If We Were Having Coffee on Halloween, 2020

46 Replies

Hello and Welcome! Here, let me brush this little bit of snow off of the table and get a dry cushion for you to sit on. It is sunny, but still a bit chilly, particularly here, behind the house where the sun never shines – our patio has its own micro-climate, which is perfect for the summer! Hold on and I’ll get a mug of super strong dark roast, a cuppa tea or other warm beverage. Where are we? Some may recognize the photo at the top as being from New Hampshire (yes, third week in a row – a record!)

First to weather. We have been in a severe drought this year. And then there was October. We have had a lot of rain. Often, the weather will show 10% chance of rain, but it will drizzle all day. I think we had four of those days like that, and then the days where it actually rained. This week was perhaps the wettest. As Zeta went south of us, the counter-clockwise motion pulled frigid air down from the arctic, thus the snow. Not much, but still, snow on October 30! (Back 15 years ago we had over 3 feet/1 meter of wet heavy snow on October 30! – a lot of trees were down because they still had leaves, so couldn’t handle the weight.)

The less said about work, the better… Yuck!

I played my electronic instruments more this week than I have for a while. i spent most of Thursday (a rainy day) inside playing. Always fun.

Snowy oak leaf

My weight exercise has been pretty consistent, and I added pull-ups and chin-ups to the routine, but my running is off. I ran last Saturday… In fact, in 2020 I have run between 10 and 15 days every month, until October. I think I have done four runs, though I might go out today. I can feel it – I need to get out there!

This week has the normal dog walks and dog play, but a little less than usual because of how wet it was – they don’t like walking in the drizzle, let alone the pouring rain! I have done some reading. And that is about it – I was actually very down most of the week, I think because of the weather and lack of running (the less I run, the less energy I have – I can feel my energy sap away. My blood pressure has also been climbing – meds and diet do absolutely zero for my BP, I control it 100% by high intensity aerobic exercise. Strange, the higher my BP, the energy I have – an awful feedback loop!)

For weeks I have been watching Jupiter and Saturn. of course Mars has been very bright, but it is cool to see the two giants so close to each other. So last might I tried to get some pictures. of course, clouds moved in, so my photography session ended. The Saturn pictures weren’t very good – a couple you could see a dark band through the middle of the planet, and since it was so consistent, I believe it was the ring, but not worth showing. I did not get a good picture of Jupiter itself either, but I got quite a few were you could see all four Galilean moons. Cool! I’ve seen them before, but this is the first time I tried photographing them.

Anyway, I need to go out and do stuff. It is a special day. Oh, and it is Halloween as well. (OK, I have completed another journey around our home star today.)

With that, I will be off.

Thanks for stopping by! f you have a coffee share, I will try to stop in and say hi.

Have a great weekend.

The coffee share is hosted over on Eclectic Alli.  The link to join is here.

46 thoughts on “If We Were Having Coffee on Halloween, 2020”

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I had been watching Mars a lot lately as well – it has been so bright! I’m not sure why I decided to attempt the shots of Jupiter and was very surprised by how well they came out. Maybe I’ll try Mars soon….

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      1. Beaton

        I say I was watching Mars as if I knew what I was doing but truth is I just noticed there was something really bright out there other than the only two celestial bodies I know for a fact, the sun and the moon… I was watching for the full moon and learnt the other thing was Mars hahaha
        ~B

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          lol. Truthfully, the only reason I knew the two “stars” I was watching were Jupiter and Saturn is because someone pointed them out. And I found Mars after other people commented on how bright it was – looked up, big bright, red “star”. Yep.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks! I think you are one of the few that caught what I meant about one more journey around the sun ;) It is far too early for snow! I am even less prepared for the cold weather! A week and a half ago it was in the mid-70s, and Saturday it never got out of the low 30s! Brrr.. Hope you had a good weekend and that you have a good week ahead :)

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  5. dprastka

    Ooh, Happy Birthday!! Belated birthday that is since I’m a day late! I absolutely LOVE they photograph of the moons and planets!! I clicked on the photo and zoomed in a bit. Really neat!!! The snowy red oak leaves are amazing too! I enjoyed the strong coffee as I’m working on my last week of night shift!! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 🎂🍰🤠

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  7. Sagittarius Viking

    The snow and the leaves looks fabulous. We’ve had a very wet week as well. I hope you feel that your day was special, and that the people in your life celebrated with you. I have to admit that the wet weather made me exercise less outside as well. I’m hoping for snow. I pray your new week is a great one!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Snow is pretty rare in October, but not unheard of, and up in the mountains an hour north, October snow is common. This was a weird one mostly because the storm Zeta pulled all that cold air in. In ways the snow is good for the drought as it soaks into the ground more as it melts and a lot more goes to the water table than does in a rain of equal amounts.

