Cassini, we hardly knew ye.

Tomorrow. That's right, tomorrow, after leaving earth almost 20 years ago, tomorrow the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn will fire some thrusters, slowing its velocity and Saturn's gravity will pull the probe down into the atmosphere and friction will do the rest.

The Cassini probe has been working orbits around Saturn and its moons for a little over 13 years. It's sent back a huge amount of data, some wonderful pictures and has really been a miraculous piece of engineering in the cold, hostile environment of space.

I will miss it, a little bit. If I get lonely I can always remember that Voyager 2 continues to run on in the cold depths of interstellar space. Voyager 2 has been going for more than 40 years. It will be going long after I'm gone from this earth. Whoa.

In news closer to home, it's Thursday and a beautiful fall day here on Planet Jack. In the 50's at sunrise, it's predicted to top out at 72 later. Sunny, crisp, the very best of earth. No one should miss it. I'm very lucky.

I received another airbrush last evening in the mail. Hopefully this one will perform like I want. So far I've bought only cheap ones. What can I expect? Still, I'd like to learn some real airbrushing. There's a lot that digital brush can't do.

I spent some time in the shop yesterday tidying and attempting to unearth my table-saw. Somehow I hadn't pictured exactly how deeply it was buried. It will take another concerted effort to bring it to the surface. When I finally do, I can begin the Christmas tile project. It will be fun. I haven't decided how to edge the whole piece yet. At first I intended to miter a frame around it but now I'm considering edge tile pieces.

Another concern is what will be involved in hanging the whole thing from the surround. Hopefully there will be very room for me to place the hooks in some studs high enough that the piece doesn't hit the frame surrounding the wood-stove. I really can't leave that up to chance, I have to do a mock-up of the piece to test its fit.

More later,