Alpacas

Alpacas are considered domesticated herd animals. I have seen a group of alpacas around this area. This would be called an alpaca farm.
Alpacas are known for their fleece. It is made into yarn. Scarves, blankets and such items are made from it, like wool is used.
I was told that llamas spit, but not alpacas. I read that alpacas spit. If I’m ever around alpacas, I’m not taking any chances. I will keep my distance. If you ever get spit upon by a llama, camel or alpaca, you won’t forget it. It stinks.

All the pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

The first picture is of alpaca wool  by, Damast.

By, mitchm.

An unshorn alpaca  by Johann Dreo from Chateau-Thierry, France.

By Margoz.

By Phillipe Lavole.

By, Christophe Meneboerf.

Rose Hill Farm in the state of Ohio  by, Brian0918This last picture is by Notnoisy.

Canadian Rockies

If you get to go anywhere in the Canadian Rockies, you will be in for a wondrous. You will be seeing majestic panoramas. These mountain ranges and lakes make me wonder about how the Earth has so many beautiful places.

The pictures are from Wikipedia Commons. I will label those that aren’t.

The Maps.

This is a map showing North America  by, Bosonic dressing.

This map is based on a USGS background. The relief map of the Canadian Rockies was done by Oyn.

This is a satellite image of North America by NASA.

Selwyn Range in the Canadian Rockies  by, Rufus Hawthorne.

Ringrose Peak. The only name of found was a user name and that is Geoffl.

The glacier at Lake Louisein  by, Harvey Berrison.

Also by Harvey Barrison, Lake Louise. It’s the same lake as above, but with the English name.

Mount Robson  by, Michael Konen.

Lake O’Hara  by, John Johnson.

This last picture is of Berg Lake  by, Olivier pilot.

 

 

 

 

Pitcher Plants, Insects Beware

It just started snowing here. It should be going from snow, to sleet to rain. A sloppy day.

There are a lot of different kinds of Pitcher plants. They look different from each other. One thing the have in common is that they attract insect and have them for dinner. The insects don’t have a chance once they are close to the plant.

I found pictures to show how some of the plants look. The pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

By, Eric Guinther.

By, arpingstone.

By, Cleo Mario Sialongo.

By, Barbara Page.

By, JerimiahsCPs.

By, Benjamin Evans.

By, NOAA.

This last picture is by, David Eikhoff.

Wintry, Sunday, January 27, 2013

Tomorrow we are supposed to get that they call a wintry mix in the morning. That is a mixture of sleet, snow and could have some freezing rain. It will go over the freezing mark and turn to all rain in the afternoon.
I found some pictures of wintry scenes at national parks and from a national forest. They are from the month of January, this year.

The Map.
US map of the states by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It’s a good thing that these national parks in big states, because you can see the abbreviations for the state names. I’ll say what state each park is in, so you can see it’s location.

In the labels, I’ll use NPS for National Park Service.

The first picture was taken in the Arches National Park. The picture was taken by NPS. The park is in Utah (UT). Utah is turquoise a couple of states up from the bottom of the map.

This sunset was seen at Carson National Forest, US Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture in the state of New Mexico (NM). the picture was taken by the US FS USDA. On the map, New Mexico is aqua and is on the leftish side at the bottom.

They had visitors and could see the tracks in the snow at Canyon Lands National Park. The picture was taken by NPS. This park is in Montana (MT). On the map, Montana is medium blue, at the top and a bit to the left.

This picture was taken by NPS in Lava Beds National Park in California (CA). California is way over on the left and is lime green.

Also in California, these two pictures were taken by NPS in Joshua Tree National Park. They wrote that is was unusual to have this much fog there in January. The second picture was taken on Ryan Mountain.

Here is a picture taken in Pacific Island National Park in Hawaii (HI) by NPS. Hawaii is in the box at the bottom of the map and is purple. It has those little islands. This picture was taken on January 1, 2013.

This picture is from Canada Parks and it is not on the map.

The last three pictures were taken in Denali National Park by NPS. The park is in Alaska (AK). Alaska is in the left box at the bottom of the map and is greenish.

