Crescent Moon

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Spring is here and I've been too busy enjoying the outdoors to put up new photos, even though I've been taking a few.  However, I had to put up this picture of the Crescent Moon because it's the first image taken through a new telescope.  The scope is a Maksutov-Newtonian made by Orion.  It's 1000mm in focal length, with 7.5 -inch (190mm) diameter mirror making it a 5.5 f/ratio.  Look for more images taken with scope in the near future.

First Day of Spring Snow Storm

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Winter is back!  Yea!  I love it!  Unfortunately not many others agree. Gloria and I drove around the countryside and found these Winter landscapes.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.

Mocking Bird

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A couple of Mocking Birds have been visiting our suet feeders all Winter.  It finally got warm enough to set up my 300mm lens and camera on a tripod and wait.  They will spook at the slightest movement.  They love oranges, and I have some set out for them, but this time they wanted suet.  For short slide show of one eating oranges click here:
http://tomjmartinez.com/Mockingbird_and_Baltimore_Oriole/

My Mini Model

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Going over some older images from three years ago I came across these of my grand daughter, Julia.  While walking around a park on this beautiful day in Florida, she started modeling for the camera.  I believe one day this young lady will become an actress, even if only in a school play, for she loves to put on skits for family gatherings, writing and performing her own plays.

Winter's Jewelry

http://tomjmartinez.com/winter_jewlry/index.html

About a week ago, we had some freezing rain in the area.  Luckily the sun poked out of the clouds for a bit so I went out looking for Winter's jewelry in my backyard.  Click on the link above for a short slide show.

Winter Barn

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I woke up this morning to about four inches of snow, so Gloria and I got in the Yukon, kicked it into 4-wheel drive and went looking for pictures.  This old barn down a country road was a perfect setting for a nice Winter landscape.

Was the Lunar Halo Legend Correct?

 

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Two days after the Lunar Halo in the previous post, we had about one inch of snow.  According to the legend, count the stars inside the halo and a storm comes that many days after.  I counted 3 stars.  Well, I'll give it one day, but what about the people who saw the halo and didn't get any snow at all.  Anyone living north of I-70 in the Kansas City area didn't get any snow and I know for a fact lots of people up there saw the halo.  What happens when you see a halo like the one you see above.  It was taken February 23, 2007.  I count roughly 27 or so stars inside the halo.  I checked the weather for 27 days after that date and found these days with precipitation:

Feb 24 .57"

Feb 25 .03"

Feb 28 1.73"

Feb 29 .09"

Mar 09 .16"

Mar 11 .01"

Mar 12 .01"

Mar 20 .31"

Mar 21 .01"

There was moisture on nine days and the most precipitation occurred one, two, three and twenty six days after the halo.

I don't think the number of stars method works, but I also don't think a storm is a sure thing soon after a halo either.