Dry Slot

Hello, everyone, thanks for stopping by.

Synthman, the Elon campus is a great place to take a stroll — or a photo. It's surely a relaxing environment for those of us who don't have to teach or make grades.

Aqua, there's another identical radiotelescope sitting a few hundred feet to the west of the one in the picture. The folks at PARI are working to hook up the pair for interferometry.

We'll have to convince the marketers that there's a demand for inflatable radiotelescopes. So far they're only interested in holidays and sports events. Looks like these guys might produce custom installations to order. I think it would be cool to set up my own miniature VLA in the front yard. What would the neighbors think? Muah-ha-ha!

It rained all day today on my house. The weather man says we may finish the year with a two inch surplus. First time that has happened in a while! I don't think I'll change the name of my blog just yet.

The rain is over now, and a thick fog has settled. I understand there is a big meteor shower going on. Not much chance of viewing the sky tonight, I'm afraid. You'd be lucky to see a hundred yards.

Of course, if you had a radiotelescope, fog wouldn't matter.

Hey, Rob.

'Boggy' is right. During the Thanksgiving weekend my wife drove a car off our driveway and got it stuck in the mud. Fortunately she's an AAA member, and a tow truck soon fished her out. We still have a big rut in the yard to memorialize the incident. (I want to give this lesson a chance to, uh, sink in. That kind of problem is so avoidable. Stay on the concrete!)

Since Thanksgiving we've had lots more rain. The whole yard is squishy. In summer, when it's dry, you can hardly dent the clay with a pickaxe.

Snow!

The 's' word figures prominently in our forecast for today and tomorrow. Total predicted accumulation ranges from five to ten inches. My wife wants to throw a solstice/birthday party tomorrow night. My parents will try to drive down this morning, a day earlier than they had planned. The elements are not cooperating.

This is a large storm. I'm sitting on the northeastern fringe of it now. The associated rain shield stretches west to the Mississippi and south past Cuba. We have the wedge working, which is when the east wind drives cold air up against the base of the Appalachians. The current temperature is 31°.

In other news, conditions continue soggy in the (heretofore) Dry Slot. For the first time in I don't know how long – years – the University of Nebraska Drought Monitor shows no drought in North Carolina. I would post the map, but there's nothing to see. It's just a blank map of the state, which you've probably seen before.

Surfmom, thanks for introducing me to the Mummers. If I had one of those pointy hats, I could dance around the fire, too.

Shore, I'm glad you enjoyed Mr. French. You got the front end of the storm that is knocking on my door now.

Synthman, my wife and I are headed to the grocery store as soon as she gets off the phone.

Mass, thanks for the weather report from the arctic frontier. We're expecting winter to put in an appearance down our way momentarily. Best holiday wishes to you and your family!