Hello from the Land of the Midnight Sun

Fred, I read your blogs with wonder. Your life is so totally different from mine. I haven't been to S.C. in 5 or 6 years. After my parents died, I stilled visited Psamn Williamson occasionally, but after she passed away, I just didn't come back. My husband has cousins in N.C., but we haven't seen them either.

I had to retire from my job as RN in the local ICU in 2000 and my husband took an early retirement from Northwest Airlines the next year so he could keep me company in my life as a bum. We've done a lot of traveling since then and had more fun than you could shake a monkey at......or something like that. The last few years we've been spending a large part of the long dark winter down in Arizona. (We lived there from '70 til '82) We found a great place up in the Lake Havasu area. We bought a pontoon boat and spend a lot of time on the Colorado river.

Haven't gotten to do as much fishing this summer as usual, but I did get down to Seward, Alaska a couple of weeks ago to go out inthe ocean for silver salmon. When they're still in the ocean, they're a lot of fun. Fishing was so-so that week, but Resurrection Bay is one of the most beautiful places on earth, so there's certainly no room to complain.

Yesterday I gave a speech at a Women's Conference concerning the Red Hat Society and my chapter, the Vibrant Valley Divas. Dressed ready for the red carpet, of course, with all the trimmings. Then I had to come home and change into my other role because I leave in the morning to go caribou hunting up near Glennallen, AK. Freezer is empty. Must have meat. I never thought I would enjoy hunting so much. I always loved shooting and was pretty good at it, but I had never hunted or fished until we moved here. Caribou hunting is sort of like deer hunting, except that the animal is larger, the meat has to be carried great distances and someone has to always guard from grizzlies. They know that sound means dinner is nearby.

I'm happy as a pig with a new muddle puddle. Will have my 43rd wedding anniversary in January. Did it right the first time I guess. I'm still crazy about hime and wouldn't trade him for a spotted puppy. My kids are healthy and happy and my dog likes me too.

Have some things going on that just made me want to reach out and share. I still think of Camden often and all the people back there. The only ones I'm in contact with are Buster and Camille Baker Powell, but others are often on my mind. Hope there will be another class reunion before I'm too old and decrepid to dance! I'm so sorry I missed the last one. I was going to attend and visit with Psamn, but she got ill and I cancelled my trip. Lot of woulda', coulda', shoulda's there.

Anyway, I enjoy reading the blog and would love to hear from old acquaintances.

Trip Postponement ::

We have to postpone the trip this coming weekend since our pet sitter is not available so we're hoping to make the trip two weekends from now which, I believe, will be Labor Day weekend. That might work out even better. I'll post some contact information when I am sure of the trip.

I could kennel Sable with our vet, who is absolutely wonderful, but Sable hates kennels and the only time she has ever snapped at me was when we returned from a trip to Camden and I went to pick her up. She forgave me for putting her in there with all of those strange dogs and I have never kenneled her again!



As you can probably tell I love my pets and I heartily recommend Chows as pets, especially female Chows. I have had several over the years, both male and female, and find that the females are much easier to get along with as the males tend to be much more stubborn. They are great inside dogs and pretty much train themselves and they are extremely protective.

When a stranger, or, for that matter, someone who we do not know well, comes to visit, Sable will position herself between Jeanie and the other person and either sit or lie at her feet unless the other person takes a step toward her. Then she will stand between that person and Jeanie. Thankfully we've never had to see what would happen if there was true danger, but I feel much better having her with us.

Sable stays in the house almost all of the time. When we leave to go somewhere, even for several hours. she stays inside and we never have any problems. Years ago when I lived in North Georgia my house was broken into twice in one week. I wish I had had a chow inside then!

Friday Cat Blogging ::

Road Trip To Camden ::

I'm hoping to pull out next Thursday, the 21st, for a visit, but there are some challenges to this trip. Ricky, who normally pet sits for me, plans to go to Memphis to be with his brother who was recently in a motorcycle accident and is having a knee replacement as a result. I just also found out that Ricky's mother, Dottie, has been diagnosed with some degree of Alzheimers which saddens me terribly as she is a wonderful person! I'm thinking about bringing both the dog and the cat on the trip which is another challenge as the dog is several years old and has never been around cats. The kitten is only several months old and does not know what to think of the dog!

Vacation schedules have been worked out and the timing right now is good for us although hectic as usual.

