STS-127 Endeavour Returns

Today we drove north to Cape Canaveral to watch the shuttle Endeavour return to the Kennedy Space Center. The alarm clock started nagging us at 7:00, but we successfully ignored it until 8:00. By the time we got out of bed, ate breakfast, and hit the road, it was 9:30. This disturbed me because the drive up takes over an hour and the shuttle was scheduled to land at 10:48. This was cutting it far too close for my comfort.

At 10:30, we were approaching our viewing spot, fifteen miles south of the runway, along state route 528, west of Cape Canaveral. We were eastbound and I needed to turn around to get to our spot. Unfortunately, I took the wrong exit off the highway and ended up on a northbound road with a drawbridge, and wouldn't you know it, the bridge was open! Oh no! The car in front of us must have been thinking the same thing. He made a sharp left turn and drove through the grass median onto the south bound lane. We decided, “If he can do it, so can we.” We were at our viewing spot five minutes later, with about thirteen minutes to spare.

The viewing spot was on the viaduct crossing the Banana River, west of Cape Canaveral. We climbed the hill leading to the bridge to get a good view. I was just about to sit down when a highway maintenance man told us to be careful of the ants. We quickly moved back down to the water's edge. Andrew wanted to play on the rocks, but we said no because there was trash lying around and we wanted him to keep his shoes dry.

Eventually, we wondered back near the highway. As we stood there among the crowd, with cars driving by near us, we heard a pair of loud pops. It startled me so much that I jumped. It sounded to me like gunshots, or a car back-firing. Of course, it was the sonic booms from the shuttle passing overhead. We looked for it, but were unable to find it. At 10:48, someone announced that it was 10:48. Shortly afterwards, someone announced that the shuttle had landed.

Since we had just driven over an hour, I wasn't ready to jump in the car and drive home yet. We headed northwest towards Titusville, in search of a park with a picnic table and a playground. We knew we could go to Sand Point Park, but I was hoping to find someplace different. We ended up going to William J. Manzo Memorial Park.

Eating lunch at William J. Manzo Memorial Park, Titusville

After lunch, we continued north in search of a shuttle landing viewing spot more suited to landings to the south. We ended up driving into the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. As we drove east along highway 402, we found the north entrance to the Kennedy Space Center, which runs parallel and very close to the runway. This would be a great spot to watch a southbound landing.

With a viewing spot located, we went back to the Visitor Center. The operator told Susan that the refuge closes about 30 minutes before a landing, but if we arrived earlier, we could stay and watch. Sounds like a plan for the next landing. I was quite impressed with the Visitor Center. It had a display in the center of the building depicting some of the wildlife in the refuge, including: a turtle, snakes, a bobcat, raccoons, and Bald Eagles. Andrew was fascinated by the wildlife habitat displays, which contained buttons that lit photos and corresponding locations on a map, as well as turning display boards. Outside was a boardwalk leading around a small lake, through the forest, then past a wetlands area.

Bald eagle display at the Visitor's Center

We decided to see a little more of the Wildlife Refuge. First we drove along the Black Point Wildlife Drive, then we visited the Manatee Observation Deck. The wildlife drive wasn't terribly interesting - I still haven't seen any alligators in Florida - but we saw at least six manatees from the observation deck. Looking at the map, the Oak and Palm Hammock Trails parking lot is directly below the extended centerline of the Shuttle Landing Facility.

By now it was time to start heading towards home. I still wanted to make one more stop. Since we didn't get to see Endeavour, I figured I could settle for the next best thing - the shuttle model at the Kennedy Space Center's U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame

Shuttle display model at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame

The Digital Switchover

Back in the glory days, I enjoyed digital TV over the airwaves for free... in High Definition to boot. Of course, I had to spend quite a bit for the UHF antenna that was mounted on my shed, and the HD Tuner wasn't anything near "cheap", either. But the setup was fantastic, and best of all, no monthly fees.

