Author: Jon Moss
Beeline to Beehive
I received the alert from my calendar ten minutes before five o’clock Wednesday morning. I wanted to make sure I woke up early enough to have dark skies (well, as dark as they get in my neck of the woods) to observe the Beehive Cluster aligned with Venus and the waning Moon. I planned ahead and had all my equipment ready to go before I went to bed Tuesday night. I subscribe to several astronomy related RSS feeds and always review Astronomy.com‘s “The Sky This Week” as soon as it’s updated to make sure I mark my calendar for interesting observation events. The following is an excerpt from this week’s article:
Wednesday, September 12: If you enjoy seeing spectacular celestial alignments, this is the morning for you. A waning crescent Moon stands 4° southwest of brilliant Venus before dawn while the planet resides 3° southwest of the Beehive star cluster (M44). Although the scene will be lovely with naked eyes under a dark sky, binoculars will deliver the best views. To see the Beehive clearly, you’ll need to observe before twilight begins around 5 a.m. local daylight time. The Moon and Venus remain stunning until about 15 minutes before the Sun rises (from Astronomy.com‘s “Sky This Week” article).
A few stray small puffy clouds drifted around the night sky. A slight breeze blew in from the south or southwest, but my house sheltered the driveway where I setup the tripod and camera. I could not see any of the stars in the constellation Cancer with my naked eye. I live less than ten miles due west, as a bird flies, from the Kansas City International Airport, and the rest of Kansas City sprawls continuously south along the eastern horizon down to the southeast quadrant. Seeing anything faint below 20 degrees above the horizon is not easily accomplished.
With my binoculars, I could see the stars that make up Cancer, and I could clearly see the Beehive Cluster (M44). I affixed my telephoto lens to my camera, but looking through the tiny viewfinder I could only see Venus. So I guessed as best I could with placement relative to Venus and took a few photos. I tried to capture a few other interesting objects much higher in the sky, like Jupiter, Orion’s sword, and the Pleiades again.
Click here to see the entire album of photos from Wednesday morning.
Thursday dawned completely overcast, with rain scheduled for the entire day. We need it so I’m not complaining.
Friday night I’ll attend the club’s local star party and have already organized my observing list so I can make great strides towards my Astro Quest observing award. Friday morning, if I can manage it after observing late into the night, I hope to capture the last glimpse of the old moon before it turns new around nine o’clock Saturday evening.
Apple Harvest Preservation: Chutney
I took a break from canning for a couple of hours during the middle of Saturday. My leftover unused jars, though, accused me from the counter top and cried ‘fill me, fill me!’ I didn’t want to do another batch of apple butter yet, so I began searching for other canning recipes that used apples as the primary ingredient. I found a couple of chutney recipes (What is apple chutney and how would you use it?) that looked interesting. The first one came from a canning web site called SimplyCanning.com and provided instructions not only for making the chutney, but how to preserve it as well. The second recipe I found on the FoodNetwork.com web site and wasn’t designed for a large batch intended to be canned.
I reviewed both recipes and made a grocery and supplies list. I left the house and dashed to the grocery store to grab the items I didn’t have on hand in my pantry. I picked up dozen pint-sized jars just in case.
Once back home, I started chopping up the ingredients I wanted to include in my mashed up merging of the two chutney recipes (see below). I dumped everything in my large stockpot and got it boiling to begin cooking it down. I turned the heat down a bit too much, and ended up simmering the ingredients slower than I could have. After a couple of hours, I turned the heat up a bit and finally got the chutney reduced down and thickened. Then, all I had to do was keep the chutney warm so I could fill up the sanitized half-pint jars and place them in the water bath canner for sealing.
Apple Chutney Recipe
- 2-3 dozen apples (peeled, cored, chopped)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 lb. golden raisins
- 4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup sweet red peppers, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons mustard seed
- 2 tablespoons ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (fine ground)
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup fresh squeeze orange juice (2 oranges)
I cooled the jars on the rack overnight, then label and stored them in my pantry Sunday morning.
Next post on my apple harvest preservation journey: Apple Sauce
Feeling Crabby
I stepped outside at a quarter past five o’clock to gauge the quality of the skies. Clear, but not as clear as yesterday’s crisp clean views of Venus, Jupiter, Orion and the waning Moon. Not that I complained. I keep the camera and tripod close to the front door so it’s just a matter of a minute or two before I can snap a couple of photos to share.
