Full Cold Moon

Last night I couldn't help but take some 15 second exposures of the landscape. The moon was really bright....You might not think so to look at it, but this photo was taken long after sunset - around 9PM central time. Also, I set the camera up to do its own sort of lunar-lander self portrait.

From Scientific American: If tonight's full moon appears larger and more luminous than usual, it's not because you're loony or due for a new pair of glasses. ( I thought it was really weird that they said that because I am a little bit loony and I am due for a new pair of glasses ) The moon, you see, orbits Earth in an ellipse with one end closer to Earth than the other; tonight's full moon corresponds closely with the orbit's perigee, the closer end of that ellipse. (The more distant end of the ellipse is known as apogee.) What's more, tonight's perigee will bring the moon and Earth closer together than they have been at full moon since 1993. That means that tonight's moon will appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the other 11 full moons this year. The full moon in December is also know as the "cold moon".

Tried another solar oven experiment this morning....this time cornbread. Decided to avoid the rising dough mishap with a recipe that didn't require it. Cooked like a charm in just over 2 hours. Had time left over to do a load of laundry, come home and hang it to dry, and deliver my second solar baking sample to a few lucky Terlinguites.

Full Moon

Not a whole lot happened today...nothing really accomplished in the big scheme of things. I'm a bit over being swamped in since Tuesday. Patched my driveway where the water runs across - found a big puddle where the desert frogs must have been busy lately during the recent rains. Tadpoles galore swimming around. Cleaned up around the battery house project then took a drive in the dune buggy to check my road. Still really bad in the worst spot. Came back home and called my friend Chuck to meet me at the Ranch Supply Store with my rechargeable tool batteries I left at his place. Decided it was a good time to try one of my contingency plans - so drove the truck 2 good miles of my road then rode my bike from there to the store...picked up some ice and my batteries and charger from Chuck then headed home. I need another good dry day to firm up the road. Will probably wait till Tuesday to do my shopping run to Alpine as I got enough to do to keep me busy tomorrow ( unlike today ). Beautiful full moon rise as I cooked some more flour tortillas. Its gonna be a bright night tonight.