After Hurricane Sandy

On the east coast, there are still places that don’t have power. There was a storm that brought snow to some areas on Wednesday and it knocked out power in some areas that had just gotten it back.
There are a lot of out of state electric utility companies around working on the lines.
I talked with someone this morning who had been in a shelter since a week ago last Tuesday. The power company had called him and told him he had power. He was on his way home after a stop at the store. Being in a shelter didn’t bother him. He had been in the US Navy during the Korean War. He was glad to be going home.
I found three pictures of fallen tress. They are not from around here or down because of the result of Sandy. They do show what it looks like around here.
There is one picture of after Sandy.
All the pictures are from Wikipedia Commons.

By. Derek Harper

By, Peter McDermott

By, Bob Jones

The last picture was taken in Walden New York on October 30, 2012  by, Daniel Case.

Jaguars, Cats Not Cars

About the only way you will see a Jaguar is in a zoo. They live mainly in South America and are hard to find. It is rare for anyone to see them.
Jaguars are the third largest of the big cats. They have short legs and tails. Their balance is superb. They have very strong jaws which means if I saw one, I would take off like  rocket.
Jaguars can roar. I don’t know if they can purr.
They are known to be by water and can swim well.

The first picture is by Us Fish and Wildlife Service.
The rest of the pictures are from Wikipedia Commons.

By, Bjoen Christian Torrissen

By, User:Cburnett

There are white Jaguars, but they are rare. I couldn’t find a public domain picture of one.
Jaguars can also be black. These are called Black Panthers.
Here are three pictures of the Black Panthers.

By Bardrock

By, LaggedOnUser

By, Bruce McAdam from Raykjavik, Iceland

We’re in Wyoming, On The Oregon Trail.

The Oregon Trail in Wyoming is 491 miles long. The half way point of the trip was at Independence Rock.
It depended on a lot of factors when the travelers would arrive in Wyoming. Early July was supposed to be best, but if things got held up, any time in July would do. The problem would be if they got into Wyoming later. The nights would start getting cold. There would be less daylight. They could run into trouble in the mountain region toward the end of the trail.
The temperature in July in Wyoming would hover around 95 degrees F. It could get hotter than that and the nights would only cool down a bit.
By now, the families would have a solid routine. They would know the others they wanted to avoid. They knew some that they would probably know for the rest of their lives.
South Wyoming is an interesting place if you are a tourist. They weren’t tourists and a lot of the high desert would have lost its charm in the heat and dust.

One thing to keep in mind is that Wyoming and Nebraska were territories and the borders were different.

The maps.

Oregon Trail Map  by, National Park Service

NASA Topographical Map with the Oregon Trail drawn by Matthew Trump, Wikipedia Commons.

Map showing the prairie grasses by US Department of agriculture. I put the asterisk on Wyoming.

Next is a modern county map of Wyoming by R. Blauert, Wikipedia Commons. I put in first letters of the major landmarks seen on the trail.

F is for Fort Laramie was a private trading post.
R is the most eastern landmark. It stands for Register Cliff. This area is where the wagon ruts are now seen by tourists.
I is for Independence Rock, It is also the half way point on the trail.
S is for the Sweetwater River and South Pass. They crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass.
G is for Green River. They crossed this river.

This is a county map of Wyoming  by, G. Blauert, Wikipedia Commons. I put the initials on it.
This is a map of the North Platte River by, background, DEMIS Mapserver and the rivers are drawn by Shannon1, Wikipedia Commons.
The trail followed this river and other rivers because they needed water. There was also grassland for the animals.

This is a modern picture of the North Platte River by, Wussel007, Wikipedia Commons.

This is a modern road map by, National Park Service and it shows a part of Wyoming and the locations of Fort Laramie and Independence Rock.
These next two pictures are paintings of Fort Laramie  from memory by Alfred Jacob Miller, 1810-1874. It was located between the Platte and Laramie Rivers.
The first is before 1840. The second is the interior of the fort in 1840. The fort changed ownership a few times in the 1840s.

This picture of the fort was taken around 1868, photographer unknown.

And a picture from modern times. Photo by, Phil Nickell, Wikipedia Commons.

This picture is an old one of Register Cliff. Photographer unknown. Some travelers scratched their names on the cliff.

