Miscellaneous Ramblings about the Weather, Comet and Beach

The last couple of Saturdays have seen the weather acting up in Gainesville after a week of generally clear skies...we're expecting some rain and storm later on while at this writing in the morning the sky is clouding up and it seems kind of muggy outside.  So I'm going to put off my "long run" in the neighborhood until tomorrow with hopes of improved weather...

This past Thursday morning I got up at 4:30 to see Comet Swan, which was located just east of Pisces and next to Aries, reportedly just barely visible to the naked eye at 5.5 magnitude...I had a pair of binoculars to aid me.  Unfortunately it was too low in the eastern sky for me to see, although the last quarter moon, along with two nearby planets, provided a visual spectacle.  So, I went back inside and, seeing that sunrise would be at 6:36, set my alarm for 6 thinking that the comet would then be high enough in the sky for observation.  But alas, when I went out then the sun hadn't yet risen but the sky had lightened enough anyway to blot out all the stars and planets, with the only the moon left visible.  I've seen comets before, the most spectacular one being Comet West, which streaked very brightly across the predawn sky early in 1976 while being virtually ignored by the press and people at large.  Usually, though, they've been very faint and sometimes I needed binoculars to see them.  Oh well, Swan is too close to the sun now...better luck with the next comet...

A couple of Saturdays ago Melissa and I drove over to St. Augustine Beach in the morning...specifically Vilano Beach...to walk up and down it and return home.  It wasn't overly crowded and I thought most everyone there was conscientious about distancing because of the coronavirus.  But at our stop in the nearby Publix, although the workers all wore masks as well as the two of us, most customers did not and did not practice distancing.  I know the false narrative and am tired of it: "it's my own body"...but in truth, what they are doing is messing with everyone else's bodies since anyone can be infected even without symptoms...

So maybe I'll go out and run tomorrow...looks like there's a tropical system offshore that might become Arthur, our first named storm of the year.  But it's veering away from us in Florida and headed toward the Carolinas...

---Later in the same afternoon: it never did rain up here in northern Gainesville, but the humidity has remained high...I'll see if maybe I can't get out to run some tomorrow...