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+---
+title: The Picture Window Near Miss
+---
+
+Let\'s skip forward a few years. You would think by now I would have
+gained a little experience and wisdom in the pyrotechnic arts. At this
+point I was perhaps a little over-confident that the days of my mishaps
+were long gone. This turned out to be true in this instance only because
+of blind luck or divine intervention, I\'m not sure which.\
+\
+After hearing of my love for the field of \"energetic chemistry\",
+Emily\'s sister-in-law, Val, invited me to conduct a workshop at her
+home in Eagle, Idaho for her son, who shared my interest in science and
+rockets. I was eager to convert a young and impressionable mind to the
+field and, of course, I couldn\'t turn down an opportunity to play with
+explosives and such. Accordingly, I prepared for a few weeks prior to
+our next visit to Idaho and brought a large box of chemicals and
+supplies for the workshop.\
+\
+Val and her husband Brian lived in a very upscale, multi-million-dollar
+home on a large lot at the outskirts of Eagle. I remember being quite
+impressed with the expansive shop where we started building a few
+fireworks items. We made a few simple things like fountains and roman
+candles and then went outside on the lawn to light them off. The event
+was slated to conclude with a static test of a small rocket motor. This
+was a motor that used the same kind of solid rocket motor fuel as the
+space shuttle booster engines. It was about 12 inches long and used a
+custom machined solid graphite rocket nozzle. I was quite proud of the
+accomplishment of designing and building this motor, which I has
+successfully test fired on several previous occasions. This time,
+however, I planned to use a new static test stand that had never been
+used before.\
+\
+We set up the rocket motor in the test stand and inserted the
+electrically controlled engine ignitor. Brian and Val\'s young son would
+be given the privilege of doing the count-down and pushing the ignition
+button. A successful test-firing would have resulted in a loud roaring
+noise and a lot of fire and smoke coming from the nozzle of the motor.
+All this was supposed to happen while the motor was safely contained in
+the test stand. Well, my young protégé eagerly did his job and pushed
+the button after counting down from five. The rocket motor roared to
+life, just as expected. Then it somehow managed to break loose from the
+test stand and began to fly uncontrollably in the air. My heart sank as
+the motor headed right towards the largest picture window of the house
+at about 100 miles an hour. I was all but certain that I was going to be
+responsible for thousands of dollars' worth of damage to Val\'s
+beautiful home. This is when the miracle happened.\
+\
+It appeared as if the motor hit an invisible force field, just like the
+ones that protect the spaceships in the Star Wars movies. The motor
+abruptly flipped around, right in mid-air and started heading out toward
+the field beyond the lawn. I heaved a huge sigh of relief when the motor
+finally ran out of fuel and landed safely in the field about 40 yards
+away from the house. Once again, I was incredibly lucky that no one was
+hurt and that no damage was done. However, the near miss did some
+serious damage to my reputation as a rocket scientist. I seriously
+considered whether I should retire from this hazardous hobby, but only
+for about 2 seconds.