29 March 2011 - Contrails

I love clouds. I have literally hundreds of photographs of clouds. Many of them have been taken through the window of an airplane. Looking down on clouds is so different than looking up. Yes, I have seen clouds from both sides. What is particularly interesting about looking at clouds from above, is that you can see the effect of the wind patterns in the formations. You can’t always see enough sky from the ground to see these patterns.  In my list of obsessions, clouds are right up there with pupating insects, the moon, ant risings, gnat tunnels and other favorite oddities. 

Today I discovered that I’m not the only one. There is a Cloud Appreciation Society, founded by Gavin Pretor-Pinney in the UK, and he has just published a book called The Cloud Collector’s Handbook. Now here’s a man after my own heart.  In the article about his new book there were two quotes that I love: 

o     “You just need to look and observe,” he said. “Sometimes getting too trained up  
        in something narrows your vision.”

·            o   As Mr. Pretor-Pinney sees it, you don’t have to possess something to collect it: 
                 “You just have to notice it and record it.

        

That perfectly defines how I feel about watching my backyard flora and fauna. Not to mention my love of cloud spotting. 

 I saw this amazing cloud formation while I was driving south on Middlebelt last May for my annual trip to the nurseries.  It was extremely windy so the formation did not last very long. I happened to look up and see what looked like a row of huge round hay bales. The bottom of this formation could not have been straighter if it was sitting on a flat surface. I pulled over into a parking lot to get the picture. In those few moments of parking and getting out of the car, the round bales were beginning to transform into a more oblong shape.




    Last September I went to Tollgate Gardens for a walk in their woods, and time away from people. It is a gorgeous setting: big pond, community gardens, orchard, alfalfa fields, children's garden. There is a lot to see and enjoy and rarely are there other people. Here's a row of hale bales that look very much like my hay bale clouds. I did a bit of research last May, trying to find out if that formation had a name. I found something similar that was called billows. I'm not sure if this is the same thing. I kind of like the idea of calling them hay bale clouds.


In the Pet Peeve department, one of my current  peeves is contrails. Over the last several years I have noticed how contrails don't disappear anymore. They spread out and become clouds. You get up in the morning to a perfect blue sky. By mid-afternoon the sky is no longer blue and is covered by hazy-white left from all the contrails that have blown out into clouds. This has been an unstated annoyance in my life view. 


All the clouds in this photo are contrails being blown out into cirrus type clouds.

While looking up cloud formations on the web I discovered I'm not the only one annoyed by this. And what a surprise to find that contrails are hugely controversial. The airlines want the public to believe that contrails are perfectly harmless and are just water vapor. However, there is a lot of research going on that shows it is not just water vapor. The researchers refer to these as chemtrails. In 1999 the Environmental Protection Agency put out a report  that verified jet fuel is highly toxic and that any persistent jet contrail plume will be laced with these toxic chemicals which negatively impact human health, agriculture, plants and animals. 


The report went on to say that these toxic ingredients may be the cause of:
      • Increases in dead and dying trees. The U.S. Forest Service notes changes in destructive forest fires  and relates this to increasing releases of combustible toxic chemicals in our atmospheric heating and testing programs and persistent jet contrails exacerbating climate change?

     • There are sharp increases in childhood rickets in many areas of the United States related to increasing cloud cover. A lack of Vitamin D is showing up in pregnant women and young children along with other associated health effects. There appears to be a breast cancer connection to Vitamin D deficiencies noted in recent studies.

• Global Dimming Studies are showing that less sunlight is reaching the earth but temperatures are increasing 

• There are sharp increases in clinical depression since the late 1980s, which could be related to less direct sunlight reaching the earth.

• When jet contrails and man-made clouds are coupled with NOAA’s 60+ listing of unregulated current and ongoing experimental weather modification programs in the United States, the synergistic effects could create enormous climate changes disrupting crop production, micro-climates, and plant health.

•  Increases, in molds, mildews, fungus, flue viruses and pests from increased night temperatures, due to man-made clouds which exacerbate global warming and change the climate, are escalating with limited studies being conducted.

• There are sharp increases in atmospheric water vapor which are caused and exacerbated by jet engine emissions, persistent jet contrails and man-made clouds trapping warmth in the atmosphere. According to the 2007 Climate Change Study, water vapor is one of the most important gases contributing to the greenhouse effect.

Wow.  And here I am merely annoyed they are covering up my blue sky. Who knew? Apparently planes are flying at higher altitudes now, and this allows the bigger, longer lasting and further reaching contrails. 

