Arachno-philia?

Newport News

For the past few weeks, as I've applied my limited handyman-skills to our little house in Virginia, I've fought various battles against ants, bees, and the American Cockroach.  In all of these engagements against household invaders I've felt that I occupied a kind of moral high ground, harboring a sense that, unlike my insect opponents I belonged there, and had the right to use force (often deadly force) to unseat them from their accustomed habitats.

Not so with this particular denizen of the Epps manse...

This beautiful spider set up shop just a few days after I arrived from New York, spinning her web immediately outside my den window.  Day after day as I dealt with paperwork or un-tangled the interesting tale of our former tenants (since evicted as they felt dis-inclined to pay their agreed--and quite reasonable--monthly rent), I'd glance up and out from my desk to watch her getting her house in order, snaring her next meal, or resting with legs curled tightly about 1/2-inch carapace, resembling an orange diamond when she did so. 

Perhaps it is reflective of the loneliness of my "geo-bachelor" existence (Lucy has remained in New York as we prepare to move south whilst I returned to duty) that I developed something of a friendly relationship with this arachnid--friendly on my part, anyway.  I was careful not to disturb her web when cleaning outside the den or mowing the grass, and cheered in her favor whenever a wandering Anopheles or beetle flew too close to her sticky snare.

I have always been fascinated by spiders--the larger and hairier the better.  Considering my history with eight-legged critters (I was bitten by a Brown Recluse about ten years ago--it's necrotic venom dissolved a sugar-cube-sized portion of my chest.  A disgusting experience, and quite painful as well!) one might expect that I'd be trying to squash "Charlotte" rather than photographing her.  Despite this past , I find myself examining webs and following Wolf Spiders through the grass, enraptured by the quick movements, the acrobatics, the various habits of these creatures.

Unfortunately, all good things must end.  Yesterday I noticed that my "roomie"s web hung empty and un-kept, and a careful search of the side of the house revealed no clue as to her whereabouts.  The nights grow cooler, and insects less numerous than only a few days ago; she might already be wintering-over, waiting for spring's warmth to return.

Maybe I'll see her next year.

Supply Run...

Norfolk, Virginia
Well, here I am, back on duty!  Checked-in to the "Pool" of mariners available for assignment on Tuesday morning, updated my medical and training status--and was almost immediately called to the Admin side of the shop to accept orders! (I suppose I should be flattered...and I am!)

I'll be flying out next week to meet my new ship in the Persian Gulf region...USNS Supply (T-AOE 6).  She's the slightly elder sister of my old friend Arctic, and so ought to be quite similar to T-AOE 8 in layout.  She certainly LOOKS a lot like my old "mistress"...

Sisters in HY-100: Supply seen from Arctic's bridge-wing

I'm looking forward to getting aboard and learning what similarities--and differences--there are between these ships--no matter how cookie-cutter they may look on the outside there are always unique features, and of course a different Captain and crew to get to know and learn to work with.  Just as with Arctic back in 2005 and Joshua Humphreys earlier this year, a great part of the fun of this life @ sea lies in experiencing the endless diversity of  ships and shipmates, and in learning how best to contribute to that synergy of steel and humanity that makes up the community of a vessel on business upon great waters.

But before I can come to know and find my niche in Supply I first must meet the ship in a distant port.  The journey begins in one weeks' time...

Stay tuned--this ought to be good!

Weighing Anchor

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything significant--aside from Mr. Masefield's wonderful poem, which seems to sum up my sea-going predilections perfectly.  It's been a great leave; busy with projects in both New York and Virginia (more on that later), plenty of long walks in the woods with Lucy, my infinitely Better Half, and our little English Bulldog, Delany (otherwise known as Woola--look it up!).  Evenings of star-gazing and a terrific recital of four-hand piano music, a drive to Drakes' Island (Maine) for a Beach-combing weekend, a fossil-hunting expedition amongst half-billion year old stromatolite "sea gardens", and of course the joy that comes of holding my Love close, of feeling her head on my shoulder as we drift off to sleep, the deep sorrow of that final kiss and last wave goodbye before I begin the long drive back to Virginia, back to the sea.

I'm in Newport News now, plying my limited 'handyman' skills in preparing our little house for occupancy;  after our two-year experiment of living in New York we have decided for a myriad of reasons to move South once more.  Thankfully the old manse never sold in our absence (thank the economic nightmare of the past four years for that blessing) and remains in good condition; most of my efforts are toward cleaning-up the mess left by our tenants and some light repair work.

Next Monday I'll be attending small-arms (M-14 rifle, M-9 pistol and 12-Gauge shotgun) and security training at a facility not too far south of the North Carolina line, and the following week I'm due to report for duty and assignment to a ship.  This, as they say, is where things get interesting...stay tuned!

