| Not a tremendous amount of stuff for August and September. I
Launched a couple of rockets at the CMASS rocket launch, the Improved
Hawk (A minor modification to the original Hawk design by Launch Pad
rockets, my third in the series) and the Phoenix on a modified "E"
engine casing. The Phoenix landed back in a swamp, but it was a
spectacular take off. The Hawk flew on a "D" engine, impressive to
watch and it only takes it five to six hundred feet in the air, so it's easy
to recover. Below, right is also a "drag race" between a couple of
G-powered Saucers; saucers are big, flat pie plate shaped rockets that
are intended to have massive atmospheric drag all the way up, making the
launches slower and more spectacular. On a "G" engine, it looked
like ICBMs taking off from a Nebraska wheat field. |
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| Below, a visit to my Grandmother with the dogs (Patric in the
picture) and the newly remodeled kids' bathroom. |
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| Below, Kate's Birthday and an evening with dinner on the back deck,
hoping for a show of Owls. |
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| Brie and Will continue to do massive quantities of Tennis; below,
they are in different tournaments |
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| On the range with Will's Tennis coach, Kevin Curly. Darn fine
shot of the muzzle blast from the S&W 460 Magnum. Kevin
fired the shotgun, but we didn't go skeet shooting. And below,
Kevin with the Glock 22; you can actually see the bullet flying out of
the gun in the second shot. |
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Below, proof that I’m an idiot.
Owls are cool, and we spent a lot of time sitting on the back deck
watching for the three barred owls that were, for a while, making our
place a chipmunk free zone. And I decided I wanted to encourage them to
stick around. What better way than, say, building a OWL HOUSE.
It was made out of 3/4 inch pine (well, I bought “smart wood” or
something like that because it was cheaper), 2 feet by 1 foot by six
cubits. Yes, this was like Noah’s ark, but only for birds.
It must have weight 50 pounds.Hauling that think up 30, 40 feet of a
pine tree, on a rickety ladder, while you’re thinking how, if you fall,
you hope you don’t land on your daughter so only one of you dies… that’s
stupid.
Still, I have a owl house made out of smart wood, which as it turns out
is a material made out of compressed newspaper that dissolves in the
rain. But I painted it with deck sealer that is supposed to be
waterproof and smells like tear gas mixed with iodine. So it has that
going for it. |
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| And finally, a side trip with Brie to visit RPI (she was
interviewing). For those that care, note the green sticker under
the plaque; that's a "Bob Willis was here" sticker we left after his
memorial get together in 2007. Below that, we stopped at Mount
Holyoke University to check out the campus. They had lots of
modern art to mock. |
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