Hermine's Aftermath Brings Dreary Weather

In the aftermath of Hurricane Hermine, which only dealt the Gainesville area a glancing blow with minimal damage...although tragically a homeless man in the county to our south was killed when a tree fell on him and the Gulf coast town of Cedar Key suffered devastating storm surge damage...the rest of the Atlantic Seaboard is now in a state of alert with the storm predicted to stick to a meandering, aimless path for the next few days, causing intermittent bad weather, high winds, and severe rip current along their beaches.  Right now I'm sitting at my usual spot at Magnolia Parke Starbucks, having managed to procure the end seat at the window counter after trying sitting outdoors...that is until little raindrops started to fall on my laptop.  The skies have been pretty much uniformly overcast and dreary today with periods of rain.  I like the dreariness...at least in the daytime, but can do without the rain that often accompanies it.  It's best later on in the year when dry cold fronts sweep through us from the northwest, bringing the welcome cloud cover as well as pleasant coolness.  But now I'm happy just to have the clouds...but please, enough rain, already...

The other day a friend of ours gave Melissa four tickets to the University of Florida opening day football game tonight against the University of Massachusetts in whatever they're now calling the Gators' home stadium (they change its name every few years)...so the whole family will be venturing out there this evening.  Aside from finding a parking spot, I'm a little concerned about the weather and how much, if any, it will be raining...especially while we're making our way to and from the stadium (I've been told that our tickets are for seats with an overhang...we'll see).  Maybe a few ponchos will alleviate those concerns...

Although I like the clouds during the day, I feel the opposite about it all after the sun sets.  I love clear nighttime skies, full of stars, planets, and occasionally, the moon.  I have some autumn projects planned with my star-gazing, in particular concerning the fainter and more obscure constellations like Pisces, Lacerta, Grus, Aquarius, Capricornus, Camelopardalis, Sculptor, Phoenix, and Indus...well, Indus may be too far south for my Gainesville latitude.  I just wish I had an available location more out in the unlit country where I could go to see the stars in their full glory...