Fresh Starts

TRANSPLANTS:  We spent an hour-plus this morning taking our tomato and tomatillo seedlings from the tiny trays they started in and putting them into individual pots. We handled them with care and have great hopes of having bushels of delicious, nutritious, homegrown veggies in the months to come. 

RARE FIND: So, we went to Goodwill on Saturday. Nothing that out of the ordinary for us. We scored some $120 shoes for Christian for $20, and a couple other little things. One thing we did NOT buy is pictured above. CJ discovered it. He held it in my face and said, "What is THIS?" 

"Um, a velociprator praying?" I ventured a guess.

He studied it some more and asked, 'But what kind of expression is it making?"

"It looks constipated," I replied without hesitiation. "So I guess that means it's a dinosaur praying he can take a crap,"  I assessed.

Lo and behold, CJ flips it around and lifts up a tag. 

Lord have mercy, it is INDEED a velociprator praying it can take a crap. In fact, the tag called it a velocicraptor.

First, WHO MAKES SUCH A THING? And second, WHO BUYS IT?  

Of course, ever since we left it behind, I now have non-buyers remorse. I mean, it almost has to be one of a kind. ;) 

SOLAR SYSTEM DESIGN: A Facebook post alerted us to a new online game, "Super Planet Crash."

The game allows players to build their own planetary system, putting planets into orbit around a star. The fun part is you rack up points ... until you add something that that destabilizes the whole system and things go haywire.  

The game is driven by highly-sophisticated software code that astronomers use to find exoplanets. It's all about orbital dynamics. Read about it at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-orbital-physics-child-super-planet.html#jCp, and play it here: http://www.stefanom.org/ (although note - as of this evening the site was DOWN. I have to think it crashed due to the fact the link to it was all over the Intertubes today. I'm sure they're resolve it soon, so keep checking if you don't get it on the first try).

GOOGLE MARS!: We spent a couple hours watching lectures for our "Science of the Solar System" class this morning. I am proud to report the kids and I can now all calculate how long it will take a space probe to travel to any planet in the solar system. Seriously! It's pretty darn easy math, really. We calculate the travel time for Mars, Saturn and Venus this morning!

Another thing we learned today is that Google Earth is an understatement. We've used Google Earth countless times, but imagine our surprise today upon learning that it also includes maps of Mars!!

There are historic maps, as well as composites made from modern day orbiter and rover data. AMAZING stuff! And you can zoom in for super close ups, although there's no 'street view' option, LOL. ;)

We loved this 1909 map by Eugene Antoniadi, a leading and decisive critic of the canal hypothesis of Mars. 
                                                             

GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME: This afternoon and evening were all about baseball. Today marked the Mariners' home opener for 2014. The morning crawled by, waiting for it to be time to leave for the field. 

I'll leave the details and photos of opening day for tomorrow. Suffice it to say Big Fun was had by all! Go Mariners - a week into the season and we're in first place!