Back to school... finally.

I can't believe how happy I am to be back at school.

My summer was the pits. First of all, Dad made me mow the lawn, which would have been okay because he said he'd give me $5 to do it. But most of the time he didn't think I was doing it "right" and he would mow all the parts he didn't like. Then when I'd ask for my money he'd only give me $2.50, telling me it was because he did half.

I was looking forward to the money to get the final parts for the rocket ship. Well, that didn't happen. The rocket is pretty much in the same shape it was on Parent's Night. At this rate I'll be in college before I get to Mars.

At least the mowing is over. Dad said we are done, that he's sick and tired of yard work and that it's pointless now that half the lawn is brown and the other half is crabgrass. Mom said he should get a lawn service. But Dad insists he does it for half the price. She said yes and for half the price you get dead grass and weeds.

Dad also decided this would be a good summer to try camping, which turned out to be the worst summer for mosquitoes in recent history. I don't even want to talk about it. Let's just say we spent the better part of seven days in our tent.

P.J. was at day camp for most of the summer, then his parents took him to visit the Alamo. At least this time he didn't come back thinking he was Davy Crockett.

Now that he's back we'll work on a new lift-off schedule. We're hoping that we'll be ready before the new year, maybe even by Thanksgiving break - although I'd hate to miss Thanksgiving, it's my favorite holiday.

Anyway, we did get to work on the the rocket engine and it is almost complete. It is so cool. It's a little bigger than I expected, it looks like we might have to modify the rocket body.

Parent's Night!

Well, Parent's Night was a hit!

We pulled off the whole shebang at the last minute with everyone pitching in.

Grandpa sat in the rocket ship telling flying stories from the olden days. Me and P.J. explained the trip in detail and gave a demonstration of the rockets propulsion system. 

And Uncle Jake came out and brought his prototype for a nuclear powered laser death ray. He said you never know when you'll encounter hostile Martians and it'll probably be more effective than my cap gun.

He calls it the NPLDR 3000.

The whole night was so cool!

We didn't get first prize, though. We got second.

Emily Peters and Eleanor Timmins won first prize with their scooter that runs on Twinkies. 

It takes 35 Twinkies to make it go about 40 feet, but it is environmentally friendly. The only exhaust is some harmless brown goo and powdered sugar and when it's running the air around it smells like a bakery.

So between the smell and with everyone concerned about global warming these days, I guess a Twinkie driven scooter beats a homemade trip to Mars. Go figure.

Raccoons and Uncle Jake

The raccoons are going a little nutty in our neighborhood. It must be Spring Fever. Besides looking for good take out from our garbage, they like to pound away at the cans and lids like they're some kind of a rock band.

P.J. offered to sleep over to stand watch and, as he put it, "Run those Yankee raccoons back to the woods they came from!" I've stopped reminding him that he's from New Jersey.

He thinks he's pretty cool with his single shot cap gun. It is kinda neat and loud, but he's never seen my cap gun. Mom doesn't like guns and she only lets me play with it when my Uncle Jake comes over. He gave me the gun.

Uncle Jake is Mom's brother and he doesn't think there's anything wrong with cap guns. He and Mom disagree on a lot of stuff like that. Dad just stays out of it - I get the feeling he thinks Uncle Jake is cool, too.

Luckily, Mom didn't make me get rid of the cap gun. She didn't want to hurt Uncle Jake's feelings, but like I said, it can only come out when he's around.

Anyway, it's a sort of machine cap gun and it blows off about 50 caps a second. So if P.J. decides he's going to start some kind of uprising, I'm pretty sure I can handle it.

That reminds me, I have to add the cap gun to the list of things to bring to Mars. You never know what you might find up there.

The Reb

Parent's Night is only a couple of weeks away and there is still so much to do on the rocket ship. The body is pretty much complete, but we haven't gotten anywhere on the engine. It didn't help that P.J. wasn't talking to me for a few days.

