With the warm dry weather for the past week, the snow and mud are gone from the west desert. A clear sky forecast made the case for an observing session so I took my 10x50 binoculars along with a bundle of firewood, it's still chilly at night. Venus and Mercury were very bright at sunset and as the sky darkened the zodiacal light became very prominent as it reached up to meet the milky way at the Pleiades. Andromeda galaxy and M81 were visible to the unaided eye. It was a stunningly clear and dark night. I was buzzed by a pair of F35 fighter jets. These guys are much faster and quieter than the of F16's I usually see on night maneuvers. Also off to the north was activity from low flying Apache helicopters. I let the fire burn to coals so it wouldn't swamp my dark vision, and saw the Coma Stars behind Leo and even the toe of Hercules in the mouth of Draco. It was good and dark clear to the ground and I saw Hydra, Corvus, and Crater rising over the glow of the cities to the east. At midnight the fire was out and the night chill brought a thin dew fall so I packed up and headed home. A Great Time DT