PixlBit

Not much about Shatner, as far as I can tell. That's probably in his biography, though.

I also realized as I was listening to Crossing the Bar again that there seem to have been two separate sheets of lyrics going around, one with more verses than the other. Well, we still don't sound too bad, and there is something special about singing with a bunch of your close friends for something that is that personal.

It was National Park Week? And Socks the Cat ftw!

The parents will usually do a pretty good job of trying to raise the chick, even if it isn't in the nest. You did the right thing in backing off. It's a hard thing to do, though, isn't it?

As for dogs, well, mine has been snacking at the Litter Box Buffet lately, something that I find exceedingly disgusting. I don't mind him scarfing up cat vomit (he does a better job cleaning it up that I do, lol), but poop is too much.

Does it look like this guy? Ravens are amazingly intelligent. He's worth watching carefully, trust me.

So far, all my time and energy at work has been focused on getting things ready for the festival. I'm looking forward to days that are warm enough that I can service the equipment without my fingers turning blue and numb with cold. I don't have a heated shop anymore .

Congrats! I felt that way when I found my complete copy of Valkyrie Profile for $60 a couple of years ago.

About Hello Kittty: does that mean I shouldn't get you and the fiance a Hello Kitty Popcorn Popper for a wedding present? LOL.

Should have 'em in MA, they're just more sneaky than the redbacks.

We're starting to get winter moths up here, too. Our entomology folks are being kept pretty busy. At least they don't give me a rash like the brown-tail moth caterpillars.

I wanted to keep the bug helmet.

Salamanders like the one in the pic, or did you have spotted or blue-spotteds?

I find the dslr to be kind of intimidating, with all its fancy bells and whistles. I think I got lucky with that photo. As for seeing them in person, yeah, never gets old. I "had" to do an osprey watch for the public nature program today . An hour spent with a 60x spotting scope set up on the nest (but only on 40x, 60 is too much of a good thing) talking to people about these amazing birds. Next weekend is our annual family-friendly bird-watching festival, where I will be forced to a) do an all-day osprey watch, b) shut down the osprey watch and watch a live bird presentation about owls (and a raven) by WInd Over Wings, and c) possibly get sent to another park to go on a vernal pool workshop. Oh, the horror I must endure! There will be pictures, I promise.

Just be sure your hands are damp when you do that, the natural acids on our skin can burn theirs. I like to breathe on them, does the same thing, just not as well.