County Fair!

Guess what we did this past weekend? We went to our local county fair! We've gone for several years in a row now, but some things just never get old.

"Don't let Satan snuff (YOU) out..."

As you probably know, each and every week I will help clean our church. I'll end up spending most of the day there, emptying trash, vacuuming rugs, washing windows, or a host of other things!

A couple weeks ago, I was almost done with my work at the church for that day. Just a few more windows remained to be cleaned, and then I could get onto the final little jobs! I was up at the far end of our church, by the Youth Room. Our church's technical director, Dean, was also up in that same far end of our church, working out some bugs in the Youth Room's internet connection.

As I'm washing my last few windows, Dean comes out to me and asks if I wanted to watch a really quick music video on YouTube! Evidently the Internet was working, but Dean was playing a video just to make sure that it was.

"Sure!" I replied.

And then--

Boatlift

Just over a week ago, 9/11 once again made the news. No, not because it had happened again, but because people were remembering. Just over 10 years ago, that terrible tragedy occurred.

I remember that day well. I was still a little kid, doing his homeschool on a typical September morning. One of my subjects was Bible, and at the time I was working on Psalm 91, particularly verse 7:

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."


Suddenly, the phone rang. It was my dad, almost commanding my mother and I to turn on the TV NOW! I dropped my Psalm 91 practice, and ran to the TV. Mom turned it on, and she and I both watched the second tower fall. 


It's been a decade, but those memories are still as vivid as if it had all occurred yesterday. Recently, with it being 10 years since 9/11, many people have either changed their profile picture to a patriotic one, or written  commemorative statuses. Recently a powerful video has been circulating on Facebook, and I finally made time to view it yesterday. 


I was blown away. Powerful, amazing, intense, and moving don't do it justice at all. This video was on the massive boatlift that tons of people participated in to help evacuate Manhattan Island. I had known of the tragedy of 9/11, and I knew there were heroes, but I hadn't known the particulars. I highly recommend watching this video, I've even included it with this article. As my mother says, 9/11 brought out the worst--and best--of mankind. This video highlights the "best" part.


~Photobug

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 7

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" takes trackable "Chicken Charlie" with him on vacation to Michigan. They visit lots of history museums, but that's not all they do!

Hey guys! This is Chicken Charlie once again! In this final article, I'm gonna  tell you what Photobug and I did when we were not going to history museums. Can you guess? Yep! You're right--geocaching!!

Of course, being a geocaching trackable myself, I just had gobs of fun visiting all the different caches! We found some in Michigan, and then on our way back to Tennessee we found some caches in Kentucky. Following are some photos and descriptions of some caches that I found!

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^^This one was one of my favorites--it was named, "I don't see no quails". Birds are GREAT!

Still Standing

By nature, humans would rather do nothing than something. For example, there's a lot of people who would rather stay home and watch television instead of getting out of the house and exercising on a perfectly fine day. Or play a computer game instead of folding the laundry.

While I do try to be active and not just spend my entire day starring at a screen, I have noticed sometimes that I feel like I'd rather sit than stand. For example, a couple times a week I head down to our local university's cafeteria and help clean their bathrooms and dining hall. The work is fairly easy, and the people are extremely nice, which helps a lot. However, nice people or not, after almost four hours on my feet I can get a little tired. When I sit down in the dining hall to grab some stray food article that I need to pick up, often I have a very strong temptation to just stay seated, as I am tired! However, I know that I still have a job to do, so I conscientiously stand up and get back to work. I have to make sure that I am still standing--I can sit when I am done with my work.

I've been thinking about that lately. Sometimes in the spiritual sense, it may seem to be easier to sit down and go with the flow, go with your peers, instead of standing up for what you believe in. It may be the easier option. But is that what we should do?

No. We need to keep standing for God, even if it's not easy. Of course, Jesus never said it was easy. In the Beattitudes (see Matthew 5:10-11) He said that while we may get persecuted for His sake, He will remember our actions and reward us in Heaven. Another encouraging verse is Romans 15:5--

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement..."

