Dick Nachbar  

Old adventurer here often notes annual celestial events during annual rides on our Planet Earth’s own annual merry-go-round rides around its Boss Star. Annual rides and events seem of more noted importance these days as their numbers keep growing ever larger. This week’s event of note is our Autumnal Equinox. This year’s Autumnal Equinox is predicted to occur on Sept. 22 at 8:03 p.m. Central Time when Boss Star seems to pass directly over the Equator, with equal sunshine rays directed to Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Hours of daylight and darkness are almost equal, but not quite due to planetary wobble in flight and atmospheric refraction of Boss Star’s light rays. And we’ve long known since Galileo’s time that Boss Star is not moving around Planet Earth; rather, our home planet is circling its Boss Star and at this time during that circle our Equator passes directly below the center of that Boss Star. This event marks official beginnings of Fall in our Northern Hemisphere and Spring in globe’s Southern half. Here, we’ll see more hours of darkness than light each day until next Spring Equinox occurs in about six months from now in March, 2023. Nearest full moon is labeled “Harvest Moon”; following next full moon is “Hunter’s Moon”, old adventurer’s long-time favorite of the year. There are more such annual celestial events, such as Spring, Summer and Winter recognitions. Christmas, fishing opener, morel mushrooms, deer season, anniversaries and more annual events might also fall into a similar category; however, in one’s late-life chapter they all are like ratchet clicks in cogs on life’s drive-gear wheel. This “Celestial Clicking” could represent steps in one’s journey with no backsliding and a question of how many more clicks are there yet to come? That drive-gear wheel and its ratchet clicks may have been somewhat unrecognized while so many family home and career years circled that Boss Star. Late-life chapter brings “

Our world learned last week that 96-yearold Queen Elizabeth II of England had passed away following 70 years on its throne as the Windsor family monarch. Her son, Charles, immediately became King Charles III at age 73.

By DICK NACHBAR These days our calendars are announcing September, stirring this old adventurer with its songs of memory and promise once again. Early-life Septembers meant advancing new school years bringing new horizons.

Some with our tracks that come quickly to mind include: Tellico, Penobscot, Cranberry, Cheat, Bull Pasture, Littlefork, Bigfork, Straight, Baptism, Temperance, St. Croix, Minam, Imnaha, Nehalem, John Day, Walla Walla, Grande Ronde, Boise, Payette, Selway, Lost, Lemhi, Owyhee, Snake, Salmon, Clearwater, Henry’s Fork, Blackfoot, Madison, Big Hole, Firehole, Yellowstone, Kenai, Yentna, Stikine, Babine, Tahltan, Big River, Mackenzie, Coppermine, Carcajou, San Juan and probably more now forgotten. Of course, there also are tributary forks and creeks for these rivers with more tracks and memories of outdoor smoke and fire adventure. Thank you PBS, for prompting this lifetime rambling remembrance.

Lots of action at Big Bass Lake’s Idaho Avenue address these days, just North of Highway #2 at the Edge of the Wilderness. Daughter and spouse are making progress in building the home of their dreams on their portion of that 43-year historical family property.

By Dick Nachbar News of concern arrived here in our senior camp recently. Longterm bride, sweetheart and best friend’s annual mammogram results indicated that once again, we’re into a “Cancer Combat” adventure.

By Dick Nachbar Numerous reports during the past several years have indicated a major decline in the population of monarch butterflies. Pesticide use and habitat loss, such as milkweed eradication, have been blamed.

This old adventurer and many others now endure TV advertisements for prescription pharmaceutical products we can only wonder at and about… We don’t know how to pronounce the names of these labelled prescription drugs but we are heavily warned about allergic reactions and multiple side effects. Of course, we don’t know what ingredients these drugs might contain and whether or not we have some unknown allergy to worry about.

Recently we learned that James Webb Space Telescope successfully reached its destination, far out in space well beyond our Boss Star, our sun. Lots of NASA talent and dollars launched this instrument on its journey last Christmas; now, it is sending back photos from its destination showing the early days of our universe.

Our House of Representatives’ Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on our nation’s capitol held its 6th public hearing in unscheduled and surprising fashion this past week on June 28, 2022. Congress was in recess for the July 4th holiday and the young lady witness was former top aide to ex-president’s chief of staff. Focus of attention was internal White House activity for several days leading up to the attack on the capitol. Witness’s testimony supplemented her four previously private interviews of some 20 hours.