After an extended break, Mr. H's TOE returns as a wrap up to a school year and a recap of recent Earth goings on. Here in the forest, a new den of baby foxes has been encountered, but not for a few days. Turkeys are nesting but still not often seen and the squirrels, normally hanging out looking for bird seed have gone back into hiding as a hawk patrols my front yard. The downy woodpeckers are wondering why their suet feeder has not been filled. I'll get right on that...
For early risers with clear skies, Venus and the thin waning crescent moon had a lovely pairing this morning; the Earth's twin will continue to slowly pull from our planet. The evening sky shines with the other 4 naked eye planets: Saturn, pale yellow in the east, Mars, red-orange high in the southeast, Jupiter, still hanging with the twins, Castor and Pollux, now low in the west at sunset and Mercury, always a tough spot, even lower in the west but rising as high as it's going to for 2014. If you can see from horizon to horizon you can see them all, riding the ecliptic. The moon will be new at 2:40pm on Wednesday and the waxing crescent moon will finish the month sliding by Mercury and Jupiter. Get out and check it out.
In earthquake news the normal players are still shifting and shaking but for those of us in the Central Va. Equake Zone we got another reminder of that reality with a 3.2 shake mid-week. This shake, while felt in much of Louisa, was centered 30ish miles to the south along the Powhatan/Amelia line. A little reminder to all in the zone, that, yes, we live in an earthquake zone and Earth will keep shaking. In a formerly quiet zone that has been reawakened because of human activity (and continued unbridled greed), Oklahoma keeps on shaking and the reason appears to be fracking. The oil giants new, clever idea to keep the oil and gas flowing and American slurping down the fossil fuel without thinking there is any concern; let's blow up the Earth to set the trapped hydrocarbons free for cheap (well, relatively) fuel and no guilt!! Who cares about ground water problems or hundreds of local Earthquakes!!! I'm guessing Oklahomans do, now; as the ground shakes every day.
Volcano activity on the big plate tectonic-ing planet is, of course, going on with no new or surprising names on the list. Indonesia, Kamchatka, Japan, Hawaii, Central and South America; and while there is a little lava oozing here and gas belching there most of the activity is just the rumbling and shaking of liquid rock moving it's less dense self skyward. Enjoy the calm this planet is far from done with vulcanism.
The cold and snow of winter, finally departed, and the fear of jumping straight to summer has not materialized. The dips and retreats in the jet stream that have let the heat move north and the cool visit the south have made the spring, a spring. Just when it's seems too hot the early morning temps dip into the 40 and the humidity is gone...like this weekend. The mid-Atlantic is being treated to delightful Memorial Day weekend; pleasant temps and low humidity make it a joy to be outside. So, get out and enjoy it, remembering those that have paid the ultimate price to make this country an amazing place to live.
