​As people that love the outdoors - we also love outdoor movies. This week we received an email from Terra, the Outreach Coordinator from Octane Seating, about a list of “Disaster and Prepping” movies that they pulled together for their customers. Terra thought that we, and our readers, might find their movie list interesting. And she was right; we've seen most of these movies and they have some great viewing ideas. 

To quote Terra’s note to us:

​We read through their article, and agree with what it says: 

​Their list of “Prepping and Disaster” movies includes 24 movies - with 3 from each of the following categories – each with a brief movie summary, list of who stars in it and release date – so that you can easily find it wherever you stream or purchase your movies from:

• Adventure Survival
• Space Survival
• Survival Horror
• Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Survival
• Comedy Survival
• Romance Survival
• Family-Friendly Survival
• Real-Life Survival

 
Their write-up also includes a listing of their "Top 15 Survival & Disaster TV Shows" and their point of view about “What Can Disaster and Survival Movies Teach You About Real-Life Prepping?”

So. if you’re like us and enjoy watching movies about the outdoors when you’re not able to be in the outback, you should definitely check out the article that Terra sent us. (Note; As always, we’re not being paid to say this – we just think that it’s true).
 
You can find the article, and all the other details about this curated movie listing here.
       https://octaneseating.com/blog/disaster-movies

​Everybody that's been Hiking, Camping and Shooting for a while has a list of gear that they always take with them on their adventures. For some people their method of keeping track of their gear is to keep it all in one place. Others make a checklist to ensure that they have everything that they need. We do both.
 
Based on our experience the gear that you need for Hiking comes in 10 categories, Camping has 10 categories, Disaster Preparedness has 9 categories and Shooting gear comes in 17 categories:

​To make it easier for you we have updated and added downloadable PDFs of the Hiking, Camping, Disaster Preparedness and Shooting gear checklists that we use. The checklists include the types of gear that we think you need in each of these 46 categories.

Our website has all the details on the specific gear that we use (536 items from these 46 categories at last count), the reasons that we selected it and links to Amazon, or other locations, where you can buy the gear. Our gear checklists have 54 Hiking items, 122 Camping items, 123 Disaster Preparedness items and 237 Shooting items.
 
You can find these downloadable PDF checklists on our Hiking, Camping, Disaster Preparedness and Shooting pages.

​Right before the Christmas/New Year holiday season we received an email from Ada, one of the homeschooling students of Ms. Anna Lee, about a project they had been working on related to gun safety. While performing research for their project they ran across our HCS website and found the information contained on it useful. They also found an article about gun safety that had some great information – so they passed it along to us and asked that we add it as a reference to our website. So, here's an overview of the 23 October 2024 "Kids and Gun Safety" article.

As everyone that owns firearms knows – a responsibility for safety comes with the territory; when shooting at a range, when carrying for everyday safety and when storing your firearms at home. Being safe is complicated when there are children in your house. So, what’s the best approach to making sure that we protect the people that we love. Well, in our opinion, and in the opinion of the article that Ada sent us, the best approach is to be proactive and to “Empower your child with knowledge” since gun safety starts at home. It’s important to teach gun safety to your children as soon as they are old enough. That way they know the risks and what to do if they see a firearm.
 
The article details three initial main steps to take:

1. Store firearms safely
2. Use childproof locks, a lockbox, trigger lock or safe
3. Store ammunition away from firearms in a locked container

 
In addition to these three steps, it’s important to talk to your children. As the article says, “Having an open discussion with your kids about gun safety can make a difference.” Personally, we find this to be a critical step to take since our children see “make believe” firearms every day in video games, movies and TV shows. So, they need to know the reality of the risks associated with firearms and how to act around them so that they don’t think they are toys.
 
The article advocates teaching children the following three things about what to do if they find or see a gun:

1. Don’t touch it
2. Leave the area quickly
3. Tell a grown-up

 
The last two areas that the article touches on are related to “Lockdown Drills and Emergency Preparedness” and “Reporting School Safety Concerns”; great areas to teach your children about given the tragic occurrences of the past 25 years. In addition to discussing why reporting concerns about dangerous actions is so important, the article also advocates taking the following 5 steps with respect to lockdowns:

1. Provide information about what a lockdown drill is and stress the importance of taking them seriously just like they would a fire drill
2. Teach your child to stay calm since the purpose of these drills help to keep them safe
3. Talk about any fears that they have so that they can ask any questions
4. Tell them to focus on listening to and following instructions in any emergency situation
5. Practice drills like this at home, just like they will at school, so that they have the knowledge they need

 
Finally, the article lists some other good sources for information to help answer the question “Does your child know what to do if he or she finds a gun?”:

• NRA's Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program
• National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Project ChildSafe
• Safe Kids Worldwide
• Project Childsafe  

We’re glad that Ms. Anna Lee’s students are learning about firearms safety, and that Ada sent us the article on the topic. If you want to read the entire article that Ada and Ms. Anna Lee passed along, here’s a direct link to it: "Kids and Gun Safety”

During the year there are several activities in the area that celebrate our Colonial and Revolutionary War history. This year we attended the Patriots’ Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, and the Colonial Faire and Fife & Drum Muster.

