Diary of a Diehard

This morning I awoke and turned on the radio to listen to some music as I went through my daily routine. During this time, the news came on and one of the stories was of the Space Shuttle Endeavor and its mission to the International Space Station. Endeavor was carrying a payload for the space station which included a giant truss which will be used to unfurl solar energy collectors to produce power for the space station. According to the news story, the shuttle would connect the truss to the space station today in a series of maneuvers by astronauts doing space walks. I quickly ran downstairs and turned on the satellite dish. One of the beautiful things about satellite television is that you usually get the downlinks from the space shuttle to mission control in Houston. Sure enough, the NASA channel was showing the shuttle unloading its payload in preparation for the connection with the space station. I watched eagerly as astronauts Noriega and Tanner began to guide the 17 ton truss into place and bolt it together. Their space walk lasted several hours and it was amazing to watch. The shuttle circles the earth every 90 minutes meaning it is night for 45 minutes and day for 45 minutes. To watch these two astronauts hanging 40 feet above the space shuttle connected to the space station with a small tether while traveling over 5 miles per second was incredible. The mission was not without its problems as one of the solar wings did not deploy correctly. This is where the astronauts differ from other do-it-yourselfers. They did not get out a hammer and give the space station a good whack. Instead, they left it there for mission control to best determine what would be the next steps. I just kept thinking to myself, they wouldn’t have had this problem if they would have sent up Norm Abram from This Old House. He is after all a master carpenter and would have had it fixed in no time and been able to provide it with a decorative crown molding. Sometimes these NASA guys make things to complicated.

Good day and welcome to day two of the Christmas decorations marathon. Yesterday was filled with light as I hung the outside decorations. Today the focus is on the inside and the roof although not in that order. As a child, my Grandma and Grandpa Summers had a lot of Christmas decorations. Grandpa was responsible for the outside while Grandma decorated the inside. At the top of their house stood a 3 foot Santa Claus and his sleigh. The sleigh was pulled by 3 reindeer (it was a small sleigh and a smaller house). The lead reindeer was Rudolph whose nose glowed red. I remember going to their house every Christmas to see their lights. As Grandpa got older, he needed help in putting up his decorations. I would gladly volunteer and go over every season to help him put them up. It soon became me doing the decorations while he oversaw the proceedings from the ground. When my Grandma passed away a few years ago, he decided not to put up the decorations any more. To my surprise, he brought them over to me as a gift. From that time, I have made an effort to continue the tradition of having Santa and his sleigh and reindeer adorn the top of my house. This year was no exception as I got the characters out of the box and plugged them in to verify all parts were in good working condition. It is amazing to me that these decorations are still in such good condition considering they are nearly 40 years old now. By the end of the day, Santa was standing majestically watching over the reindeer from the top of our garage. It is always a special time when Santa and Rudolph light up for the first time each holiday season. Each time, I take a moment to reflect on my grandparents and the love I have for them. Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa.

The first of December is traditionally the beginning of the holiday season in our household. It is at this time that the Thanksgiving decorations are stored away and are replaced with those celebrating the Christmas holiday season. This year, I am feeling less than helpful as I am still quite ill. The children though are adamant about the decorations being put up. So I got up, donned my Hard Rock Cafe sweatshirt, my Atlanta Olympics sweat pants, my Diamondbacks hat and my Goofy slippers and decided to just get it over with. Some of you may be wondering about my attire but I assure you, this is standard issue for sick people in our house. I find that there are only certain outfits that can be worn when you are sick. If you try to dress in regular clothes, you just feel worse and then the clothes become tainted in your mind. Hey, I may be delirious but I still think about things. Ok, maybe I don’t think clearly but that is debatable. Once I had my outfit on, I went to the garage and began to unpack the Christmas decorations. Christmas at our house is quite an ordeal. We have literally dozens of boxes filled with all sort of decoration for the house inside and out. I decided it would be best to focus my efforts on the outside of the house. For that, I began pulling out strings of lights and having the kids test them to verify they were working correctly. I am of course referring to the lights here, not the children. As far as I can tell, the children never work correctly. The remainder of the day was spent climbing up and down the ladder hanging the icicle lights from the eaves of the house. It does seem weird hanging Christmas lights when it is 76 degrees outside and I am passed by people in shorts and tank tops. By the end of the day, all of the lights have been hung on the house with care in hopes that Saint Nicolas would visit us there. I only wish all of the decorations were up. This tends to be a week’s worth of effort.