The observatory seen in the figure is the third such one I have built during the past eight years. The first was built in South Carolina with Jack Hall, a fellow amateur, who also built one of similar design. We examined designs which had been published before and decided to go with the classic roll off roof you see here with sides anchored to a 5 inch re-inforced concrete slab and the roof on four inch wheels and secured on the inside with adjustable gate latches. It only takes a few minutes to unhook the latches and roll the roof back for a night of enjoyment under the sky. Since I have always had a telescope with a fork type mount, the orientation of my original observatory was in the north-south direction with the roof rolling off toward the north. This resulted in the roof blocking part of the northern sky, a part of the sky not accessible with fork mounts. This worked so well during the three years that we lived in South Carolina that when we moved to central Indiana, the identical type structure was built again. However, disaster was on the horizon! Within a few months of first light, we were hit by a tornado. You can imagine my horror, when my family and I came out of our basement to discover the roof of the observatory scattered over several acres! Miraculously, the telescope was still standing, dripping wet. The winds had torn the roof up and over the telescope. The optical tube was sent back to Celestron for cleaning and new coatings while eyepieces, drive correctors and all else such amateur essentials were simply cleaned of "tornado debris" and allowed to dry. One might be tempted to say "if only we had stayed in South Carolina". Not so! A few months later, coastal South Carolina was hit by hurricane Hugo and we found out afterwards that my old observatory likewise had its roof torn off. Three years in Indiana and we were off again, this time for southern California. As with our previous home purchases, I drew a forty mile radius circle around the largest city in the area (San Diego) and told my wife and real estate agent to look outside this circle. Fortunately, my wife Ellen understands and enjoys country living and gardening which comes with it. However, she still cannot hear the stars calling out to me on a clear night. We ended up in the northern part of San Diego county only a stones throw from Mount Palomar. Once again the same observatory design was used with some variation. We live on the side of a rather steep hill which faces north. This forced me to tuck the observatory between rows of our orange grove in an east-west direction with the roof rolling to the west. By now I have gotten pretty good at putting these structures up and within a week of having the slab poured, I was set up and in business. The total cost of the observatory is around $1000 including the concrete and hiring someone with a back hoe to carve out a flat area from the hill. While I may have left tornadoes back in Indiana and hurricanes in South Carolina, California has earthquakes and we often feel minor shakes. Even though my C-14 is on a tripod within the observatory, it is firmly bolted to the concrete with bolts. The skies at my observatory here in Valley Center are the best I have had of the three. They are not necessarily the darkest although my limiting visual magnitude is 6.5 with the lights of Los Angeles very low in the northwest (80 miles distance) while San Diego is 50 miles away toward the southwest. They are, however, exceptionally steady. Being only 13 miles from Mount Palomar and the Hale telescope, my site benefits with the same steady air which Palomar enjoys. Except for the occasional Santa Ana winds that blow off the deserts from the east, the stars just don't twinkle here and I am able to enjoy much more time at the telescope because of the many clear nights. Further benefits of this site over previous ones is the lack of mosquitoes and very low humidity. I've been spoiled!