Well, I’m hanging out with Ev tonight at the Observatory. She’s working the evening shift (4 PM to midnight) today and I decided to stick around. I’d just be surfing the internet at home anyway, so I might as well do it here.

Right now (9 PM AST) Ev is up on the platform checking to make sure that no one is up there. They always have to check before doing any radar transmissions, otherwise they could fry people with the microwaves. Once she is done with that, she drives around the dish to make sure there’s no one there either (sometimes people jog around the dish, since there is a well paved road that circles it).

It’s been pretty quiet this evening. Not many people around, though a number of scientists just arrived for the 9 PM radar work. I think they are imaging one of the asteriods that’s supposed to hit us–whoops!–forget I said that. Everything is fine! Return to your homes! There’s nothing to see here!

Peachy (the light colored dog) was in pretty bad shape on Friday, since the vet needed to drain puss (or something) out of his balls. He was in a lot of pain, panting a lot. Luckily the vet gave him a shot that knocked him out so he could sleep. We were really worried for a while, though he’s doing much better now. There’s nothing funnier/sadder than seeing a dog coming out of anesthesia. Poor peachy was walking around like a drunk, with his balls all inflamed. Ouch! Shiloh, on the other hand, didn’t have any problems at all. All the dogs are doing much better today, though momma dog still have problems with her ears.

The cats are also doing fine. We didn’t see the kittens yesterday and were getting worried, but they came out today and look fine. Misty Too is a bit more brave, meaning that s/he will come within 10 feet of a person, but poor Gizmo will have nothing to do with people. I’ve been feeding the momma cat and standing there, so the kittens can see that. Hopefully it will make them a bit more brave. But not too brave! Whenever Peachy or Shiloh sees a cat they go crazy, and I’m sure that they would attack if given the chance. That’s our next big project–getting the dogs used to the cats. (Momma cat is fearless. She will follow me right up to the dogs. I get a little worried sometimes that she might get close without one of us around to hold back the dogs.)

Sorry I don’t have more interesting things to report, but with the cost of gas these days we try to limit our driving as best we can. Though it does look like gas is cheaper down here than in the States! It’s right now at 70 cents a liter, which equates to about 2.63 a gallon. So, I guess it’s not too horrible. (Though on our first trips it was around 40 cents a liter…$1.50).