Granted, contrails make for dramatic sky photos, especially at sunset, but the consequences are something else to worry about.

20 March 2011 - Waiting on the rain

Today I am waiting on the rain. I want a heavy soaking rain that will wash away the last of winter. I want it to wash away the piles of cinders left over from the dirty snow. I want the matted, yellowed winter grass to be revived. I want the rain to be a sign to all the dormant bushes that they should leaf out, bloom, grow! It's a big want list, but not unreasonable.

The barometer plummeted, the sky is dark, the wind is out of the east and I'm waiting. I waited it out all morning in a practical way. Went out and raked the ditches, the berm and some of lawn. Picked up branches, filled 9 yard waste bags with leaves. Under the layers of leaves I found the bright red points of peonies, daffs, tulips, the beginning green-up of perennials such as golden poppy, mertensia, lung wort. And new little plants from heavy reseeders like larkspur. It was wonderful.

The rain was supposed to start around two, rain all afternoon and then turn into thunderstorms for evening and overnight. At 5pm, still no rain, but if I look at the radar map on the bug, it should be pouring out there. humph.

The silver maples' buds have burst open into bloom. They are small insignificant flowers, but en masse they put on quite a show. Especially when the sun hits the stamens and makes everything shimmer.

Depending on the weather, and the latitude, they bloom anywhere from February through March. I always wondered what early bee would pollinate these flowers, but I just recently learned they are wind pollinated. No wonder there are so many thousands of seedpods. While the resultant helicopters are a pain to gardeners: they're messy and they germinate immediately, they have their place in the world as foodstuff for squirrels and a wide range of birds. Since the buds first swell in February, they are important for squirrels whose food supply is usually depleted in late winter. 

Last night was the equinox accompanied by the full moon in perigee. When the moon first appeared low on the horizon it was a deep gold, and almost obscured by all the trees.

I spent the evening popping outside every 15 minutes, waiting for it clear the trees. As it rose and got brighter, the sky around the moon was light--almost blue.

When it cleared the trees, it was so bright, it was almost hard to look at. A slight haze increased the aura around it. 

I am so glad the night was clear and that I didn't miss any of this. Witnessing such spectacles are a holy experience for me. Sometimes I think I will self-combust from rapture.

Meanwhile, I am waiting for the rain.

18 March 2011 - Full Moon Equinox

The last of the snow melted today! I think Lewis Carroll said it best.
'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

Believe me, this is definitely worth chortling about. Two days away from the equinox, the birds are all back, the crocuses are blooming, the lawn is greening up, the perennials are unfurling the first tight buds, it is a joyous time.

Better yet, it is beginning to warm up. 40s? That feels right warm compared to what we've been through. Last weekend the sun was out and warmed up the brick and the deck area. I dragged two chairs and the patio table out of the garage. Spent an hour last Saturday morning sitting in the warm sun with a cup (okay, several) of coffee and absolutely delighted in doing nothing but feeling the heat through my jeans and listening to the birds.

I have previously mentioned my six o'clock ducks. They are still doing fly-bys at 6 pm, but in addition to that I now have morning geese. Unlike my whispering ducks, the geese are noisy. Sounds like they are all honking at the same time, some inner vee dispute about which way to fly?  They fly overhead between 8 and 8:30 am. I usually hear them coming from some distance, so I can go out and watch them pass over. Lately I have been getting 3 large vees of geese about 5 minutes apart. Maybe all the honking is to keep in touch with the vees behind them.

The moon will be full on the equinox and will be in perigee to boot! It will be the biggest moon in 18 years. Even tonight, almost full, it hung so close in the sky. Beautiful. I ran out for pictures tonight in case we get the promised rain and I won't be able to see her at the fullest point. 

Early in the evening, while low on the horizon it was caught behind all the trees. Here it looks as though the globe is being held between two long skinny fingers.  It is also interesting that there were several branches that crossed in front of the moon, but she was putting out so much light that it blew them right out of the picture.

 

 An hour or so later I went out to check on her upward progress. The sky had a light cloud cover and she was drifting through it like an exotic dancer with veils of chiffon. Tantalizing and mysterious.

Saturday, March 19

I had big plans for today. I was going to paint the ceilings in the dining and living rooms. If I was on a roll I was going to continue down the hall. It was a plan. But plans change.

We are supposed to get rain tomorrow. All the snow is gone and I had to get out in the yard. So far I have raked all the leaves, branches and other winter detritus out of the front flower bed, the bed in front of the house, and the big fern bed under the kitchen window. I was going to stop at the point, but I couldn't let the March blooming lung wort languish under a heavy layer of wet leaves.Now that they are exposed to sun and air, I'll bet they will be blooming in a couple of days.

