Marshmallows

Hi kids!

We are still in Cape Canaveral, Florida. We are waiting here to watch
the last night time launch of the space shuttle, scheduled for 4:39 am
on 7 February, Superbowl Sunday. We are just a few miles from the
place the rockets blast off. The local people have seen this plenty of
times and are seriously nonplussed at the prospect of yet another
shuttle launch. Of course, to us it's a big deal since we've never
seen one. We ask them 'Where's a good place to see the launch?'

They're like, 'oh, don't worry. You'll see it. The problem is not
getting your eardrums busted!'

My sister lives forty miles away and she says she can see them from
her back yard. Evidently they make quite a show when they blast off.

To kill the time we hang out in the boat, clean, straighten up,
practice tying knots, analyze industrial failures in 5000 horsepower
drive systems and write extensive reports supported by reams of
reference data (did I mention I got a consulting job in Maine last
week?) and invent desserts from materials at hand.

Here's Jen making 'smashers', a dessert made by smashing a marshmallow
into a pile of chocolate chips then picking them up and snarfing them
down. She says it's good. I, of course, can't have any because I'm
trying to lose weight.

Well, kids, be good. Be nice to the teacher, bring in chips and
marshmallows and have smashers for a treat.