The Moon, A Star, and Two Planets This Morning

I got up early to try catching up on two weeks' of unread email but was blessed to see the pre-dawn sky instead. The email could wait another day! Not only were Venus and the waning moon rising, but the wind blew the sky clear enough to see Saturn and Regulus! (If you click on the first two of my photos, you should be able to see Regulus and Saturn a little better.)Be sure to check out the links to the University of Texas StarDate Online - I saved a copy of their diagram and the accompanying text in case it disappears from the UT web site next week:Stargazing Tip for October 7
The crescent Moon, two stars, and a planet form a beautiful lineup at first light tomorrow. Venus, the “morning star,” stands well above the Moon. The planet Saturn and the star Regulus are between Venus and the Moon, with Saturn the brighter of the two.

Was That Really a . . .

For the past couple of months, I have caught glimpses of what looked like a big white swan as I rushed to work over the Santa Clara Rivermouth bridge on Harbor Boulevard. When I did see it, it was always before 8 am. When I took the time to park and walk on the bridge, it was always later in the day and I never saw the bird. This morning, I got up at 6 on my day off(!) and finally managed to get there around 9. It IS a swan!In spite of the cold wind that is blowing today, the swan was just swimming out from under the bridge as I arrived, giving me an up-close, as well as from a distance, view. Looks like it swims around looking for food around the clumps of grass in the middle of the river and then it must settle in behind them later in the morning.

When Bob Met Diesel . . .

We can't honestly say that Bob is normally a calm cat, but most of time, he is pretty laid-back.Just don't ever let him see a DOG(!) in the vicinity, especially not inside his house! Even though Diesel is used to living with cats and has no reason to fear or hate them, Bob was not having it.This was Bob's reaction to having a dog in the house last month. As you can see, Diesel was too busy kissing Brian to even notice the hissing and moaning sounds coming from behind the curtain!

What's Going On With the Whales?

Three of the world's largest creatures have been killed in our local waters and scientists don't know the cause. All three blue whales were hit and killed by large ships, but why didn't they avoid the collisions this month? I don't know how long the link to the LA Times article will be active, but click on this posting's title and you can read more about the deaths and whales. This You Tube video really shows the massive size of the this whale found closest to our house.

Autumn Arrived

First the wind and rain . . . Then more rain . . . . . . and then the seasons (and the flowers) changed!