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Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

The only flowers near the garage are camellias and they are red.
It had the blackbrown colour with bits of white.

I think you had bird droppings on your windshield and for some reason that particular piece was loose so it came off easily. You were lucky it didn't make a big smear on the windshield. :)

One time, I was sitting in the car getting ready to leave when a pigeon dropped a deuce on the windshield that had half of a earthworm still wiggling around in the mess. Yuck!
 
Years ago when I was based on the Morayshire coast, I often used to see massive flocks of geese (Canadian geese?) flying overhead at some considerable altitude and making a right racket! Well one of them must have had a bit of a fright because the goosey dropping that splattered on my car took out about a third of my windscreen! It took most of my screenwash to clear that one before I could set off! God forbid it had landed on a passing pedestrian!
 
I'm in the UK, this happened a few minutes ago (about 1:30 am, local).

The Mrs has just turned off her kindle and gone to sleep, so I check the time - just before 1:30am, figure its time to turn off my video game (The Long Dark, in case anyone is curious :D:cool:) and go to bed. Catch mention of comet NEOWISE as I come to shut down Twitter, so toddle to peek out teh bathroom window (it faces the right direction) and turn off the bedroom lights on my way (our desks are in the corner of the bedroom (TM domestic I, I'm sure ;)).

Anyway, the point - looking out the bathroom window over the park out back, I see the sky is indeed clear, but likelly comet localities are blocked by the trees along the edge of the park. I'm not going out for a stroll at this hour, thinks I.

Just then, the security light (which is ALWAYS on after dark, even when the establishment is closed) on the corner of the social club/private hire venue on the edge of the park blinks, very distinctly. Once.

Funny, I thought, never known it to do that before (the light bugs me, it is visible through our curtains at night, I like it nice and dark for sleeping). I glance up at the stars again, make sure I had the right area for the comet - barely a second or two after the light blinked.

High overhead, a single white light flashed. Oh, an aeroplane, headed north-ish. Wonder what where its going most stuff is gong east or west over here (to Doncaster or Manchester). But the light blinked exactly once. Weird, I thought. Stared for another minute or two. No more blinky lights.

Still no comet. Decide I'll try stay up to 4am, see if the comet has moved to a more visible spot by then.

Shuffle back to my computer, resume my game. Then quickly hop to ADS-B (a flight tracker site), no flights over this region that it could have been. In fact, UK skies are unusually quite tonight (I've been surprised just how busy they've been latelly, what with lock downs and all).

Minor Strangeness indeed.

TL-DR - went to window to look for comet. A nearby security light blinked, once. Moments later, a single white light, looking just like a high flying aircraft light blink. Once.

Oh, and the window was wide open, I wasn't looking through glass.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: Goodness, such typo's. Corrected now, I hope! Maybe I should just go to bed!
 
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Update:

I made it to 4am. Still no comet.

Beautiful pre-dawn sky with Venus visible low towards the ENE (just beyond the trees around the park) and the birds have just started to sing, so I'm not sorry.

The security light on the social club/private hire venue was having a good old blinking session, though. Clearly, the bulb/element/what have you is on the way out. No further blinky light from the sky though.

And so to bed.
 
I just wondered if the security light is linked to some kind of alarm setting, and it's not been set quite properly, so the light is blinking?

Probably provoked in my thoughts by the shop alarm which wouldn't set quite right as we left last night - and the last thing you want after a long, late shift is to be standing there whilst someone presses buttons and goes 'it's not supposed to do that...'

It's a beautiful morning. Don't blame you for staying up until 4.
 
The single white light that you see blink in the sky will be an 'iridium' satellite (of which there are many, you can look them up on a website to see when they're passing overhead).
That's because they rotate and their solar panels reflect the sunlight, much like a lighthouse beam.
Comet Neowise is mostly only visible in the early morning sky with the aid of binoculars.
But ".....By mid July (around July 12-15), the comet will become visible at dusk (just after sunset), low in the northwest horizon...."
This page is quite a good resource https://earthsky.org/space/how-to-see-comet-c2020-f3-neowise
 
Afternoon all, cheers for the interest!

@catseye - I couln't say, beyond that the light has come on at dusk and gone off just after dawn for the whole three and a half years I've lived in its neighbourhood. The club itself has been closed since lockdown started, and has yet to re-open. I'm amazed that the dozen or so beer barrels left lined up outside are still there!

@Trevp666 - I have no idea how I got the impression the 'sky ight' was on a north-bound track, it blinked only the once, afterall. But Iridium satellite seems a most reasonable explanation, I'll take it :cool:. This Twitter post leads me to believe I should be able to see it more or less due north just above the horizon from midnightish now, getting higher and further west as the month progresses and (if it remains visible) reaching peak brightness around teh 23rd. It was an optimistic gesture last nigt/this morning, as I knew the trees would almost certainly block the view.

