It's a Wrap

FINA11Y:  Truth be told, Edgar Martinez is there reason Christian and I are in Las Vegas this weekend.

You see, months ago, when the 2019 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductees were announced, and Seattle Mariners' slugger Edgar Martinez was (finally!) on that list, eldest son Rick and his wife Rachel decided to go to Cooperstown, New York, for the induction ceremony.  That meant their Dobermans would need dog sitting, and I volunteered. 

Originally, it was going to be a whole family trip, with CJ and Annabelle along, but when those two got the opportunity to attend private pilot ground school, that plan changed. So Christian and I flew down here solo, leaving Kennedy to play Mr. Mom to the kids for a few days. 

Come Sunday morning, Rick and Rachel were in the crowd at Cooperstown, we were on their couch in Vegas, and Kennedy and the kids were at the Mariners' stadium, at a viewing party.

Sad but true fact: The Mariners are so terrible this year, the kids didn't really stick around for the actual game. They watched an inning or so before heading home to get more studying done.

STUDY HALL: Edgar excitement aside, most of the kids' weekend was spent studying for their final ground school exam, to be taken Monday morning. 

They studied upstairs, they studied downstairs. 

They studied at a school while Kennedy ran the track. 

They studied at a stadium and they studied lakeside.

They studied under the watchful eyes of Bexley.

They even studied via speaker phone, as I had ordered their same textbook to be shipped to Vegas so Christian and I could quiz the kids remotely. 

They're taking their test as I type this, and however it turns out, I do believe they studied as much and as well as they could. 

VIVA, LAS VEGAS: I know, I know, when you go to Vegas, you're "supposed" to play the slots, throw some dice, see some shows, all of that. Yeah, well, that's not how Christian and I experienced "Sin City." 

Instead, we did what we enjoy doing any ol' where - hit some thrift shops, hardware stories, and some local brew pubs.

One destination was an indoor "swap meet." We were actually pretty excited to go - neither one of us has been to a real live swap meet in years.

Yeah, well, that record still stands, unfortunately. The place bills itself 'Fantastk," - perhaps too tall an order to live up to. 

My goodness, it was just aisle after aisle of imported crap, much of it bedazzled with rhinestones and the like because we *are* in Vegas, after all. Not an antique treasure to be seen, that's for sure.

At least the building itself was a bit funky and worth checking out for our $1 admission fee.

Actual bargain-hunting wise, we much preferred the Savers (Value Village if you're from the Northwest) we hit a bit later.

Later that afternoon, we wound up at a Wisconsin bar north of town. 

It had decent Packers and Badgers collections, but the food and beer were nothing special, at least to this Seattleite's palate. 

We also hit a total of five hardware or home improvement stores on our trip, I do believe. This Home Depot is in the westward shadow of the famous Vegas Strip.

We're packing up this afternoon. I will miss this view - the one I've had every morning upon waking up.  His (heavy!) head is on my stomach, by the way. Pretzel prefers a human pillow.

It will be weird not having to share my bed with a pair of 100 pound Dobermans tonight!

Notable

GOLDEN MOMENTS:  Every once in awhile, the kids' rigorous classroom learning lectures during private pilot ground school are interrupted with a fun field trip to the neighboring Museum of Flight. 

A couple of days ago, they got to visit the "Destination Moon" exhibit currently at the museum. It's an astounding collection of Apollo-era artifacts.

The cornerstone of the exhibit is the actual capsule that carried astronauts to the Moon during Apollo 11. As you've likely heard (due to extensive media coverage), that mission is celebrating its 50th anniversary right now. Saturday evening will mark the "one small step" moment.

It's super special to have the Apollo 11 command module Columbia here in Seattle. It's the firs time it has left the National Air and Space Museum since the museum opened to the public in 1976.


There are other treasures in the collection, as well.  

Check out some of Buzz Aldrin's lunar equipment! 

 And this is a briefcase like no other. It held moon rocks!

 I really rather love this particular signage from the exhibit. I'd never seen this angle on the iconic flag planting before.

 And this display made note of a Northwest connection. I'd not thought of the Columbia tie-in before. 

 And there was also this cool graphic, giving one an idea of just how enormous a Saturn V rocket, the one that lifted Apollo 11, was.

With the Apollo 11 anniversary, there have been so many stories from so many sources about people involved in the project. It took so many individuals to make that moon landing happen! 

