Funny stories thread somewhere?

[Kirk G]

Sorry to ask this here, but I don't know where else this might fit.

I have a funny story of my very first rocket launch and the aftermath.

Is there a thread for "my first time" or "You're not going to believe this" or "The Gods must be Laughing" or something similar?

Or does nobody want to hear about your first time...

[chadrog]

Here is as good a place as any, TELL TELL TELL! This is great.

[luke strawwalker]

There USED to be a "funny story" thread, but I don't know what happened to it...

Don't even recall whether it was before the great "TRF meltdown" a couple years or so ago... (TRF suffered a massive problem that basically wiped out the site for a few weeks/months and had to start all over-- the original site was eventually "saved" but it couldn't be incorporated into the new site-- so it exists only as "archives").

Don't know if it was ever resurrected here in the new forum after the meltdown, either...

So, this is as good a place as any...

Let's hear it!

Later! OL JR

[Kirk G]

SO, today is the last day my kid's going to be home from school, and as I work eveings, it's the only time I see him. (I'm trying to find some common ground with this 15 year old before he outgrows the family and has no use for his ol' man.)

So for the last week, I've been working on one of the two model rockets kits I bought at last week's TORC launch. I've basically got it about finished, when I put the last one or two coats of clear gloss enamel over the nosecone.

Reacting to the noon newscast weather, I see we're mild right now, and rain is on the way, so we need to move fast to build some sort of launch pad and move out into a field to launch. We might get three launches off, but I want at least 1!
By 1:30p I have Sonny off the internet and into the car with a load of supplies...pad, battery, wires, rocket, celulose fiber, igniters, pliers, knife, tape, etc. all piled into the back seat. It takes two of us to carry all the odds and ends.

We get set up, and on the second attempt, my "Freedom" rocket goes up, deploys the nosecone and chute, but doesn't unfurl, so it drops to the grass and breaks off a fin. (My son has tried to capture this on video cam, but lost it and missed the appogy. Maybe I'll post it later.)

It starts to rain and we load as fast as we can, drive home 3 minutes and unload the car really fast. I jump in the shower, dress, and take off for work, running a little late.

On the way, the state cop pulls me overand asks for license, insurance, registration. As I reach to get it, he tells me to step out of the car and keep my hands out of my pockets. I'm puzzled but comply, asking if he wants my drivers license?
He turns me, cuffs me and puts me into the back of his cruiser. He radios "Possible 83 in the car" and asks for back-up.

I wait, and he pulls out of the back seat of my car a ziplock baggie of "Dog Barf" or ceulose fiber, which we had to insert in the casement of the rocket as recovery wadding, in case we launched multiple times. The bag as been left behind in plain sight on the rearseat, and he thinks it's pot.

Once I explain it, he agrees, and lets me out. His Sgt. arrives, and confirms what it is and that the officer has done right. We chat for a while and he explains: clear baggie with something suspect, setting on top of my overnight duffle bag in my car, stopped near our college town, and a speeding issue... all ads up to a possible drug runner.

They let me go with a warning..."Don't put this stuff in a clear baggie anymore." I put it in my locked trunk.

**The funny thing is that the stuff was laying molding in our 55 gallon yard waste can for six months with yard clippings, has started molding, and I had laid it out to dry for two days, putting it into the baggie to protect it from rain and keep it "fresh". It had turned sickening green, and had mold growing in it. It even had stems and seeds from some weeds still stuck in it, though I thought I had gotten most of it out.

And here I thought I was going to save a few bucks and a special trip to the big city to buy a stack "recovery wadding sheets"....

[Kirk G]

Can anyone tell me if the nick name "Dog Vomit" appears in print anywhere as an actually rocketeer tip?

I'd love to photocopy it or print it out, put it in a thank you card and mail it to the local cop so he can see that it really IS a recommended use of the stuff.... or maybe I should leave well enough alone?

[JAL3]

Can anyone tell me if the nick name "Dog Vomit" appears in print anywhere as an actually rocketeer tip?

I'd love to photocopy it or print it out, put it in a thank you card and mail it to the local cop so he can see that it really IS a recommended use of the stuff.

I've never actually heard it called "dog vomit". The standard term seems to be "dog barf". I suspect that if you did a search with those words, you would get hundreds of hits.

[JAL3]

I went ahead and did the search myself: pick the ones you like/

http://www.rocketryforum.com/cse.php...chid%3D2349236

[fyrwrxz]

Can anyone tell me if the nick name "Dog Vomit" appears in print anywhere as an actually rocketeer tip?

