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Árbol del Sol
Thought for the Month I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
A delightful and quiet afternoon in the mountain breezes of La Luz Canyon. At over two thousand feet higher than the desert floor, our day in La Luz Canyon was very pleasant with comfortable breezes (sometimes a little more than breezes) moved through the forested yard and around the decks of our hosts. This event was a quiet, conversational get together with the normal adequate snacks to keep us alive until the wonderful main course potluck was available. Other than strolls along the walking paths on the property, the only exercise that most of us got was in moving into the shade as the sun chased us. We finally gathered at the pre-potluck location on an upper deck overlooking the dunes of White Sands National Monument down in the Tularosa Basin. It was a difficult decision on that deck of whether to sit in a chair convenient to the snacks or sit in the comfortable hot tub. The views from both locations were the same. It was a wonderful, friendly late spring afternoon with very congenial people. On the way home from this event, my car was attacked by a vicious neighbor (fortunately caged) dog as I drove past, then, not more than 100 feet later, I had to stop to allow three members of the local mule deer population cross in front of my truck (no there was not a marked crosswalk, but I stopped to enjoy the sunset scene anyway). Apparently the deer had enough experience to know that the vicious sounding dog was more acoustics than real weaponry.
Happy Independence Day (or the day after): Elephant Butte will be the site of our grand Fourth of July extravaganza complete with hot dogs, burgers, beans, chips, small cluster bombs (maybe we should keep that to only a few sparklers since we have already had too many fires this year) and good fellowship. If you think that it is appropriate for you to bring along your grandmother's traditional Cranberry stuffed goose, forget it. Save it for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This is a red, white and/or blue weekend of Betsy Ross traditionalism with picnic-style grub (my best to grandma).
Glorious Jupiter and Delta Aquarid Metor Shower In the evening sky, the mighty, warlike, red planet will be the dim orange Mars. Mars will be hanging out this month near Leo’s blue star Regulus from the first to the third. At nightfall on 1 July, Regulus, Mars and Saturn form a short straight line, with Saturn highest and Mars in the middle. A couple of days later, the crescent Moon will join in below them. Mars is closest to Saturn on 10 and 11 July, still hanging in there low in the west at dusk. Turn around and look at the opposite side of the sky to see brilliant Jupiter by Jove! Jupiter is at its brightest of the year at magnitude -2.7. It will be at its brightest on 9 July and the next evening Jupiter celebrates its closest visit to fellow planet, Earth (hey, that’s us.) Morning: Mercury will be hanging out very low in the predawn east during the early part of the month will be brightest at midmonth. Earth reaches aphelion, its position farthest from the Sun in 2008 on the Fourth of July. – Cool! Remember that total Solar Eclipse? I hope that you bought your tickets for the total eclipse of the Sun on 1 August. Remember several months ago in the newsletter, you were given adequate warning to make your travel plans to see this great event. What better time of the year than the first day of August to have a nice summer vacation to Canada north of the Arctic Circle or in Siberia? The Meteors of July The word “peak” really applies to this shower. That peak can be found around 28 or 29 July and this peak is very nebulous. That means that the whole budget for the show will not be spent on one night’s performance. It will continue through about a week. The radiant (that is the apparent source of the meteors in the shower) will be very low to the horizon until after midnight. That radiant should be directly overhead around three in the morning. That means that you will see the early Aquarid nightflyers pop up over the horizon rather than aiming straight at you.
© 2004 SunTree Travel Club - Site updated Summer 2010 |
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What Happened in June