THOR Scout Launch

We hit the 2009 Pack 15 Cub Scout rocket launch with some rockets from years past. I tried to get the boys fired up to build something new, but they are very content with their old models. Come on, guys! This is a great excuse to go to Hobby Town!!!

Despite 50 over-sugared boys running around, the THOR folks were able to concentrate and put up some serious rockets. We did not see any hybrids this year, but there were lots of high-impulse H's with roaring flames and black rubber smoke. Nothing like leaving skidmarks in the sky.

All of our rockets made successful flights, which was nice for a change. One kid in the pack was not so lucky - the range officials had to break out the fire extinguisher to snuff out his rocket on the pad after it suffered a misfire and burned up on the pad. How exciting!

It was comforting to see the boys do everything themselves. I remember the first year we did this when I was able to carry both boys on my shoulders when we went downrange searching for our missiles. Speaking of missiles, we picked up a "Callisto" from Public Missiles, Ltd. It has a 38 mm motor mount and is capable of reaching nearly 5,000 ft. More to come...

First Snow

GP built Katrina a nesting box by the TV. She's in it all the time.

We got our first snow of the season last night. It's only an inch or two, but three hours away in North Platte, they got 16".

The boys put on their long underwear and hit the slopes with their snowboards. They are wishing we had received the 16" here.

Birthday Fun

This week Nana & Daisy came to celebrate the boys' birthdays. We had cake and ate it, too. Mmmmm - I normally don't care for cake, but HyVee does a nice job at making them more than edible.

JP & her mom spent a couple days painting the laundry room. It was the last room in the house to be painted. It looks great. I take for granted that I will have food in the fridge and clean clothes in the closet. With the laundry room out of service for two days, the clothes started piling up. JP spent today running the washer and filled her laundry basket waist-high. Wow - I guess the clothes don't magically clean themselves after all.

The boys pooled their birthday loot and bought an XBox 360. I have been wanting one for a while, but it wasn't very high on my list. Now that we have one, I'm kicking myself that we didn't get one when they came out. The games are unbelievable! CP has done nothing but smoke me in every game we play. I think I'll go back to my 1981 arcade games...

I finished up DigDug today. I got the monitor mounted securely and finished up securing everything so that it could survive a trip somewhere.

Today was absolutely beautiful. We were in the 30's overnight, but I worked up a sweat cutting the grass this afternoon. We mapped out the sprinklers and dog fence so that the aerator guy can poke holes in the turf tomorrw. All day Friday it was cold and blew 30+ mph ALL DAY. Days like that really make one appreciate days like today.