It had been sunnier earlier in the day, but the sun played peek-a-boo once I got into the dunes.
It always spiritually renewing when I visit the sacred mountain in the dunes.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Beautiful but Cold Dunes Hike -- Post 2
Today I will post the remainder of the pictures from my hike in the dunes the other day.
It had been sunnier earlier in the day, but the sun played peek-a-boo once I got into the dunes.
It always spiritually renewing when I visit the sacred mountain in the dunes.
It had been sunnier earlier in the day, but the sun played peek-a-boo once I got into the dunes.
It always spiritually renewing when I visit the sacred mountain in the dunes.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Beautiful but cold Dunes Hike -- Post 1
In Grand Marais we have not seen much of the sun as of late. So after working most of the day I ran some errands and headed up into the dunes. Although the roads are snow covered, I decided to drive west of town to access the dunes. We are supposed to get snow this weekend, so the number of days that the unplowed roads are open for automobile traffic are numbered.
First, I checked out Sable Lake. The main body of the lake is still ice free.
There is some shore ice, and as you can see below, the shallow lagoons are now frozen over.
I parked in the snow on the pull out at the Massee trail head. I walked down the trail toward the Log Slide.
I wasn't five minutes down the trail when I decided to bushwhack it up the dune. When I was half way up this 300 foot verticly steep dune, I realized that the many weeks of sitting and working on my computer have taken their toll. But, I carefully pulled myself up by grabbing trees, traversing back and forth, and using my ski poles. It was slippery and certainly was a challenge.
Interesting fungi along the way. You know when you are tired, there always seems to be something worth stopping for. I can get a few good photos and rest at the same time.....
Half way there.....
Closer.....
The perspective is weird in the picture below. Am I high above a forest on top of a big dune looking down? No, this is a picture of equisetum horsetail stalks sticking up above the snow.
A close up of the horsetaiil stalks, mixed in with some other forest dwellers.
Finally, I reached the dune above the forest.
Then I headed into the dunes just a bit. The wind was blowing and I am not yet acclimated to winter, so I decided to not hike for more than an hour.
First, I checked out Sable Lake. The main body of the lake is still ice free.
There is some shore ice, and as you can see below, the shallow lagoons are now frozen over.
I parked in the snow on the pull out at the Massee trail head. I walked down the trail toward the Log Slide.
I wasn't five minutes down the trail when I decided to bushwhack it up the dune. When I was half way up this 300 foot verticly steep dune, I realized that the many weeks of sitting and working on my computer have taken their toll. But, I carefully pulled myself up by grabbing trees, traversing back and forth, and using my ski poles. It was slippery and certainly was a challenge.
Interesting fungi along the way. You know when you are tired, there always seems to be something worth stopping for. I can get a few good photos and rest at the same time.....
Half way there.....
Closer.....
The perspective is weird in the picture below. Am I high above a forest on top of a big dune looking down? No, this is a picture of equisetum horsetail stalks sticking up above the snow.
A close up of the horsetaiil stalks, mixed in with some other forest dwellers.
Below is what this ancient plant looks like. Relatives of this species first appeared more than 300 million years ago. Equisetums are found today on all continents except for Antartica.
Then I headed into the dunes just a bit. The wind was blowing and I am not yet acclimated to winter, so I decided to not hike for more than an hour.
To be continued tomorrow.....
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Online Rockhounding Adventures update and Mars Rover Update
After way more effort than I ever imagined when I started working on the online rockhounding adventures two years ago, I think I am finally done with Adventure 1. I would still like to preview and test the four segments in real time, but this would take a whole day. I have not done a final count, but the four segments of the first adventure include somewhere around 300 computer pages, 55 video clips, and thousands of photos, diagrams, and animations.
There is part of me that would like to launch this adventure NOW, but my marketing instinct is that since most of the people who will sign up at launch are rockhounds, I should wait until I finish the final edit on Adventure 2. The first adventure, as I have reported in other blog updates, covers from the Big Bang through Universe, Solar System, and Earth formation. Adventure 2 will be about the Lake Superior agate, Upper Peninsula geology, and beach rocks. I don't know how long it will take me to complete the final edit the five segments of Adventure 2, but it will be at least a few weeks.
What is your opinion? Please send me an email to karen@agatelady.com and give me your opinion, or send me a comment via this blog posting. Which decision do you prefer::
Decision 1 -- Launch Adventure 1 now.
Decision 2 -- Wait to launch until after the final edit has been completed on Adventure 2.
No matter which decision I make, the launch will not yet include the PLAY TIME self-evaluation quizzes. These quizzes will be added this winter. Either way, the launch price for the pilot program will be $15 that will cover both adventures, the corresponding PLAY TIME quizzes that will be added this winter, and all future improvements to these two adventures. At the launch of the pilot program, there will also be the option to purchase a life time subscription to these first two as well as all future online rockhounding adventures for $50.
