Homecoming Delays for Expedition 28

The Expedition 28 crew, L to R:
Satoshi Furukawa, Mike Fossum, Ron Garan,
Alexander Samokutyaev, Sergei Volkov,
and Commander Andrey Borisenko

Expedition 28, the current group of spacefarers aboard the International Space Station, may have a longer duration than anticipated.

A Russian Progress rocket recently launched on a consumable resupply mission to the Station, but failed to reach orbit and the Station. While the current spacemen are just fine, the upcoming Expedition 29 launch will be delayed.  All of this means that Ron Garan, Andrey Borisenko, and Alexander Samokutyaev could stay on the Station until late October instead of coming home next week. While no one likes to think of these sad circumstances, Ron and his crewmates decided to have a little fun with the situation. Read his post about the problem here, and watch their video below.

~Photobug

The 31st--Issue #1

Hey, everyone! Welcome to the 31st--a brand-new column on my blog. Instead of being monthly, weekly, or even daily, this column will be published seven times a year--on the 31st of each month that has a 31st day! In this column, there will be contained various trivia and facts...so buckle your seatbelts, and get ready for some fun!

~Photobug

Did you know...

• that there are only seven out of the twelve months that have a 31st day?? 
• that "James Herriot" was actually the pen name of British vet James Alfred Wright?
• that the great blue heron is the largest American heron?
• that the first practical single-rotor helicopter was flown in 1939, by its' creator Igor Sikorsky?
• that Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, and actually is a chain of 132 islands?
• that William Henry Harrison is the President who served the shortest time in office? He died 30 days after being inaugurated, from a cold he had caught when he was taking the oath.
•  That William Henry Harrison's grandson, Ben, also became President?
• That James County, Tennessee was absorbed into adjacent Hamilton County in 1919? That was one of the select few times in American history that one county absorbed another. 
• That Apollo 13's lunar module pilot Fred Haise was born in Biloxi, Mississippi?  
• That the pigmy hippo (weighing about 400-600 lbs) is much smaller than its' cousin, the river hippo? A river hippo can weigh up to 5,800 lbs!

That's all for now! Look for Issue #2 coming up in late October!

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 3

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" takes trackable "Chicken Charlie" with him on vacation to Michigan. In this series, Chicken Charlie relates his experiences and adventures with Photobug on their vacation.

Hey everyone! It's me, Chicken Charlie! Thanks so much for coming back! In this article, I'm gonna tell about my trip to Michigan with Photobug, especially about day 3. On day 3 we visited a really cool museum!

OK, okay, I know that I had already seen three museum so I should probably clarify. We arrived at Photobug's grandparents' home on our second day of vacation. The next day, Photobug's grandpa took us all to the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan. It was really cool--all the cars and history and stuff--and I really liked it. Here's some photos of the Sloan Museum!

*    *    *

 ^^This was by far my favorite car--I just loved that scheme of "bird yellow"!! (I know I'm biased, but I think yellow is the best color.) Later, Photobug told me that this car was a 1957 Chevy Roadster Street Rod. I thought all the cars in the Chevy exhibit were pretty nice. See below for some more photos of cool Chevy cars!

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 2

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" has taken geocaching trackable "Chicken Charlie" on vacation with him to Michigan. On their first day of vacation, they visited the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Now on the second day of vacation, even more fun is planned!

After visiting the National Museum of the United States Air Force, I wasn't sure if it could get any better. I mean, c'mon, where else can a bird try on an astronaut suit? That was pretty fun. I wished that I could learn more about the exploration of outer space, and especially if any more birds were involved!

Here's me with one of the caches we found--
this one next to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum. 

Well, I didn't have long to wait. On the second day of vacation, Photobug took me to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio! That museum, named after Neil Armstrong himself, was the coolest. Did you know that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, or that he grew up right there in Wapakoneta? I sure didn't. (By the way, I know Wapakoneta is a hard word to pronounce. Photobug had to teach me how to say it, too. I think you say it this way: WAP-oh-kuh-neh-ta)

I'll reserve the rest of my comments on the museum for the pictures, but right now I'll tell you a little more about what we did in Wapakoneta. Guess what? We geocached! Photobug took me to four caches in Wapakoneta, and took my picture at all of them! My favorite, however, was "One Small Step for Everyone", which was right next to the museum. (See photo).

Well so much for all my bawkin' and screchin' at ya, here's some photos of the museum!

*    *    *

 ^^It's hard to see, but this is the front of the museum. The middle of it is shaped to look like a moon; they did a good job o' it! Inside that dome there's a really cool video on Apollo 11. Now let me just clarify a little something right here: Neil Armstrong named his lunar lander "Eagle", and Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott named his, "Falcon". What is it with these Apollo commanders? Can''t they come up with better spacecraft names, maybe something like "Chicken"??

Rainbows after Storms

Earlier this month, my family and I vacationed in Michigan, and had a wonderful time visiting with my grandparents. Most of the things that happened while we were visiting were happy, such as visiting several museums or geocaching. However, on Sabbath night, something not-so-fun happened.

