That said, we had to leave for our south end schoolin' this morning and I wasn't about to leave 8-week old Laika and Kirby alone together for five hours. So, the pup came with.
While the kids were in class, Laika and I hung out in the Honda. While she crawled on me and whimpered, I tried to write the next great American novel.
When it was time to meet the kids post class, I took Laika to the grassy spot out front of the Southwest Teen Life Center in West Seattle. Puppy = kid magnet, and soon our little furry one had a legion of admirers. What was cool was when people asked her name, the conversation invariably turned into a spaceflight history lesson.
Laika, we explained, was the first living creature to (reportedly) orbit Earth. (I say 'reportedly, because depending on which account you read, she might not have survived the orbit.) We explained that Laikia's launch was a huge accomplishment for the Soviets. Of course, shortly after that we have to explain that the ability to de-orbit (return to Earth safely) had not yet been developed, so Laika's trip aboard Sputnik 2 was one-way from the get-go. BUMMER! (At this point I find it necessary to link to a NASA article about animals in space that lists a whole lot more animals and a whole lot earlier than Laika. Hmm. Who knew?)
Rather than stop on a sour note, we then inform curious kids about Ham, the chimpanzee NASA launched aboard Mercury Redstone 2 on Jan. 31, 1961. Check out this photo from NASA of lift off. There's so little rocket fire, it's almost hard to believe the chimp reached orbit!
When we chose the name Laika I figured it as an inside 'joke' of sorts, but as it turns out, already her name has provided us an opportunity to talk to other kids about the history of spaceflight.
And that is awesome.
SHINE ON HARVEST MOON: There's a full moon this weekend, and a special one at that. For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, it's a "Harvest Moon." (Below is a lovely photo of a harvest moon from Wikipedia.)
Of course that magical moment was spoiled by Annabelle (LOL) asking me why it's called a harvest moon. Christian and I started making noises about it having to do with fall and the harvest. I was quite relieved when I came home and engaged The Google and found a great NASA Science News article about it.
After reading the story, with more confidence I was able to explain to the kids that really not so terribly long ago, none of us had electric lights to use. When daylight ended, work often had to cease. However, this time of year, so many crops are coming on strong and need to be gathered right now. For that reason, for eons, humanoids have been relying on the bright moonlight - the "harvest moon" - to extend their harvest time.
Of course, I had to dig up a YouTube video of the song "Harvest Moon" for the kids. I was happy to find a 1909 recording for them to check out!
FREE TICKETS: One day only! Get 'em while they're hot! Saturday, Sept. 29 is National Free Musem Day (thanks to the Smithsonian and participating museums).
Ticket REQUIRED for entry, and can only be obtained via the Internet at www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ticket There, you can browse the list of participating museums by state. The program allows for ONE ticket per household, which is good for TWO admissions. Take the ticket for two admissions with you to the venue. Tickets may have limitations regarding some special (extra fee) exhibits. If museum reaches capacity, museum has right to limit guests until space becomes available.
THERE IS ANOTHER: Tonight at dinner, CJ surprised all of us by ordering a root beer with dinner. He'd never had one before.
I watched as he took his first sip. He shuddered. But he took a second and a third. We talked about the taste of rootbeer, and how it's different from other sodas. We also noted that many of the neat-o microbrewery places we go to have their own root beers they brew and suggested that CJ might want to consider becoming an aficionado, blogging during his 'pub' crawls. He was all over that, and so when we got home he registered a blog domain: http://therootbeerkid.blogspot.com/ Don't ask me how, but within 5 minutes of creating his blog, he had 17 pageviews!
CJ has all sorts of great ideas already about the ratings he'll give root beers, and he wants to make a custom rootbeer tasting mug with which to sample new brews. I think this might be a lot of fun for all of us. Time will tell. ...
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