Good Day to Fly!

A friend of mine invited me to take a spin with him in his Cessna 182. About noon the fog lifted enough to take off. What a beautiful day it was at 10,000 ft. Gordon uses his plane for business purposes. I'm still trying to figure out the business part of the trip??

Gordon Nielson and I climbing out over Pocatello.

Scout Mountain

Our local ski resort "Pebble Creek"

Self portrait using the mirror used to check the landing gear

Can you see Kennedy waiving?

Gordon doing his thing

Snake River near American Falls Reservoir

Final approach on Runway 3, Pocatello Regional Airport

Gordon and his Skylane!

Super Bowl Party

This year we had late meetings and I had finances to do after church. Marilyn and the kids surprised me with dinner and treats all set up downstairs for a "Super Bowl Party" when I got home. Did I say DVR rules!!

When halftime neared and you were prompted to get your 3-D glasses ready, I was totally surprised that Kennedy had the glasses and was ready for action.

The family was split between cheering for Arizona and Pittsburgh. I found myself cheering for players I had on my fantasy team (Warner and Fitzgerald). Its strange how fantasy sports has changed the way I view games even after the fantasy season is over.

3-D action while watching the Super Bowl

Madison's knee surgery!

A couple of years ago, Madison dislocated her kneecap while doing a round-off back handspring during her tumbling class. She has gone through a few rounds of physical therapy and cortisone shots with no success. After a few years of pain and inflammation, we decided it was time to try surgery. For Christmas, Madison got a big fat lump of coal and some love from Dr Wathne on December 29th.

LouAnn Smith (from our Ward) was Madison's pre-op nurse. Here she is putting in Madison's IV.

Making sure we get the right knee, Madison gets to say "yes" and put her initials on it. Note the scar from a fall "up the stairs" at school!

Everyone is now ready!

Post operation pictures. Ouch! Lots of swelling and bruising. This was taken four days after surgery.

Madison says this hurts! I Can't say I disagree.......

Feeling a little better after getting up and around.

Tepee Time Gal II

A second installment with more pictures. I finally located my soft copy of dad's crew picture. I have also found a few more pictures of Tepee Time Gal.

Dad's Crew

Back Row (L to R): Donald J. Anderton (Dad), Harold Syverson, William Hulen, Everet Gustafson

Front Row (L to R): Gordon Webber, Virgil Froussard, Donald Shores, Gabriel Lahiere, Herb Simon, John Sims

Tepee Time Gal undergoing some heavy maintenance. Late winter 1945

Tepee Time Gal doing her thing

The starboard side of Tepee Time Gal.

Tepee Time early in her career

Earthrise at Christmas!

As a young boy, I was captivated by the Apollo program and the quest to put a man on the moon. Forty years ago this Christmas, a turbulent world looked to the heavens for a unique view of our home planet. This photo of "Earthrise" over the lunar horizon was taken by the Apollo 8 crew in December 1968, showing Earth for the first time as it appears from deep space. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders had become the first humans to leave Earth orbit, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. In a historic live broadcast that night, the crew took turns reading from the Book of Genesis, closing with a holiday wish from Commander Borman: "We close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you -- all of you on the good Earth."

Follow the link below to read a nice article about this event:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/30/apollo-8-mission/print


Merry Christmas to all!

We are not alone!

A few weeks ago a pretty significant event happened in the "world" of astronomy. For the past few years, scientists have detected the presence of planets orbiting distant stars. This was achieved by using different techniques such as variation of the stars brightness as a planet passes in front of the star or a slight wobble of a star as planets tug at its star because of the laws of gravity.

The "significant event"! An actual picture of one of those planets orbiting a neighboring star......

All I can say is we are not alone!!!

Here is the star Formalhaut with its planet

The planet has an orbital period of about 650 years. The ring you see in the picture is a ring of dust rock and other debris similar to what you would find between Mars and Jupiter. Formalhaut is blocked out by a filter.

Follow this link for a little more information:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1208707/planet_formalhaut_b_imaged_by_hubble.html?cat=15

Spectacular Conjunction

On November 30th and December 1, 2008, one of the best "visible" conjunctions of the year took place.

On November 30th a 10% crescent Moon joined Venus and Jupiter in the western sky.

December 1st was the best night of all. The now-15% crescent Moon moves in closer to form an isosceles triangle with Venus and Jupiter as opposing vertices (See Dec 1 sky chart below). The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together, you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length.

I had been waiting for quite some time for this event and was eager to try my hand and some astrophotograpy. I didn't have very good cooperation from the weather. It was cloudy and the wind making it difficult to keep the camera steady longer exposure times (> 1 sec) .

Sky Chart for November 30th.

November 30th with Venus and Jupiter. The Moon is just setting behind the clouds on the bottom. I didn't have any time to capture the moon before it set due to the clouds. You may have to enlarge the picture to see detail.

Interesting picture of Venus and Jupiter taken the night of November 30th. The clouds on top were over Pocatello with the sky glow reflecting on the clouds. The clouds on the bottom where hanging over the hills west of Pocatello. If you look real close, you can see the blur of the star trails due to a 15 second exposure.

The sky chart for December 30th

December 1, 2008. You will probably need to enlarge the photo to see Venus and Jupiter.

Just to give a perspective on how close they were together. As pointed out earlier, you could cover all three with your thumb at arms length. Photo was over exposed to better see the planets.