This year I departed from carving the usual pumpkin face and went for something a bit more tricky. I copied this from a picture on the internet. It began by looking like a deer, progressed to a rabbit:
and hopefully now looks like a cat:
31 October 2009
Halloween
This evening Ian and I each carved a pumpkin for halloween. Ian also decided to carve a watermelon and it definitely adds a spooky green colour to the mantlepiece.
This year I departed from carving the usual pumpkin face and went for something a bit more tricky. I copied this from a picture on the internet. It began by looking like a deer, progressed to a rabbit:
and hopefully now looks like a cat:
This year I departed from carving the usual pumpkin face and went for something a bit more tricky. I copied this from a picture on the internet. It began by looking like a deer, progressed to a rabbit:
and hopefully now looks like a cat:
21 October 2009
Happy 60th Birthday Dad!
My father John, aka scriptor senex, for those of you who only know of him in blogland, is 60 years old today. We're having a family get together this weekend, but for now I shall post a few photos.
My Dad has a love of natural history
and is rarely to be seen without his camera and an animal or two
Happy Birthday from Ian, William and I!
My Dad has a love of natural history
and is rarely to be seen without his camera and an animal or two
Happy Birthday from Ian, William and I!
17 October 2009
Happy Birthday William!
Today is the two year anniversary of our having rescued William the tabby cat from his cage in the cats protection league shelter. Not that the cage was particularly small and the people at the shelter are very loving, but William, having been "in care" twice before wasn't having a very enjoyable time.
When we first met William he was the least friendly of the over 13's that we were restricted to because of our proximity to a major road. He sat at the back of his cage (as far away from us as possible without going down a ramp to another level) and miaowed a silent miaow. We had several cuddles of the other more friendly cats, but it was William that stood out because he seemed so sad.
We nearly ended up with a different cat when the cats protection people fetched us a tabby called Tigger instead whilst we were signing some forms. Luckily the mistake was noticed and Tigger returned to his cage (most put out having been freshly flea-sprayed) and William was brought out.
After bringing him home we were slightly concerned that he was going to remain sad and unfriendly as he promptly hid behind the fridge and refused to come out for 48 hours. Luckily we discovered William's second passion (after IAMs cat biscuit) - heat. Only a couple of minutes after putting the dining room fire on he came out, sat in the middle of the floor and got fussed for 3 hours.
Since then he has settled in very well (see here) and apart from being a little on the nervous side he is a most welcoming and loving cat. Not knowing his actual date of birth we are celebrating his 15th birthday today. Happy Birthday Puss!
William, in a rather uncomfortable looking position.
When we first met William he was the least friendly of the over 13's that we were restricted to because of our proximity to a major road. He sat at the back of his cage (as far away from us as possible without going down a ramp to another level) and miaowed a silent miaow. We had several cuddles of the other more friendly cats, but it was William that stood out because he seemed so sad.
We nearly ended up with a different cat when the cats protection people fetched us a tabby called Tigger instead whilst we were signing some forms. Luckily the mistake was noticed and Tigger returned to his cage (most put out having been freshly flea-sprayed) and William was brought out.
After bringing him home we were slightly concerned that he was going to remain sad and unfriendly as he promptly hid behind the fridge and refused to come out for 48 hours. Luckily we discovered William's second passion (after IAMs cat biscuit) - heat. Only a couple of minutes after putting the dining room fire on he came out, sat in the middle of the floor and got fussed for 3 hours.
Since then he has settled in very well (see here) and apart from being a little on the nervous side he is a most welcoming and loving cat. Not knowing his actual date of birth we are celebrating his 15th birthday today. Happy Birthday Puss!
William, in a rather uncomfortable looking position.
11 October 2009
A first
Yesterday we went for a walk in Haldon Forest. One of the paths offers wonderful views of the Exe Valley
The forest contains a number of sculptures, most of which are of a musical nature. This crocodile was off the path and I would have missed it if Ian hadn't spotted it
The forest is very popular with cyclists and horseriders. Unfortunately this baby grass snake that Ian found in the middle of the path appeared to have been run over by a cyclist
It was upside down and I was convinced that it was just one of those little rubber toy snakes until Ian moved it off the path. This is the first snake I've ever seen in the wild and it's a shame that it was dead. Hopefully we shall find a live one someday.
