A blood sun, due to haze in the air in August, from Canadian forest fires. Amazingly, I was able to balance it on the tip of my hedge without the hedge burning to the ground.
As I write this, it's early September, and the last few weeks of summer is upon us. August was warm and dry, yet we have had a lot of hazy and smoky conditions because of forest fires in Central and Eastern Washington, as well as the fires up in Canada.
The Canadian fires made the air so hazy that the nearby valley walls were bluish from the smoke, and the sun was a deep orange ball as it neared sunset.
The moon was a blood moon also. Ironically, the Apocalypse didn't happen! :-)
I was able to take a few pictures of the sun when it was setting on the haziest days.
More recently, the fires in the mountains east of here blew some ash in our direction, visible on our cars and even our garbage cans.
The past few days we've had temperatures in the 70's F, and high clouds with haze. Usually we'd be in that time of year called "Indian Summer", which is when September has really nice weather. But right now it's a warm, dry, and grey period. Still -- it's not bad for us here in the PNW, if you aren't near a wildfire. And it's not like the hurricanes they are dealing with in the SE US.
Seattle, before and after. The top view is on a normal, grey day. The bottom pic was the view of the Skyline obscured by forest fire smoke.
One of my best pics of the Solar Eclipse of August 12st, using a paper plate and a dark cardboard folder.
SOLAR ECLIPSE: NOT MUCH TO SEE, BUT A LOT TO HEAR ON THE AM BAND
On August 21st we of course had the "Great American Eclipse", a solar eclipse that wasn't visible here in Seattle unless you had special glasses. Here are some pics of my attempts to see the Eclipse. It was fun, but I have to admit that Eclipse DXing the MW/AM band was a bit more productive:
My first 'pinhole Eclipse projector' was a paper plate on a paper plate -- which didn't work too well. The sun's "dot" on the plate should have had a chunk taken out of it. For some reason, the stars weren't aligned right, and it didn't work.
The sun's light was filtered, seeming like a small cloud had gone across it -- which was when I took this picture from my weight room. But as you can tell from this picture, 90% totality really doesn't make that much difference. Some people around here said it felt colder. I didn't notice a difference.
My cat really wasn't all that interested in the Eclipse. :-)
My best Eclipse shot using the pinhole Eclipse projector. Taken a few minutes after totality. A lot of people bought those 'Eclipse glasses', but I didn't necessarily trust them. I decided to try the pinhole method instead, and DX the AM band.
This shot was taken about 20-30 minutes after totality, just inside. I was trying to see if the partial Eclipse would still show up. Viewing a Solar Eclipse with a pinhole projector isn't all that dramatic, but it was still better than nothing. It was still fun.
The first Eclipse DX station I heard was KQMS 1670, Redding, California. Usually it fades out early in the morning in summer, about 7 a.m. at the latest. During the Eclipse it was audible with a talk show at 10:20 a.m. For those not in the U.S., Redding is in Northern California. It's the last major California city on the I-5 corridor before you hit the Oregon border.
My trusty Sangean PR-D5 in my workout room, picking up KQMS 1670 in Redding, California, about 700 or so miles away (around 1000 km?). I never hear it as late as 10 a.m. during the summer here. It was a definite Eclipse DX catch. Unfortunately, as the PR-D5 has no signal meter, you'll just have to take my word for it that I heard the station. :-)
Then 1660 KBRE The Bear faded up -- it is located further south, in Merced, California. They played "Limelight" by Rush.
Then I heard KBND, Bend, Oregon on 1110 kHz -- Usually they aren't audible late in the morning, so it was definitely a DX catch. So was KUMA 1290 from Pendleton in Eastern Oregon -- they usually aren't audible here during the day, even in Winter.
My best catch was KSL on 1160 kHz. Salt Lake City, Utah is about 900 miles / 1200 km away. I heard a talk show on that channel, and a mention of Utah.
All in all, it made up for not being able to actually see the Eclipse.
The following pictures are some I took over the past month, in no particular order:
Another pic of the blood moon during the hazy days of August.
A second shot I took of the blood sun balanced on top of a fir tree.
During August, we had many evenings where it was in the 70's F as late as 9 or 9:30 at night.
Haze covering the Cascade Mountain foothills, during a trip through SE King County, Washington.
A view northbound on State Highway 169 during the Canadian forest fire haze. As the air conditioning stopped working in my car, it was over 95 degrees F inside. Definitely summer!
Buckley, Washington, in early August. It used to be a railroad and lumbering town. It is located on what was the first Northern Pacific mainline across the Cascades -- the rails have long been torn up. Now Buckley is a distant bedroom community for workers in Tacoma and Seattle.
A view down the main street of Buckley. It has a very quiet atmosphere, and it is really a nice little town.
A cool looking older brick building in Buckley.
Some innertubers floating down the Cedar River in August, when the river is low and safe, and the water is warm.
Not my sentiments, of course, but somebody with a spray can was expressing themselves.
Then they added a smiley face to the wall -- you can see where other graffiti was painted over in grey, previously.
A couple kids made a sand castle at a popular river beach.
The sun glinting off the Columbia Tower in Seattle.
The haze down a suburban street during the Canadian forest fire smoke in mid-August. The hazy conditions kept the temperatures from reaching 100 degrees F, which was otherwise forecast. It only reached the mid 90's.
The haze from the forest fires made for some good sunsets after it started clearing.
A COUPLE SANGEAN PR-D5 RADIO NOTES
I've added a few notes to my article in this blog about the Sangean PR-D5 -- the power button's concave shape makes it a bit funky at times, although it always works. Sometimes when I push it on my radio I get the "Alarm" function -- I think it isn't engaging 100% and the Alarm button is probably on the same rail. I may eventually modify my radio with a rounder power button, but until then it's something I'll live with as it is working well otherwise. I still use the PR-D5 nearly every night while writing or doing stuff around the house.
I also found that an external loop antenna works well when set it in front of either of the PR-D5's speakers. The radio seems to respond very well with a loop set there. As I type this I have my Select-A-Tenna in front of my Sangean PR-D5's right speaker, and it's boosting some California and Nevada stations on 1270 (KVMI, Tulare and KBZZ, Reno).
A panorama view of the sun reflecting off the Columbia Tower in Seattle -- both of these pictures I took some time in July.
I've also included these notes (on my power button) in my PR-D5 article for future reference, as many of my blog readers seem to be MW/AM DX aficionados.I also have an article I'm working on about my latest acquisition: a Sony HD Radio I found at a thrift store.
An old pic of me playing my Kingston acoustic guitar.
9-11
As I finish this blog post, it is now 9-11. For some reason, every 9-11 brings back memories of what happened in NYC when the planes went into the World Trade Center towers. Many 9-11's I'd watch the movie "World Trade Center", and "Flight 93", both of which were excellent movies on what happened that day. I am not sure I'll get a chance to watch either movie this evening, as I will be busy with work and a neighborhood meeting.
Sometimes it's hard to believe that September 11th, 2001 was truly 16 years ago. But there ya go. I've coincidentally been reading two books roughly related to 9-11: "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, who makes several mentions of it, and was in the SEALs during that decade; and "WAR", by Sebastian Junger, a book on the experiences of the US soldiers serving in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan during the years just after 2001 when the US began military action over there. Both are very interesting books, and I especially recommend "WAR" to any American (or anyone) who is interested in what these soldiers go through. The book is a fascinating view of their lives.
Until later, dear readers, hope your September is enjoyable and safe -- especially anyone in Texas, Florida, and other areas of the Gulf region, who are suffering from the effects of two massive hurricanes.
CC 9-9-2017 and 9-11-2017.
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