The pilot program will end when I launch the third adventure. I have not yet decided which rock or mineral I will feature in this third adventure. The third adventure will be launched (I hope) by next summer. At that time, those who have purchased the pilot program will have the chance to upgrade their subscription to include the third adventure. I am not sure yet what the cost of upgrade will be, but the price will be somewhere around an additional $15. The cost of the lifetime subscription will also go up with the launch of the third adventure to somewhere between $60 and $70. I hope to be adding two adventures per year for many years to come.
For today's blog posting I'll update everyone about the Mars rover.
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove 83 feet eastward during the 102nd Martian day of the mission (Nov. 18, 2012), and used its left navigation camera to record this view ahead at the end of the drive. The view is toward "Yellowknife Bay" in the "Glenelg" area of Gale Crater.
This panorama is a mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on the NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October and November 2012.
The center of the scene, looking eastward from Rocknest, includes the Point Lake area. After the component images for this scene were taken, Curiosity drove 83 feet (25.3 meters) on Nov. 18 from Rocknest to Point Lake.
The above photo shows a rock approximately 15 inches (40 centimeters) long and 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall. Next to the "Rocknest" patch of windblown dust and sand where Curiosity scooped and analyzed soil samples. The Mastcam was about 13 feet (4 meters) from the rock when the component images were taken.
The picture on the left covers an area of about 0.75 by 0.87 inches (1.9 by 2.2 centimeters) and shows some of the variety of coarse sand grains observed on a portion of the Rocknest wind drift that was flattened by the left front rover wheel. Though Mars is thought of as the Red Planet, the sands of Mars are not necessarily red. This one small area shows clear, translucent grains, gray sand and white sand, in addition to two blue-gray glassy spheres and a glassy ellipsoid. The spherical and ellipsoidal grains were likely formed from molten droplets that cooled above the Martian surface to form glass, either during an explosive volcanic eruption or an impact cratering event. Similar grains are found in association with impacts on Earth and explosive volcanoes on the moon. The larger glassy sphere is 0.026 inches (655 micrometers) in diameter.
The picture on the right shows a magnified view of the fraction of smaller sand grains examined by Curiosity.
This map shows where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven since landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and traveling to an overlook position near beside "Point Lake," in drives totaling 1,703 feet (519 meters). The rover landed on August 5,2012. It was at the easternmost waypoint on this map on Nov. 30, 2012. It worked on scoops of soil for a few weeks at the drift of windblown sand called "Rocknest." The place called "Glenelg" is where three types of terrain meet. The depression called "Yellowknife Bay" is a potential location for selecting the first target rock for Curiosity's hammering drill.
All of these sites are within Gale Crater and north of the mountain called Mount Sharp in the middle of the crater. After using its drill in the Glenelg area, the rover's main science destination will be on the lower reaches of Mount Sharp.
The NASA Mars rover Curiosity took the above photo during the mission's 120th Martian day, or sol (Dec. 7, 2012), to record this view of a rock outcrop informally named "Shaler."
The outcrop's striking layers, some at angles to each other in a pattern called crossbedding, made it a target of interest for the mission's science team. The site is near where three types of terrain meet at a place called "Glenelg," inside Gale Crater.
The area covered by the image spans about 3 feet (90 centimeters).
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems, NASA/JPL-Caltech.
There is part of me that would like to launch this adventure NOW, but my marketing instinct is that since most of the people who will sign up at launch are rockhounds, I should wait until I finish the final edit on Adventure 2. The first adventure, as I have reported in other blog updates, covers from the Big Bang through Universe, Solar System, and Earth formation. Adventure 2 will be about the Lake Superior agate, Upper Peninsula geology, and beach rocks. I don't know how long it will take me to complete the final edit the five segments of Adventure 2, but it will be at least a few weeks.
What is your opinion? Please send me an email to karen@agatelady.com and give me your opinion, or send me a comment via this blog posting. Which decision do you prefer::
Decision 1 -- Launch Adventure 1 now.
Decision 2 -- Wait to launch until after the final edit has been completed on Adventure 2.
No matter which decision I make, the launch will not yet include the PLAY TIME self-evaluation quizzes. These quizzes will be added this winter. Either way, the launch price for the pilot program will be $15 that will cover both adventures, the corresponding PLAY TIME quizzes that will be added this winter, and all future improvements to these two adventures. At the launch of the pilot program, there will also be the option to purchase a life time subscription to these first two as well as all future online rockhounding adventures for $50.
The pilot program will end when I launch the third adventure. I have not yet decided which rock or mineral I will feature in this third adventure. The third adventure will be launched (I hope) by next summer. At that time, those who have purchased the pilot program will have the chance to upgrade their subscription to include the third adventure. I am not sure yet what the cost of upgrade will be, but the price will be somewhere around an additional $15. The cost of the lifetime subscription will also go up with the launch of the third adventure to somewhere between $60 and $70. I hope to be adding two adventures per year for many years to come.
For today's blog posting I'll update everyone about the Mars rover.
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove 83 feet eastward during the 102nd Martian day of the mission (Nov. 18, 2012), and used its left navigation camera to record this view ahead at the end of the drive. The view is toward "Yellowknife Bay" in the "Glenelg" area of Gale Crater.
This panorama is a mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on the NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October and November 2012.
