Monday, July 31, 2006

Photos Day 2

Mind your head, here come some more pictures.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

One of my favorite places in Scotland was the Isle of Skye. In Skye, they have Talisker:
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
(the whisky, not the cat)

One must also beware of sheep.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The island is full of sheep
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

and sheep by-products.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

We spent our second anniversary in the fantastic B&B in Skye. In Skye, they seem to believe that the happy couple needs chocolate cake to celebrate:
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
which they were more than happy to provide.

The folks at Talisker said that there was just something about the water there. I thought so too.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

That's all for today. Ciao, baby.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

She Lives!

(cross posted to Caveat Lector)

Did you think I was gone forever? I'm sorry. I'm back amongst the living and have almost got the first wave of photos sorted and labeled (not photoshopped, mostly. I'm so mad at my software I just threw in the towel on any corrections. Let's pretend this was a real-film camera that I didn't develop). Soon I will get photos from the other three cameras on the trip (YIPES) and I'll get to re-sort everything one more time! Anyway, the vacation...

One of the advantages of driving ourselves around in Scotland is that we found lovely scenery like this,
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
and when it took our fancy we hopped out of the car for goofy group shots of us hiding in the weeds.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The inside of the churches were all some variation on this.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

We did not go here,
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
though we did drive by the loch itself.

They sell vibrators and inflatable sheep in the ladies' rooms of Inverness. Really.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

And far from home, we found lots of beer. Pints of beer. Casks of beer. Beer all over the Tesco grocery. There was even beer that reminded me of a very good friend.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Okay, that's all for tonight. Tune in next time, as our roving reporter discovers sheep.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Trip trip trip!

I'm off to Scotland with a list of yarn stores in my hot little hands, but I won't be online and I won't be KIPping! In my carry-on: the bastard stepchild of a "flower petal shawl", pattern by Elann, and Theresa's dragon scale socks. See y'all when I get back...

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

right critters, wrong place

(cross-posted to the Tally Ho.)

This weekend, we went down south to Soybean Town to visit Elwood's family, and they let us know that they had (ahem) a little problem with some bats. The bats were being found in the basement, apparently having wandered and flopped through the walls of the house and emerging on the bottom floor with no way to get out. The bats were not pleased by this. The family was not pleased by this. In both cases, that was an understatement.

Doors were locked and sealed. Precautions taken. We ventured into the basement cautiously, armed with sticks and light and loud noises, driven down there only by our desire for a cold drink from the fridge. Over the past few months, a score of bats have been found in that room. Some of them even made it into the main house, but none of them made it back outside.

Then, sitting on the porch Saturday night at dusk, we saw the basement bats' more fortunate relatives emerge for the hunt. They poured out of an eve in the house, maybe forty in all, and started dive-bombing the mosquitoes. I affirm that we didn't want bats in the house, don't want their guano underfoot, worry about their diseases, but suddenly I didn't want to kill them. They were eating the bugs that were eating me. I was thrilled to hear that the "bat man" will put a temporary patch on the eave after dusk, so that they'll be trapped outside the house instead of inside when they're relocated.

Last week (click fast!)* there was an article in the NYTimes.com about pigeon control. The author decried the use of poisons, traps, raptors and the like for eradicating pigeons from urban areas. Far better, he says, to have designated pigeon feeding areas and monitored dovecotes from which workers can cull eggs when necessary. I like pigeons. They make a lovely noise. Their heads are iridescent. It's fun to chase them, and they'll come over to you if you wave your arm like you're throwing a crumb. Yes, there are too many of them, and yes, we don't want to clean bird crap off the statues, so can't we control them in a sensible way? Pigeons seem to be the only wildlife that can stand up to rush hour in the Loop; they can be found crossing the street at State and Madison just like those other commuters, who make far less pleasant noises. So let's distinguish between not liking the critters and not liking their numbers, or where they live. It's time to be nice to our neighbors.
___________
*I should mention again that I always archive the articles I quote, if you're late to the party and really interested in reading them. Leave me an email.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Happy family day

So much to post, so little motivation to write. Meanwhile, though, Psycho Kitty at SBFH has turned me on to this article claiming to prove that we really are all related to each other. Recently related, that is. It's cool; go read it.