Great Report, Rick. Steady seeing and refractors are best for planets. However, on one night in ten in my coastal swamp I can see details on planets! Not on Mars this season for me - too puny for high magnification. I had to be content with spotting Phobos and Deimos when suitably positioned. However, deep sky is more forgiving of bad seeing, provided there is good transparency, young eyes and TV/Computer starvation
At a push I can manage 2 out of 3
Thanks for sharing observations. Eugene