Bob the snake
Bob is a 6 foot black snake and has been hanging around for several years. Twice I have found his shed skin on my workbench in the garage where presumably he ventured in search of mice. Due to Bob, we have seen very few mice. Last July he tried to come into the...
Bear!
Not many bears so far this spring but this guy visited the Ison's recently. Note how he reacts to Steve yelling "Git" and runs away 🙂
Fly fishing on the Tuck
Last Tuesday evening I scared some fish with David Kitchens and Mike Nervie. The weather was great and around dusk the trout were rising to feed on the hatches. I manage to catch a couple and several nibbles. All in all a great time and we saw few other fisherman that...
Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight
Its usually a minor shower with a very broad peak that extends from about April 16-26. Tomorrow morning is the theoretical peak with rates that average about 10-20 per hour. The Geminids and Perseids can have rates of up to 100 per hour. As usual the best time to see...
Another Snow Day at Balsam Mountain
This makes the fourth snowfall since Christmas and more than three weeks of some snow on the ground. It started around 6:00 PM last night and snowed steadily until early this morning. We got about 4 inches on this side of the mountain. Lexi just loves this snow and...
Another Snow Day at Balsam Mountain
This makes the fourth snowfall since Christmas and more than three weeks of some snow on the ground. It started around 6:00 PM last night and snowed steadily until early this morning. We got about 4 inches on this side of the mountain. Lexi just loves this snow and...
Jupiter Saturn Conjunctions Factoids and Plans
Looks like the weather will cooperate so I plan to set up a small scope at the Boarding House late this afternoon. Best times to stop by and view or to view from your location will be between twilight (6:00 PM) and 8:00 PM when they set below the horizon. Both planets...
Observing the Saturn-Jupiter Conjunction
We drove around the mountain today looking for a good place to observe the conjunction and the only spot with a reasonable view of the southwest without trees or mountains is the back deck at the Boarding House. There are likely other favorable spots like the 9th hole...
A new solar cycle
Our Sun goes through a roughly 11 year cycle in which the number of sunspots and overall activity waxes and wanes. Astronomers have been observing this phenomenon for over a hundred years. We are entering cycle 25 based upon direct observations but cycles for the past...
Mars, meteors and a conjunction
After several attempts at getting a good shot of Mars with a new camera, I managed to capture a so-so image last week. You can see the south polar ice cap and portions of Syrtis Major, the dark band just shout of the equator. Due to atmospheric turbulence caused by...