Doggie Diets and Meteor Showers

After two days of Vitamin D (and chocolate) therapy, I have found a bit more incentive in my life. Today, I started Daisy on her diet again – I do believe we have one of the fattest beagles ever seen. I admit, she’s a bit spoiled, but in truth, because we won’t let her run free, she just doesn’t get enough exercise. Thus, we also took two walks today, one around noon, when I need a break from my deskwork, and another around 4 pm – when I collect eggs for the evening.

Her diet consists of rice in broth, green beans (canned from the garden, which she loves) peas, and small amounts of leftovers. This evening, I started my own new exercises, a new arm workout and an abdominal workout I found as apps for my tablet. Of course, since many of the exercises are done on the floor at Daisy’s level, a bit of beagle wrangling and play was included as well.

Since we discovered yesterday that one of our new hens is actually a rooster, I spent time trying to pick him out of the flock again today. I couldn’t. He looks like the other Austrolorpe hens. I suppose, the nest time I see him mount a hen, I will try to examine the details of his comb and look for any kind of more identifying marks.

After watching Frank carve up some deer meat this evening (I’m trying to learn) and playing my evening turn on Words with Friends, I bundled myself up in my favorite cozy blanket and wondered out onto the back porch to watch the meteor shower(s). There are two this evening, the well-known Geminids, and a new one caused by debris from the comet Wirtanen..

While I am quite thankful that I live in a region where there is low light pollution and we can actually see the stars (and even the Milky Way) and I enjoyed the show, I do find it a bit disconcerting to think that there are meteors from two different sources flying through the upper atmosphere. What if two of them collide? Either way, I was facing northeast to see the Geminids, I kept catching glimpses of streak above my head – the new meteor shower. By the time my ears got cold, I saw 12 “shooting stars” – - 3 from the Geminids, 9 from Wirtanen. I hope to wake myself earlier in the morning before daylight, when they are both expected to be most active.

I thought of my young nephew, in the city, wondering if he would be impressed by the number of shooting stars in the sky – and realized, from there, it would be unlikely that they could see them because of the light pollution. We once had the lowest level of light pollution in several states, but for several years now I can see the glow of the lights from the prison in Glenville – and even more recently have been able to see the glow from the Marcellus well being drilled not farm from our home. Sometimes I feel the northeastern stars are being stolen from me.

I spent this evening browsing Craigslist, searching for the perfect truck, within our budget, capable of hauling 17,000+ copies of Two-Lane Livin’ home from the printer. We’re looking for a Chevy or Dodge, with 4 wheel drive, an extended or king cab, that’s not too new (delivery is hard on vehicles) but also not too old. We’ve been looking, off and on, for more than a year now. Too often I find that the perfect truck for us has just been sold to someone else. Those are the breaks. Still I remain hopeful, and the search continues. But for now – off to bed. I hope to rise early to count more shooting stars