Wassup In the October Night Sky

Technically, the pre-dawn morning sky.  From 6 AM the other day there was this in the eastern horizon.  The morning star - the Light Bearer - planet Venus in the constellation Leo.  The glow is sunlight leaking into the the view from below the horizon.

Venus is Earth's closest planetary neighbor and the second planet from the Sun. Venus appears either in the eastern sky before sunrise or in the western sky after sunset. 

When it appears after sunset in the western sky, it is called an evening star.

Of course, there is always my pal Orion - steadfast in the southwest sky before sunrise.  The glow in the photo is light pollution from the city of Green Bay to the southwest.

It has occurred to me that I need to change things-up a bit.  And take the dog our back to pee in the morning.  At least then I'd see what the predawn sky looks like to the north.....

Busy As A Squirrel

More about acorns.

 

There are approximately 400-600 species of oak world-wide. In the United States there are 60-90 species of oak. Oaks are found in most states except the central western states. In Wisconsin, we have nine native species of oak – northern red, northern pin, pin, black, scarlet, white, swamp white, bur, and chinkapin. 

An estimated 500 to 2,300 species rely upon the oak tree, such as turkeys, woodpeckers, wood ducks, blue jays and thrushes; black bear, white-tailed deer, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, voles and mice; and hundreds of species of butterflies and moths. In addition, there are many fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms which create a symbiotic home with the oak. Of these species, 320 are found only on oak trees, and a further 229 species are rarely found on species other than oak.

 

From one of the trail cameras there is this series of photos of very busy fox squirrels, squirreling-away their stash of the abundant mast crop of acorns for the winter.

 

 

 

Pup Update

The staff here at The Platz has been away for a couple of weeks - namely to celebrate a Fiftieth High School reunion a couple of weekends ago and do some traveling with my pal, The First Mate and his missus.  Charleston, Beaufort, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.  I'll post some pictures and tales if I get around to it before too long.  Busy, busy, busy.

You're probably wondering if we took the pupper along with us for all of the festivities and travel?  Nope.  Ruby is still too young to be boarded at a kennel or travel a great distance.  So, she stayed with her birth family, a bunch of other dogs, toddlers and assorted small children, adults and a couple of different households.  It was terrific socialization, yet we know she's happy to be reunited with us and quickly settled into our familiar routine.  

I am tickled to report that even having been away for a couple of weeks on our first walk she remembered precisely where the most recent deer carcass was so she could go and fetch a bone to gnaw-on.

She has grown and now weighs-in at 21 pounds.  She's skinny as a rail even though we feed her incessantly.  We just cannot keep-up with this puppy growth spurt.  We'll ask the doc at tomorrow's veterinary appointment how much chow is too much chow. 

She starts puppy class on this evening at a Green Bay kennel for more command discipline and socialization with other dogs.

I should also add that these started showing-up on the trail cameras while we were away.

It is clear that the Door County Fish Farm and Game Club has released captive-raised birds for their members and predictably any number of them found there way over here for me to hunt and I'm not even a member.  They should build walls or something, eh?  But I digress.

Beginning Sunday the daily walks now include a shell vest and a Browning 12 gauge semi-auto along with a pocket full of shells and dog treats.  I've had a gun over Ruby a couple of times.   Gunfire doesn't scare her and she is demonstrating some natural aptitude for flushing and retrieving.  We just haven't had an opportunity to put two and two together completely.  So, slow and steady.

Stay-tuned for a progress report.

 

 

And by the way, after we get up around 6 AM to pee there is breakfast and a snooze together on the couch until Jill rouses.

It's a pretty good routine. 

Wassup In The October Night Sky

Technically, the pre-dawn sky, so you'll have to drag your butt out of bed before sunrise for this one.

Tomorrow morning Venus will achieve its greatest separation wet of the sun during October's morning appearance.  You cannot possibly miss this very bright planet above the eastern horizon before sunrise.

