I was working in the shop this morning when the pone rang.. Diane answered it.. it was Deb at Richmond Elementary calling to say that she’d found my rocket ! She came in to work this morning and found the thing standing upright(!) about 10 feet in front of the school with it’s parachute out andthe embedded beeper squawking away. That makes it just under a mile flight..

I swung by there on my way to work and picked it up. They’d clipped the wire on the beeper to make the sound stop. I don’t blame them.. it was loud and scary !

It was right in front of this window.. just feet from the front door.

It was very cool getting this thing back.

One sort of funny addendum to the story came a few hours later when my fiend Kevin sent me the following link. The story begins:

Continental jet has near miss with ‘rocket’

12:39 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 27, 2008

By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

HOUSTON — Jet pilots aren’t used to sharing their airspace, so you can bet a rocket will get some attention.

Continental Flight 1544 was flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east ofBush Intercontinental Airport after takeoff Monday morning when thepilot called the tower to report an object headed toward the plane. Thepilot described seeing a fast moving object with a thick smoke trailnearing his airspace.

The FAA now says it thinks thatobject was some kind of model rocket. Both the FAA and the Houston AreaJoint Terrorism Task Force continue to investigate the incident thatKHOU.com first reported early this afternoon.

Neithersaid conclusively what the pilot saw was indeed a model rocket, but anFAA spokesperson told 11 News that it was likely a high-powered modelrocket. It is a federal crime to launch a rocket of any sort withoutnotifying the FAA.

The plane was at about 5,000 feet at the time of the sighting and the flight continued on to Cleveland.

That rocket must have been about the same class as this one.. maybe a bit more powerful. Maybe I should have called this one in…

Anyway.. the rest of the day was busy and preoductive.. I had a good work/lunch with friend Mark..

Then heard a great talk by my friend Ann.. Friends kerry was playing host.. It’s nice to see when friends become friends of other friends..

Around 7:30 I went by MMU and picked Gabe up from Lacrosse practice. It was the most beautiful late afternoon

Now I’m going to go off to sleep. Tomorrow is Sam’s birthday. He would have been… or is… 16 tomorrow. My mind and heart are too full of things to think of them today.. I’ll spend tomorrow doing that. The four of us and Emma are going to hike up Bolton in Sam’s honor. Oh man.. I remember just what I was doing 16 years ago at this time.. This is just so unreal….
Let tomorrow come.. I’m trying not to have any expectations. I’m thing of you Sam.. my beautiful son..
-dad