We look forward to this celestial event every year. The Persied meteor shower occurs approximately the second week of August every year. It is a great night to grab a blanket, lay back on the grass and just let your eyes and soul drink in the night sky with the abundance of meteors streaking through it. We may get an extra bonus this year because there is fairly strong solar activity as well, so we may get strong Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, at the same time.
The moon will be a bit bright early in the evening when the meteor shower starts, so it may wash out some of the less bright meteors, but this is when you can get some really major streaks as well, as the "Earth Grazers" skim across the top of our atmosphere like my kids skip stones across the water.
Later tonight, after the moon sets about 2:00 am, the sky should get really busy with about 60 meteors per hour. The show will be great right up til the dark hours just before dawn if you are an early riser.
The Perseid meteor shower seems to streak our of the constellation Perseus in the north-east sky, hence it's name. The actual source of the Perseid meteor shower is the comet Swift-Tuttle. This comet is currently located out near Uranus but every August we pass through it's tail. The meteors that hit our atmosphere are actually very small, most not really any bigger than a speck of dust, but they are hitting our atmosphere at 132,000 mph/212,000 km/hr, so they have a lot of energy and even these tiny specks can make quite a show as they burn up and disintegrate in our upper atmosphere.
For those of you not here I hope you find your own space to set out your blanket and enjoy the celestial party with us tonight.
Have a Great Night!
Al Errington
Errington's Wilderness Island Resort
Ontario Canada
www.WildernessIsland.com
Labels: Night Sky in Canada and Astronomy
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
Greetings from Wilderness Island Resort Ontario Canada This was a really gorgeous week. Sunny days, mid to high 70's for temperature and just creeping into the low 80's one day. Some really great fishing too. Here is a picture of the 37 in Northern Pike Scott Blackall caught and released, and the 26 inch Walleye Don Sutto caught and released.
Have a Good Day! Al Errington Errington's Wilderness Island Resort www.WildernessIsland.com
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
Thermacell Bug Repellent
Greetings from Wilderness Island Resort Ontario Canada
Thermacell is a new type of bug repellent that keeps bugs out of a small area. I had seen them for sale but had not really researched them until there was an article in an Astronomy magazine. Astronomers and amateur star gazers usually don't like to use bug repellent lotions because they can damage their telescopes during handling. So a bug repellent that you just turn on and it just sit there keeping bugs away is very appealing to them. They tested a number of bug repellent devices and highly recommended the Thermacell.
I decided to get a couple Thermacells and try them, they work very well. I had a very good opportunity the last couple of days to give them a really good test. We have been doing a renovation on cabin #2 including a bunch of plumbing work under the cabin, a perfect mosquito haven. I was under the cabin for about 15 minutes swatting mosquitos when I remembered the Thermacells. I went and got one, turned it on, put under the cabin and in about 15 minutes the mosquitos were gone. It was almost enjoyable underneath the cabin.
The Thermacells work by warming a small fibre pad with repellent on it. One patch last about 4 hours and give you about a 15 foot diameter area with virtually no bugs. Because the repellent is airborn Thermacells are not affective in a wind or, unfortunately, if you are hiking or moving around. They are great however if you are sitting on a deck or out in a boat on a still evening. You can get Thermacells in most outdoor stores, Amazon sells them online, and we have them for sale here now too.
Happy Bug Free Vacations
Al Errington
Labels: Vacation Planning
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
Interpretive Trail
Greetings from Wilderness Island Resort Ontario Canada
Hello this is Bobbi again, last time I wrote I didn't have time to talk about the interpretive trail that I did at the resort last year.
So, here goes...
When they eventually get put up, there are going to be interpretive signs on the main island and around the trails by the cabins. These interpretive signs tell what tree species we have on the lake, and useful tidbits about the individual tree. These can become very informative to people and gets people to know what the 'Boreal Forest' is like and the main tree species that we have on the lake. Useful tips such as identifying them, with leaves, bark and their silouette from afar.
The main species we have on the lake is Black Spruce, be we also have White Spruce, Jack Pine, White Birch, Trembling Aspen., just to name a few. A lot of people see these trees everyday and don't take the time to get to know them. So these interpretive signs will help and aid people and give them some knowledge of what tree species we have. So, I'm hoping people will learn a thing or two.
