Well, if you live in the Pacific Northwest and your hobby is astronomy, you know how frustrating winters can be (and spring and fall!). After not having had an opportunity to do any viewing for quite some time, I've been keeping a close watch on the sky just waiting for "that" moment to arrive. After waking up at 2:30 a.m. today and seeing very crisp, clear skies through the kitchen sunroof, I bundled up, trudged through ice and snow to the observatory, breathed hot air into the frozen locks and opened for business. However, by the time I got the dew heater strapped on and got all the equipment powered up and ready, a high layer of clouds had moved in. So here I am now, inside, skunked by the Pacific Northwest weather once again.