The forest contains a number of sculptures, most of which are of a musical nature. This crocodile was off the path and I would have missed it if Ian hadn't spotted it
The forest is very popular with cyclists and horseriders. Unfortunately this baby grass snake that Ian found in the middle of the path appeared to have been run over by a cyclist
It was upside down and I was convinced that it was just one of those little rubber toy snakes until Ian moved it off the path. This is the first snake I've ever seen in the wild and it's a shame that it was dead. Hopefully we shall find a live one someday.
11 September 2009
abcGIS
As Ian mentioned on his blog last Sunday we have now completed our first contract under our new company abcGIS. The deadline for the entire project was today, but as usual a certain person was out of the country for the last few weeks and so the written outputs of the project are going to be delayed until at least Monday. Thankfully we have finished our role - making a website to display the maps that were the outcomes of the study in addition to providing a quick summary of the aims and methods.
It's been a hectic few weeks and we've been programming in what are entirely new languages for me. Some big things worked surprisingly quickly and some little things took hours and hours.
As always there were a few things I wanted to do, but gave up on in the end. For example the banner of images on the left hand side will only fit the text when viewed on certain sized monitors. Otherwise either the text goes beyond the images or vice versa. I could of course repeat the images to fit the space (as with the banners at the top and bottom), but then that would result in only part of a photo at the bottom and in my opinion that would look even worse. Suggestions anyone on how to deal with this in the future?
Unfortunately the end of this project means that I have to spend some time revising one of my papers that I've submitted for publication. This will be the 4th time I've revised it since I first submitted it. Fingers crossed that it is 4th time lucky...
It's been a hectic few weeks and we've been programming in what are entirely new languages for me. Some big things worked surprisingly quickly and some little things took hours and hours.
As always there were a few things I wanted to do, but gave up on in the end. For example the banner of images on the left hand side will only fit the text when viewed on certain sized monitors. Otherwise either the text goes beyond the images or vice versa. I could of course repeat the images to fit the space (as with the banners at the top and bottom), but then that would result in only part of a photo at the bottom and in my opinion that would look even worse. Suggestions anyone on how to deal with this in the future?
Unfortunately the end of this project means that I have to spend some time revising one of my papers that I've submitted for publication. This will be the 4th time I've revised it since I first submitted it. Fingers crossed that it is 4th time lucky...
22 August 2009
Kingfishers
Having driven all the way to the Forest of Dean we decided to return via the wildfowl and wetlands center at Slimbridge. I've been to WWT Martin Mere more times than I can count, but had never visited any of their other sites before.
The day was very hot and I confess I didn't really pay enough attention to the birds - preferring to dash from one patch of shade to the next. Something that did stand out were these scultures of a family of kingfishers outside (and inside) the kingfisher hide...
The day was very hot and I confess I didn't really pay enough attention to the birds - preferring to dash from one patch of shade to the next. Something that did stand out were these scultures of a family of kingfishers outside (and inside) the kingfisher hide...
Soudley Ponds
Upon moving to Devon in 2005 (having lived in the North of England my entire life until then) I made a list of places I wanted to explore. Most of them we visited in the first couple of years - Dartmoor, Exmoor, Dorset and we've made it across the south of England to Hampshire and even Sussex a couple of times. What we hadn't managed until this week was to visit the Forest of Dean. The Forest of Dean is in Gloucestershire, about 2 hours drive from Exeter, and is somewhere I remember very well from holidays during my childhood.
Despite there being no signpost to the carpark we managed to park at the south end of Soudley Ponds - a series of 4? large interconnected ponds.
We were lucky enough to see several fish
both hawker and darter dragonflies (though as usual only the darters settled for a photograph)
and a little lizard.
Now all I have to do is to make it over to Cornwall sometime. Cornwall still seems so far away, even when you live in Devon!
Despite there being no signpost to the carpark we managed to park at the south end of Soudley Ponds - a series of 4? large interconnected ponds.
We were lucky enough to see several fish
both hawker and darter dragonflies (though as usual only the darters settled for a photograph)
and a little lizard.
Now all I have to do is to make it over to Cornwall sometime. Cornwall still seems so far away, even when you live in Devon!
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