Once a week for now - and not very good, at that

I noticed that the last time I posted was one week ago so I thought I better post again to hold up a vague semblance of blogging. Somehow, I truly believe that I will be more consistant starting in September.

Let's see:

We have one more week before SCA starts. I worked on my lesson plans some this morning. I will teach 5 classes either at home or at SCA: Latin I, Latin II, English Lit., AP European History, and Algebra with Benny.

I painted at the church building a couple of days this week. I enjoyed that. (All except for the loud oldie songs that erupted from the stairway the last day. I could have done without that.)

I coached my first volleyball game. We lost, but I was VERY proud of our teams and their effort against a polished opponent. Our gals were brave and gracious - what more could you want?

We're expecting company from Bloomington anytime now so I must go for now.

Have a great week!

Poached eggs

Last night when I caught Benny rummaging around in the fridge for plunder at 11 p.m., he held up a tupperware with some boiled eggs and confessed, "I'm poaching eggs."

Poached eggs. Suddenly I was reminded of my childhood. And with that reminder came a horrible realization. I had never made poached eggs for my family. Imagine that! But I have eaten many a poached egg in my younger days. They were prepared for me by my grandmother. And so I thought to myself, "I need to expose my children to the wonderful world of poached eggs." "I had to endure them, shouldn't they? Wouldn't they grow up all lop-sided without having tasted poached eggs?", I asked myself. Well we wouldn't want that, now would we?

So this morning I went surfing around to find a website that would show me how to poach an egg. Here's the best one I found, and you aughta read it. It's hilarious. If it has the same effect on you as it did on me, you'll probably be talked out of ever wanting to poach an egg!

NOT MARS SPECTACULAR, MARS INACCURATE!

Here's a clarification on the post before last titled MARS SPECTACULAR which proves you can't believe everything you read on emails.

Mars coming closer, but not closest The Times-Standard

An e-mail is circulating alerting readers that Mars will be closer to Earth than it has ever been in recorded history. True. But that happened Aug. 27, 2003, when Mars came to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth. That record is expected to be broken, but not until 2287. In the meantime, stargazers can look forward to Oct. 30 when Mars will pass to within 43 million miles of Earth, compared to an average distance of about 140 million miles. With that in mind, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on Wednesday. Because it takes more than six months to reach Mars, NASA says the best time to start the trip is a month or so before closest approach. NASA says that by the end of October, when Earth and Mars are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. To get an idea of how fast Earth is racing toward the red planet, NASA gave the following on its website: “By the time you finish reading this sentence, you’ll be 25 miles closer to the planet Mars.” NASA adds: “Earth is racing toward Mars at a speed of 23,500 mph, which means the red planet is getting bigger and brighter by the minute. In October, when the two planets are closest together, Mars will outshine everything in the night sky except Venus and the Moon. (You’re another 50 miles closer: keep reading!)” NASA explained the close encounter: ”It’s simple orbital mechanics. Think of Earth and Mars as two runners on a circular race track, with lanes corresponding to planetary orbits. Earth, running fast on the inside lane, circles the course in 12 months. Mars, plodding along an outside lane, takes twice as long to go around. Every two years, approximately, Earth catches Mars from behind and laps it.”

Here's the source link back to the newspaper article for your reference:

http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_2925880

So there you go. This comes from a newspaper so it must be reliable since newspapers always get it right. Riiiiiiight. (There I go flippantly thowing in a universal statement again where it don't belong!)

This is (for real) Joshua's work car ... I am not delusional!

Here's Josh with the work car that he got to use all summer. He will unfortunately have to give it back next week when he leaves. Nice while it lasted!

(Nota Bene the blog entry for, Monday, July 25th, to better understand this blog title - if you're the curious type.)

MARS SPECTACULAR!

The 47th Pea sent this to my email:

Ok Momers, here it is again. And it still looks pretty cool!

:P

FW: A note for your calendar for Aug. 27th.

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

Ha, ha - fooled ya!

You didn't think I'd post today, did ya? (If you call this a post.)

I was going to end at that, but now that I'm here I guess I'll tell you a little news.

Robert finished his huge, long paper for one of his presbytery requirements. Hooray!

Ben started soccer practice this week.

Josh will be here two more weeks. Boo hoo.

Canny whisked off, all important like, to go to an editor's meeting for her college paper today.

Amy and I are kicking off volleyball this week. She's playing for her second year and I'm coaching for my first year. Looking forward to making them run a bunch of laps. Should be fun.

Let me end with a famous quote from one of those young people's bands I hear around the house.
"I wish we all could make our mothers proud."
(You see I was listening to to words after all. ;-)