When things get complicated and tiresome here on Earth, it’s always a bit of a relief to get off-planet and look at something quite distant – a place where our problems are unknown and everything that keeps us awake at night is completely insignificant.
In this case, it’s 2.5 million light years away – the galaxy Andromeda.
This remarkable image is a composite, taken from several space cameras operated by the European Space Agency. They all observe different flavors of light – microwave, ultraviolet and X-rays – each indicated by a distinct shade.
The blue sections are older star clusters that have exploded or are in their final stages, and the reddish orange swirls represent areas where new stars are forming. I see it as just a lot of colorful fun, though it’s my luxury to think that – I don’t live by a star that has just blown apart and don’t have to put up with a new sun popping up next door.
But if you don’t mind waiting 4 billion years, our galaxy, the Milky Way, will eventually collide with Andromeda, and then things get really interesting. Rumor has it the two galaxies will intermingle and eventually become one bigger, fatter galaxy. It does not necessarily mean that other planets and stars will come crashing into the Earth or our Sun. The distances between objects in space are so vast, I guess it’s possible for two galaxies to combine without it becoming a cosmic demolition derby.
But, if you ever thought you could move to a place where you would never have to concern yourself with nosy neighbors invading your space – think again. The universe just naturally mixes things up.
There are suddenly new people (creatures?) next door. Do you go over and say hello, or draw the shades?
Trail Baboon 
Morning all. Lovely photo, Dale.
I’m sure some of you can probably figure out by now that I’m the one who goes over w/ a plate of cookies and then has a neighborhood gathering with nametags so that all the old neighbors can meet the new neighbors!
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Well, of course I race right over, introduce myself, shake their hands and take a vase of flowers or a tomato if it is garden season. And then all winter we never see each other. So each spring I have a batch of new neighbors I’ve neglected all winter. This spring, however, we are having difficulty getting back outside!
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Good morning to all:
I would do a little spying on new nieghbors before introducing myself. I would try to not be obvious about the spyng and would hope that they wouldn’t see me doing this. Some times I am a little slow to introduce myself to nieghbors, but usually I am fairly quick about doing this. In fact, I’ve been told that I might be a little too bold about introducing myself to people I don’t know.
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I love your honesty Jim. Before you meet the Baboons in person, we will arrange a spy session for you!
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That would be good, Jacque. If you could all arrange to be some place where I could see you, I could watch you for a while through binoculars before I come up to introduce myself.
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I got to watch jim before I introduced myself at cedar cultural center a couple months back
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Spy!!!
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Wow! So our own galaxy could mix with the Andromeda galaxy, with stars bashing into each other and exploding and new “neighbor” stars popping up at random places? That would be bigger than the union of the old AFL and NFL! The mind reels. And one thing that worries me is whether such a merging of big systems would make poor Pluto even more of a joke than it is.
As for being neighborly, I would be up for rushing over with a pie and a big smile. But don’t talk to me about new neighbors. That is a terrifying concept. My present neighbors are wonderful folks. Jeff mows my lawn and shovels my walk because he worries about my health. Even better, Jeff’s own lawn is shabbier and weedier than mine, and I treasure him for that. This is a neighborhood where you don’t want to have the messiest lawn. It is bad enough being Number Two.
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Steve, I’m not in your neighborhood, but be reassured – you probably don’t have a 7′ long egg-shaped muddy pit (about 12″ deep) in your front yard. This is the result of my husband spending most of last summer taking down and digging out the roots of a dead maple tree. Theory is to turn this muddy pit into a rain garden. I’m guessing the neighbors will be ecstatic when that finally happens (I know I will be).
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Maybe your husband is afraid of having his work destroyed by on-rushing galaxies so is reluctant to invest too much in the pit!
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You could turn it into a bubbling pool and have four to six pink flamingoes wading in the pool. Think big, Anna.
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Or how about a muddy swamp with toads and alligators? Surely you can get a winter-proof plastic one.
