April 4
A fantastic stroke of luck tonight as the clouds parted just before the ISS flew over. I looked out 20 minutes before and not a star could be seen, but 5 minutes before the station was due to rise, the sky along the track cleared off completely. 20 minutes afterwards, the clouds had covered the stars again. More passes tomorrow at 8:22 and 9:57, Sunday at 8:43 and 10:19.
There is a weak geomagnetic storm happening, and while there is sufficient solar wind speed for aurora down here, the magnetic component and stream density is quite weak so far, compared to it’s last pass a month ago when it gave us a great display. Still a chance for a show over the next few nights.
The local swamp geese returned to their little pond to the north of here this week and look like they are going to camp out till it thaws. Haven’t seen the south pond pair yet.
The bees are out in force this week too, the keepers have been around with a batch of groceries for them to keep the hives humming until the first blooms arrive.
Things are brown and dusty, only a few scraps of snow left on the north side of treelines and buildings. Weather this time of year is a bit of a drag, little bits of precip here and there, not warm but not cold. Bleh.
I didn’t get a chance to look at anything long-range, but I doubt anything exciting would be there anyway 
A quick look at the GEM model showed a few sprinkles around for the next few days but nothing that made me want to dig any deeper. I’m ready for 20C and some convection.
