Whatever Weds. Occultation of Antares

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

January 8th just at dawn I photographed my first celestial event of the year. The Occultation of the crescent moon and Antares the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius.

The tiny dot of light on the Earthshine side of the crescent moon is Antares right before it slipped behind the Moon. Venus the morning star shines brightly above and to the left of the Moon.

I give you three views, one with my star filter on my lens, one with my ultra wide angle lens, and one deeply cropped to show Antares slipping behind the Moon.

20mm view of the Crescent Moon, Venus, and Antares.

Crescent Moon, Antares, Venus dawn January 8, 2024

Venus above and left of the Crescent Moon, Antares a tiny dot of light on the Earthshine side of the Crescent Moon just before it disappeared behind the Moon.

I was in a bit of a rush putting on my star filter so it went on askew so some of the star lines aren’t clean, and worse it’s now stuck. It’s on too tight for me to unscrew it, and I broke my filter wrench some time ago removing a ND (neutral density) filter, and failed to replace it. DOH! I have ordered a new one…and not a plastic one this time. It should arrive today.

We had our first big snow drop that stuck on Sat/Sun. It required shoveling. My neighbor bought a new cordless snow-blower and did our driveway twice! I just shoveled the clean up and the road below our driveway. She’s a jewel! She said it took just 12 minutes to do the driveway. We’ve made a deal. She’ll do the snow-blower and I do the clean up shoveling on 3 driveways and sidewalks. I told her I’d spring for the Hot Cocoa with marshmallows!

We have another big storm coming this weekend which is going to mess up my plans to meet friends, and do some birding at one of our favorite California refuges. It’s going to snow here, and in the mountains I’d need to cross, and it’s got rain on the forecast for there. It’s always a risk in the winter though isn’t it. Looks like I’ll be cancelling my plans.

Hopefully, we can meetup in February.

That’s me all caught up. How’s it going for you? Were any of you up and notice the tiny reddish star right beside the moon Monday morning?

Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm & Nikkor 20mmG| PS CC 25.3.1

more to come…

Wordless Weds. A Crisp and Chilly Morning

Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!

Fog and Alpine Glow on a Fall Morning

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 16-80mm @80mm| PS CC 24.0.0

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Waning Moon Conjunction

Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’ve been hoping for a clear sky before sunrise in order to see the Waning Moon and four early-dawn planets, but we’ve been having cloudy overcast mornings of late. On the 26th I got somewhat lucky even though it was cloudy. Here are 3 of the 4 early-dawn planets along with the Waning Crescent Moon over the Pine Nut Mountains. Following that line of planets up above Mars was Saturn, but it was already so light out I couldn’t see it.

Waning Crescent Moon under Mars, Venus with Jupiter close to Venus.

If you’re up an hour before sunrise your time this Saturday morning looking low in the southeast Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and Moon, are going to be spectacularly close at just a 1/2 degree apart!

Can you believe we’re just days away from May!? This month just flew by! I hope your week is going well and you have a lovely day.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 23.2.2

more to come…

Whatever Weds.- Dawn this Morning

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Pinenuts to the left of me…

Dawn over the Pinenut and Eastern Sierras

Sierras to the right…

Dawn Sierras-Carson Spur

Here I am stuck in the middle of you. And, so happy to be here! It’s so hard to keep the smile off my face.

In case you got an earworm from this post I’ve included this song to help you out of it. 😀

Panasonic Lumix FZ200| PS CC 22.5.1

more to come…

Dawn over the 13th Fairway

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I have news.  After a little over a year of looking for a house in Nevada with a view toward moving there when He-man retires we finally found one we liked enough to make an offer on.  There was a little counter offer negotiation which we all agreed to, so the offer was accepted. We started Escrow, inspections were done,  some minor repairs were needed,  negotiation over repairs were made and agreed to, and we closed on September 27th late in the day!

Our house’s backyard overlooks the 13th fairway of a golf course. I’ve read it’s Par 5 and Par 4. I think that depends on which tee you tee off of. This tee is a set up shot for the 14th tee which is supposed to be where the fun really begins on this course.  Neither He-Man or I golf, but we’ve enjoyed watching those that come by to play.

