Open Blog - Weekend

Time to recuperate.

"Elvis Presley - 'Little Sister'"

I'm sorry, but the only way to exorcise these songs from my head appears to be to post them here.

Those of you that have OrbsCorbs' Secret Decoder Rings (with compass) know what to do next.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone and welcome back to the New Year! I'm hoping that this year will be better than the last. Anyways your questions...

1) What are your New Years Resolutions?

2) What are you looking forward to going into the new year?

3) How was your New Year's Eve?

4) When was the last time you were sick?

Enjoy your weekend!

"The Beatles - 'I Saw Her Standing There' [2009 Stereo Remastered HD]"

On my Columbia 45, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was on the flip side.

New Blog in Town

Belle City Reporter - https://bellecityreporter.wordpress.com/ - It's already in the blogroll on our sidebar.

Open Blog - Friday

I tried bending like that and I broke.

"Crimea: Demolition of building fails - no comment"

Now what?

International Years

2014 was the International Year of Family Planning, the International Year of Family Farming, The International Year of Agriculture, the International year of Small Island Developing States and the International Year of Crystallography. Now that it is 2015, you never have to think about these things again.

2015 is the International Year of Evaluation, the International Year of Soils and the International Year of Light so start thinking about these things.

Alltime10s Thursdays

Open Blog - New Year's Day

Did you party hearty?

Useless Information

Did you know:

 Back in the early 60’s when President Kennedy put an embargo on Cuba, he waited until he took possession of 1,200 Cuban cigars.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my loves and doves!  How are you?  It's chilly here, but, so far, nothing like last winter.

Our shimmering Green Bay Packers have won a bye-week in the playoffs.  No matter what, it's alredy been a hell of a season.

Tonight, you can get drunk and raise hell and not get arrested.  Hooray! I'm still staying home.  Everytimg I go to a party, I drink too much and make an ass of myself.  Stay home and take it easy.

 
I love you all, each and every one of you!  Have a great time tonight, 

Open Blog - New Year's Eve

Don't forget a designated driver.

What's on the Menu!

I know that the weather is getting very cold now and I thought I would share a recipe that Drew loves at this time of the year. I am in the process of making this for dinner tonight. I just hope everyone will try this recipe and enjoy it also.

                                                         Ham and Bean Soup

8 cups of water
1-1lb bag of northern white beans
1 ham shank bone
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic powder
1 teaspoon powder mustard
2 bay leaves
2 cups chopped ham
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

In a big soup pot put beans in 8 sups of boiling water for 1 hour. Then add ham shank bone, carrots, onion, garlic, mustard and bay leaves. Also fill pot with more water bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour. After the hour take out the ham shank bone then add chopped ham and white pepper, I also take off the ham that is left on the bone and add to the soup. Let that cook for another half an hour and your soup is ready to serve.

This soup is a bit of a process but it is all worth it. It is also a good idea for you ham bone after your holiday dinner when you don't know what to make with it. Enjoy the recipe!

Open Blog - Tuesday

That image confuses me.

A Colorful Sunset Animation

I like photographing green flashes at sunset. Tonight's sunset was particularly rich for a couple of reasons. The Sun set behind  a particularly nice set of mountains resulting in a long series of green flashes with occasional hints of blue and purple. I set my camera to burst mode and took 65 frames. Since my camera takes about 5 frames per second, this corresponds to a little under 11 seconds of video. I animated them all so you can watch it roughly in real time. Sorry for the slight camera shake...the battery in my remote shutter release died so I had to push the shutter release by hand!

Open Blog - Monday

You can have it.

More On Comet Lovejoy

I went out again last night (Saturday, December 27th) and did some more with Comet Lovejoy. I was out a little later so the Moon was very low and even set while I was observing. The comet was again an easy naked eye object and very nice through 8x42 binoculars. I set up my trusty Canon 60D and iOptron Skytracker to take some more photos.

I took a bunch of 30 second exposures...hope to go back and stack them. Anyway, I just want to post this one since a plane flew right by the comet during one of them and I thought that was kind of fun.

Here is a longer 120 second exposure that brings out the tail. The small globular cluster M79 is to the upper right of the comet.

Finally, I put the 35mm lens on my camera and did a 30 second exposure so you can see where the comet is in the bigger picture.

I went out tonight just outside my townhome (not to Saguaro National Park). The Moon is brighter and I have more light pollution here. I was not able to pic out the comet naked eye from here but it was easy in binoculars. Comets are notoriously fickle but it is forecast to brighten in the couple of weeks and I hope it gets to naked eye visibility from here. It is also climbing higher in the sky which should help, especially for those farther north (it tops out around 30 degrees above the horizon in Tucson right now, take one degree off that for every degree farther north you are!)

For better and for worse, I travel a lot the next couple of weeks and am trying to figure out how much equipment I can take with me to keep track of this comet on my trip!

Wacky Wisconsin Weekend News

WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

The Huffington Post  |  By David Moye

"A man in Wausau, Wisconsin, is facing bestiality charges after being suspected of performing oral sex on a horse.

"Jared Kreft, 30, was arrested last Wednesday after deputies in Marathon County responded to a call about strange goings-on in a Wausau barn, according to TheNorthwestern.com.

"When they arrived, they saw Kreft near a horse wearing a face mask, black jacket and blue wind pants with holes cut in the areas of the crotch and butt.

 
"The suspect also had a marijuana pipe and a jar of petroleum jelly in his possession, according to court documents.

"Police said Kreft allegedly admitted that he had been performing oral sex on the horse in the barn, which came about after viewing 'horse pornography,' according to the Metro."

Read more: .http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/23/jared-kreft_n_6373878.html


Yeah, we sure know how to grow nut-jobs in Wisconsin. Wtf is "horse pornography"?  Never mind, I don't want to know.