Today is the last day of Venus in retrograde. If you’ve been having issues with relationships, beauty, love, money, and values over the past six weeks, things should start to change. The moon and Venus rose close to the same time this morning, and the owls were in Susan’s tree having a bit of hanky panky at the first light of dawn. I noticed overly excited, simultaneous hooting, saw a lot of flapping of wings in my peripheral vision on Susan’s tree, looked over, and got a photo of the last wing flap before the male flew off, leaving the female to watch the dawn.
Although it will be Monday before the moon does not pass the meridian, the Wolf Moon starts today. A lavender circle catches the echoes from the collective howls of wolves around the world as they become active searching for food, looking for mates, and preparing to breed under the Hunger Moon in February.
I was thinking we were going to have a sky full of colorful clouds at sunset, but as the sun went down the clouds above the lines of clouds disappeared and most of the color was trapped under and between the lines of clouds.
With all the hoopla about Omicron, we must not forget about other diseases that run amok like Space Herpes (you can learn more about space herpes at https://news.sky.com/story/nasa-issues-space-herpes-warning-as-virus-reactivates-in-astronauts-11669335). I brought Space Herpes to the attention of OC&NE readers in March of 2020. While the video I put together in 2020 was decent, the parody, which I originally recorded in 2018, was really bloody awful. I completely redid the music and recorded new vocals between a dentist appointment at dawn and shopping for ingredients for New Year’s black-eyed peas in the afternoon. The parody is now a much better PSA. Lyrics are at the end of the post.
1st photo: Dawn from the dentist’s office. 2nd photo: Moon peeking through the clouds at the dentist’s office. 3rd photo: Sunrise through the bedroom window by Laurie.
Sasha showing us her belly. I don’t think your allergies are space herpes, Sasha.
Sunset from the grocery store parking lot. I thought I was going to miss sunset tonight, but the painter made sure we got a good showing from the store. She didn’t want to disappoint Marina. Marina doesn’t need withdrawals from her daily OD on New Mexico’s Naturaleza at the end of the year.
Space Herpes Music: Deep Purple Lyrics: Timothy Price
Well we lip-locked with the Vals on Venus We were making out a lot on Mars We’re smooching with the groovy aliens Kissed across the universe afar
We messed around with Borealis We got space herpes from the stars
Oh no oh no oh no we got space herpes oh no oh no oh no space herpes
Remember when we kissed the moon rocks Swinging around the Milky Way We found Uranus was a rude shock Pluto doesn’t see the light of day
We’re messin’ round in the solar system And got space herpes along the way
Oh no oh no oh no we got space herpes oh no oh no oh no space herpes
The Fireball we drank was burning And now we have a new routine Yeah yeah yeah yeah Marline said They can kiss, but they cannot sing
We’re messin’ round in the solar system Swinging around the Milky Way We messed around with Borealis Got space herpes every day
Oh no oh no oh no we got space herpes oh no oh no oh no space herpes
Oh no oh no oh no we got space herpes oh no oh no oh no space herpes
The cranes were flying in and landing on the Rio Grande in bunches. Click on photos to enlarge them.
These are not technically Fire Rainbows (very rare) because we are below 55º north latitude, and the sun was much lower than 58º above the horizon as the sun was setting. However, the clouds were cirrus, and they obviously had ice crystals acting like prisms refracting sunlight and creating a firey rainbow effect. They are probably run-of-the-mill rainbow clouds.
Owls in a cottonwood hooting after sunset. I increased the exposure by three stops to get a little detail in the owl on the left. It’s really hard to see the owl on the right in the first photo.
Sunrise and a crescent moon peeking through the clouds.
Pink clouds make a halo around the Tangle Heart Tree.
Off Center & Not Even 