The center of the scene, looking eastward from Rocknest, includes the Point Lake area. After the component images for this scene were taken, Curiosity drove 83 feet (25.3 meters) on Nov. 18 from Rocknest to Point Lake.
The above photo shows a rock approximately 15 inches (40 centimeters) long and 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall. Next to the "Rocknest" patch of windblown dust and sand where Curiosity scooped and analyzed soil samples. The Mastcam was about 13 feet (4 meters) from the rock when the component images were taken.
The picture on the left covers an area of about 0.75 by 0.87 inches (1.9 by 2.2 centimeters) and shows some of the variety of coarse sand grains observed on a portion of the Rocknest wind drift that was flattened by the left front rover wheel. Though Mars is thought of as the Red Planet, the sands of Mars are not necessarily red. This one small area shows clear, translucent grains, gray sand and white sand, in addition to two blue-gray glassy spheres and a glassy ellipsoid. The spherical and ellipsoidal grains were likely formed from molten droplets that cooled above the Martian surface to form glass, either during an explosive volcanic eruption or an impact cratering event. Similar grains are found in association with impacts on Earth and explosive volcanoes on the moon. The larger glassy sphere is 0.026 inches (655 micrometers) in diameter.
The picture on the right shows a magnified view of the fraction of smaller sand grains examined by Curiosity.
This map shows where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven since landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and traveling to an overlook position near beside "Point Lake," in drives totaling 1,703 feet (519 meters). The rover landed on August 5,2012. It was at the easternmost waypoint on this map on Nov. 30, 2012. It worked on scoops of soil for a few weeks at the drift of windblown sand called "Rocknest." The place called "Glenelg" is where three types of terrain meet. The depression called "Yellowknife Bay" is a potential location for selecting the first target rock for Curiosity's hammering drill.
All of these sites are within Gale Crater and north of the mountain called Mount Sharp in the middle of the crater. After using its drill in the Glenelg area, the rover's main science destination will be on the lower reaches of Mount Sharp.
The NASA Mars rover Curiosity took the above photo during the mission's 120th Martian day, or sol (Dec. 7, 2012), to record this view of a rock outcrop informally named "Shaler."
The outcrop's striking layers, some at angles to each other in a pattern called crossbedding, made it a target of interest for the mission's science team. The site is near where three types of terrain meet at a place called "Glenelg," inside Gale Crater.
The area covered by the image spans about 3 feet (90 centimeters).
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems, NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Grand Sable Dunes Hike
Yesterday I worked on "the project" all day. Over the last six weeks of producing movie clips I have learned a lot. Since I have to in most cases work with three different types of software to create and then convert the files, issues developed with the ends of the movie clips. I figured out a way to avoid this issue, so I had to re-do the ends of all the videos that I have made. That took all day.
So for today's blog posting, here are a few shots I took in a dune hike. We have around four inches of snow on the ground. Even though the wind is from the south and the southern U.P. is getting hit this morning with lake effect snow off Lake Michigan, it is actually snowing big flakes right now in Grand Marais. Sometimes it is amazing how far inland the lake effect snow machine will work.
So for today's blog posting, here are a few shots I took in a dune hike. We have around four inches of snow on the ground. Even though the wind is from the south and the southern U.P. is getting hit this morning with lake effect snow off Lake Michigan, it is actually snowing big flakes right now in Grand Marais. Sometimes it is amazing how far inland the lake effect snow machine will work.
Monday, December 10, 2012
New Camera Lens photos and Snow
First, I'll give an update on the online rockhounding adventures. I am done with the first adventure, which includes four segments. At least, I am almost done. I have a few clean up items that will require a couple more hours. This week I'll start on the second adventure, which includes five segments. Final editing should not take as long as it did for the first adventure (I hope). I'll keep everyone informed. I know I promised to launch prior to now, but sometimes the creative process takes longer than you would like.
A cold front came through the upper Midwest yesterday. In Grand Marais, we received 3-4 inches. Here are a few shots I took around my house.
Yesterday I took the next step in preparation of working on the second adventure. Now that I have realized that my regular digital camera does not take good close up pictures, I finally played some more with my new Nikon digital SLR camera. I bought a lens kit that magnifies images to get good quality close up pictures. I'll have to practice some more, but so far I am happy with the results. What do you think?
One of the museum founder's Lake Superior agates...
A peeler Lake Superior agate...
A Kentucky agate...
An Argentina snowflake agate...
A rough Ocean Jasper....
A Moroccan agate...
A Mexican Coyomito agate...
A cold front came through the upper Midwest yesterday. In Grand Marais, we received 3-4 inches. Here are a few shots I took around my house.
Yesterday I took the next step in preparation of working on the second adventure. Now that I have realized that my regular digital camera does not take good close up pictures, I finally played some more with my new Nikon digital SLR camera. I bought a lens kit that magnifies images to get good quality close up pictures. I'll have to practice some more, but so far I am happy with the results. What do you think?
One of the museum founder's Lake Superior agates...
A peeler Lake Superior agate...
A Kentucky agate...
An Argentina snowflake agate...
A rough Ocean Jasper....
A Moroccan agate...
A Mexican Coyomito agate...
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