Egg over Cool, CA

Cool, CA

On May 26, 2014, at 1200 noon I glanced up from yard work to see something white in the sky. I initially assumed it was a pair of geese flying together at a high altitude. I thought one flew off to the left but one remained, which didn’t make sense and gave me pause. As I concentrated on the object, I realized it wasn’t a bird at all but something round, shiny, and stationary. I took a picture of it with my phone. From my yard, which is 40 miles NE of Sacramento, the direction was ESE at 45 degrees. The altitude and actual distance were difficult ascertaining because I lacked a point of reference. Judging from aircraft throughout the afternoon, I would assume it was higher than a helicopter and lower than a jet. I called and left a somewhat animated message for my fiancé about this, then ran into the house for my glasses and binoculars. I was afraid to leave the site I was standing for fear it would be gone when I returned. I have to stress here that when I first saw the object, I was only wearing protective safety glasses, not prescription, yet could clearly see it was round, white, and shiny. With the binoculars it was round like a ball, white, shiny, with bright light on the top, which could have been the sun’s reflection. Sometimes the light became brighter, sometimes dissipated completely. It was difficult to tell but it seemed as though there was something grey on the back of it that would occasionally be visible. I wasn’t able to visualize any apparatus or ropes dangling from the bottom of it. In an attempt to eliminate the possibility I was imagining this, I called friends who were one mile away. They saw the object, with the same coordinates, also stating it was shiny and unusual. They gathered additional people to evaluate this, ensuring that the entire town would eventually be as crazy as we were. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on weather balloons and read two articles, but I still wasn’t able to tell if this was a balloon or something else. The weather balloons online drifted and, while the photographers had to continually adjust the camera to follow them, I didn’t. What if it was Venus? Or worse yet the Moon and I was creating perplexities out of the rational? The mind is capable of creating any reality it wants to so I have tried to remain as logical about this as possible. I called the local airport. I was told they had no reports of any sightings or weather balloons in the area and they expressed concern about flight paths. I was asked if it could be an advertisement but it was much too high for that. I was given two numbers for the FAA. Since it was Memorial Day, the offices were closed so I left messages. The object remained stationary for over three hours, completely undeviating in location, my point of reference being between two trees. The sun’s position was changing over my right shoulder and back, this was not. By 1500 it began slowly drifting East, remaining at the same altitude. It became increasingly difficult to find it in the sky until it eventually disappeared from view at 1630. I received return calls from the FAA this morning. One person said it was likely a weather balloon, while another encouraged me to contact NUFORC. I was told someone else reported a similar sighting, only 24 hours prior and 1 ½ hours north of mine. It is now 1200 on May 27. There is presently nothing in the sky where this object was yesterday. That, coupled with the fact that it traveled east, eliminates the planet theory. I suppose a logical explanation would ensure our sensibilities. The unexplained though, would make our current perceptions of reality a lot more interesting.