Arriving in Columbia sometime late Thursday afternoon.
Visiting in Camden Friday.
Quick trip up to Gastonia Saturday morning to see middle daughter and family.
Visiting back in Camden Saturday evening.
Leaving early Sunday morning for the trip back.

This is tentative, but probably how it will play out.

I'll post an update in a few days with contact information in case anyone would like to get together for a cup of coffee!

Fried Green Tomatoes!

I picked the last of the green tomatoes this afternoon and I fried them a short time ago along with some okra. Supper doesn't get much better than that!

On another note, I seem to be dodging deer on the rural roads much earlier this year than normal. I was basically stopped in the road this morning as a herd crossed in front of me. Well, truth be told, there were five or six and I stopped to watch them watch me. I leave for work at about 5:45 am and I drive rural roads most of the way and I must be constantly vigilant since the deer population is pretty huge around here. If I wanted to put one in my freezer I could go out in the back yard. I've also seen some large turkey tracks lately after rain and flights of geese routinely fly by just yards above the country mansion which reminds me of the hummingbird blogging. The Hummingbirds have been skittish for some reason the past few days, but I'm going to try again this weekend!

Friday Kitten Blogging!

Here's the mighty kitten, Missy, stalking the elusive grasshopper!

The Cat's Eye Nebula ::

Here is the latest iteration of one of my favorite space subjects: The Cat's Eye Nebula. This is a composite image taken from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray telescope and it was just released a day or so ago. Here is what it looks like much larger than I can upload to blogger. I have been lucky enough to work with the Chandra project from the time it was launched and the first images were downloaded 'til now. Marshall Space Flight Center, where I work, has its own Chandra web site, but I usually prefer to work with the Harvard University site.

Keep in mind that this is a composite image and is not representative as to what the telescopes actually see. The colors and densities are added and determined by mission scientists who analyze chemical and physical data gathered by the instruments on the telescope.

As an interesting aside, when the first images came down from Chandra they were processed by the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, and my contact there who actually did the work was from Myrtle Beach!

Also, next week should provide a couple of good viewing opportunities for viewing the International Space Station from the Camden area as it flies by almost directly overhead. I'll post the information over the weekend as well as a link where others in other states and countries can find viewing schedules.

Saturday Evening Hummingbird Blogging ::

We refilled our Hummingbird feeders yesterday and they're finally back in substantial numbers. Lots of people do Friday cat blogging (Kevin and Duncan), but I don't know anyone doing Hummingbird blogging so here goes. I'll try to do this some for the next few weeks before they begin to migrate



These images were taken with a friends 80 to 200 Nikon zoom. He seems to think that there is a focus problem, but if there is I didn't see it this afternoon. I've got another 80 to 200 Nikon lens as well as a 55 to 200 so I may try to do some side by side comparisons.



This afternoon is the first time I've tried photographing the hummingbirds this year and I think I will be changing my approach some. I still want to get one to feed out of my hand!

Dupont Kids ::

An unedited and yet to be published piece from Buster:

'I'm passing by Joe's house or Robinson's hardware.' Jim will tell Kirk.
If you grew up in this community in the 50's and 60's, you knew that '4 to 12' was not a fertilizer. When DuPont opened its plant in the early 50's, it put an indelible stamp on Kershaw County. The people who moved here or were transferred to this area helped make a sleepy burg a much more progressive community.
One did not have to have any family member employed at 'the plant' to be familiar with terms such as safety shoes,Waynesboro, orlon, shirt pocket plastic,or graveyard. I can still remember during the summer, Helen Nims telling all the neighborhood kids to be quiet because Doug was working graveyard. They finally got an a/c window unit that made enough noise to drive away kids and spiders.
These are the stories of some of the people who went to school in the 50's and 60's and some later moved away. All had some connection with the May Plant.
Jim Ring finished Camden High with me in 1965 and did not return to this area for over 30 years. He had 2 older brothers Kirk and Giles, who also graduated from CHS. All three now reside in Va. where their father Skip, a chemist,who was known for wearing short sleeve shirts all year, also retired.
Jim was the first of our class who was in a non kid picture. When he was in the 6th grade he was talented enough to play in the high school band. Now Jim was never tall so the local paper took a picture of him and Pete Cantey with Pete holding his clarinet on Jim's head. It was the first picture of a classmate who was not in a brownie, scout, or in a ball uniform.
Unfortunately, Jim's brother Kirk has cancer and is not doing well, and when Jim travels through here once or twice a year he will call Kirk and do the above travellogue.
I was fortunate enough to come along at the same time as some good athletes; such as All-Americans, all-staters. Shrine Bowl participants,etc. But until we were in the 6th grade the best athletes in our class were Sue Stogner, Bonnie Nowlen and Diana Elliot. They could outrun, outhit, and were stronger than any of the males in our class.
Sue Stogner Wilson, she married Bergen's son Charlie, was a treasure who was lost to us at a very early age. She was not only as good a person as one would want to know, but she could press more weights than anybody in our class. Bonnie is now Bonnie Worten and she lives outside of Atlanta, where her daughter has acted in films and commercials. Diana Elliott Dixon's father, Ace, pitched professionally. Diana could outrun everyone in our class. These three, along with Linda Graham Stogner, Molly Morris, and Susan Brown Leviner formed the nucleus who took the Rockettes all the way to the state champioship.
John Latschar, a fine basketball player,only attended school here while he was in high school. He also drove the team bus for the girl's team. One day he had to drive the team through Kershaw and ran three consecutive stoplights before the screaming got him to slow down. John was red/green color blind and at that time the stoplights in Kershaw were reversed.
If you visit the Gettysburg National Battlefield, you may want to contact John, because he is the director. If you look it up on the web site, there is the picture of a former Bulldog.
While we were of little and pony league age there were two brothers, Jimmy and Billy Sampson, who were good ball players. About 20 years ago Billy [who was spirited and happy-go-lucky] and his wife were instrumental in organiizing an anti Ku Klux Klan meeting. Apparently there was a confrontation between the different sides and Billy was shot and killed.
Steven Cooper, younger brother of Judge Tom Cooper, was one of several really smart kids in our class. We were in the 5th grade together and he made all e's [that should date you] except in penmanship where he made u's. He was lefthanded and did not have long fingers and Mrs. Louise Boykin was tough on writing skills. Mrs. Boykin claimed to be one of if not the first woman in Kershaw County to ride in a car.
Steven is now retired and lives in New Zealand. He and Richard Reed were two of our classmates to attend and graduate from Notre Dame. Richard, who may have been the best center to ever play football here, now lives in Ohio.
Sandra Cole Raynovic's father worked at DuPont until a vision problem caused him to retire. Sandra has lived most of her adult life in Alaska, but does now spend some winter in Arizona. Her son works on the Alaskan pipeline and she says there is plenty of oil and the pipeline has helped the enviroment. She can not understand what those of us in the lower 48 are waiting on.
Delores Cole Adams has a son who lives in Arizona and one of her daughters works with native Americans in New Mexico. Delores is now the chief administrator for transplantation at Case Western Hospital in Cleaveland.
Bill Steed played professional football before begining his career with DuPont. His daughter Suzanne was quite a character and an excellent tennis player. Suzanne once worked as Pepper Rodger's sercretary when Rodgers was the head football coach at Ga. Tech. Once when I was injured she sent me a rather large poster of Pepper adorned in a leisure suit walking across Grant Field.
Lin Watkins began working with Dupont soon after serving in WW11. His son Lin, is now retired from Dupont. Lin, as a tough defensive line starter, was a big reason Camden High went unscored on in 1964.
Preacher Joe Stines is also a DuPont retiree as was Joe Sr. Legend has it that when Joe Sr. retired he took his lunch pail and his alarm clock and hung them on his clothes line. He then took out his shotgun and blasted them to pieces. Guess not everyone was happy about working at a place that had lights in the parking lot.
As we move through the various stages and events of our life, we have contact with scores of people. Those of us who were fortunate enought to grow up here in the simpler times of the 50's and 60's are very fortunate indeed. DuPont made a better life for many.
Thank you for your attention.

I'll also put this up as a PDF link over to the right.

I would be interested in everyone's thoughts about the sale of the DuPont plant to who? Invista? My brother has been medically retired from there after the sale and, as I understand it, the work environment is not nearly as good as it used to be.

For years my mother would exasperate me with the admonition that if I had gone to work for DuPont I could have become a supervisor. I chose a different path with few regrets and many rewards as apparently did many with whom I went to school!

I always learn much more from Buster's writings than I ever knew before. Bonnie apparently still lives in an Atlanta suburb and Suzanne worked as secretary to Pepper Rodgers at Georgia Tech. After I got out of the navy I lived in the Atlanta area for a long time and lived on Ponce De Leon in midtown before I moved to Huntsville. I have to say that I miss Atlanta at times and I still have some really great friends there who I try to visit as much as possible!