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Ooh – I like the idea of toads and alligators. I could make a mini Okefenokee Swamp and have Pogo for a neighbor.
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I’d stock it with duck and goose decoys
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You have met the enemy, but is it your husband or the neighbors?
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I has met the enemy, Clyde, and it is us (and our clutter).
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In a small town, like Clarks Grove, the whole town is almost one nieghborhood. My yard stands out from my closest nieghbors as not being the best. Fortunately for me, there are other yards scattered around town that are similar to mine or even a little more on the not so good side. I don’t know why there should be anything wrong with having lots of dandelions in a yard and I don’t know why people with the good lawns don’t like having them in their lawns.
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Count me in the “go over and introduce myself” category – whether or not there are baked goods may be based on how chaotic the rest of life is (though there is a former neighbor who referred to me as “the muffin lady” after I brought some over after the sudden death of her partner…not being quite sure what else to d0, I figured baked goods were always welcome) .
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I’m the handshake guy but after that they are needing to reply. I live down in a hole, privacy so intact there are no window treatments. I am still the new guys 7 years in but I do wave driving by and chat when on the streets.
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I think I am more like Jim, in that I like to wait and see and observe before I go over and say hello. My husband is a real greeter. I’m a little more cautious. Besides, I think it is a little much for two psychologists to go over and introduce themselves and start asking new neighbors questions about themselves. I wouldn’t want to make people uncomfortable.
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I know that one. I usually tell them at first that I am a Social Worker and dodge the questions for awhile. Otherwise they get really nervous.
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What a way to start a friendship! Your first sentence to them is a lie? Billy Marty Barry might say you have issues of trust and should go into therapy.
You could always tell ’em you’re an English teacher. That makes people afraid to talk, which is useful if you think they’re about to bore you out of your gourd with talk of a Vikings stadium.
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It’s NOT a lie. I am trained as a Clinical Social Worker. I just ease people into the concept of Psychotherapist. (Or in the words of some people a Psycho Therapist.) Then later if I let them call me a shrink and I don’t dissolve like the Wicked Witch of Oz they can see me as a person. I don’t feel like an intimidating person, but alas, my profession is intimidating to others.
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LOL! Well put!
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I think it would be good to tell them you are trained to tell what’s screwed up about everyone else.
The only ones that are alright are me and you and I’m not so sure about you. Then wave your arms and flap away like a big crow
Ypu only have one chance to make a first impression
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When I tell people what I do I cringe because they invariably say in a jokey kind of way “Oh no, I bet you’ll be analyzing us. We’ll have to be careful around you.” All I have come up with is the rather lame “Only if you pay me.” It makes me want to hole up and become a hermit.
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Observe is a better word than spy. Probably spying becomes the more appropriate term when a little too much observing is done. I have been told I shouldn’t do so much staring.
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Morning–
I’ll join the spy group– Oops; I mean ‘observing’ group. But then I try to be friendly unless I’m greeted with hostility. And that’s a double edged sword too, you know?
Being out in the country I’m pretty suspicious of others at first and I’ll give you the squint eye until I determine why you’re here.
(See my notes of chasing horny teenagers, trash dumpers and party people out of the fields).
We’re down in a valley but there are homes a mile to the East that can spy on me too… so…. there.
Sunshine today!
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Growing up in Duluth, we were certainly friends with some of our neighbors. We had the stereotypical ‘nosey lady’ across the street that -had- to know everything going on. We also had some crazies right next door. We had a great row of tall pine trees between our lot and the house next door. Apparently, they ~really~ wanted to spy on us. I came home from school one day and all of the lower branches of each pine tree had been cut to the trunk for six feet up. I called my Dad and said, “Why’d you have the trees trimmed?” He said, “What???!!!” Our neighbor had taken it upon himself to cut off all the lower branches of our pine trees.
