Another fire last night in Accomack County - I'm still waiting for word as to whether this one is arson or not. .... Rachel Alexandra is still getting better, bit by bit; her vets are encouraged by her improvements. .... My kits enjoyed being allowed outside for most of yesterday; it's much colder today, and the wind is razor sharp, but it is still sunny. Supposedly nice weather until Wednesday evening - the forecasts change each hour, so we're told we'll be getting 6 inches of snow and then we're told no snow will fall.... I'll just wait and see.
After all the wild atmospheric events on Friday, the sighting of a fireball on the eastern coast of Florida was nothing big. It was declared another meteor burning up in the atmosphere, and was seen from Jacksonville down to Homestead. I know that, after the Chelyabinsk explosion, people will be keeping an eye to the sky for a while.
When I was small, today was not a holiday. We celebrated George Washington's Birthday on February 22, as he was "the Father of our Country." We also tipped our hats to Abraham Lincoln's birthday on the 12th of February. In 1968, President Nixon designated the third Monday in February as Presidents Day - to honor the combined birthdays of Washington and Lincoln in between both birthdays. It now is a celebration of all of the Presidents of the United States, and is a Federal Holiday. There usually are not huge celebrations of Presidents Day - small communities might have parades - but, by and large, the day is just a day off for most federal and state employees. I, personally, remember songs and plays about the Presidents, that we, as school children, performed... but no more.
I hope you have a pleasant holiday and a good week.
Showing posts with label Rachel Alexandra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rachel Alexandra. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Look! Up in the Sky, It's....
Black Caviar raced in Australia today, and won her 23rd straight race, in a race named after her - the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes. The sprinter started slowly in her first race since Royal Ascot, but she won by 2 1/2 lengths, setting a new course record for 5 furlongs. The mare tore muscles and ligaments in her back during her single race in England, and it was not known if she'd be able to race again. Well... Black Caviar is back in impressive style! ..... Former Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra is still in serious condition at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. She is still listed as being in "serious" condition, but her attending vets said that she had "brightened" yesterday, and actually wanted a mint as a treat, which she hadn't before. Best wishes to Rachel A. and her filly, now on a nurse mare at Stonestreet Farm.
Look, up in the sky! Wow. Three "close encounters" yesterday between our mother Earth and errant space debris - that was quite a surprise for the day after Valentine's Day! We all knew about the asteroid that passed between the Earth and our GPS, etc. satellites at 2:24 EST - I watched it live on NASA, myself. The surprise encounters occurred in the Ural Mountains in Russia Friday morning, and in northern California Friday evening/night. The most frightening event happened above the city of Chelyabinsk: The meteor was a once-in-a-century event, NASA officials said, describing it as a "tiny asteroid." The space agency revised its estimate of the meteor's size upward late Friday from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass from 7,000 tons to 10,000 tons. The space agency also increased the estimated amount of energy released in the meteor's explosion from about 300 to nearly 500 kilotons. By comparison, the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy. The whole event, from the meteor's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia, took 32.5 seconds, NASA said. Reports from Russia have said that up to 1,200 people have been treated for cuts and abrasions caused by flying glass and the pure concussive force of the blast. More than 4,000 buildings received damage, and the roof of a zinc manufacturing plant collapsed from the force of the blast.
What freaked me out, was a headline that appeared a few hours after the blast, stating that US fighter jets had scrambled when two Russian bombers had appeared over Guam's air space. The last paragraph of the story explained that this had happened during President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, and not after the blast over Chelyabinsk. I guess I still haven't out-grown our Kindergarten and first grade training during the Cuban Missile Crisis - just goes to show how old, remembered drills and training can jump into life again.
The third encounter was seen and recorded in northern California last night - The fireball was seen around 7:45 p.m., by witnesses as far north as Fairfield and as far south as Gilroy. It was also reportedly seen in Sacramento and Walnut Creek. Folks in Monterey said it was visible along California's Central Coast, too. NBCBayArea.com said Candice Guruwaiya gave this account on Facebook of seeing it in San Jose: "I was leaving Safeway on Branham and Snell when I saw it. ... It was a bright green when it first appeared, then it went to a bright yellow. It was awesome!" An astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland told NBCBayArea.com that Friday night's event wasn't related to the asteroid's passing: Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at Chabot, said he did not see it, but based on accounts he thinks it was a "sporadic meteor," which can happen several times a day but most of the time happens over the ocean, away from human eyes. Sporadic meteors bring as much as 15,000 tons of space debris to Earth each year, according to McKeegan. He explained that meteors, which are hunks of rock and metal from space that fall to Earth, burn up as they go through Earth's atmosphere, which is what apparently caused last night's bright flash of light.
Look, up in the sky! Wow. Three "close encounters" yesterday between our mother Earth and errant space debris - that was quite a surprise for the day after Valentine's Day! We all knew about the asteroid that passed between the Earth and our GPS, etc. satellites at 2:24 EST - I watched it live on NASA, myself. The surprise encounters occurred in the Ural Mountains in Russia Friday morning, and in northern California Friday evening/night. The most frightening event happened above the city of Chelyabinsk: The meteor was a once-in-a-century event, NASA officials said, describing it as a "tiny asteroid." The space agency revised its estimate of the meteor's size upward late Friday from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass from 7,000 tons to 10,000 tons. The space agency also increased the estimated amount of energy released in the meteor's explosion from about 300 to nearly 500 kilotons. By comparison, the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy. The whole event, from the meteor's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia, took 32.5 seconds, NASA said. Reports from Russia have said that up to 1,200 people have been treated for cuts and abrasions caused by flying glass and the pure concussive force of the blast. More than 4,000 buildings received damage, and the roof of a zinc manufacturing plant collapsed from the force of the blast.
What freaked me out, was a headline that appeared a few hours after the blast, stating that US fighter jets had scrambled when two Russian bombers had appeared over Guam's air space. The last paragraph of the story explained that this had happened during President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, and not after the blast over Chelyabinsk. I guess I still haven't out-grown our Kindergarten and first grade training during the Cuban Missile Crisis - just goes to show how old, remembered drills and training can jump into life again.
The third encounter was seen and recorded in northern California last night - The fireball was seen around 7:45 p.m., by witnesses as far north as Fairfield and as far south as Gilroy. It was also reportedly seen in Sacramento and Walnut Creek. Folks in Monterey said it was visible along California's Central Coast, too. NBCBayArea.com said Candice Guruwaiya gave this account on Facebook of seeing it in San Jose: "I was leaving Safeway on Branham and Snell when I saw it. ... It was a bright green when it first appeared, then it went to a bright yellow. It was awesome!" An astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland told NBCBayArea.com that Friday night's event wasn't related to the asteroid's passing: Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at Chabot, said he did not see it, but based on accounts he thinks it was a "sporadic meteor," which can happen several times a day but most of the time happens over the ocean, away from human eyes. Sporadic meteors bring as much as 15,000 tons of space debris to Earth each year, according to McKeegan. He explained that meteors, which are hunks of rock and metal from space that fall to Earth, burn up as they go through Earth's atmosphere, which is what apparently caused last night's bright flash of light.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)