It's A Good Life
October 22, 2009
Back in the late 1950's like a lot of people I became a fan of Charles M. Schultz, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts. I bought some of his books which cost me half a days wages, but I had and read them until I decided that I would not take them on the road. In one of the strips Charlie Brown told a friend that Snoopy was his dog. In the panels that followed Snoopy looked to the right and said, "I am a dog?" He looked to the left and said, "I was a dog yesterday!" He looked straight forward and said, "I'll be a dog tomorrow." As Snoopy trotted off in the last panel he said, "It's a good life."
Being on the road like I am is something that I have thought (or dreamed) about since the late 1950's. I don't know when I first thought about it but I suppose it actually was when I was eight or ten. Don't most kids think of living an adventure? About that age I remember swapping lies with another farmers son about the things we had done. Each one of us was trying to out lie the other and we both knew it. As it turned out I married a good girl that was willing to share that dream even till she became old enough to retire. To have a good life is not just something that happens by accident but rather by an attitude of the mind. I have read of people that never went more than twenty miles from their place of birth and claimed to have the best possible life. I have been a lot farther than that away from my birth place and while I may not have the best possible life, like Snoopy I have to say, "It is a good life!'
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MOCK UP AT THE JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
The closest that I will ever be to outer space is either flying high in a commercial aircraft or with my imagination on television. I have been to several museums of space or space facilities. The Johnson Space Center is in Houston, Texas. It is the home of Mission Control Center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States, including the activities of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, and the activities at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Much of the training of the US Astronauts and International partners is done there. They have a mock up of the ISS (International Space Station) that is used for training purposes and can be viewed. Unfortunately the viewing is behind a glass window. Even through the glass the size was amazing both from the viewpoint of how small it was to work with and live in for the length of time that men do and also how big it was to have been put into space. The tour that they have is very informational and would be even more at a time of an actual space operation. When we were there even the astronauts on board the ISS were sleeping so it was rather quiet. In one of the buildings it is possible to view and touch a Saturn V rocket. While it is not possible to see a great deal of the workings of the rocket, they are inside the coverings, the extreme complexity of the wiring and piping is amazing. I was also struck by thoughts that I would not want to ride a bicycle that was built with some of the parts and the way it was put together. Some of it was so very delicate. It is no wonder that there have been problems in space flights. There are a lot of control computers and all computers are delicate pieces of equipment.
TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS OF THE TOMB OF QIN SHI HUANG
In 1974 a farmer in China started to dig a water well. He uncovered the first of nearly 9000 funerary statues at the burial site of Qin Shi Huang who had declared himself the first emperor of China in 221 BC. In 1997 a Chinese businessman named Ira Poon wanted to share this heritage of his country by building a scale model of the tomb in Katy, Texas. He had 6000 strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians built in China at a 1:3 scale and shipped to the US. They were put on display in an open air museum near Houston, which has the third largest Chinese community in the USA. In addition to the statues an area displays a scale model of the Forbidden City of Beijing China. It was the location of the central government of China for around 500 years.
DORSAL FIN OF A DOLPHIN ABOUT FIFTEEN FROM WHERE I WAS STANDING
We are currently in Rockport, Texas but will leave at the end of the week to return to Bentsen Grove for the winter. We have been in this camp in Rockport more times than we have stayed anywhere else. We enjoy the area and the closeness to the bay. Each time that we have been here there has been a difference in the type of birds to see and sights that we have seen. The fishing activities vary and we have seen a lot of different boats unloading their catch. There is an auto ferry that crosses the bay that we take once in a while. While crossing we have often seen dolphin, usually just the dorsal fin for a couple seconds. We never expected to see dolphins in a shallow area where the fishermen wade out to fish. The water seems to be less than waist deep from shore to shore and ideal for fishing, personal and small watercraft and kite boarding. A few days ago we were driving close to the water and saw a fin out a distance so we stopped and walked near the water. In a short time I heard a sound not fifteen foot from me and saw dolphin that had come up for a breath of air. To get any kind of picture took both fast response with the camera and a good deal of luck. I was very surprised that the dolphins came into the confined area but apparently the water was sufficient in depth for them to fish. The short glimpses of them are so very impressive. I could spend a lot of time watching them.
As I go from old places to new places and see new sights and meet new people I am impressed with the great variations of things in this United States and I am impressed with the people that call it home. As Snoopy said, "It's a good life." So here is hoping that you also find that you can say "It's a good life."
Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On the Road
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