Still, my folks really tried to be friendly with our neighbors. I’m not so much so. I really prefer to keep to myself…wifey too. Of course, when you have a neighbor that comes over as you’re moving in and the first thing she says is, “You know, I fought tooth and nail to keep your house from being built. And you’d better clean out your gutters…there’s a city statute that says so…”, it’s not hard to be less than enamored.
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You hear about nightmare neighbors like that but to have them come over and tell you that makes you wonder doesn’t it?
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tgith–I used to work with a woman who lived in Duluth, on the side of the hill with a house just a level above hers, the owner of which was a difficult neighbor, with whom the pine trees in her back yard were an issue. When they came home from a trip, they realized he had cut off the tops of their pine trees so he could have a good view. So if he got together with your neighbor, all the trees would be just sticks.
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If you go up there right now, most of the trees are just sticks naturally.
My Dad played a pretty good joke on a neighbor that turned out to be a good buddy of his. We had this little pine tree at the edge of our back woods and it was so far gone that the needles were rusty reddish/orange. Dad said that if you flicked it with your finger, it would’ve fallen over. Our neighbor said, “Geez, why don’t you get rid of that dead pine tree?” Dad said, “Oh, NO! We can’t do that…it’s a rare ‘red pine.’ Do you know how much that tree cost?” Much hilarity ensued for some days and even moreso when Dad came clean.
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I had a colleague whose birthday is a week or so before Christmas (same day as mine). One year his wife sent him out mid-afternoon on his birthday to get the tree. He stopped at the Vets’ first.
About midnight he remembered he was supposed to be getting a tree. So he drove up into the woods and chopped down a spruce tree by the side of the road and threw it in the back of his pickup. When he got home, he got out the tree stand and put up the tree in the living room.
Nest morning, with hang-over, he came downstairs to see what he had cut down and put in the stand. The power company had sprayed the right-of-way. His tree had been sprayed on one side, resulting in one green side and one red side.
His wife kept the tree, red side facing the room, fully decorated.
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How much more Christmasy does it get than an actual half-green, half-red tree? That’s awesome!
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It helps to know both people are very funny and both loved to tell the story. Naturally, the red needles did not last long.
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Great to hear from you Clyde!
Love this story. And you have to admire the spirit of the guys’ wife.
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I( am readjusting to apartment house culture, where none of us are re
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Ataxia, I cry in my own defense.
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I am readjusting to apartment house culture, where none of us are really neighbors. A range of ages of people, as near as I can tell. We now enter the building from the garage, which is ten feet from the door to our apartment. So we hardly ever see anyone.
The rules of apartments, I believe, are that only three sorts of people talk to anyone else: 1) senile old ladies, nosy or otherwise (two so far, both of whom told use they would never remember our names) 2) small children. So far Audrey, who calls me Ho Ho, which is to die to hear her say. Remember I look like Santa; and the first time she saw me I was wearing a bright red coat. 3) Weirdos.
Trying to decide if I want to qualify for that last category. No, I am not accepting input on the issue.
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A tale about the garage.
We moved in April 1 or so but could not get a garage stall until 5/1. We were told we would get stall #2, which is about 60-70 yards from our apartment. So I took the cheap moving dolly I bought for the move and rebuilt it as a cart to use to carry things, groceries mostly, to our apartment. It is an odd but very clever design–a plastic top on the bottom and a piece of plywood at the top with places to hang the grocery bags at the top. In my test run it worked wonderfully. The recyclable bags hang very well at the top. I can move lots of groceries at once.
Last Friday the manager, who had been watching us use the handicap parking in the front by her office and watching my wife move, called me in and said that she had a last minute cancellation of a garage lease which she allowed because she could then give us the stall right by the door into the building. Now our car is closer to our kitchen than in any house we have owned.
How wonderful of her. But why am I disappointed? Anyone want a weird grocery cart?
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Post a photo on Craig’s list, Clyde! (My newest neighbor is going to teach me how to do that sometime – we barter.) I’ll bet someone would want it…
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I have advertised many things there in the last few weeks and have gotten only one bite, after I had donated the item.
