Sunday 7 February 2010

Satellites, School and Stumps

One week of school down, three until we get into a house.
A house!!!

I must say it again, a HOUSE, whooo hooooo.

Firstly, satellites.
I have always wondered how satellites fly above us, staying in orbit etc. Amazing.
More amazing are those that are in geo-stationary orbit.
You know, sitting above one specific point of the Earth, never falling away or towards Earth, never moving forward or backward at all.
I can reveal the secret.

From a satellite point of view it is always racing forwards and falling towards Earth at a constant rate, it is not sitting stationary at all.
The reason it does not crash is that the Earth is round! As the satellite races forward, it does so at the exact rate of rotation of the Earth, and it is falling at the exact same distance that the Earth is moving AWAY from it (the Earth being round means that Earth is always curving away from the satellite which is falling towards it).
So it is falling towards an object that it never gets closer to, and it is racing forward but never gaining and distance from the surface point of view.
Fascinating, I reckon.

That's just how Len felt last Thursday and Friday.
Two days to prepare for school, three brand new subjects and one of those days was spent in meetings (how I love meetings!!).
By Friday I was very unwell, headaches, neck aches, a pain in the left ankle and a desperate feeling that I wanted to run away. Possibly a panic attack and not pleasant at all.
It turns out that the pain in the ankle was cystitis, and is not a good thing and very painful.
A trip to emergency and antibiotics are sorting that out now.
since then the week has progressed reasonably OK, and calm is slowly replacing fear.
Judith went off to work and all is well, she keeps ranting about 'A House', for some reason. (Did I mention 'A House' before?)
She seems to like her new duties, and this week will be off to the other campus (students = 12) about 30 mins drive from Korumburra along a very windy but picturesque road.
Jessie has found a few friends already and seems to like the school, Sam has been in a cricket match already, and they are in the finals in a week or two.
He has displayed great maturity with some of the students at the school, one in particular who uses others to get dirty jobs done for his own benefit, Sam has stood up to that very well indeed.
On Friday night sam And Ln went to Melb to the MCG and watched the Paki/Oz T20 game. It was a thriller and great to be there, even if it took HOURS to get out and home.

So, satellites, school and stumps have all had their way this week.
It is a very beautiful area and we went to the Anglican church this AM, which was good.

What will this week bring??

Until next time.

4 comments:

G&R said...

Glad to hear you are all settling in, even though for some maybe not as easily as others. A house, what's a house!! We live in a shed. (But all is good) Thanks for keeping us updated, looking forward to hearing about next week. Oh thanks for the info on satelites, something that I have been thinking so much about - not!!! Have a good week, God bless

Unknown said...

You legends.
Hope all is well with you there.
Have you decided to go to Woolaning??
What's happening??

Len

G&R said...

Not going to Woolaning at the moment, Grant is too comfortable at home. Will have to wait and see what God has planned. We have been very busy putting up fences and doing gardening to get our house ready to rent again. Just have some fence painting to do and all is finished. All our belongings are sorted and either tossed or in their place so we are now ready for the next chapter whatever that may be!! At the moment we are wanting to head in different directions so are praying for direction that will suit both of us. G&R

Unknown said...

I am sure there are plenty of things available, so it's just a matter of time.
we are in a cabin now, much better. Was flooded on the last night in the van, through the annex, nice to be dry and Sam is not being eaten by mossies now.