Today, NPR posted a story about how a 10-year-old boy literally had a hand in the mission's success. Back in 1969, young Greg Force lived in Guam with his family, including his NASA-employed dad, Charles Force. The moonwalkers had made their triumphant trek, but on their way back, a problem arose: A bearing broke in the dish antenna that was used to track the capsule. That meant that NASA risked losing the ability to communicate with the capsule as it approached Earth.

Charles Force called home, and asked his son Greg to come to work, hoping the young boy's nimble arm would be able to squeeze down through the antenna's access hole and pack grease around the bearing. An announcement from NASA public affairs officer at the time noted his contribution, saying, "The bearing was replaced with the assistance of a 10-year-old boy named Greg Force who had arms small enough that he could work through a 2½ inch diameter hole to pack [the bearing]."

Pretty cool memory for a then 10-year-old, called into service to help the moon mission!

GOOD BOYS: My view at 6 this morning. 

Look closely. There are actually two Dobermans in this photo.

We got up with the big boys and sat out on the patio for nearly three hours, letting them party down while the temperature was still below 95 or so. 

Here and There

NORTH AND SOUTH: A bit of a departure in our normal routines this week. ... While CJ and Annabelle were  grinding through ground school in Seattle Wednesday morning, Christian and I were winging our way down to Las Vegas. 

While a trip to "Sin City" might be expected to be chock full o' gambling and glitz, our mission was to babysit a pair of delightful Dobermans, while their people (Rick and Rachel) head to Cooperstown to watch Edgar Martinez inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

While we're down south doing doggy duty, Kennedy is up north with the kids, making sure they're fed, getting them to school and staying on top of their study schedule. In addition, I had a copy of the ground school textbook sent to Vegas so that we could help the kids study via phone between now and Monday, when their final exam will be given.

Christian and I flew out on Wednesday morning, after dropping the kids off at school. We breezed through the TSA lines in no time, only to learn our flight had been delayed - twice. We'd have 3.5 hours plus to wait at the airport. Sigh. At one point during the wait, I texted Annabelle and told her she needed to hurry up and get her pilot's license because we were tired of waiting for our commercial flight.

We finally got on board our plane at about 12:30.  For the first time ever, we flew on Spirit Airlines, a budget carrier. Our bird was an Airbus A320.

The flight was fine, with only a minor bit of turbulence in spots. 

Stepping out into the 105-degree heat was a bit of a shake up after leaving showery Seattle with temperatures in the 60s. 

About the time we reached the Dobermans, CJ and Annabelle were getting out of school, and, for the first time ever, they had to take a taxi, just the two of them, home. The night before we'd arranged for the ride by calling the Seattle Yellow Cab service (unfortunately Uber and Lyft don't transport minors). A little nervous about the kids climbing into a car with a stranger, as a safety measure, we'd used a Google Maps feature that lets you track other Google users, so that we could watch (on a map) their trip home.

The taxi arrived at 3:30 sharp to pick them up, which was great. We watched their progress via Google Maps, and what wasn't as great was the route the taxi driver took to get them home. Talk about circuitous. It was pretty darn obvious that the driver was trying to stretch it out to jack the fare. 

That said, they did arrive home in one (well, two) pieces, so that's $20 well spent. 

AROUND THE GROUNDS:  The summer months continue to produce some stunners around the MPA grounds. We just love this (thistle, I think) plant that pops up every July. It comes up from seemingly nothing, and grows to a height of 6-feet plus. 

There are definitely more blossoms this summer than there have been the past two Julys we've spent in our current location. 

Meanwhile, inside, we continue to enjoy the company of a couple of extra critters this summer: Stevie the gecko and Bexley the friendly feline.

And now for Mr. Meow Meow. ... 

I suppose it's only fair to give at least one of the long-term resident pets a shout out. Here's Laika, eagerly awaiting the kids' emergence from Aviation High School.  

Queen and Green

THEY WILL ROCK YOU: Friday night, as soon as we picked the kids up from Ground School, we pointed the Honda southbound, destination Tacoma Dome.

This is the third time that we've seen Queen + Adam Lambert in the past couple of years. (I can't help but note that now I've seen Queen with Adam more times than I did with original frontman Freddie Mercury [sadly, just twice].)

My photo below is not great, but it's a part of the show where Dr. Brian May sings "Love of My Life," and concert footage of Freddie is projected on a screen. Always very touching. 

Less touching and totally annoying were this awful duo seated in front of us for more than half of the show.

The guy was profusely sweating the whole time. Definitely not 'just' drunk. And he fancied himself a videographer, his phone out nearly constantly 'filming' the show. Problem was, he never did hit the record button. He'd be zooming in and working the angles ... but never once hit the button to actually record the show. Obviously, he was too impaired to realize he wasn't recording - even after Christian pointed it out to him!