Fast forward to now, and I can't watch a thing on TV because of the digital switchover - my TV does not have a digital tuner. A few weeks ago, I decided to take Uncle Sam's incentive and ordered my digital conversion box coupon. Last week, it arrived, so I went to Best Buy and traded it for a box and bought an amplified antenna. I had done my homework already. I knew the closest network station was in West Palm Beach - many miles away - so I knew I'd need an amplified antenna to stand a chance of getting any reception. I raced home and wired it all together, only to find no stations strong enough to be detected by the auto tuner. After fiddling with some settings, I was able to pull in channel 25-1 and 25-2; an ABC affiliate and its weather channel.

While helping Nikki move last weekend, I came across a spool of coaxial cable. I asked if I could have it and was told to take it. I accepted, then drove off without it - of course. Today, we met Aunt Cathy and Uncle Dave near Cape Canaveral and I got my cable back, in exchange for a few of Andrew's graduation pictures.

On the drive home, I had an idea. I knew the apartment was wired for cable. I wondered if there's a cable outlet upstairs somewhere. When we arrived at home, I went upstairs and found a wall outlet in our bedroom. I quickly connected a piece of cable between the converter downstairs and the cable wall outlet. Then I connected the amplified antenna to the cable wall outlet upstairs. Pretty clever, heh? I turned on the converter and ran the converter's auto tuner. It ran and ran for a very long time. I thought, "If it's taking that long, it must be finding dozens of stations." And I soon found out that I was wrong. Not a single station was tuned and saved. No problem, I thought, I still have 25-1 and 25-2. Wrong again! Neither station would come in, or even show a blip on the signal strength meter. I re-wired the antenna as before, totally expecting to have my old stations back again. And I was wrong AGAIN!

Now I have zero stations coming in. That does it for TV in this house. I've lived without any TV at all since October and I can do just fine without it again. Now where did I put that Best Buy receipt?

Moving Day For Nikki

Yesterday - Friday - was beach day. We had promised to take Andrew to the beach and it was time to pay up. We packed our essentials and drove over to Jaycee Park. Amazingly, we found a great spot to park in the shade of an old oak tree. We played in the surf for about an hour before dropping the "Ten more minutes" bombshell on Andrew. He was a good sport and came without much fuss ten minutes later.

On the way home, we stopped at Publix for some dinner items. At home, I grilled some burgers and fixed dinner. Publix' Southern Style potato salad is my new-found favorite potato salad from a store. The burgers with all the fixin's were perfect on fresh rolls from the bakery.

At 7:00PM, Andrew and I called Aunt Cathy to let her know we were packing the car and would be on our way soon. At 7:30, we we backed out of the garage. Why does it take 30 minutes to go from 'leaving soon' to 'leaving'? I have no idea; but it seems to be a fact of life when mothers and kids are involved. :-)

Driving north, we were witness to the most fantastic storm I can recall. Lightning lit up the sky from the southwest around to the northeast. The further north we drove, the move strikes became visible. After a while, the strikes changed from cloud-to-ground single strikes to cloud-to-cloud 'finger-like' strikes spreading out from a single point in multiple directions. I found myself glancing at the road now and then, instead of glancing at the sky.

We arrived at the C&D B&B around 9:30. We chatted awhile before Uncle Dave went to bed - he had an early morning golf match. Soon after, Aunt Cathy went to bed - she had to work in the morning.

Today, we awoke to an empty B&B; we were on our own for breakfast and company. Uncle Dave was golfing and Aunt Cathy was working. We found some cereal in the cupboard and had some toast on the side.

Uncle Dave returned with John from their golf match around 11:00, grabbed a bite to eat, and left again to pick up a 24-foot U-Haul truck. A half hour later, they returned with the truck. I loaded Andrew's booster seat into the truck. He was pretty excited about riding in the big truck, but mostly because he got to ride up front, where he could see everything. On the way to Nikki's old place, Dave let Andrew "drive" by placing his hand on the wheel, but Andrew acted shy and quickly pulled his hand away. Susan stayed behind to wait for Aunt Cathy.

When we arrived, we found that Nikki had already moved a lot of the smaller items. All that was left was the big, heavy, awkward, cumbersome, back-breaking, agonizing appliances and furniture. Luckily, we had quite a crew to help. In addition to those already mentioned, we had two of Zack's friends, Alex and Gin, and Zack's friend's mom and sister. Aunt Cathy and Susan arrived a little later.

