A Good Day to Dye

FIT TO BE DYED: We've been sitting on a t-shirt dyeing kit for months now. Tired of moving it and plain white Ts around between cupboards and drawers, I decided, by gum, TODAY would be THE day we finally got to the project.

While the kids read the directions, I got things ready (put the t-shirts on boards covered with plastic bags, rounded up vinyl gloves, and added water to the three bottles with powdered dye in them).

CJ mixed the bottles of dye, they donned their gloves and outside (of course) we went to do the dyeing. This would not be a tie-dyed project, however, as the kids both decided they didn't want that effect. (That, and I think they didn't want to mess with rubber bands.) Whatever, their shirts, so they can do what they want.

It took all of 5 minutes for them to shoot splotches of dye on the shirts. Right now their custom creations are drying in our entryway. Stay tuned for photos of them modeling them. :)

BIG BEN: We decided to revisit another always-fun activity today - cartooning along with Bruce Blitz on Activitytv.tv.

We looked at our options and the kids chose to take on an illustration of Benjamin Franklin. The drawing starts by writing the number 100 in the middle of your paper - appropriate since Ben is on the $100 bill.

The kids had no trouble following along with the instructions.

I just wish we had some nice artist's type chalk and a couple of decent rapidiograph pens so their drawings could reach their full potential.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF: I knew President Obama was coming to the Seattle area today, and thanks to a Tweet, I saw that he was deplaning Air Force One at Boeing's Paine Field in Everett. I said to the kids, "Hmm, I wonder if Obama's visit will be covered live by our (local) news." So I flipped on the TV and the first words we hear were, "Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States!" followed by a rousing rendition of "Hail to the Chief."

Sweet timing! So, we watched and listened to President Obama's message to Boeing workers, assembled media and the viewing audience. It definite

Nice of President Obama to give a hat tip to NASA during his speech. He pointed out that NASA technology had been integrated into the Boeing Dreamliner design. "Government research helped create this plane!" he said, pointing to the Dreamliner parked next to him.

The kids and I listened to the whole speech, which centered on keeping jobs - particularly manufacturing jobs - in the United States. Put simply: "I want us to make stuff. I want us to sell stuff,"  he proclaimed.

Sounds simple enough, eh? What could go wrong? ...
 
SWIFFERS, ANYONE?: Today I showed the kids this photo, and asked them if they could ID what it was of without any clues from me.

Hint if you need it - it's a top down view of something ...

Answer: it's the Martian Rover Opportunity, with its solar panels covered in a layer of Martian dust. This photo is also a good illustration of why rover Curiosity is NOT using solar panels. On Mars, the dust covering them interferes with their optimal functioning.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers info about the photo: "This self portrait from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows dust accumulation on the rover's solar panels as the mission approached its fifth Martian winter. The dust reduces the rover's power supply, and the rover's mobility is limited until the winter is over or wind cleans the panels. This is a mosaic of images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) during the 2,111th to 2,814th Martian days, or sols, of the rover's mission (Dec. 21 to Dec. 24, 2011). The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted."

ATLAS SHRUGGED: Once again, this afternoon we tuned in for the scheduled launch of the MUOS-1 Navy communications satellite atop an Atlas V rocket. The launched window opened at 2:42 our time, but there were three "red" exceptions at the time - all weather related. The countdown kept getting pushed back and pushed back until they were up against the end of the launch window and a scrub was called.
Sounds like they won't try again until Wednesday, at the earliest. Bummer, dudes.

OTHER STUFF: Annabelle and CJ both spent some time online today (I know, SURPRISE! eh?). CJ mostly read Wikis, but Annabelle spent some time on a Disney site where she could create some art. Here's one of her projects.