Sky Watching
Aug. 9th, 2020 06:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pshaw_ravenTwo nights ago we got to see the International Space Station go over. Fox has an app for it, but it only gives you a five-minute notice. It does show you future dates and times, but it won't actually pop up a notification until almost the last moment, so for example, I think our next flyover is on the 21st around six a.m. It was overcast but we still saw it - it was the only light in the sky that you could see through the clouds. Given the time, I think the sun was still shining on it, even though it had technically set for us on the ground. Sunset here is around 8:15 and last light is around 8:45ish. Then we have the perseids coming up this week, and from what I was reading the best time to see them is pre-dawn.
My birthday's coming up on Saturday but I have no idea what I'll be doing. Originally we were going to be at Disney on Sunday, but ... *gestures broadly at everything* I think I am simply going to make a cake and probably just do my usual thing here.
There's a hummingbird perched outside right now, preening. It's cool to be able to watch them sitting relatively still. Of course, it's also sitting where it can defend both feeders from interlopers. There was probably something interesting in the side yard this morning before dawn - Feisal was on high alert and kept coming to my bedroom window to peer out. I never did see what he saw, but I would guess it's another cat from the way he was acting. Or possibly something he could mistake for a cat, like a raccoon. I'll go out later on and look around in the muddy patches for tracks. Normally I'll see a bunch of deer tracks, and some domestic cat where the neighbor's kitty comes and hangs around. But every so often I see bear, larger cat prints, and that one time I found some insanely big dog tracks, like something with paws the size of my hand, WTF.
I've slacked off some on my Japanese lately but I'm making good progress in learning hiragana, so I am trying not to be too hard on myself. But I do need to go back to daily practice. Kind of wondering if I should run through a Duolingo course or something.
My birthday's coming up on Saturday but I have no idea what I'll be doing. Originally we were going to be at Disney on Sunday, but ... *gestures broadly at everything* I think I am simply going to make a cake and probably just do my usual thing here.
There's a hummingbird perched outside right now, preening. It's cool to be able to watch them sitting relatively still. Of course, it's also sitting where it can defend both feeders from interlopers. There was probably something interesting in the side yard this morning before dawn - Feisal was on high alert and kept coming to my bedroom window to peer out. I never did see what he saw, but I would guess it's another cat from the way he was acting. Or possibly something he could mistake for a cat, like a raccoon. I'll go out later on and look around in the muddy patches for tracks. Normally I'll see a bunch of deer tracks, and some domestic cat where the neighbor's kitty comes and hangs around. But every so often I see bear, larger cat prints, and that one time I found some insanely big dog tracks, like something with paws the size of my hand, WTF.
I've slacked off some on my Japanese lately but I'm making good progress in learning hiragana, so I am trying not to be too hard on myself. But I do need to go back to daily practice. Kind of wondering if I should run through a Duolingo course or something.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-10 09:08 pm (UTC)How cool you were able to see the ISS passing through!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-12 01:23 pm (UTC)And once you know what to look for it's pretty easy to spot the space station - the app helps a lot though. When I was looking, it was the only thing besides the moon that was bright enough to see through the cloud layer. I was mostly surprised at how fast it seemed to be moving.