Canada Day at the CAO (Blue Mountains)

Day started off rough.

Slept through my alarm. Awoke in a panic. Still had some final packing to do including installing the bike rack and Giant bicycle. Phil and I were planning to ride some of the Blue Mountain trails. Then I had to push out a difficult set of business emails. Got away 30 or more minutes later than planned. I was stressed.

Picked up Kiron from his home (found him waiting on the porch). We had agreed to rideshare. His car is probably a bit roomier but I wanted mine. We loaded her to the gills! Personal gear for 3 nights, extra clothing for cool evenings, bike bits, 2 binoculars, tripods, 3 telescopes. We were so pressed for volume, I had to leave a few items back (including hammock). Kiron did not pack his new binoviewers. I chastised him for that!

Off we went! We started up Black Creek and then Hwy 400 and initially it was looking pretty good. But when it thickened and slowed in Vaughan, I flicked on the radio. 680 News said it was heavy to Barrie! Shoot, everyone was using the same theory are me! Let's leave early in the morning. Fortunately, we were nearing Major Mac so we jumped off and proceeded west until Islington a.k.a. Hwy 27. Then it 9 west to Orangeville. Passed, at some point, a yellow T@B with bike rack... I needed coffee. We visited the Tim Horton's. Finally, my food/coffee/work headache abated. We made the E.C. Carr Astronomical Observatory around 12:30.

Saw the yellow T@B near the parking lot. Lora, Phil, Skeena, and Callebaut were lounging around, conserving energy. I didn't recognise their new white truck. Phil was also confused. Earlier he mistook a phone call from me, going to St Catherines. Couldn't figure out why I was here all of a sudden. It wasn't until Tony arrived that we learned it was Geoff B who phoned. Told Lora and Phil about the spotted yellow T@B and integrated bike rack.

Gift exchange time! Gave the pups their TML squeeze toys! Skeena, the birthday girl, enjoyed her puck. Received many SLOOH cards from Phil! Holy cow, I've got 500 minutes on the SLOOH 'scopes...

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. I know I dismounted the rack and bicycle from the car and depacked everything. I did retrieve my gear from the supervisor's closet. I don't think I retrieved the laptop for the Paramount (Tony must have done that). I must have had lunch. I also had a moment of clear thinking: set up my portabed early, in the basement—I knew it would not be pleasant doing that at 2:00 AM. Moved the Muskoka deck chairs from the Great Room to back lawn. Helped Kiron get the Explore The Universe Certificate guidelines. I must have lazed around for the rest of the day. And it was a beautiful day. Not too hot. Lots of blue. Did check my work email about 3 or 4 PM and received some great news which, in turn, meant I did not have to do homework every waking moment through the rest of the holiday and extended weekend. w00t! More lazing around. And I didn't have to feel guilty about it. I debated internally about doing some evening planning...

Nah.



At some point, the Horvatins, with Emily, and Ben, arrived. Don't remember exactly when. Supervisor on deck!

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In unpacking the car, I removed the brown leather clad box and put it on the table in front of Phil. "What's this?" he asked. I let him unpack the Questar. He was happy to see one live. I walked him through all the bits.

Instrument: Questar 3½-inch Mak
Mount: equatorial legs
Method: star hopping

When we installed the solar filter and trained it on the sun, we discovered a very large sunspot (number 1084 according to SpaceWeather.com)!



The Questar 3.5" revealed the lighter region surrounding the sunspot (the penumbra). But we were all too lazy to fire up the Geoff Brown Observatory in white light or SolarMax.

I tried to remember the rotational period of the Sun. For some reason, two weeks was sticking in my head. We didn't bother to look it up at the time. (Turns out it is 25 to 35 days.)

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Made dinner (using my stored supplies) around 7:30. Then started to set up on the Observing Pad...