Clouds at Sunrise

Friend Kathy and her husband Stan are attending the Orion Festival at the McDonald Observatory.  Instead of being jealous, I figured I'd sit out on the deck and watch the night sky myself (well, I and Whip).  The moon wasn't up and there are no lights over the swamp so I'd hoped for some good viewing.    The southwest horizon was unfortunately already covered by forecasted clouds coming in.  I could almost make out Sagittarius.  I knew that would be where the Milky Way started at the horizon and trace it up through Aquila the Eagle, Cygnus the Swan, sweeping overhead past Cepheus and on to Cassiopeia.  One difference between my friend's experience and mine was 20 degrees.  The low temps here are in the 30's. It wouldn't get down to frosting here though because of that cloud cover coming in.   Time to move all of the plants back into Sleipnir for the upcoming winter.  Once they are safely tucked inside I can cut them back and repot them.  (I say that every year and it isn't until spring when I finish all of that work.)