Day 13- Hill view Ranch (The Rocket Ranch) & Willow City – A Big Thank you

Today’s blog is going to be short. It is really just a big shout out to Camey Stewart, the owner of Hillview Ranch, and Willow City and the owners of the surrounding ranches, the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department, and the Willow City School.

First a huge thank you to Ms. Camey Stewart for the use of her ranch each year where the event is actually used as a launch site. This event couldn’t happen without you and your generosity toward SystemsGo and the rocket project as a whole. It takes a big heart to allow this on your property and all that it entails. I know the place takes a bit of a beating each year and this year with the rain, it was probably more than usual. I know that it is greatly appreciated by all. You are a blessing to this educational program.

Second Willow City and most of its residents as a whole. What a fantastic community to allow all these schools to come out, and hold this event in your area.  You are all helping to further the lives and educations of all these students and their futures in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The fact that the community allows them to come out and have a place to launch rockets, and have the ability to hunt for them and recover them so that each group can complete their projects through the post analysis phase is truly phenomenal. Just having the permissions of the land owners in the area to allow recovery teams come onto their property and search and recover rockets is a big thing in itself.

Third, the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department for both allowing the use of their fire station for Stage 1 rocket inspection, and to supply a truck and volunteers at the launch site and fire house for assistance as needed. Your group is such a vital part of the group. I know you are greatly appreciated, and what’s a day spent watching rockets and smiling students worth anyway? I know for myself as a volunteer it is well worth the time and effort and having you there as support and help makes it that much more.

Also to the Willow City School House/community Center for allowing Stage 2 rocket inspection on your site. Providing the parking and facilities there as well is always a great plus. It amazes me each year as I drive by to the ranch at how full your site is with buses and students even in the early hours.

I can’t give enough praise to all of our friends and neighbors in this area that give so much of themselves, their time, like I already mentioned, just the permissions to be there to this outstanding educational program. The Slogan on the police mule in the featured picture says it all, “Our Community, Our Commitment”, and this community has definitely made a lasting commitment to our students’ education and future.

Lastly, as just one of many volunteers to SystemsGo, I want to say thank you to you for developing this program for our students. I personally have had two daughters go through it and continue on in things that it inspired in their futures. I couldn’t be prouder of each o of them, and I couldn’t be happier that they had this opportunity. Also, thank you SystemsGo for allowing myself and my family to be a continued part of the volunteer staff.

SystemsGo is igniting the lives of students across Texas! Thank you all!

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 12-Back to Reality, I Miss Rockets!!!!!!

The first day back at work was a busy one. It was time to catch up on all that had come in while I was out, that Billing Day didn’t require some one do for me in my absence, and there was plenty. Of course I know there was plenty that had been done too. It wasn’t too bad though, and helped me get acclimated again. I also cashiered for half the day so some things had to wait until tomorrow. That is just the nature of the situation.

I did get to have Connie’s lunch at noon today though, so Steve and I were able to eat with Chelsea and Guy before they left for Lubbock again, that was nice.  I also was able to text a little with Kasey today, since she had a training day for newbies and she was bored. We talked about her fun time on her birthday riding roller coasters and hanging with her goofy Marine friends and Melissa. We have a standing joke that her dad started about Marines biting so she assured me no one got bit and then called me silly. I just don’t know what she means by that!

After work, I went to see my mom at rehab. She is doing really well, and will probably get to home later this week after the staples are taken out of her knee. She is really happy about that. She is walking well now, and the pain and swelling are much better again. She says the other knee no longer hurts anymore either. Her hair dresser had been by and fixed her hair for her and she looked so pretty. She was quite happy with that too. It will be great when all this is completely over with and she get out and around again like she could before her knee went bad.

I had church council this evening. And it seems every evening this week there is something again, and apparently Saturday as well, It just seems to be crazy busy all the time. Just a crazy observation, but look at those two words, crazy a busy, yet another conundrum of the English language. They rhyme and both have z sounds, yet one is with a s and the other a z. I know, a random thought, but it was there so I decided to share it.

Last week was quite busy, but I wouldn’t trade it, because that busy was fun and I would go right back to it if I could.  Poor Steve went on call this morning and is still out right now working. No rest for the weary. We had a really brief rain shower a few minutes ago. I haven’t seen the TV or any weather since Wednesday night so I have no real idea what it is supposed to do. Weather tends to cause outages though, so that means work for our linemen, including my Steve.

