And we thought ozone was a bad thing.

John Kerry as Neville Chamberlain.

Who would have known that we could save the world.

Not a good thing to see when you look out the airplane window.

I didn't watch the debates last night (yeah, I know shame, shame) but all the conservative blogs give the President a definite win. Guess the relaxed setting was the secret.

I won't get stuck this year.

We spent most of this day continuing our work in Conroe. There's still a lot of stuff to sort, throw away, haul home, or put aside for the estate sale. Since Nannie died in August, we've spent a lot of time going through her things and either bawling or reminiscing.

I started the old tractor today. It surprised me and fired right up. It's using a lot of oil so smoke poured out the exhaust. Diesel engines smoke but not that bad. Since it's going to be sold, Jackie and I got as much information on it as we could. It's at least 40 years but still runs good and will pull with the best of them. The hydraulics are leaking so, when raised, the brush hog won't stay up but that's not a big problem. I was surprised to learn that the engine is only 65 horses.

Unbelievably, the sky cleared last night for about three hours. I was able to see first light with my FS-102 (first light for me anyway). It performed as well as I expected. I did a quick G-11 alignment on Arcturus where I saw absolutely no chromatic aberration even though it was low in the west. Vega demonstrated the same lack of aberration. Of course, the fact that I'm color blind might make a difference but I don't think so.

Spent the first couple of hours doing visual then switched to video. Imaged some of the brighter objects that I could through the Sugar Land light pollution. Got M31, tried for M33 but it was very dim, shot M57, and M13. I have not done any stacking yet, in fact, I haven't looked at the images other than while they were shooting.

Got tired and wrapped up about 10 p.m.

Oh, yeah, the next door neighbor has added lights to his stinking pool. And they were on all night. Why in hell do they have to turn on pool lights when they're not using the pool. Aggravates me in countless ways.

Uh, Dude! Something's missing here.

Picked up a case, focal reducer, and micro-focuser for the FS-102 at Land, Sea, and Sky. I'm always mind boggled by how much they charge for the stuff...almost $900.00 for the lot.

I'm also mind boggled by the way a company like Takahashi can design beautiful optics, focusers that work like a dream, versatile scopes, but hang a tiny finder on the thing that has to be removed every time you want to store it in the case.

The focal reducer is a real piece of work. Beautifully made, it screws in place of an extension tube on the back of the scope. It's designed for imaging but I tried it for visual and it looked good to me. The standard reduction is from f/8 to f/5.9, giving it a focal length of 602 mm. There's an extension ring on the front that, if removed reduces to if to f/6. I'm not sure what purpose that could serve since the focal length is only a few mm longer.

Anyway, it looks like a few stars might poke through the clouds tonight. The rain moved further east into Louisiana so maybe I'll get a chance to take a look.

If they can't blow up the Israelis at home, they'll do it wherever they can find them. Another appalling sign that radical Islamic terrorists will stop at nothing. Of course, the mere fact that Egyptians are also blown up makes no difference what so ever.

I'm wondering why, if this business was known last July, schools are just now finding out about it. Possible, I suppose, that the military had the stuff and didn't turn it over to Homeland Security but if HS had it until now and didn't release it, someone needs their butt kicked.

New Takahasi FS-102 just arrived. UPS was running late because it's been raining here all day. The scope looks good, it's the updated version of the 102 which is shorter than the old one. Also has a removable extension to allow for bino viewer or CCD camera that needs closer focus. Since it's raining I couldn't get a look at anything.

Rainy day. I think we had at least an inch with more to come. Came home at lunch and finished one side of the new door. It will still have to be touched up when the carpenter hangs it on Monday. Finished the other side (first coat) after work.

Had to sand and redo my paint job. I shouldn't have stopped to eat dinner because when I resumed painting, the overlap was obvious. There was also some left over crud where I didn't properly clean the surface. I'll go back after a while and put on the second coat.

Painted the new front door...one side that is. The color we picked is called "warm Mahogany". Looks pretty red to me. Ellie says it'll match the brick but the home owners association may not like it. Just have to wait and see.

Rangel's bill to reinstate the draft which somehow was twisted around to imply that it was a republican sponsored move, was folded, spindled, and mutilated in the house. Funny how anything that's wrong in our government gets blamed on the Bush administration.

I'm told by the female unit that we will be graced with the presence of Felicia Moon, who's either the wife or ex-wife of Warren Moon, who's definitely the ex-quarterback of the ex-Houston football team known as the Oilers. Ms. Moon will be here for dinner. Not sure if I'm invited.

Update: Her name is now Felicia Fontenot. Guess ex-wife is the operative word. And I'm not invited.

Excellent live blog of the debate here.

Talked to Tim Ostromek about my FS-102 scope. He says it will ship tomorrow by UPS. He's supposed to send me the tracking number ASAP.

Best line of the debate: Cheney's remark that all during his tenure as president of the senate, he had never met Edwards.

ABC News reports that their "scientific"poll gives it to Cheney 45 to 32 percent. Seems about right to me.

ABC News is spouting the usual slant toward the Democrats.

Cheney/Edwards debate: Cheney gave Edwards a good ass whupping.

It was hard to pull myself away from the cuisine but I left IHOP early to get back for the debate. Forgot that Ellie was meeting about something or another at the Y. She's not back yet and, because the new door is occupying my parking spot in the garage, I parked in the driveway. Now I'll have to move my van when she comes back. Maybe she'll park her new Camry in the driveway. Or not.

Cheney/Edwards debate tonight. It's my usual Tuesday night astronomy club thing at IHOP so I'll have to leave early to catch it. A lot of people--especially the media--think the Bush/Kerry debate went to Kerry. Bush did look pissed of a lot of the time and I don't blame him. According to Kerry, Bush doesn't even know how to properly take a dump. Since Messr. Jacque Kerri is full of crap most of the time, I'm sure he'd be able to give Bush some good advice.

Yesterday I bought a new scope off Astromart. Sent a cashiers check for $1950 to the guy in Richardson who is supposed to ship the scope to me post haste. I know he received my check because fedex says his wife signed for it. But no word on shipment. Of course, he could be tied up at work, etc. I was hoping to have it in hand by tomorrow but it's supposed to be cloudy the rest of this week anyway.

We're having our front door replaced and decided that, instead of having it come with the installer, I would bring the door home and finish it before installation. Went to Lowes and found no one in the millwork department. Finally found someone to help me. Was told we would have to negate the original paperwork and do a new set. That sounded pretty dumb to me but I went along with it. When we got to the service desk, I found that we did not have to do the dumb stuff. The manager OKed it, another guy helped me get the door and I was on my way. If it had been Home Depot, I would have still been there. Lowes service is much better. The door is home ready to be painted.

SpaceShipOne

Aeronautical genius, Burt Rutan, along with his many talented crew, won the X-prize today. But I doubt that $10 million will make much of a dent in the actual cost.