Good morning! Welcome to "Morning Musings".

Musings: to meditate, think, contemplate, deliberate, ponder, reflect, ruminate, reverie, daydream, introspection, dream, preoccupation, brood, cogitate.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Lightning Safety Week: June 23-29, 2013

All's quiet now but two hours ago this is what it looked like from my front window....

....and from my front porch....

It turns out I should not have been out on my porch in the middle of a thunderstorm.  My cat knew better.  She was hiding behind the couch in the basement. Lightning safety is not something to be ignored.  You don't have to be outdoors to be harmed.  Did you know these precautions (from the NOAA site) should be taken:

  • Stay off corded phones, computers and other electrical equipment that put you in direct contact with electricity.
  • Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets.
  • Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches.
  • Do not lie on concrete floors, and do not lean against concrete walls.

And if you are caught outside 
with no safe shelter anywhere nearby you should:


  • Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges or peaks
  • Never lie flat on the ground
  • Never shelter under an isolated tree
  • Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter
  • Immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water
  • Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (barbed wire fences, power lines, windmills, etc.)

Since 1982 there have been an average of 53 deaths per year from lightning, which may not seem like very many--except if it's you.

There are other precautions, too, that should be taken to protect your house and belongings which you can find on the NOAA site.  Because we live on a 1,000-foot mountain the first owner of our house installed lightning rods.  We added a whole-house surge protector.  Be sure to check out the myths and facts link.

Lightning can be quite beautiful--if viewed from a safe distance.  You can watch the National Geographic's program on the science of lightning and the effects of a strike here.

Stay safe...

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Visitor in the Night


The night of the full moon I was graced with the sighting of a Cecropia Moth.  Since they only come out at night and because I am not usually outside at that time, I have never seen one before.  I had my camera with me when I stepped outside with the intent on capturing the full moon, but it had not risen above the trees.  Instead I was able to capture Poetry's intent interest in this elusive moth which has a lifespan of only two weeks.  Besides being the largest moth in North America it is quite beautiful....
Within moments, though, Gabriel, who was outside with me, saw it, too....
....and it fluttered upward over the roof into the night.  

I never did get a photo of the Supermoon.



Sunday, June 2, 2013

More Moments Captured


...from our weekend on the Chesapeake Bay....an egret fishing in the pond behind the house....




...the first sunlight reflecting off a loblolly pine....
 ...a bluebird perched on a branch....
...kayaking....a fishing boat in the background....
...the full moon over the Bay our second evening....
photo credit: Benjamin Schultz
...the moon setting the next morning over the pond...
...the sky just before sunrise....
...the last evening a cruise ship approaching the moon....