Wondering About NASA

I have been wondering what will become of NASA since a lot of its funding has been cut back. The first time I toured NASA was back in 1980, that was 30 years ago. The last time that I was there was in September of 2002 when my cousin and her husband came for a visit. I really enjoy out-of-state visitors; it gives me a chance to see some of the local things that I probably would not see otherwise. Places like Moody Gardens, a Fort guarding our coast that was last used in WW2, the port of Galveston, etc.

Anyway, the second tour was quite different from the first. The first time you had to check in at the office and give identification and could actually walk around and see different things. In 2002, it was commercialized, you paid to get into a building with exhibits and you could get tickets for a tour. You were much more restricted in the areas that you could walk and the things that you could see.

OK, enough, let us get on with the tour by showing you the building with mock-ups for training the astronauts. I believe the first three are for the space station:

Hanging from the ceiling is a model of the space station:

The next couple are of the shuttle:

Sorry, I don't remember what this was, may be a robotic arm?

Now, let us go outside and get up and personal with the Saturn V. Those engines are huge:

And to get an idea of how large the whole rocket is:

Let us hope that they will continue with advancements like in the past, that have affected each and every one of us. It is probably a good thing that private endeavors are taking up some of the load. Since we have put men on the moon, things have slowed way down.

I will leave you with a picture of the control panal inside the shuttle:

My Friends & Visitors

I have a few friends that come and visit with me. Some are shy and some are not, but they all are a wild bunch. Most, if not all, of my friends have more than two legs and some have none. No, they are not freaks with extra limbs nor are they paraplegics, they are my wild-life friends that come by. Some fly and have big eyes and I swear he or she is smiling at me. What do you think:
Now, wasn’t that a cute dragon fly. It didn’t look like a dragon to me, but it sure could fly, in all directions, like a helicopter.

This next visitor just climbs right up my walls in search of flies and bugs. Not an unwelcome visitor:
And another visitor, one without legs. It is welcome, also, since it does a lot of good catching small rodents. Maybe this visitor is why the last one was climbing the walls:
OK, now we have covered guests with six legs and wings, four legs and Velcro feet, and no legs, so what is next? Oh yea, eight legs:
Now, this next guest is unknown to me. It has six legs and wings, but something I have not seen before. Maybe you can tell me what it is. The next two pictures are taken at different angles:
Now this guy, not sure if he was invited to the party. I know I didn’t invite him. Oh well, he says he can do what ever he wants:
Some of my visitors have good camouflage, but when they are out of their environment, they stand out like a sore thumb. This is a walking stick. I always thought that they were vegetarians, that is until now. Kind of reminds me of a Praying Mantis, but it isn’t. Check out the next three pictures:

There is always someone at the party that snaps at you when you ask them questions or get too close to them. One of my guests is like that. Good thing he is a small one:

Well, I hope my visitors entertained you. When they left here, they said they were all heading over to your house.

Waist Line

You know, I have just been wondering about waist lines, or to be exact, where your pants end and your belt goes. I just looked in the mirror and I don’t think mine was where it use to be.

OK, let’s go back a ways. I remember my Grandpa and his waist was a lot higher than the ones I see today. Maybe his suspenders were too tight but those pants went way up to just under his breast bone, at least that is the way it looked to me.

Now, I got to admit that my waist line has dropped some. Seems like it was a slow process over the years. My size jeans got a little tight and I moved them down a little and they were OK. This process occurred over and over again until my “waist” is now way down below my belly, but I am so proud that I still wear the same size pants, except the pant legs seem a little longer now. I just bought a pair of jeans, waist 34” and inseam 30” I used to have a 32” inseam, must be getting shorter. They say that happens with age. Of course other parts of my body seam to shifting around from where they used to be. Nah, I must be imagining this whole thing.

By the way, why do they call it “waist” line? Mine isn’t “waisting”, OK, I mean wasting away.

Did you all read the Hermit this morning? He is a wealth of information. He checked into the saying bated breath. Of course, in my blog I spelled it wrong, I used the word “baited”. As I told Hermit Jim, my breath sometimes smells like old catfish bait, I may have used the correct spelling (grin). I love looking into the origins of sayings. Most, I have found, meant something entirely different when they started.

Here, I was going to give you an example and was going to use “saved by the bell” as the example. My memory is not serving me well this morning. I remember reading about it many years ago and when I started to write it down, I couldn’t remember the details. I do remember that it does not refer to boxing, but to a guard or soldier in London England who was on trial for his life for not doing his duty or something. It had something to do with hearing the bell in the Tower of London. He was cleared when they all went to the location and did hear the bell, so he was saved by the bell. Can anyone verify or correct or complete this story?

