Footle and Grok

I finished my Story A Day in May project.

One of the prompts I followed was to write a story where each sentence starts with a letter of the alphabet in order. So the first sentence begins with A, and the second sentence begins with B, all the way to Z. This is called an abecedarian.

If you have never done this, I highly recommend that you do. It is a lot of fun. I run the alphabet down the side of the page before I start writing. Then I know what letter I have to start with for that sentence.

I have no idea where today’s idea came from. I think I wrote the first line, and the rest unfolded. This project is easy to start but gets harder the further you go. X and Z are quite challenging.

There are no rules to your prose, except for the alphabet order. I made a rule for myself that each line had to be its own sentence. Otherwise, it was too easy. My story is a bit of nonsense, which is probably why I loved writing it. I hope you like reading it. Notice the letter starting each sentence.

Grandpa’s Liver and Onions

Anna wanted pizza.

Brent wanted tacos.

Callie wanted rice and beans.

Doug wanted quiche.

Everyone wanted something different.

Forget it; no one could agree.

Grandpa declared he was the cook.

He would decide what to make.

In a twist, he didn’t pick one of his grandkid’s choices.

Jamming to some music, he turned the oven on.

Kissing each of the kids on the forehead, Grandpa showed them the recipe.

LIVER AND ONIONS!

Mom would never make them this!

None of the grandchildren would enter the kitchen.

Oh, how Grandpa laughed.

Pizza and tacos are good.

Quiche is hard to make.

Rice and beans take a lot of time.

So, let’s eat this instead.

The kids continued to complain and complain.

Until Grandpa brought out a covered pan.

Various distinct smells had the grandchildren rushing over.

Whatever was in that pan wasn’t liver and onions.

X-ray glasses were not needed to know what Grandpa had made.

Yes, we’ll try this dish!

Zillions of Grandpa’s chocolate chip cookies wouldn’t be enough.

June is a popular month.

I say this because when I went looking for June poems, I had immense success. There were so many that I had a hard time picking just one, so I chose two. One is actually a proverb.

“Kind hearts are the gardens;
kind thoughts are the roots;
kind words are the flowers;
kind deeds are the fruits.”
–  English Proverb

Spend time in nature, even if it is in your backyard. Perhaps you’ll mow your lawn at the same time (be grateful you don’t have to use a scythe.)

“Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine
The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights
And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,
The foliage of the valleys and the heights.
Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;
The mower’s scythe makes music to my ear;
I am the mother of all dear delights;
I am the fairest daughter of the year.”
–  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Don’t argue with me. Summer is here!!!

Even if it officially starts on the solstice, June, July, and August are the summer months.

We are living in a weird world right now, and it is easy for each day to become a repeat of the one before it. Don’t let your summer slip away in an unending rut. Have some fun!

The easiest way to do this is to make a summer (sand)bucket list. It should not have any chores on it. (I’m sure you have lots of those sort of lists.) Instead, write a list of fun things you can do by yourself and with your family.

I found a fun list online that gave me a starting point. Some of them are difficult to do this summer, but most of them can be done at home for almost no money.

My favorite idea is #99: “Make a memory jar of all the awesome things you did this summer.” If you decorate a physical jar, you’ll plan something fun so you can fill it. (There is nothing sadder than an empty memory jar.) This is just what we need to make this summer a blast and not a blah.

Go ahead and make your own list or borrow from a website. Even if you only have ten items on your list, it gives you something to look forward too. We’ve all earned some fun.

There are now FIVE humans in space.

That is still not a number to get excited about, but it was terrific to watch yesterday’s successful launch of the Crew Dragon Demo-2. Everything was a go, including the weather.

There were cameras everywhere, probably in case something went wrong, but it meant that the average citizen, sitting at their computer, could see the whole shebang, from the inside of the capsule to the touch down of Falcon 9 onto “Of Course I Still Love You.”

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are arriving at the ISS around 7:29 a.m. PDT today. Depending on when you read this blog, they may have already docked. Excellent!!!

With the success of Demo-2, SpaceX plans to send more people to space. Ordinary people, like you and me, and Tom Cruise.  Really, the guy who likes to do his own stunts wants to film a movie in the ISS. If it gets us closer to Mars, I say do it.

