For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 18, 2020

that’s what you get as a city-slicker: you don’t see much of the real outside

The prairie sky or as I call it in Arizona — the sky.

I remember once seeing the stars on the field, now that’s a good show!

I live along the Snake river where its quite dark at night. Got to see our new visitor from the outer solar system this evening, cometNEOWISE. I called up my friend in the big city nearby to have a look tonight after I had seen it… He called me back later and said thathe couldn’t see it because there was way to much light pollution where he lives.

As you see those things and do interesting things, you wish your girl was there to share it.

You get free heat from Firewood, once when you chop it, the second when you burn it.

Umm, it is?

I’m out in the country and get to see this once in a while – like when the mosquitoes have all died off! If I stood outside at night staring at the night sky nowadays, the mosquitoes would overwhelm you… ;-)

Lynn’s Comments:

In Manitoba, you stop looking for hills and other landmarks and start looking at the sky. At night, the stars go on forever, and during the day, you can see a storm coming from far in the distance—for miles and miles!

SO true! Farming isn’t cheap by any means but the views and the lifestyle can’t be beat if it’s something one wants. Even tho most farmers are born into it, most never leave.

He certainly is making the best of it!

I live the VERY rural mountains of western North Carolina. NO light pollution at all. When there’s no moon it’s very dark. There are no street lights. I have no outdoor security light. I keep flashlights around. If I have out of state guests I always give them one in case they need to get up at night. I don’t use night lights either. I love the dark. And it’s quiet. Just the night sounds. I don’t know how anyone can live in a city. I’m not knocking it. Many do. I just couldn’t do it myself.

When is Uncle Dan going to teach Michael about his moonshine still? If Michael becomes a journalist then drinking is a job requirement.

When I was stationed in the middle of Saudi Arabia, a friend took me out into the middle of the desert…NO lights whatsoever. I remember to this day how hard I had to search for Orion. It was so dark that you could see stars in the belt. When I got back to base, because of the light pollution, you could barely see the belt.

Kenya was similar – it looked like someone took a brush of whitewash and flung whitewash across the sky.

Part of the reason we sold my parents’ country property. So much development around, the night sky was the same as in the city.

This Gordon Lightfoot fan wants Uncle Dan to get out his records!

Nice to see Michael appreciating something he might not have realized before.

Decades ago I read that farming was the only line of work where you had to buy retail, sell wholesale, and pay the freight both ways. That was probably before corporate farming.

He wants to share that with Martha.

When I was a kid, my mother told me that the first time we had gone somewhere out of the city, my brother and I had asked what those things in the sky were!

It is AMASING, the only time I got to see the arm of Orion.

I love a clear country nighttime sky.

Ain’t that the truth. Used to live in rural Missouri. On a moonless night you could see printed words in a book by starlight. Not bright enough to read, but remarkable. Sometimes the stars were so intense it was hard to pick out the constellations until you got used to it. Since I moved to the east coast 25 years ago, I’ve used my Celestron 8 exactly once, 24+ years ago. And yes, farmers don’t get much free.

Michael’s indentured servitude: Day 2