Unusual Feline Visitors

Over the last few weeks, we have had the most adorable visitors to our deck. I had seen them around the neighborhood from time to time--they stood out because of their tails...or lack thereof, I should say. These two Manx cats appear to be feral--or at least they're very afraid of human contact.



So, I have fed them because they look to be alone and hungry. I can't tell their genders, but I have called them brother and sister (the sister having more black spots), just to have an easy way to refer to them.


I don't think any two cats would eat this closely unless they were from the same litter. (I'm inside, behind my glass-faced doors.)


"Brother" seems to me to have a thicker neck and mane...more masculine.


While it seems to me that "sister" could be pregnant, judging by her plumpness.

If they have kittens, I'll be doing my best to capture them and get them into good homes.


But at the moment, every time I'm here, I serve up some cat food and stand on the porch calling "Hey Manxes! Here Manxes! Here's some dinner Manxes!" They do not come when I call, but I have noticed that very soon after my car appears in the driveway they stop in to check the bowl on the porch. Maybe I am getting them accustomed to people, at least a little bit, after all.

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Ok, so it's Wednesday again, and although I've been through the ringer today, I'm joining Little Ms Blogger in doing Rant and Rave Wednesday. Here we go:

Rave: The weather is getting better and better day by day!

Rant: People who drive in the left lane just as slowly as those in the right lane. For miles and miles...

Rant: annoying lawyers who show off in front of their clients by objecting strenuously even thought they know my line of questioning is completely valid.

Rave: A full day's work with lots of good, solid ticks off your to-do list.

Rave: I was thrilled that one of my fellow bloggers became my (get this) eleventh follower. I spent months with 8 followers--and #11 is great!

Rant: So I had to go to the grocery store to pick up things for my party tomorrow and ended up having to pick up all those things we forgot to put on the shopping list last Sunday.

Rave: I got 2 things filed in court, drafted 2 other things, and finished up a major report from Sun-Wed.

Rave: It's Wednesday...only 2 days until the weekend!

Rave: Looking forward to having some of my old friends over to my house for a little get-together. I originally agreed to have a party for a friend for "PartyLite Candles" and since then, I've enlarged that to having a fun get-together with some friends from my last position at the hospital. Can't wait to see old friends!

Rave: it's been a rough week, but tonight I made a delicious turkey chili and some great Cosmos...feeling better already!!

That's about it for today, but it's late, so maybe I can add something tomorrow!

The Night Sky

One of my loves is astronomy. It continually amazes me to look to the heavens at night and see the stars and constellations, planets and their moons, comets, meteorites--there is so much to see! Even without a telescope or even binoculars, most of us can look up on a clear night and see the stars which have been there for generations. The constancy of it gives me great comfort.

But--I'm not writing about it here and now just to amuse myself. I bring up the stars because right now, from March 3-16, around the world, a program is underway to determine how well we can see the stars. Here's an article with an overview of the program, called "GLOBE at Night," from one of my favorite magazines, Sky and Telescope.

It's quite simple, and ingeniously so at that. Anyone in the world with an internet connected computer can participate. All a participant must do is to see the night sky and simply find the constellation Orion (there are diagrams and instructions for finding him on the webpage, link below) and determine his or her location by coordinates (several websites make this simple). Then on a clear night, each observer notes how many stars are visible in Orion as compared to some simple diagrams provided by the GLOBE at Night program.

The GLOBE at Night website explains everything quite well, and there are even student packets which can be used at schools to make the program a valuable educational experience. There are diagrams, etc. on the GLOBE at Night website, but here are a few photos to start you out. First, Orion is the star pattern to the left of the tree--


Below is a much longer exposure of Orion; see the distinctive 3 stars in a line, right around the middle? That's Orion's Belt. The large orangish star to the upper left is Orion's right shoulder, also named Betelgeuse.


And this is a little drawing I though would help illustrate how you get a warrior out of that star pattern:



So, will anyone help out with a cool, global program to measure the brightness of the stars? It really only takes a few minutes... and maybe you'll learn a little bit about the stars and the night sky which can stay with you forever!

Hello March!

There was quite a bit of moaning in the blogosphere (some of it my own) about how rough February has been. I agree with SMB that February is the hardest month to get through! I have long thought of February as the worst month of the year--notwithstanding that my sister's birthday is late in February (sorry sis, hope you liked your card!) But, we've made it through February 2010. I think that means that the whole rest of the year--all 10 months of it--will be easier to manage. Boy, do I hope so.

Over the weekend we had some fair weather; I got outside Saturday to rake some of my driveway back into the space which used to be my driveway... several piles of gravel and surrounding grass were displaced by the snowplow guys and had been resting on my walkway, in the lawn, and in the street. There was also evidence that my mail carrier is mad at me. I think she must have gotten her little truck stuck somehow, just off the pavement in what used to be the edge of my lawn. (This is a flat street next to a flat lot adjacent to a flat gravel driveway. I have no idea how someone would get stuck!) She left a very deep pothole by my mail box, and by the looks of it she spun and spun her wheel, in the process kicking out a pile of dirt onto the street. I'm kind of glad I didn't see this action--she'd be even more angry if I had laughed at her! I put the dirt back and covered it with gravel.

Sunday hubby and I took a good brisk walk all around the neighborhood. True, we were bundled up against the cold (it was partly sunny and about 40 degrees but there was a constant brisk breeze), but it just felt great to get outside and exercise a bit!

This morning it was sunny again and around 40 degrees, but there was something different in the air. It wasn't Spring, exactly, but it was something approaching the beginning of Spring. At 6:15 I awoke and was immediately confused by the brightness outside. The sun was just about to break the horizon, but it already seemed completely light out. I think it sneaks up on you this time of year, especially when you have the weekend (when I don't get up with the sun) preceded by almost a week of nasty weather (when you can't see the sun.) Looking at the charts, it seems that the last morning I would have been able to see the sunrise it occurred at 6:47; this morning it was 6:33! Suffice it to say, I was quite pleased!

Leaving for today's early morning school run, the air was filled with birdsong. At this time of year, even the flock of blackbirds, grackles and the like can sound good. It was as if some great doors had opened and let them all flood in! We have about half of the ground freed up from the snow right now, and the birds just seemed thrilled to hop around on it, finally. In an average year, the first influx of birds is a real sign that we've made it over the hump and we're gathering speed on the way down toward Spring. The birds seem to know. They're not going back to where they spent the winter. The birds say it's time for Spring.