Aurora Borealis at Gunflint Lake

Last night, I was delighted with a beautiful display of the Northern Lights at Gunflint Lake.  At 10:00 PM, they looked like a green fog on the northern horizon.  As the evening progressed, distinct curtains formed, and red and pink sections starting appearing.  The Aurora Borealis flashed rapidly across the sky, covering larger and larger areas.

I finally figured out how to take Aurora pictures with my newer camera.  The first one is below; I did not get all the branches out of the way.  However, it was great to see the green background behind the red branches.  All my best pictures were done using a 60-second exposure, a tripod, and the "Starry Night" setting on my camera.

I took some  from inside at about 1:30 AM.  Try as I might, I could not pull myself away from viewing the incredible show until about quarter to two.  If I didn't have to work the next day, I probably would have stayed up later, as the Aurora were still going strong.

The crescent waxing moon was not bright enough to wash out the Aurora, but it was still a beautiful sight!

Two Moons of March

I just came back from a night hike in which we viewed the second blue moon of 2018.  The modern definition of a "blue moon" is the second full moon in a calendar month.  This year, we had two full moons in both January and March, and no full moons in February.  According to spaceweather.com, the last time we had two blue moons in such quick succession was in January and March of 1999.

Below are pictures of both full moons of March:

March 1st Full Moon
I took this in Grand Marais, MN before my radio show at WTIP.

March 1st Full Moon
I took this after my Thirsty Boots radio show at WTIP.

Blue Moon of March 31st, 2018
I took this tonight at about 8:45 PM when the moon was still near the horizon.

Blue Moon of March 31st, 2018
I took this picture at about 9:30 PM Central Time from Gunflint Lake.

What is Emergency Service?

   

I recently conducted the annual meeting of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department Relief Association.  As president of that organization, I like to do a short speech, in which I acknowledge the emergency responders, their families, and special guests, as well as saying a few words about what it means to serve others.  These words are relevant to firefighters, emergency medical personnel, military personnel, law enforcement, and anyone else who gives of themselves, for something greater than themselves.

Service is:

Getting up on the middle of the night and heading out into the storm to help someone in need.

Sacrificing a piece of yourself, to help someone who you’ve never even met.

Running toward the fire, when everyone else is running away.

Helping someone in need, who is someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, or friend.

Giving everyone your highest level of care.

Saving other lives, while risking your own.

Meeting people at their worst, and doing your best.

Enacting the Chain of Survival, while perpetuating the Chain of Love.

Having your actions made a difference in the world.

Thank you to all who serve to make the world a better place.

Groundhog Day

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, so I thought I would write a little about this fascinating animal.  The groundhog is also known as the woodchuck, whistle pig, and marmot.  It is a type of marmot in the family sciuridae (squirrel) family, and is the biggest member of that family in Minnesota.  It is anywhere from 13 - 28 inches long, and weighs 4 - 14 pounds.

The groundhog eats green vegetation such as leaf buds, grasses, and flowers.  It especially enjoys dandelions.

Groundhogs are most active in the morning and evening, and usually do not stray far from the den.  The summer den usually has multiple entrances, and the separate winter den generally has one entrance.  Dens may go down 5 feet, and be 30 feet long.  Unlike its western marmot cousins, the groundhog is usually solitary.

The groundhog is a true hibernator.  Depending on the location, these animals will go into hibernation in September or October, and emerge anywhere from January to March.  The body temperature goes from 90 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Its pulse goes from 75 - 4 beats per minute.  The groundhog's respiration rate goes down to 1 breath every 6 minutes.

Breeding occurs shortly after hibernation, and the young are born after a 30 day gestation period.  The 3 - 7 young open their eyes after a month, are off of their mother's milk around 6 weeks, and are on their own in 8 - 10 weeks.  There is one brood per year.

It was partially sunny on the Gunflint Trail for Groundhog Day (see picture above).  I did not see any of them today, but if I had, they would have been looking at their shadow.  According to the legend, there will be six more weeks of winter.  In reality, we have hit the halfway point between the beginning of winter and the beginning of spring, which is celebrated in many ways around the world.

The sources I used for this article were Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior by Donald & Lillian Stokes, and the Mammals of Minnesota Field Guide by Stan Tekiela.

Search for Manx Music

Two of my greatest passions are music and genealogy.  When I was searching for some of the family history from the Isle of Man, I greatly advanced in my search for Manx Music.

The Isle of Man is situated in the Irish Sea, roughly halfway between Dublin, Ireland, and Liverpool, England.  It is one of six main Celtic Nations (each with their own version of the Gaelic language), along with: Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, and Brittany.  It is know for a rugged coastline, a bike race, a unique flag, and a cat with no tail.  The dark Irish comedy called Waking Ned Devine was set in Ireland, but actually filmed on the Isle of Man.

