We must have a flock of Robins wintering nearby....20 or so finding something in our artificial lawn....under a crab apple tree. So pudgy and cute. We had to quit feeding...neighbor cat kept leaving his 'kills' on our patio or porch as a thank you....no thanks. He is a skilled hunter, more than one a day.

An Airglow Fan from Lake to Sky Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Lane; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt Explanation: Why would the sky look like a giant fan? Airglow. The featured intermittent green glow appeared to rise from a lake through the arch of our Milky Way Galaxy, as captured last summer next toBryce Canyon in Utah, USA. The unusual pattern was created by atmospheric gravity waves, ripples of alternating air pressure that can grow with height as the air thins, in this case about 90 kilometers up. Unlike auroras powered by collisions with energetic charged particles and seen at high latitudes, airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light in a chemical reaction. More typically seen near the horizon, airglow keeps the night sky from ever being completely dark.

Posted this several years ago. The print was a gift . It is framed and hanging in my 'animal' room. How many animals can you pick out. Click on the pic to enlarge.

There are 3 domes in Mitchel Park: Desert, Temperate, and Tropical. The orchids are grown in the tropical dome. Sadly, these domes are ageing and in peril. A couple of years ago, some pieces of concrete fell and it is almost impossible to repair, and the cost is beyond present day budget. One option was to remove these domes. Structurally, these fully glass pained geodesic domes are in no danger of collapsing, but falling chunks of concrete is a hazard. As a stop gap measure, metal mesh nets were installed and who knows how long these domes can be kept open. I haven't been there since these nets were installed, but I can't envision those nets helping appearance. These nets will reduce light admittance a bit.