A Rare Occurrence

From what I read, this particular conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon won’t happen for another 44 years. Here’s hoping I’ll be here for the encore!

I have to admit, if I had realized just how rare tonight’s gathering was I would have tried for a more scenic location than a city parking lot, but the first photo does show the event in a larger context.

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Venus is on the left and Jupiter on the right.

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You can see the full roundness of the moon thanks to “earthshine.”

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The small dots are actually some of the moons of Jupiter! They can be seen easily through regular binoculars; always fun to look at during the warm summer evenings.

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Till next time!

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Here’s the final set of images from our trip to Missouri and St Louis last month. Nothing spectacular here, but I wanted to share some of the photos we took, mostly at the largest park in St Louis, Forest Park. Additional images on flickr.

I got my first Les Paul style guitar today, in the form of an XV-700 from Xaviere. It’s finished in natural flamed maple on a mahogany body. Xaviere is sold by the Guitar Fetish company, who are best known for their guitar pickups and other accessories. The XV-700 is a very low-cost guitar, coming in at well under half of an equivalent Epiphone, and close to 1/10 the price of a fine Gibson Les Paul.

So is it worth it? I think so. The XV-700 is Xavier’s lightweight LP model, and so there are no weight issues. The natural finish is well done, and while I have no real experience with Les Paul style guitars, the pickups sound good to my ears, playing both clean and with a bit of a growl.

It’s also worth noting that the tuners don’t feel to be particularly high quality; it almost felt like there were some dead spots as I was performing the initial tune up out of the box. Speaking of, the guitar seems to be reasonably well set up, with the action being perhaps a bit high, but not bad at all.

There is one minor issue that I’ll have to take up with Guitar Fetish, and that’s what appears to be a potential problem with the 2 piece neck separating where it joins together.

Overall, the Xaviere XV-700 is a good little guitar, especially considering the price!

This is a great dry rub for beef; we’ve been using it on flatiron steaks with great success. I temporarily misplaced the recipe, so when I found it I decided it was time to share (plus now I know where to find it in the future!)

Southwest Rub

2 Tbs chili powder
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 garlic clove
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and then rub evenly onto meat to be grilled.

Here is the final batch of photos from our recent trip to St. Louis by way of Quincy, Illinois and Hannibal Missouri. Additional images available at flickr. Also worth noting, Sheryl took all but the 4th photo on this page; between the two of us, we do generate a few photos when traveling.

These first two show the high water mark when the Mississippi River flooded in June 2008. This is just a few miles northeast of Quincy.

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These shots are taken from Riverview Park in Hannibal. It quite lived up to its name with wonderful expansive views of the mighty Mississippi.

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The next photo is an old building in Hannibal, and the last image is taken from a scenic overlook a few miles south of Hannibal, looking south.

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