Jarn’s Journal Year 10 Day 1

For the A to Z Theme Reveal scroll down.

Year 10 Day 1

My instruments (those that survived) told me that this planet has a magnetic field, and those same instruments told me that its sun is mildly active. I knew that at least in theory those were the elements needed for auroras. I hadn’t really thought much about it; one hardly expects to see auroras at the latitude where I was living, and I hadn’t been that impressed when others told me about these moving lights in the sky.

Last night I saw them.

It’s the northward equinox, and the People will be here for the Gather before long. I’ve continued to explore the northern continent, though I never know what weather I’m going to teleport into. It’s now half day and half night, and I thought I’d have a look and see whether the animals behave the same way during a normal night as they do during the long polar darkness. I took the bearskin as well as my winter clothes, and wrapped up to watch.

I knew the moon would be a late crescent by now, but I arrived in a clear evening. The stars brightened slowly as my eyes adjusted to the dimming light, and I began to worry about keeping awake.

Then the lights began.

Just a flicker of something that was not stars, at first. Then a green curtain, waving over my head and showing other colors as it brightened. I watched open-mouthed as it came and went, constantly changing color and form.

How can anyone describe this? I wondered at first that I had been so unimpressed when I heard of this phenomenon, and then decided that those who told me of it could no more put words to it than can I.

I wonder how long it will be before other intelligent eyes see this?

This is the wrong place ( Alaska) and the wrong time period (try to ignore the cars, planes, and telephone poles.) And it’s time-lapse, which means the aurora appears to be moving a little fast. But there are times when it does appear to dance across the sky. Jarn’s Journal to date is on my author site.

It’s not exactly a reveal, as I said what I would be doing when I signed up. But this blog has themed days: Monday for local weather here in Interior Alaska, including gardening notes when gardens become possible; Wednesday for contexts of the quotes I have tweeted daily over the last week; Friday for Jarn’s Journal, the journal of a human-like alien stranded in Africa some 125,000 years ago and the remote background for my science fiction books. I’m going to keep those, but tie them in with the letter for that day. Saturday I post a short excerpt from my writing (and I’ve finally figured out how to use all of the letters needed) for the Science Fiction Romance Brigade. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be free-form, but can generally be expected to have something to do with science, technology, or my life here in Alaska. Sunday will as usual be a snippet from my books, published and unpublished, for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.

For other participants’ theme reveals, click the logo above. I hope you enjoy it.

Nightlength Sensitivity in Houseplants

I think I’m going to have to reset my plant lights if I want my Christmas cactus to bloom.

One of the plants I ordered from Logee’s last fall was a Christmas cactus, “Christmas Flame,” with beautiful peach-gold flowers – at least, according to the catalog picture. It’s healthy, glossy, and generally looks as if it really enjoys my cool plant room, but there’s not the slightest sign of buds. And I’m afraid I know why.

Christmas cactus are day-length – or more accurately, night-length — sensitive. They need cool temperatures and at least 12 hours a day of uninterrupted darkness to form buds. Cool is fine; my plant room is thermostatted to 65° daytime and 55° nighttime temperatures. Night length? Well, I’ve had the lights programmed to be on 16 hours a day, to make up for the fact that at this time of year the plants are almost totally dependent on artificial light. Cool temperatures alone are enough for some cultivars, but apparently not for this one.

So I’ve reset the light cycle so the lights go on at 8 am and go off at 8 pm. I’ll have to keep the door to the plant room closed in the evening, and I may have to move the plant away from the window for the next full moon. (Not this one; we’re predicted to have cloudy skies for the next few days.) I don’t think the snow reflects enough light from my bedroom window to be a problem, and the nearest street light is at least a tenth of a mile away and not on the same side of the house as the plant room. Aurora? Not likely to be bright enough to cause a problem.

Supposedly it takes 6-8 weeks of long nights to get the buds going, so it’s likely to be February before I know if my cactus is going to bloom. Meanwhile the jasmine has put out a flower, the first narcissus opened today (and I can actually smell it) and the potted rose bush is putting out a new flush of growth. It may be winter outdoors, but the lights and the plants are going great indoors.