Summer night stars

“I‘m sweating“ Tatania screamed from the bed of our Chevy 1500. As we swerved around a corner on a gravel road headed to our favorite watering hole to star gaze. We packed the telescope and also what ever we needed for this weekends star gazing marathon. ”Tommy slow down“ Tatania shouted as we swerved to miss a raccoon running across the road. “Wow that was close“ I said under my breath as I watched the critter scamper into the grassy ditch. Approaching our destination a deer jumped out in front of the truck. “ that was close.” Tatania chimed as she watched the deer and a dawn run into the bushes.

As we started to unload the bed of the truck Tatania said under her breath “ Geesh I didn’t think we brought all this stuff. We must have brought everything but the kitchen sink.” I chuckled and mentioned “ yeah who would have thought that star gazing would turn into a three day weekend ordeal haha.” We unloaded the ten man tent and all of our gear. While unloading we listened in the night sky to the wildlife in the neighboring waterhole. “Frogs, Crickets, and occasional rattle from a passing rattlesnake?” Tatania mentioned ”thank goodness we brought the platform for this trip, we don’t need line of those rattlers to climb in to our sleeping bags with us. Can you imagine?” “ Yes thank goodness” I clammered back while hammering a stake into the soft ground. As we continued to unload and set up our makeshift home for the weekend I jumped and looked up quickly to the bushes near the truck. “Did you hear that?” I asked Tatania quietly so I didn’t bother what ever was in the neighboring bushes. Just as she was about to respond a low growl came from the bushes. We moved in closer to eachother her having to jump over our belongings and into the back of the truckbed. Flashlight in hand I clicked it on and started to slowly scan the area. While scanning the light shimmered onto a set of green eye. Another growl a loud rustle and cracklings of sticks. I kept the flashlight on the animal in the bushes as it quickly blinked and ran in rhw opiate direction of the pickup. “I wonder what that was?” we both said as we looked at each other with unexplained fear in our eyes. “It didn’t sound like a familiar animal growl to me for this area.” Tatania who studies wildlife and their behaviors mentioned as she grabbed my hand and stated “I‘m going to have to do some research. That growl I will never forget.“ It was so deep and angry definitely a warning growl almost saying your in my territory. She thought to herself as she loaded two shells into the chamber of her smith and Wesson 45 she brought along just in case. “Tommy thank goodness we brought the platform.” ”Yeah that gives us about a 4&1/2 foot gap between us and what ever is out there and let’s just hope it doesn’t have claws.” “ But with the truck bed that give us another 4 feet. With the reinforced casing around the 1500 we won’t have to worry unless that animal can jump 4 feet and latch onto the metal platform attached to the base of the truck thats then harnessed to the ground with metal rods, cable and stakes.” ”Lets hope that’s not the case.” Tatania said as she brushed past my arm and gazed out of the tents entrance and into the dark stary sky. “Well let’s gaze at some stars shall we?” Tatania mentioned as she walked over to grab the telescope from the other end of the platform. “I never knew these could be so sturdy and hold the weight they do. We have over 500lbs up here already and the capacity written in the manual is around 1000lbs.” Mentioned Tatania “This is the life“ Tommy said as he walked over to Tatania and wrapped his arm around her waist and gently kissed her forehead. Telescope in hand she moved to the center of the platform where a built in firepit and retractable chairs were futuristically designed by request of the owner. Tatania gently placed the telescope into its designated area, and fastened it securely into place. “Wow look at that” she motioned for me to look through the scope and at a cluster of stars that seemed to be moving in a north eastern direction. “Are those stars or an illusion of stars through a single cloud of dense fog?” “We’ve seen and heard some really weird things tonight for this to be just a night of star gazing.“ Tatania mentioned while alertly scanning her surroundings. Being scientists and always on the go Tommy and Tatania knew that they may encounter many unidentifiable specimens. They purchased a machine that has capabilities of identifying unidentifiable species it’s called the i-species. The species can be identified in multiple ways one of the ways is by capturing a photo of the species and uploading that into the i-species. The i-species can also be controlled and accessed through a security monitoring system; which includes cameras microphones and special i-phones made specifically for the i-species. “We can review the specimens in the morning.” Tommy mentioned as he reached for his glass of wine that sat adjacent to the telescope base. “Take a look at that Tatania” Tommy quickly had her look into the telescope at the shooting star wizzing through the night sky. “Such a great night to do this the skys are clear there is no wind and the bugs since we are ontop of the platform are basically nonexistent.” Tatania stated as she spun the telescope to gaze at another shooting star. The multiple colors shown brightly through the lens of the telescope especially the blue tones mixed with the flames from the gasses, which create the tail or shooting effect. They are so beautiful she claimed as she motioned for me to gaze through the lens. As I gazed I also captured photos to send to i-species due to the magnifying feature that we use to get a closer look at our specimens. With a wonderful weekend spent specimen collecting and star gazing we now have enough evidence to proceed in identifying colors in falling stars.