Sunday, May 17, 2009

Weather: 1, Starpilot: 0

Until I get the opportunity to do some actual astrophotography, here are a couple of ramblings to entertain you. Click on each picture for a larger image.

Rambling 1: Clouds!

Has anyone else wondered how long it will be until the clouds part and allow the sun to shine during the day and stars to twinkle at night ? Until today (when the sun finally reappeared) I was wondering if we were becoming the new Seattle. The following picture gives an indication of how the weather has been for the past several months.




This is where my telescope has been hanging out for more weeks than I can remember.




There is a light at the end of the rainbow, because it is supposed to be clear the next few days. I hope I can enjoy some star gazing before the clouds roll back in.




Rambling 2: Don't Keep Secrets, Spouses Will Find Out



Ok, Starpilot put a 'want' before logic and bought an expensive new astrophotography camera, without clearing it through my lovely young bride. Oooops! That made for a few interesting evenings around the ole' backyard observatory. I ended up in ... yup you guessed it: "The Dog House" It is a nice camera though.





To make up for my blunder, Starpilot has been living in 'Honey-Do' purgatory. My lovely young bride and I are revamping the backyard by putting several flower beds, hanging bird and critter (nuisance) feeders, and lining the deck with several 'pretty' flowers. Following are pictures of the work I have been doing to pay for my lack of wise judgement. :)



The Chain Gang!



No Daisy Dukes here, just daisies!




They're everywhere, and their plotting a takeover.



If you can't beat them, join them. I selected this hanging dingle-ball looking thingie.



If I can't take pictures of stars, I will resort to all things terrestrial.



The Secret Garden.



We ran out of time before running out of weeds, oops, I mean flowers. I say the following with enthusiasm and a big smile on my face: "Oh joy, my lovely young bride and I get to plant the rest of these flowers over Memorial weekend".


Wonder if my daughter Jacki will share her secret for 'OFFING' plants before I get overrun with them.



What the Hell is this you may ask ? It is a pine cone covered in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed. It is also symbolic of my last shred of manhood being ripped away, as I got the task of hanging these treats for the squirrels (nuisances).


Before you know it, my lovely young bride will have me building bird houses ...



... and putting squirrel feeders all over the deck.




Until the skies clear ...
StarPilot
@@@

6 comments:

Pdyrholm said...

Nice dog house ;-)

Lea said...

Hello Jim! So many lovely flowers in your garden this summer. And the squirrel - do you know that the squirrels in Denmark are RED?
Love to you and Char from Per and Lea

Grace @ Sandier Pastures said...

I bloghopped from Jacki's blog. Thanks for sharing such nice photos here. I particularly love the squirrels..we couldn't find those in Dubai! :-)

Jeff Adams Scam Jeff Adams Fraud said...
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juju said...

Bummer on the weather. Guess we have have more sunshine our way. Nice pic of the sky and rainbow. A bit gloomy but all you need to do is focus on that beautiful deck and yard you have been working on. There is sunshine written all over it. :)

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