Both of these photos taken between 5:25 and 5:30 a.m. this morning, so here’s a star chart to help you identify the planets, stars and constellations from my location at that time looking east-southeast.
Tomorrow morning, the waning moon catches up to Venus in Cancer and as an extra treat, I plan to search for M44, the Beehive Cluster, found in the chest of that Crab constellation. This open cluster is visible to the naked eye and even more so to binoculars. Perhaps my camera, with the telephoto lens mounted, won’t be too shabby either.
Betwixt and Between
Redundant title, but I felt the need to bewitch you by using the word ‘betwixt.’ When I stepped outside this morning, about ninety minutes before sunrise, I looked up and couldn’t believe the incredibly bright stars and planets I could see against a dark sky. Very unusual sight from my front steps. I even called my husband out to look at the gorgeous perfect visibility of the entire constellation Orion. We could even see all seven stars of the Pleaides, directly overhead. I couldn’t resist the siren call of my camera, so I went back inside, grabbed the tripod and the camera and took a half dozen photos.
Yesterday morning, the moon was a bit brighter and closer to Jupiter.
Click on any of the above images to see larger versions of them.
I can’t wait to see what tomorrow morning has in store for me.
Apple Harvest Preservation: Butter
By the end of the first week of September, our apple tree had dropped several dozen apples. Everyday I went out to glean fallen ones and to pick fresh ones right off the branches. I had to do a bit of research to learn the proper way to pick an apple. By placing an apple gently in the palm of my hand and then twisting my wrist over, back towards the branch, a ripe apple would easily pop off the tree. I had six or seven dozen apples in baskets and other containers by the time I got home from work Friday evening.
Terry made a trip to our local Kmart to purchase the Ball Canning Kit with 21 Quart Waterbath Canner And Accessories plus a dozen Kerr quilted crystal jelly jars (half-pint size). It started raining when he left the store, so he called to tell me he didn’t want to also do the grocery shopping. Good thing I got home a few minutes earlier than normal Friday afternoon.
I called my mom and asked her for her Apple Butter recipe. I looked through my old, dusty metal recipe box, where I thought I’d last seen her recipe. I looked through hundreds of yellowing recipe cards but couldn’t find the one I wanted. She couldn’t find her copy in her recipe box either. She would have to call me back. While I waited, I washed a couple of dozen apples to being peeling and coring in anticipation of receiving the recipe from mom.
Years ago, soon after we moved into our current home, I attended a Pampered Chef party and purchased several kitchen gadgets, including their Apple Corer/Peeler/Slicer contraption. For at least ten years, it has languished in the bottom of one of my kitchen drawers, underneath an old electric an opener and electric knife. I used it perhaps once or twice, but discovered that you can’t use it on store bought apples. Only fresh apples will peel, core and slice successfully. Terry helped speed up the process by manually peeling a few, which I would then afix to the gadget, retracting the peeling part so that it only cored and sliced the already peeled apple.
Mom found her recipe and finally called me, but the amount of spices listed for the amount of apples seemed a bit over the top. I modified the recipe somewhat. I already had two dozen apples chopped up and in my large crockpot, planning to slow cook the apple butter overnight and do the canning first thing Saturday morning.
Angie’s Apple Butter
- 16 c. thick apple pulp
- 1 c. vinegar
- 8 c. sugar
- 14 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. cloves
- 1/2 tsp. allspice
- 1/4 tsp. salt (optional)
I asked her twice about the cinnamon. I thought that was way out of proportion to the other ingredients. I ended up changing the above a bit, and if I do this again, I’m going to further refine the spices and sweetening.
Revised Apple Butter (first batch)
- 16 c. thick apple pulp
- 1 c. vinegar
- 4 c. white sugar
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 8 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (it’s what I had on hand in my spice rack)
Since Terry stays up most nights until three or four in the morning, I asked him to stir the crockpot every hour or so. By the time I woke up before six o’clock Saturday morning, the apple butter was thick and ready for canning.
