Neil Armstrong's Passing

Just heard that Neil Armstrong passed away this past weekend. I was born about a month after his trip to the moon. Anybody who rides a rocket the size of the Saturn V has my respect.  The picture was taken late last year at the Houston Space Center - very cool.

First days of school

Busy week this past week. Tuesday was my birthday and my wife's and my anniversary. Got some nice presents that I am modeling in the picture above. We kept things low-key, because Bradley classes started on Wednesday. I also had a CT scan on Wednesday morning (looking for a potential hernia - the sonogram was negative). The procedure turned out not to be a big deal (the barium sulfate was not bad, and the tech was pretty gentle with the IV), Actually, I was sort of able to play the jitters about the test against the jitters about the first day of class - if I thought too hard about one I would think about the other. Getting back into classes is still a bit of an adjustment - I still feel a little like I am in the shallows and working into deeper water. Now that Kris and her peers are teenagers with their associated growth spurts, the college students look younger than ever before. That said, I think the first classes went OK - there is always room to do better. The girls are settling in at school and Karen's first class is this week.Yesterday, Kris's soccer team played to a 1-1 tie. Last night, Karen and I attended a social function at a house formerly owned by Lydia Moss Bradley (who founded Bradley University well over 100 years ago). The house did not look as old as I thought it would. Today we attended a charity rubber duck race on the Illinois River...well, not so much the race but a concert before the race - we know the drummer for the "Corn Wolves". We finally saw some of those goofy Asian carp jumping around a tugboat moving up the river. We could not stick around for the race itself because we had to get to the annual Peoria rock, mineral, and fossil show. The show was all right, but we had seen a lot of the stuff before. I'm in sort of a rut at those shows - I have a lot of the cheap stuff that I want, but can't afford the stuff at the next level. In fact, the only money we spent was a buck on some games for Katie. Somehow, I think the Texas sabbatical contributed to this - Kris and I had some pretty good hunting and we attended three shows. Don't get me wrong, I'll still hunt at every opportunity - can't shut that off. Today we are getting rain after a dry week and few days in the 90s.

First Day of School for PCS

Katie and Kris started first and eighth grade, respectively, at Peoria Christian School.  Their first half-day went well.  Tonight Kris's soccer team had its first game, and lost.

Marilyn's Memorial

We made a quick trip to Sturgeon Bay, WI, this weekend to attend a memorial event for Karen's stepmom.  The event was essentially a potluck supper/party at Karen's dad's house and also had a short ceremony, which included the scattering of ashes in their nearby meadow.  Katie and Kris start first and eighth grade at Peoria Christian School tomorrow.

Splatters and Apples

Kristine splatter-painted some items for her room today (outside), but got herself in the process.  Our apple tree seems to have weathered the drought and is producing.

Academic Summer Winds Down

Yesterday, we went with some friends to Sugar Grove Nature Center.  Even though the creek was dry, the kids had fun playing and exploring.  There is a nice, comfortable room there where one can watch lots of birds at feeders.  The windows are tinted and closed so as not to scare the birds away, but there are microphones placed outside and speakers inside to still hear them. It would be neat to have a setup like that.  Last night, we attended a campfire at these same friends house (the girls camped out overnight).  When it got dark, we all saw a number of meteors from the Perseid meteor shower.  Some of them were pretty bright and left glowing trails.  Today I had a pretty good fossil hunt at the not-quite-dry creek at Lauterbach Park (mostly wood impresions).  Today Karen also finished the major painting for Kris's room - light blue walls with brown accents.  Tomorrow is the "report date" for Bradey (though the chem faculty come in throughout the summer).  Classes start next Wednesday.

Katies New Camera

Katie used some her birthday to buy a camera adapter for her Leapster Explorer.  It takes OK pictures and videos.  Here are some.

Katie's Birthday Party - Part 2

Katie had some Peoria friends over this afternoon for a belated birthday celebration.  We had fun, and the weather was really nice.

Desk

Karen repainted Katie's desk that my father made for my sister back in the 80s.  It now has a princess theme and pink highlights.  We got about 0.6" of much-needed rain today; we only mowed the lawn twice in July.  We cooked hot dogs over a backyard campfire tonight.  I watched an old favorite movie today - The Blue Brothers.  I would love to show Kris, but the language is a bit rough.

Finally found The Metric Marvels

For several years I have mentioned to people, including students in my classes, about cartoons that I saw as a little kid that were like School House Rock only they introduced me to the metric system. There was a Meterman (in the cartoon I learned that a millimeter was about the thickness of a dime and that a meter was a little longer than a yard) and there was a Wondergram (in the cartoon I learned that a gram was about the weight of a paper clip). Try as I might, I could not find out about these cartoons. I was beginning to think I had imagined the whole thing. Well, tonight I finally stumbled across information about them - they were called The Metric Marvels and more details can be found here: http://www.thefullwiki.org/The_Metric_Marvels. A black and white introductory clip can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW98QCk2FdA.

Baby Tiger at Brown's Oakridge Zoo

Karen, Kris, and Katie traveled with some friends to Brown's Oakridge Zoo (http://www.brownsoakridgezoo.com/).  The highlight of their trip was a nine-week old tiger that they could feed and pet.  It was cute (and I like tigers so I am quite jealous) and pretty well behaved.  It liked to nip people's legs a little, but especially liked to play with the two dogs at the zoo.