Zombie Hermit Mode

October 31st, incidentally my birthday, is almost here. Why Halloween isn’t a national holiday continues to baffle me. As do many things.

November 5th is also near. At this point, everybody needs to calm down. Most definitely including me. I’ve sworn off cable news and Twitter for the duration. I’m not saying we shouldn’t worry, just that at this point we can’t do much to alter the outcome other than pray the Smarts outnumber the Stupids at the ballot box.

Before going into low-information mode, I saw in the news that a satellite (built by Boeing, which is what most news reports have focused on) has broken up in orbit. My immediate thought was that it must have collided with one of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites (of which more than 7,000 are currently whizzing around in low Earth orbit). I’ve since learned the satellite in question, Intelsat 33e, was way up in geostationary orbit, where there’s almost zero risk of collision with anything man-made, so it either exploded as a result of internal failure or was hit by a meteoroid. Where there was one fairly large object in geostationary orbit above Europe, there are now between 20 and 57 smaller ones, and being that high, they’re not going to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up for hundreds of years.

As to the actual collision risk posed by Starlink satellites (eventually there will be at least 10,000 in orbit), something a lot of people are thinking about, I gather it’s relatively low. In aviation, there’s something we call the Big Sky Theory. You see those online radar tracking maps showing dense clouds of airline traffic over North America or Europe and think holy shit how do they keep from ramming into one another, but the guys and girls in those cockpits rarely see other aircraft, being in fact miles apart and stacked at different altitudes. Nevertheless, midairs do occur, almost always fatal, so we’re putting a strain on the Big Sky. I think, inevitably, the profusion of objects in low Earth orbit will put the Big Space Theory to the test.

I bought a 40-pound bag of wild bird seed at the feed store, a blend we haven’t tried before. It has a lot of corn in it, which may or may not be a hit with our feathered guests. The feeder’s been refilled and we’ll see. While I was finishing up outdoor chores this morning the woman up the street walked by with her corgi. After the corgi, sworn enemy of dachshunds everywhere, was safely out of sight I let the Gang of Three™ loose in the front yard. Fritzi and Lulu ran to the driveway in order to look up or down the street, but Mister B, more sedate in his old age, stayed close to the door. After a few minutes, curiosity satisfied, all three were ready to go back in.

The first photo is actually from yesterday, when Donna and Polly took Fritzi and Lulu for a walk. The second photo’s from today, with Mister B, Lulu, Fritzi, and our Okinawan Shisa dogs on door guard duty.

Before I sign off, one more photo: Donna’s spread for last Sunday’s book club meeting. She made everything but the pickles and cookies: pulled BBQ pork and chicken sliders, potato salad, deviled eggs, witch fingers (prosciutto-wrapped & marinated asparagus spears), and, in the middle, little pumpkins made of peeled Mandarins with mint leaves).

Stay fresh, cheese bags!