To quote Mary Roach at the end of Packing for Mars, “Let’s go out and play.”

I love Mint Juleps.

This might seem odd since I don’t drink alcohol. Let me explain. When I was a kid, I would go to Disneyland and buy a Mint Julep and a fritter from a window in New Orleans Square before watching Fantasmic on the edge of the Rivers of America. Obviously, this drink did not have alcohol in it, and I loved it.

Today is Mint Julep Day, and I wondered where the Mint Julep came from. Since Disney sold it in New Orleans Square, I figured it originated in the south. Plus, it’s a refreshing drink on a hot day. It turns out the history of this drink is much more varied.

Why not muddle some mint, add some bourbon (or not), and enjoy a Mint Julep while you learn about this tasty drink? There are a ton of recipes; here is one from myrecipes.com. Enjoy!

Mint Julep Facts:

• Mint Juleps should be served in a special silver or pewter cup. It held from the bottom or top so that frost can form on the outside of the cup.
• A “julep” was originally a sweet drink used to take medicine.
• The first mention of Mint Julep in a book was in 1803. The author, John Davis, wrote, “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.”
• The Mint Julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby.
• Over 120,000 Mint Juleps are sold during Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs.

Have you ever heard of a John Wayne casserole?

I had not, but I was reading a book (it was a non-fiction science book), and the author mentioned a John Wayne casserole. I like John Wayne movies but didn’t know what this dish was. Well, Google provided more information than I could have imagined.

Click here if you want the recipe that I tried. Inside that article, there is a link to the history of the John Wayne casserole. It turns out he did submit a recipe to a charity cookbook, but unlike the dish I made, his version had eggs and a ton of cheese in it, but no ground beef.

Somehow, possibly at a college in Mississippi of all places, the ingredients changed, and the John Wayne casserole became a good way to use up ground beef.

I increased the amount of mayo, sour cream, and grated cheese, and it was a good thing that I did because the mixture barely covered my 9×13 pan. My hubby loved this meal and hopes I make it again. I thought it was just okay. However, I am not a huge fan of mayo or sour cream, so that might be why. The flaky biscuit crust was tasty though.

Have you ever hear of this recipe? Have you made it? I’d love to learn some variations so I can enjoy it more. Of course, Hubby hopes that I don’t change anything unless I want to add more cheese.

The Falcon 9 Crew Dragon launch yesterday had to be canceled because of the weather.

I watched the launch coverage for hours, and at T-17 minutes, they called it off. The weather might have been good enough ten minutes after the launch window (which was instantaneous) but not at T-0. So, NASA and SpaceX (and the world) will try again on Saturday.

This means that if you didn’t watch the coverage yesterday, you could check it out this weekend. Hopefully, we will have a successful launch at 3:22 p.m. EDT. NASA live coverage will start at 11 a.m. EDT. You can watch it here.

The important thing to remember is that today’s launch attempt was not a failure. Everything except the weather worked perfectly. And the protocol for weather monitoring was followed, so we know that we are making space travel (which is inherently risky) as safe as it can be. I enjoyed watching every minute of the event. (Although, I was a nervous wreck waiting for them to decide to abort or not. I don’t think I could work in Mission Control.)

Let’s all watch the launch on Saturday because it is special. Eventually, it might be as routine as plane travel, but not yet.

Today is a red-letter day.

For the first time since 2011, American astronauts are going to launch onboard an American spaceship. How exciting!!!

The SpaceX Demo-2 mission will launch at 4:33 p.m. EDT. Two veteran NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will ride the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

If this flight is successful, it could be the start of a new era in space travel. Right now, there are only THREE humans in space. That is just sad, and I hope that number will increase soon.

The podcast, Shortwave, did a great program about both today’s launch and the launch of the Space Shuttle program in 1981. You will learn a lot in just twelve minutes.

The live feed of the launch will start tomorrow at 9 a.m. PDT, and I will have it on the whole time. May this be the start of a wonderful new era of exploration and innovation.

It’s time for another short story.

The prompt for this one had to do with a villain trying to escape while doing community service and how he could do that when everyone had superpowers. I dropped the community service part and had fun with a villain escaping from prison.