Sea Fever

Sea Fever

John Masefield

(1878-1967)

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sails shaking,

And a gray mist on the sea's face and a gray dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

The Sons of Perseus

The Sons of Perseus

09 August 2012

There is quite a lot going on this Saturday night/Sunday morning; the conjunction of Spica, Saturn and Mars continues as a celestial triangle gradually becomes a line of 1^st-Magnitude “stars” in the evening sky, a major meteor shower reaches full intensity (its “peak”), and the Moon plays ‘tag’ with two bright planets.  Plenty of excitement for the evening observer and early-riser to enjoy, so lets get started!

First, an update on the ongoing conjunction of Saturn, Spica and Mars.  Over the past week Mars has moved eastward and will be passing between stationary Spica and slow-moving Saturn during the next week.  Even now, as it draws “nearer” the ringed planet and distant star, Mars has moved close enough that you can easily view all three simultaneously through binoculars.  Compare the members of the triad members’ relative brightness and hue—what a terrific contrast of colors!

Keep an eye on these three—the show isn’t over.

Now, for the Main Event.  On Sunday morning the Perseid meteor shower will reach it’s peak for this year; over the past few weeks we’ve been seeing more and more of these “shooting stars”, and the time has come at last for the grand finale.  The Perseids (the name is Greek for “the sons of Perseus”, a reference to the mythological hero) have been observed for at least 2000 years, and are one of the year’s most impressive displays of celestial fireworks, with up to 80 bright meteors (and hundreds of dimmer ones) visible to the naked eye per hour at peak. 

The best time to observe meteors is in the three to four hours before dawn on Sunday, when Earth’s rotation brings the shower’s “radiant” (the area of the sky from which the meteors appear to move outward from) up in the eastern sky.  As the name suggests, the Perseid shower’s radiant is located in the constellation Perseus (see the map below), but don’t concentrate your viewing on that spot alone.  Pick an area with as few lights, buildings or trees as possible, lean back so you can comfortably watch your chosen “sector” (I usually use an air mattress or lawn recliner chair), have a thermos handy and bug-repellent ready, and enjoy the show.

The closing act for the night will be the view to the east an hour or two before sunrise; the waning crescent Moon, 1^st-Magnitude star Aldebaran, Jupiter and Venus will be putting on a lovely display.  Jupiter and Aldebaran (alpha Tauri) will be above the Moon, and Venus (brightest thing in the sky after the Moon) will be low above the horizon. 

I hope you all can get out for at least part of Saturday night/Sunday morning’s sky show—you don’t need to put in an all-nighter (though I probably will!) to observe four planets, the Moon and one of the most amazing meteor showers of the year.  Let me know what you do see of the night’s attractions by writing to my shore-side email (navalgamer@afgimail.com) , and above all—be safe out there in the dark!

Tom Epps

Able Seaman

USNS Joshua Humphreys

Persian Gulf

Photo Dump

08 August 2012

Welcome back to All @ Sea!, my effort to illustrate in my own words and images what it is like to live and work in the great ships.  My name is Tom Epps, I’m 50 years young and a veteran of 24 years’ service in the United States Navy plus nearly 8 years sailing in the US Merchant Marine, in the Gulf of Mexico “oil patch” and the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC).  Currently I am working aboard USNS Joshua Humphreys, a replenishment oiler operating in the Persian Gulf region; her job is to provide USN and Allied warships with fuel, water, food and other stores that keep them sailing and carrying out their missions.

 HMS Diamond On Approach...

...And Alongside USNS Joshua Humphreys

Diamond Receives Fuel From T-AO 188

 

I would like to thank All Hands for the kind comments I’ve received in recent months about my postings and photographs as I’ve sailed in Joshua Humphreys; our voyage has carried us from the northern Persian Gulf south to the Horn of Africa and north to Suez, and it has been a busy and rewarding cruise.  Now, however, the time is come to say “farewell” to Humphreys and her fine crew; my tour of duty here is done and this coming weekend I ought to be flying back to the States for some R&R before the next voyage begins.  A few months of leave and some refresher training, and who knows where my next missive might originate!

French Frigate Guepratte On "Plane Guard"

I will of course be continuing to post on the All @ Sea! Blog (gloriousseas.blogspot.com) while ashore—there are plenty of sea-stories yet to tell, after all!  I’ll also continue with my “Weekend Astronomy” bulletins when interesting stargazing opportunities present themselves—and there just happens to a good ‘un this weekend.  Stay Tuned!

 

Frigate HNLMS  Evertsen makes a handsome approach!

Evertsen's Lynx helo snaps our photo!

I’m going to close out this voyage with a few photos of ships that have come alongside for fuel in recent weeks.  In actuality this represents only a small fraction of our recent “business”, but I don’t always have the luxury of time to take photos of the ships that avail themselves of our services. (occasionally I actually work…)  I hope you will enjoy these images!