I do have a decent pair of stargazing binoculars, but they're buried under who knows what in the spare room (for shame!) and I wanted to check if I could see it before I start digging!

I'll keep checking, see if it is more auspiciously located later in the month.
 
At around 2am today Techy got up for the loo and noticed that it was light outside, as if it was already dawn. He could see things in his room like CDs. Sunrise wasn't due for a couple of hours.

He wasn't dreaming because this happened when he was up. I wish I'd seen it!
 
At around 2am today Techy got up for the loo and noticed that it was light outside, as if it was already dawn. He could see things in his room like CDs. Sunrise wasn't due for a couple of hours.

He wasn't dreaming because this happened when he was up. I wish I'd seen it!

I remember a similar story - might have been in one of the Bord books - about someone experiencing a false dawn a couple of hours before the actual event.
 
The weirdness is starting up again. Today I was making us a hot drink each for a bike ride. I lobbed a teabag into my flask and filled it up, and added milk, but there was no tea in it. Just water and milk.

Where'd the teabag go? I saw it drop into the flask!
Ended up doing two coffee flasks instead of coffee for Techy and tea for me.
 
Okay, this is possibly one of the most boring Minor Strangenesses ever, but...

yesterday I went into the shed to get the lawn mower out. On top of the lawn mower (last used two weeks' ago) was the connector hose from a washing machine. Just coiled on top. I've been in and out of the shed since the grass was cut and not seen the connector hose, nor have I seen it hanging around anywhere in the shed. It just arrived.

Yes, the shed is unlocked, but access is tricky (through next door's garden), so if a hit and run connector-hose dumper has been at work, then they've had to think about it. The cat wouldn't do it. The dog won't even go into the shed.

So I am now the possessor of a connector hose of unknown provenance. Told you it was boring. Strange, but boring.
 
Okay, this is possibly one of the most boring Minor Strangenesses ever, but...

yesterday I went into the shed to get the lawn mower out. On top of the lawn mower (last used two weeks' ago) was the connector hose from a washing machine. Just coiled on top. I've been in and out of the shed since the grass was cut and not seen the connector hose, nor have I seen it hanging around anywhere in the shed. It just arrived.

Yes, the shed is unlocked, but access is tricky (through next door's garden), so if a hit and run connector-hose dumper has been at work, then they've had to think about it. The cat wouldn't do it. The dog won't even go into the shed.

So I am now the possessor of a connector hose of unknown provenance. Told you it was boring. Strange, but boring.

Those're good things to keep spare. They sometimes snap off at the washing machine end so you have to put another on. I always keep a couple handy in the shed and have been able to replace ones on our machines and other people's.

Hold on, I'm now off to check that MY spare hoses are in MY shed and not in YOUR shed.
 
yesterday I went into the shed to get the lawn mower out. On top of the lawn mower (last used two weeks' ago) was the connector hose from a washing machine. Just coiled on top. I've been in and out of the shed since the grass was cut and not seen the connector hose, nor have I seen it hanging around anywhere in the shed. It just arrived.
What is the roof of your shed like? Does it have any rafters or recesses where the hose could have been lurking before finally falling onto the mower?
 
It's got a tin sort of roof with ripples, no hooks or anything (and it's very low, it's a little metal shed not a lovely big wooden one). I'm fairly sure that the connector wasn't in there before, although it could have been hooked up around one of the hanging hooks behind something else and have managed to fall off, although the lawn mower was in the middle of the shed, so it would have had to travel some distance!

I'm going with the theory that it's Scargy's connector, that has wornholed through to the back of my shed. That's clearly the most likely explanation.
 
It's got a tin sort of roof with ripples

*nods* The set that used to be called 'corrugated iron'.
Our street all had sheds with those. We kids'd climb up and sit on them, and shout insults at the neighbours' kids. Happy days!

The roofs heated up a lot in the sun. One day I saw a cat walk across one. It lifted its feet high and hurried.
A true cat on a hot tin roof, which expression I'd recently heard for the first time.
 
*nods* The set that used to be called 'corrugated iron'.
Our street all had sheds with those. We kids'd climb up and sit on them, and shout insults at the neighbours' kids. Happy days!

The roofs heated up a lot in the sun. One day I saw a cat walk across one. It lifted its feet high and hurried.
A true cat on a hot tin roof, which expression I'd recently heard for the first time.

Is it not called corrugated iron anymore? :(
 
Okay, this is possibly one of the most boring Minor Strangenesses ever, but...

yesterday I went into the shed to get the lawn mower out. On top of the lawn mower (last used two weeks' ago) was the connector hose from a washing machine. Just coiled on top. I've been in and out of the shed since the grass was cut and not seen the connector hose, nor have I seen it hanging around anywhere in the shed. It just arrived.

