These are the trees I mentioned on Wednesday that smell so good. They still smell great today. I walked past them once on the way to the cafeteria, then again on my way to get a piece of rendezvous cookie cake. Today is the last generic shuttle rendezvous sim ever, so my old group lead made a giant cookie cake and iced the outline of the rendezvous profile on top. It was perhaps the geekiest cake I’ve ever seen, and it was great. By the time I went over for a bite, they were performing the RPM and getting close to docking so I ate the RPM portion of the cake in honor of that. Which is also pretty darn geeky.
There are a lot of “last — ever” things going on at JSC right now. It is a weird time. It’s hard to ignore the feeling that with the loss of the shuttle program and the end of the Constellation program (formally ended when Congress finally passed the 2011 budget yesterday), JSC is dying a little bit even as everything springs into bloom around us. Instead of dwelling on that, I remind myself that I’m thankful to have work to do during my rotation to the ISS safety world, and thankful for the knowledge that the need for that work will continue for many years as the ISS continues its mission.
Just past those trees, one of JSC’s ducks decided to lay her eggs right next to the sidewalk. Probably not the best of spots, as I didn’t even realize she was there until I was almost on top of her. But the cool part is that they are hatching! You could see eggs, but there was also a little baby duckling down there! Baby duckling season always makes me smile.
I almost missed that duck too but once I saw her I looked every time I walked by. I’m glad her chicks are doing ok!
Maybe she’s trying to hide her babies from the owl.