Back in the city, Good morning all:

” ISS Sun Jul 12/10:00 PM 5 46 10 above W 12 above NE” — NASA – Human Space Flight – sighting information for Sudbury

Daniel sent the link with this information. Based on it, last Sunday Marcia and I climbed aboard our Pontoon boat. Two minutes to ten and the sky was bright enough to have not a star visible. Ten PM on the nose and from the West, all lit up in bright reflective sunlight, we saw the International Space Station hurtle across the sky. From West to North East it completed its arc in five short minutes. My quick calculations were that during these few minutes, while sitting in the gathering dark of evening, we had witnessed the ISS travel 1,500 miles.

Now THAT is something to reflect on as I sit here sipping my morning coffee. While I am groggily waking up, 200 miles above, and shooting by at 1,500 miles in a 5-minute span, is a team of six astronauts busily at work. Even more so since the Shuttle Endeavor and its crew just joined up with the ISS. Pretty stunning stuff.

We just made it back from Canada where “Climate Change” is really happening—to date, so far this year, the average temperature is around 4 degrees below normal. Crops are running 3 to 4 weeks behind previous average growth schedules. Anyway, just last Wednesday evening we had a space heater going; “to take the edge off” said sis-in-law Marlene. It crossed my mind that we should have invited Gore for dinner that evening.

The other bit was the rain. While Tuesday was spectacular the weather placed us in Ark building mode for the rest of the week. It got to a point where I wasn’t going to venture outside at all and I made plans to just hover about inside drinking Caipirinhas.

Thursday morning there was a break in the weather and we took advantage by grabbing every last bit of dirty laundry we could and “heading out of Dodge.” “Dodge” being our little patch of heaven in the North Woods. Even the Custom’s Agent nodded knowingly as we crept back across the border into the US informing him that the only items we were importing from Canada was a pickup truck bed filled to the gills (pun) with dirty wet clothes.

A couple of hundred miles later the weather had changed to warm with bright sun, blue skies, and puffy clouds. Taking advantage Marcia and I had our dinner picnic-style at a rest area just south of Bowling Green, OH. It was great, with the smell of fresh hay (and once in a while a smoky highway truck) and an inquisitive squirrel watching our every move. I believe that the squirrel had never seen anyone use these picnic tables before—we truly were the new explorers, breaking new ground, and opening new horizons.

Two weeks from now we’ll head north again to try all over again. August weather will be better!

Now I have to get busy. One reason we came back is that this weekend is our big neighborhood event. Marcia, normally in bed and fast asleep on these Saturday mornings, is scurrying about organizing the neighborhood yard sale. Another few minutes and the ‘early bird’ bargain hunters will storm through the streets.

I just ‘love’ yard sales. This is where you grab that special poster, you know the one you had to have when still in College, and purchased for $10. Then as you started working full time were finally able to get it framed for $60 or so. Now, retrieved from the attic, it is waiting to be someone’s ‘treasure’ as it is being bargained down from the $6 price tag you put on it.

This afternoon will have an array of kid friendly events. Then this evening the street will be closed to traffic and it will be music, grills, and ice cold brewskies. Normally this will bring close to 100 folks into the street and is always a blast.

Make it a great week. Oh yes, last week I mentioned that a bear had been seen wandering around some of the cabins on the south end of our lake cabin. Well, it was trapped the very next day and taken about 60 miles north. When we get back in a couple of weeks, just enough time should have passed for that bear to hike 60 miles south.

Cheers,

Dirk