If you have a good pair of binoculars, or better yet, a telescope; Venus will appear as a waxing disc.  See the inset in the image below.

Good luck and clear skies...

Chis Vaughan/Starry Night

 

Save A Life

From the New York Times there is this...

More than 100,000 of our countrymen die of overdoses each year, most of them as a consequence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.  This toll is greater than the sum of deaths from homicides and suicides combined.  Ugh.

Nevertheless, the cavalry is coming.  Not in the form of a cure for the horrors of addiction or somehow miraculously halting all traces of fentanyl from our communities; but in the form of a change of policy focused-upon saving lives and the possibility of a second lease on life.  And with that a chance to treat addiction.

In March of this year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the distribution of Narcan, which is the brand name for naloxone, a drug that stops opioid overdoses.  And you can obtain it without a prescription.  Implemented in September this change represents a policy which has come to be known as harm reduction.  In an earlier time lawmakers would have considered this strategy far too radical for their tastes; however, the lethality of fentanyl and the enormity of the deaths attributed to it have changed hearts and minds.  Harm reduction focuses not on abstinence, but reducing the number of deaths.  A dead addict has no chance of recovery.  Saving the life of an overdose victim affords the survivor a chance to overcome their addiction.

I suppose that in some circles this still remains a radical proposition.  This blogger is convinced that preventing a death as a consequence of unintentional overdose is worth a shot (pun intended).  I published on this subject back in March of this year when we introduced a Two Pack of Narcan to our household first aid supplies. 

Law enforcement and first responders have been equipped with Narcan for several years and combined with availability by prescription, deaths attributed to unintentional overdose have plateaued after doubling between 2014 and 2021.  It is hoped that making Narcan universally accessible to schools, family members and concerned citizens without requiring a prescription will save even more lives and reverse the mortality numbers.  

In my view if it saves the life of an adolescent who made a bad decision that's worth it.  If it reverses an accidental overdose it's worth it.  You cannot get someone into a treatment program if they're dead.  Perhaps if family, friends and communities have an opportunity to intervene, that's a good place to start.

Consider adding it to your first aid kit. 

Thank you.

 

From Little Acorns

From the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association newsletter there is this:

In Wisconsin, the white oak seem to be having a “mast year,” which occurs every 2-5 years, with smaller acorn crops in between. Boom and bust cycles of acorn production do have an evolutionary benefit for oak trees through “predator satiation.” In a mast year, animals can’t eat all the acorns, so they leave some nuts to grow into future oak trees. Years of lean acorn production keep predator populations low, so there are fewer animals to eat all the seeds in a mast year. A year of heavy acorn production may use up much of a tree’s stored nitrogen, and few acorns may be produced the following year while the tree’s nutrient stores are replenished. 

The importance of acorns as a food source for wildlife is primarily related to their widespread occurrence, palatability, nutritional value, and availability during the fall and winter months, when they provide an excellent source of needed energy. Historically they were a source of food for humans also, however care must be taken to remove the tannins prior to consuming them.

Oak trees take decades to mature and one oak produces more than 2,000 acorns every year, but only one in 10,000 acorns will manage to develop into oak tree. 

Pictured are one of our swamp white oaks planted from two-year-old bare root stock in 1998 and a seedling growing in a sunny spot in the forest understory.

 

 

Friday Music

Composed by David Bowie it was originally released as the lead single on his 1973 studio album, Aladdin Sane.  

The song has its roots in a jam session on the band bus traveling from Cleveland to Memphis during the Ziggy Stardust Tour.

In a fleeting display of unthinkable and rash poor judgement I sold the vinyl when compact discs became the rage.  Ugh!

Anyway, the 1970s were a terrific time to come of age.

This video was recorded and broadcast in January, 1973.  It was lost and never seen again.  It surfaced 38 years later and was rebroadcast in December 2011.  God bless the BBC cameraman who saved the tape.

Jean Genie...