My niece, grandnephew and I are scheduling a night to get together to enjoy the Perseid meteor shower. I’m prepping for it already.

Doing research on it:

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/perseid.html

 

“Made of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus. This is because the direction, or radiant, from which the shower seems to come in the sky lies in the same direction as Perseus. The Perseids are widely sought after by astronomers and stargazers because most years at its peak, one can see 60 to 100 meteors in an hour from a dark place.”  (Excerpt from above URL.)

Ordering supplies for it (the prices are certainly right!!!):

Mosquito Net Headpiece: https://amzn.to/3rx6cWJ

Wearable Sleeping Bag: https://amzn.to/44JyETE

Supplies already on hand for it:

I already have a clear plastic tent that will comfortably accommodate three during the watch party (in case that’s better than sleeping bags and mosquito net hats) and an anti-gravity recliner, so I’m okay in those departments. I also have another six-person tent that I haven’t used yet; an instant pop up kind:  https://amzn.to/46TH3pt

I’m going to use them all in my back yard between now and the date, because I want to try them all out and see how they are. I have never even popped up the instant set up tent since buying it last year when it was on sale. I’m looking forward to seeing it in operation.  I got a ground mat for underneath it, too, last year.

 

I have “Christmas Tree Brain” over this!

 

I’m really looking forward to this. It has been more than five decades since I’ve been in an area where city lights don’t interfere with star gazing, and I miss the experience!  All we need is a clear night any time during the Perseids, so my niece is watching the weather reports and will let me know when it’s time for me to head down to just outside Rochester (WA) to take in this glorious sight. Cannot wait!!!  But dang it all, I have to!!!

 

In Other News:

 

I’m tentatively planning to attend Art on the Avenue this weekend here in Tacoma, either as a volunteer or as a fellow rambler/potential buyer.  I’m enjoying getting out and about more, so I’m looking for opportunities to do that.

 

I will be buying our airline tickets (Lisa’s and mine) for the two-week trip to New Zealand next spring (fall for NZ) sometime this month, I believe.  I have enough in savings now to do that and still have a decent nest egg, so now’s the time. The flight will cost around $3200, including trip cancellation insurance and international medical insurance (that’s for both of us).  We will both also want to have at least $1500 on us for the time we’ll be there.  (That’s $2,398 in New Zealand Dollars!!!) We’re really looking forward to it. Lisa applied for her passport yesterday, so it will arrive in plenty of time. Mine should arrive sometime in September. I applied back in April. Or was it May? Anyway, it’s been a while and the turnaround time for a passport at that time was 11 to 13 weeks, so I figured September.

 

FARM FRESH EGGS

 

Our hens will start laying eggs in September, too. That’s a good thing. We will be able to start recouping the cost of building their raccoon-proof enclosure, fencing off a field for them, and feeding them. Our relatives and close friends will help us when the eggs start rolling in; they’ll be buying the chicken food and other essentials from then on!

 

I figure we’ve invested at least $800 (not counting my labor and caretaking) in fencing, wood, feeders, waterers, watermelons (the hens love watermelon!) and more.  Jackie and I will probably get at least $800 worth of eggs to eat (between us) during the hens’ laying lives.  It was a good investment. Eggs are the perfect meal, too, on the off chance that everything else goes to hell and we need to eat! Our grandmother on Mom’s side and all of her growing and grown children and grandchildren survived thanks to chickens, eggs and homemade root beer during the Great Depression. (Mom could never stand root beer after that. I LOVE root beer, but if it and water were all I had to drink, I suppose I could get sick of it, too.)

 

Reckon that’s all the news that’s fit to print for today.  Enjoy the rest of your day!