Arizona’s skies can shimmer with Northern Lights

Today’s question:

Why do some restaurants and fast food stores use small straws (about oneeighth-inch) opening and other use larger (one-fourth-inch) opening?

Obviously the smaller straws are probably cheaper but I think there is another more realistic reason. Beats me.

Have the northern lights ever been seen in Arizona?

Yes. Such a thing is rare, but it does seem to happen more often than you might expect.

As best as I know, the northern lights were last seen in these parts in September 2014 when some folks in northern Arizona were lucky enough to witness such a thing.

In September 2011, they were visible as far south as Payson.

And on both those occasions, the lights were visible during relatively weak geomagnetic storms, which range along a scale of 1 to 5.

The northern lights — aurora borealis — shimmer in the night sky when storms on the surface of the sun send waves of charged solar particles hurtling into space. When such particles hit Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere the sky glows with curtains of light.

My wife likes to feed the birds with one of those hanging bird feeders. This year, pigeons started showing up. They chased off all the other birds and attacked the bird feeder so the seeds would drop and they could eat them. I have built a cage around the feeder with wire

big enough for the smaller birds to enter and eat without being bullied by the pigeons. We still have 15 pigeons that wander around in the yard looking for food. What’s with all these pigeons?

You have my sympathy. I have had much the same problems. The best I can suggest is a professional removal service or remedies such as cayenne pepper, cinnamon, cooked white rice, motion-activated sprinklers, anti-roosting spikes, wire or mesh netting, or a dog.