Low 50's, waning crescent moonrise ~1.30am

Cirrus clouds moved in on us, making for sparse observing.  Observed between 9 and midnight

This was the first night I was able to accurately use my modified E.Q. Platforms drive platform.  "Modified" in that the platform was constructed for 40 degrees latitude and I'm at 35.  A half-inch pad under the south foot does the trick.  I was happy to watch the platform track the Little Dumbbell at 225x for a good 15 minutes or more.  After watching that I now understand Anthony's words (the prior Portaball owner), "you'll never use the regular stand."

I was also very impressed with the performance of my new (used) 14mm Meade UWA.  In comparing it against my 17mm Nagler Type 4, the Nagler had better contrast but the Meade was brighter, even at higher power, and appeared to have better light throughput overall.  Greg concurred with that assessment, leaving me to seriously consider selling the Nagler.