Growing

 

DONE DEAL: Tonight, we finally got around to voting our ballots. Working for King County Elections, I know that it's really helpful if people turn in their ballots sooner rather than later. Ours will go into a drop box tomorrow. 

The good news is, a whole lot of people are into the early vote action this year. The graphic below was posted by Washington state Governor Jay Inslee yesterday. ...

Speaking of King County Elections, if you want to be in the room where it happens (to borrow a "Hamilton" quote), check out this site:

There, you can watch ballots being opened, registrations being taken, and more. Check it out! https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/about-us/security-and-accountability/watch-us-in-action.aspx

THERE IS ANOTHER: If you're a regular reader, perhaps you remember our not-too-long ago RIP pumpkin post. Our one and only separated from the vine when it was smaller than a walnut.

Yesterday evening, Christian was taking the dogs out and checked our pumpkin vine and lo and behold, there is a new squash growing!

It's already the size of a golf ball (so huge! haha). We're very excited. This could be the Great Pumpkin. :)

Touchdown!

KINGDOM COME: It's still very much the pandemic, so we can't go to games, but we can still play them. One we've played a couple of times recently is Carcassonne. It's about building highways and cities and an monastery every once in awhile.

It's fairly fast, and pretty fun, if you win, like I did tonight, hahaha. Actually, I didn't just win, I pretty much crushed the competition. That doesn't happen very often at all, so I feel pretty OK about reveling in it. :)

CRUNCH TIME: Busy busy busy times here. CJ's keeping busy with college and Annabelle is right by his side each and every day. They do their math and biology lessons side by side, and it's good for both of them.

Meanwhile, I am registering voters ... So Many Voters ... each and every day. Public service announcement/plea here: If you're ever filling out an important form, like, say a voter registration record, please, OH PLEASE, take your time to fill it out in a way some who isn't you can actually read it.

I beg of you. I spent a half hour today on one reg form, trying to figure out the name entering every which way it might have been. In the end it was all for naught, and that's so sad. I WANT to register voters!

Also, it's good if you spell your own name right (yes, that's a thing). Oh, and you were not born in 2020 (yes, that's another thing). Sigh. It's also really helpful if you know your address. Just sayin'.

NAILED IT: Big news from NASA this week. They managed to send a spacecraft to an asteroid, do a quick descent, and pluck a sample. Pretty amazing!

According to NASA, the probe touched asteroid Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds, hitting its mark within 3 feet of the targeted location. Not bad at all!

In the video below, you'll see the SamCam imager’s field of view as the spacecraft approached and touched down on Bennu’s surface.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LJBv4reH9IU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I've tried over and over, but not sure the embed is working. Here's a link to the video: https://youtu.be/LJBv4reH9IU

One fun thing: We here MPA peeps had our name on the probe that touched down on the asteroid. So, we've been to an asteroid. We'll have to add that to our resumes. :)

Weekend Scenes

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: A couple of weeks ago, Annabelle said, "It may be the pandemic talking, but I think I want to cut my hair."

I told her it's her hair and she can do whatever she wants with it. 

She said she'd like to donate her hair to a nonprofit organization. A quick Google led us to Wigs for Kids,  a nonprofit organization that has been serving children suffering from hair loss since 1981.

They had instructions on their website, including the requirement that donors send hair that's at least 12 inches long.

We measured her hair carefully and I sectioned it off. 

I lopped off each of the pony tails and then cleaned up the cut.

We're still going to make her an appointment somewhere to get a pro cut and color, but this step was a good start. 

Her hair is ready to go to its new 'home,' the head of a child in need.

BIRTHDAY GIRL: Sunday, Annabelle turned Sweet 16. It was a pandemic birthday, so that meant the celebration was a bit different than it might have been.  We headed to West Seattle where we ordered brunch from the Easy Street cafe. (Easy Street is an iconic record store that happens to have a quirky little cafe on site.) 

Because of COVID, we ate in the car instead of in the cafe. 

Afterward, we headed  to a new game store in West Seattle, The Missing Piece, where I'd reserved a table. We'd never been there before, so that was fun. It was a nice place, spaced out, people were wearing masks and it felt safe. 

We spent an hour there, played a game (Taco vs. Burrito), she picked out a new game (Betrayal at House on the Hill), then we went to Super Deli and played her new game (outside, on a table under cover), and Sunday evening she played D&D with her regular group online.

All in all, a pretty nice birthday, despite the pandemic.