Astronomy | CountUp Ministries

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

10 Oct 2019 Comments Off on Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

by Chris M. Day in Astronomy, Bible, Blogging, Christian, Church, God, Health, History, Holidays, Home, Military, Ministry, Movies, Music, Scripture, Television, Weather

Let’s try this again – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

It’s been awhile since I last did this.
In fact it’s been since Thursday August 01ST 2019.
I’m not sure that some of you “get this” feature.
If you’ve been following my blogs for the past 12 years then you “get this”.
For those that don’t “get this” no worries – just follow along.
Last night was our last sunset at 7 PM or after here until next March.
It’s getting darker earlier, and I like that.
In a little over 3 weeks we return to Standard Time.
I prefer Standard Time over Daylight Saving Time.
I wish we stayed on Standard Time all year long.
Most people don’t know what Daylight Saving Time is.
Pretty soon we’ll start getting cooler here in South Florida.
By “cooler” I mean the 60s in the morning instead of the 70s.
We’re still a good month away from feeling some 50s.
Our 5-month rainy season is almost over.
It’s been a below average rainy season.
I enjoy our 7-month dry season from October to May.
I hope to begin my dry season weekend fitness walks soon.
I hope to do much better than I did last dry season.
It’s Columbus Day Weekend here in the U.S.
I adore 3-day holiday weekends.
Maybe I’ll go for a walk in the park this Saturday morning.
I mostly plan to continue writing my next sermon this weekend.
It’s on God’s “Kindness & Love”.
I have another sermon that I’m working on titled “Ways & Memes”.
I’ll be stepping completely out of my comfort zone for that one.
There’s a few movies that I hope to see on HBO On Demand this weekend.
One of them is that World War 1 movie, “They Shall Not Grow Old”.
I’m really looking forward to a quiet and productive weekend at home.
Tomorrow on the blog my RETRO series continues with 15 years ago.
My new blog posts go LIVE at 3 AM U.S. East Coast time aside from Sunday.
I blog 4 times per weekend on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.
I don’t blog on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
If I were to add a 5TH day of blogging then I’d add Tuesdays.
But I have no plans to do that anytime soon.
Programming Alert: The 50TH GMA Dove Awards are coming soon.
The show occurs LIVE in Nashville next Tuesday October 15TH.
It airs on TBN the following Sunday October 20TH at 8 PM EDT.
I’ll be live-tweeting during the entire telecast !
Join me that night on Twitter @ChrisMDay as I talk God’s music.
The next morning I’ll reveal my brand new Top 10 music chart.
Well those are my rapid-fire one-line thoughts for now.
Enjoy your weekend and this 10TH day of the 10TH month.

Home Sweet Homestead

09 May 2019 Comments Off on Home Sweet Homestead

by Chris M. Day in Animals, Astronomy, Bible, Christian, Driving, Food, God, Health, History, Home, Life, Ministry, Movies, Music, Nature, Scripture, Shopping, Travel

I’m back from vacation ! My 6-day / 590-mile / 14-county Florida road-trip has come to a close. My trek started in deep South Miami-Dade County (where my home is), and it continued northward through Broward, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, Highlands, and Polk Counties, westward into Hillsborough County (Tampa), southward through Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties, and then back into Miami-Dade County. I also came within a few feet of touching (mainland) Monroe County for a second.

It was a fun trip. I saw a couple of current movies, I did a little bit of shopping (didn’t buy anything), I ate a lot of good food, I walked over 60,000 steps (to burn-off that good food), I did a lot of sightseeing, I visited some historical museums and animal-based tourist attractions, I went to two Christian music concerts, and I spent a lot of time at the beach.

I saw and I did things that I had never seen or done before in my life. This was a classic vacation. I get to spend the near future reminiscing about the times I enjoyed via the 140+ photos and 1 video I captured during all of the fun.

The 1 video I captured is a spectacular 3½-minute video of this past Tuesday night’s sunset on Venice Beach Florida. The video captures the 3 minutes leading up to the sun dropping below the horizon at sea as well as the 30 seconds right after that moment. I intended to post that video in its entirety here on my blog, but I realized that I can’t upload videos on here with my current WordPress plan. The video is also about 1:10 too long for Twitter, so I’ll have to figure out how to trim it down to 2:20 for Twitter.

In the meantime here’s Monday night’s sunset at 8:05 PM EDT on Venice Beach.

Sunset

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets – the name of the LORD is to be praised. (Psalm 113:3 NIV)

Autumnal Equinox

20 Sep 2018 Comments Off on Autumnal Equinox

by Chris M. Day in Astronomy, Weather

It’s the start of a fresh new weekend here on my blog. Autumn arrives this weekend. The Equinox occurs at 9:54 PM EDT this Saturday September 22ND. That’s when the Sun crosses the Equator and continues its progression into the Southern Hemisphere (where Spring begins). Hello to my friends reading this in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand !

Here in South Florida our 5-month rainy season continues for about another 3½ weeks. Rainy season generally ends with the arrival of our first significant cold front of the season within 5 days (before or after) October 15TH. Our hurricane season continues until the end of November.

Next week I’ll be in wild and wonderful Wichita Falls Texas, and it will feel like Autumn with 50s and 60s in the mornings and 70s by day with showers possible each day. I shall pack accordingly.

Tomorrow night here on my blog I’ll go RETRO to 20 years ago – back to 1998.

