Charlie and the Disneyland Trip; Slow Sniper Progress, and Mars

Work on the sniper is slow but continues; somewhere in the middle of all this is a trip to Disneyland, and picture of Orion and Mars taken last night while Helen and I were out way past our bed times watching the Leonid meteor shower. The sniper is coming along, but visible progress is very slow as the techniques used in the finishing and weathering processes need time to cure with layers of clear protecting subsequent layers. But the results and ease of which each layer is applied makes the wait all the more worthwhile.

Charlie decided to surprise me for my birthday by showing up without letting me know she was coming. Thanks to Angel, Nicky, Helen, and Brian who all knew of the plan and helped execute it, I got a nice little surprise Thursday night. My normal schedule had me off the following Friday, however, we had a deployment at work and I was needed, and we were working late. So as with most plans, things never go as planned. I haven’t been to Disneyland in years; so it’s nice to see a few subtle changes here and there.

Last night was also the peak of the Leonid meteor shower, so Helen and I trekked up to Anaheim hills near the Weir Canyon park to gaze at the sky. A very clear night, we saw quite a few meteors. I brought the tripod so that I could take some night photos. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to snag any of the meteors streaking across the sky; but I got some nice pictures of Orion and Mars. We didn’t get home until 2:30 AM.

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