That sounds like an awful lot of FUN, Kevan!

It's not 'aperture-fever' by any stretch, but it might be 'aperture-distemper!'

Cool! I wonder what all I can stir-up with my Carton 4 X 12mm....?

 

I factored in the rather poor showing that I'll likely get from the 4 X 12mm Carton. But that's not the reason for wishing to try - it's all about, as mountain-climbers' give as a reason for their madness: "Because it's there!"

Have Fun!

 

I found my silly 4 X 12mm to be very pleasing on Mars - which was tiny last Summer - and I say 'pleasing' in the way it intensified the color of Mars in spite of the annoying ambient, background lighting. My city - the largest in the State of Vermont with 40,000 people - is very sensitive to ALL forms of pollution, including light-pollution. Our few streetlights are mostly angled and sheilded to direct their emission straight-down. So my Carton 4 X 12mm had a fighting chance here, and it paid off nicely! I took a 'Mars Walk' every nice night available.

I just realized something about this funky, little Carton: It's threaded and almost exactly the same size as a 1.25" Color-Filter, and others of course! You might even hear the gears spinning - if the winds' blowing in the right way.

Point of Trivia:

Vermont has the smallest State-Capitol in the US, Montpelier. Last count: 8,004 people resided there.

 

Vermont is a strange bird regards criminals. We have no gun laws here. Anyone can carry a gun - concealed or down the front of their pants. We don't care. So there is very little violent crime. Lowest violent crime rate per capita in the country! Don't grab that purse from the little-old-lady - she could well have a sawed-off double-barrel 12-guage under her shawl. In fact, I know one who does! Cecil - she's a former national shotgunning champion. She's great!

The electric-department doesn't just go about willy-nilly sticking up streetlights. They have to be asked by a neighborhood-petition to get them to even consider putting them up. Even on the main roads here in my town - they are set-off by motion-sensors, and after the vehicle passes - off they go. In most places. I'm across the road from a fire-house though. The one out front there stays lit - but aimed downwards. No biggie.

Oh yes - Bernie Sanders lives up the street from my neighborhood. He re-vitalized this town when he ran for mayor in 1982, as a socialist, and won. Before that - it was a dead mill-town with alcoholism as it's chief export.

As I said, Vermont is a strange bird - in many ways.

 

Yeah - Maine is wet & weird. Friend of mine spent a Winter living in a tipi on the very Northern-most coast of Maine. He didn't have an address. So to visit him I resorted to 'Map-Dowsing' a road-map and, finally, the many virtually unpassable roads & bridges of Washington-County, which had the distinction of being the poorest county in the USA. I spent a couple weeks up there - squatting his tipi and helping by chopping wood for the communal-fuel-suppy. Chopping wood is how you'd keep warm!

Many of the people up there bought the very cheap land they found after they fled the disintegrating scene that was Haight-Ashbury 1967-8. They left the city, but retained the 'dream.'

As for astronomy - I don't think there was a single clear-night. It blew icy-winds whipping up from the powerful tides of the off-shore Bay of Fundy, which was just off the coast. Along with New Brunswick Province of Canada. Stark, lovely, and ice-cold. And the most powerful tides in the world!

Maine is very pretty. The people there are true 'Mainiacs!' Got to love 'em! Truly unique. I very nearly moved there. But I stuck with Vermont and we do have better skies. Springfield is the home to Stellafane each Summer. As they had built a new state-prison in Springfield - and these are usually lit-up at night with as many lights as Las Vegas - the State was very good at making sure they were all baffled to light straight-down ONLY! And - it worked!

Don't ever let anyone say light-pollution from such things cannot be helped. It's an utter lie.

 

I know of Bar Harbor, Maine - on Mount Desert Island - and it can get pretty dark rather nearby. But not familiar with Barr Island. But Maine is a REALLY huge place. If you total-up all the inlets and coves and all - Maine has a coastline that exceeds 3,500 miles!

Vermont is similar but not due to coastline, of course, but due to all the rises and drops from all the graduations you'd find on accurate topo-maps. Geography was a favorite subject of mine from around age 4. But I was horribly disappointed to find that the only geography-related lesson in the public-school system was to draw a map showing the shape of of the continent of Africa. So information of such a nature as you and I are discussing would leave most people here shaking their heads and saying "Tsk, tsk, tsk, these poor fellahs' are obviously crazy!"

Regards Canada & The Untied Snakes Border~Follies, my favorite is around the Vermont town of Derby Line. The town-library straddles the border, so you can go grab a book in the US, check it out, and walk into Canada to read it.

