ISS

The International Space Station performed a flyover tonight at Tour de Tom.

Time: Sat Sep 30 7:22 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 59°, Appears: 41° above W, Disappears: 10° above N.

 click on the ISS to enlarge

Notable Quotable

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money 

-Alexis de Tocqueville

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. Alexis de Tocqueville
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alexisdeto390854.html

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. Alexis de Tocqueville
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alexisdeto390854.html

Friday Music

I stumbled-across this CD - Full Moon Fever – recently.  This was Tom Petty’s debut album from 1989 and featured contributions by Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and George Harrison.  Three of the tracks became hit singles and the album climbed to Number 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200.  The Apartment Song…

Edit to add:  When this blog post was cued-up a few days before it was published I was freaked to later learn that Tom Petty would pass October 2, 2017, UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, CA

RIP - Tom Petty - you will be sorely missed... 

Bumbler

I introduced you readers to members of the aster family over the last couple of days so it is fit and proper for you to meet Bombus fervidus - the Golden Northern Bumble Bee.  Or - simply - bumble bee.

click on the bee for a better look

It's a robust bee.  Only young, mated queens overwinter to emerge in early spring to establish a colony.  The female sports a mostly yellow thorax and abdominal segments 1 thru 4.  She is black on segments 5 thru 6.  The male is yellow thru segment 5 and black on segments 6 thru 7.

They're common around here feeding on flower nectar and honey manufactured in their colony. They're all over the asters.

Achoo!

Meet Helenium autumnale - commonly known as sneezeweed.

click to enlarge

A member of the aster family - now that autumn is upon us it is blooming-up a storm.  This native plant likes wet feet and this particular patch of it is densely-packed surrounding the rain garden (now dry) in our backyard.  In the distance you can see the amber waves of acres and acres of turkey foot (big blue stem).

About the sneezing part - I suffer from all manner of seasonal allergies - mostly molds and ragweed - yet sneezeweed doesn't bother me a lick.  As a matter of fact I stumbled all around it taking photos of insects going after the nectar.  Nevertheless, it's dried leaves were once used as snuff - which is how it earned its common name.

Fall Flowers

Meet Aster novae-angliae - commonly known at the New England Aster.

This native plant grows all-over around here in sun, shade and moist spots.  A late bloomer it really shows-off when autumn rolls-around.  The coloring can range from white to blue although ours generally are pink and variations of blue.  It's a terrific nectar plan and I've been busy photographing many of the bees and butterflies paying it a visit.  The monarch butterfly likes it in particular. 

Spy Cam

I perched one of the new trail cameras in the kitchen window to see if anyone was snooping around while we were away.  And all I got was the south end of an east-bound dog running to jump into her crate in the back of the truck... 

 

Seeing Spots

True enough - I am seeing spots.  Spotted fawns.  Here it is, the end of September and there is at least one spotted fawn wandering around here.
 

Un-freakn'-believable... 

Tweet of the Absurd

Respecting the flag?  Country?  This from an individual who served five spineless draft deferments to live a godless, self-indulgent and sybaritic lifestyle.   Waste of valuable bandwidth.

I have a game to watch...

The Meat Pole

Bow hunting is now upon us but the weather has been unseasonably hot with temperatures into the 80s and 90s.  Yikes!  If someone was fortunate-enough to kill a deer they'd never have an opportunity to hang it from the meat pole.  The carcass would have to go directly into the machine shed and someone would be up into the wee hours skinning and butchering the animal.

Not fun.

In any event the weather conditions will moderate very soon and before too long hunters will be patiently waiting for the opportunity to take a big game animal and the meat pole will be erected in anticipation and festivities will follow.  Some of you readers may recall that deer hunting around this locale has been generally excellent and there was even a short moment we ran out of places to hang our deer before butchering. Something needed to be done and it was only a little more than a year ago the brainchild of a easy to assemble, easy to disassemble, meat pole was born.  And that nifty, new meat pole received considerable use last year both early and later in the season.  As initially easy to put-up and take-down some glitches manifested themselves - namely inexpensive rope that was both slippery to hoist and slippery to hold a deer.

Those technical shortcomings have been remedied.  All the rope was replaced with marine-grade, solid-braided nylon anchor rope - complete with loops for easy of hoisting. Additionally, carabineers have been installed so that these heavy-duty big game gambrels can be easily attached and detached with a click. 

 click on images to enlarge

Purchase these online from the comfort of your laptop or tablet at the Sportsman's Guide - they're more affordable than Cabela's. 

We now have the capacity and deer camp luxury to hang one deer in the shed and five more from the meat pole.  Six total.

Raising a toast to homegrown American ingenuity and hunters. 

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

My pal Lawyer says that I have to dump my old, dented and rickety Weber grill and haul my newer one out of the garage as a replacement.

I dunno...

Made a fine batch of chicken the other day - used a Spice House Trinidad Lemon-Garlic rub, grilled indirectly with a double handful of soaked applewood chips for a delicate smoked flavor.

And toasted-up baby potatoes, onion and sweet peppers fresh from the garden on the grill wok - drizzled in EVO and topped with cracked pepper and sea salt.

Yum! 

Autumnal Equinox

The 2017 Autumn Equinox in Northern Hemisphere is precisely now - at 3:02 PM.   

This occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator - an imaginary line in the sky - that corresponds to Earth’s equator.  The Old Farmer's Almanac describes it as a plane of Earth’s equator projected out onto the sphere.  

Beginning today the nights are longer than days and days continue to get shorter until December, when the light will begin its slow climb back to long summer days.   The winter solstice is technically the shortest day of the year - while the summer solstice in June boasts the most sunlight.  In many cultures around the world this astronomical event is marked with food and drink as the bounty of summer is harvested.  We’re observing it with friends, Moroccan pork and locally-sourced venison skewers, toasted brown rice, Spanish marinated carrots from the garden and grilled pita with homemade Greek cucumber yogurt sauce.  Raspberries from the berry patch too.    

Cheers!

The Garden Chronicles

As unpredictable and periodically disappointing the gardening season was this year I have to admit that the Department of Lettuce was wildly successful.  Bibb, red and green leaf lettuces were abundant.  Even the spinach came on strong at the end.

Nevertheless, wash it, check it and wash it a second time before serving.  One of the consequences of not using pesticides is the occasional visitor to the salad bowl... 

Friday Music

Houston native Kenneth Ray Rogers is both a songwriter, singer, actor and record producer.  Because he happens to be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame I’ve always associated him with country music.  Then there is this 1968 hit from the short-lived group – Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.  I had forgotten Rogers’ even shorter-lived dalliance with counterculture.  Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) was a hit for Rogers and the group rising to fifth place on the Billboard charts.  It propelled Rogers into the public eye and launched a successful performance career.  I guess you got to start somewhere…