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  10. SHL2

    I think everyone feels a bit off when their exercise routines get off I know I do. Love your pics of the bright colored leaves with the snow. October always goes by really fast and before you know it’s November and here we are moving towards Thanksgiving.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. October is usually my favorite month (I did love it this year, wet or not ;) ), but it does go by too quick. On the other hand, the older I get, the more I appreciate the calm, lower-key beauty of November… Hope you are having a great weekend.

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  11. Gary A Wilson

    Hey Trent. I toyed with the idea of getting into astro-photography many years ago but even after I had my small reflector I was disappointed with what I could see through it as compared to professional shots taken with the really big glass out there, so I switched to cosmology where I could just study weird objects while enjoying the photos taken by others with more expensive gear than I could afford. On any clear night, you still might find me in the dark backyard looking up, and thinking.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I would like to get into real astro-photography, but I can’t justify the cost. I have seen some great photos by amateurs, but it is a passion for those people. I do so0ometimes take my normal telephoto lens and point it up, though usually just at the moon or wide angle for the Milky way. This was the first time I attempted to get a planet. Of course, it sparks my interest more ;) Yes, on a clear night you can catch me outside looking up :)

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  12. robertawrites235681907

    It is good you are getting rain after a drought, Trent. I love rain. It is raining here now and I am so glad as we don’t get heavy rain that often. I didn’t know you have high BP. I’ve recently been diagnosed and the doctor believes it is a result of years of chronic stress and work pressure. The meds to work for me but they make my BP very low, 95/62 sort of low which makes me feel tired. I am exercising to give me energy too.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      The rain is needed, but I am sick of a month of it ;) I took medicine for years for my BP, but cranked up my exercise a bit more and it went away, so I have been off the meds for about 5 years. But I can feel it creep up when I am not exercising (testing to make sure what I feel is right – they say you can’t feel it, but I can when it goes up in the short term). I hope you are having (or had since I’m assuming it is Sunday afternoon) a good weekend and have a great week ahead :)

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  14. bearmkwa

    Happy Halloween! I showed hubby your star pic. He’s says “Cool!”. He misses his telescope, but living in town as we do, there’s no place to use it. Our weather is chilly. Zeta brought us downpours for two days! We averaged about 2 inches all told. All week, we’ve had that cold drizzle going on. It seems that most of 2020 has been lost to wet/rainy days. ugh! I get you on the energy thing. Having to be sedentary with my feeties these last two weeks has just drained my energy. I slept far too much, and did far too little. think I might be able to get on the stationary bike today if I set it down on it’s lowest setting. I usually ride at around 8-9, today, I’m going to set it at 1 and take all the pressure off. We’ll see how it goes. I do hope you feel better soon, the dumps are just that, the dumps.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I hope you were able to get a bit of a pedal in on your stationary bike. yeah, the weather itself is a downer, but being sedentary makes it worse. And this month has been bad. I have thought of getting a telescope, but don’t know how much use I’d get – the photo was my telephoto lens on my camera. I hope you are having a good weekend :)

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      1. bearmkwa

        A very short ride, only 2/10 of a mile. The little bar that goes over the foot was just too painful… maybe a few days, or I’ll look and see if that bar can be removed. Gettin’ there, slowly. I do sooo miss my telephoto lens. With it, I could pick up the hairs on the legs of bees. I miss photoging insects and the like. Tried photoging the full moon a couple of times, never happy with the turn out, though.

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Sorry your foot is still too sore for a better ride. Hopefully soon. I don’t do macro-photography often, but insect photos are cool. For the full moon, I have to put it in full manual mode – the camera always does weird things. Having a digital camera is a huge plus here, because you can take tons of shots to get it just right while you figure it out.

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  15. Writing Sparkle

    I really like your pictures of the snow on the leaves.

    We bought my older son a telescope a couple years ago but we couldn’t get it to focus. It was really disappointing. I think looking at the sky would be so very interesting. Anyway, have a great weekend and thanks for the virtual cup.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I have several times almost pulled the trigger on buying a telescope, I just don’t know if I would use it it enough to justify the cost for a good one. I would need something I could use to take photos – this photo was just the telephoto lens on my camera and a heavy crop in PS (you can see all four moons with binoculars). I hope you are having a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

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