I am happy to have the rain though. We had a total of 4 inches at my house Thursday through Sunday. Yippy, but now I live in the Amazon, and I don’t think I have moved locations. The worst part is, that all our mowers have quit working, so that creates a problem. Right now I think we need a shredder anyway. There are some areas that my medium-sized dog gets lost in when she runs through it.

I would like to congratulate SystemsGo on another successful launch year for Rockets2015. Both weekends here and Houston went well. I would also like to say how thankful to this program I am. I have had two daughters. I would also like to thank SystemsGo for having us as volunteers for the program. I am really happy to be part of such a fantastic education based program for our youth.

Of course the Goddard level launches are still coming up hopefully in July at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I will keep everyone posted on that as well as information is available. The schedule is always at the mercy of the Army so I won’t give dates until we know for sure, but right now they are looking at early July. Good luck to all those schools and safe  travels when you go there. For more information as usual check their website at www.systemsgo.org .

Day 11-Fredericksburg Rocket Launches Day 4-Sunday, Hondos, and Home

The first day back at work was a busy one. It was time to catch up on all that had come in while I was out, that Billing Day didn’t require some one do for me in my absence, and there was plenty. Of course I know there was plenty that had been done too. It wasn’t too bad though, and helped me get acclimated again. I also cashiered for half the day so some things had to wait until tomorrow. That is just the nature of the situation.

I did get to have Connie’s lunch at noon today though, so Steve and I were able to eat with Chelsea and Guy before they left for Lubbock again, that was nice.  I also was able to text a little with Kasey today, since she had a training day for newbies and she was bored. We talked about her fun time on her birthday riding roller coasters and hanging with her goofy Marine friends and Melissa. We have a standing joke that her dad started about Marines biting so she assured me no one got bit and then called me silly. I just don’t know what she means by that!

After work, I went to see my mom at rehab. She is doing really well, and will probably get to home later this week after the staples are taken out of her knee. She is really happy about that. She is walking well now, and the pain and swelling are much better again. She says the other knee no longer hurts anymore either. Her hair dresser had been by and fixed her hair for her and she looked so pretty. She was quite happy with that too. It will be great when all this is completely over with and she get out and around again like she could before her knee went bad.

I had church council this evening. And it seems every evening this week there is something again, and apparently Saturday as well, It just seems to be crazy busy all the time. Just a crazy observation, but look at those two words, crazy a busy, yet another conundrum of the English language. They rhyme and both have z sounds, yet one is with a s and the other a z. I know, a random thought, but it was there so I decided to share it.

Last week was quite busy, but I wouldn’t trade it, because that busy was fun and I would go right back to it if I could.  Poor Steve went on call this morning and is still out right now working. No rest for the weary. We had a really brief rain shower a few minutes ago. I haven’t seen the TV or any weather since Wednesday night so I have no real idea what it is supposed to do. Weather tends to cause outages though, so that means work for our linemen, including my Steve.

I am happy to have the rain though. We had a total of 4 inches at my house Thursday through Sunday. Yippy, but now I live in the Amazon, and I don’t think I have moved locations. The worst part is, that all our mowers have quit working, so that creates a problem. Right now I think we need a shredder anyway. There are some areas that my medium-sized dog gets lost in when she runs through it.

I would like to congratulate SystemsGo on another successful launch year for Rockets2015. Both weekends here and Houston went well. I would also like to say how thankful to this program I am. I have had two daughters. I would also like to thank SystemsGo for having us as volunteers for the program. I am really happy to be part of such a fantastic education based program for our youth.

Of course the Goddard level launches are still coming up hopefully in July at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I will keep everyone posted on that as well as information is available. The schedule is always at the mercy of the Army so I won’t give dates until we know for sure, but right now they are looking at early July. Good luck to all those schools and safe  travels when you go there. For more information as usual check their website at www.systemsgo.org .

Day 10-Fredericksburg Rockets Launches Day 3, Birthdays and Weddings

I am going to begin with a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to MISS KASEY MARIE BUROW! Folks she is 20 today. We sand to her voicemail this morning and then texted her throughout the day in between her rides on rollercoasters with her cousin, Melissa Jung, and some of their friends. She claimed to be having a great time. I am so glad for that since she is so far away in the US Navy in Norfolk. We will be seeing her soon though for which we are looking forward.