And sweaty video guy was LOUD. Fortunately, he was in front of me, not behind, but the people in front of him finally couldn't take it any more and mentioned they didn't come to Queen to listen to him scream. The woman with him challenged the guy to a fight. Isn't she lovely, standing up for her man that way? (I should mention that the guy she wanted to fight was 500+ pounds, I kid you not.)

Sweaty Loud Guy eventually went and stood in the aisle to film, blocking my view, CJ's view, etc. I had had enough.  Christian pointed him out to security and asked if people are supposed to block the aisles. Of course, the answer to that is no, so the nice young security woman went and politely ask him to move back to his seat. Naturally, Sweaty Guy was a jerk about it, and was TOTALLY belligerent, yelling at her. 

And then it got worse. A few minutes later, Skanky girlfriend went over to CJ and draped herself over him and starts chatting him up. I immediately motioned to security behind me and said, "Why is this woman sexually harassing my minor child?"  

That got their attention. I also warned security that  based on my observations, these people were definitely not "just" really drunk, they were clearly on something(s) else. Within minutes, security marshaled a small army, surrounded the lovely couple and told them they were being removed. 

I guess in one respect we were lucky in that we were in the top row of the lower bowl and there was security behind us all the time. It could have turned out much differently.

So, once the jerks were gone, the last part of the concert was super enjoyable.

BLOCK HEADS: Saturday afternoon was our neighborhood's annual block party. For the occasion we made a couple kinds of deviled eggs (an "all American" bacon and cheese, as well as a Japanese inspired daikon and furikaka.

Naturally, some cookies were also on the bill. I decided to go with a local theme. I made apples (Washington is the apple capital!), some SKY 'bumperstickers' (our neighborhood is Skyway), some evergreen Washington states, the obligatory Space Needles and even a few salmon, like the ones they throw around at Pike Place Market.

I really liked the speckling technique that Annabelle used when decorating the fish. It made them look very authentic.

GARDEN GROWS: I thought it time to put in a little update about our growings on around MPA.

We're happy to report the spaghetti squash that we started from seeds is now a network of enormous vines sprawling alongside our clover lawn.

Little squash can be spied underneath the big leaves.  I like the one below - the squash blossom atop it looks like a bouffant hairdo!

Tomatoes are coming on, albeit slowly. We haven't had a ton of sun so far this summer. 

 I'm hopeful that we'll have a sunny August to push these guys toward red.

Brain Freeze

SLURP: Once a year, just like clockwork, the calendar flips over to July 11, and that means FREE SLURPEE DAY!!!

Right after picking the kids up from ground school, we piloted the Honda to a nearby 7-Eleven. The place was packed - cars everywhere and hordes of kids arriving on foot. Despite that, mercifully, it took only minutes for CJ and Annabelle to score their sugary concoction. 

PILOT PROBLEMS: The kids are continuing private pilot ground school. Some of the info they learned yesterday had to do with airport rules and regs, weather's impacts on flying, and pilots' fitness for flight.

They both came home yesterday talking about a video they had to watch about the effects of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, on a pilot. Though it's a super unfunny thing in real life, this training video they watched is a bit of a crack up!

RELIVING APOLLO 11: The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is coming up on July 20. That milestone has been getting lots of press as the golden anniversary approaches. There are articles, photos, reminiscences, and more. But if you want a full-blown Apollo 11 experience, you should check out this website: apolloinrealtime.org/11

There, you fill find ALL of the voices on Mission Control audio and ALL of the mission’s historical media, including footage of Mission Control, film shot by the astronauts, as well as television broadcasts transmitted from space and the surface of the Moon. It's all been painstakingly synced by Ben Feist of Toronto, and archivist Stephen Slater.

The site lest you jump in at any point. For instance, during the mission anniversary (July 16th – 24th), by clicking the ‘Now’ button on the site, you will be dropped in to that moment of the mission exactly 50 years ago, to the second. Here's what the site's front page looks like. 

What a treasure trove of one of humankind's most memorable milestones!

Plugging Away

SCHOOL VIEWS:  CJ and Annabelle's adventure in private pilot ground school continues. Every weekday morning we take them to Aviation High, where they spend seven some hours mostly in classroom settings.

The photo above is their view of the King County International Airport/Boeing Field runway from the third floor, across the street to the west. 