The Isle of Man flag has its origins from an
ancient symbol called the triskelion.
It is widely through to represent always landing
on your feet.

I've known of my connection to the Isle of Man for many years, and have been trying to find out about the Manx Music.  I located a couple of recordings with Manx Music performed by people from the Isle of Man, and others who lived elsewhere, but wanted to preserve this unique music.

The Celtic Voices; Women of Song features four wonderful musicians,
with Emma Christian being from the Isle of Man.  Emma's picture (not the one pictured above)
bears a resemblance to my sister.  Her words are in the Manx Gaelic language. 

This album has music of the Isle of Man,

but is performed by people from the

United States.

Finding music to play from the Isle of Man presented some challenges, which were solved by the search for my family history.  It can be advantageous when looking up genealogical information to search for authors which may have already done some of the groundwork.  I've actually found several books related to my family by searching for the various last names with book sellers.

Much to my delight, I found the Manx National Songs book reprinted by the Forgotten Books company.  It was music that came from the collection of three people, including Dr. J. Clague, who has the same surname as my ancestors from the Isle of Man.  His name is misspelled on the cover, but is correct on the inside.

I searched through the book for songs to add to my repertoire; stopping from time to time to play one on the fiddle.  The first song I played was A Manx Wedding, but I decided not to perform that one yet due to the challenges of making many page turns, while playing an instrument that requires two hands.  Manxmen we'll remain! ended up being the first Manx song that I performed, due to it's unique character (I enjoyed the challenge), shorter length, and it seemed to emanate from my very soul.

I plan to continue to perform Manx Music in the future.  It is fun to think of my ancestors playing the same tunes, possibly hundreds of years ago, that I am playing now.  In many ways, it honors their memory, and gives me a greater connection to them than I have ever had before.

Supermoon Halo

Happy New Year!

According to spaceweather.com, tonight's full super perigee moon looks as much as 8% wider, and 16% brighter than the average full moon.  It appears to be the biggest and brightest full moon of 2018.  This is due to the oval orbit of the Moon around the Earth.  When the full moon is at perigee, it is more than 50,000 km closer to our planet than when it is at the point furthest from Earth, known as apogee.

The halo in the picture is caused by the light bending as it travels through the ice crystals in the atmosphere.  It was actually a bit of an advantage to have light cloud cover tonight.  The pictures below were taken in three different spots around Grand Marais, MN.  One was from the Coast Guard/Artist Point parking lot, the next was from the Grand Marais Municipal Campground, and the last one was at the WTIP Radio Station before my show:

Supermoon Halo from the Coast Guard/Artist Point Parking Lot

Supermoon Halo from the Grand Marais Municipal Campground

Part of Grand Marais, and the Grand Marais Lighthouse are also visible.

Supermoon Halo from the WTIP, North Shore Community Radio Station

The light on the left is one of the street lights on Highway 61.

Bentleyville Christmas Lights in Duluth, Minnesota

A few weeks ago, I met with my parents in Duluth, which is located half way between us.  We had a nice dinner at the Grandma's restaurant in Canal Park, and walked through the Bentleyville Lights show.

I've been driving past the light show on Highway 35 for many years, but had never had the chance to walk through.  It was definitely worth seeing this display up close, and I hope to make it a new tradition to meet up with family for this wonderful event.

If you go there, be sure to dress warm.  The winds coming off of Lake Superior can be chilly.  I walked out to my car after dinner, and was compelled by the wind to put on my insulated snow bibs over my other winter clothes.

The displays were a mixture of religious and secular, as well as themes of Duluth and northern Minnesota.  Some of my favorite things were the tributes to those who serve our country as members of the military or as emergency responders.

Below are a pictures of characters from the original Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer film, and a Nativity Scene:

Is that the spirit of Burl Ives?

Abominable Snowman, Elves, and Reindeer

Nativity Scene

Between many of the displays, there were tunnels of lights of various colors.  In the middle of everything, there was a giant Christmas light tree which was constantly changing color, sometimes with the beat of the music.  Many of the displays also had moving objects in them.  A took a short video of the Lift Bridge display with the Christmas tree in the background.

Tunnel of Lights

We got a bonus light show when a late-season ship went through the Duluth Canal.  It was neat to hear the ship's horn echo off the hillsides and buildings, and see the spotlights on the ship beaming through the darkness.  I could not see the name on the ship, but think it may have been one of the 1000 footers.

Ship under the Duluth Lift Bridge

Duluth Lift Bridge

The ship had arrivedin the furthest inland seaport in the world, Duluth, Minnesota.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!