Today was an interesting day. As luck would have it, we started the day once again with a low ceiling, drizzle, and fog. Because of that we didn’t start launches until around noon. Then at first, it was a race to get them up while we had a window in the clouds, but eventually that did burn off and rockets were racking up and going up on a pretty good schedule. We had a rare occurrence today to start off, something that just doesn’t happen too often, happened, and it sure made Captain Garrett a happy man. Stage 1 and Stage 2 had all the rockets show up early and most were set and ready and they were all done and moved to Stage 3 to await flight, by 8:30 this morning.

Therefore, we had quite an audience already by early in the day. There was a tent city of spectators set up behind the fence to see their schools launch. Rockets were filling all the tables in the big tent in the spectator area and well as the Mission Control tent, as soon as they could  be approved by Stage 3 and cleared for flight. It was actually a neat sight. It added to the excitement of the day, and the high anticipation as we all waited for that window in the clouds to open up so launches could commence.

The first rack of 5 took a second attempt on the first three, but eventually 4 left the rails, with the 5th, the Whataburger rocket, returning to Mission Control for a small repair before returning again on the third rack set of the day.

We collected our first recovery for the day which landed about 150 yards in front of us, turned it in, grabbed or lunches and returned to our spot with them just barely in time for the second round, This round sent nothing our way, so we went to help look for several that had landed in the north to northwest areas of the range. We dug one out and then hunted until 3:20, when we realized we had to stop for the day in order to make Miss Brooke Patteson’s wedding, and she was such a gorgeous bride.. She is now Mrs. Brooke Hodges. Congratulations to her and Chris.

We did get side tracked on our way back because we finally located the rocket we had been searching for, and couldn’t possible leave it behind now. It was killing us to leave with less than half the rockets deployed, and as we were about to leave Mission Control, the Whataburger rocket took flight  and wouldn’t you know it, landed literally right  by our position had we still been there. I am sure, Team 3 collected that one for us after the rack was done. Guess we will find out for sure tomorrow.

The wedding was at Kairos Celebration Barn. It was beautiful and very short. The ceremony was conducted  by Scott Hoffman, and he shared a short Aggie story about commitment, read the love passage from 1 Corinthians 13, had them do their vows and the rings, recited the Lord’s prayer, pronounce them married, had them kiss and then sent them inside to supper. No extra music, no extra anything else, just short, sweet, and done and we were inside celebrating with them. It was all very nice, the  food was great, and then it was over and by 9:50 we were headed home again.

By the way, Chelsea, the rocket pad expert cleaned up quite beautifully for her walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid. She will be all shorts and rockets by tomorrow again, though.

Congratulations to all the schools that launched today, they included: Alamo Heights High School, Fort Stockton High School,  Henrietta High School, McGregor High School, Northwest High School, and Union Grove High School. There are 9 launches scheduled for the last day tomorrow. I can’t believe Rockets 2015 will be coming to a close already. It has really gone by quickly. The launch schedule for tomorrow is listed below. Remember you can also find this schedule and the link for the Livestream at www.systemsgo.org .

School
Name		 # 1st Level
Tsiolkovsky		 # 2nd Level
Oberth
Davis High School
Hasan Johnson		 1
Granger High School
Chaston Kubacak		 1
Harlandale High School
Ann Thomas		 1
Manor High School
Will Davis		 3
Sidney Lanier High School
James Rankin		 1 1
Victoria West High School
Cheryl Clark		 1
Schools Launching  6
Totals 8 1
May 17th Total Rockets 9

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Good evening all. See you at the rocket launches tomorrow.

Day 9-Fredericksburg Rocket Launches Day 2, Rain, Sun, and Rockets

We awoke to rain this morning. The gauge at my house showed and inch and 40 points. This made for a wonderfully cool start to the day. It stayed cloudy a good part of the day, but the ceiling lifted so that we were a go for launches,

We actually started the day by locating a rocket we had all searched for numerous times yesterday to no avail. We decided to make a pass by the tank in the back, and there it was just waiting to be found. This made five finds for us for Thursday’s rockets. Today was a different story though. None of the rockets were in our area, and though we did search for several, we ended the day with two nose cones, and then we helped Team Five recover one we had walked right past earlier and they had gone back and found.

