First Light

I made a trip to Arunah this weekend for some observing and a little work. As I arrived
at the summit I saw a fox run off into the woods.

I did a little mowing Saturday and got my scope setup for the night. I was joined by Andy Johnston, his wife Jessica and young son Ben. He brought his homemade 12" f/4.5 dob for first light. I was impressed with it. The views were very crisp. Saturday night was plagued by passing clouds but all in all observing was pretty good. Sunday was a beautiful day with a nice breeze. Andy and his family spent the day in the Northampton area while I got to work on clearing the rest of the Tower's trail. It is now completely open.

I spooked a whitetail deer on the lower part of the trail while I was repainting blazes. He took off in a hurry leaving hoofmarks in the trail.Sunday night was mostly clear and the Milky Way was stunning. Some high clouds washed out parts of the sky but Andy and I observed until well past midnight. Andy headed home Monday morning and I took down my scope. Later in the afternoon I headed out to the Farrington trail for some more work. Only my chainsaw running out of gas kept me from finishing the cleanup. Only a little bit more work and this trail will be open.

I came across a pair of red spotted newts during the cleanup' they soon disappeared under some leaves. After a little more after dinner mowing, I was able to catch a pretty good pass by the ISS just after 10:00. That part of the sky was the only part not cloud covered. I left Tuesday morning as the rain moved in thinking about Arunah Hill Days a month away.
Barry

Five Weeks and Counting...

With just five weeks until Arunah Hill Days, the July work day was a busy one. Matt Paine was up at sunrise and had much of the "cleared" parts of the hill mowed by the time I arrived mid-morning. Kevin Collins and Tom Walker, with friend Rick, had a compressor and generator running and were very busy installing mess lined plywood to the telescope shed, gaining much ground in our continuing "mouse proofing" efforts. Dan Herzberg joined the effort mid-morning to provide some re-enforcement.

During the morning we had two visitors: Barbara, the oldest resident in the town of Cummington! Barbara is about to turn 94 and has lived in Cummington all her life. She visited Arunah Hill with her friend Lucy to see what the place now looked like. I gave her a "tour" of the Gaertner. It's interesting to think that she may have used this telescope during a visit to Smith College when the Gaertner Telescope was still shiny and new.

Ray Burk and Steve Pielock took turns pushing a mower around the hill, and I did a bit too. The hill. All this mowing effort made it clear to all of us just how important it is to get the mower deck fixed for the tractor. Some generous donations were pledged, but more is needed. I you can, please send a check to Peter S. so we can get some "capital improvements" done on the hill, ideally before AH Days.

Barry Hervieux did some trail clearing and general cleanup. With Barry's chainsaw work, and Matt and I working the loppers, we now have most of the Farrington trail cleared, and have the Piliated path cleared from Raven's Perch to Poet Rock.

John Davis and Steve Herzberg also helped out on the hill, and helped in the planning for AHDays. Jonathan Klinkowski fired up some great burgers for lunch.

Soon enough the bright skies of the morning turned gray and threatening. Over the next five weeks there is still a lot of work to do, but the July workday build a fine base.