October 22, 2006

Friend Dobie Update

Our friend Dobie finally won his long-running lawsuit about 6 weeks ago. I'm very happy for him; I never thought the day would come. He got a good sized settlement and some property. He's in the process of moving to the little town way south of San Antonio where the ranch and house he inherited are. We've seen both and the house is in fair shape but needs work. The ranch is covered with cactus and scrub, but it has it's own kind of charm.









We were there in the evening and as it got dark, I was amazed at how many stars were visible in the clear sky. I remembered when I was a kid, before there were any light visible from the hill we lived on, how many stars I could see. I've resolved to go back to Dobie's ranch during some meteor shower so that I can watch. There's one this weekend*, but he's traveling so I wasn't able to go. I suspect there will be another sometime though.

*The Orionids meteor shower, obviously named after Orion from whence they radiate, tend to be fast but relatively faint meteors, peaking at perhaps 20 per hour at maximum. The time of peak comes well after sunrise, but avid meteor watchers can look before dawn. The radiant of the shower is to the upper left of Betelgeuse, not far from the star Alhena at one of Gemini's feet.

2 comments:

Margo said...

Congrats to Dobie!

The one this weekend should be visible everywhere? I've never seen a meteor shower.

DarrellH said...

It should have been visible, but it was cloudy here...Doh!