This is a picture of Register Cliff by, National Park Service.

This is a National Park Service map of a part of Wyoming where wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail are located.

The next three pictures of of these wagon ruts by, National Park Service.

Next is a picture of a wagon train by, National Park Service.

This is a map of Sweetwater River and Green River. The Sweetwater River is a tributary of the North Platte River.

The next pictures are of Independence Rock.

This picture is of Devils Gate at Sweetwater River  by, National Park Service.

This is Independence Rock on the Sweetwater River  by, Department of the Interior General Land Office, US Geological Survey Territories. It was taken in 1870. It is 130 feet high and 1,900 feet long. Some travelers put their names on this rock.

This is a picture of the same area taken by William Henry Jackson, 1843-1942. I’m not sure when the photo was taken.

Another picture of Independence Rock by, National Park Service.

This is a picture of the trail at Sweetwater River  by, the Interior Department General Land Office, US Geological Survey, Territories. It was taken in 1870.

This is the marker for Oregon Trail at South Pass. It is taken by, Randy C. Bunney, Great Circle Photographics.

A picture taken  of the Oregon Trail at South Pass  by, National Park Service.

The last picture is of Green River  by, US Geological Survey.

Great Divide Basin, Wyoming

The Great Divide Basin is where the Continental Divide splits and then becomes one again.
This simple map by the US Geological Survey shows the circle in Wyoming where the Great Divide Basin is located. I drew the red arrow.

I became interested in the Great Divide River Basin because the Wyoming part of the Oregon Trail goes through it. This is a National Park Service map of the trail.

The Continental Divide splits near South Pass in the north. It is a place that the Oregon Trail passes through. This map shows South Pass  by, Matthew Trump.

This a picture, modern day, of South Pass  by NOAA.

At the split, the basin goes southeast on the left side and east on the right side.
The Oregon Trail crossed at Bridger Pass where the Great Divide Basin ends. I could not find a picture or map of this. It is in southwest Wyoming.

The Great Divide Basin is between two river watersheds. On the west side is Green River watershed. Here is a picture of it  by, G. Thomas, English Wikipedia.

On the east side is Medicine Bow River. I couldn’t find a good map of it. Here is a picture of it  by, NOAA.

The Great Divide Basin in the south, ends at Bridger Pass. It is in southwest Wyoming. I couldn’t find a good map of it. The travelers on the Oregon Trail crossed the Continental Divide here. The trail goes north west after that and then goes into South Pass.

The Great Divide Basin includes the Red Desert. The basin is high desert. Most of the water that flows into the basin evaporates. There are shallow lakes. The water stays in Wyoming with none of it flowing out of Wyoming.
There are no mountain ranges on the west or east side of the basin. This means that the west winds, which are very strong, blow across it. The land dries out in a hurry.
This is a picture of rock formations in the basin  by, MONGO, Wikipedia Commons.

The last picture gives an idea of the ground with sage brush in the Great Divide Basin. The basin is about 3,900 miles large. This picture is of wild horses in the basin  by, Bureau of Land Management.

 

 

Parakeets

Parakeets are modest sized birds that come in different colors and types. Some live in warm climates outdoors. They are gregarious. Some live indoors and happily toss stuff out of their cages.
Parakeets, if handled young, are good companions. Some will learn to talk a bit and some will look at you like you are strange, indeed when you try to teach them to talk.

All the pictures are from Wikipedia Commons.

Rose ringed Parakeets in Mumbai City  by, Rudolph A. furtado

By, Jen Smith

Rose ringed Parakeets

Plain Parakeet eating banana  by, Tieme

Blue winged Parakeet  by, Suriyakumars

By, ZoomViewer

The last picture is of a Monk Parakeet landing in a park in Brussels. There wasn’t a name of the author, but there was a name by the thumbnail and that was User: Szilas.

Red Desert, Wyoming

Red Desert is in south central Wyoming. The Oregon Trail went through a part of it. It has the largest Elk herd. It also has the largest living sand dunes.
The Red Desert is by the Continental Divide. A map by the US Geological Survey. I drew a red line around Wyoming.

Map of the US by the Environmental Protection agency. I drew the red line around Wyoming.

Randy C. Bunney, Great Circle Photographics, placed lovely pictures from the Red Desert. They are in Wikipedia Commons.