The Recovery Teams were all having a great time. We do get a little competitive and do all love to find the rocket first, but at the same time we all search well together. Recovery is the name of the game, and  finding and returning those rockets to the students is the main objective. We have a really awesome group of recovery volunteers, and we really enjoy working with each one of them. They are a fun group. Of course, the whole SystemsGo organization is like this, they all work hard, and have fun while they are accomplishing the goal of the weekend.

Mission Control launched 21 rockets today  and only had 2 others that didn’t pass to the final stage to launch. Recovery located and returned all but two back to the students, and those are still being sought after.

Mid way through the day, the clouds burned off and rewarded us with  a bright blue sky to continue launching. The schools involved in today’s launches included: Fabens High School, RL Turner High School, Marble Falls High School, Akins High School, Maypearl High School, North Lamar High School, Tom Moore High School, and University High School. Once again I want to extend congratulations to each of these schools and their students for a successful program in making it here with their vehicle, and a successful launch.

Tomorrow, Saturday May 16, there are 20 more launches scheduled.  Following is the launch schedule which can also be downloaded and the SystemsGo website, which is www.systemsgo.org .

Saturday, May 16, 2015
School
Name		 # 1st Level
Tsiolkovsky		 # 2nd Level
Oberth
Alamo Heights High School
Colin Lang		 3
Fort Stockton High School (Midland)
Jim Hatcher		 5
Henrietta High School
Doug Underwood		 1 1
McGregor High School
Chris Kuhl		 2
Northwest High School
Ashley Mitias		 4 2
Union Grove High School
Greg Park		 1 1
6
Schools Launching
Totals 13 7
May 16th Total Rockets 20

Tomorrow is a very  special day in our family in that our other wonderful daughter, Kasey Burow, turns 20. She is in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk, VA. She was also a STEM student and built and launched rockets here in Willow City as well with her classmates. She is now an Avionics Structural Mechanic, working on Sea Dragon Helicopters.  She is planning to take courses through Embry Riddle University to pursue an Engineering Degree as well.  We are so extremely proud of her and all she is doing. I hope you have a Happy Birthday tomorrow Kasey. We all love you.  Don’t  worry you will hear about it again tomorrow as well, I would never let you off the hook this easy on your birthday.

Look for more pictures from today’s launch on Facebook and be sure to come back for more high lights. Have a wonderful evening.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 8- Fredericksburg Rocket Launches Day 1, Keys and Batteries

What a crazy yet awesome day. It started off with a bang, and that was before any of the rockets were ignited. We all got off to a bit of a late start getting away from the house this morning, and as things would be naturally, if you are already running behind, the universe, has its own sense of humor, and says, “let’s see just how behind we can get them.” Steve had left the house earlier to get breakfast tacos for all of us, and as we, being Chelsea and Guy in Guy’s truck and me, in my truck, had finally left the house and made it as far as Kneese Road, my phone rings,  and it’s Steve. He informed me that he had discovered that he did not have the keys to the mules, and I would have to go back for them. So I head back and find them, after I do and take off again, my switch on my messed AC system decides to turn to heat, a little Chevy glitch, and the only way to get the heat to stop is to turn the car off and back on. I was about 3/10 of a mile from my house when I stopped to fix this, with only one problem, the car turned off, but not back on. It was at this time that my battery that we thought might be getting a little weak, decided to die. That is right, I am now dead in the water. I call Steve to inform him and luckily he is still in town so he now has to return to get me. I grab all my stuff out of my truck and schlep it as far as my parents’ house where I wait for Steve. Now instead of getting to Willow City by 7:30, it’s more like 8:30.

Some of you might remember that we just replaced the battery in my son, Brett’s truck yesterday. We are now two batteries in two days. Batteries are not cheap!

Luckily, because the day started off cloudy with a low ceiling, we were in a holding pattern for the launches. In fact I believe it was around 11:30 before we actually started sending them up. We may have started cloudy and misty, but we ended up with a beautiful day to launch, although it was a bit hot and muggy at times in some of those dense pasture areas during recovery.