I didn’t head off to bed right away though. I finished reading a book I started the previous weekend and then stepped outside to check the quality of seeing for astronomical observing. The evening was cool and clear so I decided to drag out Dob to search for Neptune. I somehow knocked the finderscope alignment out of whack and could not get it dialed in (something I need to do today during the daylight). I still managed to find the Andromeda Galaxy near the constellation Pegasus and M13, the Great Globular Cluster in the constellation Hercules. I tried, again, to find Neptune, sailing with the Water Bearer, Aquarius. Frustrated once again by the light pollution, I realized midnight was just minutes away. Time to hit the hay or the apple butter might boil away before I got it canned.
∞∞∞
I lazed around in bed until after dawn. I checked the apple butter in the crockpot, using a whisk to smooth out the texture of the thickened mess. I placed the waterbath canner on the largest burner on my stove top, which probably only covered 75-80 percent of the bottom of the canner. I filled it half full of water and turned the burner on to medium-high heat.
Once the water warmed up a bit, I took the freshly washed half-pint jars from the dishwasher and slipped them into the canner. I turned up the burner a bit, to start a low boil. I placed the lids (but not the bands) in a separate smaller sauce pan and turned the high to medium-low. Per the instructions I read at Ball’s Getting Started web page at the FreshPreserving.com web site, I didn’t want to boil the lids as that might damage the seals before attaching them to the jars and securing them with the lids.
I used the jar lifter accessory to take the jars out of the canner, dumping the near boiling water back into the canner before gently setting the jar on the counter. I used the funnel accessory that came help get the apple butter into the jars. I used the magnet lifter to get the lids out of the small saucepan. I put the band over the lid and tightened it snugly, but not overly tight, per the instructions I read earlier.
I filled eight half-pint jars and got them evenly spaced around the inside of the canner. I removed the extra jars I didn’t need and let them cool down on a rack before putting the extra lids and bands on them for easy storage and future use. I cranked up the burner to high and waited for a roiling boil. Once the canner began boiling, I could set my kitchen timer to ten minutes and take a short break.
The timer buzzed and I turned off the burner. Using two pot holders and most of my sorry muscle power, I heaved the canner off the burner to the opposite corner of my range top. I removed the lid and set another timer for five minutes to allow the water and jars to start cooling off enough for me to remove them to the rack. I reviewed the post-processing directions (again) and made sure not to touch these jars for twelve hours.
As I pulled them out of the water and placed them on the rack, most of their lids popped audibly. When I returned to check on them in a couple of hours, all eight of them had properly sealed. None of the lids would move up-and-down when I pressed on them. Success! My first ever effort to preserve something a complete success. And easier than I thought it would be.
Next post I’ll discuss processing another dozen or so apples into chutney.
Duck Season
First Wednesday rolled around again, faster than it seemed possible. I drove back to the plaza after work, barely stopping long enough to grab a quick bite to eat. I arrived with a half-hour to spare, waiting on my long-time friend, Marge, and her husband, Bill. I stayed in the lobby of Unity Temple until about ten minutes to seven, hoping to catch them as they arrived. I gave up and grabbed some seats about midway down the aisle. Marge and Bill arrived with just a couple minutes to spare.
The evening’s program featured the rich, velvet vocals of Lester “Duck” Warner, performing with Tim Whitmer & The Consort Band of Spirituality and All That Jazz.
Lester Warner, affectionately known as “Duck,” is a quiet, soft-spoken man who transforms himself into a spectacular entertainer when he takes the stage. His voice is a rich baritone with a beautiful full falsetto that has been compared to Nat “King” Cole. He is also a gifted instrumentalist who plays trumpet, flugelhorn and trombone. Duck has headlined Japan’s first International Jazz Festival, Kansas City’s Spirit Festival, and The Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival. He was voted Kansas City’s Best Male Vocalist three years in a row. The International Trumpet Guild has recognized duck as a veteran of the revered “old school” associated with the special brand of Kansas City “Swing” music. Benny Powell, trombonist with the Count Basie Band, calls Duck a “premiere entertainer.”
Tim and the usual suspects took the stage and played a short set of jazz standard instrumentals.
- Autumn Leaves
- Cute … County Basey tune
- They’ll Never Be Another You
After those three songs, Tim introduced Duck Warner and the concert proceeded with only a couple of restarts.
