LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[Kona2]

Day 29 or 30 of 33


Season meters as of 233/365 = 105,556,718 m

Total meters on the day = 428,017 m

Oars in space (participation) = 30 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

2.55 MM Ronnie
1.75 MM Brian M
1.45 MM Anita
1.4 MM David T
850 K Roger
700 K Pat S
400 K Fritz
350 K Greg H
250 K Chuck B

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us!

Richard T 2,688 m ....wowzer...that's great! You must be feeling better!
Jim 3,300 m
Tony m
Sam 3,500 m
Nataliya 4,000 m
Bobbie 4,800 m
Katerina 5,000 m
Zander 5,500 m
David T 6,000 m
Rosi 6,000 m
Ian 6,141 m
Fritz 6,275 m
Christa 6,500 m
K2 6,727 m
Andre 7,103 m
Tammy 7,500 m
Anita 7,800 m
Kevin N 8,000 m
Marty 8,000 m
Karyn 8,104 m
Ronnie 9,090 m
Brian M 10,000 m
Mike M 10,000 m
Peter G 10,000 m
Rebecca 10,000 m
Cathie 10,008 m
Jane 10,211 m
Minnie m
Greg H 12,502 m
Dennis 13,512 m
Chuck B 14,071 m
David A 14,748 m
Roger 15,000 m
Eric A 15,212 m
Andrew A 15,545 m
Tim G 17,500 m
Dana 18,434 m
Harold 21,000 m
Marie 21,000 m
Pat S 22,679 m
bg 30,133 m

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Wowzer! Harold powered through 21,000 m to push his total meters to the 200K mark, and get those antler lights. Must be testing those lights out in the fog right now cause I can't see him....still, wishing you a happy holiday, Harold!

Congratulations, Canadian Thunder, on earning $ 8.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Greg H and his reindeer Stargazer have been out sighting nebulas...and rowing a lot of meters. His antler lights seem to have a dimmer switch that makes a dim red glow...for least interference when he's taking his star sightings!

Congratulations, Stargazer, on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Dennis has earned some more dark brew! Reindeer Porter is out celebrating with all the other reindeer - lights blazing away!

Congratulations, Porter (aka Dennis), on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

Teammate Eric A calls Madison, a suburb of Huntsville, AL home. Early Madison was known as a station stop for the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and was later the site of an American Civil War battle. After the Civil War, Huntsville's history includes a progression from textile mills to munitions factories to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and to the US Army Aviation and Missile Command. The cotton textile mills were company "towns" with each mill having it's own housing community that included all the shops and recreational facilities to kind of keep its residents "there" (in my opinion). Fast forward to another era (yes, time passed ) and Huntsville now nicknamed Rocket City due to its close history with the US space missions. Huntsville workers developed the Saturn boosters for the Apollo Lunar Landing Program (and we are all over that...having secured some Saturn boosters for our ergs' ultimate destination to the lunar surface...again). And so it was that I thought about calling this reindeer, Saturn. But wait...there's more!

Madison is a city that spans two counties: Madison and Limestone. With a name like Limestone county, you know there are some caves in the area. Sure enough, there are not only caves, but the National Speleological Society is located in Huntsville. Local chapters of the NSS are called grottoes. Who knew? So cave related names crossed my mind....but no.

Eric says he's turned to rowing after a running injury. I know many teammates can relate to this. And, he says he's looking forward to his first marathon. We call those Full Moons on this team. The Global Marathon Challenge is held May 1 - May 15....right off the bat at the start of the new rowing season. Don't think that's not fair, though...because we will each be well prepared to row a half or a full moon by May just by participating in the Concept2 Challenges that are coming up next: there's the January Virtual Team Challenge that starts January 1 for example...sign on..sign on..sign on!
Have no doubt that Eric will complete his first marathon admirably...and in honor of the first Olympic marathon winner, Spyridon "Spyros" Louis in 1896...we'll call Eric's reindeer Spyros to give him good luck on that marathon sleigh delivery schedule...

Congratulations,Eric, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Spyros.

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

In the desert southwest, one of the Christmas decorations that is popular is the luminaria - a paper lantern. These are often constructed using a paper bag with sand in the bottom, and a votive candle placed in the sand. Until yesterday, though, I hadn't heard of making ice luminaries. Many who live in the New England area might have already done this, but it's definitely a new project for some of us. Temperatures have been in the teens and twenties at night, and I thought woohoo! I could try to make one of these icy hummers yesterday evening. After some debate as to whether an empty two liter soda bottle or a gallon sized water bottle would be best, I chose the two liter soda bottle. Dropped an empty 16 oz bottle into the interior (weighted down the 16 oz bottle), and prepared to get a nice ice block with a space for a votive candle this AM. And...it was an evil warm wind that blew last night...temperature at 6 AM was 44 degrees F....no ice in that bottle. Nope, it was an Arizona snowman...just floating. Too true. BUT...we're supposed to have snow on Christmas eve here! And where there is hope, there's life!

