YES, I AM STILL HERE looking out the window on Main Street, and wondering how far it is from here to there.
I’m going somewhere with this so don’t quit on me yet.
I read an article in an online magazine about how far off the horizon is.
For a six-footer standing flatfooted on level round, the horizon is just over three miles away, and the taller a person is the farther they can see (this, of course, is if there are no forests, mountains, tall farm equipment or skyscrapers blocking the viewer from the horizon).
After your sight ‘reaches’ the unobstructed horizon you can’t see any farther because the Earth curves down out of sight. Maybe the old sailors were right to be fearful of sailing right off the edge of the earth.
The magazine used the example of someone standing on Mt. Everest. That person could see about 230 miles if his-or-her eyeballs didn’t freeze.
Also, cold weather increases the amount of something called ‘atmospheric refraction.’ It bends light rays and that enables a viewer to see farther. I do not recommend going to Antarctica or Kavick River Camp just so you can see a little farther.
When you look at those giant clouds at the horizon on a summer day, they are way way more than three miles away. You can see them because they are so tall.
I just thought you might want to know this.
You also might want to know the number of persons on an average day who make a highly illegal J-Turn in downtown Nashville.
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. This continues to be the summer of strange bird antics.
First, I watched several times as a sparrow chased a cardinal into a hole in the hedge.
I’ve watched cardinals fighting bluejays at the peanut table.
In my backyard I saw a mockingbird harassing a female bluebird, but leaving the male alone.
The bluebirds had just one chick.
Which disappeared.
But then two new small blue eggs appeared.
And 12 days later they were gone.
Can a baby bluebird hatch and grow to being able to fly in just 12 days?
What were the sparrow and the cardinal doing inside the hedge?
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STILL WONDERING. Since the advent of the coronavirus, is there much mouth-to-mouth resuscitation going on? Should you wear gloves when doing mouth-to-mouth? And what is the proper distance?
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THAT BOOM. Thursday night about 9:30. I was nodding off in my recliner when the house shook and windows rattled. There was a big noise, and I wondered if I heard a sonic boom. We used to have them frequently. Not so much, lately.
Lots of posts followed on social media. I have scoured news sites since then and have not found any articles about the boom. The riots must have pushed the boom stories off the page.
Someone did post a video of what appears to be a large meteor crossing the sky and ending with a boom or loud noise.
Because he was in the Air Force and because he is an observant kind of guy, I finally asked Mark Dale.
He says he was on the phone on his porch which faces east at about 9:30 when he saw a glow in the sky, followed immediately by what he describes as a rumbling noise.
He says he thought it was more of a rumble than a boom, and he’s heard plenty of sonic booms during his military service.
My impression was that it was a boom, but I was inside and Mark was outside.
“Or,” Mark says, “it was aliens coming to visit and with the way the year 2020 has been going that might not be too farfetched.”
The boom or rumble was heard from Tennessee to Texas and one observer speculates that it was a meteorite that came down somewhere near Hope.
Remember: If it hits the ground it’s a meteorite; if it doesn’t it’s a meteor.
And that is about the extent of my knowledge.
However, I DO know the average number of illegal J-Turns in a typical day in downtown Nashville. Since I’m not officially deputized yet I can only divulge the information to the mayor. You’ll have to ask him.
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THINGS I LEARNED from opening (and believing) anonymous emails: “Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades – King David; Hearts – Charlemagne; Clubs -Alexander the Great; and Diamonds – Julius Caesar.”
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WORD GAMES. Another set of twins: Port and Starboard. They’re Navy guys, but some of them can’t tell right from left.
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HE SAID: “The light, that lies
In woman’s eyes,
Has been my heart’s undoing.” Thomas Moore, Irish poet
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SHE SAID: “We all have a responsibility, and since I’ve been so wonderfully blessed, I really want to share and to make life at least a little better. So every chance I get to share the gospel or uplift people, I will take full advantage of that opportunity.” Singer Gladys Knight, formerly with the Pips
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
