I woke up quite early today, finally feeling like I have overcome the effects of a flu I've had for 2 weeks now. Outside of the window I noticed a bright star shinning and a smaller reddish one next to it. I then pulled the laptop out and sure enough Venus and Mars were rising over the eastern mountains. Pulled out a scope in the driveway and cooled down and by 4:30a.m. had a wonderful view of both Venus and Mars. Jupiter is to the south-east at this time and Neptune is above Jupiter. Also I noticed that Uranus is between Mars-Venus and Jupiter and Neptune. With all the cloud cover lately I've noticed the hours before sunrise seems to be the best time to observe over late evening and early morning. Great time to see some planets if one hasn't spent some time with them. Clear Skies (and hoping that the summer high pressure takes a little more control of the atmosphere soon) Jay