So, in honor of this recent holiday project, and Minnie's ability to shine light on multiple subjects...her reindeer is Luminary.

Congratulations, Minnie, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Luminary.

PS - About Fair Oaks, the town/village that Minnie and AJ call home:

This community began as an area covered by citrus farms, with a land transfer occurring as part of the Rancho San Juan Mexican land grant. A bridge built over the American River, and development of Southern Pacific Railroad Company meant that the community could export citrus, almonds and olives. Big freezes in 1932 at height of the Great Depression and secondly in 1934 destroyed many of the citrus groves. The agricultural base started to shift with the growth in defense firm Aerojet in the area. Today, though, this area still has some agricultural/farming roots because it is an area that is known for it's chickens. Fair Oaks chickens give a whole new meaning to Free Range, since these are protected, wild chickens. They don't even have to use the crosswalk to bring traffic to a complete stop while they peck their way across the street. Current flock roosts in the two small parks in old town Fair Oaks...and have their own Facebook page. Really.

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Woohoo, Tammy! Crystal has her antler lights...and there's enough glow over the area around Malvern to provide a flight path!

Congratulations, Tammy (aka Crystal), on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Andrew's reindeer, Casimir, has busted a reindeer move and made a dash for the antler lights....saying something about the light of the cosmos....

Congratulations, Andrew (aka Casimir), on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Day 30 or 31 of 33


Season meters as of 234/365 = 106,043,188 m

Total meters on the day = 486,470 m

Oars in space (participation) = 31percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

4.45 MM Jay
4.35 MM bg
2.05 MM Jane
1.7 MM Minnie
1.5 MM Dana
450 K James G
400 K K2
100 K Larry

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us...I think I've lost count of how many reindeer we have....and we're starting to rival the Northern Lights with all the antler glow!


Bobbie 2,500 m
Tony m
Sam 3,500 m
Rosi 4,026 m
Chuck E 5,000 m
Rachel 5,000 m
Anita 5,500 m
Christa 5,500 m
Andre 5,508 m
David T 6,000 m
Rick C 6,046 m
David A 6,265 m
Brandon 6,267 m ...thoughtful posting
Cathie 6,500 m
Marie 6,500 m
Marty 7,000 m
Harold 7,500 m
Jim 7,626 m
Bernie 8,011 m
Pat S 8,014 m
Karyn 8,113 m
Andrew A 9,320 m
Larry 10,000 m
Paul S 10,000 m
Peter G 10,000 m
Ronnie 11,000 m
Zander 11,000 m
Jane 11,018 m
Teresa 11,601 m
K2 m
Ian 12,237 m
Roger 13,000 m
Baz 15,000 m
Tammy 15,000 m
Minnie m
James G 15,645 m
Eric 16,494 m
Mike C 20,000 m
Michelle 21,012 m
Tim G 21,097 m...shine on...shine on
bg 22,047 m
Dana 24,351 m ....woohoo! on a mission !
Jay 56,000 m

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Whoop, whoop and hooyah ! Peter G might have been worrying about being able to make up some missed rowing days not too long ago, but wowzer....he's found some Reindeer Elixir and has finished off the 200K! Now Max can light the antlers!

Congratulations,Max (aka Peter G) , on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Woohoo! Michelle has rowed past the 400,000 m milestone in this Holiday Challenge, and has earned $ 16.07 in Concept2 donation $$$. Gives a whole new perspective on donation $$$ when you have to spend this many hours earning them! Michelle's reindeer Dasher now has a tail wag in addition to the flashing red harness and antler lights.

Way to row, Michelle ! Your reindeer has earned a bit of swagger to his reindeer walk!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Whoop, whoop and hooyah ! Anita's been zooming along with Zatopek...and has covered the 200K distance with great speed! We'll need some of these long distance reindeer in the next day or so....

Congratulations, Zatopek (aka Anita) , on earning $ 8.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Calculators ahoy! We're figuring out just how many lumen (a lumen represents at least 1/683 watts of visible light power, depending on the spectral distribution) these antler glow bulbs are emitting! All we know is that it's getting brighter and brighter....


Congratulations, Frost (aka Ian), on earning $ 6.08 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! I've made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

....

Transformation !!


Mercury (aka K2) earns $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far, the antler lights, the sceptre, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Whoop, whoop and hooyah!!


Must report, though, that transformation hasn't occurred for the aforementioned luminaries....happily noted last evening that the temperatures had dropped to 25 degrees F...surely things would freeze well overnight....but no....liquid luminaries and a temp in the high 30s this AM....

[just27]

Wowzer, mates! I've made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Big Double Woot for you, K2! I'm amazed that you found any time to row, what with all your research for reindeer names, bunny trails, and keeping everyone's antlers' and tails in the appropriate categories. You truly rock and row.