) was split down the side and its seals were about shot. A quick trip to the faucet parts guy and $6.49 later, I had the new stem (core? spool?) assembly in hand. A few minutes after getting home, it was in and the water back on. I'm not a plumber and don't really like plumbing, but that's something I can do - so I did.