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

19 Mar 2011 Comments Off on The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

by Chris M. Day in Animals, Astronomy, God, Health, Home, Life, Travel, Weather

Time: 6:45 AM – 7:34 AM
Sky: Clear
Temperature: 60°F
Dewpoint: 55°F
Relative Humidity: 85%
Winds: Calm
Barometric Pressure: 30.18 Rising

On this cool and crisp 60°F Saturday morning in the middle of March of 2011 I embarked in the dark and I emerged in the light. I went on my first organized morning walk around my neighbourhood since the second day of January (11 weeks ago). It ultimately became my longest walk ever recorded over the past 39 months of these seasonal walks – 49.1 minutes / 2.6 miles.

It was a very peaceful and quiet walk at the dawn of a new day. Along the way of this twilight journey there was the dude that was walking his two cute little dogs, the stray dark brown feline that was minding his own bid-niz, the duck family (momma, poppa, sista, brotha), the stray large canine wandering around alone, and the mysterious drunk or drugged driver in the old beat-up white car that nearly ran me over – twice. Other than that it was just God and I have a relevant conversation with each other as I prayed to Him about everything that was on my mind at the time. He listened to me. I listened to Him. I trust. I believe.

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

02 Jan 2011 Comments Off on The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

by Chris M. Day in Astronomy, Blogging, Health, Home, Music, Travel, Weather Tags: Switchfoot

Time: 6:07 AM – 6:51 AM
Sky: Mostly Clear
Temperature: 61°F / 16°C
Dewpoint: 61°F / 16°C
Relative Humidity: 100%
Winds: E 6 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.15 Rising

Sunrise occurred at 7:08 AM, so this 1ST walk of 2011 began a full hour and a minute beforehand. It began between what is known as astronomical twilight and nautical twilight. It ended during civil twilight. It was the twilight of a brand new day in this very young year of 2011.

As is usually the case my neighbourhood of the past 15½-years was peaceful and quiet at twilight. The serenity was overwhelming on this Sunday morning. As Switchfoot‘s lyrics suggest – This is home. Now I’m finally where I belong – where I belong. Yeah this is home. I’ve been searching for a place of my own.
Now I’ve found it. Maybe this is home. Yeah this is home.

This was a 43½-minute / 2.3-mile walk, so that brings me to a little over 13 miles – or just about halfway to my goal of a marathon (26.2-miles) of walking during this winter season.

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

23 Nov 2010 Comments Off on The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

by Chris M. Day in Astronomy, Blogging, Health, Home, Travel, Weather

Time: 4:52 PM – 5:37 PM
Sky: Mostly Clear
Temperature: 76°F
Dewpoint: 63°F
Relative Humidity: 64%
Winds: S 12 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.85 Rising

Here are my walking thoughts in 15 words or less:

– Late yesterday afternoon I went on a vigorous 45-minute / 2.4-mile walk.
– It’s my longest walk of this young winter season thus far.
– I’ve now walked 10.7 miles towards my goal of a 26.2-mile marathon.
– I’ve enjoyed walking all around my brother’s MASSIVE neighbourhood.
– It’s continuous sidewalks all throughout it, and that makes walking safer.
– Before crossing the streets look both ways or else you could get run over.
– My brother’s neighbours are speed demons, so get out of their way !
– They’ve got to rush home to cook Dinner for the kids.
– Local sunset occurred at 5:21 PM, but dusk arrived before that.
– The sun disappeared behind the surrounding landscape earlier.
– This unusual North Texas heatwave continued, as the mercury hit 80°F.
– This unusual North Texas heatwave comes to a grinding halt soon.
– Temperatures will plummet for Thanksgiving Day (and night).
– When I depart from DFW on Friday night temps. will be in the low-40s.
– When I arrive at MIA late on Friday night it will be in the mid-70s.
– I’m looking forward to the consistent heat and humidity of South Florida.
– I’m especially looking forward to the reunification of me and my bed.
– I thought that this 2.4-mile walk would help me sleep better last night.
– It didn’t, so the only cure to a good night’s sleep is my bed back home.
– My next blog post will be on Saturday night for an all-new ‘Retro’.
– Maybe I’ll walk around my own neighbourhood on Sunday morning.
– These walks are dedicated to the memory of my Dad – William Lesley Day.

Saturday Night Retro

20 Nov 2010 Comments Off on Saturday Night Retro

by Chris M. Day in Astronomy, History, Life, Music, News, People, Politics, Radio Tags: 1979, Dr. Hook

Saturday November 20TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 11 / Edition 108

31 years ago in November of 1979 66 Americans were taken hostage in Tehran Iran when the U.S. Embassy was invaded and seized by student radicals. This would begin an International crisis that would continue on for 444 days until January 20TH 1981 when President Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. President Jimmy Carter found opposition within his own Democratic Party, as Senator Ted Kennedy announced that he would seek the nomination for President in 1980.

I was 12½-years-old at the time and living with my Dad, Mom, and 4½-year-old brother on Red Wing Lane in Lanham Maryland. I was a 7TH grader at Robert H. Goddard Junior High School in Greenbelt Maryland – home of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Robert H. Goddard invented the liquid-fueled rocket back during the 1910s and 1920s. Many of my classmates were offspring of NASA employees. That would explain why many of them appeared to be ‘spaced-out’ most of the time.

In FM Stereo one of the hottest pop-country-crossover acts of the late-1970s was Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show out of New Jersey – although they certainly had a distinct ‘Southern Rock’ feel and style to them. As the Disco beat raged on in 1979 country music was quietly entering the pop music scene as an alternative to the club beat. One of Dr. Hook’s greatest hits was this cool track that kind of took on a subtle Disco beat to blend in with its pop chart neighbours. It even crossed the Atlantic Ocean to become a # 1 pop smash on the U.K. chart exactly 31 years ago this weekend. It tells the simple story of what happens “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman”.