Tom Epps

Able Seaman

USNS Joshua Humphreys

Persian Gulf

And we close this voyage with the powerful South Korean frigate Wang Geon...

Celestial Triangle

Good Evening, Shipmates!

I’d like to invite you all to step outside this Saturday and Sunday about an hour after sunset and look to the west; if you have clear or mostly-clear skies, a reasonably low horizon and not too many lights interfering with the view you’ll see three bright “stars” in a small, almost equilateral triangle formation, gleaming in the late twilight. All three will be of approximately the same brightness, but of wildly differing colors—one a steady golden hue, the second orange or yellow-brown, and the third a twinkling light blue. Unlike the annular solar eclipse in May or the Transit of Venus in June, you won’t need a telescope or special filters to enjoy this vista, but a pair of binoculars will show their colors plainly. Be sure to bring the kids out for this one, and have some fun with the facts and figures listed below.

So, what are we looking at? Most of you will already have guessed that one or more of our targets are planets, and you’re right; we are looking at a Conjunction (an apparently close approach of two or more celestial bodies as seen from our perspective) of the planets Saturn (Yellow or Golden), Mars (the Angry Yellow-Brown Planet) and Spica (alpha Virginis), the brightest star of the constellation Virgo and the 15th brightest star visible in our skies. As celestial events go this kind of apparition isn’t really very rare, but it is quite lovely, and given all the attention being paid to Mars these days quite an appropriate reason to brave the mosquitoes on a warm August evening.

As readers of my Blog will know, I have a soft spot for our ruddy, diminutive neighbor—the “fourth rock from the sun”. I’ve watched it through the telescope for much of my life through a succession of “oppositions” (see the Blog entry “Red Planet” for details of my obsession with the God of War) and kept careful track of our unmanned explorations over recent decades. A small constellation of orbiting probes have been scanning the planet for quite a few years, and rovers slowly crawling the Martian landscape have answered many of questions (and raised many more, which is as it should be) about the geology, weather and history of Mars. This weekend, in fact, is expected to mark a milestone in our Martian study; during Sunday night the largest interplanetary rover yet—NASA’s “Curiosity” is to enter our brother planet’s atmosphere and land to begin a new phase of the search for answers. “Curiosity” is a very ambitious program—and a risky one—but I await work of its safe arrival in Gale Crater with great anticipation.

On to Saturn. The sixth world out from the Sun, most famous for it’s spectacular and intricate system of rings, has also visited by man’s robotic emissaries. Even now the nuclear-powered Cassini probe orbits the “Lord of the Rings”, measuring and imaging the massive gas-giant planet’s storms, rings, and many moons. Run a search online for Cassini images of Saturn; prepare to be amazed!

Spica, as noted above, is one of the brighter stars gracing our skies, a Blue Giant binary (double star) over 10 times the mass of our Sun. Its companion star, which orbits the primary every four days, weighs in at over 7 times the mass of the Sun as well, making this a pretty impressive system. Spica is one of the closest Blue Giants to Earth.

Think about that for a moment. As you enjoy the quiet spectacle of the conjunction, and perhaps watch in weeks to come as the “Dance of the Planets” continues with Mars closing in on Saturn and both changing position relative to Spica, consider that Mars is the nearest of these three objects at an approximate distance of 240 million kilometers, Saturn next at about 1.5 billion km, with Spica a mind-pummeling 2.4 quadrillion kilometers*. Put another way, the Sun’s light reaching us now was reflected from Mars’ oxidized surface 14 minutes ago, Saturn’s icy rings and cloud tops nearly an hour and a half back in time, and shone out from Spica’s twin suns over 260 years in the past (in approximately 1752, the year that Ben Franklin demonstrated the principles of electricity using a kite, a key, and a thunderstorm!).

With all the distances involved, and the relative sizes of the participants in this celestial show, I think perhaps the most impressive fact is that the apparent brightness of each of our three neighbors is about the same; two planets, one tiny and the other the second largest in our solar system, and a double star incredibly far removed from our Solar System, all shine in the sky with nearly the same brightness, each in their distinct hues of red, gold and blue. Beautiful!

Space, as Douglas Adams once put it, is big. Really big. And this conjunction of two planets and a bright star is an opportunity to experience and share some appreciation of the scale of our Solar System and stellar neighborhood. It’d also be a good opportunity for a barbeque! So enjoy the burgers and steaks, and the show in the western sky; I’ll be watching as well from Joshua Humphreys’ bridge wing, out here on the Blue Stuff.


Tom Epps
Able Seaman
USNS Joshua Humphreys
Persian Gulf



* Please let me know if I flubbed the maths on that one!