Well, I guess I “shot my wad” and am “dead in the water”, so will “quit while ahead”. Actually, I think I should have quit a long time ago.

Over-worked and Old Friends

Sure didn’t want to get out of bed this morning, I am all stove up from working under the house. Crawling on my belly, lying in water, holding head and shoulders up to reach things, and then when I got through to the pipes, had to contort this old body into a semi-sitting position (kind of pow-wow type but in a confined space). Wouldn’t have been so bad if I only had to do it once, but I was in and out many, many times. Fixing leaking plumbing is a real pain, literally.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the trouble is. Dang, back 40 or 50 years ago, I could have done that and gone out dancing afterwards. Just can’t imagine what is wrong. Oh why oh why didn’t I listen to Ben when he said to hire a plumber? Oh I know, that would have cost money. . .

Let me change the subject. Have you ever thought back to your school years and remembered some of your old school friends and teachers? Well, I have been in contact for awhile with a fellow who was my science teacher, etc. when in high school. He is an amateur radio operator (ham) as I am. He was fresh out of college and not that much older than we were, but at that age it seemed more than it was. Now, we seem to be about the same age. Time does change things.

Last November I started thinking about a friend who was in my class and we sat together on the school bus every day. Since I live 1300 to 1400 miles away from where I went to school, I don’t get back too often for reunions and the ones that I did attend, he didn’t. It took some effort, but as a last resort, I typed his name into qrz.com and his info appeared, although he had moved since, through other Internet sites, I was able to track him down and we made contact. I also hooked him up with our mutual friend and old teacher. They now have a schedule on the ham radio each week.

Then I found this old picture of a barber shop quartet that we had put together while in high school, called the “King’s Men”. That name was used because our sports teams were called the “Knights”. This was what we looked like back in June of 1960. I am the second from the left, in the dark coat.

Wow, we sure had a good time singing at school activities and local organizations. I also at the time sang in a gospel quartet that went to a lot of hymn sings at local churches.

I just recently was able to locate one of the guys (the one next to me, second from the left), and guess what, he is a ham also. I have not been able to track down the other fellows, but am working on it.

Well, I guess I will go lick my wounds from yesterday and see what trouble I can get into today. You all have a great day.

A Special Couple

I’m a wondering again, wondering about people I used to know. But, the biggest wonder I had yesterday was where the heck is my check book. Dang Dizzy, you don’t want to lose that, what if some immoral person found it and was not above breaking the law. I could lose a lot of money. Well, I don’t really have a lot, but it would be a lot to me. So, most of my morning was taken up by my wife and I tearing the house apart searching for it. I went out to the Jeep and looked in the consol and the door pockets and under the seats.

Ok, I gave up. Got some papers together to prove I had an account and went out and got in the Jeep to head for the bank. Turned it on and then it hit me. I had laid it in the back seat under a pair of gloves when we went into Michael’s and/or Hobby Lobby after being at the bank a few days earlier. What a relief, but that sure shot the morning. I told you about my short term memory, or lack of it before, didn’t I?

Now I have been wondering about some people I used to know. After Ruth and I got married, we rented an apartment in town. Didn’t much care for that so bought us a 12 x 50 mobile home. That was a big one back then. For the first few years, we had it in a “trailer” park. Met some great people. One couple was unique. The husband started out his working career carrying boulders out of a construction site. Later, he ran heavy equipment. Tough guy and very strong but a gentle, kind man. But his wife had him beat. She was taller, heavier, and stronger than he was. One day, when they were preparing to move their trailer to a family farm, she started tearing down the mobile home set up for the move. I went up to offer her help since her husband was working. When I got to her place, she was coming around the corner with a railroad tie under each arm!! Have you ever tried to lift one of those suckers, let alone two? Heck, she didn’t need any help.

The main thing I remember about her was not her strength, but it was her apple dumplings. She never fooled around when she did something, and making apple dumplings was no exception. They were soooooo gooooood, but even so, you had trouble finishing one. You see, they were so big that one hardly fit on a large dinner plate and must have weighed 4 or 5 pounds. She would even put cheese on them if you wanted or ice cream. Served hot out of the oven was something to die for. Never have I had any apple dumpling to compare with hers. They were a wonderful couple, and I felt privileged to know them (and the apple dumplings).

