It's Much Nicer Being Inside...When Looking At The Moon At This Time Of Year

 

Earlier this month, I had a burr in my saddle, or a bug in my ear, or some other phrase that is meant to share the idea that I wanted to do something. And that thing I wanted to do was dig out our telescope from storage and set it up.

So, I did.

The telescope used to belong to my father-in-law. I'm pretty sure he picked it up because at some point he had the same bug in his ear. He wanted to see what far away things looked like closer up. The model he bought shows a direct connection between how much he wanted to spend to achieve those views of far away objects.

Needless to say, he didn't want the very best views of things.

My father-in-law was a very logical and practical man.

After his passing, we ended up with the telescope and it's perfect for us. If I or any of my family were more interested in astronomy, maybe we would have bought our own telescope, but things didn't work out that way. I set it up and went outside to get a good look at the moon. The only problem was, it was freezing outside. That happens in Utah in February. It's hard to see clearly when shaking hands are trying to hold the thing steady.

So, after checking out the moon in below-freezing temperatures, I brought it in--both of us very very cold--and I stowed it out of the way. The next night I was preoccupied with something (maybe even writing a blog post...) when my wife glanced out the window. 

"Look at that moon!"

I did...it was beautiful. And because the moon shown in the middle of the window, I thought I'd try and see if I could get a better view through the telescope. Turns out, it worked wonderfully. The best part, of course, was being inside, all toasty warm with non-shaking hands, and checking out the moon. I'm glad my father-in-law had the same bug as me.