3-2-1 LIFT OFF. Sharks. Virtual fans. Mother Nature.

I was lucky enough to recruit a guest-writer for today’s post. Thank you and appreciate your take!!

Today is National Friendship Day, so I’m accepting a friendly challenge to hijack the blog.  It happens to also be National Coloring Book Day, so in the spirit of staying inside the lines, I’ll try to honor them as well (no politics and no religion).  **Deep breath** Here goes…

What’s happening in soccer? Not a clue. You’re welcome. 😉

Mars 2020/Perseverance: At a price tag of $2 billion, Perseverance’s estimated time of arrival on Mars is February 2021.  And I thought Atlanta commute times were brutal.  On Thursday, Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover successfully left land, on its way to Mars, in a ferocious blaze of fire and fury.  Absolutely awesome to watch, even on TV (#bucketlist to see in person). 

Mars is dry and very cold.  As a matter of fact, almost all water on Mars actually exists in the form of ice.  Ironically though, Perseverance is going to land on a lake; a lake believed to have been created 3.5 billion years ago.  So, could Mars at one time have sustained life?  We shall see.  Looking for “biosignatures” will tell us more, so the mission will hopefully collect rocks and soil to help tell that story.  Also cool is that we will hopefully be able to hear what Mars sounds like.  Maybe coolest of all is MOXIE; an experimental device that will ideally convert Mars’ carbon dioxide into oxygen, thus paving the way for human exploration!  Beam me up, 2020 kinda sucks.

Fins, Fins Everywhere: It’s beach and shark season.  But remember, shark attacks are rare and almost never deadly.  1 in 11.5M; your odds of getting attacked by a shark, and that is 11.5M beach-go’ers.  Odds are significantly higher of being killed by one.  In general, sharks do not eat people; they prefer marine life.  So if you find yourself in an uncomfortable spot with a shark, just don’t panic.  In all seriousness, you’ll appear to be defenseless and injured – therefore an easy source of food for them.  We kill more sharks than they do us.  I’m not #TeamShark, but just saying, it’s OK to go back into the water.  But not past your ankles. 

Virtual fans:  I just don’t know about these.  Why?  And why just the heads?  And why no face masks on these heads?  I digress.  I do miss sports though.  And while I love tennis, I rarely ever watch women’s tennis; especially women’s doubles – snooze fest.  A few weekends ago, I found myself watching women’s tennis.  Doubles.  With people I have never even heard of.  ALL. DAY. LONG.  I really do miss sports.

Mother Nature is very curious.  Few know the answer to this.  What famous North American landmark is consistently moving backwards?  Wait for it….  The answer is Niagara Falls, the 2^nd largest waterfall in the world.  Thanks to rock erosion from the rapidly flowing water (3,160 tons of water flows over Niagara Falls every second), it moves backwards about 3 feet annually.  But don’t cancel future plans just yet.  It will be around for at least 23,000 more years.  Whew!

Happy trails!