SystemsGo did an amazing job today getting all 19 rockets up. What a great crew and organization they have to make all this happen. Congratulations to all the schools that participated today as well. Every vehicle left the pad and about 15 out of 19 were recovered. The schools there today included Roosevelt High School, New Dianna High School, Kingwood High School, Kingwood Park High School, Union Grove High School, Hamilton High School, Hollenstein High School, Big Spring Charter School, and Fredericksburg High School. Great job to all you students, and getting here and having a successful launch,

The first day out of four, and I really don’t think it could have been much better. Everything seemed to run fairly smoothly, all the crews worked well together, and I believe most  if not all of us involved had a great time. I know Mr. Williams was a little concerned that it was only the first day, and some seemed to be having too much fun and goofiness right from the start. We won’t mention any names, but you know who you are. That’s what makes it fun and keeps it interesting though.

Tomorrow, Friday, the schedule shows 8 school launching a total of 22 rockets. The list is posted below for those who would like to see.

Friday, May 15, 2015
School
Name		 # 1st Level
Tsiolkovsky		 # 2nd Level
Oberth
Akins High School
John Sayce		 5
Fabens High School
Manuel Moreno		 2 1
Marble Falls High School
Randy Guffey		 1
Maypearl High School
Rebekah Hyatt		 2
North Lamar High School
Kathy Stewart		 1
RL Turner High School (Carrollton)
Karl Gscheidle		 2 2
Tom Moore (Ingram) High School
David Bunch		 2
University High School
Dennis Oubre		 2 2
8
Schools Launching
Totals 17 5
May 15th Total Rockets 22

Good luck to all of tomorrow’s schools, and safe travels both here and home. I know it will be another wonderful day. I just have to remember to put on the sunscreen tomorrow because I got a little toasted today. So if you see me, remind me. That is how I will know who reads this blog!!!!Well I captured so many cool pictures of workers, students and rockets today, but at the end of the day, nature’s beauty won out by giving us a glorious sunset over the launch site, so that’s my featured picture for this blog. I think I might show some of the high lights on my face book so keep an eye out there as well. Good night all, see you at the launch site in the morning. Once again here is the place to go for information on the launches and the Livestream Link.www.systemsgo.org

Day 7- Wild Wednesday

Well what a day today was, and it isn’t quite over yet. We finally got rain here, what  a blessing. I had an inch and 40 points in my gauge at the house. I know we had more than that at work. It pretty much rained all day. And then we ended the day with a rainbow at around five o’clock, and then an absolutely gorgeous sunset. A myriad of blessings all in one day. Thank you Lord.

Work was busy again. I think they meter crews were trying to see how much they could do in the few days left before billing. It kept me busy and that was good.

My son tried to burn up his truck today. He was working on it after dark last night and forgot he left a pair of needle nose pliers on the radiator. On the way to school this morning they ended up on his battery and started a fire that put a hole in the battery, fried a ground wire and put a hole in a vacuum line, as well as ruining one of the contacts to the battery.  We replaced the contact and the battery and he managed to repair the rest. It was an expensive lesson.  he is still on the road though, so I guess all is well.

I had lunch with an old friend. We talked about old times, and how we met our spouses, the cost of living in Alaska verses here and pretty much decided things were more expensive up there, but in comparison were quite relative. We talked and laughed and  picked on each other for the rest of the day. It was fun, and a day i will remember for a long time. I am really glad we got to catch up, we will just have to try to keep in touch now.

Chelsea and Guy should be in soon, and then tomorrow starts the infamous rocket launches I have been telling you about.  Below i s the schedule for tomorrows launches, There are currently 17 rockets scheduled. I will try to post each days schedules in my blog.

Thursday, May 14, 2015
School
Name		 # 1st Level
Tsiolkovsky		 # 2nd Level
Oberth
Big Springs Charter (Ed Brune)
Tripp Davenport		 1 1
Fredericksburg High School
Andrew Matthes		 1
Hamilton High School
Seaborn Ashby		 1 1
Hollenstein CTC
Richard Griffith		 1 1
Kingwood High School
Louis Mascolo		 2 1
Kingwood Park High School
Jim Brown		 3
New Diana High School
Shawn Warden		 1
Roosevelt High School
Jessica Quisenberry		 2 1
8
Schools Launching
Totals 11 6
May 14th Total Rockets 17

Good luck to all the schools. If I get a chance to do some updates during the day tomorrow , then I will but don’t count on it. It will probably just be the end of day one. Here is the SystemsGo website again where you can find the livestream.

www.systemsgo.org

Good Day until tomorrow.