- I’m in Love
- Witchcraft
- Georgia
- Almost Like Being in Love
- Everyday I Have the Blues
- My Romance
- Route 66
- L-O-V-E
After the last song, I finally had a chance to snatch a few minutes of conversation with Marge as we walked to the parking garage. We said our goodbyes and I hit the road for the return trip home (second time, no sunglasses necessary). I made it home by ten after nine o’clock and had trouble finding a place to park. Band practice was still going strong in the band room.
I uploaded the videos I took and went to bed and attempted to sleep, band practice not withstanding.
Tim Whitmer piano interlude:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtBrKtIwBNc?rel=0&w=853&h=480]
Everyday I Have the Blues:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JWXGo8K5ds?rel=0&w=853&h=480]
The Way You Look Tonight:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2dpD_GK6w?rel=0&w=853&h=480]
L-O-V-E
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNO9JDvvyws?rel=0&w=853&h=480]
Next month, on the first Wednesday, the day after my birthday, the featured vocalist is Diane ‘Mama’ Ray at Spirituality and All That Jazz. Come on down to the Plaza, sit a spell and savor some cool evening jazz. The best seven bucks you’ll ever spend.
Just Passin’ Through
I used the normal lens this morning to capture these three objects in one field of view. I also had to crank the camera back and tip it almost completely vertical, as Jupiter was almost directly overhead.
Fairly clear skies, so I didn’t stick around for sunrise.
Restaurant Review: Accurso’s
Over the last couple of months, I’ve enjoyed taking the brief jaunt down the street to partake of a different lunch selection from Accurso’s Italian Restaurant. Today marked my fourth return visit and the weather almost tempted me to request seating outside. If it had been Saturday, when the forecast suggests fall-like mid-70s temperatures, I would have requested a patio table. Playing it safe, I choose the cool environs found inside the restaurant. I am impressed by the design and decor found on the interior of Accurso’s and the jazz standards playing in the background provide a perfect ambience.
After being seated, my waiter, Scott, who has served me three out of four times during previous lunches, related the specials available. I passed on the specials because I did not want to be saddled with a take-home package of leftovers. I imagined huge portions from what he described and I prefer something lighter for lunch. He left me to review the lunch menu while he retrieve a drink for me.
Accurso’s $5 Lunch Menu keeps drawing me back to try something different each time. Previously, I’ve tried their Southern Italian thin crust seven-inch pizza (very tasty, but not as crisp as I prefer). I also liked the Spaghetti & Meatballs, adding a side salad with a house Balsalmic vinegrette for just a buck. During my most recent visit, a couple of weeks ago, I tried the Turkey Bacon Wrap which I really enjoyed.
Scott brought my water and saw I needed more time to decide and left me for a few more minutes. I wanted to try the Spinach salad, but the Pasta Diavolo distracted me. I wondered what their home-made diavolo sauce tasted like (I know what spinach tastes like). I did a quick search on my Nook Color, using Accurso’s complimentary wifi service, to see what the common ingredients were for a diavolo sauce. I didn’t see anything that I might not like (mainly cheesey or creamy stuff since I’m somewhat lactose intelerant). What I did find suggested some spiciness, which I’m always ready to try. When Scott returned to check on me, I placed an order for the Pasta Diavolo with a side salad (gotta have my greens and that Balsalmic vinegrette is really tasty).
I made it about two-thirds of the way through my salad when Scott brought the pasta dish to my table. I didn’t rush to finish, as I wanted to savor the salad.
The diavolo sauce looked creamy, appearing less red than I had hoped. I tentatively tried a couple of pennes and couldn’t detect any overwhelming cheese flavor. I did pick up a bit of spiciness, but mildly so, warming my stomach more than my tongue as I progressed through the dish. I finished most of the pasta, but not all of it. I prefer not to drown or smother my pasta with sauce, but that’s just a personal foible of mine. I left a few penne surfing on the diavolo sauce and declined Scott’s offer to box up the remainder for me to take home. I don’t think I’ll be re-ordering this lunch selection in the future. Not because it wasn’t well prepared and presented, but rather because I didn’t find it as appealing to my pallette as I wished it to be.
Next time, a week or so down the road, I plan to try the Spinach Salad.
Ciao, for now.
Product Review: Pedusa PE-798 Tri-Axis Pedometer
My old pedometer finally bit the dust last month. That explains why you haven’t seen any posts here relating to my weekly or monthly step stats. My Omron pedometer decided it needed a permanent vacation. This prompted me to go looking for a new and improved model.
