Day 8 Rainy Day
The SNAFU’s from the previous day’s blogs, I apologize for, as it is a learning process curve I should have mastered before I started composing them. At any rate I am using a new approach which shall be untold until I am finished and it is successful.
When I said it was a lazy day I meant just that, a day to complete the laundry and that was not without a surprise. (Later), Earier we got in some needed grocery shopping. (Nice to see all those fresh fruits and veggies start to come in from the Texas markets.) After that it was readin’, writin’ and watching the movie “Don’t Touch the Horses”, with Jane Seymour. Sable Island, where the film was made is about 90 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia at the edge of the Continental Shelf. It has a herd of wild horses that do not come in contact with any humans. The Island is 25 miles in length and really a “spit” in the true sense of the geographical terminology.
But back to the laundry as that was a highlight of the day for me. Another couple was just into the drying of their laundry when we started our washing. As we usually do, we exchanged introductions and noted that they were from Anchorage (AK). That piqued my curiosity and after further exchanges and that we had both taught in Alaska, I of course told him where I taught . “Newtok”, I said, and he just beamed. This man, Larry Smith had been the principal/ teacher with his wife as teacher in the early 1960’s at a time when some of the natives were still living in mud houses... He taught at the BIA school (Bureau of Indian Affairs) a K-8 school. Then we began a series of exchanges and talked of the people we knew who were still there. (I was there some 20 years later when they had electricity and a telephone and a TV in the village.) It really was an amazing piece of coincidence that we crossed paths. The village of Newtok had only 75-100 people when he was there and the village “nurse” was not married and now has many grandchildren. I do know her,well, and he told a story about Julia that involved him and the delivering of a baby when other medical personnel were 100 miles away. It is a small world. By the way, this was the cheapest laundry we have ever had on any trip as the dryers were $1.00 for a full 45 minutes. The washers were the same price per load. It was a very clean facility. That’s important when traveling.
The SNAFU’s from the previous day’s blogs, I apologize for, as it is a learning process curve I should have mastered before I started composing them. At any rate I am using a new approach which shall be untold until I am finished and it is successful.
When I said it was a lazy day I meant just that, a day to complete the laundry and that was not without a surprise. (Later), Earier we got in some needed grocery shopping. (Nice to see all those fresh fruits and veggies start to come in from the Texas markets.) After that it was readin’, writin’ and watching the movie “Don’t Touch the Horses”, with Jane Seymour. Sable Island, where the film was made is about 90 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia at the edge of the Continental Shelf. It has a herd of wild horses that do not come in contact with any humans. The Island is 25 miles in length and really a “spit” in the true sense of the geographical terminology.
But back to the laundry as that was a highlight of the day for me. Another couple was just into the drying of their laundry when we started our washing. As we usually do, we exchanged introductions and noted that they were from Anchorage (AK). That piqued my curiosity and after further exchanges and that we had both taught in Alaska, I of course told him where I taught . “Newtok”, I said, and he just beamed. This man, Larry Smith had been the principal/ teacher with his wife as teacher in the early 1960’s at a time when some of the natives were still living in mud houses... He taught at the BIA school (Bureau of Indian Affairs) a K-8 school. Then we began a series of exchanges and talked of the people we knew who were still there. (I was there some 20 years later when they had electricity and a telephone and a TV in the village.) It really was an amazing piece of coincidence that we crossed paths. The village of Newtok had only 75-100 people when he was there and the village “nurse” was not married and now has many grandchildren. I do know her,well, and he told a story about Julia that involved him and the delivering of a baby when other medical personnel were 100 miles away. It is a small world. By the way, this was the cheapest laundry we have ever had on any trip as the dryers were $1.00 for a full 45 minutes. The washers were the same price per load. It was a very clean facility. That’s important when traveling.
.JPG)
Six tanks of Nitrogen at minus -320 F (JSC)To review yesterday a bit I would again say that the Johnson Space center has much in the way of Space History and equipment from the past advances in space. The rockets, clothing, foods, tools, and the projects that are ongoing such as the International Space Lab are all depicted clearly and spread out enough so you can linger at any point and neither feel you are being in the way nor rushed.
.JPG)
Atlas Agena Rocket.Tomorrow as the rains go away toward noon we will take a short trip to some birding sites at Texas City the scene of the April 1947 “GRANDCAMP” ship explosion (Ammonium nitrate) that killed 581 people and injured 7,000 others. Every attempt that was made to put out the fire created a better environment for it. ("Steaming" the hull, pouring on water, etc) A second ship loaded with ammunition was also adjacent to it and received fire pieces from the explosion and it too eventually blew up and killed two {more people. Sightseeing planes flying overhead had their wings blown off from the supersonic explosion. But today the birds fly there in a few spots in spite of the huge refineries.. The Texas Refinery (Brit. Petro.) puts out 433,000 barrels of fuel per day with their 1700 employees. Baytown TX is the largest refinery in the USA, soon to be overshadowed by Port Arthur exp-anded by the Shell Oil Corp. The fire in Big Spring on the 16th (Feb) pushed gasoline prices up a bit. . --Enough on Texas oil.--
Old Command Center Building (JSC)
So hope all’s well out there and winter starts to” go away” Hooray for the rain in the east as they need it. Happy days,- Jim and Ruth
2 comments:
I don't recall every hearing about the Grandcamp disaster....thanks for telling us about it.
The more I read about it the more I realize that many ships went down or burned and it did start many laws in the better ways of shipping and docking regs. (See day 10.)
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