The weather had predicted a 70% chance of thunderstorms during the day and night, though during the day we hadn't gotten much. A little bit before 7pm, the sky started to get really dark. The rains came, the wind blew, and we were in the middle of a rip-roaring thunderstorm! In my mind, there are two kinds of thunderstorms: scary ones, and really scary ones. This storm was a really scary one. The lightning flashed all around, and the thunder answered almost constantly. Then my dad heard a snap--lightning had hit part of Grandpa's house. Then we started smelling smoke. Dad and Grandpa went to investigate, and found that an electric mechanism was the culprit. They tore it apart, and put out the fire...I don't for sure know that there was fire in the mechanism, but I do know that there was a ton of smoke in the house for a while!

After a while, the rain and thunder and lightning passed, and a beautiful evening ensued. A beautiful rainbow arched the sky, and a distinct, bright red color was all over the horizon as the sun set. It was a very tranquil setting, but I appreciated it much more knowing what had come before.

You know, I've been thinking about that experience and how it relates to our spiritual walk. Just like the thunderstorm, we have "storms" and tough times in our spiritual lives, too. At times it can be hard. But three things can help us in this situation. First, knowing that the tough thing we're facing probably won't last forever. Now that's not to say that more tough things will come, but any particular tough thing has a good chance of not lasting forever. Second, we can have the reassurance that Jesus is always with us, no matter what, through thick and thin! See what He says in Matthew 28:20--

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Finally, when a tough thing comes to a close, there will most likely be a beautiful thing. Now this beautiful thing might not be a huge thing, but little things are important too. In other words, there are rainbows after storms.

I don't know about you, but knowing these things helps me get through tougher times. Isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus is always with us?

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 1

 Hey guys, this here is Chicken Charlie! Nice to meet you, if you don't know what I am, then, I'll tell you right now! I'm a geocaching trackable that was released in New Jersey almost a year ago. As a geocaching trackable, I am placed in different caches. When a geocacher (the person finding the geocache) finds the cache that I'm in, they'll pick me up and then drop me off in another cache!

Well, back in January a cacher placed me in a cache. Wonderful! Except...no one ever found that cache for seven months! So it was late July by the time that another cacher (Photobug) found me and took me out! Whoa, boy, I tell ya, it can get STUFFY in a cache sometimes...especially if you're in there for seven months straight!

I can't tell you how grateful I was to Photobug for taking me out of that stuffy cache! But Photobug really went the extra mile. Instead of just dropping me off in another cache, he took me on vacation to Michigan! We traveled 1300 miles together, found 14 caches, and visited 6 history museums!! It's a big task for a little bird, but Photobug asked me to write this series of articles on our trip together. So here it is, I hope you enjoy it! I don't know how fast I'll get 'em out, (you know, I am busy doing some more traveling right now), but I'll do my best to finish the whole series! Enjoy!

*    *    *

^^Kentucky time!! After driving several hours in Tennessee, this chicken was more than ready to rack up a new state!

^^I had never seen rocks like these before.

^^Bawk, bawk, I found my first Kentucky cache! It was a really nice one, too. I even picked up a German geocoin!

^^Wow, three states in one day!

^^I liked this rubber ducky, but quite frankly, I think they should've had a CHICKEN up there!!

^^Our first museum of the day: the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Now, I gotta clear up somethin' here.  In this museum, they talk all about how PEOPLE learned to fly,

and how they did this or that with flying. HOWEVER, as a BIRD, I happen to know and believe that us BIRDS were the first ones to learn how to fly! Just sayin'.

^^Probably my favorite part of the museum was trying on this astronaut suit. C'mon, don't you think they should make astro-BIRD suit??

An Ocean Journey

One of the highlights of this past week was going with my family to the Tennessee Aquarium!! I'd been there several years ago, but it was still great fun to see it again. I think my favorites were the butterflies and penguins...well, I'll stop jabbering and let you start looking at my photos!

~Photobug

^^Mom, Dad, and Alison at the entrance to the "Tropical Cove".

 ^^Sting rays.

 ^^I'll admit, I don't know many animal, bird, or plant names--but I am an admirer of them!! This red flower really caught my attention.

 ^^Photobug himself! ;)

 ^^I think these were manta rays, but I'm not sure. You could actually "pet" them, with two fingers!

 ^^Doesn't this fish look like he's smiling? ;)

 (above and below): next few shots are of the lovely flowers in the Aquarium.

 (above and below): now to my favorites! The butterflies are just so pretty. I think I could stay in there all day taking pictures of them!!

 (above and below): Continuing on, we come to my second top-favorite exhibit: the penguins!! They are just so cute and cool.

 (above and below): Me and Alison with some penguins...well, sort of! :D

 ^^We visited the Aquarium in the evening, so naturally the penguins were tired after a long day of entertaining people. By the time we came by, they were giving us the cold shoulder, literally! ;)

 ^^This guy was nice, though.

 (above and below): Next several pictures are of fish...and sharks, and more fish. They are all housed in one tank, and there are multiple viewing areas and levels from which you can see the fish and sharks.

 ^^"Why did those Aquarium folk let all these people in, late at night?? That means we have to stay up past our bed time!!"

 ^^Jellyfish, I think...

And finally, the tunnel you can go through which is under the big fish/shark tank. It has some really cool viewing ports!