The Baby Boy Comes To Visit

Our youngest son and his wife drove down from Tennessee to spend a week of their vacation with us. We took them back to the Manatee overlook at Haulover Canal to show off the wildlife. No gators this time, and not near as much Manatee activity as usual, but we did get a great show from a Porpoise passing through.

FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND WAS SUPER

Stormy got me a card for Father's day. You know how it is. Your kids always tend to suggest things that they would like! Take a look and see what you think.

Our Florida grandchildren and their mom got to come for a visit on Satrday. We wore out the swimming pool. I think we wore out nanny and pappaw too. We had a great time, then went topless (car, that is) to the fish camp for a bite to eat. All in all, it was a great day.

You can probably tell from the photo that our daughter has managed to hang on to her Tennessee roots despite the fact that she married a die-hard Gator. She has lived in Florida for over 25 years and her blood is still orange.

I don't know who enjoyed the day more, me or the children. Little miss Kali G. had a good time sneaking up on nanny.


COOLING NANNY OFF

WHO DID THAT?

Well, it was another exciting day at Rocket Land. They shot another Delta 2-Heavy into the sky from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Complex. This was success number 134 out of 136 attempts to send payloads into space with the Delta 2s.

The GLAST Telescope Is On Its Way

This attempt will place a gamma-ray telescope into orbit that will allow scientists to probe more of the black holes of space.

NIGHT LAUNCH IN MARCH, 2008

WELL-LIT ON THE PAD

While waiting for the launch of Discovery on Saturday evening, I talked with some other viewers about the earlier launch of Endeavour back on March 11, 2008. That is the one that left after two in the morning.

They had watched the launch from somewhere south of our present location. I had chosen a vantage point at the Titusville Marina, just across the bridge from our current location.

He, like I, had been very surprised when the shuttle disappeared into a very low-haninging ceiling very soon after launch. The sky had been so dark that no one was aware that the clouds had dropped in so low over the launch pad. I tried to get some good shots of the first night launch since 2006. The pad was well lit before the launch and as you can see from the picture above, I had a good line of sight. I had the camera on the tripod for this occasion but quickly discovered that I didn't need it.

The initial ignition literally lit up the night. The first few frames I shot had a massive amount of glare in them. Suddenly, the low ceiling became visible in the bright light. One of the best shots I have ever made came as the shuttle entered the low-hanging cloud cover. I think it is well worth sharing here.

ENDEAVOUR DISAPPEARS INTO THE CLOUDS

Not a holiday, but another great weekend!!!

As I mentioned earlier, my sister and her granddaughter have been visiting with us from Tennessee. They had planned to leave for home on Friday, but after learning of the scheduled Space Shuttle launch, they were convinced to stay until Sunday morning. We took the motor home out early Saturday morning and got a prime parking spot along the "A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway".

We knew that a Saturday launch would draw a huge crowd. My sister and great-niece accompanied me in the motor home. Becky stayed behind to finish up some Saturday morning chores and then make a quick trip to her favorite retail store in the whole wide world. (Anyone who knows my lovely wife knows no shopping trip with her is quick.) We arrived very early Saturday morning and had our choice of spots. We were located approximately 11 miles from the launch pad.

We opened the awning, sat up the table and chairs, turned up the music, and just got comfortable in general. That is about when the rain showers hit. You would think that a little shower would not pose a problem for someone with a 16-foot awning, but guess which way the wind was blowing. Right. At least we had a comfy place to wait out the shower.

Shortly after the second shower hit, I was standing just outside the door (yes, I was under the awning)when a little red convertible with the top down pulled in. By the time I got to her and got the top up, there were water puddles in the front seats. Vonna, our niece, began to worry that the launch would be scrubbed by the rain. She is not as familiar with our Florida showers as we are. I assured her she would get to see the launch.

The ladies put together a nice lunch. We then spent a leisurely afternoon chatting with other viewers, reading, consuming cold beverages, and just relaxing in general. We met two generations of an extremely nice family that had driven down from Jacksonville to view their first up-close and personal shuttle launch. The father and mother have recently retired and just sold their home in Colorado. What a change of scenery this must be for them. The son and his bride live on the south side of Jacksonville but are planning a move to the D.C. area of Virginia in the near future. After questioning their sanity, I learned that it was a work-related move. The afternoon wore on and the launch eventually went off without a hitch.

After the launch, we sat back and watched the scramble. Within two hours, traffic was almost back to normal. Do you have any idea how many gallons of $4 gasoline were consumed on this highway today?

After we got the motor home safely tucked in at home, I sat down to enter the receipts from Becky's shopping trip into the check register. I am still trying to figure out what the $15 charge for a "10-inch fan" was for!