Day 6-Crazy Tuesday

It was just another crazy Tuesday at work, getting ready for Billing on Friday, which I won’t be there for since I will be, you guessed it, chasing rockets. Due to that though I had some reports and things to run and check in a hurry so that all would be done in my absence that could be. What comes in after tomorrow will be someone else’s to deal with, except what is left when I get there on Monday. Oh Monday, bad word, it will be a tired Monday after a fun, but tiring weekend. That’s ok, because it is always fun and so worth it to be involved with SystemsGo.

Chelsea drove truck all day today for her job. She put in 12 hours behind the wheel for her employer. This is new for her only the second week, to do this, because their usual drivers are out with injuries. That’s ok she took to it like a pro. There is nothing that girl won’t tackle I believe. So proud of how strong and independent she is. She is a special girl. She is a sweetheart too. She left me the sweetest note on my bed when she left Monday telling me how much she loves me and believes she is lucky to have me for her mom. Made me cry. I love her tons. She and her sister Kasey are such jewels. I am the lucky one to have both of them.

Well the parenting class I have been attending, for the last 8 weeks is winding down. In fact, we are going to close up shop after next week’s class, I do believe. I can’t say it hasn’t been interesting, even if I didn’t really want to go in the beginning. There really is a lot of things people could learn for their roles with children. In fact it wouldn’t hurt every parent to take this course even if they aren’t required too. I really wish my husband would have had to take it too, but he got out of it claiming to be on call and having to miss too many classes.  There is much he could have used from it.

In all honesty, there isn’t a person in the class that would have taken it willingly. Thank you to our sons for providing this necessity. That being said, though, we are all lucky that our sons are the great kids they are, because it has worked in their favor in this little one time big goof up of theirs. In spite of this, I love him greatly and nothing could change that, and I try to tell him daily. He is still my prince.

It has actually been fun though. Our instructor is great. Having him on speed dial as an extra disciplinarian has come in handy too. Having the, “let’s see what Ron says” option has come in handy a time or two and will probably again before this little ride is completely over.

Someday, I might post the story I have written about this little adventure, and tell you all about it, but for now, I just want to see it to its end and hope it is behind us never to be revisited again. Hopefully no more proverbial bridges in our future. Let’s just leave it at that.

Only one more work day, and then Chelsea and her friend Guy will be here again and the rest of the week/weekend will be all about the Rockets. Well almost there will be a wedding mixed in there too. Not sure how that will all work out, but I am sure it will. This reminds me I need to see if the dress is ready to pick up tomorrow since we will be in Willow the rest of the week. One more thing for the to do list.

It is funny how each day I start this thinking what will I write? Nothing happened in my life today, interesting enough to write about, and then the words just start flowing. I hope you find some interest in my silly little blog. It hasn’t drawn much attention, likes or even any posts or comments, so I really don’t even know if anyone is reading it. That’s ok, though, because it’s very therapeutic for me and that’s what it is really for anyway.

Well, I do believe I am about done for this evening. Tune in tomorrow to see what words of wisdom or ridiculousness I come up with again. And definitely you want to tune in Thursday through Sunday for more up to date Rocket’s high lights.

Catch you tomorrow on a Whirlwind Wednesday.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

 

Day 5 -“Maybe” a nostalgic short, and Monday’s high lights, or not…..

Maybe

I remember a time, long ago, yet not so long ago. We were young, we were friends; maybe we were more than friends. Maybe, we really didn’t know.

We played together, and fought together, and ran through pastures in daylight and dark.  We were born into each other’s knowing, and grew up in each other’s worlds.

We were together from childhood into adulthood, we were friends, like brother and sister, maybe more, although neither of us knew, or maybe we did.  We shared a lifetime together, playing, laughing, daring, wondering, exploring the world.

We began to grow up, and we saw each other differently, or did we?

Our lives grew apart, we still shared good times, but they became fewer.  We watched each other’s lives sometimes from a distance while we were yet near.

