Randall's Blog

April started off with a party for Ali - he turned 30! He denies it but his mom was there and she agreed that it was the big 3-0!

The next day Ali's mom, brother and family stopped over.

The deck seems to have come through the winter quite well. There was no issue with the floating deck design - it stayed level and flat.

I made some soil blocks this year to start seeds in the greenhouse. They seem to be working so far but I haven't transplanted anything yet.

Our magnolia tree still looks beautiful even if it's missing some parts.

My latest project is setting up a telescope pier in my yard. I had something like this in Epping - a base made from an old chimney. I attended the NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) and picked up a new equatorial mount for my telescope. I also picked up an imaging Newtonian but more about that later.

The first step was to make some adapter plates so I could attach my new mount to the pier. They sell these things but they are expensive and I did buy all those machines last year... I wound up using some aluminum plates that I salvaged from an ancient sequencing machine. The woodworking tools actually did a good job on the aluminum.

I decided to put the pier just behind the deck. It isn't the ideal location in terms of trees but it's convenient. I dug down about 3.5-4 feet and got some rebar and cement mix. Some old steel fencing added to the structure.

I used the plastic case from one of the old water filter canisters to make a form. I also found some slate that was at the back of the yard and brought it to the pier location to make a base.

I ran an extension cord over to the pier and set up a 12v power supply. I also made a wooden platform at the top. You can see the adapter plates in place here.

Here is the new mount in place.

I can't let it get wet and don't want to take it off and on all the time - which would defeat the whole idea of having it in a fixed location - so I had to make a little house for the whole set up.

Can't wait to try it out!

Congratulations to Rebecca & Ali on their new house! They are now proud homeowners in Ayer MA:

Here Smudgey is helping Debbie study for finals:

The Meep is still hiding under beds - we believe he must have been abused to be so afraid. He does come out to see Smudgey but she has little patience for him...