Illuminating

LIT UP:  Tonight marks one week in our new place. The kids were probably too young to remember a lot of the remodeling we did to our last home. This go-round, they'll not only have a front-row seat, but they'll be helping.

Wanting them to feel at home, we've decided a first-order-of-business is getting the kids' rooms put together. 

Both of their bedrooms need light fixtures that were a little more contemporary and 'them.'

We took down this fixture in Annabelle's room, and I promptly set about trying to rehome it. In fact, it's blowing up on our local Buy Nothing group right now. I think 20-plus people want it! (We'll do a drawing for the winner in the morning.)

Up in its place is a fabulous chandelier we scored from our previous Buy Nothing neighborhood group.  It's a bedazzled fixture that was removed from a multi million dollar mansion. 

A couple of nights ago, the kids helped Christian install it. 

Tonight, we finally got the lightbulbs for it.  And now, it's  a show stopper dangling from Annabelle's ceiling! And it was free!!!!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Buy Nothing?

MEANWHILE, ON MARS: This morning's email included an update from Jet Propulsion Laboratories regarding the amazing Mars Rover Opportunity's latest accomplishments.

Landed on Mars in 2004, and working many years beyond its expected/planned mission duration, Opportunity recently recorded a panoramic view on the Red Planet, before entering the upper end of a fluid-carved valley on Mars that descends the inner slope of a large crater's rim.

You really should go to the NASA website to see the larger image: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21723

In its press release, NASA notes, "The scene (in the photo) includes a broad notch in the crest of the crater's rim, which may have been a spillway where water or ice or wind flowed over the rim and into the crater. Wheel tracks visible in the area of the notch were left by Opportunity as the rover studied the ground there and took images into the valley below for use in planning its route."

The photo was taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) during a two-week driving moratorium in June 2017, while rover engineers were diagnosing a temporary stall in the left-front wheel's steering actuator. According to NASA, "The wheel was pointed outward more than 30 degrees, prompting the team to call the resulting vista Pancam's "Sprained Ankle" panorama. Both ends of the scene show portions of Endeavour Crater's western rim, extending north and south, and the center of the scene shows terrain just outside the crater."

Fortunately, NASA's team was able to straighten the wheel to point straight ahead, and now they're using the steering capability of only the two rear wheels. The right-front wheel's steering actuator has been disabled since 2006. 

Overall, Opportunity has driven 27.95 miles (44.97 kilometers) since landing on Mars in 2004.