A Christmas launch...

of a model rocket, my first in 55 years, went off with a satisfying woooooosh! Just as I remembered it as a fledgling rocketeer in my youth. Priceless.

Second launch of the day, on a C6-5 rocket engine, lofting it to more than 1,000 feet in altitude. Recovery was by parachute, landing 305 feet away from the launch site.

A third launch, on Boxing Day. Woooooooooooooooosh!

The last rays of the day...

paint a dramatic sunset after a winter storm dropped a half-inch of rain on Castle Valley today. A lovely Christmas Eve eve.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

UPDATE: This storm elevates the snow water content in the La Sal Mountains to 88% of the historic median.

A "Dark Sky Community"...

shows dedication to the preservation of the night sky through the implementation and enforcement of outdoor lighting ordinances, engages in dark sky education, and enjoys citizen support of dark skies. Our tiny town of Castle Valley, Utah has finally been so designated by DarkSky International and the formal announcement will be forthcoming after the holidays.

The Milky Way above Adobe Mesa (left) and Castleton Tower, the Rectory and Priest and Nuns (right) as captured from Professor Valley in June 2021. (Click on image to enlarge.)

An unusual artifact...

has been left in the high desert below Castleton Tower yesterday, its purpose a mystery. A well-beaten footpath winds about 100 yards/meters from a nearby jeep road to this triangular wooden arch, tall enough that a person could walk through its opening. A small fire ring and several log rounds lay further down the path.

I’ve reported this discovery with images and precise location to the local BLM office in Moab. I’m hoping they will dispatch a crew to inspect/clean/reclaim this disturbance to the landscape.

Despite its volcanic appearance...

resembling a cinder cone, Round Mountain is most certainly NOT volcanic in origin. It does indeed consist of igneous rock, but in an intrusive body that cooled and crystallized while still under the cover of sedimentary strata, now being exposed by the subsidence of the Castle Valley salt-cored anticline and through erosion.

Hand specimen of the trachyte porphyry found in Round Mountain. Note the large, white crystals of sanidine feldspar, evidence of its igneous origin.

Oh, yeah, it was a very nice afternoon for a ride.

November's Beaver Moon...

rises behind, and nearly silhouettes, Castleton Tower at dusk this evening.

Click on image to embiggenate.

Twelve hours later, early the following morning, the full Beaver Moon sets behind Porcupine Rim.

This annoying woodpecker...

likes to hammer on stucco and I hope it gets a splitting headache as it does so. It’s an attractive bird, though.

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). More than 100 informal common names are known for this bird, including yellowhammer, clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird.