model rockets

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

by michaeltefft

Christmas officially started for us yesterday. Teresa brought down all the Christmas tree ornaments from the attic and we setup and decorated our tree. We already have a number of presents to put under the tree, including a french press, electric percolator and a nice Panasonic Lumix camera. We already have most of the presents we are going to buy as this Christmas our shopping will be drastically curtailed. The shopping reduction is not so much due to the economy as it is the fact that we think Christmas should be less about buying presents and more about family and the birth of Jesus.

As always I am hoping for significant snow before Christmas as it always feels more like Christmas if there is snow on the ground. The chance of snow before Christmas here in Virginia is not very likely but one can always hope. I have been very busy doing things like getting the truck inspected, the oil changed and going to the dentist.  Today I am taking Max to the vet to get a wellness checkup, shots and some other tests done. Tomorrow I hope to go to Nike Park and launch three of the model rockets that I have recently built and are ready to launch. It is really great to be retired and have all this time to do all these things. Doing things in the middle of the week is much easier because most everyone is at work.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Smithfield Station. Most of Teresa’s family was there as well as my son Jason. I don’t see him as often as I would like so it was great that he could be there. His birthday is the  6th of December so I need to think of something to get him. That is about it for now. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas to you.

Busy, Busy, Busy

by michaeltefft

I seem to have found a source of energy that I have not previously tapped into. For the last few days I have been busy with a number of things. I went shooting with my brother Jon at a friend of his house in NC. I brought my shotgun and Jon brought two pistols and an 8mm German Mauser rifle. We shot up some pumpkins and made a target out of some plywood and paint. We had a great time despite a NC sheriff stopping by to make sure we were legal. I started back with building a new model rocket to launch. It has been a while since my last launch and I am looking forward to getting the new rocket into the air. I have also ordered a skill level 2 rocket which will provide me with a little more challenge to build.

I also bought a Roku Netflix player which I am enjoying immensely. With the Roku hooked to my HDTV and my wireless network I can instantly stream a huge selection of movies and TV shows directly to the HDTV. I no longer have to wait for the movies to come in the mail. Between watching movies I am also finding the time to continue with my Teaching Company DVD’s. I am currently watching a series on modern economics. Previously I watched lectures on philosophy and mathematics. I love to learn new things and hopefully keeping my mind active will thwart any dementia in my fast approaching old age.

Tomorrow I am going to get my flu shot and later in the month I need to get my drivers license renewed and my truck inspected. Today I attended a lecture by Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather at Old Dominion University. The lecture was titled – ‘From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope and the Discovery of Alien Life.’ The lecture was very interesting and I look forward to attending others. It sure is great being retired and having the time to do things like this.

Lastly, I spent some money and bought a professionally done WordPress theme for my blog. I installed it today and have been busy modifying and editing it. It looks a lot better than my old theme and I am hoping that it will bring more visitors to my site. I wonder what next week will bring. I look forward to finding out.

No Joy

by michaeltefft

Well, my Clix 2 has not arrived yet. I just checked its status at UPS online and it has arrived in Maryland from California. According to UPS it is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. In the meantime I have been pretty busy. As I promised myself after returning from the LDRS in Nevada I bought a model rocket kit this weekend. The kit included a rocket, engines, and launching system. I built the rocket on Labor Day and took it to the park for launch. I am glad to say that the launch was a total success. The rocket flew straight and high. Unfortunately the parachute did not deploy and the rocket buried itself 2 inches nose first into the dirt. My poor rocket will never fly again. I am undeterred and plan on buying a couple more rockets this weekend to build and fly. I anticipate a much better outcome this weekend.

The other thing I have been busy with is upgrading my web site from Mambo to its successor, Joomla. Joomla is a more sophisticated version of Mambo and I have created a rough draft of my new site. Check it out at Mike’s Place. That is it for now, I hope to be writing about my new Clix 2 in the next entry.