We warned each other about mistakes, but neither listened.  We tried to save each other from such things, but neither could be saved.  We were young, but no longer children and we knew better, or did we?

Then one day we lost touch, and only saw brief moments of each other’s lives through reports from others.  We both became an old memory, a forgotten past; frames of an old movie that just stopped with no ending; a cliff hanger that no one bothered to complete. No sequel.

Maybe our friendship had ended, or maybe not yet?  Maybe our paths would cross again, but when? Or maybe they never would; remaining an unanswered question, an unfinished story, slowly slipping away, lost forever.

Maybe……………………….

Ginger Burow   5/11/15

The SystemsGo crew made it home about 3:30 this morning. Steve went to work at usual time and Chelsea left for Lubbock at 2:00, making it there by 6:30. She will return Wednesday night to help run the pad for Fredericksburg Rockets out in Willow City Thursday through Sunday. Come out and join us and witness the accomplishments of these students.

There will be updates on the rocket launches as the week progresses.

Today was a fairly uneventful Monday, although I did get to have lunch with Chelsea and Steve before she left again. Work was good and busy. I visited my mom at rehab and was pleased to hear they finally had her up and walking and did therapy twice today. She reported that she had numerous visitors today and was well entertained.  Kim and I were both there until about 6:30.

Later I spoke with my Aunt Betty from Wichita Falls. She said they had 9 inches of rain and had spent several times hiding  in the halls with pillows over their heads waiting out Tornado threats. They are still expecting more storms. She was concerned that a cousin of hers was on the way through to Oklahoma, and that she felt that this trip should be cancelled until these storms have left the area.

Weather could be a factor for the upcoming rocket launches this week as well. We will be keeping an eye on the sky for that as well as the rockets. Low ceiling, rain, and high winds could cause us some issues.

To end the evening, I discovered a water leak under the sink in my bathroom and was unable to stop it. After turning valves to only seem to worsen it I finally woke poor Steve to come help. He ended up peeling back the casing on the broken faucet to allow it to drip back into the sink instead of down the inside of it and out the outside of the pipes. What a mess. We have it all opened up drying out until we can replace the old faucet. Funny how things like this always happen when company is due in a few days. At least I found it and it didn’t get a whole lot worse, especially since we  have carpet in this bathroom,

I believe I will end today’s write up on that note.  Funny I had no idea when I started this with the little story, that we would end the evening here. Life just loves surprises, both good and bad, and some slightly in between. God bless you all and good night!

 

Day 4- Houston Rockets Day 2, and Mother’s Day

First let me begin by wishing all you Moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day! I sincerely hope it was a great one for you. I know this wasn’t the ideal mother’s day for my mom, being in rehab for her knee, but at least it will all be done soon and she will be up and going again. My son and I did spend a couple of hours there with her after church today. We had a nice visit. Later I made him go with me to see the movie, Age of Adeline, and then to Wal-Mart shopping. His sister, Kasey, called me right after the movie and found much humor in that I had drug him to a chick flick. I treated him to Whataburger after though.

Houston launches ended around 8:00 pm this evening. It was a successful weekend with only a few transonic not making it to the pad. I watched the launches on Livestream for several hours this afternoon. I saw about 7 go up, before the live feed ended for the day. It was fun to watch, albeit not nearly as fun as it is to be there in person. The live feed only showed the rockets leaving the pad, but didn’t follow them in flight so a little is lost there in the fun and excitement of the activity.

It was amusing to watch the live feed go from the pad to the schools watching the flights. Each time, the students were all there with the camera phones videoing, and they all moved in unison upward following their vehicle into the sky. Next after it landed, they would share high fives with each other, and often with Mr. Brett Williams, the SystemsGo Coordinator. Whether in person or on the stream, they thrill on the students’ faces is still the same.

Congratulations to all the schools and their students that participated this weekend. You have all done a marvelous job, and even if you don’t realize it you are in a category ahead of your  peers in your learning skills. Take it all with you and you will go far.

Congratulations to the whole SystemsGo team, you have one launch set completed for this season. You all be careful on your return trip tonight, I know you are all tired and it’s a long road home. The team finally got on the road after packing up the site, at about 10:20 this evening, which will put them back here somewhere around 2:30 to 3:30 in the morning. God bless you all, safe travels, and I will be praying for you all.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.