Amara Graps wrote:
>
> hal@finney.org: Sun Nov 18, 2001
>
> >It was a crazy night; I would never have dreamed that you would see
> >that kind of traffic on those twisty mountain roads at 2 in the
> >morning. I'm glad we got to see the Leonids, but I don't think I
> >would do it again.
>
> Still it warms my heart to know that so many people went to see it.
> Astronomy events like the Shoemaker-Levy-9 impact, comet Hale-Bopp,
> the '99 total solar eclipse, the Leonids, etc. gets people out and
> *looking up*. Very important. It's nice feedback for astronomers too,
> to see that nonastronomers are interested in astronomy.
I was at deer hunting camp, the last night of the trip. Since the
outhouse is outside, of course (;)), the 5 am bladder call reminded me
to get up and get outside in time to catch the show. Stumbled in the
dark for the flashlight to find the door, shuffled out onto the back
porch to drop trou and give a tree stump a golden shower. I stood there
relieving myself as a cow moose stood 40 feet away in the dark in the
middle of the road, and looked up, watching the glittering sparkles, the
cosmic diamonds streak their way across the sky. How about that, two
showers at the same time! Luckily old Leo had more business to do than
I, so I could stay there and watch without further distraction for a
while longer. The moose snorted at the sky and crashed off into the
woods, undoubtedly pursuing more tasty fill down in the swamp. The only
other sounds were the hoots of a screech owl and the distant roar of the
Swift Diamond River.
The pine marten that hangs around camp had done one too many raids on
the garbage can and bought it the day before from a quarter ounce lead
shot injection, so he wasn't around to scold me for interfering with his
midnight ventures to the cesspit for toilet paper to line his den for
the winter. (the pine marten is a large cousin of the weasel)
My cousin, Drew, the geologist I've spoken of occasionally who has been
to Antarctica and dreams of being on a Mars mission some day, came out a
little bit later. I went inside, as this flu I picked up last wednesday
annoys me in the cold.
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