Up in the Sky

"Look, up in the sky!"
"It's a bird."
"It's a plane."
"It's Superman!"

[From the 1950s TV Show Superman; the voice-over continues:]

"Yes, it's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way."

My guess is, you won't Superman if you look up today.  Even so, you should look up and see what's going on.

Just watch out.  There could be birds or a meteor (!!) overhead.  A hot air balloon maybe.  An eclipse is possible, but we usually know about those in advance, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

It's Look Up in the Sky Day and especially these days with so many folks walking around staring at the phone in their hands instead of looking around them and looking up.

Looking back, I distinctly remember looking up was after 9/11.  Air travel was shut down for days.  We lived in northern Wisconsin at the same time and I recall how blue the sky looked, as it seemed to be bluer than usual.  There were no contrails of jet exhaust tracking across the sky.  It was eerie.

You are bound so see more sky when you are out west.  When we lived in South Dakota, it was striking to try to take in the expanse of the sky.  The distance from the east horizon to the west horizon is immense.

It's a Monday, so looking up may be a good idea when it feels like it is your face day on the job in a very long time.  For fun, you could try an experiment and stare at the sky for a while to see how many others stop next to you and look up as well.

Lately, we've had hawks putting on an air show just outside our windows.  From their perch, you can see them checking out the menu, then swooping in for lunch.  Just yesterday I could see the Red Tailed Hawk pictures flying off with a little field mouse... taking it out for dinner.

So, look up in the sky to be sure there isn't a raptor checking you out!