Draconids??

 First off ... thank you everyone for your concern about my back.  It really is getting better.  I had a nice long talk with the Chiropractor yesterday and she assures me all the bones are back where they are supposed to be.  

The problem is that stinky cartilage that holds the ribs in place.  It's been torn between my shoulder blades, letting the rib float a little bit until it begins to heal up.  That is NOT fun.  It's hard to explain.  There is no PAIN so to speak now, just soreness, followed by weak muscles that burn when you use them.  After all, I sat on the couch for five weeks doing nothing while it healed up.  All of the uncomfortableness (is that a word?) I feel now is just from that, which is why she gave me all those exercises.  And now SORE muscles from the exercises.  Believe me, if I was in any real pain, I'd be the first to run to the doctor.  I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness!!

While recuperating, I heard all this stuff about Draconids.  I've never been all that excited about meteors or satellites roaming around in the sky.  It always happens when I'd rather be sleeping.  I've watched a few times and never really SEEN anything.  

But since I'm here ... and I have a good camera and lens ... I thought I would drag out my big tripod and see what I could capture.  This is not it.  This came from the internet.

How's this???  Good, yes?  Looks like things floating around in the black sky to me.  Yeah, that would be a NO.  I noticed that the guy packing my Costco eggs in the box had dropped one carton.  I opened them up to put them in paper cartons, which I like better than the plastic ones.  The egg came sliding out of the shell, down the side of my dishwasher to the rug below.  I was screaming NOOOOO ... I just washed that rug!!

I threw the rug in the wash again and continued unpacking the eggs.  Good grief!!!  It did it again!!!  The egg looked fine until I picked it up.  At least I made it to the sink for that one.  I spent the next hour cleaning up the sink, cupboards, rug and floor.  

Back to the meteors, this was my first image.  Not so great.  In fact, I could barely see just one star in the sky.  Here's the secret.  You will have to double click on each picture to enlarge it.  They look much better on my computer when I do that.

In a few short minutes, I was highly discouraged.  There were few stars and no streaks to be seen.  I kept snapping away for a few minutes more.  Well this is no fun!!

Later, when I opened them on the computer and began to mess with the settings a bit, I discovered there was so much more that I was not seeing with my eyes.  Wow ... look at that!!!  Who knew there were so many stars?

And then I was taken completely by surprise.  I DID catch one after all.  Yeah, you can't see it unless you enlarge the picture with a double click.  Yahoo ... maybe I'll have to try this again!

This was pretty cool too.  Don't let those photographers fool you ... you cannot see this if you look up at the sky.  You have to DEHAZE the image with a software program to get rid of all the dust in the air in order to see what's really up there.  Pretty cool!!  I've always wanted to capture an image of the Milky Way.  

Coming next to a sky near you will be a ring of fire eclipse on October 14th between 8 and 9:15 am on the West Coast.  You will probably be able to get a better view from Eastern Oregon on down through Utah and Texas.  I've got my ten pair of special glasses I bought on Amazon ready and waiting.

Several years ago while on the West Coast, the entire RV park came out to watch one of the best solar eclipses I've ever seen.  I gave away all my glasses so everyone could look.  I'll have to see if I can find those pictures ... because it was REALLY cool.  

I don't think I will get the full effect ... I'm too far west, but it will be fun to try it.    Remember ... WEAR THOSE GLASSES if you are going to look at the sky!!!  The next solar eclipse will be in 2044.  I hope I'm still here to see that one!!