Ice, Ice, Baby

SLIPPERS: Imagine my surprise (well, horror, really) this morning round 6, when I let Kirby out for her first time today and heard that unmistakable sound that those who have lived near the Columbia River and the Gorge in the Portland/Vancouver area for any length of time know and fear. That, and Kirby slid ATOP the crusted over snow instead of sinking down into it. That meant it was definitely precipitation of the nasty kind. It wasn't pouring rain, or thundering hail, or even sleet. No, it was that &%^ *$%#  FREEZING RAIN.  My first thought was, "WTH? This wasn't in the forecast."

I had the kids come outside (yes, in their slippers) so they could see the change that was taking place. They were surprised to find the concrete coated in a layer of solid ice.

We turned on the telly and watched the disaster unfold. Before long, I heard a 60-something meteorologist say he'd never seen or heard of this much freezing rain in the Puget Sound area. Initially the (revised) forecast said it would be coming down until 10 a.m. And then it was noon. And then 4 p.m. As you might expect, countless roads were closed. Highways were blocked with carnage, and Sea-Tac airport was closed. Some time before noon, Governor Chris Gregoire had declared Washington a State of Emergency. Some 200,000 people were without power (brrrr!)

Naturally, this morning we had a lesson in "What is Freezing Rain?" and talked about what causes it. I shared what I knew, but I also drew heaving from a nice explanation on an About.com article on the topic.

About 10 a.m., when it was initially supposed to stop snowing, but it was still coming down strong, I thought to take our Mariners Moose bobblehead outside. There he stayed for the next several hours. We went out and checked on him every hour or so, and took some photos during our visits.

As you can see, he started by accumulating freezing rain booties. Then some ice dusted his base. Next his muzzle (do moose have muzzles?) got a sprinkling which eventually turned to a drift. Meanwhile, he was up to his knees (do moose have knees?), and eventually his thighs. Poor guy. Hope I remember to bring him in before going to bed.

IN REVIEW: I decided our snow/iced in day would be a good time for me to get the monthly reports submitted that will keep us in good standing at the school where the kids take science, art, music and LEGO classes.  I swear, every month before I write it, I'm thinking, "Geez, I hope we did enough academic stuff this month to make it look legit," and then HOURS later I'm thinking, "Dang, I'm just going to have to start leaving a bunch of stuff out," because I want to get it done. Without a doubt, Dec. 15 through Jan. 15 was busy busy busy for MPA.

FIRE IN THE NIGHT: All day long we were looking forward to a p.m. launch taking place at the Space Coast. It was actually an Air Force launch this go round. We watched Spaceflightnow.com's coverage of the 330-foot tall gantry being pulled back from the Delta 4 rocket at pad 37B. Atop the rocket sat a the fourth Department of Defense Wideband Global SATCOM military satellite (or WGS, for short) to be placed into Earth's orbit. The $464 million satellite was  built by The Boeing Co. One of the things the satellite will do is add more speed and bandwidth to support transmission of high-resolution video collected by unmanned aerial drones. A good story about the importance of the satellite appears on Florida Today's Web site: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120119/SPACE/301190048/Launch-more-than-satellite-sendoff .

It was a beautiful launch that went off without a hitch. We could see each of the four rocket boosters separate, and then the rocket's stages separate. Do yourself a HUGE favor and look at photos of the launch on the VERY talented Ben Cooper's Web site: Launchphotography.com.  The first one, especially, is jaw-dropping.

I actually got to see this rocket on the pad when I was back at Kennedy Space Center in November. I was standing on the launch site of the Apollo missions and could see it in the distance. Here it is through my telephoto.

BLACKOUT OFF: CJ and Annabelle were happy to find that none of their favorite Web sites were blacked out any more. The one day protest of SOPA and PIPA was over. The good news is, the protest caught the attention of millions of people, the media and (gasp) even politicians!

There's a great post on the Urban Times Web site about yesterday and its (positive!) fallout titled "This is What Democracy Looks Like": http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/27kD2r/www.theurbn.com/2012/01/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like/

TIV REVISITED: Today, we reviewed a couple of cool, informative posters we picked up at last night's "Tornado Alley" special screening, and we watched some footage of the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) when it appeared on "Mythbusters."
 
Afterward, I asked them to each write a couple paragraphs about TIV. I thought they did a pretty good job. Here's what they came up with ...
 
CJ: "Tornado Alley" is a movie about a group of people who want to catch footage of a tornado. But it isn't going to be a walk in the park. To catch footage of a tornado, you need one strong car.
   TIV could burst through a tornado. Later, TIV2 was made. Though TIV2 is missing some things, TIV2 is still a very good car!
   A sad thing that I know is when TIV missed a tornado. Another sad thing is when things get destroyed. But the thing that tops it all is when people get killed by the tornado."
 
Annabelle: TIV2 (the tornado intercept vehicle) is a vehicle made by Sean Casey, a storm chaser. TIV has forty-inch spikes that stick into the ground forty inches. TIV can lower its armor too.
   TIV has gone into many tornadoes, yet has missed many. TIV is a modified Dodge 3500. TIV has layers of armor in this order: aluminum, Kevlar, aluminum, steel, 1/2-inch rubber, 1/2-inch polycarbonate, 1/2-inch rubber, sheet aluminum.
 
CHECK IT OUT: Super cool, super short video of the ISS flying past the moon. Neat-o! http://www.universetoday.com/92797/iss-caught-between-the-moon-and-new-york-city/