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Smoking Outside

jfields

jfields

Where did all my money go?
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
16,913
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
I am lucky enough to be able to smoke in the house, in our lounge. It's outfitted with leather chairs and matching ottomans. Can't forget the well stocked bar, and view of a 46 inch LCD TV. :D So, I rarely venture outside unless I'm doing the yard gar thing mowing the lawn.

I recently moved to West Virginia out into the hills of the Shenandoah Valley. I went down in the basement to pick out a cigar for the evening, when just by chance I walked out the back and saw the night sky in a way I never have before. I guess being out in the country, without the city lights illuminating the sky makes everything stand out quite a good bit more. I got a wild hair, grabbed a glass of ice water, a 98 SLR Lonsdale, and headed out to the very back of the yard and laid out on the picnic table puffing/staring away.

Awesome! I've never been able to see the Milky Way since I was a child. Talk about feeling as insignificant as a speck of dust...... I saw Constellations, Meteors falling, and was even able to pick out a few satellites moving across the sky (Do they ever move). Dunno, maybe it's just me, but this sure was some sort of religious moment. Made the SLR seem even that much better.

Anyone else ever try this? If not, you ought to. :thumbs: Just thought I'd share one of those perfect moments with my brothers and sisters.
 
Yes, I love to look at the night sky. Lately, I've tried to show my son the constellations. Not easy, but we're getting there. I saw a few good meteors the other night.

One great thing I love to do is if I know a meteor shower is due, I sit in a Lounge Chair, reclined back, so I'm looking up at the sky. Sometimes I bring a pair of Binoculars.
 
Excellent story, we get too busy in our daily lives to really enjoy what is given to us.

Unfortunately for me, living in Vegas, I get to see the light from the Luxor :(
 
I have absolutely no choice but to smoke outside. I actually find it very relaxing to sit outside, with a cigar and occassionally the radio, checking out the birds, squirrels, rabbits, etc. Unfortunately I do live in the city so it isn't quite as enjoyable as being away from everyone, but relaxing anyway.

The best part for me is I can see Worlds of Fun(amusement park) and they put on one hell of a fireworks show for a couple of weeks around the 4th of July.
 
I've always enjoyed smoking one of my favorites on the beach at nite. I have family on Nantucket and on Cape Cod so always when I'm there I make it a point to hit the beach for my evening smoke.

Brian
 
Sitting outside after a long days work (like to night) with an A&W Root beer is definitely one of my favorite times to light up. I'm pretty sure satellites stay stationary and the earth is what moves.



Mark
 
John,

That sounds like a wonderful experience. I've done it rarely as our area here is pretty well light-polluted. But in years past, I've seen some truly awe-inspiring skies.

Thanks for sharing the experience.

Wilkey
 
Just to clarify, all satellites move, but some appear not to move. It depends on the purpose of the satellite. Some satellites orbit the Earth at the same speed the Earth rotates (called geosynchronous earth orbit). These appear to be stationary.

Other satellites orbit at a different rate of speed and are clearly moving across the sky.
 
On most nights, stray light from the city makes it hard to fully enjoy the night sky. That's why, whenever on the few times, I actually get the camper out and get away. I bring along some smokes that are a little better than the usual. The setting definitely increases the experience.
 
I don't smoke in the house so most of the time I am outside on the low deck under the tree or the high deck off the 2nd floor of the garage. I know exactly what you mean.
 
Ever since we lost most of our industrial base here in the Chicagoland area, and living 17 miles west of the city, the night sky is open to whomever looks up. How could you not smoke outside with that kind of show going on. :)
 
John, sounds like a great experience and thanks for sharing. It reminds me of years ago when I lived in The Frying Pan Valley in Colorado I would sit out on the deck, bundled up in late October, light a good cigar, and stare up at the Milkey Way. I was amazed at how many stars were up there, it was almost like a solid blanket of white. The meteor showers were absolutly spectacular. You are so lucky to be able to enjoy nature at her best on a nightly basis. :) Makes up for having to smoke outside which is where I'm regulated to smoke. :rolleyes:
 
What? Have you lost your mind. ???

Punishment for smoking inside takes you on a visit to the Twilight Zone!

It's ok John, you have one reprieve and it won't happen again. :blush:

Seriously though, sounds like you are in Nirvana.

Brian
 
Out here away from the big cities we are blessed with roughly 330 days of clear skies a year and are treated nightly to a magnificent display of God's creation. I have a cheap telescope and on moonless nights it is possible to see the rings of Saturn as well as the moons and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, but my favorite is the gorgeous spiral galaxy, Andromeda which is visible with the naked eye as a faint fuzzy spot in the night sky but brought into form with the telescope. It never ceases to humble me when I look at Andromeda and realize that it is not just a fuzzy spot but is a huge swirling galaxy 2.4 million light years away and is larger than our own Milky-Way with an estimated one trillion stars! Who needs TV when you have the slendor of the heavens to entertain you while enjoying a cigar? ;)


Danny
 
We're fortunate enough to have not one but two covered decks. Really relaxing sitting outside with a great smoke, a fine beverage, and listening to the rain on the deck's roof. When it gets "cold" here in the PacNW, we have a propane deck heater that makes it very nice to be outside.

My wife and I both smoke but we've always smoked outside. We've built a place where we can really enjoy being outdoors in whatever weather the PacNW throws at us.

Cheers - B.B.S.
 
I too have te comfort of smokig inside in my lounge (no LCD yet :( but i'm working on that). However i do like walking around the yard at night to get a look at the stars also just not for too long because of the Black Bear roaming around, we actually had one wonder through our yard right next to the sliding glass door (that was opened, screen closed) in the office where my son was sitting at the computer.
 
Whether satellites move or the Earth moves is all relative to your frame of reference - from an arbitrary point in space, of course, both are moving. (But don't let that scare you - the universe moves, too).

More to the point, I usually smoke outside, whether walking the dog in the evening (less good) or just sitting out on the deck (more good), facing out into the Crum woods. In the late evening I usually have a full load of fireflies to share the experience with. The dog is there 99% of the time; the wife considerably less so. The only problem's that it's hard to do work when I'm concentrating on the cigar; reading or talking works better.


Edit: Weird-o double post.
 
markmarksman said:
I'm pretty sure satellites stay stationary and the earth is what moves.
Click to expand...

There are two types of artificail satellites - Orbital and Geo-synchronous. Both move, of course, but in orbital sats they move across the surface fo teh earth so that the "footprint" moves with them. In Geo-synch Sats they move with the earth's rotation so they appear stationary and their "footprint" does not change.

(Footprint is the area of coverage for a sat where a system can up/downlink to send and receive information)

On topic, I'm in the pine forests of NC and there is little light pollution from teh neighborhood and no nearby cities so the view from the back deck is great, but a 5 minute walk down the road out of the neighborhood is stellar. (pun intended) I was an amatuer astronomer when I was young and my mom has picked up the hobby since living with me (shes' in her 60s). I found a great book that has information from basic to semi-advanced without being too technical. She loves it and we bought a copy for my brother and his kids (9,7 and 6) and the youngsters love it too. It's Skywatching by David Levy, if you can find it. I actually found it in a BN bargain books bin.

On another note, we have Binoc we use and I'm looking at telescopes, but when I really want a view (and can cheat) I check out NVGs from work for the weekend, and the view on NOGs in unbeleivable, regardless of light pollution (except at horizon of course).

V/R

Karl
 
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