Telescopic

This morning I woke up really early so Joe and I could planet watch. For the first time in a decade, five planets--Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn--are visible to the naked eye. And if visible to the naked eye, we figured the view from a telescope would be even better.

Well, Joe got a good view, but my knee wouldn't let me get in the right position (basically kneeling, which there is no way right now) to see anything. But that's what it was all about--Joe seeing something he's never seen before.

It was cold outside (45 degrees), and we were outside barefoot and still in our pajamas, so I was pretty shivery...lol.

I think Joe's excitement kept him warm, but he saw what he wanted to see -- Saturn and Mars -- and then we hightailed it back into the warm house.

Although I wasn't able to look through the telescope, this is pretty much how Joe described Saturn:

I think the five planets will be visible until Feb 20th, so I'm sure we'll be out a lot with the telescope.

And now I learn that Planet X or "Planet 9" may have been discovered. It's on the news today. That's pretty cool. But I'm not giving up Pluto. To me, Pluto will always be the 9th planet. So Planet X will be Planet 10 to me, because X equals 10 anyway, right?

Here's a little blurb fro Caltech, where the planet was discovered:

"Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun."

Here's the artistic rendering of "Planet TEN":

Regardless of which planet it is, it's still pretty cool. 

Since I have unused vacation time, I'm taking tomorrow and Monday off. I have to get out of the house. I'm going crazy...lol... So, I thought I'd go up toward Tallahassee to visit some aunts, uncles and cousins. My mom is trying her hardest to make me feel guilty and not go. One thing I've learned while caring for her is that I HAVE to take some time for myself sometimes. Having a non-working knee hasn't eased the demands she makes on me, and a couple of days away is really, really needed.

The thing is, I do feel a little guilty, even though I know I shouldn't. Aidan and Joe will be home to help her out. Her problem is that she ONLY wants ME to do everything. She really needs to learn to receive help from others. She does this every time I go away for a night or two, but then she's fine while I'm gone and when I get home, she acts like I never left. I guess she just gets nervous before I go.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting away for a couple days!!