Of course though, by the time you go return the book and go back home into Derby Line - Federal DEA-Agents will have seized your house under the Federal Forfeiture Act under suspicion that you might have had a 'joint'* with you and are an International Narcotics Smuggler. Proof is upon YOU to prove you didn't. After 10 years of appeals and losses - you'll realize your BIG Mistake was, (can you guess?) - you came back to the Untied Snakes to return the damn book!

There are cases like this all the time!


* A 'Joint' is a cigarette rolled out of Cannabis Sativa or Indica - Marijuana. Legal in many states with a prescription from a doctor, but banned by the US Federal Gov.

 

I'll tell you a "delightful" story - later on when I get the time to write it - about what happened with another at another crossing-location that most are unaware of, and how & who abused it.

I'd suggest using the interim period to install a seatbelt (4-point) on your chair. You'll see why soon enough.

 

In the Spring of 1990, my group mobilized North to the Mohawk Nation, having heard there were State Police & Provincal Police in the streets to "keep the peace." The Mohawk Nation straddles the US/Canadian border and across the St. Lawrence Riverway. It is a sovereign-nation - NOT a 'reservation.' The Mohawk have never been conquered. And never will be. And they have no customs in, or out.

We arrived, having taken a large, comfortable room at a local hotel - owned by the Mohawk - and the New York Times was a next-door neighbor, and came to talk to us. They'd been given a broom-closet-of-a-room, while we had "The Presidential-Suite!" - as the Times reporters' called it. So who we were to merit this treatment was preying on their minds. I explained we simply asked for a room with space for others in the event we needed to take in any refugees from the situation going on. Which we wanted to find out about. News Reports just said, in effect, 'them bloodthirsty savages were on-the-warpath!' Uh huh...

State cops everywhere, toting assault-rifles, ruled the roads warned us not to go in there. "It's a war-zone!" I'd called-in and was promptly given an invitation from Tribal Headquarters set up at the local 'Traveling-College.' We got an invite for the NYT's reporters, too, but they declined - citing the editor ordering them to only talk to the state-police. Chicken-feather's were flying as we drove away and went in-country. Crossed the St. Lawrence by bridge and went through Canadian customs. Were warned of the danger - again - and proceeded into The Nation. What this showed us, by interviewing the Mohawk themselves, was as follows:

Freighter's on the Riverway were off-loading tons of cocaine, heroin, illegal-weapons, and sex-slaves in speed-boats and landing them onto the Mohawk shores - both the North(Canada) and South (US) sides - and, from there, driving this cargo into the USA and Canada. No customs existed in leaving the Mohawk Nation and entering the two countries. And the smugglers' were getting young Mohawk to work with them by getting them wired-up on the cocaine. The smugglers were NOT Native people. They were white.

The traditional Mohawk 'just said NO' and demanded these people leave and never come back. The response was full-auto fire, replete with 'tracer-rounds,' and other military ordnance. Government stuff. The Tribal Museum, with artifacts dating 12,000 years, was burned-down. The editor of the Tribal Newspaper found his office' and press blown-up with US Army high-explosives. And all the while, the drugs and such continued to pour out and into the streets of the US and Canada. Neither government lifted a finger. Just sent in the state and provincial-police to enforce the new rules: No Mohawk interference with the smugglers. No carrying firearms. Tribal Police in lock-down inside their headquarters (food was delivered to them - McDonalds! Hurrah!). And no actual news-media reported a word. They were effectively under 'lock-down' too. Only my squad had had the nerve to go fetch the real story.

So there's another way to cross the border without any trouble - just cross the St. Lawrence from Mohawk - and you'll be fine! Just walk, ride, whatever, to wherever you wish!

Of course, this presumes you don't boat into a un-reported war-zone!

Have A Nice Day!

 

The fact is the Mohawk being an undefeated svereign nation and being so recognized by the US government makes the Mohawk unique. The problem there in 1990 was stopped after I sat in the Tribal Council and explained to the Cheif what cocaine was and does to people to allow them to abandon their ways and duties as a Warrior, not to mention their entire sense of value.

Once he understood what this chemical does to people, he understood the hold it had over the young Warriors. And by this knowledge, he knew how to break his people free from it. And that made them all stand together and run these drug-running jerks out of there - as well as the occupation forces of the state and provincial police.

Most non-Native people have no idea of what a Warrior really is - having some bogus Hollywood idea rather than the truth. This can give people a good idea I've found:




So yes. Peace was restored - by force. I am welcome in Mohawk. It is a great honor to me. I'll leave you to figure out who had enough power to run drugs without interference from police agencies and, in fact, be given aid by police-agencies.

 

Maybe one of these will be easier to make out.