NASA's Phantom Clouds

Peggy likes the Sitting Porch too

Sat out until well after dark last night, letting the mosquitoes gnaw my bones, and watching the fireflies wake up and sparkle.....the sitting porch is like fairyland as the curtain of darkness is drawn across the sun. However, the company, biting insectwise, leaves something to be desired.

I was waiting for the colored clouds NASA is planning to release in the ionosphere sometime soon. The boss sat with me for a while, but the Mets called him away. Plus he is a little less resigned to skeeters than I.

Eventually I had to quit. After weeks of ice cold showers there was hot water and I wanted to avail myself while the getting was good. (It was good too, man, oh, man, there is NOTHING like hot water...nothing!!)

We did see one really strange cloud, shaped like a giant 'E' but plain white and possessed of four rather than the requisite three arms. It hung in the sky until the light was gone and then the bats came out.

It was good to see bats, Big Brown I suspect. Do you suppose they eat fireflies and then use their breath as a lantern to light the way when they go to roost? 

We used to have Little Browns in the cow barn but most likely White Nose Syndrome did them in. We don't see many any more.

The shower was great....but when I checked the news to see why we saw  only unconventional but natural clouds in our skies I discovered that the launch had been postponed until...maybe...tonight.

Am I tough enough to brave the skeeters again? I hope so! Then again the clouds are supposed to appear right where the mulberry trees block the horizon and we have a lot of light pollution to the east and south, so maybe i won't see a thing.

At any rate, it's worth a try, as this night show HAS to take place when the sky is clear. Natural phenomena, such as meteor showers and lunar eclipses are nearly always obscured by clouds here in the Great Northeast.