No Comet Tonight

Searching for the Comet 14 July 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

I’m thinking we were a tad impatient this evening. Perhaps we went looking (and gave up) a bit too early. Or maybe we were actually too late! Whatever it was, the verdict is in: no comet tonight.

I didn’t think so at the time, obviously, or we would’ve waited another 30 minutes or half an hour. It’s only in retrospect, as I look at the photo from Minnesota (at the top of last night’s post) that I’m thinking we went too early. Yeah, the sky in that photo looks a bit more ‘evening-mature’ than the photo at the top of this post.

Then again, I just re-read the article from earthsky.org and I realize it says the comet will appear higher in the evening sky each night between the 13^th and the 19^th. Hmm. I do believe I’ll give it another go tomorrow night.

Runner-up Bonus

But I have to tell you: we were rewarded with the most amazing gift tonight, which we wouldn’t have experienced had we not been out searching for Comet Neowise.

Alas, I can’t share the bonus with you (tonight, anyway) because I don’t have a clue how to upload a video I’ve taken onto YouTube. But I’m going to figure it out, and I’m going to post this recording because WOW. I had no idea we had a pack of coyotes living so close to us!

They serenaded us with such a cacophony of yips and howls, we almost thought we’d been transported to New Mexico. We couldn’t believe our ears!

We’ve heard the occasional yip or howl at night, but definitely never the joyously raucous sounds of a pack like tonight.

Always a Treat

Which reminds me: A few years ago we took a walk and left our main front door open. Of course, the wooden screen door was closed and locked, but that obviously didn’t hinder the aroma of stew I’d left simmering on our stove from wafting outside.

When we rounded the final corner of our walk-around and could see up the road to our house, we were shocked to see a coyote sitting on its haunches, directly in front of our home. It was just sitting there at the edge of the road, right beside our mailbox, looking ever so much like a ‘good boy,’ waiting patiently for a bowl of whatever yummy stuff it could smell we were cooking.

Amazing. And what a gift.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll both see the comet and hear the coyotes again. That would be better than any tv lineup.