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Show 0MM V J tee " r 1 least 50 ' million miles and perhaps 200 million miles long. The phenomenon is known as the Perseid Meteor' Shower. Comets are the leftovers from the day ofdeation.Odd bits and pieces of gases that went unused when stars and planets came into their present forms. Bits and pieces break or melt away from the comet, gather interstellar dust and are drawn by. gravity into the wide spreading tail. When they occasionally meet a greater force, they are pulled pull-ed away from their orbit and streak towards the new force. In this case, our Earth. And what issurpris- ing to me is that most of . the intruders are only golf ball size - perhaps smaller. The view is better after midnight, when the Earth has rotated so we will be rolling toward the oncoming oncom-ing galactic visitors. The results will be spectacular meteors smashing into our atmosphere, and lighting the sky with fiery streaks. We've spent many nights watching the show sometimes some-times on the rooftop, some times on our Oregon hillside, hill-side, but always fascinated j by the eerie, mind boggling display. . The children have often gone to sleep count -'; ing them, but never fall to want to stay up and see the heavens perform. We're chomping at the bit to see it again this year. 'It all just reinforces my pet theory that Man is capable capa-ble of doing some wonderful wonder-ful things but he Is hard put to come close to matching match-ing the wonderful, tantalizing, tantaliz-ing, spectacular World of Nature. Can you believe it? Sum -mer is slipping by like a kitten on velvet feet August is too soon here. Already the , days are getting shorter, pushing on toward the new season that lies waiting not too patiently pa-tiently just around the bend. Growing things seem to ' sense the urgency and out do themselves in the rush to provide the spectacular burst of blossom and fruit that insures yet another generation gen-eration of productivity. The neighbors are filling their freezer with a bumper crop of everything. Seems that Nature has smiled on us, and we'll have an abundant harvest in spite of the 100 plus days, and unfathomable tricks that Nature loves to play (and she does so well). I don't know if it's be cause of the Scotch In me, or just my own nature, but I am one who enjoys preserving, pre-serving, canning, 'putting by' enough food and goodies to see us through another year. If the shelves are empty, or nearly so, as they are today, I get nervous. Here in our neck of the woods, that is nothing new. ! Seems that everyone is busy canning, freezing, drying and enjoying their own fresh produce. pro-duce. Gardens range in size from postage stamps to fields. Our friend, Jay, has proved to us that you dont have to have a gigantic garden gar-den his is fairly small, but he raises enough for his family, and many neighbor neigh-bor families to enjoy now, i and put away for winter use. " I remember I loved to be home at canning time, when Mother performed that magic she still does so well. She could make a tasty jam our of anything - Including cantalope - beets, green tomatoes, to-matoes, and watermelon rinds and yes, they were GOOD. And though 1 use some of her recipes today, -1 can't seem to match that tantalizing, mouth watering memory, built up through the years. One of my favorite times of the year is coming up in a few days. I've always 'loved to watch it and to my mind it's as dazzling a display as any 4th of July fireworks. And when it's source is considered, It becomes be-comes even more spectacular. spectacu-lar. August 10th - 13th our tiny planet, Earth, will cross the path of a Comet - and pass through it's gigantic tall, estimated to be at |