Stanton, the ghost town

I am going wandering again today. Had an earlier blog on prospecting, but thought that I would show you the base of operations, Stanton, AZ. It is an official ghost town and the LDMA and GPAA have and are restoring it and putting in additional RV facilities.

These pictures were taken on our last trip out there in 2008. The first picture is of me on main street. Yep, it was cool there in March.

This is a view of where I parked. Ours is the Jeep Liberty and Class-C Motor-home.

When watching the Gold Fever show on TV, I always thought that Tom Massey was short and chunky, but I am 5'-11" and he is at least a half a head taller than I am. He is a BIG guy and the nicest fellow you could ever meet. Down to earth and not afraid to get dirty. Also has a great sense of humor.

This is the office. It was originally the stage coach depot. I have some better pictures of it on my first trip.

Here is a sign that is on the old hotel that gives some of the history of this old town and area. I enlarged this from the next picture of the hotel.

The Hotel Stanton with my wife, Dusty, and one of our four dogs standing out in front.

Just a short distance down the board walk from the Hotel there was this fellow sitting on a bench. I asked him if I could take his picture and we got talking. He was full of information. He said that after he retired, he became care taker of this town and has been for the last 30 years. I just love talking to someone who has been around longer than I have. Not too many of them left any more.

Just some more buildings that have been restored. They were in real bad shape the first year that I came to this event.

This is a view of "Rich Hill" that had the "Potato Patch" on top of it where back in the day the old prospectors were picking up potato size nuggets just laying on the ground. At least that is what they say. The GPAA & LDMA have a claim on top of that mountain, but I need more time than a weekend to climb up there. Maybe someday. Hey, maybe Billy Bob can come and help me carry that potato sack full of nuggets off the mountain. . .

And just below Rich Hill is where we parked in the upper RV parking area. This year (2008) we had water and electric. The first year we were there, that was not available, had to boondock, but enjoy it either way.

May there always be color in your pan.

Pictures of Pictures - The Sequel

I warned you yesterday that I was going to put the rest of the paintings on here today for you to critique. Your comments yesterday where helpful and will incorporate them into my next paintings.

I will put my least favorite painting on first to get it out of the way. This one I call "Treeless Canyon Road". Why is it my least favorite? Well, because it doesn't have any vegetation, and I couldn't figure out how to put some in, so just left it and went on to an other painting.

Even before I ever went to Terlingua, I fount a photo on Weather Underground that I liked, so I painted it. This one I like. I call it "Terlingua-Adobe-1. The "-1" means I am now working on another painting "-2" of the ghost town of Terlingua, but this time from photos that I actually took while there last Spring. I will probably do a lot more, the place impressed me.

I'm not very happy with this one, something missing. Looks too artificial to me. What do you think? Yesterday, you all liked the ones I thought were the worst. I call this one Small Water Falls-1. Planning sometime, to do something similar, only better, of course :)

This painting was inspired by visits to Lake Whitney State Park. Remember my blog that showed pictures of the Star Parties that I went to. Same State Park, different area. I call this one Road Through Thru Twisted Trees.

OK, remember I said yesterday that I was not good at animals. But I need to paint things that are hard for me or I will never learn how to do it. I must learn from my mistakes. I intend to try more dog painting, but I love to do land-scapes more. This following picture is Our Pets-1.

I guess you have guessed from yesterday's blog, that I think mushrooms are picturesque. I like this picture of mushrooms growing out of a stump. I took a photo of the mushrooms and used it as a guide. This one (you probably also guessed the name) is called Mushrooms In Stump.

I have simple names for my pictures because I am a simple guy. This next picture is from my imagination sparked from memories of camping and hunting in the Appalachian area of the North East. I call it Eastern Mountain Stream.

OK, just had to try another animal, Benita. I referred to a picture that John Wells posted on his blog awhile back. When I sketched it in pencil, it looked perfect. When I tried to paint it, well, it didn't come out quite as good. Hey, only been at this for a year or less, and now you have seen every one of the acrylic paintings that I have done.

Oh, I am sure you have guessed the title of this painting. . . it is Benita.

I took a picture of the mountains while standing in front of The Field Lab. I tried to duplicate those mountains in this painting. If any of you have ever been there, you should recognize the mountains. The rest, I just made up, except for Benita. I got to try doing her again, since I did get to pet her once.

OK, I promise not to bore you with my painting again, or at least until I get another one done (grin). I do hope you will all be critics and point me in the right direction.