Temporary desert wetland, from rain.

Wild horse

Prairie Dog

Sandstone desert pinnacles

Pronghorn

This is a picture of Elk, taken in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming by, Apollo-Prophecy, Wikipedia Commons.

A Trumpeter Swan floating on a river in Wyoming, by, Alan Vernon, Wikipedia Commons. They are seen in the Red Desert.

Next, Muddy Water in the desert by, Sam Cox, US Department of Agriculture.

In the distance are Greater Sage Grouse by, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie.

This last picture is of Killpecker Dunes,  by, the Bureau of Land Management.

 

A Cockatiel or Two

Cockatiels that have been hand trained as babies are delightful and busy birds. They are gregarious. In nature, they live in large groups and stay together.
They play and will follow you around. They love to eat and will eat a lot of things not listed in bird care books.
Cockatiels are about 14 inches from stem to stern. They are easy to care for and do make a mess. Stuff like seed shells fly out of the cage. It is worth ever bit of effort to keep and care for a Cockatiel.

Six pictures. All from Wikipedia Commons.

By Jonrev

By Jana

By, Magalhaes

No name given

By, Jana

The last picture is by, Zandperl.

 

News From Mars, October 2012

It has been a busy time on Mars for the month of October.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity had a close look at a new rock in Endeavour Crater.
The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity had looked at a couple of rocks and done a soil sample analysis at Rock Nest.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had gotten some pictures of oddities on Mars this year. I’ll start with those.
All the images are from NASA, JPL.

This is a picture of the size comparisons, including Oppy and Curiosity.
At the top, Oppy is on the left and Curiosity is on the right.

This is an artist’s drawing of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that is orbiting Mars now.

A picture of wind blown sand.

A picture of a dust devil.

This is a picture that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took of Curiosity descending to Mars.

Opportunity has been on Mars for about nine years. She’s called Oppy.
This is an artist’s drawing of her.

This is a picture of Oppy having a close look at the rock. I don’t know the composition of the rock yet.

A self image of the new kid on the block, Curiosity.

A picture of one of the rocks at Rock Nest.

This is the soil sample lab on Curiosity.

A picture of another rock at Rock Nest.

The last picture is a scoop mark from Curiosity from getting a soil sample.

 

 

North American Continental Divide

I am going to start with two maps. The first, by USGS shows the divide in the US. The second, by nationalatlas.gov shows the different types of divides in North America.

It is called the divide because on the east side of the it, the waters flow to the Atlantic Ocean and the west side flows to the Pacific Ocean. It does get more complicated than that, but for now, I’ll stick with the basic explanation.

The pictures. WC is Wikipedia Common. NPS is National Park Service.

At Yellowstone National Park  by, Daniel Mayer, WC.

At Craig Pass, Yellowstone  by, NPS

The next picture is Triple Pass. It is near the Columbia Ice Fields in Alberta, Canada. It is an ice flow between two mountains. One side flows to the Pacific Ocean and the other to the Atlantic Ocean via Hudson Bay. The north flows to the Arctic Ocean. It is the only place in North America where this happens. The photo is by, jglazer75, WC.

This is Grays Peak in Colorado. By, Chris Keller from Boulder Colorado, USA, WC.

Next is Independence Pass, Colorado  by, Daniel Case, WC.

The next picture is pretty and I don’t know where it is, but it is by, US Bureau of Land Management.

The last four pictures are of the divide in South Pass Wyoming.

By, NPS

By, Matthew Trump, WC

By, NPS

The last picture is by William Henry Jackson, 1843-1942.

 

Hurricane Sandy, Update, New Jersey Shore

I feel such sorrow over the destruction that Hurricane Sandy brought to parts of the US east coast.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie toured the New Jersey Shore region.
I don’t have the names of the photographers for a few pictures. I am using them because they show just a bit what has happened.

President Obama greets Governor Christie at Atlantic City NJ airport. By, Larry Down, Reuters

On US Marine One, Presidential Helicopter. By, White House

From Governor Christie’s Office

By, Doug Mills, New York Times

By, Larry Down, Reuters

By, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

By, Julia Terruso, The Star Ledger, New Jersey

By, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

The last picture is by, Larry Down, Reuters.