Good Reads About Air France 447

Scientists are trying to piece together what exactly happened on Air France Flight 447 that went down off the cost of Brasil on June, 1st. Some have great reading material, so have great images and projections of the flight path through the storm.

One blogger, Miles O'Brien from True Slant, has a great (and ongoing) blog about the crash. Here is the first link. You can go through the rest by clicking "Next Post" at the bottom: Dark Stormy Night.

Another scientist is Air Force meteorologist Tim Vasquez who put together cordinal data to show the flight path and possible crash sites. His data is here: Detailed Meteorological Analysis

Others have posted satellite images of the storm called a mesoscale convective system. It's essentially several storm, converging into one, feeding off one another, becoming a bad @$$ storm. Here is on image of the system:

I personally have NEVER seen black, grey and white on a Doppler radar image before. This had to be one strong storm!

Another image shows the storm, and the projected flight path of Flight 447. The cross is where the last transmission came that all the instruments were failing. Other labels mark the strong updrafts fueling the storm:

Finally the storm itself was massive. The top of the anvil of the cumulonimbus clouds were topping out at at least 56,000 feet! The flight level for flight 447 was only 35,000 feet. There was pretty much NO way this plane could have avoided this storm and subsequent crash. This image shows the vertical comparison of flight 447 and the storm system:

Hopefully they will find the black box to figure out exactly what happened, but until then all they have is speculation. This is pretty interesting (at least to me) to read about how insane it had to be for the pilots (and passengers) for flight 447, as well as how narrow of a "flight envelope" they had to fly through.

Forgot To Add A Title...:)

Here are some pics from our week so far. It's been absolutely gorgeous weather and we've been taking advantage of it. We've been spending some time at the dog park, going for run, and enjoying the pool & hot tub.

Rohan has been trying some new foods. Last week was sweep potatoes, this week it's peas (Aunt Sally's favorite!). The video shows that peas must stimulate Roahn's amygdala in his brain because he cheeses out and waves his hands all over. It's not quite as comical as his cousin Cameron "playing the piano", but it's funny nonetheless. He's also learning to spit the food, which is nice. Maybe it's the genes from his distant relative "Pellet Gun" Krause...:)

Rohan has also been taking baths in the sink, and sits up really well, which aim a certain hose towards spectators...

On the dog side of things, it hasn't been that much fun. The dogs have had very bad diarrhea since we got here. Greg's dog, Abby, had the same thing when they moved to AZ, so we think it may be some bacteria and such that they just aren't used to. Schroeder has been the biggest culprit, but Linus is not without his "talents". To put it bluntly, he crapped all over some of Rohan's books. We didn't even consider trying to save them...it was that bad. Good thing we have plenty more, and Aunt Shell is sending more reinforcements. Schroeder takes the cake though. I'll preempt his ne plus ultra with the time Mara and I went to lay Rohan down on the bed only to see that Schroeder had literally sprayed crap all over our duvet and quilt. Luckily the laundromat had high capacity washers & dryers. Later that same day I was on the floor with Rohan and Mara came in and said "DON'T MOVE". Schroeder had taken a giant crap right behind me, and on one of Rohan's blankets too boot. Then...the topper...I thought I would never say this, but Schroeder took a dump on our coffee table. That's right...the coffee table. I swear that dog is some sort of shit-ninja. Needless to say, we've gone through a lot of carpet cleaner and elbow grease.

Enjoy your random Thursday pics! Don't worry, we didn't get any of Schroeder's "trophies" on film:

Nothing Beats Teething & Brewers:


Peas Make Rohan A Goofball:

Weekend Hiking & Swimming!

The weather has been absolutely amazing since we've been here. Call us crazy, but it was 92°F the other day and we actually thought the pool was too cold and we went into the hot tub! With little humidity (~11%) and a slight breeze, the evaporating water cools you down fast. We haven't had the A/C on since Chris & Shell left, and it has really stayed pretty comfortable in our place. We do turn it on when company comes though...:)

We've found a really cool dog park at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale. They have areas for active and passive dogs, and since Schroeder is new to the social scene we've been hanging out at the passive dogs area. It's a little misleading, since many of the dogs are just as active as the other side, but maybe not as aggressive or as big. It's been a lot of fun to be be back at the dog park too! We miss all the dogs we saw in Milwaukee, and now Rohan is getting to experience it too. We promise to remember the camera one of these times!

Saturday we went to Greg and Nico's to grill out and hang out by the pool. It was a little cooler (85°F) so the pool was a little chilly, but the cold beer offset that...does that make sense? ;) Greg grilled up some brats and kraut and made brownies to boot! It was a lot of fun to see Rohan and the Caldwell's as well. They seem to be taking a liking to him.

Sunday, Greg took us to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and we hiked Quartz Peak Trail:

It was a nice, difficult, hike. It took us about and hour to reach the summit, and about 20 minutes to get back down. All in all, about 3 miles worth of hiking. Greg & Nico brought their dog, Abby, and we brought Rohan in the front pack. That kid loves to sleep and hike! We headed back to our place, meet up with Sasha, had some salads and hung out by the pool the rest of the day. Mara and Sasha hit up Starbucks for the afternoon and studied for their upcoming USMLE exam. Later that night Mara and I headed back to the dog park to wear out the dogs again, and capped a really fun weekend! Hope you enjoy the pics & vids!:

Rohan LOVED Having The Towel Thrown At Him:

Rohan Enjoys The Gorgeous Vistas of The Trail:

Post of something

Mara said I had to do a post of something...so here you go...my favorite Calvin & Hobbes:

I see many sleepless nights for Rohan...:)

5 Months Old!

Holy crap, time is flying! Hard to believe Rohan is already 5 months old. In celebration of his "birthday" he had his first taste of sweet potatoes. It appears he likes them, although we're pretty sure he just likes to eat...
Here are a few new pictures from the last couple of days.
Happy Belated Birthday Aunt Shell!
Happy Birthday Aunt Sally! Happy Birthday Cousin Kaylee!