There are a lot of small surprises to be found as the seasons shift toward winter. You just have to slow down and look.
Mars and Venus
I've been trying all week to get this written - and by using this title I don't mean to raise any men vs. women / war vs. love discussions. Not even a suggestion that the two stereotypes are reversed (Mars is a desert, but perhaps still harbors life? Venus is more of the raging acid-hot…Read more Mars and Venus
Hide and Seek
Standing along the shoreline of a pond turned completely green with floating duckweed, a great blue heron waits patiently. I'm sure it knows what it's looking for.
Storm Surge
Along the barrier islands of North Carolina, storms regularly inundate the shoreline, undercutting and killing trees, which then fall into the sound. The actual shore shifts back and forth as erosion takes its toll. In some areas, fewer and fewer trees remain, as high water has become common enough that they can't get a foothold.
Thanksgiving Morning
Taking a minute to appreciate the small things on a cold Thanksgiving morning. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!
Monuments and Minutia
Humans love superlatives. The biggest, the oldest, the best, or in some cases, the only. It's not hard to understand why we flock to places that hold superlative treasures, why we protect unique examples of nature's beauty - deepest canyons, tallest trees, best views, most endangered animals. But is that enough? I recently came across…Read more Monuments and Minutia
Post-Launch Pics, Antares/Cygnus NG CRS-10
I actually paid attention to my alarm clock and got up at 3:30 am on Saturday morning. It was a cloudless night, and perfect conditions for NASA to launch a resupply mission to the ISS. I posted an update to my original Friday night post on the pending launch - but for those normal people…Read more Post-Launch Pics, Antares/Cygnus NG CRS-10
Cygnus/Antares Launch, 4:01 am EST, November 17, 2018
Update 11/17 - The launch was successful and on schedule. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a couple pics from my perspective. I'm having a hard time keeping up these days, between work and kid schedules - so I thought I was going to miss this entirely. Fortunately (unfortunately?) weather intervened and…Read more Cygnus/Antares Launch, 4:01 am EST, November 17, 2018
Goodbye, Kepler
Imagine, for a moment, what the world would have been like in the 15th and 16th centuries, if Magellan, de Gama, Cortez, Columbus, and all the other seafaring European explorers heading out for "the New World" knew exactly what they were in for. If, Viking exploration aside, the entire European population was aware not only…Read more Goodbye, Kepler
Happy Halloween!
After camping with "Dragonslayers" this weekend, I have dragons on the brain... Hope everyone enjoys a night with just the right amount of monsters!
Campfires Make Everything Better
We had a pretty dreary weekend. Fortunately, we made the right call, with young, poorly equipped boys, to skip Friday night - that would have meant setting up and camping in a Nor'Easter. An inch and a half of rain, 30 mph wind, and 40 deg. Not a good first experience. Even with the decision to…Read more Campfires Make Everything Better
Dragonslayer Decor
A random thing here - our Scout Troop is known as the Dragonslayers. Nice theme, because we're hosted by St. George's, St. George killed a dragon... anyway, we're camping at a District event where Halloween is the theme. As part of our campsite entrance, we hope to incorporate skulls of recently vanquished dragons, because... why…Read more Dragonslayer Decor
Liquid Gems
Taking a quick pause to wait for buddies while kayaking Accokeek Creek in Virginia, I noticed how dramatically the water beaded up on these giant lily pads. Like little gemstones, floating on a reflected sky.
Soyuz and Risk Management
It's old news at this point, but several weeks ago (October 11, 2018), the launch of Soyuz MS-10 suffered a failure of the second-stage booster, causing an automatic abort of the launch, and ejection of the crew capsule. Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague did NOT make it to their intended destination,…Read more Soyuz and Risk Management
Orionids (Astronomy: Week of 10/14/18)
I haven't generally had much luck writing about meteor showers. By which I mean that the showers I mention (so far!) have typically fizzled... On the flip side of that, I didn't mention the Draconids at all, because they're such a "minor" shower, but a couple weeks ago my wife and I saw 6 in…Read more Orionids (Astronomy: Week of 10/14/18)
Flying Squirrel Outdoors 