Patriots’ Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts commemorating the first shots fired in the American Revolutionary War, at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on 19 April 1775. On 18 April 1775 the British Military Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, General Thomas Gage, ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to seize the arms and powder being stockpiled by the Concord militia. The skirmish that started at Concord's North Bridge had been brewing for some time since the tensions in Massachusetts had been escalating due to the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts. But the Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the actual first shots were fired between the Patriots and British regulars, beginning what would eventually lead to the American colonies Revolutionary War against the British Empire. Every year on Patriots Day, the local militia companies that fought at the Battles of Lexington and Concord back in 1775 March from their towns to the North Bridge to commemorate the occasion.

Memorial Day is a US Federal holiday that honors and mourns the country's deceased service members and women who lost their lives while defending the United States. It is celebrated on the last Monday of May (27 May in 2024) and is often considered the unofficial start of summer. The local militia company provided the salute to all those who sacrificed their lives so that we may enjoy our freedom today.

Colonial Faire and Fife & Drum Muster: In the days preceding the Revolutionary War, the local militias would usually muster to drill twice each year, once in the spring and the other in the fall. Following their drill, the militia would be joined by their families and celebrate with good food and drink, music and games. On September 28, 2024, the local Companies of Militia & Minute and Ancient Fyfe and Drum Companie hosted a full day of events at the Wayside Inn (which was established in 1716, making it one of the oldest continuously operating inns in the United States). As noon approached, fifes and drums could be heard in the distance as 24 companies from all over New England assembled to parade from the Wayside Inn to the muster field. After the parade, each fife and drum company returned to the muster field to play for the audience. The Wayside Inn is also the site of the one-room schoolhouse from 1798 made famous in the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” poem

Here are a few photos from the events celebrating our Colonial history from throughout the year: (click on any photo to start the slideshow)

​Last week we were lucky enough to see a celestial event that could be seen across our entire northern sky; the Aurora Borealis.
 
Last night, 19 October 2024, we experienced a celestial event that was much harder to see; comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS; also known as Comet C/2023 A3. The comet came from the Oort cloud and was only discovered on 9 January 2023 by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China when the comet was ~7.3 AU (1.09 billion km; 680 million mi) from the Sun.

The first naked eye observation of the comet from Earth was reported on 23 September 2024. It made its closest approach to Earth on 12 October, at a distance of 71 million km (44 million mi). When visible the tail was reported to be 10 degrees long under dark skies and 17.5 degrees long photographically. By 2 November the comet had faded to below magnitude +6 and was no longer visible to the naked eye.
 
Based on astronomical calculations the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet came from the Oort Cloud - which lies far beyond Pluto and the most distant edges of the Kuiper Belt. The Oort Cloud is believed to be a giant spherical shell surrounding the Sun, planets and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). It's like a big, thick bubble around our solar system, made of icy, comet-like objects.

​
​Because of the comet's orbit (a retrograde orbit, lying at an inclination of 139°) Tsuchinshan-ATLAS did not approach close to the giant planets of our Solar System. Consequently, the comet is only weakly bound to the Sun and it is calculated that the outbound orbit will become a hyperbolic trajectory that will most likely result in the comet being ejected from the Solar System - never to return.

​Here are some of the photos of the rare sight that we saw last night between 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM here on the East Coast: ​​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)

​In addition, here’s a 1-minute time-lapse video of the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured from space by Astronaut Matthew Dominick onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The past two nights the conditions were good for potentially seeing the Northern Lights here in New England once again. One chance to see the Aurora Borealis as far south as the Boston area is very rare; twice in the same year is unheard of. So, on the nights of 10 and 11 October 2024, we ventured out in the late evening and luckily got to see some amazing sights.
 
As with the last time earlier this year (on 10 May 2024), prior to heading out we consulted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/) to check the forecast to find out if the conditions were actually good for seeing the Northern Lights in our area – since they’re the authoritative source for solar and space environment data.

We also checked our “Sky Live”, “Moon Calendar” and “Lumnos” apps once again to see what the sky conditions were, the phase of the moon, and the location of the moon in the night sky.  

