Simple Stuff

WEEDS: We started our morning getting down and dirty. Specifically, we went to the top of the lot to the "beauty strip" by the road to pull weeds.

Truth be told, I pulled 100 percent of the weeds, but the kids were great about scooping up the offenders and throwing them onto the compost pile, which was great. When they weren't on compost duty, the kids were playing in the yard, which is a good thing.

CAPTIVATING CAPSULE: I was happy to get a NASA email today that let us know tat construction on the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Module began with the first weld at the Michoud Assembly Facility. This capsule will be used during Orion's first test flight in space. After welding is completed at Michoud, the Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where the heat shield will be installed. At Kennedy, it will undergo final assembly and checkout operations for eventual flight. While this sounds all well and good, a friend of mine who is definitely in the know brought up a good point. Upon what rocket will this capsule be flown? Hmm - good question. What good is a capsule without a rocket to power it up, up and away?
AUDREY 2?: Not sure if it was a Twitter or Facebook lead today, but somehow I became aware of an investigation taking place in space and on Earth called "Plants in Space." The investigation will examine plant root growth in microgravity. Classrooms (that's us!) here on Earth can grow ground-based control plants in your classroom, download hourly photographs from the International Space Station, and design experiments based on the data from space. Cool! The live experiments begin on September 19, 2011. Naturally, I signed us up. That said, I have a sinking feeling the ISS is going to be demanned by NASA astronauts soon, and I worry about them abandoning it altogether. ...

Oh, and in case you are wondering WTH? about the Audrey 2 subheading, it's a Little Shop of Horrors reference.

FOX IN THE MOON?: In keeping with our space-y theme today, we read "Moon Rope." It's a Peruvian folk tale about a fox who wants to visit the moon. He talks his friend mole into going along. They make a long rope out of grass and have some bird friends fly it up and hook it to the tail of the crescent moon. While climbing, mole slips all the way back down to Earth. He's so embarrassed that he lives almost entirely underground for the rest of his life, and only comes out at night. Fox makes it all the way up, and that's why you see a face in the moon. (Funny, we always thought it was the man in the moon, not a fox.)