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Observations for 2020 July 04


Did another check on Daisy. This time there wasn't any boiling in Splendid prior to Daisy's eruption, but there was water in the orange lobe and it dropped as expected. The boiling afterwards didn't seem quite as strong, but was from both vents, and I didn't stay around for long.

Grand was cooperative in the morning. I think I arrived for a Turban Delay, as the first Turban duration was well over six minutes, and for the next one Grand's pool didn't have much, if any, overflow. The real cooperation was that there were two bursts, and it was fairly obvious that the pool was not going to drain before the second burst started. West Triplet started after, but there was no eruption of Rift.

Came out early for the next Grand opportunity, arriving with West Triplet and the sputs all in action. Again, there wasn't an eruption of Rift. This time there definitely was a Turban Delay, as the interval was over 36 minutes and Grand even had a couple of small boops.

Two Turban intervals later, we got another Grand eruption were there wasn't much doubt there was going to be a second burst, but this time , after about 45 seconds, Grand went into Big Sawmill mode. At that point it felt like it was trying to stop, and just couldn't. This lasted for at least 20 to 30 seconds, when finally the activity picked up a little bit. This continued on for a burst lasting nearly three minutes.

Then finally got the opportunity to see Grand by moonlight. There were occasional clouds covering the moon for a few moments, but nothing threatening. It was One Burst Grand, but the moonbows were some of the best I've seen. From West Triplet, for moments there was visible a full arc extending to the left and over the steam from the Daisy Group. At times, it seemed like the stronger parts, in Grand's water column, had a hint of color in it. Best of all, the dozen or so people out there didn't feel the need to provide their own illumination.