We left mid-day. He's between jobs. I need a job. We thought we'd get a jump on the rush-hour exodus leaving the city. I remembered to avoid the north-bound Black Creek log jam, taking inside Jane.
I suggested that if we got away early enough, the 400 highway would actually be fast. It was. I also wanted to avoid the "main drag" in Barrie, Highway 26. So, I plotted out a new route to try. The plan was to turn off the 400 before Bayfield. On the way up, I regretted not printing a map or noting the details. I made Kiron exit too soon onto Essa road. When we started turning south-west, I knew something was wrong. But then I remembered I had the netbook in the trunk, with MS Streets and Trips (albeit an ancient version). Ah. We should have taken the next exit.
Still, I navigated us back up to Dunlop St W (which I should have remembered). It was a short stint west to then connect with 10 Concession (aka George Johnston Rd) bound for Minesing. Despite the circuitous path, it proved quick and easy. No traffic. I took the wheel once on 26. Showed Kiron the route west from Stayner, up the scenic escarpment, through Duntroon and Rob Roy.
We arrived the E.C. Carr Astronomical Observatory at 2:45 PM. Ian D. pulled in just behind us. We marvelled at the continuous thunder overhead. Within 15 minutes it was raining heavily. Dietmar arrived a short time later but did not exit his SUV, to wait out the rain. I fetched him with our umbrella. The squal moved off to the north-east.
Dietmar wanted to start staking out the My Own Dome Lots and Bob Anderson Observatory space but it was too wet. Tony also discouraged us.
Lora and Phil arrived with Skeena.
There wasn't much to do. I started into a few chores...
- I installed the repaired, reconfigured Telrad on the Celestron 14" optical tube assembly and tested it. It worked great.
- I installed the large LCD monitor in the Geoff Brown Observatory for future MallinCam use and tested it. A-OK.
- Checked the generator status. Super green!
- Removed the "telephone" label from the exterior of the house.
- I made up and printed new "clean your room" reminder notes for the CAO bedrooms.
- I also made and printed a food and condiments note for the main fridge.
- Shut off the generator battery heater circuit (for the summer).
- Moved my toolboxes to the GBO.
- Charged up my cordless drill batteries.
- Put one of the newly printed colour editions (thanks to Phil) of the CAO Site Facilities Manual in a duotang with clear plastic cover. Put the spare in the Info Tech binder.
We tried to find the spare propane tank.
We changed the labels on the kitchen cupboards. I took down the handwritten white labels; we used Charles's label maker with clear tape. Much better. While making labels, I had one done up for the Telrad, noting the power requirements, voltage and polarity.
Showed Phil my custom deep red LED head lamp. He noted, "It's heavy."
Chatted briefly with Dietmar about taking over the CAO bookings while he and Millie travelled in Europe.
Did a little web site editing.
Nothing else to do on a cloudy night.
Big day tomorrow...
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