Jesus has promised to give us endurance and encouragement! So when we feel like our stand for Him is slipping, we can call on God and He will help us. Another beautiful promise is found in Matthew 28:20--

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

While Jesus has revealed that we may have to endure various forms of persecution, he has not only promised to give us endurance and encouragement, but to be with us! I don't know about you, but that encourages me aplenty. With God's help, we can keep standing for Him!!

So I have a question for you. When Jesus comes back in the clouds of Heaven very soon, will He find you still standing for Him??

Expedition 28 Lands Safely at Midnight

Last night, at exactly midnight Eastern time, three spacemen finally completed an 164-day trip in space. At 10am local time, Expedition 28 crew members Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev, and Ron Garan safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakstan. While communications were a little sparse during descent, the crew still made a bulls-eye landing.

Of course, I really enjoyed watching the landing last night, and especially because Ron Garan was aboard. Throughout his past five or so months aboard the International Space Station, Garan has kept an active blog on what living in space is like. So I am both happy and sad that he is back on the planet. If you want to read his past articles, go here: www.fragileoasis.org

Below are some videos of the change of command, goodbye's, undocking, and landing back on the green Earth. If you would like to read the NASA article chronicling the landing, click here.

~Photobug


Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko hands over command of the International Space Station to Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum


Expedition 28 good-byes


Expedition 28 undocking from the International Space Station


Expedition 28 lands safely

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 6

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" takes trackable "Chicken Charlie" on vacation with him to Michigan. One of the places they visit is Greenfield Village, an outdoor history museum near Detroit.

Hey guys, this here is Chicken Charlie again! Remember last time, I told ya I would have a surprise for you today? Well, I do! After two days of going to Greenfield Village, we headed back there again. Now you must understand something. With all the sooo many things we were doing in Greenfield Village, I honestly wondered if that place ever had an end. So when Photobug took me back to Greenfield Village, quite frankly, I was prepared for anything. Well, when we got there, we didn't stay the whole day in the Village. Sure, we took the usual Model T and carousel rides first, but after that we exited the Village and went right next door to the Henry Ford Museum!

Of course, I had never heard of the Henry Ford Museum before. Photobug filled me in, explaining that Henry Ford also founded the Henry Ford Museum in 1929. Instead of history outside, the Museum is history inside! There's cars and chairs and trains and planes and so much more! First, we saw some old cars--newer than the Model T's, but still pretty funny-looking. Then we visited a whole exhibit on early airplanes....you already know my feelings on those! I mean, c'mon, why does EVERYONE give such high praise and credit to the Wright brothers? I think they should give us BIRDS more attention!! Well anyway, I consented and posed for a few pictures.

After lunch, we got to visit some farm machinery...and a very funny car. It looked like a HOT DOG! Crazy humans. Still, my favorite part of the museum was the absolutely ginormous C & O Allegheny locomotive. Photobug told me it was 125 feet long and weighed over 600 tons. I couldn't really understand that, but I do know that it was HUGE!! I really enjoyed being able to fly up to the cab and take a look out the windows! (see picture).

In the afternoon we went back to the Village! (Imagine that.) After another carousel ride, we visited some really cool houses and farms from like the 1700s, followed by a tour of Noah Webster's home. Photobug later told me that Noah Webster created the English dictionary or something. Finally, we concluded the day with visiting the Firestone Farm, and a tour of Harvey Firestone's own boyhood home. Quite frankly, however, my favorite part was getting to meet some real chickens!

And now here's some of Photobug's pictures, along with my captions.

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^^Can you spot me on the coupler?

There were so many cool cars, even though they still looked a little funny.

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 5

Photobug on the Carousel.

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" takes geocaching trackable "Chicken Charlie" with him on vacation to Michigan. One of the places they visit multiple times is Greenfield Village, which is near Detroit. 

