Attention to detail

One thing about living in a 200 year old house is keeping the thing standing. That would be a rather large attention getting detail, or you'd think.

The front gutter is not doing it's job, even when there isn't a single leaf blocking the flow of water. I get overflow when there's any sort of storm, which around here is pretty often. This has been going on since we had the gutter replaced about 5, 6, 7 years ago. Seriously, can't remember when it was, which probably means I should look into having it replaced again.

Anywho, the damn thing overflows in a rainstorm. The ensuing puddles of water that collect beneath turn into a gushing spring that eats its way through the stone foundation. Bad news enough and could be worse if the basement was a real basement instead of a cellar of the mud variety. Water comes in and soaks into red Virginia clay over the course of the next several dry days. During Hurricane Agnes there was three feet of water down there and the house somehow didn't fall down. Soaking in is faster in summer than in winter, but it all dries out eventually. The really bad news is that the gusher has eaten a nice path under the front porch, undermining a large slab of concrete as well as rotting out a big, long, weight-bearing floor beam AND making nice little channels through the mud berm that is steadily dropping off chunks leading back to a stack of cinderblock supports that are holding up the front of the house. Okay dokay.

Now I'm looking at serious foundation work that I can't afford at all, and it all leads back to an improperly installed gutter. Take notes if you want.

Space Shuttle Launch

We are go for lift off!

Really the most incredible thing I've ever seen. To see a launch is to never forget it.

The causeway at Kennedy Space Center is a road built up through a swamp/stream. It's maybe fifty feet wide, so there's not much room and it is absolutely packed with people, buses, cars, tents, places to get food. Lots of stuff, so it gets crowded pretty fast. But, everyone is in a great mood. We're there to see the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, carrying the Kibo lab to the International Space Station.

We were six miles away from the launch pad and from that distance the shuttle is about an inch tall. It was a beautiful, clear day with only a few clouds in the sky. There were no technical difficulties at all. Anticipation is pretty high all around us as the countdown gets closer and closer to 10, 9, 8....

There's a small spark you see at that distance when the engines ignite, followed by a giant plume of smoke, billowing out around the shuttle just like you see on tv. And then the space craft is off the launch pad, ahead of the billowing smoke, shooting out over the ocean like a bullet. It's very fast, which isn't conveyed from watching on tv, because the tv cameras follow the shuttle all the way up now. But when you are there in person, the first thing that strikes you is how fast this massive ship is moving up into the sky.

The next thing that strikes you, literally almost, is the sound. At first, for several seconds anyway, there is absolute silence except for the cheering of the crowd around you. You can hear the loud speakers above that noise easily, detailing what the shuttle is doing, rolling, giving the altitude and speed and then...the sound rolls at you, building around you until you are completely enveloped in this roar of noise that goes inside your body and gives you a really great rattle. You think, damn, that's loud! and you laugh. It is a sound of immense power, pounding through you. It is awesome.

And then, it's gone. The sound rolls away and the shuttle has departed this earth. In two minutes, it's gone and all that's left is a large, strangely stationary column of smoke that lingers for quite some time. Really, it takes about 8 minutes for the space shuttle to reach outerspace, but there in person, watching a launch, it is gone in an extraordinarily short amount of time.

People start to mill around and talk about how awesome it was, and then you get back on your bus, or in your car and you wait until traffic clears enough to get off the causeway. You sit in traffic for hours then, traveling back to Orlando, moving slowly away from the most amazing thing you've ever witnessed. I highly recommend it.

Terrible Tuesdays

For some reason, my son really doesn't like Tuesdays. At first I thought it was a little joke and he'd get over it, but every Tuesday he says the same thing: Tuesday sux! Tuesdays are terrible! That changed to Terrible Tuesdays and now it's stuck. I don't know that I subscribe to any day of the week being worse (or better) than any other. They're all just days. Days happen. Maybe it's because it's trash day. I don't know. We've had trash days on Monday and Wednesday before and those days never went from normal to horrible before. He said it when I dropped him off at school today; it's terrible Tuesday. See ya.

I'm calling it lethargic Tuesday myself since I can't seem to get motivated to do anything but be a couch potato. I have piles of yard work to do. It's a beautiful, sunny day. I ought to be outside. Got no energy for it.

I bought plane tickets to Orlando the other day to take the kids to see the Space Shuttle launch. I can't wait. Hope the launch doesn't get delayed or changed. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one. I'll be writing a good bit about the trip and the experience as we get near and go through it.

I should have been an astronaut

A beginning

It's Saturday, May 3, closing in on noon. I have to go pick up my daughter from her sleep-over pretty soon, mow the front fields, do laundry...chores, chores, chores. Another hectic day with too few hours to get it all done and still have energy for anything remotely fun! Life, another words. 

This is my first attempt at a blog, a kind of online journal that just anyone can read. What a strange concept!