Well I am happy to say that my family’s trip to Del Rio was no less eventful than the last. Over the course of 2 long, crazy, and at times cloud-ridden nights I captured one of my favorite targets: the gorgeously pristine Andromeda Galaxy. Below is a catalog of the adventures I had while capturing this beautiful target. A quick disclaimer before we begin... There is no way I can make this stuff up!

Night 1: Predator and Prey

The first night I was able to get the scope out started like most nights. It was perfectly clear and (given that my Grandmother-in-Law’s lake house is in a Bortle 4) almost pitch black. Normally my Mother-in-Law and her mom will stay out with me for a while before turning in for the night. On this particular night though they both turned in early, leaving me in the inky and at times eerie blackness of the night (you have to remember that I am use to imaging in a Bortle 8, mostly from the comfort of my home). I thankfully had my trusty watch dogs, although they were both snoring around midnight. And then, in the blink of an eye, my lab-German Shepard mix snapped to attention... I quickly turned on my red head lamp and looked off in the direction she was looking, and there they were! Two red eyes staring at us. I and our unidentified guest stayed eye-locked for about a minute before the eyes started moving off to our right, around the semi-circular driveway, and into thick brush at its center. By this time both dogs were whimpering and honestly I was too! And then there they were again! This time 20 ft. behind us, staring intently. At this point I said to myself “to Hell with the pictures” and flipped on my high beam! The light illuminated what I can only describe as a very large fox or a coyote, head down, stalking us… Again we were locked in a staring contest for maybe 30 seconds, at which point I started waving and yelling like a crazy person! No effect… Just staring motionless… Again I say to myself “to Hell with this” and I start moving toward the open garage in the hopes of grabbing some sort of makeshift weapon. That was finally enough to get him to run off into the brush by the side of the house. I’m not sure if any of you have experienced being stalked before but I spent the rest of the night highly alert, scouring the surrounding area with my eyes and red head lamp, gardening hoe at the ready…

Night 2: Reverse Fire Drill

Due to the previous night’s events, my Mother-in-Law graciously offered to stay out with me until about 11:30 PM or so. I brought out my trusty gardening hoe just in case we should encounter another hungry visitor. By about 11:30 PM though our night had been largely uneventful (good conversation and night sky enjoyment). Suddenly, once again both dogs snap to attention, but this time I can hear what had alerted them… A loud continuous hissing sound. It took me 2 seconds to come to the correct conclusion… SPRINKLERS!! The next minute and a half can only be described as all-out, expletive-ridden chaos! I jump up and throw myself in front of the scope to try and protect it and all of the electronics, the dogs go ballistic because they think we are being attacked by some unknown hissing monster, and my Mother-in-Law runs off to try and shut them down. I’m not sure how she found the box in the pitch black but she got them turned off, sacrificing her shoes and shorts in the process. I am happy to report that the scope and electronics did not suffer any damage because of her quick thinking. I am also extremely thankful she was out there with me because I would have been done for otherwise!

There you have it… Never a dull moment when I image in Del Rio! Please stay tuned as I also captured a really strange something-or-other in one of my subs which I’ll be posting soon! I’m interested to see if everyone thinks I’ve discovered evidence of aliens or not ;)