... before the storm. "I've seen attack ships on fire on the shoulder of Orion, I've seen moon beams glisten at the Ten hauser gate, all those memories, lost like tears in the rain..." ~ Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner

This was view behind my home just before sunrise this morning. Tomorrow at this same time, we are forecast to be in the middle of either a strong tropical storm or category 1 hurricane. Living in the tropics isn't dull, I'll tell you that! :o) The bright "star" on the horizon is Venus. ----- VENUS Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. After Earth's Moon, it is the brightest object in the night sky (always brighter than the brightest stars), reaching an apparent magnitude of -4.6. This is bright enough to be seen even in the middle of the day, and the planet can be easy to see when the Sun is low on the horizon. As an inferior planet, it always lies within about 47