Saved by the Bill

It’s funny when you run dry of ideas for a blog and someone comes along with a really good one. I was trying to figure out how to write about how in order to feed one of our old horses (36 years, going on 37) (more on that later*) I have to wade through ground squirrels in the round pen. Seems she is such a slow eater the squirrels jump up into the feeder and help themselves. Once when I was caring for another ancient equine he had a ground-level feeder and fourteen squirrels to contend with!

Anyway, I don’t have pictures of these squirrels and talking about them will make most readers yawn and go back to solitaire or something that might even take thought. So here comes neighbor Bill with a link to a really cool picture. You never know what you’re going to find out there in that ol’ universe, do ya? This bubble was discovered by an amateur astronomer in California, and last week another amateur in Australia discovered the spot on Jupiter caused by something smacking into the planet. Nearly every new comet and earth-threatening asteroid is discovered by a network of amateurs around the world.

*As for “36, going on 37,” where does that goofy expression come from? Of course someone is in the process of moving forward in time. So why not “36 going on 95”? Take a risk! Try to predict the date of demise. Make it interesting, like solitaire.

Photograph: T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF