Crystal clear skies

Wow, I was awe struck by the "clearness" of the air this afternoon. Normally on a warm Sept. day the mountains are smoky. Not today..

For my out of state friends and relatives.... on the left 1/3 of the picture the white cap (higest white you see) is Gannet peak. Highest peak in the state of Wyoming Well over 13,000 ft.

Wood haulers

Enjoyed getting another load of wood for Tim and Myndi. Debi and I went with them and helped saw and load. Few things in life I enjoy more than getting out in the "tall timber" and sawing up wood.

Tree in a rock

Trees growing in rocks aren't that unusual in Wyoming but this is kind of a pretty one off the Boulder lake road. We accompanied the Sutherlands to Boulder lake lodge for dinner last evening. Was very good.

Lost horn?

I've come across a lot of stuff in my life but never an antelope horn. I think that antelope's horns are made of hair (protein) and they continue to grow until they die?? This could have been a buck that died and the horn was carried by a predator or?? photographed it about 1 mile south of Gina Pape's place on my morning walk. Sooooo, if you see a one horned antelope tell him his other horn is out on the mesa.

How to punch in your hometown for space station viewing

1. type in www.heavens-above.com
2. Under configuration click on the words "select from database"
3.On first line with the alphabet click on "U"
4.Now click on United States
5. You'll see a box called "search string"
6. Punch in "Pinedale" or wherever you are (just the town not the state)
7.You'll see several Pinedales'- Punch in Pinedale Wyoming (Unless you're in Pinedale Arizona)

You're there... Now click on ISS passes... you'll get time, location date, magnitude etc. to see it go over.... the smaller the number ie: -3.1 is the brightest. -1.1 is "so so" and anything under 1 is kinda hard to see....

enjoy my friends!!

Space shuttle and space station

This is a horrible picture I took of STS 118 and space shuttle early this morning. I've been following the thing for years and recently it's getting much brighter (as they pile on more stuff). It was listed at -3.3 magnitude this morning (that's really bright).

I have www.heavens-above.com on my bookmarks. You can go there and punch in Pinedale and get the scheduled passes in this area. The shuttle always arrives on time and is spectacular to watch streak across the sky. The next good bright sighting is Sept 8th beginning at 8:46 p.m. You'll see it rise in the southwest sky, then rise to 75 degrees (nearly overhead) at 8:49, that will occur in the southeast sky, then it will disappear 10 degrees above the horizon at 8:51 in the east northeast part of the sky. That site has lots of other satellites that are visible in this area, also has comets that you can see with binoculars etc. For those of you who can tear away from the TV screen for a few minutes will be happy you did.

I'll put in another post just after this one on how to get through "heavens above" site and arrive at Pinedale's viewing schedule (or if you're from Texas you can punch in your hometown)

Won't be long now

About 4 more weeks and we'll start following the sun southbound. Summer has really sped by fast. The pic is of course a shot of the superstition mountains east of Apache junction Az. Met lots of good friends there last year and look forward to seeing them again about Nov. 1st.

Can't wait to get back here in the springtime and can't wait to leave in the fall. I found out I have to be back in Pinedale mid January for the homicide trial. Should receive my subpoena soon. Can't wait to fly the airlines again and get treated like cattle through a chute. Life goes on...