Now that the summer is over, I have the notion to start the RASC's Explore the Universe  project.  I had started a couple of times before but through circumstances and responsibilities and various interruptions was unable to follow through with it.  And now I am motivated to try again.

The initial step is to print off the 10 pages listing the required observations, planets, constellations, moon phases, etc. , as well as the sheets for the recording of those observations.  This I have done and placed them in one of these plastic notebooks with the clear plastic sleeves.  Thursday night was clear but a happy camper had come in for the weekend and came to visit for the evening, and seeing as how my social opportunities will soon be greatly lessened I decided to put off the initializing of observing.  Friday night was too cloudy for the targets I had planned on the southern horizon, and I was tired from running the chainsaw cutting firewood.  Last night we had a bit of a celebration for my nephew, steak dinner for 5 of us, a certain ordeal that has been ongoing for the past 5 years is finally over, and he and his girlfriend can finally make plans to begin their lives anew on a positive note.  Today it is raining and tonight will be cloudy, so now I have to wait until Monday evening when conditions are predicted for clear skies.  The moon is also at waning crescent, so hopefully I will have a couple of clear nights to get started.

We had a miserable hot summer.  MISERABLE.  Lost a family member, middle of June it got brutally hot and stayed miserably hot until the week before Labour Day, so damned hot that I simply couldn't work outdoors and get many of the little jobs done that badly needed doing.  There were also a number of things going wrong.  The lake pump died, I got stung in the face due to a yellow jacket's nest at the far cottage, my brakes failed when some nitwit in a huge pickup truck pulled into my lane and we missed having a head-on collision by mere seconds, and inches, the small lawn mower won't start, there were leaks that had to be fixed, the list goes on.  All of this during the covid pandemic, that alone causing enough stress for everyone.  First big issue to deal with was when half the big pine tree beside the garage came down in early spring and ripped the power lines right off the pole.  The first 3 weeks of May were as cold as the summer was hot, while cutting firewood one afternoon heavy snow came falling down and I had to yank a tarp over the wood and head indoors to the stove.  Delays, delays, delays, then with the heat and the grief it was impossible to work on most things.  I have learned over the years that when you get a run of difficulties, just hunker down and deal with things.  It was not merely day to day, it was hour to hour.  Problems were solved, and things seem to be lightening up lately.  I keep telling myself not to focus on the growing list of problems, but be happy that most of them have been resolved, I have prevailed, be proud of being able to overcome.  I don't know who came up with the saying of "that which does not kill you makes you stronger".  True to some degree perhaps, but dammittohell it wears on you and you get tired of having to put forth effort to overcome unnecessary obstacles.  There are things I would rather be doing, like enjoying astronomy.  Going fishing.  Taking photos.  Today is raining, an opportunity to spend time in the basement cleaning out crap that has accumulated.  In the meantime a nice little lunch should perk me up.