I hope these help tourists like yourself, and eventually when Abby and Doris have time, I mentioned if they could go on Timberwolf Island and get some 'tree cookies' ( a cross section of the tree) and send them to me and I can analyze them here in the lab, with the Dendrochronometer. This can tell me, signs of insect damage, thinning, fire, frost rings and the age of the tree. I hoping I can get a Black Spruce, White Spruce, Trembling Aspen, White Birch and Jack Pine. Basically, I just want to see what the tree growth is in that region. So, I'll keep you posted, and go out and enjoy those interpretive trails.
Bobbi
Forest Researcher
Canadian Wood Fibre Centre
Sault Ste. Marie
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
New dog Nikita
Greetings from Wilderness Island Resort Ontario Canada
Hi, my name is Morgan Errington (Al and Doris's daughter). I have a great time up here; swimming, fishing, and watching the beauty of wildlife. I even like how my dogs interact with the wildlife. Especially our new puppy, Nikita, she is a German Shepherd/husky mix. We adopted her from the pound 5 months after sadly, we had to put Tasha down(our 17 year old Ger
man Shepherd mix). Sable, our Siberian Husky seamed very gloomy the first couple of months, after seeing him like that, we decided that we needed to get him a little play mate. So we kept a eye on the pound and were watching if any puppies would show up, that were very young. There were a couple of nice puppies there, but just really didn't fit in so well. Then a litter of about 10 pups came in, they were so adorable and were only 6 weeks old. So on the way into Sault Saint Marie, we stopped off at the Humane Society and were just melted by those little puppy faces. But their were three that we wanted the most, a big fluffy black and white fat one, one that looked like Nikita(shepherd looking), but was the runt, and Nikita. I picked up all the dogs and scratched out the runt because Nikita was really cute. Then as I held Nikita and my mom help the black and white one and as Nikita's little face was buried in my shoulder and the black and white one just laying there, then as Nikita started licking my face, I knew Nikita was the one. When we took her home to Sable, we didn't let them interact for the first day, just so that Nikita could get some rest. That night, I was in tears because Nikita was throwing up worms and blood everywhere and I thought she was going to die. It turned out that Nikita was
passed on round worms through her mother as all her other litter mates got them to, so we went to the vet's office and got her some pills. I was releaved that she didn't have some type of disease that would kill her. So the next day we let Nikita and Sable interact a little bit and they were doing ok that day, and for a couple more days until Nikita got this thing where she wanted to bite ALL OF THE TIME, she would just keep on annoying Sable, it was funny how Sable reacted, but he would never ever try to kill her, but sometimes they rough play a little to much right now, but no dog gets hurt.
Nikita is now a healthy, nice and a very cute dog, she likes to tug and annoy sometimes, but she is a joy to have in the family.
Labels: New dog Nikita, Wilderness Kids
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
Here is the 38 inch Northern Pike that Darryl Young caught and released June 30.
Darryl caught this Pike on a 9 inch Pike Fly. This is a beautiful Pike and I think the largest I remember being caught on a fly rod on our Lake.
Congratulations and Thank You Darryl.
Al & Doris Errington
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
Trophy Walleye by Tom Holden
Our Walleye Catch & Release contest got serious today when Tom Holden caught this beautiful 31-1/2" Walleye. From what we heard there was a lot of cheering for a few minutes as he and his brother Dan were landing and measuring her. They took a quick picture and returned her to the lake to continue contributing to quality fishing in Lake Wabatongushi.
This is a really beautiful Walleye that is probably about 30 years old and basically there is no chance that she is anything but a very large healthy female at the peak of her reproductive abilities. She has laid millions of eggs over the years and given her size and health, will probably lay close to a half million eggs next spring and hopefully for a number of years into the future. Congratulations Tom and thank you for releasing such a great fish so she can continue to contribute to Lake Wabatongushi's great fishing. You can click on Tom's picture to see a larger picture. For more information on size and age of Walleye and Northern Pike in our lake and area of Ontario Canada please go to our website at www.WildernessIsland.com/fishing/fish_age-size.html.
Have a Good Day!
Al & Doris Errington
We look forward to your Comments and Questions. Please click the comments link below. If you are a guest and would like to become a regular contributor and write about your experiences at our resort or traveling in Canada please send us and email at Vacation "at" WildernessIsland "dot" com, and we will set you up as a Wild Space Weblog contibutor.
Thank You - Al and Doris Errington
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