WHY NOT SAVE THE GAS FOR NICER WEATHER

 SUNDAY NIGHT'S MOON

After publishing Sunday's post I noticed the snow in our front yard was slightly illuminated and I knew only one thing that could cause that.  Opening our sunroom's patio door I looked up and by golly, sure enough, there was a big bright Moon shining down on us.  How rare to have a clear night sky lately.  I set my Nikon Coolpix p900 on a tripod and cracked off a few moon shots.  Also, I've been aware there have been a couple very bright Planets in the western sky so figured this was a good opportunity to see them, so Pheebs and I piled into the Jeep and headed out into the countryside about a mile east of our Park.  As soon as I stepped out onto the road there was no mistaking Venus and Jupiter in the clear, cold, and crisp night sky just as bright as they could be.  Despite the Moon's brightness, I was able to also spot the constellation Orion including the surrounding stars Betelgeuse, (Beetlejuice) Bellatrix, and Rigel.  Standing there under the night sky I thought to myself, 'if only we lived out in the country with a clear night sky overhead I know I would be encouraged to revive my astronomy hobby again'.  I have all the camera equipment for night photography but I don't have the best photo editing program to do the photos justice.  Subsequently, I lack experience in this astrophotography area too.  Oh well, I thought to myself, at least I will try to make an effort this year to get myself outside under the stars more often.  I did notice one unusual thing last night while looking at the Planets.  I could see two moonlit vapor trails in the sky.  I didn't see the blinking lights of the two jets that I assume made those trails but both trails were straight as an hour from Northeast to Southwest and about 10 degrees apart.  And both those trails would have to have been made at the exact same time judging from their consistency.  Only 10 degrees apart is too close for commercial airliners nor is it a normal route for them in this area.  I figure they were military planes and that in itself is unusual as well because we rarely ever have any kind of military aircraft overhead.  Those two planes had to have been on some kind of a mission coming from somewhere and going straightaway to somewhere else.

It was under sullen and gray drab skies that Pheebs and I headed out this morning.  At least the roads were bare and dry.  We were only gone for maybe twenty minutes and we were home again.  I couldn't drum up any interest about going any further and figured why not save the gas for nicer weather like a sunny warm Spring day.  So, aside from a few iffy Moonshots, I didn't end up with any other photos today.

A reader in my blog's comments section had a question about Al's Music Box.  "What kind of set-up do you have for your music box access? Are they all in one file or categories? All YouTubes"? All the music I have gathered over the years are in files and folders with folder titles like the 40s, the 50s, early and late 60s, 70, 80s, and 90s.  I also have folders for specific artists and interests as well such as Al's Favs, Country, Ambient, Celtic, Relaxation, Misc, Instrumentals, TV Themes, Beatles, Sons Of The Pioneers, Dan Gibson, Will Ackerman, George Winston, etc. etc.  I do have all those files backed up on external hard drives as well.  What I do when I think of a song for the Music Box is type into my Google Search Engine the name of the song and artist and then pick the best YouTube version of that song and paste the link into my blog.      

Al's Music Box:)) The Last Farewell by Roger Whittaker from the album 'New World In The Morning  1971

Ellen's Groove:)) Ellen really grooves out in this short clip and it once again shows her amazing progress on the bass guitar.  Keep in mind she is only ten years old........ March On Fire  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A couple with three children waited in line at San Francisco's Pier 41 to purchase tickets for a boat trip to Alcatraz. Others watched with varying degrees of sympathy and irritation as the young children fidgeted, whined, and punched one another. The frazzled parents reprimanded them to no avail.  Finally, they reached the ticket window. "Five tickets, please," the father said. "Two round trip, three one way."

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Top 3 situations that require witnesses:

1) Crimes
2) Accidents
3) Marriages
Need I say more?

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