Tag: willow city

Rockets 2016 Only a Day Away!

The start of Rockets 2016  is just over the horizon, so  now is the time to send out some reminders. The Fredericksburg launches will be held at Stewart’s Hillview Ranch in Willow City Texas. Launch days begin Thursday, May 12, continuing on Friday, May 13, Saturday, May 14 and ending on Sunday evening, May 15.

Launch times are slated to be from 8:30 to 5:00 each day provided that everything runs accordingly with weather, arrivals, and mechanical readiness. Unfortunately weather could be an issue. Right now thunderstorms are predicted for Thursday and Sunday. Of course, it is Texas weather so anything goes, and so will the rockets at each opportunity Mother Nature provides. Rain does not stop this event, only delays it until the clouds give another clear opening. That does not account for severe weather conditions that would have to be dealt with as they happen for the safety of all.

Both sites are located north of Fredericksburg off Farm to Market road 1323. Site 1 for Exhibitors and Rocket Prep is located in Willow City at the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department, located at 2553 Ranch Road 1323 . Site 2, the vehicle Launch Site is located at Hillview Ranch. Signs will be stationed along the route to direct from State Highway 16 to the individual sites.  The following is a map provided by SystemsGo website for driving directions and site locations.LaunchMap

SystemsGo offers live streaming of this event provided by Livestream.com . The following link offers the site location for this feed. It will be active by 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning for viewing and comments. This link can also be found on the SystemsGo website.

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5367166

Although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order tickets for those in your party. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers  at any one time during the launches.

https://www.greateventseats.com/events.php?lID=92

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 348-Rocket Season Launches in 21 Days

Only 21 days until the sounds of high-flying rockets fill the air over Willow City, TX with the launch of Fredericksburg Rockets 2016. SystemsGo’s innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program featuring a rocketry/aeroscience curriculum is set to begin launches on May 12-15, 2016 at the Stewart Ranch in Willow City, TX.

As of March 9, the Fredericksburg launch schedule has 78 vehicles on track for testing. Twenty-nine schools are slated to participate.

The following weekend, May 21-22, 2016 launches continue in Houston, TX. The current schedule there, includes 12 schools and 27 test vehicles.

Later this summer, at White Sands Missile Range the final days of launches will commence with the Goddard level rockets, the largest in the program. The final date determined by White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), is yet to be announced.

If you are in the Willow City area on the mentioned weekend you should come out and watch. It is a fantastic sight to behold, and the energy and enthusiasm from the students is fun and contagious. Fredericksburg launches are open for public viewing and both Fredericksburg and Houston have live streaming available to view online at the time of the event.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

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 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 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 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!

 

In The Beginning

This is basically a writer’s blog, with the main writer being of course, me. It will be a way to share writing and keep myself busy doing some form of writing, hopefully every day. At some times it will be things I have written and want to share. At other times, it will be interesting things I am involved in that I want to share with you, whomever you may be that decide you want to read my words of wisdom, or perhaps not. You see, there I go, sometimes things may be really serious, other times they may be completely goofy and off the wall.

I will give you a little preview of next week’s blogs. I do intend to share some highlights from the SystemsGo Fredericksburg Rocket Launches in Willow City. If I can figure this out and add pictures I will try to do that too. I am helping with recovery again this year, and am super excited to help. It is always a blast. There will also be a live video link so you can come out and watch in person or from the safety of your computer at home.

If you have never heard of this, it is part of the STEM program now available in area high schools. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and is designed to start our children in future careers in all these now heavily technical fields. If you listen to the radio you may have heard ads by the US Navy backing this program (STEM), they are highly interested in receiving candidates that have had prior training and education in this program because our military has become very hi tech as well. This program benefits our youth whether going the college and job route or the military route. If you have a junior high or high school age student encourage them to get into the STEM program at their school. If your school has not yet developed a program, encourage them to do so, because these are the big jobs of the future.

Skills learned in the different areas required by STEM and programs like the rocket program and other programs in STEM encompass more than just the four core classes you hear in the name STEM. Students in these programs, learn skills in mechanics, welding, PlasmaCAM, wood working, and other hands on building skills. They learn grant writing and proposals in order to fund their projects. They learn business skills, presentation and marketing, research and analysis, design and development, materials, inventory, and product ordering and so much more. Most of all they learn critical thinking and how to work both on their own and as a part of a larger group that each contributes a vital piece to their project in order to have it completed and successful.

I personally have had a nephew, niece and 2 daughters that have gone through our local program and they have all benefited from it greatly. My nephew, is top management at SpaceX in McGregor, TX, my niece is in Avionics Electronics  in the US Navy, one daughter is an Aviation Structural Mechanic for helicopters in the US Navy, and my older daughter is studying Electrical Engineering at Texas Tech University.

This week several of our program graduates, the SYSTEMSGO coordinators, and several volunteers are headed to Clute down by Lake Jackson, TX to help several Houston area schools launch their rockets. Next week the team and many more volunteers will be here at Hillview Ranch in Willow City, TX to help over 30 Texas high schools attempt to launch over 80 more rockets. It is well worth the time to watch, not only to see the rockets fly, but to see the joy in the students’ faces as their project of 1-2 years in the making, comes to a successful end. To clarify, even if the rocket doesn’t fly, it is still a success in all that the students learned to get it here, and in what they will continue to learn from analyzing what went wrong that prevented it’s flight. The hard work that is done to get them to this point is the true success and is a catalyst that will help launch them into their future careers.

Ok maybe I did know what  to write about today.

Houston launches are this weekend, May 9 & 10.

Fredericksburg launches are next week, May 14-17. Come watch them or watch online at the SystemsGo web page. Directions and details are also on this website.

http://www.systemsgo.org/announcements/rockets-2015-fredericksburg-launch-details

Watch this crazy blog for more updates.