You might notice that I don’t describe the main character. They have no gender, no name,  and no physical description. All you know is a few of their superpowers and that they are a villain. This is done on purpose. As you read, you should fill in everything I left blank. What does this character look like to you? Guy, girl, hermaphrodite green alien from Rigel? The fun of reading first-person stories is that we can become the character if we want, or we can imagine them in a million different ways. Enjoy!

Catch and Release

As the invisible shield closed across the opening of my cell, the captain of the guard gave me a strict warning. “This shield will stop any power you try to use on it. The more you increase the intensity in your attempt to escape, the more it will hurt you. I suggest you just lie on your cot and wait for your trial peacefully.”

I stared at the rocky giant in front of me, amazed that they found a uniform that would fit him. “So, if I use my laser eyes, the shield will stop me.”

“Yes. Numero Cinco tried that once.”

I raised my right hand. “And my retractable claws won’t slice it?”

The captain chuckled, and it sounded like a landslide. “No. But I would like to see you try.”

Lowering my hand, I looked around my cell. “And my supersonic throwing ability won’t penetrate it?”

“You have supersonic throwing ability?” The captain sounded surprised. Perhaps that wasn’t on my superhero resume.

“How do you think I got the bomb into the vault before it automatically closed?”

The captain frowned. “I had wondered. The film footage was inconclusive.”

“Well, it would be since the throw was supersonic.” I ran my hand over the plastic bedframe. No metal in this cell what with magnetism being one of the most common superpowers in a world where everyone had some type of power. “Wouldn’t work here, though, would it?”

The captain turned to go. “No. As you can tell, there is nothing in your cell to throw, and as I said, the more power you use against the shield, the more you will regret it.” He gave me a stony look over his shoulder. “No one has died from testing the shield. Don’t be the first.”

I rolled my eyes and sat on the uncomfortable bare cot. The captain closed a huge metal door behind him, leaving me alone. Leaning against the cinderblock wall, I ran through all the possible powers I could use to get through the shield and wondered if it could really stop everything. I had more abilities than most people, which made me an outstanding criminal. I was hard to catch and even harder to hold.

That last thought made me laugh. Actually, I was easy to catch. That was my job. If I allowed myself to get caught, then my teammates could escape. And I loved seeing how various superheroes throughout the universe designed traps for me. Of course, they didn’t have to be clever. I walked into them all.

With that last thought, I stood and waved my hand in front of the shield. I couldn’t see it, but I had no reason to believe the captain of the guard was lying. He seemed like an honest guy, perhaps too honest. According to him, this shield would resist every superpower imagined.

However, while I was easy to catch, no prison had ever held me. I walked out of my cell and away from the captain’s quarters, half-hoping an alarm would sound. Disappointed, I strolled out an unassuming exit door at the end of the hallway. Blinking in the bright sunlight, I nodded with satisfaction as a sleek black sports car pulled up in front of me.

Lady Vicious rolled down the window.  “Right on time. I don’t know how you do it.”

Just for fun, I levitated through the window and onto the passenger seat. “They built a shield to deflect all superpowers. Apparently, it doesn’t stop someone who doesn’t use their powers.”

The black-haired vixen shook her head. “And these bozos are the good guys?”

I laughed. “At least they keep things interesting. I wonder how they’ll catch me next time.”

Happy Towel Day!

May 25 honors the works and life of Douglas Adams, the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of the best books ever written.

In honor of the day, I’m providing some quotes from the Hitchiker’s Series. I could have listed many more, but I tried to pick my absolute favorite (it wasn’t easy.) If you have a favorite one that I didn’t include, please share. The books were written a long time ago, but these quotes are relevant today.

Some Quotes Worth Memorizing While Finding Your Towel:

• Don’t Panic.
• There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
• “You know,” said Arthur, “it’s at times like this when I’m trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young.”
  “Why, what did she tell you?”
  “I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”
• “Space,” it says, “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”
• For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.
• “Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.
• The Total Perspective Vortex derives its picture of the whole Universe on the principle of extrapolated matter analyses. To explain — since every piece of matter in the Universe is in some way affected by every other piece of matter in the Universe, it is in theory possible to extrapolate the whole of creation — every sun, every planet, their orbits, their composition and their economic and social history from, say, one small piece of fairy cake. The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife.
• “Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich.”
• It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this, it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
• There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
• It is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.