We really didn't have a plan at all. People were everywhere, doing separate tasks. It was a far departure from the organized, well-planned placement that we witnessed from the professionals when moving from Bothell last year. Yet, the truck quickly started to fill, and as far as I know, nothing - and nobody - got hurt.

There were a couple moments during the move that stood out for me. One was a tall piece of furniture with about five horizontal shelves with glass doors. Alex and I tried to pick it up and, to our amazement, it started coming apart in our hands. It was as if it was made by LEGO. It was stacked in layers like individual LEGO pieces. Another was the entertainment center. At first look, there was nothing daunting about it. But somehow, for some reason, it was probably the heaviest, most awkward piece of furniture in the house. It turned out to be nearly the last thing loaded on the truck. Andrew was helpful, too. He carried the support pieces for the bed all by himself.

The drive to Nikki's new apartment was quite short. I think the 'as the crow flies' distance is probably about a half mile. Dave worked the truck into the narrow parking lot so the ramp lined up nicely with the sidewalk and the unpacking began. As is usually the case - from my experience - unloading seems easier and quicker. The furniture quickly started filling the spaces of the new apartment. Before long, the truck was empty - well, almost. The one item remaining on the truck was the heaviest, most awkward piece of furniture of all - the entertainment center. We managed to unload everything else from the truck, literally moving stuff around the entertainment center to get it out. It was as if we were all intimidated by the thing. :-)

The heat was something else. Once the sweat started to flow, there was no stopping it. Nikki had plenty of water and Gatorade on hand to help beat the heat. At one point, while waiting to get some tools to swap out the dryer cable - from four prong to three - we took a break and ate sandwiches and chips. Uncle Dave and others put the dining room table back together, only to have Nikki say it was all wrong. The tripod legs were pointing in the wrong directions. Zack's friends stayed busy putting Zack's room together. Alex cracked us up when he said something about 'still moving'. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, this idea grew and the living room scene eventually became the centerpiece of an online art exhibit entitled "Still" Moving, worthy of the 'finest' art museum in London - the Saatchi Gallery. I'm not kidding; you can see it on his Facebook page! :-)

At 4:00, we took the U-Haul truck back to the B&B to drop off me and Andrew. This time, Andrew still didn't want to drive, so Uncle Dave grabbed his foot and place it on the steering wheel. Andrew 'drove' the truck with his foot! What an amazing talent.

Back at the B&B, I made myself at home on the couch, soaking up the air conditioning. The thermometer on the back porch was showing over 100 degrees. Before long, the subject of dinner came up. Since we were watching "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery channel, Dave suggested crab legs. The previous commercial block included one from Pizza Hut, so I suggested calzones. Dave agreed with the idea of calling up the local Italian place and ordering a pizza and some calzones to go. Thirty minutes later, I was enjoying a fresh, delicious meatball calzone - yummy.

After dinner, we started packing the car. After some time - you guessed it, 30 minutes - we backed out of the driveway and headed south to Vero Beach.

Short Visit From Cousin Edie

Today started with a rush to clean the house. Susan's cousin Edie, and her daughter Katherine, from North Carolina were planning to stop and visit on their trip back north. They were in Florida for Katherine's tennis tournament. Can you imagine? Multiple 2-hour matches in the Florida heat?

They arrived in early afternoon and stayed for about an hour. Andrew showed them his camera and shot some pictures and videos. We talked about the tournament, Florida, and aviation jobs. And then they said they had to leave; still 12 more hours of driving ahead of them.

Edie and Katherine stop by for a visit

North County Aquatic Center

Today we expanded our swimming pool horizons a bit and decided to go to Sebastian and check out their community pool. Here's the description from their web page:

The North County Aquatic Center is a family oriented public pool. The pool is heated and open year round. We feature an activity pool, a competition pool, with a diving well and changing facilities. Our activity pool is zero depth for easy entry for all ages. The activity pool has slides, water cannons, bubblers, a water tree and a huge water play structure. The competition pool has almost 1million gallons of water. We have up to 24 lanes for lap swimming at 25 yards. Our diving well has one meter and three meter diving boards.

