Perseid Meteor Shower

Even with the full moon tonight, I'm going to brave the cooler night air (which some might see as a relief with the weather we've been having lately) tonight when the Perseid Meteor shower reaches it's peak in the late hours of Friday and early hours of Saturday. Look at me... I sound like a news article.

Actual Perseid Meteor Shower

The meteor shower was viewable starting this past Wednesday, but the peak unfortunately coincides with the full moon so many are saying "just wait until another meteor shower comes around". I am foregoing these words of wisdom because.... well, because I can. I live out in the middle of nowhere, essentially, so the night sky will be pretty dark. I might be lucky enough to see several, and I can always admire the constellations. One benefit of living outside of town is illustrated as follows:

View of the sky from just outside a city (note that seeing stars within the city is much harder)

Night sky from the country

As the photos show, I get to behold a spectacular show every night just by looking up. Sometimes it's just nice to go lay out in my field, smell the coastal wind and all the scents it carries and relax while finding constellations. Then of course, curious horses wander over to see if I have any treats or not. For this meteor shower - if anyone finds themselves outside wondering which direction to look - you'll want to face northeast for this light show.

Of course if you're headed out to view the shower, be sure to bring plenty of blankets, maybe a chair or two, and lots of snacks and drinks. I definitely will be. No need for a telescope or anything of the sort (unless you want a real good look at Venus, Mars, Jupiter etc).

On a side note: 11 days. Maybe I should start a list of what I need to pack?

I'd make one bad-ass mother to deal with

First, here's a back-story in order to set the scene:

There have been reports of things going missing from neighbors on my road. We don't know who it is, but a number of things have been stolen from multiple properties; dirt bikes, incubators to name only a few. It seems as though the culprits drive around during the day, scoping the place out, and either take it when they know the owner isn't home, or they come back at night to get their cache.

Here's the scenario (this just happened, in case you were wondering). It's midnight and I'm in bed watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (don't judge) and see the park lights and tail lights of a car near our chicken coop which is at least 50 yards from my house. I don't see any headlights. On top of that red flag going off in my head, the incubator that was stolen from our property resided in the chicken coop for temporary storage so I surmised that they were back for more. I paused Buffy and went on red-alert. The window was open so I strained my ears for any signal/sound of forced entry. It sounded like someone was sawing at the chicken wire covering the windows, so I leapt out of bed. I kept the lights off, so as to not alert the intruders of my awareness of their presence; I wanted a good shot at these guys. I went to my parent's bedroom and in hushed, firm tones notified my dad of the possible thieves. I glance down the stairs and look back to see covers being flung to the side, as my dad, in one swift motion, met me at the top of the stairs. By the time my dad had gotten down 2 stairs, I was already at the bottom (I'm not sure whether I took them two at a time, or just teleported down). I immediately went to my left, where leaning in a corner, was a rifle. I had no idea until I picked it up whether it was a BB gun or a 22 but either would have sufficed (it was a BB gun, in case you were interested). I was prepared to slip on my tennis shoes that were by the door, quietly slip out of the house covert-ops style and move swiftly until I could almost see the whites of their eyes. I hadn't planned out what I was going to say, but it probably would have been something along the lines of "Set anything you have down boys, I have a gun and I'm a hell of a good shot, so don't bother trying to run - it's a waste of energy". The part about me being a good shot wasn't a lie, but I probably would have said it anyway if it was. My body was teeming with adrenaline and I was prepared to call upon every ounce of athletic ability, training, and know-how in order to give these guys one hell of a scare and turn them into the authorities. No one tries to be sneaky and get away with something on my watch.

Then my dad informed me that it was only Rob, who had promised that he would be back to pick up the rest of the hay that he had left in our field earlier that day. His headlights were just hidden from view and the noise I heard was from his truck and loader, picking up the hay. Darn.

Regardless, I realized I am an even tougher and meaner person than I knew and I wouldn't advise anyone to come on my property uninvited, especially to steal something. Even I don't know just exactly what I'm capable of, but I know it's somewhat north of a lot :)


Anywho, hope this brought you some form of entertainment, because I'm sure my dad got a kick out of how ready I was to take on any thug that should trespass.




This is what happens when I'm bored during the summer, and just waiting for something exciting to happen.