Hey everyone! Chicken Charlie here! Remember last time, I told ya that Photobug ended up taking me not once, but three times to Greenfield Village? Well, in this article I'll tell you about time #2, or the second day, that we went.

I'm learning something about Photobug and his family, and Greenfield Village. Even though they've been coming year after year, and usually three times per visit, too, there are some things they always have to do to start off their day at Greenfield Village right. Such as the Model T rides and the Carousel! I guess those rides fill up fast, so they get 'em while there aren't any big lines. Which makes sense.

So as you might suspect, I, along with Photobug and everyone else, took a Model T ride before we headed over to the Carousel. Now, you must understand something else about Photobug's family. They like to do the Carousel multiple times! Especially Photobug's sister. You know, where I came from, the big birds said it was always a bad thing to just go fly around in circles...but on the Carousel, it's quite fun!

After we finally finished with the Carousel (no, I'm complaining!) we visited the Wright Brother's home and cycle shop. I'm sure you know by now my stance on the Wright Brothers. But anyway, even if I do have problems with them and their hideous claims of being "first to fly", I still enjoyed touring their house. After our tour, we watched a play on the Wright Brothers and their sister Katherine. Right before lunch we took a horse-drawn carriage ride. It was fun, but honestly, the horses were something else. They just went clip-a-ti-clop, at a slow steady pace! If I had been in charge, I'd have made those horses go a lot faster!

Me by the Stony Creek Mill Pond!

After lunch, we visited the Liberty Craftworks section of Greenfield Village. In this district, there are all sorts of cool shops, such as a glass shop, the printing and tin mill shops, a carding mill area, and so much more! It was fun--I even got my picture with the Stony Creek Mill Pond (see picture)--but the glass shop was really hot! Photobug and his family (of course) took a train ride (again), and then we all split up. I went with Photobug, who visited Henry Ford's birthplace home. After that, we ambled on down to Edison's lab, where we watched Edison "himself" tell us "reporters" all about his new invention, the light bulb!

Wow, that's a lot of writing for a little bird! We just did so many things on our second day at Greenfield Village. I'll letcha (let you) look at the photos now! Some of the photos in this article were taken by Photobug's father.

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 ^^The fountain in the entrance to Greenfield Village.

 What can I say? Squawk, squawk! Photobug and his family just love to ride the Model T's and the 1913 Carousel!

 ^^I thought this was a pretty nice photo, if I do say so myself!

(No)Power

So yeah. This week has kinda been interesting. Not that any week isn't interesting; on the contrary, school, work, and several medical appointments always make any week exciting. However, this week, Tropical Storm Lee dumped over twelve inches of rain on our little area of Tennessee...all in two days! On both Monday and Tuesday, rain fell--constantly. I've seen rain before, and maybe even rain without thunder, but it was quite weird seeing rain fall all the time, seemingly without end!

All through Monday, and into Tuesday even, we took our electricity for granted, going about our days pretty much as planned. Tuesday lunch came--the rain was still falling, but a lot lighter than on Monday. 1:06pm. Flicker, flicker, silence--and darkness. Our electricity was out. The ceiling fan stopped twirling. The refrigerator and freezer stopped humming. The lights went out. And we were without electricity, having not a clue how long we would have to live this way. (You must understand, a couple years ago on vacation to Michigan, my grandparents' electricity went out for three days straight! So I do have some reason to worry.)

Mom had been almost done preparing our lunch when the power outage came, so we had hot food for lunch. I cleaned my room, and wrote in my journal. I was really glad that I had completed my school in the morning, as most of my school requires a computer or DVD player! Most of the afternoon, we just stayed near to our windows and did our best to do what we could without power. Since we did have unexpected time on our hands, our family worked on organizing and decluttering all our stuff in the basement. As the sun set, our one big lantern came out, and little flashlights dotted the house, giving their users at least some light. But it was still hard.

