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WEEK 32 2020
Last Week- Sun- Mon- Tue- Wed- Thur- Fri- Sat- Next Week
Saturday - Hot.
I might go visit my brother in Carson City in the future, a bit of dental work next week and then I'm free for a few weeks.
B mentioned that BLM came to Minden yesterday, and got their butts kicked. The press that I saw reported it as a "peaceful demonstration"...hmmm.
Maybe I'll see if I can scare up some car camping gear to use on the way up. I might try out an overnight at Mt. Pinos too - a neighbor was up there for a picnic last week and talked to someone at the campground who said there was no-one camping there during the week!
Shopping tomorrow. I was going to go out Messier hunting, but I have to get up at 5:30am.
Friday - Warm again.
Not much going on. Back is incrementally better each day.
Worked on some household cleanup that needed doing... Not much else happening.
I did take some money out of savings. Time to pay off some credit card bills I think. I've been delaying, because of the economy, but that principal payment every month adds up after a while. I've never been a credit card debt kind of guy, other than house and car loans I've tried to live debt free.
I did go out in the evening and look through the 7x50 binoculars. I was able to see Jupiter's disk and three moons, Saturn was resolved as a very small football.
I also looked for a few Messier objects, and saw M4, M8, M20 (the Trifid Nebula), M22 and IC 4628 (Prawn Nebula). The 7x50's aren't enough to resolve any detail naturally and there was a fair amount of sky glow and haze from fires to the south.
I didn't see M6 or M7, and only briefly looked for M57 in Lyra because it was directly overhead, but the back gave out after about an hour and I came in. I used to see M57 regularly as a teenager with an old Criterion 4" reflector.
Thursday - Warm, only in the low 90's.
The back is a bit better, so I took the opportunity to carefully change the kitty litter for Budd. It was getting pretty ripe. I took the plastic bits out and washed them with a hose while I was at it. I meant to do this before going on vacation, but was just too busy.
I also was able to bend down (well, crouch, actually) and pick up the Eufy and clean it, and use it. With about 5 days of non-use it was full in about 45m and I had to empty and clean it again. Sheesh. The neighbor across the way claims that he won't use a swamp cooler because of the dirt and stuff it brings in, but my machine picks up at least 50% cat hair.
My sister mentioned seeing Mars the other night, so I got up about 3am and looked for it. And it was directly overhead, though I couldn't make out any detail. Venus was very prominent as well, an easy 50% full object even in the low power binoculars.
I really wanted to look through the 8" scope, but my back isn't up to hefting a 70lb scope around. I kind of want a smaller grab-n-go scope anyway, maybe a small 2" or 3" apochromat that only weights a couple of pounds. They exist, but are kind of pricey, though Astromart and Cloudy Nights will often have them listed for a lot less than retail. But I'd need a Paypal account and that's a bit of a question mark - I don't think I'd want it attached to an important bank account and/or credit card.
I have ordered a new Telrad finder from Amazon (fulfilled by AgenaAstro) - I couldn't get the old one to work, too much corrosion in the actual 1"x1" guts of the 2"x2"x12" box.
Did some reading on Swift and Cocoa. I need to get back into things, though more than an hour or two at the keyboard is kind of painful right now.
Wednesday - Hot, but not crazy hot.
Back is better. I was able to stand upright and walk down to the paved street and get my mail. I also drove over to the little market and picked up some cat food and milk. I also had some actual physical bills that needed mailing.
Sitting at the computer is a bit problematic, but I did some bills and tax cleanup stuff, updated the blog, etc.
Vanguard has been pestering me for years to "upgrade" to a brokerage account, and finally started sending vaguely threatening letters, essentially saying that they were going to stop allowing online access. Sheesh. So I went ahead and did that transition, I think. It'll take a few days to complete apparently.
With Jack Bogle dead and in the ground I assume Vanguard management is moving to raise fees and increase corporate profits (and their personal compensation). It's the way of the world.
One huge explosion has occurred in poor old Beirut, Lebanon.
Apparently someone left 3,000 tons of Ammonium Nitrate in a warehouse for years, and it finally went off. There was a small fire that started the bigger explosion: early reports are that the small fire was started by some idiots welding in a fireworks storage area. Unbelievable. Looks like a small nuclear bomb went off. There are also reports that Hezbollah was storing missile parts there, that probably couldn't help.
There is a 500' wide crater where the warehouse used to be, thousands injured, probably hundreds dead.
Tuesday - Hot, but a bit cooler than it's been. A bit windier, but, except for a few gusts, not crazy windy.
No wall work, or really work of any kind, letting my back take it easy for a bit. It's very painful, though better than yesterday.
I did go out and spray oil on the tomatoes, and attempted to find my UV light, without any success in the latter effort. I guess you can buy them for $9 at Harbor Freight, though it's farther than I want to drive right now.
Book #46 was Stiletto, by Daniel O'Malley. This is the sequel to The Rook, and well done.
Monday - Hot.
Out in the morning, before it got real hot, I went up on the roof to oil the swamp cooler bearings.
They have gotten a little noisy - I don't think anyone but myself would notice, but since it's going to be a real job to replace them I'm keeping the oiling up, once a month.
The big window a/c unit is getting some use, usually mornings when there
is too much humidity for the swamp cooler to work, and late afternoon,
when the sun shines directly onto the 175SF of west facing windows.
When I got down my back started hurting - bending over backwards, on top of wall work, on top of carrying around the 70# of scope and tripod did it in. I took a very hot shower and four ibuprofen...and it was still just bearable, if I didn't move.
Well, nothing too new there.
Sunday - Still hot.
I didn't go into town - I've felt a little under the weather the last couple of days, and to be honest, didn't need much.
Comet Neowise is now quite faint, you really need to know where it is to see it.
Book #45 was The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley. I read this some years ago, but it was a fun re-read. I see that there is a TV miniseries out now, on Starz, with mixed reviews.
