Growing Along

BY THE YARD : This weekend, we worked in the yard a bit, weeding the vegetable garden, and planting a couple more flowering lovelies in the rockery.

Just stark rocks a couple of summers ago, after we installed it (all 18 tons or so, using just our bodies, brains, some ropes and pulleys), now it's HQ for birds, bees and butterflies by the dozens, on a daily basis.

Apparently, they aren't scared off by the carnage the T-Rex has caused among the garden gnome population. 

 We've seen many a bumblebee this year. They love the "Yellow Submarine" plants we have.

 Our crocosmia is in full bloom.

 It's such a bright red, it almost looks illuminated.

 We checked our big potato pot and found spuds popping up all over!

 They are all descendants of this very special potato Annabelle got in the mail last October!

 She was quite pleased with her plentiful harvest!

MEANWHILE, IN WEST TEXAS:  On Sunday morning, Kent, WA, based Blue Origin conducted an impressive rocket test.  Their New Shepard flew again, reaching an apogee of 331,504 feet (101.042 kilometers). This test was the fourth flight for that same booster, and the sixth trip for the capsule atop it.

https://youtu.be/xYYTuZCjZcE

The team intentionally did not deploy one of three parachutes on the capsule in order to prove they could softly land with only two chutes open. In order to ensure future crews' safety, the Blue Origin's capsule has been designed to have one or two levels of redundancy in every system.