Sunday morning shenanigans

[MrPloppy]

Thought I might just tell you all what happened to me on Sunday morning. I woke up quite early due to my cat ripping up the carpet downstairs trying to get out. With a swift boot, the cat went flying out the front door and while I watched the cat's parabolic path to it's zenith I was dumbfounded by the sight beyond of the waning crescent moon and Venus in very close position in the sky. The clouds were on the horizon, the morning sky was clear as anything.

Wanting to catch my first view of Venus through my new scope while I could, I ran back inside to get my scope like some giddy schoolboy on Christmas morning. The scope is set up in my conservatory, and within ten minutes, I had unfastened the scope from the clamp, taken off the counter weights, folded the tripod, taken the tripod outside, attached the weights to the mount, attached the scope, balanced it, and was about to shove a 25mm eyepiece in when...

...rain!

When I looked at the view of Venus and the moon, I neglected to look *up*. There, a dark cloud was looking down at me with bomber-sight accuracy waiting for me to set up. By the time I trained my scope at Venus (which at this point was going behind a cloud), the rain was coming down hard. My brief glimpse of Venus was blurred by the heat coming from my garage over which I had trained the scope, clouded by the clouds now covering over anything, and obscured by the rain which was now soaking my precious scope.

And all the while, my cat watched from under the car. Laughing.

[nightfisher]

Poor old cat

[Peter Drew]

I'm with the cat.

[DaveS]

Sounds like the cat's revenge

[foundaplanet]

Cunning little critters them cats, looks like its plan came off perfectly...

[Andy McK]

Boot to cat = Clouds (after seeing a glimmer of hope)

And again the Universe is in balance

[Mr Spock]

Cat karma

[paul schofield]

+1 for I am with the cat.

[Astro Imp]

What goes round comes round, look after kitty next time

[Monty]

Hate cats...

Cure for cat Karma = Claymore in the kitty litter!

[SteveNickolls]

The cat's account...."I had been scratching for what seemed like ages on Sunday morning to wake up my owner (I honestly can't say if he had been drinking or not the night before). I was trying to tell him that he could see both the waning Moon and Venus from the front door (I had watched them for sometime from the warm front window sill and they did look very nice). I know he keeps his telescope in the conservatory and knew it would take him at least 10 minutes to disassemble and reassemble his 'scope outside and my sensitive cat senses alerted me to the ever gathering black clouds in the sky meant it would be a close thing for him. For my alertness and trouble I got airlifted outside by my owner, my parabola mimicking that of the 'scope's primary. From my new position upside down in the neighbours hedge I could only look on helplessly as he tried for a x40 magnification view with his new 25mm eyepiece when the rain came teaming down on his treasured 'scope. Oh dear I thought as I scrambled out the hedge now what was the RSPCA number...?"

Great account MrPloppy.

He he

Cheers,

Steve

[Astro Imp]

^^^

That's a classic gave me a good giggle

[sologuitarist61]

Poor little moggy!!

[Tom2012]

Haha I enjoyed reading that! Isn't it always the way though? You get a nice clear night, get in from work or whatever, awry your 'scope up, go outside set your eyes upon a body and then before you know it... CLOUDS! Ok sure they know what's going on!

Brilliant read! Hah thanks.

Tom!

[MrPloppy]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments (especially SteveNickolls with his "cats eye view" ).

Noted: a lot of love for my cat, little for my precious scope!

To anyone who wants to know, my poor kitty (who has, I think, recovered), is currently in her favourite position on my desk here at home underneath a warming desk lamp, fast asleep.

Every now and again I chuck a pencil sharpener at her, just to annoy her. Revenge.