Thankfully, our power was restored just after 10pm. So we were only without power for about 9 hours. Still, it was hard. We did not know when we would have our power back. And during the outage, I once again realized a fundamental truth: you truly don't know how much you value something until it is either taken away, or threatened to be taken away. Most times, I just take the power for granted. During the outage, I didn't.

I've been thinking the past few days about this experience. It reminded me of the story of the wise and foolish virgins, found in Matthew 25. All ten went out to meet the bridegroom. However, five of them were prepared for the unexpected, and five were not. The five that were prepared had brought extra oil for their lamps, in case the bridegroom was late.

Sure enough, the bridegroom tarried. During this "tarrying" time, all ten virgins fell asleep. When they were all awakened, they hurriedly trimmed their lamps--but alas! The five foolish did not have enough oil, and the five prepared virgins did not have enough to spare. Rushing to the shops for oil, the five foolish virgins missed out on meeting the bridegroom.

I thought it was a bit ironic how closely this story matched our family's experience of this past week. Just as we didn't know when our power was going to go out, so the virgins didn't know when the bridegroom was going to come. Fine. But the difference was that some of the virgins were prepared. Our family had some light, but really not enough. Going onto deeper thoughts, I've realized: we don't know exactly when Jesus will come. We may fall asleep a bit. But are we prepared for his coming, even if it's delayed?

As for our family, Mom's gone to Wal-Mart and bought us two extra lanterns. Are we, are you ready and prepared for Christ to come?

Chicken Charlie's Grand Michigan Adventure, Part 4

What's happening: Geocacher "Photobug" takes trackable "Chicken Charlie" on vacation with him to Michigan. In this series, Chicken Charlie relates what he and Photobug did together on vacation.

Hey guys! This here is Chicken Charlie again! As promised, here is part 4 of my Grand Michigan Adventure with Photobug. Last time, I told ya that "the best was yet to come". Well, that's right! On the fourth day of vacation, Photobug's grandpa took him, me, Photobug's parents, and even Photobug's grandma to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan!

Well, as I can see, you probably don't know what Greenfield Village is. Don't worry, I didn't either until Photobug told me! Greenfield Village is an outdoor history museum founded by Henry Ford in 1929. Whew, that's a LONG time ago!! In this museum, called Greenfield Village, Henry Ford gathered many famous buildings, such as the Wright Brothers' home and cycle shop, Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laberatory, Daniel Webster's home, and many, many others! Recently there has been more fun added, in the form of authentic Model T rides, a 1913 Carousel, and even an old-fashioned train pulled by an 1873 steam engine!

Whew, that's a lot for a little bird! I'll just let you look at the pictures now, OK?

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 ^^The view out from a real Model T! Photobug and his family being pro Model T riders, they had no problems whatsoever. I, on the other hand, was a bit surprised at how LOUD that car was, and how few luxuries there were! C'mon, where's the CD player? Oh well, guess that's what you get for riding an old-fashioned car!

 (above and below): Me on a Model T!

My Aquarium Adventure

I love the Hyacinth Macaws!

As you probably already know, a couple weeks ago I had the great privilege of visiting the Tennessee Aquarium.

I hadn't visited the Aquarium for several years, but when I did visit a few weeks ago, I felt like everything was very familiar and fun. First of all, there's the Tropical Cove. The silently swimming sting rays and other fish contrast greatly with the loud and noisy macaws that shout forth and add their noise to the sounds of a rain forest!

But it's a completely different world once you enter the butterfly gardens...nice, relaxing music plays as you carefully take steps, being careful to not squish any of the winged beauties! Of course, cameras (mine included) are quite prevalent in this area, and lines will often be formed as many photographers impatiently wait for their chance to photograph a certain butterfly! I could stay in the butterfly gardens forever...they are just so pretty.

Penguins can achieve speed bursts of up to 20 mph!

