A colleague forwarded me this video….  If someone ever says they can’t do something just make them watch this video.

The following news story caught my eye on CNN…

Space station’s sole toilet out of order

I really felt bad for the people in space - I’ve had a fair share of plumbing problems but luckily there was always an extra toilet near by, and in the worst cases a plumber available 24 hours a day to fix the problem.  When I was renovating the cabin over the winter of ‘03 we didn’t have a toilet at the cabin and had to drive down the road to use the frozen outhouse at the park…no toilet in space has to be so much worse.

I can imagine the conversation about the toilet went something like this:

Astronaut 1: Um, Guys…I think I had some bad Tang or freeze dried ravioli
Astronaut 2: Man, sorry to hear that - everything OK?
Astronaut 1: Well, I’m feeling a lot better now but I think I plugged the space toilet…
Astronaut 2: Damnit Bob! Not again…you know what the ravioli does to you!
Astronaut 1: I can’t help it…it tastes so good.  I guess I’ll call NASA…

Holly and I spent this past weekend at the cabin - we had suprisingly great weather and were able to get a lot of things done and relax a little too.  It seems like all I do is work when I go to the cabin, but for some reason it is enjoyable when away from home.  If I had to do the same amount of work at home I would dread it.

Friday
Given the high price of diesel ($4.89 and rising) I’ve been reading up on how to best achieve better fuel economy.  I think I’ve done everything else at this point so the last resort was to stop speeding.  Since we were in no rush to get up north I decided to not exceed the posted speed limit the entire trip there - I think it paid off too!  I was able to get there within the first 1/4 tank of fuel and oddly enough, it didn’t seem to take any longer as we still got there with a little sunlight to spare.

Saturday
I woke up early, made a pot of coffee and then went outside to start cleaning out the garage and prepping for some construction project.  I was going to work on some trim work for the upstairs in the garage but decided  to build a couple more bird houses first.  During the project I noticed that someone had pulled in a couple doors down and were hanging out around a very old camper that is parked in the woods.  I don’t think I’ve seen anyone there in over 10 years so I was curious.  About an hour after they arrived I saw them raking years worth of leaves into a pile before starting a small fire.  Soon the small fire spread to a couple trees and the guy was yelling at his daughter to get the water from the cooler.  I waited a second to see what was happening and then decided to grab a bucket of water and a shovel.  I ran through the woods and helped put out the fire…not sure what the guy was thinking.  After the fire was out my new friend, Tom, told me I was an angel that came out of the forest with water for the fire and explained to his daughter that is how God works in mysterious ways.  I was flattered, but really I just didn’t want this guy to start another forest fire so close to my cabin. 

I don’t think I stayed more than a couple minutes but in that time I had learned Tom’s life story, took a tour of his campsite (30 yr old abandoned camper with no tires and an outhouse in as good condition) and told him to stop by if he needed anything.  Later that day Tom came over to borrow some screws, wood, drill, lawn mower and a hammer…each tool one at a time.

I was able to complete 3 birdhouses on Saturday in between visits, and Holly did a GREAT job painting the wood trim around the garage doors.  We rewarded ourselves with some G’s pizza.

Sunday
Another early morning - I think I am getting old because I actually woke up at 7 thinking that I slept late and was going to miss Sunday Morning, the best news show ever.  Since I only get one local channel I watched a couple minutes of the local bible study show, brought to me by some denomination of churches in the Oscoda area.  It couldn’t have been later than 8:30 when Bailey started barking in his tone that signals “strangers are coming” (he has another bark for animals in the yard) and sure enough Tom has mosied over.  Apparently they had left something plugged into the car overnight since their “campsite” has no power and the battery was dead.  He wanted to call AAA but didn’t have a phone.  I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to give him a jump or to use my phone so I rushed the conversation telling him that AAA would take forever and offered to drive over with jumper cables.  Seriously - I didn’t want to miss my morning news.

Once the news was over I started my last project of moving a big pile of sand that was left over from the patio project around the fire ring.  I was able to get that done and plant grass seed, and was able to help Tom out with a chain saw and a 5 gallon water jug.  Holly put a final coat of paint on the trim and then we relaxed.  Watched a couple movies, read some books and played cards.

Monday
I never got to say bye to Tom - they must have packed up camp since it looked like rain, but I knew they left when I saw the returned water jug on the picnic table outside.  We were going to try to leave early but ended up having a late breakfast and then after cleaning up didn’t end up leaving until about 1pm.

Still attempting to conserve fuel, I drove home in the same fashion as on the way up.  After a fair amount of driving while in Tawas I still have over 1/4 tank left after returning home.  That is over 525 miles on 3/4 a tank so I am on my way to beating my best tank ever (600 miles).  I’ll know for sure when I fill up but I suspect I’m averaging about 45 to the gallon.

Last night a couple of us met up to play some poker.  Dave’s first game of choice was In between - the evil game where you get two cards and have to bet on whether the next card is in between.  Per usual, the pot grew big quick and when I got the best possible cards - an ace and a two - I went for the pot.  Wouldn’t you know the third card was a two and I owed twice the pot.  Two things I hate about this game…counting up how much you owe when you bet pot and then losing all the money to bought in with plus all that is in your pockets…within the first 30 minutes.  I bought in for some more pain and had a couple more ups and downs before Jason took me out with a hidden straight in his hand.  Oh well…good time had by all and the first time I’d ever seen a 36″ pizza named “the wheel.”  Looking forward to next time!

I saw this posting today on our “barter board” at work:

New, still in the box.  $10.00 (in stores the camera sells for $34.99)

Polaroid One 600 Classic
- uses Polaroid 600 instant film
- focus free lens for great shots as close as 3 feet
- auto flash for great pictures in any light
- sleek, folding design perfect for those on the go
- wrist strap

Not Included: Time machine to go back to 1987 - when this camera would have been cool or useful. On the plus side, the sleek design is perfect for those on the go - compact enough to fit into any fanny pack.