innerslytherin

Because I'm getting nowhere on my Big NaNo ComebackTM tonight and the mess in my room is driving me nuts, I am going to clean until 8.

( Photographic evidence of the mess )

I'll post a set of after shots in 40 minutes.

Went hiking with Mom today. Dad rode along and read in the car, and was supposed to pick us up at the other end of the trail. Instead Mom and I ended up hiking twice as far as we meant to because he never showed up and his phone was going right to voicemail without a signal. Oh well, had fun. The modern equivalent of the CCC (I can't remember what they called them this year) has obviously been installing signs, and it was fun to discover all of them. They have history of the park as well as natural features and wildlife. Some of those are pictured behind the cut too.

( Clickable thumbnails behind the cut )

Dad bought Mom a Nikon digital SLR last weekend, and we've been playing with it since then. Especially since we're going to Franklin & Nashville in a couple of weeks, we want to make sure we know how to use it. (Not that I won't take my camera too, but still). So today we went out and took some autumn foliage pictures, and also went to the Darlington covered bridge, where I took a few shots I really like.

You really need to click the thumbnails to see why I like the second and third pictures. :)

( Read more... )

So when we were almost home I got a text message from Mom with a picture:

( Ophidiophobes beware )

What may not be immediately apparent in looking at the picture (as it wasn't to me at the time), the garter snake is caught in the netting that we have over the strawberry patch to keep the birds from eating them. And when I say caught, I mean he was caught but good. Two places he'd made it through, then expanded and had the netting dug into his scales. At one of the spots I think it had cut him. So the moment I got home, I had to pull out the pocket knife and use it to cut him free of the netting. Fortunately I'm pretty sure I managed to cut the netting without cutting him. He was very calm the whole time I was handling him, like he realized I was trying to help. The moment he realized he was free, he slithered away...directly into the strawberry patch where my snake-fearing aunt was supposed to pick tonight. I wasn't fast enough to stop him because I didn't want to hurt him worse.

When I got in the door, I discovered that my cat had jumped the screen that usually blocks his room, and then gotten trapped outside his room with food, water, and litter. So there was cat poop on the living room floor. As soon as Dad came into the house, Merlin started rubbing up against him, then bit him savagely and wouldn't let go. So Dad was bruised and bloody, and Merlin got himself a kick. Merlin was pretty unhappy but I gave him quite a talking to about his behavior. It took years, but I finally became the dominant of our little two-animal 'pack'...but Merlin obviously considers Dad to be a lesser pack member. So I spent some time cleaning up that mess, and then devising a gate that he can't jump.

I am exhausted, and it's not bedtime yet. :P

Pictures of Bunker Hill, the flag of the USS Constitution, National Cemeteries at Civil War battlefields, a memorial at Marye's Heights in Fredricksburg, VA, the USS Massachussetts "Big Mamie". Freedom has a high cost, and we owe our eternal thanks to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that we are a free nation.





( More behind the cut )

To my family members, friends, and LJ friends who have, do, or will serve in the military, thank you. You have all of my support.

Went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art today to see the "To Live Forever" exhibit of Demetrios' mummy, stela, canopic jars, reliefs, and various other Egyptian artifacts. Having just seen the Field Museum's exhibit lat month, I can say that this exhibit, on loan from Brooklyn, wasn't as extensive, but it was still incredible. Just the intricacy of the carving they did is amazing. Something that impressed me in both exhibits was the hand mirrors. Just the fact that so many thousands of years ago they had hand mirrors--it's incredible.

We also walked around the gardens a little--they were designed by Olmstead, who also designed Central Park in New York--and then went to Crown Hill Cemetery.

Crown Hill is the fourth largest cemetery in the United States. I had no idea. It has people like U.S. President Harrison, James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington, John Dillinger, the guy who invented Sodoku, and lots of other notables, buried there. Crown Hill is, I believe, the highest natural spot in Marion County, Indiana. There is a National Cemetery plot for Civil War dead. There are several memorials like the Heroes of Public Service, the Indiana AIDS memorial, and others.

( I took lots of pictures - clickable thumbnails behind the cut. )

I also splurged on a new purse at the IMA shop. But it's so freaking adorable I fell in love and couldn't make myself leave without it.

( It's made out of paper! )

Here in Indiana there are a few signs that spring is incipient. The turkey vultures come back, the robins and killdeer and red-winged blackbirds follow. Skunk cabbage blooms in wetlands and skunks fight (or mate) on the front porch. O.o The sandhill cranes migrate overhead.

I have pictures of that last...

( Largeish pictures behind cut )

That's right, I said a party! I can't be the only one (in the Northern Hemisphere) who's utterly sick of winter. Today I decided I'd had enough. So we're having a tropical party!

So put on a Hawaiian shirt, break out your shorts and flip-flops and straw hats, mix yourself a drink (we've got lots of rum!) and ( Turn up the music! )


Feel free to add to our playlist as the night gets more humid, the tiki torches burn, and the ocean crashes against the beach. Or post pictures of yourself in a tropical outfit!