I'd love to photocopy it or print it out, put it in a thank you card and mail it to the local cop so he can see that it really IS a recommended use of the stuff.

Uh, no. It's more or less officially known as "Dog Barf". If it's one thing most rocketeers have in common is we cut to the chase. (haha-pun intended!) Not
'recycled wood pulp products' , 'bio degradable blown insulation' or even 'termite drive thru'...just *dog barf*! See the heading on a timely listing for "Wadding" and follow it thru.

[luke strawwalker]

Can anyone tell me if the nick name "Dog Vomit" appears in print anywhere as an actually rocketeer tip?

I'd love to photocopy it or print it out, put it in a thank you card and mail it to the local cop so he can see that it really IS a recommended use of the stuff.

Great story! LOL At least it had a happy ending without you finding a new "girlfriend" in jail... LOL

The term you're looking for is "DOG BARF"... I don't know exactly what the etymology of the term is; it was in common use when *I* got back into rocketry about 5-6 years ago or thereabouts...

I'd SUPPOSE it's because of its appearance-- the stuff is made from shredded recycled paper, usually newsprint and junkmail that gets recycled in various communities, and it's finely shredded into small bits and then treated with a flameproofing solution (borates) and dried and packaged as blow-in house insulation... in the process it takes on the appearance of what a dog might regurgitate if it ate your junk mail... hence the term "dog barf"...

As far as to when blow-in house insulation became a popular recovery wadding substitute, I'd peg it (without direct firsthand knowledge, so someone with more information on rocketry history can freely correct me) that it was sometime between when I "retired" from rocketry shortly after high school in about 90 or 91, and when I came back in about 06 or 07... I read about it several times on RMR and the other "usenet" groups dealing with rocketry (most of the forums either didn't exist or were in their "infancy" at the time) and apparently it had become quite popular among HPR fliers who needed TONS of cheap, readily available, and flameproof material to protect their parachutes in larger diameter HPR rockets, which could easily use an entire BOX of Estes sheet wadding and still not do a very good job of keeping the chute from being toasted... As mentioned elsewhere, fiberglass insulation and various types of pillow or mattress ticking (stuffing) had been used before this, but those are TOTALLY non-biodegradable and therefore very bad for the flying site, the landowner, and any animals that happen to use the area for feeding... I guess somewhere someone realized that the law REQUIRES blow-in insulation to be flameproof (it can smolder but only at a given rate-- this is to prevent house fires from feeding on the shredded paper in the walls in the event of an electrical fire, etc), just as crepe paper, typically sold for party streamers, must be flameproof to prevent accidentally setting fire to a house at a party should the paper streamer come in contact with a birthday candle or other ignition source. (Although I've heard that many of the cheap Chinese crepe paper streamers have minimal/no flameproofing and WILL burn, so be careful and test whatever you buy before sending it up in your rocket to make sure-- don't want to start any wildfires!!!) Since it's paper and the flameproofing solution is basically borax (boron in the form of borate) the material is completely biodegradable, and the small particle size (being finely shredded) is also conducive to its rapid decomposition in the environment, minimizing any 'litter' left behind from the rocket activities. Heck the boron is actually a good plant micronutrient!

So, there ya go...

I could tell you the story about the time my brother's dog nearly launched an Astrocam up my nose, or the time I was stopped by a Tennessee sherriff with small film canisters full of rock salt in the end of my duffle bag on the seat beside me (I eat rock salt for a snack). THAT would have probably been hard to explain! (Didn't remember it was there until later on).

Later! OL JR

[chadrog]

Did your ordeal make the local news?

[JStitz]

...Today local authorities have broken up what appears to have been a major Dog Barf smuggling ring.It is alleged that for some time now "Dealers" have been transporting quantities,sometimes whole bales across state lines.
The suspect adamantly claimed it was for Rocketry activity....which brought in federal investigators...

[fyrwrxz]

...and that's the news...

[Kirk G]

Did your ordeal make the local news?

No, Chadrog... I AM the newscaster.
That's where I was rushing to when he pulled me over!

[chadrog]

No, Chadrog... I AM the newscaster.
That's where I was rushing to when he pulled me over!

I didn't want to call you out right away...
Your box is on it's way.

[Kirk G]

Arrived Friday, just before the ice storm.
It looks all brand new! Was this a new kit?

[chadrog]

It wasn't a new kit as it sat in my basement, a box changes that. Have fun, be safe, WEAR IT OUT!

[Kirk G]

Trying to interest my teen son in it, but he's being resistive. I may have to assemble and launch it myself. (Or, at least the launch pad. His birthday is next weekend.