Thursday, September 22, 2022

Day 4655 - Autumnal Equinox

It's officially Fall. I'm more than ready. With a record setting string of 100 degree days, this Summer was brutal. Hopefully, the cooler weather will bring lower electric bills. I'm not terribly confident though. Nothing seems to go down in price these days. The first day of Fall got off to a good start with our sunrise walk this morning. Not only was it nice and cool outside, the humidity was low as well. Cooler weather always puts me in a better mood. Sometimes this doesn't last very long, but I'll take what I can get.

Since the weather was nice, I took my long walk in the park instead of going to the gym. I kind of miss all the construction that was going on this Summer. It gave me something to look at and speculate about while I was walking. Now I'm back to counting ducks again. When I arrived at the lake I saw our five resident geese swimming toward Sunset Bay. The bay was several miles away at the time, but the geese beat me there. I've been watching these geese for years and I've never actually seen them fly. Since they appear to be domestic geese, I wonder if they can fly. The two resident Muscovy ducks that hang out with these geese can definitely fly. They have large wingspans and are quite impressive when in the air.

I still walk faster outdoors than I do at the gym. I suspect that this is because the first two-thirds of my walk are downhill. When I measure the final uphill climb to get back home, my pace slows considerably. Surprisingly, there are still quite a few wildflowers in the park. The Purple Asters are in bloom. So are Clematis, Goldenrod, and Water Primrose. The only bad thing about walking in the Fall is that my seasonal allergies are back. There are only about two months a year where I am free of allergy problems. My Spring allergies last into Summer and my Fall allergies last into Winter.

It's getting frustrating that NASA still hasn't announced an official date for the next Artemis launch attempt. They are already hedging their bets on the 27th by calling this a "tentative" launch date.  We've been issued instructions about when and where to pick up our credentials for the 27th though. I really expect that the date will change but I haven't canceled my reservations yet. I'm superstitious. If I canceled my reservations, this would almost guarantee that the launch would take place on the 27th. Maybe I'll hear some news tomorrow. I remember hearing that the launch team would make a final decision before the end of the week. When does the week end though? I can't even remember.

I think my interest in astronomy might be waning. Mars is approaching opposition and getting brighter every month. Jupiter is the closest it has been to earth in 70 years. I still haven't gotten out my telescope to view either of these planets though. Mars rises in the East around midnight but I've got no excuse for Jupiter. I could probably go outside right now and see it if I wanted. My main excuse is mosquitos. We've got lots of mosquitos at night now. I'm also just tired. As soon as I finish writing my blog post all I want to do is go to sleep.

When I took this weeks trash out to the curb this evening I noticed that the city had picked up the bulky trash piles on the street sometime this afternoon. I was going to add a few things to our pile, but I guess I'll have to wait until next month. Will I go to the gym tomorrow or take another long walk? Either way, it's probably the only decision I'll make all day.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day


Watch of the Day