Tag: nature

Crabbing for Mercury (part 2)

– In which Dorn describes a vision that few have experienced.

Here is the second promised story of a magical nature experience I’m grateful for, which I never would have had if we didn’t live where we do on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. (My first story is here.)

2. Many years ago (May 6-7, 2003 to be precise), when we hadn’t been living here long, there was a news blurb that a transit of Mercury across the sun was to take place that would be visible from the east coast of the US at about 6 AM. At that time I was working in Silver Spring, a 75-mile commute, and I got up before dawn to get ready to catch the bus into DC. 

Because the Bay is to the east of us, we get to see some wonderful sunrises. That morning started out cloudless but hazy, and before I left for work I could watch the sun come up. Looking closely (which I could safely do for at least a few minutes as the sun came over the horizon), I was able to see a little tiny black dot on the surface of the red sun, slightly off center at about 4:00. I really don’t know for sure if it was Mercury that I was seeing, or maybe just a sunspot, but I told myself (and still tell myself to this day) that I was privileged to see something almost no one had seen since the beginning of time: the planet Mercury, backdropped by the sun, unaided with my naked eyes!

(This is just what it looked like back then, but it’s actually an “artist’s conception”. It’s a picture I took at sunrise yesterday, onto which I placed a small black dot with Photoshop.)

As always, thanks for listening!
Dorn
7/30/2019

Crabbing for Mercury (part 1)

– In which Dorn describes a halcyon stay-cation.

Y’all have probably seen news of that recent study that showed what everyone knew all along–being in touch with nature has real health benefits. After some recent surgery with a side of complications, I’m really grateful to live where we do on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. I had already decided to post something about what it’s like living here in semi-rural semi-solitude communing with nature, but for now I’ll just share two extra-magical nature events that we’ve enjoyed here. (I’ll split my stories into two posts to strengthen my resolve not to make my posts too long.)

1. Ten summers ago or more, we had our grandsons with us for about a week, and it seemed that all of nature, especially the Chesapeake Bay, was cooperating to help keep them entertained. While they were here, we had extra-high winds that made it possible for teen/tweens to get a surfing experience on the beach out front, and still calm days just right for kayaking along the shore. We saw dolphins jumping in the air in front of our house, something I’ve probably seen less than five times in the 20 years we’ve been here. Eagles and hawks would swoop down and catch fish right in front of us and take them to their aeries down the street. We spent days stalking a manatee that had somehow strayed up north into St. Leonard harbor (we never caught a glimpse of it, but we saw its lair, and it was fun searching).

It was a great week of swimming, boating, and other playing, from before the time when our grandkids got too cool to wear their enthusiasm on the surface. By the final morning, we were spent and happy and out of ideas, and we were wondering if we could find a topper for their visit, or if we could just be tired and crabby until it was time to take them home (which still would have marked an overall successful vacation).

There was a commotion of people on the beach in front of our house, unusual for so early. The Bay was experiencing a red tide, and fish and shellfish were straying close to, and sometimes on, the shore to get enough oxygen. We saw flounders hiding in the sand, and scooped up a dozen crabs which we had for breakfast. What a perfect finale!

(This is what our catch looked like all those years ago, but it’s actually a picture of the crabs I caught for breakfast this morning, as we’ve had another red tide.)

(part 2 is here)

Thanks!
Dorn
7/30/2019