Sniff!

...I can't help it. I'm a lost cause.

I deplore Billy Ray Cyrus and his re-emerging mullet.

And yet, this DOES. NOT. STOP. ME.

At the very first snippet of a 'reveal' from the commercial for that new show "Surprise Homecoming" on TLC (a show about deployed servicemen coming home as a surprise to their families)...you guessed it. I start boo-hooing like an idiot.

What's worse is this eye-watering happens every time I see the commercial. EVERY TIME. If you watch HGTV as often as I do, you obviously know that TLC commercials are like the plague on that network. I'm doomed.

Final Mission

In a couple short days I will have the privilege to be working the last week of the FINAL space shuttle mission of all time: STS-135/ULF7.

Many of you have asked about the climate at NASA as the end of the shuttle program arrives in full force. The general feeling at NASA is one best characterized as bittersweet. The end of an era in human spaceflight and an ever-fluctuating direction for the future and the agency as a whole is hard on the dedicated NASA workforce - including those not involved in the shuttle program directly. There are a lot of layoffs that have occurred and the last round of them is soon to come. By the end of the shuttle "retirement phase" we will have lost much legacy manned spaceflight knowledge and more importantly, really good folks.

In my thirty-some years of life, the space shuttle has been a staple - in fact, I can't remember a time in life without the space shuttle. I remember specifically the tragedy of Challenger in 1986 as a young student and again the tragedy of Columbia in 2003 as a just-graduating new hire at NASA.

I cannot forget what it felt like watching the launch of this magnificent, engineering marvel in person. The roaring sound, the tactile feeling of the sheer power coming from her engines as she rocketed into space on her dynamic 8 minute ride. To this day I cry at the sight of it.

I will never forget how honored I have felt working in Mission Control Center for each shuttle mission over the past ten years.

Having been blessed to have been a part of this amazing program, and in general as a proud American citizen (even with her downfalls), I will miss the space shuttle dearly after the wheels have stopped upon landing. Until then, however, I will relish every second of the mission!

Work Funny

Charlie and I are both civil servants and we each got a notice from the Office of Personnel Management that said we had an updated personnel action document.

Part of the document stated, and I quote:

"Work performance is an at acceptable level of competence."

We rule.

Gak!

It's been a month since the last entry, which by our record isn't all that bad :)

What's happened since then? I worked the second-to-last shuttle mission (STS-134/ULF6) for two weeks on the overnight shift and since my friend and coworker Lauren got sick, I got to take a turn as FAO for a few days including the Orbiter's final Entry of her lifetime! It was fun to be back in the Flight Control Room for a final time :)

I also did my civic duty and sat as a juror for the first time in my life. I spent the entire week with 11 other jurors trying to determine the fate of an alleged felon, indicted with first degree aggravated assault. The defendant elected to have the jury decide the sentencing as well, so we basically sat through two trials with witnesses and testimonies and evidence; One for the charge and one for the sentencing. It was an emotionally charged week, where I cried every day after duty and even a few times during deliberations - mostly because of the disappointing, aggressive, childish state/behavior/attitude of the other jurors and not even so much because of the case content. In the end we could not come to an agreement on the sentencing, so the judge declared a mistrial. Despite the end result, I am proud of having performed my civic duty in the most respectable and fair manner I knew how - a duty that fellow citizens have fought and died for so that we may enjoy the benefits of our legal system and way of life, as a citizens of this country.

It was the toughest week I have ever been through.

I got some Vibram shoes for running and have worn them once. Only a couple small blisters, so I consider that a win. I think I'll try again tomorrow!

Lastly, my summer show "So You Think You Can Dance" is on and it makes me happy. So far I'm not really feeling it with this season's contestants, but I'm sure someone will grow on me. I do like a few of dances though so far, but "the one" hasn't yet revealed itself. I can't wait for it!

So there I was, sitting on console, minding my own business, when what should I see? A text from my husband about wrangling some "harmless" monster-snake with his bare hands like Bear Grylls. ...or rather, in my opinion, like some kind of delusional, usually-shirtless, barefoot-running, dog-loving, Gardening Wonder also known as Fat Mar. Who does that guy think he is? Traipsing around the LC snake-trapping with a snake stick does not a wise-man make....

Mama wants to keep you around honey. Watch yo'sef wit' dem snakes.

Wife, out.