After you check yourselves for any hitchhikers, you leave the butterfly gardens and go down a level to the next exhibit: Penguins Rock! Here, you enter an entirely different world, and the mood changes quite a bit. From stepping daintily and admiring the beautiful butterflies, you are now caught up in joyful playfulness of the penguins. There's a huge window where you can watch them, and there's even a list helping you identify the penguins with their names! Not to mention some really cool videos and fact sheets on this super-fast bird. I also liked the fake penguins with whom you could have your picture taken with...though they are no substitute for the real thing. I'm sure I could (again) just spend hours in the penguin exhibit, taking photo after photo. Penguins are just so cute and funny!

A Sand Tiger shark swims in the Secret Reef with
many other fish. 

After you finish playing with the penguins, you enter the dangers and hidden treasures of the Secret Reef. This is the last major exhibit of your tour; it's an absolutely mind-boggling, gigantic tank home to sharks (eek!) and many other kinds of fish. As you continue your journey, you continue viewing this tank from them many different viewing areas at different levels. The Sandbar and Sand Tiger Sharks continually make their rounds, swimming in endless circles around the perimeter of the tank. Meanwhile, smaller fish such as the Queen Trigger and others will dart here, and dart there, sometimes in great, beautiful numbers. All the while, beautiful, ocean-like music is played, and you almost feel like you are in the ocean yourself!

One small diversion from the almost endless Secret Reef is the Boneless Beauties exhibit. As you enter this area, just off of yet another level of the Secret Reef, you get to watch in wonder and delight at the many types of jellyfish that God created. So you can see better, most of the lights are turned off. However, there are some spotlights in a few of the jellyfish tanks which change colors, so one moment you'll be looking at a green jellyfish, and the next moment a purple one! Other tanks, such as the one featured in the photo, have no spotlights. The unique presence and absence of lighting, combined with the ocean music, all make for a very wonderful experience.

A West Coast Sea Nettle in the Boneless Beauties exhibit.

Rejoining the Secret Reef exhibit, you soon come to the bottom of the Secret Reef, in which you can enter the shark tunnel. In the shark tunnel, you are now directly under the Secret Reef tank, and can lay down on your back and watch the fish swim right over you. Or by you. Off in the distance, it's not uncommon to see a shark swim by in the murky depths. The lighting and architecture make the shark tunnel a wonderful part of the Aquarium.

I really treasure my visits to places such as the Tennessee Aquarium, because I normally don't see such a wonderful, diverse assembly of God's creation. I thanked Him for letting me see all these animals--it truly was a wonderful sight, to see how wonderfully diverse and unique God made all his animals. God didn't have to make animals--but he did. He created them so we can have more joy in life.

Another lesson I get from this is that in Heaven, the sharks and the butterflies will not have to be separated. The penguins and jellyfish will swim together like pals! I like to remember a favorite verse, which illustrates this topic very well:

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them..."They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD." ~ Isaiah 11:6 & 65:25

As this world keeps on deteriorating, I keep looking forward more and more to Heaven, where everything is wonderful and perfect, and all the animals will play together. Are you?

Footprints in the Dust (Armchair Astronaut, Sept. 2011)

Note: I've reviewed and written about this book before on my blog, however, it is so good I want to talk about it again!!

Footprints in the dust. What comes to mind when you hear that phrase? For me, it reminds me of a space book I've read, and one of the finest. Welcome to the eleventh edition of Armchair Astronaut, everyone!

Footprints in the Dust is a book on the Apollo lunar landing missions, Skylab, and even theApollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Edited by Colin Burgess, it is the compilation of many writer's works. While each chapter is written by a different author, some authors have written several chapters in the book. 

Footprints in the Dust is the third book in the Outward Odyssey series, the preceding volumes entitled Into that Silent Sea and In the Shadow of the Moon. Together, these books cover both Soviet and American manned spaceflight from 1961-1975. Footprints in the Dust covers the years 1969-1975, and was published just last year!

