Month: September 2016

We spent this last weekend at one of my favorite places, the Kennedy Space Center. It’s been several years since my last visit, which was well before they retired all the space shuttle orbiters. After spending five years chasing a shuttle launch I finally caught the final launch of all, Atlantis, July 8, 2011. Atlantis is now at home at Kennedy and I was anxious to see her once again.

I had heard from my son, Ben, that the exhibit was excellent and quite moving, but even with that intro I wasn’t quite prepared for the emotional impact it had on me. I’m not sure why we get choked up about the things we do. They are different for everyone, and why something moves us and not another I don’t really know. Sometimes it’s linked to a memory from childhood, or a connection with a parent, perhaps a desire that has always burned within us to be a part of that something. It’s a mystery, but for me manned space exploration has carried me with it, even though my feet have never left the ground.

I am in awe of the men and women who are able to set aside personal fear, or perhaps driven by it, and not only voluntarily strap themselves to a rocket that hurls them toward the stars at 18,000 mph, but compete for the privilege to do so! The shuttle missions may be over, but it’s not the end. It is just the beginning. Orion is being born and it won’t be long till we are on our way again. I will be there. I will always be there.

My daughter-in-law, Becky, was anxious to see my reaction as we entered the building where Atlantis waited. If emotion is what she wanted, she would not be disappointed. The music sparked a catch in my throat, the blast off mural on the wall triggered tears, and we weren’t even to doors of the exhibit yet.

For those of you who have not yet seen it, but plan to, I will not be the one to spoil your experience with details here. Let it be enough for me to say that at every pause, my anticipation built, and along with it my excitement. I could feel it in my blood. It was as if electricity coursed through my veins! And then…there it was!

Atlantis! An old friend had come home! No…Becky was not disappointed. I cried!

 

 

 

We’ve had cats as members of our family for roughly 19 years, and yet it wasn’t until last year that I learned they shed their claws. How could I not know that? I discovered it one morning after my daughter’s dog and our cat decided to engage in a clash of the Titans. Cleo (bulldog) ended up with a scratch on her nose, while Patches (Manx cat) lost a claw on the foot of the bed. I figured Patches was really hurt, but there was no blood, no limping, no nothing. She’s a cat. You don’t go poking around. She pokes back. She didn’t seem any worse for the excitement, and rather disinterested in my attention.

Over the next few days I began to notice another claw on the floor and then another. What was going on? So, I looked it up. Who knew cats shed their claws? All news to me! Our cats had always had indoor/outdoor privileges. It wasn’t until we moved to an apartment in Florida that Patches became a bona fide “house cat”. I think in the past her and Sophie had either shed their claws while outside, or because our homes were in the country I didn’t notice every little thing on the floor.

I became fascinated with this phenomenon. Patches would only let me see her claws when she was in a bad mood, and at those times I was only interested in getting outside of her reach, not making a scientific study of it. But, these sheds I could examine up close without any clear and present danger. I could identify which claw she shed by its size. They are all fascinating, but the big ones are impressive, and it’s these claws that brought me to this conclusion.

Dinosaurs! What happened to them? They turned into cats! That’s right, cat claws look like velociraptor claws! Don’t believe me? Look it up! And doesn’t it make more sense that the dinosaurs evolved into cats rather than birds? Cats stalk their prey, hiding in bushes, silently waiting, making a sneak attack. They are stealthy, lighting fast, and watching. Always watching. I saw the same thing in Jurassic Park! When was the last time you witnessed your parakeet do this? There may be an argument that pterodactyls are now pelicans. Definitely a resemblance,  but the big boys of the dinosaur age are definitely cats…if you believe in evolution between species, which I don’t, but if you did.

 

This morning I looked out my window to a parade! A parade of 45 ibises! When the rain stops they come out of the woodwork, or jungle, or swamp, or wherever they hang out. You always see a group of them around, but 45 exceeds a group. That’s an assembly! They like to eat small crustaceans, a frog or two, and the occasional snake. All the standing water left behind by Hurricane Hermine means the buffet is open, and the ibises are bellying up to the bar.

Ibises are plentiful in Florida and a beautiful bird, so the first time I heard them called Florida pigeons I was taken aback! My experience with pigeons goes back to my days at Arizona State University, and making a well-timed dash for the door of the life science building. The windows of that building were recessed. The perfect roosting place for pigeons! You could always hear them cooing, which meant they were there, and they were always there. I would look up, making sure I saw nothing but heads, no tails, and then bolt for the door, hoping nothing plopped on my head, my back, or my books.

A pigeon is roughly a foot tall and weighs in at 12 ounces. An ibis, on the other hand, is almost 2 feet tall, weighs in at 2-1/2 pounds, and has a wingspan of 3 feet! That means the bombing run it makes at you or your car has a significant impact. They walk tirelessly on the ground in search of food that they dig up with that long beak, but they roost in the trees. This is a beautiful sight, but could be the reason there are so many car washes in Florida.

Watching my ibis parade made me smile. The reward for suffering through a week of rain.