I don’t know how many
of you know about the solar flares that erupted on Saturday. Luckily for us, they were on the far side of
the sun. There was an M class flare
followed immediately by an X class flare, which both created their own CMEs,
which then united into one very powerful CME that headed out towards Mars. The result was an unusual halo of solar particles
that could be seen spreading out from around the sun’s edges. What would have happened if the sun spot that
created the flares had been facing the earth?
We have been very lucky so far, but sooner or later we are bound to get
whacked by something from space!
I had my own fun
adventure on Saturday. I went with a
group of botanists up to the alpine zone near Silverton, Colorado. We were able to drive up to the top of Stony
Pass using 4 wheel drive vehicles, and drove on a road that had some pretty scary
vertical drop offs on either side. The
top of the pass was at an elevation of 12650 feet, and was also right on the
continental divide. Just to the east of the
divide in that location are the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. Cool!
Our mission was to
find and document as many rare plants as we could, and there were quite a number
of them in that area. Most of these plants
are only located here and perhaps in a few other areas, so it was a real treat
to see them. We also encountered a very large
herd of sheep being looked after by a Peruvian man and his dogs. Years ago, Basque sheep herders used to be
brought over for that purpose, but now it is the Peruvians.
Unfortunately, our
time at the pass was limited because it started to hail and rain steadily after
a few hours of botanizing. We all got
pretty wet! I am sure that there will be
other opportunities to revisit that area in the years to come. I am hoping to go out to another area on the
alpine zone in a few weeks.
How many of you are
rare and unusual humans in your environment?
I bet, quite a few. Are you
admired and appreciated for your gifts? I
hope so. At the very least, you should
admire and appreciate yourself. When I
looked at those rare and interesting plants on Saturday, I was reminded of all
of the people I know who are letting their light shine out, and vibrationally
touching everyone around them. That may be
a rare thing in and of itself. Below are
some vistas and plants from my botany trip.
Enjoy.
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