Are the stars out tonight...

Tonight is one of several nights when we can see a spectacular display of comets and meteors. Having read this on AOL, I duly put it on my calendar for tonight and tomorrow and then sallied forth from the comfort of my house into my backyard to watch said "light" show. The AOL site said to find the darkest place for viewing with the least light pollution or overhead street lights, etc. to maximize the effect. I live in a smallish town so light pollution is not a big deal here--not like NYC or other urban places that are sucking all the energy out of the earth in order to light up buildings all night that are empty and unproductive during the overnight hours. Nope, YC is not a burb of anything and gets pretty dark at night when all of us hicks blow our candles out and head to bed...just kidding, we do have electricity here. And, if we forget to blow out our candles, our houses burn down, but that's another story. Anyhoo, I thought I'd go into my backyard, sit in a chair and enjoy nature's fireworks tonight. I walked out my kitchen door into the garage--trying to avoid turning on any lights so I could get the maximum benefit, I crashed into my recycle garbage can and spread refuse every which way. I turned the light on so I could clean up the mess and then I grabbed a flashlight, turned off the light and opened the door from my garage into my back patio. It was very dark out there. Perfect, I thought. Now I can have a good view of the sky. I stepped onto the patio and my motion detector lights instantly came to life. So much for not having any peripheral light to spoil the sky show. I had to wait about 3 minutes for the lights to go off. I guess my brain was waiting too because I stood still, not moving a muscle, thinking that somehow the motion detector lighting would figure out I needed the dark back and would turn itself off faster. It didn't. Finally, the lights blinked off and I silently shouted "Huzzah". But, as soon as I moved again to take a chair to my side yard the lights came on again. Obviously the light bulb in my skull was no match for the one above my patio door. At last I was ready to watch and my security lights had turned off. Unfortunately, I forgot about my night blindness and the length of time it takes for my eyes to adjust to the dark. I spent many an hour in planetariums with my children, staring into blurry darkness while everyone around me oohed and ahed over the constellations, the summer and winter skies, etc., and all I saw was what appeared to be a dark gray blanket on the ceiling. Knowing that it was late and I was tired, my options were--be stubborn, stick it out and possibly find myself slumped over in a lawn chair at dawn with no recollection of any meteor or comet sightings, dew forming on my rumpled clothes and bugs playing tag amongst the three hairs on my head or go inside and plan better for tomorrow night. The stars can wait...