The main attraction for us besides the house with its nice layout, features, and location is the view. I really wanted a house with a great view for our retirement home so, as we get old-old;  as in the powers at be will have taken away our driver’s licenses and we are less active we will have lovely views of sunrise, sunsets, the night sky, and have a flat street to take a daily walk on.  I hope  I can still lift my camera to my eye and see through the viewfinder then!  This house checked all our boxes.  The house is only 3 yrs old, so it didn’t need a lot in repairs, and those it did need aren’t what would be considered major.  It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house and 2,031 sq. ft.  It’s a little bit bigger than our house here, but it doesn’t have a separate living room, or 4th bedroom like our current house, so it feels like we’re downsizing.

We gain a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, but I do wish it had a reach-in too just for He-Man. I could easily fill the walk-in with all my clothes! He-Man has his own closet now. I’d like to keep it that way. There’s an in the house laundry room; my laundry stuff is in the garage now,  double sinks in the Master bath, loads of cabinet space in the kitchen, and bathrooms,  a deep bathtub with whirlpool jets in the Master bath, and a view that I don’t think I’ll tire of. EVER!

I’ve been relying on the Realtor’s images of the house so, haven’t taken any of my own! Now, I’m kickin myself for that.  I didn’t even take a picture of the front door. (hangs head in shame) 😦

Naturally, the days we were there to close the loan, and finish up minor repairs the sky was clear, but Friday morning we got some clouds and a pretty Dawn. This is the view from the backyard patio. Actually that’s all it is to the backyard. Just a slab of cement making a patio.  It really is all about the view on this side of the street.

The valley is flanked by the Pinenut Mountains on the East, and The Sierra Nevada Range on the West. The Carson River meanders through this valley though you can’t see it from here.  I have a few more images from this patio I’ll be sharing.

Our plan is to rent it out for a year or two then make the move over. Getting the house is Step One. We’re undecided if we’ll sell our house here or rent it out for a bit. I guess we’ll decide after we find out if we can handle being Landlords. It’s our first time being one.  We hope it’s a positive experience.

When we left the house Friday knowing the Property Mgr is in control now to find a tenant we were very sad. Neither of us wanted to leave and come back to California.  That’s what’s new with me.  What’s new with you? What have I missed in the week I’ve been out of touch?

I’m a few days behind with reading your blogs, but I’ll catch up!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| San Disk Digital Film| PS CC 2017

more to come…

 

 

Walton Light Station Dawn

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I met up with one of the photography groups I belong to at Santa Cruz’s Walton Light Station for sunrise this week-end.  We hoped for more clouds, but the weather changed from cloudy to clear late in the week so we knew it wouldn’t be very colorful, and yet there was some warm color, and a lovely glow low on the horizon as the sun was approaching.

Walton Light Station Dawn

But turning to my left looking northeast across the channel  there were clouds and some color.

Harbor Channel Santa Cruz Dawn

For the history buffs:

Located at the northern end of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz Harbor is a haven for fishing craft and vessels. A harbor light, located at the west jetty, has marked its entrance for forty years. The original light was a box light structure which served from 1964 – 1996. It was replaced by a cylinder nicknamed “the water heater” which was used from 1996 – 1999. From 1999 until May 2002, a simple pipe structure held the light which marked the way into the harbor.

In 1998, the Santa Cruz community, under the leadership of Bill Simpkins and Jim Thoits, proposed replacing the unsightly harbor light with a lighthouse of classic design, adding a little more character to a community renowned for its characters. Fundraising efforts began in earnest, and with the contributions of many people, including a major donation from Charles Walton of Los Gatos, enough money was raised to begin construction of the new lighthouse in 2001.

The lighthouse, designed by Mark Mesiti-Miller and constructed by Devcon Construction, Inc., stands 41 ½ feet tall above the level of the west jetty, and 59 ½ feet above the mean low water mark. It weighs 350,000 pounds and is built to withstand a quarter million pounds of wave energy.

The construction began with a cylindrical inner core which houses electrical equipment and a circular staircase of forty-two steps which lead to the top of the lighthouse. Surrounding the inner core is a network of reinforcement rods, onto which “shotcrete” was blown and then hand-troweled to form the conical shape. These shotcrete walls are 4 ½ feet thick at the base. Finally, a durable weatherproof white finish was applied to the exterior of the lighthouse and a copper roofed lantern room topped it all off.

On June 9, 2002, the new harbor lighthouse was dedicated, and the signal, a green light flashing every four seconds at a focal plane of thirty-six feet, was activated. It is named the Walton Lighthouse, in honor of Mr. Charles Walton’s late brother, Derek, who served in the merchant marines and was lost at sea during World War II.” ~lighthousefriends.com

It was worth the O’Dark Thirty wake up alarm, and drive over the hill I thought.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017 & On1

More to come…