Summertime Fire Prevention

There are several great tips on preventing fires during this hot summer season.

This is the best one I've seen....

Jupiter and 4 Moons

Jupiter and it's 4 brightest moons. Photographed through my 5" Meade ETX-125 telescope, using a Watec 902H2 high-resolution, low-light CCD video camera.

Endeavour Chases ISS

My automated meteor-detection camera captured the International Space Station as it passed over my location at 10:12 p.m. July 16, followed 12 minutes later by shuttle Endeavour!

Vegetable Garden Update

Tomatoes, carrots and Walla-Walla onions are doing fine as of mid-July. I'm not sure when the onions will be ready to harvest....whenever the tops flop over and die. The carrots will probably be ready in September-October. The tomatoes have been loving the hot spells we've had. Temps will get into the 80's for a week or so, then cool down for a week. They went from green to bright orange in just a few days this week. Yummmmm.....

Fun With Family

Today, my son Joe, and his wife, Kerry and their four beautiful children, (l-r) Joseph, London, Grace and Langston spent the day with me. We had a great time playing, talking, BBQing (steaks and chicken) root-beer floats and playing with the robot. It was a pure pleasure having them here. My only regret was that it was cloudy, and Grace wasn't able to look through my telescope.

Maybe next time.

Joe is running for Congress in Mississippi. You can learn all about him here .

Three ISS Passes In One Night!

The International Space Station passed overhead 3 consecutive times during the night of July 9. Each pass opens with a ground-track map, with Marysville, Washington in the center, and the track of the ISS overlaid, showing the direction of travel. The corresponding video of the flyby and long exposure still shot follow. At the end, is a composite image of all three ground-track maps, as well as a composite image of all three long-exposure images.....

I'm So Happy To Be Home!!!

Boone spent the day at the Vet's...teeth cleaning, ear cleaning (had a yeast infection in one ear) and removal of a growth on his right-front leg.

He has a few teeth that have deep pockets in the gums, and will probably need to have them pulled in the future. He gets lots of stuff (dirt, food, grass, etc.) up in there and then it creates some infection and he sneezes alot. He is usually fine for awhile after the teeth cleaning, but it starts up again...

Here he is, just after getting home. (The bandage is from the I.V.). He has stitches on his other leg, up near his armpit, which will be removed in 2 weeks. He gets antibiotics 2 times a day for a week or so, and I have to monitor his stitches for any swelling, bleeding or discharge, and he needs to "take it easy" for the next 3 days. Other than that, he's just darn happy to be back home!!!

ISS Pass July 4

The International Space Station is making multiple passes over my location this month, sometimes 2 or 3 times a night.

This video shows two such passes in the early morning hours of July 4th.

Note that on the 2nd pass, the station seems to speed up briefly. This was caused by a software glitch, and not the Commander's lead foot.....17,500 mph is fast enough, anyway!

("I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Cap'n...")