I was surprised to see how many spiders and small beetles were scuttling under the leaves I was raking. I would have thought it was too early for bugs, but I was happy to see them. Gives the birds something to eat. 

I have a pair of tufted titmouses very busy in the yard and on the feeder. I also saw a pair of goldfinches. He was starting to lose his olive drab. Wasn't bright yellow, but kind of buttery.

In other first sightings, I saw a turkey vulture (or buzzard) today. Just one, making big circles over the neighborhood, slowly moving north. March 15 is the official day that buzzards come back to Hinckley Ohio. Hinckley is about halfway between Cleveland and Akron, a three hour drive from Detroit. I guess one left the party early.

The moonrise was exquisite tonight. Low on the horizon it was golden, getting lighter and whiter as it rose in the sky. The light it was putting out cast shadows on the ground.  According to NASA Science New, perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit. I can certainly vouch for the brightness. Even though we had slight haziness, the light burned through it, but the haze also made a halo effect around the moon. Amazing.

10 March 2011 - Wake Up Call

Today I received an unexpected head slap. It is so easy to let your thinking get in a rut. Once that happens it starts ruling your attitude. Oh god, another morning. I don't want to get up. I don't want to go to work. Just let me stay home. Or whatever the moan of the day is.

What happened to me is that I called one of my customers. The receptionist (male) answered the phone this way: "It's a great day to be alive! How may I help you?"  Wow. How does that make you feel any other way but good? It has stayed with me all day. It IS a good day to be alive. Don't forget that! That's even better than the motivational speaker Gale brought in one year for the sales meeting. His mantra was "Nobody can steal your joy."

Speaking of joy, I had some fun driving to work. Every day I pass by a large pond at the edge of a business campus. I usually keep an eye on it for happenings. Today, it was still frozen, but there was a thin skim of water on top. In the middle of the pond were a pair of Canadas. He was shaking his tail feathers and parading around her. She was ignoring him and his antics.

I dove across the road and into a driveway so I could get a picture. I was too far to get a good shot,  but you will get the idea. He was squawking nonstop. Loudly. She was unimpressed.

What I love about this picture is that you can see the reflections of the geese and that you can see the ring around the male where his wings are blowing the water away.

He tired of showing off his rather impressive wing spread and tried berating her. It is hard to see in this small version of the picture, but look closely, you can see his pink tongue sticking out.


Doesn't she look underwhelmed by these advances? The popular wisdom is that Canadas mate for life. They do rather look like an old married couple.


I saw an interesting piece about spring. The article was explaining that the equinox is the traditional first day of spring, but that meteorologists use March 1 as the first day of spring for all record keeping purposes.

I really like the March 1st idea. From all my back-yardiner observations, spring starts long before March 20-21. Here in my yard, on the 10th of March, I have snowdrops in bloom. Daffodils are poking up all over the yard, even coming up through the snow, and they range from little green tips up to 6 inches high. Crocus are showing everywhere. Next to the house where it's warmer, you can even see the bud color. A few are already in bloom and most are ready to burst.  The silver maple buds have been heading toward full bloom since the start of February. Yesterday I noticed the buds are starting to open. So yes, March 1 works for me!

What really says spring to me is when the grackles come back. Every year they are here by March 10. This year I saw the first one on the 8th. This gorgeous male was hanging out in a flock of starlings.  I love how their heads are so irridescent. Mostly they look irridescent green or bronze, but depending how he turned in the sun, he either looked green or blue. You have to love that big bright yellow eye, too. There were also several male redwing black birds in that flock as well. So for me, it's official--it's spring.

I have two spring markers for March 10. First, it is the day the grackles come back, and second it is the day for the first crocus to bloom. I was not disappointed this year. Even though 70% or more of the yard is still covered in snow, I have crocuses blooming. 


Another thing that signals spring starts in February. The tops of willow trees begin to glow with color. I usually see this as I'm barreling down the freeway with no way to stop and get a picture. One day I will probably get in an accident as I tend to grab the camera and try to take a picture through the window while I'm driving. Yes, I know it's dumb. Can't seem to stop myself.

What is interesting about the willows is that the wild willows, the ones in the forested areas glow an intense orangy-red color, while the weeping willows that you find in people's yards or commercial landscaping light up  in golden yellow. 

I have a hard time driving, at this time of year. So much is changing and the subtlety of the colors is amazing. I am always surprised by those who complain about boring drives. There is so much to see if you just look. Circumspice!