robert.admin – Page 136 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

February 9, 2017

Moon Scout (DOG EAR)

as engaged in one of my more relaxing hobbies, astronomy, the other night. While waiting for Orion to come up (so I could look under his belt – I’m a nasty man) I swung the barrel on the moon. Always a favorite place to see things, and I really wanted to try out my new eyepieces. Okay, so I know there are astronomers with big trench-mortar tubes that can see that golf ball Alan Shepard whacked. Very good. But with my new eyepiece giving me a CLEAR view at 120x (a big improvement), I can see things pretty well lunar-wise. […]

February 5, 2017

The Orion Nebula (Review)

e an Orion go back a couple of years. It was one of the first objects I’d pursued with my new scope – after the moon and planets. And there was so much to see – the brilliant belt, the smoky glow of Betelgeuse. But it was when I tracked down Orion’s star-splashed dirk that I got my biggest surprise. At the midpoint, I stopped. There was a clear thumbprint on my view of one cluster. Must have fumbled it while getting the eyepiece out. Annoying. But when I started to track clear I got my real surprise – the […]

February 4, 2017

OpsLog – WBRR – 2/4/2017

ust another day on the railroad. Was aboard 391, a mixed through freight out of Alamosa, creaking its steamy 1936 way up to the high slopes and eventually to Durango. I was conductor – boss man of the movement. In the cab, young Eric, still new enough at railroading to have a spark in his eye (and I knew he was aiming at moving east to high stepping Pennsy eventually). Richard slumped in the crummy, sucking at a bottle of rot gut, occasionally stumbling down the steps to realign the turnouts behind us if Eric blew the whistle long and […]

February 2, 2017

Close in before Close out (2/2/2017)

finally got a free evening with clear skies to test out my new Explore Scientific eyepieces (thanks, Mom!). I’d picked up a 24mm and was disparately looking for an 11mm (which finally came off back order). I’d borrowed the 24 from a CFAS friend and the high quality really shown over the comparable focal length eyepieces that had come with my scope. Anyway, clear skies. Got home and got cleaned up after the bike ride. Set up the scope while dinner was cooking – got it leveled and sighted early, picking out the best location to view Southwest, to track […]

February 2, 2017

A charm (DOG EAR)

eah, third time. Was relaxing on my vacation. Woke up and thought, I just finished that Orion Nebula book. Need to knock out a review before I forget too much. What could be nicer, more “writery” than to sit in a side bedroom looking at rain and sea and write a wonderful review? I just needed a tweed jacket and I’d be set. The cat even curled up on my lap. So, wrote out a brilliant first two paragraphs, describing the first time I’d seen the nebula with my scope. What was that big orange star called? Like bug-juice something-r-other? […]

January 29, 2017

A Lodging for the Night (Review)

his was an interesting tale, a little lunchtime shortie I found on my old favorite site, Project Gutenberg, from an old favorite author, Robert Louis Stevenson. The drama opens on a snowy Paris night in 1456, with drifts mounting and patrols snow-crunching and all the world asleep, save for one hovel with its wisp of smoke, its glow-through-the-shutters occupancy, its mutter of low deeds. For yes, inside is a collection of dark men, a handful of pickpockets, highwaymen and gallows-bait. The descriptive eye of the author travels through each, giving us a detailed description of every blackheart without identifying who […]

January 28, 2017

OpsLog – FEC – 1/28/2017

retty easy going session (especially since that last medical-emergency turnout-runner we had at the club). Left my mid-vacation to run over to Palm Bay for a little train running on the FEC. Not much to say. No realizations about the spiritual nature of things trainish or otherwise. no deep insights. Got there after everyone else and so I got the last train out. But that’s fine – it was a fun local that worked up through Palm Bay to Pineallis, just switching the industries and getting clear of the occasional passing train. This sort of work is actually pretty fun, […]

January 26, 2017

OpsLog – LM&O – 1/25/2017

Some sessions are great sessions that put a smile on your face for the drive home, and have you flipping through your railroad books long into the night. And then there was last night. Actually, it wasn’t bad. Not bad. Not too BAD. Not too much. But… Well, yeah, apparently we found the niche Ringling Brothers has left. We were packed, always good, lots of guests, but then again it makes running a bit tricky and our mistakes all the more embarrassing. And then everyone seemed a bit “off” (more on this in a bit). A couple of crews left […]

January 26, 2017

Quiet (DOG EAR)

eaders and their writers (or is that the other way round?) share two things in common. First off, they create imaginary places peopled by characters. As a work is written and as it is read, these phantomtastical realms slowly form. Interestingly, they are different for different people. I’m sure that the image a writer holds while creating a moment is different from what the reader experiences in the read. And that’s fine. Really, as long as point and plot are met, who cares if the hero looks like Brad Pitt, Ricardo Montalban or that boy you dated in high school? […]

January 22, 2017

The Mirror (Review)

ften people give you books to read that meant something to them but are mush to you. But The Mirror, loaned to me by a work friend, knocked me back in my seat. It delivers. And I can see why this lady tracked this one down (copyright 1978) and bought it. So Shay is a modern (i.e. 1978) girl coming up at the end of the free-love era, at the edge of matrimony to a man she’s cool to, a casual consideration towards a lifetime commitment. And while trying on her granny’s wedding dress and looking into that creepy family […]