He was mad because Grandpa told him I might ask Melanie to go to Mars with me. That was supposed to be private, but I think Grandpa forgot I asked him not to tell. Although, he might have told because he was upset that I didn't ask him to go. We all can't go! I think I'll stick to the original plan of just me going.

Things got better between me and P.J. when he got back from vacation. He went to Gettysburg over Memorial Day weekend and he didn't seem as upset when he got home. He got a Confederate hat and a cap gun rifle and he seems a little preoccupied  with fighting for his state's rights. I'm not sure which state though - he's originally from New Jersey.

Anyway, he wants me to call him The Rebel or just Reb, which is fine with me so long as we can get back to building the rocket.

The pizza is out

Well, the pizza shield plan is definitely out.

Last Saturday was real sunny and warm. The temperature got to 70˚. Normally that's perfect, but my garage probably got up to 80˚. Although the pizza held its shape, the smell is nasty.

Mom made me throw it all away when she caught Donald munching on a piece. He must not have any sense of smell, maybe it was the ball bearing incident. The stink went from sour milk and dirty socks to a sour milk, dirty socks and messy diaper mix.

There was also a greasy spot that Mom made me scrub. It took forever to get it all up and it left a stain that will probably be there for a thousand years.

On top of that, today Melanie gave me a bag full of fresh Pan Pizza. The grease was beginning to eat through the bag, but she seemed so happy to help that I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I wasn't going to use it.

I tossed it in a dumpster on the way home.

Anyway, it's nice having her pay attention to me and it's cool that she's interested in my project. 

I wonder if she'd like to go to Mars.

Nabbed by the lunch lady

Okay, just for the record, in case I disappear or something, I think the head lunch lady is on to me. Remember, P.J. and me are collecting Pan Pizza, well, I think she knows we're not eating it. I don't know for sure, maybe I'm just a little paranoid, because I know she's responsible for the recipe for the pizza, but I get the feeling she's watching my every move on pizza day.

She's not onto P.J. yet, or at least he doesn't think she is. I'm playing it safe though, I just order two slices – or three, if I know she isn't looking. 

But I do have an alternate plan. Melanie Shaw actually asked me about my science project. Melanie is one of the prettiest girls I know and usually I don't know what to say to her. I mean, whenever I get close to her it feels like my mouth fills up with dry crackers and my head goes a little woozy, but this opened the door and of course I do have a lot to talk about. 

It also gave me an idea–I asked Melanie if she could help and she said yes. So now I still get my pizza heat shield and a reason to talk to Melanie!

But I'm not so sure the pizza heat shield thing is such a good idea anymore. We have a good pile of it already in my garage. It's in a cool shady spot, but I have to say, it is not smelling so great. Kind of like sour milk and dirty socks left out in the sun. 

In August.

I don't know if I could stand that smell all the

 way to Mars and back. So I'm thinking we'll have to come up with something else.

Another fact:

Full Speed Ahead!

Now that I have the official backing of Mrs. Applebaum and the Pine Nuts School system, I can start working on my trip to Mars full steam ahead. So, the plan now is to have the rocket ship completed and ready to launch for the Parent's Day Science Competition.

I'll also have the poster of really cool facts (which I've already started), along with a flight plan and list of things I want to do once I get to Mars.

Grandpa is still very keen on helping out, so he can sit in the rocket during Parent's Night and talk to people about flying and stuff. He can even wear his leather jacket and helmet. Maybe we can find him some goggles too.

And since Mom still insists that I let Donald do something - even after the ball bearing incident- he can be our Martian specimen. Once me and P.J. figure out what one looks like, we'll make a costume and dress Donald in it and he can stand around making Martian sounds.

P.J.'s going to stay over Saturday night so we can do research. He has an awesome flying simulation video game that will give me some practice and he said he can bring over other study materials from his dad's video collection. I'll get kettle corn and soda.