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All posts for the month August, 2019

Since the USS Kelly’s new spirit guide is the elephant, we thought we’d go over some interesting fact about them. All of the following information below on the African elephants, including the photos, are courtesy of the National Geographic website.

  1. African elephants are the largest mammals on Earth.
  2. Elephants are fond of water, and enjoy showering themselves by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves.
  3. An elephant’s trunk is actually a long nose which is used for lots of things other than breathing and smelling. They will trumpet, drink through their trunk, and grab things – especially food.
  4. The trunk alone contains about 10,000 different muscles.
  5. Elephants use their tusks to dig for food and water, and also to strip bark from trees. Males also use them in battle.
  6. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark – about 300 pounds of it per day.
  7. Elephants don’t sleep much, and they roam great distances while foraging.
  8. Elephant mothers are pregnant for about 22 months – that’s nearly two years!
  9. Baby elephants shed their first set of teeth and tusks, just like humans lose their baby teeth.
  10. Elephants make powerful low-frequency rumblings to communicate over long distances.
  11. An elephant’s brain has a very similar structure to humans.
  12. When an elephant dies, their family grieves. They may even revisit the bones of their deceased for years, touching them with their trunks. Not many animals do that.

Remember, our next activity will be going to the Hogle Zoo to view these majestic animals. We will be going on Saturday, September 21st. Time TBD.

FLEET GAMES REPORT:
It was great seeing everyone at the Seventh Fleet Games last Saturday. Many of our crew were able to come up and participate. We didn’t win the bragging rights trophy (congrats to the Valkyrie), but I think we did well. On the other hand, we kicked butt at Shields… but that’s another story.

If you have pictures you’re willing to share, please contact me (Jill) by PM on Facebook so I can make arrangements to get them. (I’d prefer copies of the original files.) The pictures below are from Liar’s Dice.

SEPTEMBER ACTIVITY:
Our next activity will be September 21st. We will be going to the Hogle Zoo and looking at the elephants. Since September is our birthday and our new spirit guide is the Elephant, we figured this would be appropriate. Times and other details TBD.

The next USS Kelly activity is going to be the Seventh Fleet Games, held this coming Saturday, August 17, 2019 at Heyburn Central Park in Heyburn, Idaho. Directions to the park, the agenda, and additional information from the USS Valkyrie are listed below.

If you plan to attend and need a ride, please contact Mel Andrew so she can coordinate rides.

Directions to Heyburn Central Park
1. Coming from Utah take Exit 211
2. Turn left towards Burley/Heyburn
3. At the first stop light turn right onto 21st street
4. Turn left on K street and go to the end of the street
5. Park comes up on your right at the end of the street

Important information
1. We will be keeping to the time schedules listed above. If two events are going on at the same time you will need to choose which one you want to participate in, time frames can not be extended to keep us on time so travelers do not get a late start heading back.

2. There will be a silent auction that will go on throughout the Olympics. There are 30 Lots of different Sci-fi Memorabilia. Auction will close at the time the medals are awarded. We will be able to take cash, debit, and credit cards and PayPal for payments of auction items.

3. There will be a playground for small children who do not want to participate in the Cadet games. There will also be restrooms available to us for the duration of the Olympics.

4. Lunch will be Street Tacos, Salad, Chips and Dessert. We will also have bottled water available to drink. Anyone not wanting these options are more than welcome to bring their own lunch. We are not charging any Fleet member for the lunch provided. If you feel you would like to donate to cover cost a donation jar will be there for donations but is not required.

5. The event will run from 10 am to 6 pm. Instructions and sign up will happen until 10:15 am and then the games will start. Sign ups will be available up until each game starts. Time schedules will be strictly adhered to.

The USS Kelly held our most recent roleplaying session on August 3, 2019. We are just now starting to get to the heart of the story. You can read prior posts for the earlier parts of the story, but here’s what happened last Saturday…

Faced with multiple contract options, our intrepid crew decided to head for a starship graveyard. Unfortunately, as they were heading toward it, their propulsion quit. Instruments all said that the power generators were at full power – we just quit going anywhere.

Faced with multiple contract options, our intrepid crew decided to head for a starship graveyard. Unfortunately, as they were heading toward it, their propulsion quit. Instruments all said that the power generators were at full power – we just quit going anywhere.

It turned out that this area is a galactic “Bermuda Triangle” called the Carvon Nebula. What we didn’t realize is that our assistant engineer is from this area… an area that has magic.

We took the shuttle that is part of the ship’s configuration and mounted it on top of the bridge. What most of we didn’t realize is that we now have air and use the ship like a sailing ship, cruising between the planets in the nebula.

We landed on the nearest planet, and quickly realized that most of the people don’t speak Galactic Common. Fortunatley we found a … rather enthusiastic young woman named Ruby who was willing to help us out. (She was viewed as as a weirdo for studying science in a world where it doesn’t work.)

We also discovered that our ship is infamous within the nebula – the prior Eperor’s private yacht, named the Royal Dawn. We had to change the name, and it’s configuration, rather quickly.

Now the hull looks like a bird made out of various shades of wood, and the sails (to the port and starboard) look like giant, flaming bird wings. We named the ship the Phoenix.

What will we face next?