It's Not Rocket Science....No, Wait...It is !

I went outside last night to empty the 'bagless' bag on our sweeper and noticed something weird in the sky.  Over in the West, about halfway up the sky was some weird yellow-orange light.  My first thought was a helicopter but there was no noise.  I stood there for a minute, watching as it traveled East, towards me.  Then, I could see trailing white 'sparkles' like a long comet tail - like something out of Star Trek.  As it got almost in front of me, the light went out, a moment later a puff of smoke, complete with expanding smoke ring and the yellow-white light was on again.  Very weird, very cool.  I didn't have time to get a camera and it wouldn't have taken anyway as none of my cameras are good in low light. 
This morning, I told Charlene about it (she was at work when I saw this) and described it just like above.  My thought at this point was that it was some space junk re-entering the atmosphere.  But it was a little too weird for that.  I 'Googled' it and the only mention was on a UFO Sighting website.  There were 3 different sightings reported from Los Angeles area and Simi Valley, both 40-60 miles away.  That was a dead give-away that it was something way, way up in the sky, not an airplane.  From time to time, Southern California gets some strange, weird sightings or reports of a 'different' kind.  No, they're not crazy, we just remember that the 'Skunkworks' is out here and they make the latest and greatest top secret flying stuff.  But what was it that I saw?  I checked all through the paper this morning and not a word.  Damn it!

I jumped on Google again and typed in "rocket launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base".  That's the place where the government launches rockets on the West Coast of the U.S.  It's about 90 miles due west of Ventura.  I've been there many times in the past doing network stuff so I was hoping maybe they had a launch.  Bingo!  Vandenberg launched a Minotaur VI Rocket at 9:41 last night sending a 'space junk locating' satellite into orbit.  The launch path takes it up, east and south which is the path I saw.  Luckily, someone in Ventura has a better camera than I do and captured the following video. The focus wasn't good on the rocket so you'll see a slightly out of focus view of what I saw - except he didn't get the 2nd stage ignition which made the puff of smoke and smoke ring.....that was right after this clip ends............  enjoy science.

And Just Down the Street.......

I was over at a friends house yesterday, doing the 'geek' thing and helping them with a new (old) laptop.  It's probably 6 or 8 blocks from here and on the way home, I saw a really cool looking tree.  It's a Red Flowering Eucalypus Tree.  Very neat flowers that look like oversized bottle brushes and gobs of them.  After flowering, the street and sidewalk are littered with beautiful little red soft bristle pieces. Again, very cool.  I was waiting for the light to change when I snapped this photo.

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Further down Howard Street was this marvelously colored muscle car.  Camaro?  I dunno but it just reminded me of the wild colors around beach towns in Southern Cowlifornia.  Houses are painted with every pastel color in the rainbow in additon to some with wild and crazy colors.  A lot of cars have beautiful and/or wild colors, too.

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One of the strange things about being a transplant is gettng used to the new flora and fauna.  Nothing native to Ohio out here.  Except, on the 'Historic' street in Oxnard ('F' Street).  It's where the first houses were built in 'Downtown Oxnard' in the late 1800's.  Not very historic by East Coast/Midwest standards but it is out here.  What sticks out like a sore thumb to this Ohio reject is that the street is lined, both sides with Sycamore Trees.  These are water loving things that grow wild along Ohio rivers and streams.  I have no clue why someone would bring seeds to the desert, plant them and expect them to grow but they did.  I'm sure the home owners water them regularly but they still lack the true-health beauty of the Ohio version.

That's about it, no revelations or new ways to save the world, just some pretty colored objects and a weird place to plant something that loves gobs of water.......

Close to Mom's Recipe

 Long time ago, Mom used to make the best-est Lemon Bundt Cake in the whole world.  Really heavy, really dense, made with Apricot Nectar, lots of Lemon Glaze.  In the decades since she's passed, I've never found anyone who has heard of it.  Tonight, the thought of that cake, while I was sitting at the computer caused me to 'Google it'.  After several tries I came upon the following recipe which is pretty close to what she used.  She always insisted on 'Duncan Hines' brand Lemon Cake Mix.  I don't know why but that's what she always used and made me pick up at the grocery store.  The secret of this cake is Apricot Nectar and how the glaze is applied.  As you can see, it's a very 'rich' cake, to say the least.  It is the best.  Trust me, I know what I'm doing.........

Apricot Lemon Bundt Cake

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Serves/Makes: 12  (What?  I see 4, maybe 5 big pieces here......) 

Ready In: 1-2 hrs

Ingredients:

***Cake***

1 cup apricot nectar

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

4 eggs

1 lemon cake mix (Mom always insisted on Duncan Hines brand)

***Frosting***

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Lemon juice (enough to thin the sugar)

Directions:

Mix all cake ingredients on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Bake in a well greased bundt pan at 350 degrees (or dark pan at 325 degrees) for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Make frosting: Mix sugar with enough lemon juice to make desired consistency and drizzle over finished cake after cooling.  (Mom would pour glaze on, take a toothpick and poke holes all over the 'top' and pour on more glaze.  That way the glaze would also be inside the cake).  Very rich, very good....

Try it and let me know what you think