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It seems " that time of year " has arrived
Do you mind if I have a whinge about the weather? I hope not.
I've always seen winter as my time to play astro. But this year, things conspired a bit against me and that didn't happen. After an utterly awful summer in 16/17, I was already in an astro drought even before winter.
Now, we're coming into what we euphemistically call "Spring" and by rights it ought to be a time of renewal, welcome rains, growing grass and happy cows. Not so - again. This year is no different from the last, and the several before that. Spring did not spring. It remained dry and now, to boot, it is prematurely hot.
We're lining up for high 30s to low 40s out here this weekend and that means more dust haze, turbulent skies and abysmal seeing. I go over to the obs more to pat the gear rather than to use it.
And soon, we will have the usual annual burning-off season. As soon as a bit of rain seems possible, the cattle growers out here will be lighting their matches. That'll last a month or so.
Then we'll have another summer to contend with. And so it goes on, and on, and on.
And to make it all so much worse, I have gone off the grog for a couple of months. These are the times that try men's souls, as they say!
Peter
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