Ahead of a medical procedure, I was cautioned that I will not be doing any bending and lifting for a couple of months or more. So, I packed away all of my telescopes and sealed the boxes until spring. Mars will be just past the meridian at 9:00 PM Central Time on March 15. In the meantime, I set up the dining table again for microscopy.
In numismatics we say, "If you don't know your coins, know your dealer." That applies in many areas. Reading in discussion groups online for amateur microscopy, several people raved about the great deals they found on Goodwill dot com and I did buy two microscopes there. Nice enough as they were for the price, they were not great deals and from that point forward, I gathered bookmarks to websites for microscope retailers and name brands for scientific supplies. 
The Cloudy Nights discussion board for amateur astronomers has a forum for this, "Cloudy Days: Microscopes" here https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/104-cloudy-days-microscopes/ I also visit the Microbe Hunter discussion board here https://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/. That board is the work of Oliver Kim whose main board is Microbe Hunter: https://www.microbehunter.com He has been doing this for several years, has very many very helpful videos on YouTube, and sells by pass-through clicks on Amazon. Also on YouTube, I found Journey to the Microcosmos, which provides a lot of entertaining videos about very small things seen very large.
Other hobbyists online have recommended other resources such as Quekett, a UK group with international membership. Interesting as they all are, I have not joined anything new yet. (I just filed an article about the Huygens probe to Titan with the History of Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society. And I still have a day job.)
PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS
A New Microscope
Microscopy
Biohackers
Biobash: Chamber Replicates Success
Disruptive Diagnostics and the Business of Science
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