 

 

 

 

January 26, 2013, In Memory of Robert Studley Forrest Hughes

Australia Day is on January 26 and dates back to when the First Fleet left England in 1787. It’s like the United States celebration of July 4th.
Robert Hughes wrote the book, The Fatal Shore, a history of British settlement in Australia.
He was born on July 28, 1938 in Australia and died on August 6, 2012 in Manhattan, New York.
I thought that showing pictures of where the First Fleet landed and all that would be boring. I chose to show pictures of the Taronga Zoo animals in Sydney, Australia. I follow the zoo on Twitter and recently they had a tweet with a link to their new Zebra youngster. That’s what gave me the idea to show just a small portion of the zoo.

All of the pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

The Maps.
The first map is a map of the world by, Cantuckguy along with others. I drew a blue arrow to show the continent of Australia.

The second map shows Australia. I drew the pink circle showing the location of Sydney. I didn’t find a map with larger text. I can’t upload the large version of this map because it won’t upload. This map is by, Thomas Steiner.

This is the main Entrance of Toronga Zoo  by, Lory Jane.

This is a view of Sydney Harbor from the Toronga Zoo  by, Richard Ling.

This picture is a delightful composition. The two animals are Giraffes  by, Jan Derk.

Two Dingos  by, Bill Gieson.

Two Kangaroos  by, Ignacio Catalina.

Also by Ignacio Catalina, a sleeping Koala.

Two elephants, mother and child  by, Calistermon.

A female Black Cockatoo  by, Brenda Clark.

An Alsterus Scapularis  by, Andy.

This last picture is of the 3 month old Zebra, taken by the Taronga Zoo.

 

 

 

 

 

Borrowing Owls, Look Down to See One

Borrowing owls are small. They are about 7.5 inches to 11 inches. A regular size of printer paper is 8 1/2 inches wide and 11 inches long. The length of the owl includes the tail feathers. The wing span is about 20 to 24 inches wide. They weigh about 4.9 to 8 1/2 ounces. A pound is 16 ounces. Their legs are long.
They get their name from the fact that they dig holes or find hollows in the ground, like little caves. They live in open, dry areas with not much ground cover. They are in grasslands.
Burrowing owls eat a variety of food. They aren’t fussy. They like Dung Beetles. The owls will stock up on trash near their burrows to attract the beetles.
Dung beetles roll dung into balls and push them. The Egyptians had a legend that the dung beetle was pushing the sun across the sky. As it turns out, they weren’t wrong, in a sense. The dung beetle navigates at night by using the stars in the Milky Way.
I am not showing a picture of a dung beetle. You are on your own. I am not fond of how they look and oh, ick.

All pictures are from Wikimedia Commons. Pictures labeled with Wikipedia are also in Wikipedia Commons.

The Map. This map was done by, Minzinho. The yellow areas are summer breeding grounds. The green areas are resident breeding areas. The blue areas are non breeding areas.

Burrowing owls have excellent camouflage. They blend into the ground and are hard to see.
This picture by Mr. Snrub, English Wikipedia, is a good example. I cropped this picture because a small size made the little owl impossible to see at all.

The owl is over to the right, mid way up from the bottom of the picture. If you were walking by, he would silently watch you and you wouldn’t even know he was there.

By, MONGO.

By, Dori.

By, Gloxfan, English Wikipedia.

By, travelwayoflife.

A young owl  by, Adamantios.

This last picture is of a family of owls  by, Jose Reynaldo da Franseco.

 

 

Tracking Data Relay Satellite – K, Third Generation, First Grand Daughter

GSFC stands for Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Tracking Data Relay Satellite – K, TDRS – K is going to launch on January 30, Universal Time. It will be January 29 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There’s a 40 minute window to launch her to get her into the right orbit. TDRS -K is the first grand daughter to go into orbit.
TDRS is a communications satellite for NASA. The first generation started orbiting the Earth in 1983. It will be retired completely in 2015.
There is a second generation up there as well.
The TDRS program is continuous and gets more sophisticated with each generation. There is more than one satellite in generations 1 and 2. This one is the first of generation 3 and 2 others are planned to join her.
Information sent from NASA spacecraft like Voyager2, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity And the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, travel to the communication satellites and then it is sent to receivers on Earth. That is the really simple version of what happens. It’s a lot more complicated that this, but at that point, I’d be in over my head.