I reviewed the Omrom pedometers at a website I stumbled upon dedicated to pedometers called, not surprisingly, PedometersUSA.com. At a bare minimum, any new pedometer had to do everything the Omrom HJ-113 could do, including resetting automatically at midnight and having a seven-day memory. I didn’t find anything from Omrom that flipped my trigger though.
Using the PedometersUSA.com ‘Best Rated/Accuracy’ web page, I reviewed all the pedometers listed under ‘High Accuracy – Multi-Function’ and decided to purchase the Pedusa PE-798 Tri-Axis pedometer. The number one reason I bought this model? It’s rechargeable, which means I never need to buy another weird small coin battery again or keep track of a small screw driver to access said battery. I couldn’t believe the low price of $16.95 and I appreciated the free shipping as well.
I placed my order on Monday August 27th and I received the package on Saturday, September 1st, which impressed me for free shipping. The pedometer came to me uncharged, so I hooked it up to my laptop to charge for a couple of hours. A small CD came in the package which contained the tracking software, which I installed on the same laptop. Windows 7 had already identified and installed the correct driver when I initially hooked up the pedometer’s short USB cable.
Pros:
- Rechargeable
- Multifunction
- 7-day Memory
- Downloadable
- TrakNote Software (mini-review below)
Cons:
- No belt clip
- No lanyard clip
Sunday morning, while working from home on an application upgrade (it’s what I do), I read through the one sheet map-like-folded user’s guide and got the clock set (sort of … more on that later), my stride length and my daily step goal. I got the lanyard attached to the device, but didn’t really see the point since the cord did not include a clip. I will probably steal the lanyard from my old Omrom pedometer, which does have a clip. Since this new pedometer is supposed to ‘highly accurate’ using a tri-axis (instead of a dual axis like the Omrom had), I can just put it in my pocket or my purse. I slipped it into my pocket late in the day on Sunday and recorded about a thousand steps before retiring for bed.
I woke up early on Labor Day and decided Apollo needed a walk. I slipped the pedometer into my pocket without looking at it and headed out the door with Apollo pulling me down the steps enthusiastically. I wanted to stay out at least three-quarters of an hour, if not an hour, so I could enjoy the gradual brightening of the sky as dawn approached. I checked the pedometer when I reach the halfway point, while crossing Main Street at Mary Street and thought it odd I had already surpassed four thousand steps. Apollo and I continued south through the partially developed Lansing Town Centre area down to Sonic and then back north again, retracing our steps to Mary Street.
Once I got back home, I put my reading glasses on and realized the clock was off by twelve hours. This meant that at midnight, the pedometer didn’t reset because it thought it was noon. I adjusted the clock and made a mental note to subtract about a thousand steps from Monday’s total steps.
TrakNote Software
I no longer have to worry about where I put my reading glasses when I want to record my steps in my fitness log. The software that came with my new pedometer makes this insanely easy. It even allows more than one user to use the software, although I don’t think you can have more than one person per pedometer (how would the pedometer know?). If I were to purchase another one for Terry, he could use the same installation of the software.
The first time I ran the software, I filled out a short user profile. These data points: gender, age, height, weight and stride, help calculate calories burned. The target step I had already set directly on the pedometer, but it’s nice to be able to update it via a computer keyboard. I connected the pedometer to an open USB port on my laptop before running TrakNote (you will get an error message if the pedometer is not connected). I saved my profile and continued to the main screen of the TrakNote software.
I only had one-half day’s worth of data to review on Monday, so I couldn’t explore many of the features available. The longer I use the pedometer and the tracking software, the more data and graphs I’ll be able to review. If I want to really go bonkers, I can download the data to a CSV file and use a spreadsheet or database program to create pivot tables, graphs and other reports.
While I haven’t had the pedometer for very long (just a few days now), I’m excited about the possibilities. I did e-mail customer service asking if a belt clip for this pedometer was available as an accessory.
I’ve also re-ignited my determination to get back on track with my walking and exercising regime. The scorching hot summer de-motivated me. With the autumnal equinox just a couple of weeks away, I’m all fired up to watch the leaves change colors while trying to keep up with Apollo on our evening and morning walks.
I will revisit this review after a few more days, but initially I would give the Pedusa PE-798 Tri-Axis pedometer high marks and a best buy recommendation.