I have a two-car garage but only one car. As such I use this extra space to practice my rocket-nerdiness. I don't often get a cleaning urge, however, so things get dusty, dirty, and messy. I recently started cleaning out this critical garage space in preparation for the 2009 building/flying season and have two key updates:
The above are boxes of motor instructions and spent motor casings and nozzles. Since 2000 I've always saved them as a record of past flights. I counted roughly 160 nozzles/casings in there so I was surprised how many flights that represents considering I only attend 4-6 launches per year. I started in rocketry when I was about eight years old so, from that age to roughly 13 when I quit to pursue freestyle skateboarding, I probably had another 150 motors in the 1/4A through G range. That's quite a bit of spent propellant considering I mostly fly the I-K total impulse range now. Also during this cleaning session I had an unfortunate discovery:
I thought I'd taken care of my subterranean termite problem but... no. I was cleaning off a low shelf containing a box with every single assignment I'd completed in chemical engineering school. I lifted the box up and the bottom separated. Upon further digging with a putty knife I found the bottom half of that stack riddled with termite mazes. Oh and there were termites actively working in those canals as well. I soaked the shelf with Raid and now I've got to contact the exterminator again. Good f'in times!!
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