Almost Perseided

The date had been locked into my memory ever since posting it on my calendar a couple of weeks ago. I even arranged for an automatic reminder to be emailed to me so I wouldn't forget. It worked -- I remembered, and could hardly wait for the big event!

We got together with our "Home Fellowship" group last night, and arrived back home about 9:15. Perfect timing, I thought! (I hadn't yet told Larry that I was planning for us to watch the Perseid meteor show that night.) I had it all planned: We would dress warmly, pack some food and drink, load blankets (or sleeping bags), pillows, and chaise lounges into the back of our SUV, and head out to find dark skies -- far from the lights of metropolitan Portland.

Finally, I announced my plan to Larry, and we began to make preparations to go. Then our son called and said he was on his way home, but would I please look over some stuff for him to help him out. I agreed to do so, and invited him and Patti to join us for our meteor viewing excursion. He declined, saying he was really tired, and going to bed when he got home.

When he got home I was still busy with the favor he had asked for, so he got involved in the project, as well. That kept us busy until around 12:30 A.M.! (So much for him going straight to bed.)

Well, by then Larry and I decided to forego the long ride to find totally dark skies. So, we hauled chaise lounges up onto our upper level deck (from the patio down below), and outfitted them with blankets and pillows, and plopped down to watch, along with some toast to munch on. Yup, we were comfy and ready for the show.

We soon found ourselves annoyed by all the outside lights on the houses around us, so we found ways to block out the light from our immediate view, and then settled back in to watch the show. Okay, now we're ready! Let the show begin!

By then it was about 1:00 A.M. (at least), and we layed back comfortably, staring into space, expectantly waiting for the big show. Hmmm...wasn't this show supposed to start by 10:00? Well, maybe it starts slow and then picks up speed as the night goes on. The peak time was reported to be 2:00 A.M., so at least we won't miss it -- supposedly at least one meteor per minute! This aughta be good!

Finally, Larry saw one -- I missed it (looking a different direction). After a few minutes, he saw another one -- I missed that one too. The wait lengthened . . . then he saw another one -- I didn't see that one either. Then it happened -- I saw one! Fun! Then another one -- cool! Then another very long wait.

Both of us got very sleepy while we stared and waited. We were probably out there for about an hour or so, but finally agreed that the poor showing just wasn't worth the trouble of trying to stay awake. With much disappointment we got up, carried all our stuff back inside, and went to bed.

Maybe we each saw half a dozen meteors. It was supposed to be a meteor "shower", but I'd have to say it was more like a few sprinkles--with just a drop now and then. It was kinda fun to be sort of camping out on the deck, in the cool night air, just watching the night sky, with all the stars, but it certainly wasn't what we had imagined it would be. I guess we were almost perseided, but not quite.