An Empty Nester Once Again ::

My little birds escaped the nest sometime during the day. I hope they don't become strangers!

I also forgot to pick up hummingbird food earlier today. We seem to have fewer this year than last, but they have come out in higher numbers in the past few days. Last year I would be sitting on the back porch reading and they would be flitting around within just a few feet of me. I've always wanted to try to feed them out of my hand and I may try it this weekend.

I got some nice photographs of the hummingbirds last year and I'll be shooting some more soon.

Sunday Afternoon Bird Blogging ::

A few weeks ago I noticed a bird nest in my Boston Fern with 4 little greenish-yellow eggs. They hatched a couple of weeks ago andI now have little baby Mockingbirds in my fern causing me to be very careful with my watering, not to mention that I get dive bombed by the parents. Here is what they look like now:



I also got adopted by a stray kitten last Thursday so the menagerie seems to be growing. The little grey kitten showed up at night and looked a bit malnourished. I picked up some basic kitty supplies and she seems to be doing really well and is a very affectionate kitten. She is living in the garage right now and I'm trying to figure out how to acclimate my indoor Chow to a kitten. For some reason the kitty, named Missy, likes to sleep on my fish basket. I would have thought that would be uncomfortable but as long as she is happy I am happy. All I have to look forward to now are more vet bills!

Loving Work ::

A part of the joy associated with what I do is the time I get to spend with educational outreach to all of the educators and students who are associated with NASA and who are a participants in NASA programs. In the past couple of weeks I have photographed teachers who are just entering the workplace this year as educators. I was more than a little taken aback when they got off the bus because, to me, the looked more like high school students than soon to be teachers.

The next week I spent an entire day photographing NASA student interns from universities all around the country meeting and listening to senior Marshall Space Flight Center management officials and then participating in several challenging engineering projects. Marshall is a research and development site and is primarily tasked with propulsion, along with designing the Ares 1 and Ares V next generation of space vehicles, so most of the students were enrolled in engineering programs. As an aside, there was one student from the University of South Carolina, but not a single one from Clemson! This imbalance should be rectified next year!

There is another program going on at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center for the next couple of days and I have been working long distance with one of the legendary early shuttle astronauts, Story Musgrave. We don't know what his schedule will be like for the project at the USSRC, but he is hoping to break away for a bit and visit with my group for at least a short while. Here are some short bio points from Musgrave's past:

At 18, he joined the United States Marine Corps. While in the Corps, Musgrave served as an aviation electrician and instrument technician. After completing this service, he enrolled at Syracuse University where, in 1958, he received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and statistics. Upon graduation from Syracuse, he went to work for the Eastman Kodak Company as a mathematician and operations analyst.

In the years that followed, he earned an MBA in operations analysis and computer programming from UCLA. The following year he added a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Marietta College and, in 1964, received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Columbia University. Leaving Kodak, he served a surgical internship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. He remained at Kentucky on post-doctoral fellowships from the Air Force and the Heart Institute, earning an additional master's degree in physiology and biophysics. High-altitude flight and the then-new space program had created new areas of medicine, and Dr. Musgrave was in the forefront, pursuing research in cardiovascular and exercise physiology and in the medicine of aviation.

[snip]

The first of Dr. Musgrave's six trips into outer space took place on the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. While on this mission, Musgrave and Don Peterson performed the first space walks off of the Shuttle. On his second Shuttle mission, he served as systems engineer during launch and reentry, and as a pilot during the orbital operations.

Perhaps the most dramatic of Story Musgrave's space mission was the fifth, on the Shuttle Endeavour. Musgrave commanded the mission to repair the damaged Hubble Space Telescope. During this 11-day mission, the Telescope was restored to full functionality. The repairs required five spacewalks, three performed by Dr. Musgrave himself.

Story Musgrave flew his last space mission in January, 1996, on the Space Shuttle Columbia. On this mission, the crew deployed and retrieved reusable satellites for studying the origin and composition of the stars, and to experiment with super-vacuum conditions in which thin film wafers can be grown for use in the semiconductor industry.

Besides his many scientific degree, Dr. Musgrave has also earned a master's degree in literature. His hobbies include poetry, chess, gardening, photography, computer, running, scuba diving, flying and soaring in gliders.

Needless to say I'm looking forward to spending some time with Story!

Oh yeah, here is a photograph of Musgrave during his Extra Vehicular Activity during the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission:



[update] Unfortunately Story got tied up with his duties relating to his appearance at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and was unable to visit. Maybe next time!