The pictures in the lab of TDRS -K are from Boeing, the maker of the satellite. The others are from NASA.

This is a picture of the first generation communications satellite.

This is a picture of generation 2.

Here are two diagrams to give an idea of where the satellites are, above the Earth.

Here are two pictures of the antenna, in the lab.

These are two pictures of TDRS – K folded, in the lab. The first is during a fitness test.

The Atlas V 401, will put the satellite into orbit.

This is a diagram of the Atlas V from Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing are together in a company called United Launch Alliance. At first, when I saw the United name on photos, I was confused.

These are two pictures of the  Atlas V 402 rocket first stage being transported and then being into the launch frame at Cape Canaveral. The first stage lifts the payload off the ground and into the Earth’s atmosphere.

This is the second stage of Atlas V, called Centaur, being put into place in the frame. This powers the payload in the right direction to go into orbit.

The next three pictures are of the TDRS – K inside the capsule. The capsule is closed and placed on top of the second stage, in the frame.

The last two pictures ore artists drawings of TDRS – K above the Earth. After the launch, I will post pictures of the launch. The grand daughter will be in orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Effect Snow, Great Lakes, US

Erie Pennsylvania has been have a record amount of snow lately. The Lake that the snow is coming off of is Lake Erie.

All of the pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

A map of the Great Lakes region in the US  by, Phizzy.

These are two diagrams explaining lake effect snow. The first is by Andreas 06. The second is by, Tomsulcer.

These are three satellite images by NASA. The first is the Great Lakes. The second shows past snow at the Great Lakes. The third is Lake Erie.

This is from NOAA. It is Lake Erie, January 22 2013.

This is a past picture of Lake Erie  by, GandZ.

This is a picture of Buffalo, New York in 2001. They got 82.3 inches of snow that year from December 24 to December 28. It is by, Mockba2 1999, English Wikipedia.

The last picture is of Fulton, New York in 2001. They got 4 feet of snow between January 28 and January 31. It is by William Sutherland.

 

Seashells

Seashells are homes to sea animals and they are also works of art. There are so many different kinds of shells that you couldn’t get tired at looking at them.
I picked pictures of shells on sand, in nature, rather than on display. All the pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

By, Alessio Sbararo.

By Martins, Tito.

By, JDavid.

The next two pictures are by Wilfredor.

By, Andy Cowley.

By, Goatchurch.

This last picture is by, Graham Saunders, taken in Scotland. It is the same kind of shell as the picture above. The shell is called Flame Shell.

 

Go NASA, Inauguration Day 2013

Today at noon, President Barack Obama will take the oath of office for his second term. The Official Inauguration Day is January 20, 2013. President Obama was sworn in at a private ceremony at the White House. It is the public ceremony and parade that are held today.

Today is also the day of remembrance of the birthday of Reverend Martin Luther King Junior.
Reverend King gave a speech at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. The event was called the March on Washington. The speech is now called the I have a dream speech.

The two pictures were taken by unknown authors.

This is a picture of Barack Obama giving his Inaugural speech in 2009  by,department of Defense Master Sgt. Thomas Meneguin, US Air Force.

This is a picture from the Inauguration Day 2009 Parade of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama  by, Petty Officer First Class Chad. J. McNeeley, US Navy.

This is a picture of the National Mall taken by the International Space Station on January 20, 2013.

This is a picture of the National Mall when it is empty  by, Agnosticpreacherkid, Wikimedia Commons.

This year, NASA has a replica of Mars Science Laboratory in the parade  by, NASA

This is a picture of getting the replica ready  by, NASA.

The Orion manned Spacecraft which is being built, is also in the parade. This is a replica  by, NASA.

This is a NASA drawing of what the Orion Spacecraft will look like in space.

This last picture is a composite image made up of a lot of images for a self-portrait  by, Curiosity.