My turn for a non-controversial, light-hearted, "wow you should have seen what I saw" post.

[cherokeeprogressive]

Last night, a well-respected DU'er posted about how he took his kayak out into the middle of a lake and watched the meteor shower. I got jealous because I didn't think of it first (not TOO jealous, it's not my style).

So tonight, the Ms. and I took our boat out to the middle of the lake at about 10 p.m. We took a Coleman drink cooler with a spigot and it was filled with Maggies (margaritas). For good measure, I burned a CD with Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" as its first song and we put that in the boat's CD player.

Well, if I must say, it was the best idea (albeit inspired by a DU'er who shall remain nameless) I've had in more than a few months. All in all, we lost count at about 50, and most of the falling stars we saw were in the 2-3 second range, and almost all of them left a trail in the sky. They all traveled from North to South, with a few intruders (it's not out of the ordinary to see 10-15 stars per night up here, all traveling in different directions).

My Grandparents worked for North American Rockwell, and because of that I'm constantly intrigued by anything that happens in the sky. I grew up watching for missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base (and there were lots of them, all visible from L.A.) and am now a huge watcher of the International Space Station, when visible. I'm told that with the addition of the Japanese module during the last Space Shuttle mission, it's visible during the day when you know exactly where to look and have a sky that isn't interfered with by haze or smog.

Here's a cool link that will tell YOU when to look for the International Space Station in the night sky...

http://esa.heavens-above.com/esa/iss_step1.asp?nored=1

[WatchWhatISay]

1. Sounds kind of romantic

I suspect your wife is a lucky woman.

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. She isn't yet my wife, for reasons that I can't discuss here, but it's I who am the lucky one...

I open her doors. I carry her baggage. She cooks. I clean. She sweeps, I vacuum. She dusts, I do the windows. Sometimes we switch up just so no one gets bored...

I'm the lucky one, because she scooches up next to me when she's cold in the middle of the night. It's me she clings to when we watch scary movies in the dark. I'm lucky in that she looked my way one day, and thought I was worthy of her attention. I won't prove her wrong, if it takes a lifetime of work to ensure that.

[sweetpotato]

6. This is lovely

I hope you tell her what you wrote here, its beautiful.

[armyowalgreens]

3. If the boats a rockin...

:shrug:

[proud patriot]

4. Beautiful

:-)

[TheMadMonk]

5. Saw it for the first time tonite.

Checked the site for my location, and saw that it would pass almost directly overhead as I left for work, so I stopped to watch.

Bout the only thing that went right in the last 24 hrs. Water bed sprung a leak, and got to work to discover 1/2 the crew missing. 24 effing passenger rail cars to clean with only 2 men.

I am now going to get drunk and pass out.