On the Move

HARVESTERS: Today, CJ and Annabelle picked apple's off CJ's tree. We call it 'CJ's tree' because he started an apple tree from a seed from an apple he ate many, many years ago, and this is the first time that tree has produced apples of notable size. He was quite proud of his bounty, to be sure. 

We also made yet another batch of salsa verde today - this one featuring the Trinidad moruga scorpion peppers we grew in our garden (from pepper plants CJ started). He's turning in to quite the farmer!

PACKERS: We had a busy weekend, which included a trip down to Vancouver, USA to help G&G pack up and move out!

Efficient packing is a lot like solving a puzzle, what with all the fitting things together to maximize capacity.  We filled a POD and a U-Haul. The kids liked riding in the truck back up to Seattle. 

It wasn't all work, though. We managed to watch football, go out to dinner, and the kids enjoyed playing pool at a neighbors' home on Saturday night. 

CJ looks like he was taking it pretty seriously in this photo!

BOAT = 1, ROCKET = 0:  This afternoon we were all set to watch Orbital Sciences Corporation launch their Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft atop it from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, on the coast in Virginia.

                                                                 PHOTO: NASA

Everything was nominal, and the rocket was ready to go but ... a sailboat entered the "mariner avoidance area," so the launch was scrubbed. (Obviously someone didn't get the memo ... and it's hard to believe they couldn't hail the boat of have a Coast Guard or some other chopper go tell them to get the heck out!

The new launch day and time is Oct. 28, at 6:22 p.m. EDT (3:22 Seattle time).  Live coverage on Ustream begins at 11 a.m. at www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops. NASA TV coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. EDT.For the latest updates, go here: http://blogs.nasa.gov/orbital/  

This will be Orbital's third contracted cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station. The Cygnus is carrying over 5,000 pounds of supplies.

TWO-FER: Today's weather was so nice, we took TWO walks!

This morning, we went for a long stroll, starting on the south side of the canal between Lake Union and the locks/Puget Sound.

We could see they have made progress on painting the Fremont Bridge, but none of us are thrilled with the Denver Broncos' color scheme.

 The trees are putting on their fall show. Gorgeous!

 We walked under the sky-high Aurora Bridge. 

Its network of steel support structures is impressive.

We saw a number of geese and ducks, including some pretty mallards.