As mentioned earlier, Footprints in the Dust starts with Apollo 11. After the first lunar landing, one reads about the hilarious Pete Conrad and his Apollo 12 crew, completing the second successful lunar landing in 1969. Moving on, one reads of the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert. I thought that the Apollo 13 chapter name was well picked; it's entitled, "Apollo 13, we have a solution". :) 

I've read the Apollo 13 story many times, but each time I read it the fact strikes me once again how marvelous that rescue was. It's just amazing what people, with God's help, were able to come up with to save the crew. The Apollo 13 chapter in Footprints in the Dust is a must-read. 

Successfully bringing America back into space was none other than Alan Shepard himself. After his historic 1961 flight, he was grounded due to health problems. Fortunately, he was able to undergo surgery and was restored to flight status, this time commanding Apollo 14 to the moon. Along with Ed Mitchell, Shepard guided their Lunar Module (LM) Antares down to the lunar surface at Fra Mauro, while Stuart Roosa orbited overhead in the Command Module (CM) Kitty Hawk, named for the Wright Brothers. Fra Mauro was the originally scheduled landing site for Apollo 13. Besides becoming the 5th person to walk on the Moon, Alan Shepard became the first to golf on it!

The original Apollo 15 CM in Dayton, Ohio.

Apollo 15 is my absolute favorite mission, and Footprints in the Dust did a remarkable job of recounting the mission. Apollo 15 was the first mission to carry the Lunar Rover, the first vehicle to drive on another world. David Scott and Jim Irwin made remarkable discoveries on the surface while Al Worden made significant input on where the most productive landing sites may be for the remaining Apollo missions. Scott and Irwin landed their LM Falcon in the mountains of the moon, at Hadley Rile. Extremely well trained in geology, they brought back many fine specimens from the moon. Having the first-ever Lunar Rover helped a bunch, too!

John Young became the world's most experienced spaceman when he commanded Apollo 16--he became the first person to fly 4 times in space, and the first to enter lunar orbit twice. (He had been CM pilot aboard Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal to Apollo 11.) Along with Charlie Duke, he landed at the Descartes highlands and spent three days of exploring on the moon. After their surface time was over, the moon-walking due blasted off up towards CM pilot Ken Mattingly in his CM Casper. (I've actually seen Casper [see left] with my own eyes at the space center  in Huntsville!) 

Gene Cernan, Ron Evans, and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt made up the last lunar crew, Apollo 17. The first and only night launch of a Saturn V, Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon at Taurus-Littrow. Apollo 17 was significant; Schmitt was the first and only professional geologist to walk on the moon. Schmitt added much to the Apollo 17 mission. 

There was several things that set Footprints in the Dust apart from other space books I've read. First, it has little if no bad language. Second, when it introduces the missions, it tell the astronaut's backgrounds as well. Thirdly, it doesn't just center on American manned spaceflight. It also tells about the Soviet manned spaceflight programs, going on at the same time. It was awesome getting this overview, seeing what was happening at the same time!

Another thing I learned from Footprints in the Dust is how dangerous and risky each mission was. Apollo 11 was almost aborted because of program alarms. Less than a minute into flight, Apollo 12 got struck by lightning-twice. Of course we all know about Apollo 13. Apollo 14's lunar radar blinked out as it was landing on the moon. The Lunar Rover of Apollo 15almost rolled down a cliff! There were several problems on Apollo 16. And on Apollo 17, the Lunar Rover's fender broke! But through it all, Mission Control--and the astronauts--got safely through.

Finally, Footprints in the Dust talked about the Skylab missions andASTP. Skylab was America's first space station, and three crews visited it for months at a time. ASTP was the first international spaceflight, joining men of the US and Soviet Union. Tom Stafford, with his crew of Vance Brand and Deke Slayton, made up the American part of the crew. Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov made up the Soviet part. Once in orbit, they joined their spacecraft. I've read the hardest part of training for both parts of the crew was learn English or Russian!

Well, I shouldn't tell you too much! Suffice it to say that I think you should read Footprints in the Dust. If you want a good, interesting, and through (but not too deep) story of spaceflight in the late 60s and early 70s, read Footprints in the Dust!