Day 8 Of March In Texas Is Beginning Warm With Incoming Solar Flares

The solar flaring sun had already arrived, this morning, by the time I opened my primary viewing portal on the outer world.

I am almost 100% certain I am currently too deep in the South to see any Northern Lights.

I have only seen the Aurora Borealis once. It was a some point during the 1990s, in Mount Vernon, in Washington. The Northern Lights were far more spectacular than any fireworks display I have ever witnessed.

But, minus any loud booms.

Speaking of loud booms.

In addition to the sun's electric storm the weather predictors are predicting an electric storm of the thunder and lightning variety, for today, at my location on the planet.

Currently, at this early morning point in the day, that aforementioned nuclear sky orb is heating the outer world to one degree shy of 70 degrees this 8th day of the 3rd month of 2012. Already over a third of March has passed into history.*

I think I will go swimming now and obsess over how quickly the days of my life are passing.

*UPDATE: Oops. I should have said already a quarter of March has passed into history. Thank you for anonymously correcting me, Anonymous.

Looking At August 5's Pink & Blue Texas Sky While Thinking About The Devil's River

I think those pink things in the blue sky are clouds, not Northern Lights. I'm almost certain our Aurora Borealis outbreak ended yesterday. Then again, I woke up with my head feeling brain pain, like yesterday, when I thought my neurons were being tortured, somehow, by the Sun's Sunday flareup.

I do not know what a reddish sky means when one is 100s of miles from the nearest sea. When I lived in Washington, about 10 miles from the nearest sea, from about as far back as my memory goes I remember, "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailor takes warning."

Well, it is 10 minutes since I took that picture with the dire sky warning and solid blue has now returned. So, I'm fairly sure I do not need to prepare to batten down the hatches.

Yesterday's blogging about J.D. Granger's bizarre plan to have a tube float happy hour on the polluted Trinity River brought a comment from Don Young that pointed me towards Devil's River by Del Rio.

The Trinity River is pretty much the dirtiest river I've ever seen. But, Texas also has the clearest rivers I have ever seen, such as the San Marcos River that flows from Aquarena Springs. Aquarena Springs may be the clearest water I have ever seen.

What sold me on the going swimming in Devil's River idea and visiting Devil's River State Natural Area is you can also go mountain biking there on a 22 mile long trail.

I think I'll take a virtual trip to Del Rio today. And maybe a real trip to the Tandy Hills.

Up Early Looking For The Aurora Borealis To Light Up The Texas Sky

I got up early this morning, around 4, expecting to step outside to view the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.

The Sun chose to do some major erupting on the day named after it, aiming two mass ejections of solar material directly at the Earth.

I have seen the Aurora Borealis one time previous. I got a call from a pseudo-religious friend of mine. She told me she thought God was up to something big, telling me to look outside to see if I saw the same thing. She thought maybe God was just putting on a show for her.

So, I stepped outside and was instantly amazed at what I saw happening in the sky to the north. A major multi-colored light show the likes of which I'd not previously seen.

I had no clue what it was. I'd not heard of the Northern Lights ever being visible from my location. And, unlike Sunday's Sun eruptions, there had been no forecast of incoming solar material and its resultant neon light show.

Back to Earth. Yesterday I took an interesting virtual trip to Luckenbach, Texas. I'd been in the Luckenbach zone before, to Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock, but I'd not been to Luckenbach.

I do not know if I am going to go anywhere virtually today. I am fairly certain I am going to Hurst. And I am going swimming, likely before that Aurora Borealis causing Sun lights up the place.