What caught our eye the most was the zero depth activity pool. Our pool is 3'-6" at the shallow end, so Andrew cannot touch the bottom. We wanted to go to a pool where he could have fun playing and moving about without worrying about swimming all the time.

Another interesting item was the slides. The rules said that you must be 42 inches tall to ride the slide. Andrew is 42 inches tall. Even so, we figured he was not a good enough swimmer to try it and you must go by yourself.

We arrived just after the pool opened and went straight for the activity pool. The play structure was great. It had big wheels that kids could turn to open and close valves and control the flow of water through various pipes. It had a tunnel to crawl through with a waterfall at one end. And it had a small slide that ended in about a foot of water. Andrew played in that area for several hours. I had to venture off to the larger pool and try the diving board. I don't remember the last time I dove from a diving board - there were not a lot of swimming opportunities in Seattle.

Around 4:00 - an hour before closing - Andrew started taking notice of the twin slides. Most of the crowd had left for the day and the line was very short. We noticed several kids smaller than Andrew were now going down the slide. He built up his courage and Susan took him to the top. After a few seconds of standing at the head of the slide, he turned away in tears. I heard him say something like, "I never want to go down the slide." He tends to blurt out extreme measures when he gets upset. From my flight instructor training, I believe that is a defense mechanism called reaction formation. I looked at Susan, then at the clock, and told her that I bet he'd want to try the slide again in less than 10 minutes. Sure enough, he did. This time, I went up, too, and got the slide next to him. With as much courage as he could muster, Andrew went down the slide. I went at the same time and met him at the bottom to help him cross from the 4 foot zone back to the 3 foot zone. For the next 50 minutes, Andrew made the circuit from the pool to the slide over and over again.

On the way out, I heard Andrew say, "Next time, let's get here earlier so we can stay longer." I guess four and a half hours of pool time isn't enough for a 5 year old.

Nature's Light Show

While out and about this evening, my attention was drawn upwards and northward by the light show in the sky. As dusk gently gave way to night, a pair of huge thunderstorm clouds serenaded each other with light. On the drive home, I don't recall looking at the road at all - my eyes were locked on the sky. As soon as I pulled into the garage and turned off the car, I ran for my camera and tripod and set it up near the pool in our cul-de-sac.

The first picture is the end of the stage that first drew my attention. The lightning was lighting the inside of the clouds with a purple glow.



The remaining pictures show the layers of clouds in the distance. I love the dots passing through the picture below. Could it be a line of UFO's? Technically, yes it is - I don't know what kind of airplane flew through my picture.



The last picture is the only one that actually captures a bolt of lightning. By this time, my camera battery was about to die, so I packed up and headed for the computer to see what I captured.

STS-127 Is Away

Well, it is once again launch day. It is the sixth attempt by NASA to launch STS-127. To summarize, here is the results from the first 5 attempts:

June 13: Hydrogen leak

June 17: Hydrogen leak

July 11: Delayed 24 hours to check for lightning damage

July 12: Delayed 24 hours due to weather

July 13: Delayed 24 hours due to weather

We decided to stay home this time and watch from our neighborhood. I waited until the countdown reached and cleared the T-9 minute hurdle that tripped it up on the past two attempts. Once it did, I grabbed the camera and the compass and headed for the lake nearby. Based on my Google Earth planning, Kennedy Space Center is due north of our house. Accounting for magnetic variation, I expected to point the camera slightly right of magnetic north.

At the lake, I set up my camera and pointed it slightly east of north. Susan walked along and found a "better" spot, so I moved a bit to the east. Then she found an "even better" spot, so I moved again. While setting up again, I heard her say, "There it is". I shot off a few rounds on the camera as I watched the shuttle disappear behind the overcast, never to be seen again.

By the time we got back home and back to NASA TV on the computer, we got to watch the shuttle separate from the external fuel tank. Looking at my photos, I got nothing - not surprisingly. Maybe I'll get lucky and get to see/hear it return.