Scruffy

You are certainly right, Lowen22. Today starts more than a week of vacation from my day job. The forecast looks like I may have a few more chances. Perhaps, I will try to go someplace where the view is better one or more evenings next week.

The clouds rolled in as the stars were starting to appear. Looks like I'll go with plan B, sitting by the fire pit with my son and enjoying various meats we are cooking.

So, the day is here! Actually, I am getting an early start. I have the scope (a little Celestron Astromaster 114) set up. The sky is still quite bright at this time. I set up early because it's been so long, I didn't think I could do it in the dark. I forgot about my neighbor's trees. My view to the south (in hopes of looking at Saturn) is significantly obstructed. Here's my Astromaster ready for action. This is my view to the South.

Here in the US, the fourth of July is a holiday :happy3: . That means, among other things, that I have a three-day weekend as the fourth falls on a Friday this year. By a happy coincidence, the weather forecast for most of this period calls for few clouds, cooler temperatures and somewhat low dew points. I have already warned my wife that I intend to get my scope out and do some observing. (I got the idea from the suggestion of an online star party on Astronomy.com.) I also hope to make use of my recently constructed fire pit. My plan is to have my wife get a few goodies to cook on the fire pit Thursday. (We should have money that day.) So, for my agenda, that leaves two things: 1. Conduct a hopefully short mission to find where we last put the blankets. 2. Wait. Number one should be no problem B). Number two might just kill me!