I was able to put Marksville behind me finally with the help of Pam.  She worked her backside off getting everything packed up into a U-Haul and moved.  We both humped it and emptied it the week before Christmas.  Pam took off for a while and I got things straightened up and settled in between Christmas and New Years.  The kitchen area still needs to be gone through, but the living room and bedroom are comfortable and usable.  The office needs work but it always did. Google made it official a couple of weeks ago with a drive by, both Pan and I were home.  Imagine that!

One of my neighbors has decided to say they own the pasture behind my place in Marksville, that I’ve been paying property taxes on for the last forty years. So instead of selling the place immediately to my neighbor, I’m renting it while she works out the property lines then selling it to her.  Pretty cool, I could use the income right about now.  

Sprint has finally gone dark at work; the last agent took the last call on the 12th of December at about 14:00.  I will admit I did have to step away from the desk for a moment, that was 11 years and 14 days of my life invested in a project.  The longest I have ever worked on any one project, including my military service, that was eleven years, seven days.  Now I work for Sirva, a moving company.  Long live Sirva, at least for the next five and half years.  Hopefully, things will start to smooth out at work with the transition to the new phone switch.

I’ve put my five-year plan in place for retirement and have fully embarked on that path now with Skinner.  The foundation for the garage/astro shop starts this coming Thursday.  Hopefully Pam will be able to come back in for that to help with. The tent observatory has been set up and was put into service on New Years Eve.  It needs some repairs and supplies have been ordered.  There was some initial confusion with equipment during the move, but all has been resolved.  The AZ-EQ5 is online and imaging NGC 1909 The Witch Head Nebula, one that was always hidden behind the tree line to the south, no more!  The power harness for the EQ6-R was initially missing but it turned up while searching for the dew heaters for the EQ5’s sojourn with the Witch Head. Well, hopefully, 2024 will be a better year all around.  The forecast promises to be a good year.