A Few Notes About the Past Week

 

Just a few notes about the past week.

        * I found out that a local hardware store was closing. Winchel Hardware has been located in Etna since 1906, a hundred and sixteen years! It originally was opened as a department store but evolved into a hardware store shortly after World War Two.

        It was the place I would go if I needed a trap for a sink or a switch to replace a broken one on a lamp. Whatever you needed, chances are you could get it there. I remember one time going there to find a hanger for one of my gutters. I was taken up a set of stairs and half way down them, a door was opened and inside was a selection of different types of hangers. Naturally, there were some exactly like what I needed. I bought two, that was all I needed.

        They weren’t prepackaged, sealed in hard to open plastic, they were hanging loose on a nail. “How many did I need?” I got them and some friendly talk in the process. It was always a great place to shop; you were always treated as someone special. It was so much better than a big box store. I’ll miss them!

        *I hid a couple geocaches this week in the local area. One of them was found before I finished hiding it! I met a couple of local geocachers that I knew via e-mails but never met in person. It is always nice to put a face to a name!

        They were searching the spot I was going to hide the cache in. I was running late, the cache is supposed to be hidden before it is submitted to Geocaching.com. I was in the process of replacing the container when I met them. I asked if they were geocachers and when they replied they were, I held up the cache and told them, “You found it!” I had only submitted the cache a few hours earlier; I didn’t know it had been approved already. Live and learn! 

        The other cache I placed had been submitted five or six days earlier and still wasn’t released. It ended up being released the next morning. Here is a shot of the lucky FTF (First to Find) signing the log.

        *The last thing. The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) had another star party on Saturday night. The night before there were thunderstorms and the morning was filled with misting rain. The day was full of thick clouds covering the sky. Around 5 in the afternoon, bits of blue started showing through. I packed the car and drove towards The Wagman Observatory, hoping for the best.

        We had a small turn out of members and guests. Eleven members showed up to share the skies with about 30-40 visitors. We dodged the clouds, going from one object to another as they were covered over. 

        We were treated to a nice conjunction of Venus and a thin crescent moon hanging over the western horizon. (Sorry, no picture) Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its rings, a few double stars and the Andromeda Galaxy were some of the other things shown.

        A short while after I arrived, I met a woman as I walked to the observatory. She told me that it was 15 years since she was here last. She was in the Girl Scouts at the time and enjoyed it so much she always wanted to return.

        It just goes to show you never know how long a good thing will take to pay off. We showed the scouts a good time back then and she remembered it! We must have done something right! Whatever it was, it paid off, she brought some people with her to share the experience! Hopefully the guests who visited last night will be back also, preferably sooner than 15 years. I think everyone there had a good time, I know I did!

        *To finish these notes off, it is two in the afternoon while I am typing this. I am sitting in my backyard listening to a live band performing over the hill. They sound really good! While I was typing away at my laptop, a brown hawk landed on a fallen tree 20 feet away. He/she sat there looking around, preening a bit and then flew off after “hangin” with me for eight minutes. (Always happens when I don’t have a camera handy!) It was a nice compliment to the sunrise I saw this morning! Suburban Glenshaw, live music and wild life…no complaints here!

Enjoy the week!