Quite the week here. Tuesday, just after I picked up yet another package from Mark (John Donne), I got a call from my daughter saying we had been broken into. Well, that will take the wind out of your sails.
The place was a mess, but it turns out all that is missing is our safe. Wow. Problem is, that has things in it like passports, birth certificates; my wife has dual citizenship (Canada/UK), so that's been fun to deal with. And they didn't bother with the basement, which is where my scopes and related equipment are stored.
As well, the
Thursday morning I get a call from my better half informing me the plates from our car are gone, both of them. Are you freaking serious? Freaking was not the word I used, BTW.
Once again, call the police. Turns out we're not the only ones in the neighbourhood going through BNE's and damage/theft from cars. That was actually a relief; I was thinking we were being targeted. Semms everyone is; the cops said there will be a "large police presence" in the area for the next while. Good, I sure as heck have nothing to hide.
Today is Saturday and I put our new plates on the car. They'll never come off. I used Torx bolts with locknuts, and filled the heads of the bolts with my MIG welder. Nothing to grip onto now, and I did the same with my truck. That took some time, believe me. If I ever have to get the plates off, it will require power tools
What a week.
Today was predicted to be clear for the better part of the day, and it was. I finished the whole plate thing, and thought to wrap my feeble mind around my favorite hobby
I brought out my C80-HD, Canon 550D and Baader solar film. All that got mounted on my CG4 and set up. Here's today's Sun. AR2891 is disappearing on the far right, AR2893 is in the upper middle, and a new spot, AR2894, is coming around at the bottom left and putting out C-class solar flares.
Full size image here
As for tonight? It's cloudy out now, but that's supposed to change to clear again at about 9PM, according to Clear Outside and CDS. Hopefully I'm still awake.... I did bring out The Hankmeister in anticipation, and put it on my recently completed and very solid pipe mount. I welded the parts on the pipe I didn't want to have moving, and the two handles make for good "steering". The two square tubes supporting the center pipe make sure there are no vibrations at all. I've used it once before; alt or az, no shakes at the lens whatsoever. After that, it was time for paint. And I have to say, galvanized pipe is hard to paint with white. Three coats, and you can still see the gray showing through!
If tonight doesn't work out for me, CDS says dark blue for the whole day/night tomorrow. One way or another, I will see Jupiter, Saturn, and a few other targets this weekend. Or so I hope.
And you might be wondering; what did I receive from Mark? I don't even know what to say here; I was somewhat overcome. Between this and getting broken into, best and worst day ever... I only put it all together this afternoon.
All the electronics/cables/counterweights are with it too. I will make a seperate post about all that; hopefully tomorrow. And Mark, I can't thank you enough again; as well do Jackie and Sarah
I would try it tonight or tomorrow, but I've never owned a computerized mount, much less something of this quality and capability, so I want to be more "with it" to try this out. For tonight or tomorrow, I'll stick with my simple pipe mount until I have the time to properly look at this. No need to get frusturated
Honestly folks, I've/we've had a real PITA of a year here, as a lot of us have had. But thanks to my family, close friends and all of you on
Alrighty, I just got a shout-out from the daughter unit that dinner (Pizza, salad and garlic bread) will be ready in ten minutes. Good timing that!
I hope you all have a good night/day, and all our best to all of you
(also a ruffle of kitty's fur as a bonus 