Easy Easter Basket is Pixel Approved

I made about two dozen Easter baskets this week. I made them for our grand kids, Asa and Emmett and for the seniors at the senior center where I work. The pattern was online and it is very clever and so easy and economical, too. They're made of heavy cardboard, I used poster board, and after cutting, folding and gluing,they are pretty and fairly sturdy.

I made a bunch of them last weekend and finished up the rest today. Pixel the kitty "helped me" and she only increased production time a small amount. She is a sweet old kitty and I indulge her. When we were done, I put the baskets on the dining room table to allow the glue to dry and then went on to other things.

I don't know how long Pixel was involved in basket craft but an hour or so later, I found her sprawled out on the table, wearing one of the pink baskets around her middle. She was kind of grumpy with me as I photographed her fashion statement. I thought she looked quite stylish but she only wanted out.

I suppose we should keep Pixel off the tables. It might not be a big issue for a while since she is a little afraid of the dining room table now. It is the scene of the basketing and she remembers.

If you, or your cat, would like to make a basket, click here.

Mercury and Venus in the Early Evening Sky

Mercury and Venus appear in the western sky in the very early evening from now until about April 15Th. The best time to see them is about 30 minutes after sunset. Look for Venus first as it is the far brighter of the two and once you find it you will be able to use it to home in on Mercury, which is lower in the sky but quite close.

First find Venus. It will be about one hand span up from the horizon. Face to the west, extend your arm as if you are pointing, spread your fingers and put your thumb at the horizon - Venus should be at the level of your little finger. The planet will be a steady, bright light. Planets don't twinkle as much as stars.

Mercury is harder to find but will be below and to the right of Venus. Be patient. As the sky darkens it will be easier to see. A pair of good binoculars would make it easier to see but it is visible with the naked eye. Finding it the first time is the hard part, once you've located it you will probably be able to find it again.

Mercury will be waning from gibbous to crescent stage over the viewing period but if you are looking with the naked eye, you won't be able to see that. The planet will just appear to be a small steady light. Bring out even a small telescope and you'll see Mercury in ever smaller slices as the month passes.

Mercury is not a common sight in the sky for those of us in the mid-northern United States and is hard to spot so this Venus/Mercury pairing is a great opportunity to see it.

Incidentally, a hand span equals approximately 15 degrees of the sky. That's true no matter how big or how little you are due to the relationship between the length of your arm and the size of your hand. Also,the tip of your little fingernail is about the width of the full moon, which is one half degree. Try it, it's a neat trick.

We have had to drive out to a more open area to view the two planets. Our tree lined corner has no horizon to speak of and the city light glow would probably wash out Mercury even if we could see that low. The first attempt we made was a bit early in the month so only Venus was visible but last night, Bob went out by himself and saw both of the planets. I was busy with an Easter project so I stayed in but before the event is over, I hope to see them, too.

I hope you have clear weather and a good spot for viewing.

The above images are Mercury on the top and Venus on the bottom. They are courtesy of WPCLipart.

Eastern Bluebird Sighting

Bob and I saw an Eastern Bluebird on Wednesday! It was at Oakwood Cemetery near the woods and it was unmistakable. I saw it first, while it was flying, and thought it was the blue-est Blue Jay I had ever seen. Then it landed on a tree limb and I saw the rosy color on its breast. No crest, either.

It sat in the tree for a while and we both got a good look at it. I have been hoping to see an Eastern Bluebird since I was a young girl. There was a movement back then to try to entice them to nest in boxes on posts near the river where I lived. I always watched to see one, but I never did.

We went back to the cemetery on Thursday armed with binoculars - well, Bob's is a binocular, mine is a monocular Bob made from a half ruined binocular since I only have one eye, anyway - but it was windy and we saw nothing but sparrows and robins.

Vegetable Slicer with Attitude

Bob sharpened a very scary tool today. It is an old slicer for vegetables that sits on an angle over a bowl or chopping board. The design is simple and clever - if you don't value your digits. The blade has no guard and considering the force you have to use to slice a vegetable, disaster is only a swipe away.

I sliced a carrot with the thing without incident but I feel I may have used up my luck for a while so I am proceeding with caution for the next few days.

Tom, the guy who owns said device, was thrilled to have found it and says he has used one like it to cut cabbage. Well, if I was using it I am afraid the cabbage would swiftly become red cabbage.

Now a days, there are guards on everything, sometimes to the point that it is hard to use the item for its intended purpose. And everything has a warning label. Like, the child's pool we bought that said, "Use no electric in pool or a damage may arise." Darn, they spoiled all our electrical fun.

I really think the slicer needs a warning label, though. Maybe, Don't Use this Device, or Buy a Food Processor.

Time is Short

"...a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought of as a child." - Albert Einstein

My childhood thoughts about space and time only involved conflict with my sisters over closet space and annoyance that it was always time to do something I didn't want to do. I guess Einstein's childhood thoughts were different than mine. What a surprise.

I don't know if you heard but the days are shorter this week than they have been in the recent past. That's because of the earthquake in Chile. It seems the quake made the earth smaller around the middle (why can't I achieve that?) so it spins faster, thus the shorter day. Well, it is just a little teeny fraction shorter but I think we might miss the time.

I have heard that the most often used word in the English language, other than articles like a, and and the, is "time." I think that shows just how important the loss of even a little time will be. I know I never have time to do all the things I want to do and now...

What do we know about time, anyway? We seem to move through it and it seems to be a one way traffic kind of thing, but is it? Einstein's theory says that when we travel by air, we age more slowly than those we leave on the ground and if we were able to travel at the speed of light we wouldn't age at all. What a peculiar life that would be. I don't think I'd want to live forever if it involved perpetual airline food. In fact, I think that might end your life even without the time factor.

Then there is time travel. It seems attractive but is fraught with difficulties as any science fiction writer can tell you. We'd surely mess up something important while trouping through the past and what would we be likely to find in the future? Just a place where we don't exist anymore and that would be upsetting since most of us are convinced the world can't do without us.

Then there is the theory that we are living in one dimension which is right up against many other dimensions that feature slightly different versions of our reality, like a series of reflections in a mirror with minute changes in each reflection until by the last one you can see, big things are different. Some scientists think near misses in our dimension affect the next one. If you believed that, every day life would be kind of tense. Suddenly, the near accident you felt lucky to have missed has caused your other dimension selves pain. I'm not sure how this theory meshes with time theory, or if it does, but it sounds like it could be a bad time all around.

What thoughts do you have on time, or do you think it's better to save the time you'd spend thinking about it for other pursuits?