Prince Owlbert and Wallops

The Garden He Guards

Prank caller:  Do you have Prince Albert in a can?
Clerk at store: Why, yes. We do.
Prank caller: Well, you’d better let him out before he suffocates!

*Insert appropriate groans here.*

Prince Owlbert, who clearly does not live in a can.

The winning name for the Owl in the Garden is Prince Owlbert, so Prince Owlbert he shall be from henceforth into forever.  Or until I leave this place and someone else is given the honor of renaming him.

Beautiful morning

I must admit that ever since the name was offered (thank you, dear Lady Pen), the old joke regarding Prince Albert in a can got stuck in my head.  When I was a child, one of my friends made this particular prank call, and we thought it was hilarious.  Almost as good as, “Is your refrigerator running?”  (In case you’re unfamiliar with it, when the person answers yes, you say, “Then you better go catch it!”  You immediately hang up, of course, because you used up all your nerve getting to the punchline.)

Vines taking over the inside of the greenhouse.

Prince Owlbert asked me to thank you on his behalf for participating in the naming of His Royal Highness, and appreciates that you recognized his nobility.  (He does not, however, appreciate my giggles over the Prince Albert in a Can joke.)  He has issued a proclamation that June the 6th shall be celebrated as his name day from now until, well, Things Change (as they always do).

The Pavilion, in which many things are housed.  You can see the tractor, one of the refrigerators, and the old cart in this image.

Have you heard of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility?  No?  Me neither.  No doubt a few of you space-minded people are familiar with it in some way.

Smoke squiggle from a rocket launch in April.

Since we bought the Wabi-Sabi Ranch, they have had two rocket launches from Wallops.  The first was during the day (on 21 April, the day after we closed on the house).  The second was last night at 11:05 pm.  (If interested, you can read about it here.)

Dark of night.

Can’t see it?   Neither can I.  My camera can’t handle a shot of the night sky.  And what a night sky it was!  There are so many stars up there.  I was tempted to lie down on the ground and spend the night getting lost in the stars.

The rocket launch was a pretty cool sight, especially the flares (there’s probably another name for that) during the different stages.  Since we are so close to the facility, M and I are going to try to be there for one of the launches (the next one is 20 June).

Let’s walk out to the dock.

Lulu (my everything-proof little point-and-shoot camera) and I were supposed to visit Assateague State Park today, but Tropical Storm Andrea is kicking up clouds and wind already.  She’ll be arriving here tomorrow evening.  Originally, not much was expected other than some heavy rains.  Now it looks like Andrea will be stronger than the earlier predictions.  Let’s hope she’s not too strong.

Today’s view from the dock.

Thank you for stopping by.  And thank you, again, for helping out with the Naming of the Owl in the Garden.  Prince Owlbert seems happy with his new name.  (I just hope it doesn’t go to his head, being a prince and all.)

The Ogre. (Doesn’t it look like it has Shrek ears?)

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

A terrapin swimming in the creek.