Astronomy for Everyone

The wind was still blowing the hair off our heads Tuesday morning. We adjusted the tarps on The Swamp and put down more anchor lines. It was my job to pound in the stakes because for some reason I was the most skilled stake-hammerer in the group. After that I had to put out white flagging tape so people wouldn't trip over the anchor lines in the dark. I tripped over one of the big stakes in broad daylight while taping, to the general amusement of my fellow Swamp Rats. The day also brought cloud cover but none of us were too fussed at that. This was, after all, the Florida Keys. The weather could change in a matter of minutes. We all went to the vendor area to find the latest in astro-goodies. There were plenty there. Two vendors already had the new 17mm Ethos and Dave was drooling over the 8mm. Kent and I had to check out the latest fun stuff at Astronomy 2 Go, and Jerry was in search of a new Telrad. Vic Menard and George Fleenor, two other members of the club, were trying to use one of the many Coronado solar set-ups on display, but clouds were disparagingly prevalent and George had used practically his entire vocabulary of swear words already. We all went to Rob's Island Grill on Big Pine Key for dinner. Half the restaurant patrons were fellow club members. Almost everyone had some type of seafood, but I got my favorite French Dip sandwich. That turned out to be a wise move. Two club members hit the rack early with lower-digestive tract problems that may or may not have been related to the food. One guy, Bob Gully, was laid up for 2 days! YIKES! By nightfall, it was clear that we weren't going to get any observing in at all. The winds were howling straight out of the east and the clouds weren't letting up. There was a sucker hole straight up in the sky - crap! Dobson's Hole........ We yakked until the wee hours of the morning instead, with an occasional view through binoculars.

Monday morning came with some pretty hefty winds. We struggled to get up the side curtains on The Swamp that sheltered us from both the wind and sun. A couple of us were already sporting noses that showed signs of too much sun, so the sunscreen came out as well. Early afternoon found us driving to Cudjoe Key and the Square Grouper, fast becoming one of our favorite restaurants. This place is great! All the plates, bowls, cups, etc., are square or rectangular, the tables are covered with large sheets of paper, and square glass containers of crayons form the centerpieces. We all got the famous Square Grouper Sandwich, which is literally a square piece of grouper on square buns with the world's best onion rings on top, and served with fries, slaw, and Key Lime tartar sauce. Getting through the whole plate is a major accomplishment, but I actually managed to do it for the first time ever. We got back to camp with the wind gusting at 30-35 mph. Tarps were flapping like mad and several people had disassembled scopes and other equipment. We figured the wind would die down by nightfall, but we were wrong. It was so bad out on the berm we felt like we were being beat to death. Half the time was spent trying to hold down things like mirror covers, tarps, and atlases. Using a Dob in winds like that is a real chore, so we had to admit defeat and slink back to The Swamp to swap lies. Bugger!!!

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Winter Star Party and the members of SCAS did not disappoint. We left Bradenton on Friday night, 2/20, at 10 p.m. I rode down with my long-time observing partner, David Gracey, and our good friend Kent Hays. After 3 coffee stops and a gas stop, we got down to West Summerland Key at 5:40 a.m. on Saturday to wait in line. We all tried to take catnaps in the car, but the only one who was successful was me, curled up in the front seat. About 4 hours later the sun and my bladder got me up and I trekked about 1/4 mi. up to the front gate to hit the porta-potty. We got out lawn chairs and iced tea and socialized with other astronomers until it was time to go in at about 1 p.m. From then on it was a lot of hard work. We had to unload the trailer, set up scopes, pitch tents and canopies, get out lawn chairs, and get everything set up for the week. Kent and I were sharing a huge cabin tent; it took 4 people to get it set up. Once done, we zipped shut the "wall" between the two rooms and Kent and I had our own private 10x10 spaces. Sleeping bags and cots followed, and after about 4 hours of hard work, we had the Swamp (Dave's big canopy) set up, and were ready to rock and roll. But hours of hard work, plus no sleep, drove us to bed pretty early. We were all too tired to get the scopes fully set up and collimated, so we contented ourselves with binoculars and a relatively early bedtime.

Okay, I've got all my old articles from my old web site transferred to my new blog!

It was -- like -- ahhh -- a lot of work, but that's all right -- like -- because it was really Steve that did it all. He is so -- like -- pussy-whipped!

But now I need to get busy and do some updating. Some of those articles are a little old and need some revisions.

The Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys is a little less than 3 weeks away and counting.  I've already packed half the stuff I'm taking.  This is my favorite star party of the year and for a change, I am NOT vending, so I get to observe, sleep late, and otherwise goof off with the rest of our club members who are also going.  I can't wait!  Let's hope for good weather. 

Steve got my blog up and running today. Kind of, anyway. I've already uploaded some of my articles from my old website, and I have more coming. Perhaps tomorrow.