RN: Today (July 4) we celebrate rockets of all kinds.  First, we bring you a rocket launch we saw at about 9:00 pm on July 3- a Firefly Alpha took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is near Santa Maria.  We were enjoying the beautiful sunset and evening, when I spotted a bright orange light that kept getting bigger and bigger as it seemed to head straight for us.  It was a bit creepy because I was thinking about alien spacecraft.  Bill said “it’s a Firefly launch!” We watched as the bright orange light faded and another light (the second stage) appeared.  WOW!!

FE. Lucky me…I got a ride in the second rocket, Bill’s ’65 Mustang. He has been rebuilding the car for a bit now, and the next project will be to replace the engine with an even more powerful one. I was happy to get a ride in the current version. Ahh..I had forgotten the joy of the roar and the smell of gasoline!

here is a video of the boys having fun:

Look at our grins in celebration of the Fourth and enjoying a terrific 2009 Merlot from Mark!

RN: I have always thought it was curious that we Americans celebrate Independence Day by pretending there is a war going on around us. I remember my mother hated the “Piccolo Pete” fire works because the whistle sounded like a bomb coming down (she would have flashbacks to WWII when the bombs were actually raining down on her in Japan). Tonight, it sounded like we were in a war zone because so many huge (and Illegal) fireworks were going off: BOOM BOOM BOOM! But I still love the bright lights released by the exploding shells. Here are photos of the fireworks framed by Naomi’s ceramic sculptures…