Friday, August 13, 2010

What do I have to do to see meteors around here?

News flash: Meteor showers tonight. If you're the kind of person that appreciates that kind of thing, go outside after midnight - but the best viewing is 3ish - and look up at the sky. Tonight, after Boston Medical ended at 11PM, I watched the news. Listening to the weatherman talk about the meteors made me think that maybe I should go out and try to find some. The last time I went out looking for meteors was either 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 years ago when I lived in Malden. That shower occurred in the dead of winter, but I'd never seen one before, so I thought I'd make the effort. I set my alarm for either 3 or 4 in the morning, put on my coat and boots then went outside to stand in my driveway and hope for the best. I saw them flashing across the sky as soon as I got out there, and since I'd never seen a meteor shower before, I thought it was pretty cool. So how long do you stand there looking up at the sky if it's the middle of the night in the dead of winter and you're freezing your ass off? 100 meteors, that's how long. I decided that I would count them until I saw 100, and then go inside and return to the comfort of my bed. I think it took about half an hour give or take.
That brings me back to tonight. I'd had enough caffeine late in the day to not be asleep when the news ended at 11:30. I live less than a mile from the ocean, so I thought it would be nice and dark over there - which would lend itself to meteor viewing. So off I went. Drove over to the beach and realized that there are street lights like every 50 feet. When I looked at the sky, I could see the light bouncing off the low cloud cover. Hmm. Maybe Deer Island? I headed across town (my entire town is one square mile - not a booming metropolis) and although it was darker over there, there were still no stars to be seen. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to see any meteors tonight. Plus, I was starving. I'm not usually out driving around town at midnight. I'm usually not up at midnight period. Turns out that I'm hungry at midnight when I eat dinner at 5:15. Thankfully I don't have any crap in the house. I gave up all hope of viewing the meteors flashing across the sky, and came home to a healthy bowl of chocolate caramel granola cereal. Even with the nectarine it came in under 200 calories, with 15 grams of protein. I hate to eat so late, but what can you do?
One last thing and I'm off to bed. This morning I was eating my breakfast out on the deck while checking out my birds. There were only two of them - an adult and a teenager - and they were sitting within about 4 feet of each other, so I bet one was the mom. Anyway, there was some rustling way out at the very edge of one of the branches. I thought it was another Heron settling in, but as I looked closer it was a couple squirrels. A smaller squirrel was chasing a larger squirrel toward the center part of the tree. The larger squirrel was running like such a spaz that he ran right off the tree. He literally fell at LEAST 30 feet and hit the ground with a THUD. I was stunned...and so was he. So I said to him, "How'd that feel?" He didn't move at all except to twitch his tail for about 45 seconds. Then he shook it off and bounded across my yard to a different tree, where he disappeared. How do you like that? Squirrels bounce when dropped from a height of 30 feet. Don't try that at home.
My Janis jacket is at 7 inches right now. I'll try to put up a picture once I knit a couple more inches.
I have to get up in five and a half hours and it's a long one tomorrow. G'night.

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