Yes, the shed is unlocked, but access is tricky (through next door's garden), so if a hit and run connector-hose dumper has been at work, then they've had to think about it. The cat wouldn't do it. The dog won't even go into the shed.

So I am now the possessor of a connector hose of unknown provenance. Told you it was boring. Strange, but boring.

If it's a petrol lawn mower it might be a failed attempt at siphoning.
 
It's not corrugated iron, it's a sort of plastic sheeting. Only the outer walls are metal - it's a fairly new shed.

Not a petrol mower either, an electric Flymo. My garden doesn't warrant a petrol mower. Once up and down and it's done.
 
I'm sure there is probably a specific thread for this so feel free to move it!

We were going out yesterday, so I snatched my small rucksack from the wardrobe shelf where it's kept without realising that one of the handles had become entwined round an earring tree on the same shelf. Down it plunged and hit the floor. Luckily there was only one pair of earrings hanging from it, but they had become detached and one had come apart properly. Because I was in a hurry, I picked up the two big bits and one butterfly that I could see, and resolved to look for the missing parts when I got home. It turned out that I was missing a butterfly and a small ring to connect earring post and dangly bit, so I went down on hands and knees, patting the carpet and under the furniture - nothing. Sitting back on my heels, I realised this was a job for Them, so I asked nicely for the missing parts to be returned and trotted off downstairs.

This morning, when I came out of the shower, I glanced at the floor where the earrings had fallen, and there, plain to see, on a piece of carpet I must have patted down more than once, was the missing butterfly. I said "Thank you" and found the tin in which I was storing the other parts so as to keep them together. Off I went again to do the breakfast dishes, and when I got back upstairs again, the missing metal link was on the top of my chest of drawers - right where I'd put the tin before - next tot eh hairbrush I was about to pick up. I asked my son if he thought that link was the same as on the unbroken earring, and he agreed, so They have definitely done a sterling job and returned the right thing. Another big heartfelt "Thank you!"

I've done the asking thing before, but I think this is the first time it's been quite so spectacular in the return!
 
I've been listening to 6 Music all morning while I work. It was starting to bore me (!) so I thought I'd give it one more song and if I didn't like that I'd play my Elvis Costello Spotify playlist instead. Of course, the very next song that came on was... Pump It Up by Elvis Costello.

I do like a radio-related musical coincidence.
 
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I went out to check the roofing, because I was in doubt. Deffo plastic and now the neighbours have stared at my pyjamas. I hope you lot are proud of yourselves...
Why are they staring? Is there something wrong with your pyjamas?
 
I got ready this morning for the first metal detecting trip since March. As I went to load the back seat, I thought I'd forgotten to transfer the car keys to my special detector coat. No worries, door unlocked, all the gear put in - but when I sat in the driver's seat to turn the ignition on, no keys. Checked the pockets obviously, checked the back seat door lock, checked the detecting gear, checked under the car - no keys. I took my coat off, checked all the pockets again and put the coat back on. This wasn't senility it was mischief but I wasn't in the mood - took my coat off again, and inspected thoroughly- yes could feel the keys were in the lining, must have been a hole in the pocket . No holes, it was actually two hidden pockets I'd never noticed before. Fine, now I'm late.
I got to a field in Oxfordshire (such a beautiful County) without incidence (TomTom SatNav behaving for a change) and parked up. Got chatting to the chap in the car next to me, he'd been diagnosed with MS and was finding the field slogs tiring. He found a George III half penny, I found a button (and some sanity) - he said he had to go soon for his daughter 11th Birthday but we got talking about coins. Had I been to the Lenborough dig January last year ? The gold coin dropped - he was the father of little Evie who so kindly let me photograph her Charles I Unite (Metal Detectoring thread). Lovely to hear his side of the story.
Set off home after 6 hours, TomTom took me onto the M40 - why can't it ever give me the same route to and from my destination. Big argument, I switch the SatNav off, it turned itself on again and tried to kill me on the Bicester roundabout, I switched it off again and unplugged it, it turned itself back on.
Home, bath, washed my coat in the bath, coffee and relaxed. Final task was to stow my gear away and put the button in a collection box. Button bounced out of my hand into the Easter dish (large china chicken, wooden and cardboard eggs, don't ask). Routed around and found the button AND an ammonite and two lucky charms. The ammonite probably came from Lyme Regis, a present from my brother 2 years ago, I wondered where that had gone, should have been five of them. But the bracelets ? With a shoe on it ? No, never seen them before, probably was a present for mucking me about in the morning. Or the Easter Bunny.

Charm_0884.jpg
 
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