Once in awhile classroom lectures are interrupted with flight simulation training, by a visiting guest speaker, or a mini field trip to see something at The Museum of Flight. On one recent trip, they got to see the upper level lounge on a vintage 747.

 It's absolutely groovy, isn't it?

I wish I could get my hands on some of the orange upholstery pictured above!

LONG DISTANCE CALL:  An interesting article popped up in my feed today. It was titled, "If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion."

How could I *not* click on that?

The story, on the website Vox, talked about the pros and cons of communicating with extra terrestrials, and made note of a couple of programs to that end underway right now. 

One of the questions posed was how, if it all, humanity should respond if we receive a message from an alien civilization?

Some, including physicist Stephen Hawking and SpaceX's Elon Musk have warned that communicating with extraterrestrials could pose a catastrophic risk to humankind. Right now, scientists at the UK SETI Research Network (UKSRN) are mulling over the topic, and one thing they seem to agree on is that Earthings are "woefully unprepared to handle an alien message if we receive one," per the Vox article. 

Some of the issues at hand are who should get to decide what is communicated and when. The UKSRN has posted a survey online. Some of the questions posed include: 

• Some people think we should send messages into space even if we don’t receive a message first. What is your opinion?
• If we receive a message, do you think we should reply/make contact or not? Why?
• What would you consider a "credible source"?

You can read (or respond to) the "Message from Afar" questions here: https://www.fromafar.world/opinion

Another 'message-to-space' project underway involves the Arecibo Observatory, in Puerto Rico. A little back story: In 1974, scientists used the enormous Arecibo telescope to send a radio broadcast into outer space. It was a message of zeros and ones, designed to alert aliens who intercepted it to our existence here on Earth. To commemorate the 45th anniversary of that transmission, researchers at the observatory asked teams of students from kindergarten to age 16  to create the New Arecibo Message.

While there's no monetary prize for the contest winner, it would be a bit of a feather in one's cap to  have your message broadcast into space and to potentially become the first human ever to communicate with extra terrestrials. 

The deadline for entries has passed, unfortunately. The winning team will actually get to travel to Puerto Rico to be part of the special celebration of the 45th anniversary of the original Arecibo Message, November 16-17, 2019. in  Pretty cool! I'm looking forward to learning what the winning message is!

Downtown

BUMPER TO BUMPER: Most of our days have been consumed with the kids private pilot ground school studying, but Sunday morning, we took an hour or so to stroll downtown Renton.

It was some sort of community celebration. For us, the draw was the city's allegedly largest food truck rodeo of the summer, and a zipline "over downtown Renton," or so the ad said.

What we found upon parking and walking into the old part of downtown was actually blocks and blocks of a really big car show.

Now, we're not normally 'car show people,' meaning we don't go out of our way to attend auto shows. However, if we happen into one, like we did on Sunday, we're happy to check out the autos. 

It was an impressive collection on display. Dozens upon dozens of cars, from stock sedans to wild hot rods.

I think most would agree that this highly stylized, flashy orange 1939 Lincoln Zephyr was one of the more eye catching cars on display.

 Its interior was as snazzy as the exterior.

Speaking of snazzy interiors, we encountered a Chrysler Imperial Crown that actually has a working record player in its dash. And check out its fancy swivel front seats!

According to a poster next to this beauty, the car is so rare, there are less than 5 show-quality cars of its type in existence these days.

When we spied the car with 'wings,' we knew it was a Delorean, of course. 

And one can't say "Delorean" without thinking about "Back to the Future" shortly thereafter. 

And sure enough, in the back seat of the car, there was a flux capacitor, just like in the movie.

This was actually not our first time seeing this car. I spied it near the Mariners' stadium a couple of months ago, parking in the garage south of the stadium. I figured it belonged to a player, because someone with an MLB salary seemed likely to have the money to drop on a ride like this. I snapped a quick pick back then.

Some of the cars we saw had been 'slammed,' or lowered substantially. I can't fathom how this old Chevy even drives!

While there were certainly fancier, more rare and much more valuable cars in the show, I will always have a soft spot for the Volkswagen Beetle.

Perhaps you head the news that Volkswagen announced it was ending Beetle production (again). In fact, the very last one rolled off an assembly line in Mexico today.

While we were wandering, we kept looking for the "zipline over downtown Renton." 

Imagine how underwhelmed we were upon finding out the attraction was really only a short run over part of a non-descript parking lot. Sigh.

However, CJ still wanted to give it a go, so he and Christian strapped in for about 8 seconds of fun (which cost $25, BTW).