The air was crisp, the skies were clear, and the moon was in the Southern sky – so the viewing conditions were excellent. As mentioned in our previous Aurora blog from earlier this year (11 May 2024), we found that our cameras “saw” the lights (which are caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with the Earth’s electromagnetic field) much better than our eyes. So, we had to shoot lots of photos and then see what showed up on our cameras. Again, we were surprised many times because the faint colors and striations that we saw in the sky were much brighter and more pronounced in the images that our cameras captured. Here's a great write-up by Ewen Bell explaining why this occurs: "Why Auroras Look Different on The Camera"

The gallery below shows photos of the Northern Lights that appeared in our town’s skies during the two nights – along with a couple photos of our Town Center that was coincidentally lit up that week: ​ ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)

Last night, 17 September 2024, the weather was clear enough to see this month’s Harvest Super Moon – but the clouds were also out - so we saw some really interesting sights as the moon and the clouds interacted.
 
As the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox, this was the Harvest Moon – named as such since during the fall harvest farmers sometimes needed to work late into the night by moonlight. Unlike other full moons, the Harvest Moon rises just after sunset for several consecutive days, creating an extended period of natural light in the early evening.
 
Last night’s moon was also a super moon and the moon appeared particularly large in the sky owing to the coincidence of its closest approach to the earth (the perigee) with a full moon.
 
If you want all of the scientific details, and all the dates, times and distances for full supermoons until the year 2100, Astronomer Fred Espenak has created a table that lists all of them at:

• https://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/fullperigee2001.html

 
Here are some of the photos showing the spectacular sights that we saw last night between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM here on the East Coast: ​ ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)

Maybe it’s just me – but sometimes I get the feeling that the “wildlife” in our neighborhood is getting just a little too comfortable around humans.
 
So that you can see what I’m talking about, here are a few photos from the past 12 months of the animals that surround our home - Bears, Bobcats, Cormorants, Coyotes, Deer, Foxes, Fisher Cats, Hawks, Owls, Snakes, Snapping Turtles, Turkeys, Woodchucks, and a Turkey, Duck and Bunny all snacking together. Some of these photos are from our yard, some are from our local walks and hikes, and others are from our neighbors: ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)

​We had an amazing coincidence occur earlier this week when, on the night of 11 May 2024, as we were waiting for the Aurora Borealis to appear, the International Space Station (ISS) streaked directly overhead.

​The largest man-made object in space, the ISS is 356 feet (109 meters) end-to-end, one yard shy of the full length of an American football field including the end zones. The solar array wingspan (356 feet, 109 meters) is longer than the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 (262 feet, 80 meters). In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets at a speed of 17,100 mph (4.76 miles/second). Here’s a short video of what the ISS orbit looks like as it passes 248 miles above the Earth. Note that the highlighted “cone” shows the locations that can see the ISS as it passes by.

​Because of its size, and the sun’s rays reflecting off its metal hull and solar panels, the ISS is very visible against the night sky – if you know when and where to look for it. Luckily, we knew that the ISS would be passing overhead that night, so we noted the compass directions that it would come from and head off to, and were prepared to look for it at the scheduled orbital pass time.

​Here’s a time sequence photo montage of the ISS passing overhead during the 6 minutes and 34 seconds that it was visible to us. 

​We even captured a short video of the ISS streaking through the night sky. (click on the arrows to expand the video to full screen since the ISS was shot against the dark night sky)

​
​Although we initially headed out for a chance to see the Aurora Borealis, the fact that we saw both the Northern Lights and the ISS passing overhead made for an unforgettable night. 

Last night the conditions were good for potentially seeing the Northern Lights here in New England. So, on the night of 10 May 2024, we ventured out in the late evening and luckily got to see some amazing sights between 9:30 PM and 12:30 AM from a variety of locations around our town.
 
Prior to heading out we consulted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/) to check the forecast to find out if the conditions were actually good for seeing the Northern Lights in our area – since they’re the authoritative source for solar and space environment data.

We also checked our “Sky Live”, “Moon Calendar” and “Lumnos” apps to see what the sky conditions were, the phase of the moon, and the location of the moon in the night sky – and the viewing conditions were excellent.

The only odd thing we found was that our cameras “saw” the lights (which are caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with the Earth’s electromagnetic field) much better than our eyes. So, we had to shoot lots of photos and then see what showed up on our cameras. Needless to say, we were surprised many times because the faint colors and striations that we saw in the sky were much brighter and more pronounced in the images that our cameras captured. Here's a great write-up by Ewen Bell explaining why this occurs: "Why Auroras Look Different on The Camera"

The gallery below shows photos of the Northern Lights that appeared in our town’s skies that night:  ​​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)