Those Moments - Challenger Disaster

Thirty years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It became one of my "Where were you when?" moments.

I was sitting in the library with my classmates watching the launch on television. We were excited by the prospect of a teacher, and ordinary person (astronauts were extrodinary) being launched into space. The media had been hyping the mission for weeks. We all watched in anticipation. Up it went and then it was gone.

I don't remember who I was sitting with that day. I don't remember what channel we were watching (this was before cable tv and internet). I do remember the on air reports hesitating to announce that the shuttle was gone and that those seven people were dead.

Almost 18 months later, on a class trip to Washington DC, we visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the memorial to those men and women.

In 2008, I visited Arlington again and the Challenger memorial had been joined by another, honoring the astronauts of the Columbia disaster in 2003. 

Two similar events, (Challenger exploded shortly after take off. Columbia shortly before landing) seventeen years apart that really bookend the shuttle program in the United States. Thirty years ago the prosepct of going into space was exciting and captured the interest of people. Today, it probably never crosses my students' minds.

The Challenger disaster keeps coming back into my life. It' one of "those moments." Last summer while visiting the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama I found a wall of mission patches and pins for sale. I love label pins and I wanted one, but only one. I wanted the pin from that day in 1986. It took some searching, but I found it. 

Rest in peace Challenger Crew. You are not forgotten.

And they're back!

The gobblers are back in the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure it's part of the same flock of juveniles who were hanging around last fall.

Race Day

This morning my friend Tina and I braved the wet, participating in the 17th Annual Cascade Half Marathon events. No...we don't run, and we don't do 13.1 miles. We take advantage of the short 2 mile walk, as we have for the last several years. We started with the 10K in 2011 and that was not fun.  I missed 2012 due to a broken foot. From there we've done the two miles. Get it done in 30 minues, eat some soup and home to do whatever for the rest of the day. It's a good January tradition.

Ice

School was cancelled today due to ice. I took the opportunity to take a few photos from the back deck.

A New Year

I say it every year, but I'm not sure where 2015 disappered to. I know it happened. I know I was busy and occupied, enteretained and opinioned. I also know there were great highs and great lows.

We ended the year with family night at the movies. Three generations lined up in a row to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I have to say, I was a bit nervous about how Disney would handle the film, but I really enjoyed it.

So, now 2016 has begun. Today dawned bright and cold. A visit with family friends and a snuggle with their dogs and kittens. Followed by lunch with my parents.

Happy New Year. May 2016 be awesome.

My Kitter

2000-2015

It's been a journey. Kit came to live with us on October 10, 2000. He was a stray, but well mannered. We don't know exactly what his life was like for those first four or five months, but the last fifteen years have been awesome.

On August 10, I took him to the vet to have a small bump on his chest looked at. Our wonderful vet was concerned, so she did a needle aspiration and came back to tell me the cells looked suspicious and she was sending them to the lab for analysis. Kit and I went home to wait out the weekend. On Monday, she called to tell me the lump was a cancer tumor. On Tuesday we were back at the vet for a chest x-ray and blood work. If the cancer was localized to the tumor, we could do surgery and remove it. Luck was not our ally that day.

Kit's lungs should have been a solid, black mass on the radiograph. Instead, they appeared grey and fluffy. Kit was terminal, so we came home to enjoy the end of our last summer together. Prednesone was prescribed to aid with lung function and we went on with our lives.

I was determined to make the best of the time we had. Days were spent indulging him in his favorite foods until he was no longer interested in eating. Daily walks in the yard as I watered the garden, until it was too tiring to walk down the stairs. One last camping trip over Labor Day weekend. Lots of lounging in the sun on the deck.

This went on for almost three months. On Wednesday I came home from work. He had nibbled at his breakfast, but hadn't moved from the spot I left him in that morning. I took care of some chores and he dragged himself into the kitchen before easing down onto the floor, exhausted and breathing heavily. The look he gave me said simply, "It's time". So I bundled him into his crate, made a couple calls and made one last trip to the vet.

Saying goodbye isn't easy. Our vet office is staffed with wonderful people. We were escorted to the "grief room". I don't know what else to call it, but we were given privacy and time to reminisce and love on my most amazing cat. Time to rub his ears and listen to him purr. Kit's actual passing was very quick once the drugs were administered. He was gone just before 7 pm.
And I cried buckets.

Turkeys

I've seen this flock of eight turkeys in the neighborhoot several times. They've been doing a great job of cleaning up the bugs and they like to check out the neighbor's water fountain. Tonight, when I got home from work they were in the neighbor's yard. A few minutes later they had crossed the street and were busy cleaning up the seed on the ground under the bird feeder. Kit wondered what they were doing in his yard.

 Unfortunately, they spook easily and so my only pictures are of them walking away.