Wondering Home to an Empty House.

It always feels strange to return home and not be greeted with barking and the excited pups who can't wait to greet us.  They were not there this morning!!  I don't like coming back to an empty house.

No, there is nothing wrong with the dogs.  We just dropped them off at the groomer's.  They get bathed, nails trimmed, groomed, and come home clean and beautiful with bows in their hair.  Well, the two gals have bows in their hair.  The boy says he is so beautiful that he can't be improved with a bow and anyway, real boys don't wear bows!!  The girls have their hair trimmed fairly short, since both of them have thick undercoats their hair gets tangled and knotted too bad when it is long (the boy doesn't have any undercoat).  They are so cute with long hair, but if it is not brushed about every hour or two, they manage to get it all knotted up.  A few times it was so bad that they had to get shaved and they don't like that.  Believe it or not, they seem very proud of their hair even though we don't let it get too long.  At least they haven't been in any stickers, cockle burrs, grass burrs, or any thing that sticks in or tangles their hair.  That usually happens when we are travelling.

Sorry Billy Bob, I know you don't like to see blog posts about pets or children.  I guess I should have warned you before you read this far, but I figured I would make you suffer though it first (grin).  Now, I hope you all have something or someone to come home to, and make sure that you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about Other Moons.

Yesterday, I talked about our moon's libration.  One of my readers, Gypsy of the "On The Road Again" blog, asked about the dark side of the moon and that she had never seen a picture of it.  Of course, up until the space age, no one from Earth had ever seen the other side of the moon.  To satisfy her curiosity, I sent her this picture of the far side of the moon:

 

Looks a little different.  Has a lot more impact creators, which makes sense, since the side we see is protected by Earth.

 

There are lots of moons out there in the universe and many here in our own solar system.  As far as we know, only the two inner most planets, Mercury and Venus, don't have any moons.  Just in case anyone out in blog land is interested, here is a list of all the moons in our solar system:

 

As you all know, you can click on any inserted picture to enlarge it.

 

OK, let's change the subject.  An update to what birds have come to my new bird feeders.  Yesterday, a Blue Jay found the feeder, but he didn't stay very long and hasn't been back, that I know of.  Picked up a couple more bags of wild bird feed.  After watching what goes on out at the bird feeder, don't any of you ever take it as a compliment when someone says that you "eat like a bird"!!  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear?

 

 

 

 



Wondering about Libration.

No, the title didn't say "libation", which means an alcoholic drink, although too much libation may cause you to see some extra librations.  I am only going to talk about librations affecting the moon.

First, in case any of you don't know what librations are, I will copy a definition from the "World English Dictionary" (an on line dictionary) here:

World English Dictionary

libration  (laɪˈbreɪʃən)
— n
1.	the act or an instance of oscillating
2.	a real or apparent oscillation of the moon enabling approximately 59 per cent of the surface  to be visible from the earth over a period of time.
[C17: from Latin librātus,  from librāre  to balance]
li'brational
— adj The moon is tidally locked to the earth, allowing us to see only one side of it.  But because of its libration, or rocking from side to side, we can see much more of it over time.  We can see from slightly different angles.  But, only the astronauts have seen the "dark side" side of the moon, which, by the way is not always dark.  People just started calling the other side, "the dark side" and it stuck.  But although we know a lot about it, and men have walked on it, and left their junk sitting on it, it is still a romantic sight.  Now, have a great day and don't spend too much time howling at the moon, you hear?

Wondering about the Managerie in the Yard.

We got a menagerie in our back yard, since we put up the bird feeders.  This morning there were many, many birds and squirrels out there.  I posted a blog about it
http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2014/01/wondering-what-comes-to-feeder.html) back less than a week ago.  But since then, the word has gotten out.  There were squirrels everywhere trying everything they could to get to the feeder.  They haven't figured out a way yet after I moved it more out in the open a long way away from any trees.  That doesn't mean that they have given up.  I will have to see if they can build a ladder or stand on each other's shoulders or take up hang gliding, or . . . I am sure they will figure something out.  In the mean time, they are cleaning up what the birds drop to the ground and of course, I put a handful or two or three on the ground.  Yep, I am a little kind hearted.

Got a new visitor to the feeder this morning, a Brown Thrasher.  He is the biggest bird to visit thus far.  Of course there are dozens of Cardinals, Black Capped Chickadees, and the Tufted Titmouse that compete to see who can empty the feeder the fastest.  I have my binoculars at the ready and just waiting to see more bird species show up.  Surely there will be more than four varieties of birds show up for a free lunch.  Maybe, I need to hang a "Free Lunch" sigh out there so they know.  I do have to get another feeder to replace the one that the squirrels knocked down and broke.  In the meantime they will have to crowd on the big wooden feeder.  Now, you all have a great day and take time to watch the birds, you hear? 

Wondering about Wesson Oil.

There are a lot of different salad and cooking oils to choose from in the grocery stores, so to try to narrow the broad range down some, I am only going to talk about Wesson Oil.  But first a little history.  I am going to say that the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney back in 1794 was what got the industry started when they found out that seeds left over after the gin removed all the cotton fibers, could be crushed into oil.  Cottonseed oil was first bottled in the U.S. in 1882.  Since then it has come a long way.  It has been deodorized, clarified, crystallized (Crisco), etc. and then along came the war and in 1944 the production of soybean oil beat out cottonseed oil.  Now, on to corn oil.

Now, to get back to Wesson, which started in business selling corn oil, which, by the way, is obtained from the germ of the kernel.  It was in 1900 that Dr. David Wesson started a refinery in Savannah to produce Wesson oil for the retail market.  He later developed the "hogless lard", Crisco.  In 1960, the company merged with Hunt Foods & Industries.

Wesson Oil has many uses other than for culinary delights.  It can be used to moisturize skin or to make bubble bath.  It can prevent cat hair balls, treat ear mites in cats, and add a shine to you dog's coat.  It can condition your hair and remove oil-based paint from your skin.  It can remove rust spots and season a cast iron skillet. It can remove paper stuck to wooden surfaces or price tags from appliances.  And the one that I hope I will never need, is to keep snow from sticking to your snow shovel.  (That last one is only for my northern readers or the ones at high elevations)  There a lot of other uses, just use your imagination.  Now, don't get too oiled and have a great day, you hear?

Instead of writing a blog today, I want you to go to the link I found on a friend of mine's blog.  This, which should have been headline news, seemed to be hushed up and tidied up by those in power.  Click on the link below and read the whole article from beginning to end and then try to have a good day. . . . you hear?

http://www.nationalspeedwayministries.com/THE-REAL-REST-OF-THE-STORY

Let me know what you think about it.

Wondering about Planets.

How many planets are there?  If your answer is 8, that is only how many (including Pluto which has been demoted from planet status) that are in are solar system.  There are many planets in our universe, not just hundreds, or thousands, but millions and billions.  I may be wrong in my numbers but there is no way you can prove that I am wrong (grin).  

Here are a few that have been discovered that are larger than Mars and up to about Earth size.

And here are a few planets bigger than Earth but could possibly have some form of life:

 

 

But when I get down to choosing my favorite planet it would have to be the one I live on, Earth.  The last two pictures were taken from the moon of our beautiful planet.  Ain't it wonderful!!!

 

 

 

 
Now, be glad you are on Earth and have a great day, you hear?