What's the stupidest reason you missed a great night for observing

[fogfire]

I have had work
Been too tired
found I was more interested in my wife
All reasonable reasons to skip a night ......

tonight its clear some of the smog seems to have cleared.. so I was thinking about setting up for a while even if just to run exposure tests..

Then I remembered I have to get up at 5am because my neighbors are acting like jerks.

What is the stupidest aggravating reason you missed out on a good night?


The frustrating story....

This weekend my neighbors over the fences tells my wife they are cutting down all their trees and we should move our cars and the PUD may have to take our powerlines down. translate: "WILL have to" because my lines run deeper in their trees that hang over our property then theirs. Not the lines never ever go over their property.. so I have no clue where they got the idea this could be done without asking first.

Huh? They scheduled a power outage without asking.. and from what I can tell never even thought about the cable or FIOS line!

So I did some checking, they have no permit and we are the only ones "in theory" that can request a power drop.

So I call and leave voice mail.. telling them we are frustrated at being told. That they do not have a permit and that we have not authorized a power drop let alone made arrangement for other utilities.. and I say we are willing to work with them to make arrangements if ASKED.

The response was a note on the door telling us "The trees ARE coming down Thursday, The PUD WILL be here at 6am to take the power down, and all cars should be removed from OUR driveway"

Huh?

I called PUD, it sounded like they told PUD we approved the power drop as htey seemed surprised we didn't approve.. I informed them this was not approved.. so I might be able to be up and get to bed at 1:30am even on a work night.. except I have to get up at 5am to deal with putzes.

Irony:
Permit is free and pretty much automatic for single family homes.. but I bet it comes with suggestions on how to do the process right.


Once we get them to work with us.. so my internet etc. is not at risk.. because they only planned for part of the project.. It will actually help my views to the NW some..

[DMurray77]

Great Story. glad I was not drinking anything or it may have come out my nose.

[jdvann]

I had 3 margaritas with dinner, don't think that is conducive to stargazing...oh and the desert is on fire everywhere.

[Cladinator]

[QUOTEWhat's the stupidest reason you missed a great night for observing][/QUOTE]

Laziness.

[KeithBC]

The stupidest reason? It's forecast to be clear tomorrow night, too. Yeah, right! Like you can actually believe a forecast around here.

[invision]

i missed many nights just from the amount of bugs that are out around here, other than that its just pure laziness on my part, if the moon is almost full or full i dont bother either unless its to look at the moon itself.

[pederv]

How did it go with the neighbors this morning?
Before we got annexed into Kirkland there was a mad rush to remove trees in our neighborhood, but all our utilities are underground. Even with all the trees that were removed or trimmed we still can't get a decent garden to grow and I still have to go a mile east to setup my scope.

[Star Rider]

I have had 2 surgeries (bilaterial hernia & left knee miniscus), a blood clot in my left lung, a pulomnary embolism and a 4 day hospital stay in the last 35 days. Of course the sky at night has been pretty good...figures. So other than those few small hinderences, I out most every clear night.

Clear Skies,
Bob

[GrandPrixChris]

I feel for you Ken concerning your neighbors. I have been out observing before and they would turn on a light that was actually aimed at my house. I told them the next day that the light is bothering my wife and I and that it was too bright to be necessary; they moved it so that it shines the other direction.

My stupidest reason: "Ooo, Grey's Anatomy is coming on"! This no longer happens.

[LEDHead]

Last night, really not a stupid reason, but anyway . . .
Planning on setting up for observation, forecast calling for clear skies, got home from work around 8:00pm and the clouds started rolling in. It was a beautiful sunset, but the cloud cover blew in from somewhere. Weather man sure missed that one and kinda P'd me off. The 10:00 forecast still was calling for clear skies. It was cloudy at 11:00 when I turned in.
On another note: I got a good nights sleep!