So there I was, sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when all of a sudden a snake-like shadow appears in the opaque-tinted window next to our front door, about six feet up. I thought fa-sho that it was just a branch shadow moving in the wind, cuz wth would a snake be doing creeping down our doorway?

So I went and looked anyway and was able to snap a couple crappy pictures with my phone. He was about four feet long and coming down off of our door header. I have no idea how he got up there or where he was coming from. So then I went and got my flip-flops to go try to chase him the opposite way (into the woods) so that none of our snakepocolypse-fearing neighbors would find him. I found him creeping along the dining room window sill and grabbed at him, but he shook loose; he had himself pretty intertwined in the azaleas and I didn't have a great grip on him. Then I went and got a flashlight and snake stick, but I couldn't find him again.

Oh yeah, it was not a cottonmouth, which I do see more often than any other snake. I'm guessing a blotched water snake? http://www.houstonherp.com/BlotchedWS.html

2nd to Last

I have the pleasure of working the 2nd to last shuttle mission, currently ongoing. It is bittersweet being a part of this whole operation - "bitter" for the impending end to the program and "sweet" cuz I get to be a contributor to the mission success - but I am thrilled to be on loan from my new job so that I may once again partake in Shuttle Mission Operations.

I am, however, on the overnight shift for two weeks which isn't quite as thrilling. Wheeeeeeeee! Regardless of the shift work, I will enjoy as much of this mission as I can :)

Quickie Vacation!

Charlie and I went to Orlando last weekend to help Faithie and Shawn celebrate their 5-year anniversary - Happy early Anniversary sweeties!

The whole family was there including Mom, Dad, Faith, Shawn and the kiddies, Fatty and Me.
We stayed at the Treehouse Villas on Disney property at the Saratoga Springs Resort. The Treehouse we were in was in a really nice wooded aread, backed up against a waterway upon which you could travel by boat to Downtown Disney and other resorts. We had a fabulous time enjoying time with the family, including a spectacular dinner/dessert/fireworks evening hosted by the lovely couple at Epcot. We went to Typhoon Lagoon as well, and whooped it up at the wave pool, including getting schooled by some mid-waves...lol! Mom & Dad went to dinner with us at Seasons 52 (www.Seasons52.com), our favorite local restaurant, one night and then the four of us "kids" went to dinner at Kuzzina and played some mini-golf at Fantasia...Putt (?)...another night. It was so much fun!! Of course, the kids are great and I even got Brandon to fall asleep on me - yesssssssss! Sure, I had absolutely nothing to do with him sleeping (I could have been a rock or lumpy pillow for all he knew), but either way -I call this a win :)

Lastly, we got to finally meet Faithie & Shawn's good friends Shira & Chris and Gemma & Rich(ie) - what a hoot! Yes, I said "hoot"... All were great people and they're so good to my sister. I can see why they're such good friends! I especially liked Rich since he's such a fanatic about NASA. It's not often I get to meet people who genuinely are interested in the space program, so YAY RICH! I hope they come down to visit sometime soon (before JSC is stripped on its last remaining reminders of the Shuttle program...*sigh*).

Thanks for inviting us to share in your special celebration Faith and Shawn, we love you!

Today's Harvest

Super Cuke and Super Zucc (reference the quarter at the bottom of the frame)...with a smattering of ripe, delicious strawberries to boot!!

I love our garden!

Bat House

It's been a few weeks since the last post. The gardens are going strong in the green bean, zucchini and herb categories.

Most exciting of all, however, is that Charlie finally finished his bat house. Yes, a bat house. He's been talking about making and researching how to make bat houses for a long time. Mostly I think he just thinks bats are cool, BUT they have the added bonus of eating the heck outta some mosquitos, which on our end of the development by the path and rice creek...we have an over-abundance. So, go get 'em batties!

He constructed it out of custom wood pieces, plopped it on a 20 foot high swingarm and even gave it some custom bat decals so the bats would know where to go hang out. Ha! Hang out! Get it? Yessss! I knew you would! ahhhhh...

It's located by our 4 large gardens near the back of the yard and blends in quite well. So far though, no bats...at least we haven't seen any bat guano, so...that's all we can tell.

We're waiting for the STS-134 mission to launch and hope that happens in the coming week(s).

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Late breaking news!!! Bat House pictures (and gratuitous garden and Kirby shots) discovered! Five pics in the slideshow: