CLICK FOR INFO

The ISS (International Space Station) is especially visible for folks in N. America these days... click the link above for sighting info, and details for your areas as to where to spot the ISS in your skies.

So cool... I had a listing for 1:10am Sunday morning in my location (about 40 minutes ago), and went out on the balcony... and saw it at about 1:12am on my clock.

It was supposed to be visible for 5 minutes, but in reality, I only was able to see it for about 30 seconds. If not for the building blocking it's approach, I might have been able to see it for a minute or so.

Anyway... that was pretty damn cool... essentially just a bright light that flew by directly over head. When it was right overhead it was really, really bright, bright enough that the reflected light was "flaring" off it, and then faded as it moved across the sky.

When I read that the ISS circles the globe every 90 minutes I thought it must be a typo... too fast, I thought... but having seen it tear across the sky, ... wow... it IS fast lol.

I expected to see something more like other satellites I've seen over the years that are faint, and move slowly across the sky... but this was super bright and fast.

Awesome, awesome, stuff... strange to think there are people in that thing, way up there, hurtling through the black.

Last weekend, during our camping trip, we were visited by my sister and her daughter and son, and we went for a short hike up the trail to a waterfall called Margaret Falls.

As we were walking along the trail, my nephew said, about the waterfall we were going to see, "I hope it's turned on! " :) Gotta love kids.

Lucky for us, the waterfall WAS turned on, and was actually flowing pretty good, so it was definitely worth the walk.

Along the walk there... and back... my niece was jabbering away non-stop... she sure can talk! In fact, she never STOPS talking. Hehe. My sister says she always used to make sure to talk to her daughter when she was a baby/toddler, to encourage her to pick up speech and talking... and now she thinks she's created a monster. :p My niece is going into grade 3 and she sure does loooove to talk and tell stories. It's quite cute, but I imagine my sister much enjoy the occasional moments of piece and quiet she gets when my niece is sleeping. :p

Emma is going through a tough time right now... she seems to be teething in a big way. No teeth have popped through yet, but it looks to be close... we can see a couple of little pale bumps in her gums, so it probably won't be long. In the mean time she is quite uncomfortable, is drooling like crazy, and has had diarrhea for the last few days (the side effect of which is a horrible diaper rash).

Poor little girl. She had a doctors appointment last Thursday, which was good timing... and the doctor wasn't concerned, said it's normal... but to try to give her a bit of Pedialyte to keep her hydrated, and if the diarrhea is still around next week to bring her back.

So far, the diarrhea is still happening... so unless it stops suddenly in the next couple days, Lisa will probably make another appointment to see the doc early next week.

Other than that, Emma is doing great. She's still a light-weight for her age (on Thursday she weighed in at 15 lbs 4 oz) but she's gaining weight on her curve, so all seems to be well. Guess she's just shaping up to be a small-ish person.

Emma has gotten pretty adept in the last week or two at pulling herself up on things... the coffee table, her toy box, the side of her crib.

Just a couple weeks ago, Lisa and I started having success at putting Emma down at around a set time (7:30-8pm or so) in her crib and coaxing her to sleep (as opposed to her falling asleep in our arms). Unfortunately, she then quickly learned to pull herself up, so now putting her down is a test of wills and stubbornness as we put her down in the crib, she flips over and climbs the side... we put her down, she flips over and climbs the side... we put her down, she flips over... you get the idea... lol

Occasionally we leave her for a bit, but once she climbs up, she doesn't know how to let herself down again yet, so then she's stuck. Lisa has gone in and seen her standing there hanging on to the side of the crib half asleep... haha!

So, we can't leave her for too long, we have to go back in and set her down... at which point she rolls over, climbs again! Eventually, if we outlast her, she gets tired of the game and lets sleep take over. But, it is one situation where my stubborn streak is a great benefit. So far I've outlasted Emmas stubbornness every time... it's been close occasionally though. :p

Anyhoo, I'll wrap it up with a photo of Margaret Falls, turned on and flowing. :)

View On Black

This past weekend, Lisa and I packed up the car (and I mean PACKED .. like... to the roof...) and headed out camping overnight.

It was Emma's first camping experience, so we only went for a single night. We weren't sure how Emma would like it... specifically, how she's fare overnight sleeping in the tent... but she was great.

The new tent we bought... we knew it was big... but once it was set up and we got all moved in, we realized just how big it is... it's massive.

We had Emma's portable playpen/crib set up in one half, which is like it's own room, and our own queen sized inflatable mattress in the other "room", with all of our bags, clothes, shoes, Emma's things, etc all in there... and still had room for, I'm sure, another 4 or so people.

So, that was cool! Heck, the main "room" is even tall enough for me to stand without hunching over! Luxury! lol

Only down side was when I put the tent up, I noticed there is a little access flap (supposedly for a power cable...???... in one corner that was partly open. When I tried to close it I couldn't, and then noticed that the zipper was broken. In my attempt to "fix it" (which involved my Swiss Army multi-tool LOL), I destroyed it. Doh!

Oh well, we shoved my sleeping bag pack in the opening to close it temporarily, and Lisa will sew it up permanently, as we have no need for a "power cord access door".

Anyhoo, Emma seemed to enjoy it. My dad and stepmom live not far away so they came for a short visit, and Emma always loves to see her grampa and gramma.

And my sister came out with her two kids (she also lives nearby to where we were camping), and Emma also loves to see her auntie and cousins.

Emma seems to have inherited my and Lisa's habit of being mesmerized by a campfire, as several times we all were just sitting there staring at the fire.

And Emma slept great... slept right through the night in fact. Lisa had her bundled up really well, and she was snug as a bug... meanwhile Lisa and I were cold, as we could have used an extra blanket... it got COLD over night.

It rained the following morning, which was a drag... nothing worse than packing up from camping while it's raining... everything is soggy and dirty and miserable. But, c'est la vie!

So, anyways, the first outdoor camping was a success. We weren't sure how Emma would do, but we are no longer worried.

Now all I need is the cross bars for our roof rack on the car, and a cargo box... so we don't have to completely jam the inside of the car full of all the "necessities". lol

Actually... we'd probably still stuff the car... we'd just fill the extra room with more stuff. lol

Here are a few shots from the weekend.














And me, looking like a total hoodlum... lol... hanging out with our Jellybean by the fire.



All in all, it was a good first Fathers Day for me. Two thumbs up!

Wow... it's been a while since I updated.

Anyhoo... as I explained in my last post, I had applied for a new job in a new city, doing very different work than I'm currently doing.

Unfortunately, I did not get called in for an interview :( .

I'm only semi-disappointed. I mean... I'm disappointed that it didn't work out. I think if would have been a rewarding, interesting job, with a lot to offer over and above what I have with my current job.

And I know Lisa was excited about the potential of moving to Salmon Arm.

But... at the same time, I kind of thought the job was a long shot, so I hadn't gotten my hopes too high. I *did* think I'd at least get an interview... but c'est la vie, right?

So, for now it's business as usual.

Summer is kicking in to high gear here. After a cool damp spring, early summer is hot and dry... and the forest fires are starting again. There's one that started Sunday night (lightning strike) about 8 km out of town. So far not too big (about 8 hectares) so not a lot of smoke in the valley... yet... but last word was they hadn't come close to having the fire contained, so who knows how big it'll get in the next few days.

Lisa and I are trying to figure out how to go camping with Emma. We use a tent when camping, and just bought a nice tent a couple years ago... but that was before Emma came along, and while it's a nice tent for Lisa and I, there is no room, really, for Emma in there with us. Well, unless she just slept on the mattress between us, but we don't really think that's a good idea.

So we're considering getting another new tent... a big family-sized one. It'd be great to have a nice big, roomy tent... but the good ones, with a full, or mostly full, fly, aren't cheap. I was looking around today and ones that looked decent were selling for about $400 before tax... so... yeah, not sure if that's going to happen. :p

We'll need to figure something out though, as we do like to get out camping a few times over the course of the summer, and it'd be great to have Emma initiated into the great outdoors too. So we'll see. We'll figure something out.

Other than that, not much is new... so, I'll leave it at that.

Hope all is going well for everyone out there. :)

Hopefully I'll update again with less of a break than this last time. lol