International space station, rowers, first snow

Rowing

It was +4°C at 11am when we headed into town for groceries and birdseed. The rowing regatta had started on our lake. I can’t imagine how cold they must have been.  There were 110 rowers expected from 5 universities.

This girl in the front of this boat is in her bare arms!

The fetal position makes more sense!

The wind was strong and gusty from the west, which was really lucky for the rowers because our regular wind pattern would have resulted in big waves on our lake.

Honestly I have no idea how the rowing match works. They seemed to be waiting for their ‘GO!’.  I heard someone talking a lot on a megaphone.  I heard ‘4 MINUTES’ but I could see boats with 1 person in them, 2 people, and 4, all out on the lake waiting to go.

It rained on us on the drive into town, and then it turned to SNOW for awhile!  Those rowers are tough!

I’m guessing the postponed some of the races until late this afternoon. I was outside wandering around the yard. The wind was gone, but it was a cold crisp air, with the wonderful smell of wood burning chimney smoke in the air.  It was the kind of crisp night where I could clearly hear people talking in their boat on the lake, but I couldn’t see much from our lawn (too many trees in the way) and they were using the north end of the lake.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

I just saw someone tweet the time the International Space Station was going to be visible in PEI so I looked up our area ( 2 minutes after PEI) and then we ran outside to watch.

We saw a falling star first, and right on schedule, we saw the International Space Station pass by on part of the western sky.

If you want to know what time the International Space Station is visible in your area, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=Canada

We use the new front deck for star gazing far more than we ever had while living here. Only annoyance is the yard light, but it is off to the side and you can train your eyes to ignore it.  Sometime we can hear the yelp of coyotes in the hills.  I haven’t heard the loons for a month or more.

It is going down to 1°C tonight!  I rescued a cucumber from the garden, but it probably already got frosted last night.