WatchinTheSky's WunderBlog 

Hi calpoppy! Have at it! I was surprised to see I got him in the air. I had left the settings on my camera in some odd state and was fumbling to reset them since I did not think I had much time. Indeed, I did not. The gopher snake was a good reminder to start being on the look out for rattlers, lots of hiding places in the garden at the Park.
Good week to you too!

Hey BC! I had only caught a quick glimpse of one 5-6 years ago, still at the Park and with in a few yards of this sighting. At the time, someone thought it might be a Black Footed Ferret. Recent online info is favoring Long Tail Weasel - both photo and verbal descriptions. Will leave it to someone else to decide :)
Am hoping to see them tomorrow, not holding my breathe.
Looks like a bit of a break in our June Gloom.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms! Somewhat in honor of the day, I have been reading (well, listening to) Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens. Really disturbing, so far.

On a lighter note - this guy has visited 2 Saturdays in a row while we were 'working' at the Safari Park. We are going to have to name him if he keeps showing up!

Got home Sunday in just about enough time to prepare for the annular eclipse. Without proper optical protection, it's time for the pin hole!

Here is a Link to our view of eclipse at 6:40 PM.

Next time!

Hi BC and SBK! Spots! I've got spots in my eyes! Not really, of course - but the eclipse was fun.

What's this I hear about a tiger running around in Washington?

Hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend :)

Forgot I had these photos from last Saturday at the Park. Yerba mansa and matilaja poppies blooming.

Hi BC! did it work? or is it further ingrained!? That's one the more memorable Chicago tunes for me.

A couple weeks ago - an annular solar eclipse, now the Venus Transit! Here is a photo from cell phone in the backyard. I used a one inch mirror with a 20 meter radius curvature to reflect the image onto photo paper. I should have thought of it for the eclipse, it works pretty well, better that a pin hole. Boy am I ready for the next one!

There was a bit bit of atmospheric shake, so the image was not really sharp. Occasionally, the shake would stop and the sun spots were easily visible! Just not when I took a photo :(

Hi BC! You are pretty much right on track :) It was photo paper like you would buy for your printer. I taped it on the inside bottom of a 'banker's box' and set the box on its side for a darker environment. Next time maybe a bigger box with black insides.
The mirror has its face to the sun and the photo paper viewing screen had its back to the sun and the sun-mirror-paper made an acute angle.
Where as the pin hole image was about 1 inch in diameter, the mirror image was 6-7 inches and much brighter as well. The curve of the mirror is important for for reflecting an in-focus image at a distance from the mirror. The lasers I use at work have one to two of these, depending on the power level, so I borrowed one! It was clamped at the edges by a 'hobby vise' with rubber pads. It had a swivel base for easy readjustment of the angle (since the sun moves surprisingly quickly across the sky, well OK, the earth moves quickly around the sun - whatever!)
I need to do a little testing with various curvature mirrors to see if there is a better more wallet friendly setup. The paper needs to be a distance away from the mirror about equal to the radius of the curve on the mirror, but optical theory is not my strong suit and I lucked into a good viewing arrangement the first time. The mirror had a 20 meter radius curve (that's pretty flat!) and was about 17 paces from the paper, not quite 20 meters. These mirrors are around $100, not very cheap.
I'll let you know if I come up with a nicer setup. It's fun and easy to do - Science!
I have really been distracted with backyard projects and work so WUland has been on back burner and have not checked in with WUfriends for a while :(
Are you biking, jogging yet? Seriously, Hope you are continuing a full and pleasant recovery!

Hi BC, sp, PSP, SBK, cal!
Thanks for checking in and making sure I have not fallen down some hole or something :)

BC has it just right (although you are making me feel bad!), I have been very busy at work, to the detriment of a few things :( If you have to work, it's good to be busy, I guess. I will be back your blog soon to peruse more thoroughly your great pics of the last trip!

SBK, we have the same morning gray as you, and nice afternoons, the heat up sp hinted at has not reached us yet. The eclipses lately have fired me up about doing more sky watchin and I got a phone app that tracks 'Iridium Flares'. I hadn't heard of them before a few months ago - the Iridium satellite array is in fairly low orbit, occasionally one will be in position to reflect either evening or morning sun in the dark sky, sometimes quite brightly. Tomorrow night around 10 is a nice one -7.1 mag in the eastern sky. There was a nice one last week that was 'fogged out'.

PSP - Nice that the weather there is enjoyable, this has been a very nice late spring here - back patio is getting a lot of use at dinnertime! Hope all continues to progress smoothly on the wedding front. We got to 'help out' next door neighbors with 2 weddings last year, there is lots to do.

Interviewing for new employees and job scheduling is wearing me out, looking forward to next week getting back close to 'normal' and catching up with WUfriends, getting my weathercams back online, etc...

Finally some time in on the side yard Sunday morning, prep work for tortoise sitting for my sister as she and her youngest, now a senior in high school, go off to Europe on a singing/seeing tour (just a bit jealous!). Install some new sod (a good part of diet for the Cal desert tortoises). Now that the weather is warming a bit and the sun is regularly out in the morning, the tortoises often come out of their houses early AM and bask. Little did I expect they had sun buddies.

This is a little Russian tortoise I 'inherited' from neighbors across the street who have dogs (not a good match) and who knew I had a few tortoises. His sun buddy is a western fence lizard, one of the two common types we have running around.

They are both about 6 inches, nose to tail. That's all the bigger they both will get. I thought it was a juvenile when I first saw him but his shell is worn with age. Have not thought about giving the tortoises desert willow, might try when I am trimming. Their area gets some shade from trumpet vines (that they don't favor) and that is what is in the photo.

Heat is coming for sure, this week is supposed to stay in the 80s then cool to low 80s next week, hope so! Not envious of all the 100s showing up around the rest of the country :)