June 2nd Campfire and thunderstorms

Good morning everyone!

This morning is a lovely 53°F and sunny. Actually, we’ve been getting a sun through thinly veiled clouds the last few days, which makes for beautiful golden sunrises and sunsets. This one was no exception. The sun is rising further and further North of due East, confirming the fact that we are approaching summer solstice!

This morning as my human took a picture of this Sun, I practiced my “boings” in the tall grass. I’m getting really good at chasing even the smallest invaders cohabitants.

June 1st Invaders and Analemmas

Good morning everyone!

Today we were on high alert! Ever since the crack of dawn, we have suspected that intruders cohabitants have invaded entered our territory. We were jumping up at the windows and whining to get outside! Once our human rose, at a little past 5:30 a.m., we promptly dashed to the farthest corners of our territory to see who was there. And low and behold, I found one! This beast was a black and white fur-covered TREE-CLIMBER! I think it felt lucky it could climb trees when I saw her. I barked and barked until my human showed up to show what a good job I had done.

 

May 18th The Sun makes me do weird things

Good morning everyone!

First, let me tell you of how I am the world’s goodest dog. I come when called. I jump into my humans’ arms for hugs. I have warned my humans against people walking down the street, UPS guys, and ferocious hikers. I thank my humans for food after every meal and I never bark unless the threat is imminent.

That said, could they pleeease let me be in the sun all day long?

No, I didn’t hear you calling. I am invisible behind this tree!

I have a trick to pass along to fellow puppers: When you hear the words “Let’s go inside!” immediately lay down and look guilty. It will buy you some time because it will make them feel guilty, and you will get some hugs and kisses as a result. Be stubborn – don’t get up! Then, as they approach you, turn your head and sniff the air. Pretend you can’t hear them – they might think you have a sudden loss of hearing.

Step 1: Lay down and look guilty.

Step 2: Turn your head away indicating you can’t hear them, or turn cheek for kisses

I have done this whenever it was sunny or nice enough to stay outside. It has worked 500 times in the past with success, so I am passing this along!

This morning was absolutely gorgeous and a real record breaker for birds. We saw all kinds of birds, from a hummingbird flitting among the beautiful apple blossoms to the lanky legs of a great blue heron that flew over the pond. Our real catch was an oriole, though, which we were hoping to spot all week and we finally did, in a tree right above us. It was a bright-orange individual with a low, one-note call until it flew away. 

Cherry blossoms are in bloom all over the woods and the birds are loving it. We also saw gold finches, American Redstarts, Rose-breasted grosbeaks, and a cardinal.

The morning started out chilly at 37°F but is expected to rise in the 60’s, as it did yesterday. Rain and clouds should hold off until we get a flash of “heat” tomorrow, which will cause air to riseexpandcoolcondenseprecipitate (RECCP).

The Catskills in the morning sun. 

Have a fantastic day everyone!

Love,

Mack

May 16th Red things

Red in the morning, sailor take warning?

Good morning everyone! We got up at 5:30 today to a spectacular view that made us race outside. While the saying “Red in the morning, sailor take warning; red at night, sailors delight” is a just a saying, it does have some scientific sense to it.

To get a reddish color in our atmosphere, there has to be dust particles and water vapor in our lower atmosphere. These help scatter the sunlight at sunset and sunrise. Red light, the largest wavelength out of our visible light spectrum, is the one that makes it to our eyes along with the next two largest wavelengths, orange and yellow. The other ones are too short and are broken up on the way here. That is, until the sun rises and it has less atmosphere to travel through (then, we should see the sky as blue, or the color that has a shorter wavelength and is scattered the most by the air molecules. But we know we have not seen blue in a while!)

Anyways, having dust particles in the East can mean that a nice high pressure system passed us from West to East (thank you, planetary winds) and carried lots of dust with it. The reason is that high pressure systems are synonymous with dry weather and clear skies, which means that dust could be accumulating in the air mass. Low pressure systems typically have precipitation, and since every single rain droplet needs a grain of sand or dust (bet you didn’t know that the Amazon rainforest needs the sand traveling from the Sahara!), the atmosphere below low pressure systems tend to be clear. So if it is rainy, the eastern horizon, which shows what just passed us, shouldn’t appear red at all. It should appear yellowish as the sun is rising.

Well, yesterday we had somewhat of a break – I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a high pressure system, but we did have patches of blue sky. In fact, we even saw the moon in its waxing gibbous phase and some stars at night. So it might have carried some dust with it to the east, giving us a red morning.

Our bird watching this morning also gave us two new red animals: American Redstart, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak! The Redstart is small as a sparrow and its song is inconspicuous among all the other louder ones, and you might miss it unless you manage to see the bright stripe on its wing. This one was pure luck as the bird alighted right by us (it takes a lot of guts for a bird to hop onto a branch next to a clumsy human with binoculars and two energetic dogs). The Rose-breasted grosbeak was the one we spied with binoculars, and it truly was difficult, but its red collar finally gave it away. We debated between a robin and a female oriole for a while, because all three have similar songs.

Our other birds this morning include: red-winged blackbird (of course), morning dove, robin, cardinal, and blue jay.

The temperature today started out at 40°F and might rise to the early 60s in the afternoon. The sailor saying might prove true – the high pressure system in the east might mean that a low pressure system is about to move in with more rain. The jet stream has been fluctuating an awful lot lately, and if it does buckle up we might see temperatures in the higher 70’s on Sunday or Monday.

Have a great day everyone!

Love,

Mack