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Put it at the far end of the garage with a sign that says community garage cart use it if you need it and hang a bag on it so they get it
Or just use it when you go to deliver presents to everyone’s chimney a week after your birthday
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I used to be in the “bring baked goods” bunch, but I’m a bit cautious after that one neighbor, who started out as a friend pretty quickly and then it turned sour. (I’m sure she would say the same about me.) So now I am friendly but not chummy until I learn more about what/who I’m dealing with. We currently have EXCELLENT neighbors all around, and just hoping it can stay that way for a while! (May have to tell some stories later on.)
Have a great, warm, sunny day, Babooners!
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I miss neighbors but I have not had bad ones since inner city 70s
I have this long driveway where I wave at one new neighbor going in and out of the drive and make small talk when they are out walking their monster dogs thR other new neighbor has his driveway entrance onthe other side of hid house and is never outside, I went and said hi the one time I saw him in the yard and two days later he cut down all the trees between my house and his. I’m not sure whose they were and he obviously didn’t care. He sent his tree guy down to yell me he’d cut the tree that was near his roof, i said no he cut it anyway. Thinking we are nit going to be beer buddies
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Good question, Dale. It’s one I’ve given a lot of thought to. It turns out I’m with tgith these days.
I had great neighbors when I lived in Faribault. I couldn’t keep them away when I bought my first house in 1993. They wanted to help me fix the downspouts, put the screens on and clean out the basement. I was living out of boxes and I just wanted some time to move in and get settled but it wasn’t to be. I ended up with some wonderful friends and a few jars of homemade jam because of those friendly, welcoming neighbors.
It’s been the opposite experience in Waterville. I won’t go into detail about some of the neighbors I’ve had because they’ve been pretty bad (like criminally bad). Serious drugs, dog abuse, child protection issues, and building structures in my yard top the list, but also there have been rocks thrown at my house (by kids) and loud, all-night parties. There was a metal band that practiced in a nearby garage for awhile. I awoke at 2 a.m. one morning to the distorted sound of a voice screaming “DIE DIE DIE!” into a microphone. There’s just no sleeping after that.
So, now I’m older and wiser and I’m quite a bit more reserved. I’d like to be more outgoing. I’ve thought about canvassing to see if there is any interest in a neighborhood block party. I think about half my neighbors would be interested, as long as they don’t have to plan anything. I have new neighbors on the west side who are much quieter than the previous renters. Maybe I’ll make some cookies and take them over. Thanks for the encouraging topic today, Dale.
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In my current house I have very nice neighbors all around. There was a time when one family had a teenager who liked to have loud beer parties in the back yard when the parents were gone. But teenagers do grow up and move away.
When I first moved in one of the neighbors mowed the grass for me – I didn’t own a lawn mower yet, and the house had been vacant, with no one taking care of the yard, so it was a tough job. The neighbor on the other side was an elderly woman who brought me some banana bread.
I don’t usually approach people – I’m a Myers Briggs introvert, so it doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m more of a wave-from-across-the-street person.
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hi there – a gracious good evening to You All
in Duluth i had very close neighbors – i mean 10 feet max. one neighbor would call and say “i think you should blow out those candles on your dining room table before they start a fire, Barb” – that close. but nice people and i loved the succession of families with little red-haired kids that moved into the house on the other side. really fun to watch the kids grow and go through stages. others, we didn’t know. when we were packing to move after 21 years at that house, a neighbor from across the alley came and introduced herself and asked if we were just moving in. 🙂
out here, i pick and choose my neighbors. a couple miles still makes a neighbor. but there are some much closer that i stay away from. people live in the country for a LOT of reasons and not all of them are good.
two German Shepherds terrorized T and Niblet the other evening. no goat was harmed, but i ran out and yelled and chased them away. if i see them again i’ll have to meet that “neighbor” also. not looking forward to that.
jammy time! good night.
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