Pumpkin Pie

Friend Audrey visited. After dark we commenced filing.


After lamenting that I couldn't drink out of the Erlenmeyer flask, Audrey suggests I try some of the glassware awaiting recycling. Mmmmm orange soy juice sauce....


We went to York and to Betty's Tea Room, the fancy tea-specialist restaurant thingy that everyone tells me I have to go to while I am in England. We had tiny sandwiches, scones (WITH RAISINS! NO!), and 'mini cake selection'. It was good but overly sweet. The tea was the best part. That's what she said.

Then we carved pumpkins:


Here's the pumpkin pie:

nothing important happened today

Today work was shut down early because of broken fire alarms. So I went for a walk around campus. What did I see? I saw a pretty oak tree, being natural and seasonal amidst the unchanging angular buildings:


I saw a strange door leading into a big mound of earth, with a glass pyramid on top:

What does it lead to? I don't know. Tasha was very interested in the light over the door:



And earlier this week she did something weird with her feet:

Over the hills and far away, the tiny little village of Cray

Big excitement in the Dales this weekend. Saturday I went up to do my water chemistry sampling (Wait, its Saturday?! not again!) and I got passed by THREE ambulances. I saw a paraglider on top of a hill where one ambulance was coming from, so assumed it was a paraglider accident. But no. A car crash further up the road. A chopper came too. I could see the scene down in the valley. I think no one was seriously hurt, the ambulances didn't drive off, and no one was (pork) choppered out. After sampling I hiked to the interestingly-named hamlet of Cray. I had tried before but didn't want to be out when.....darkness falls... This time I arrived and found it consisted of a pub, a parking lot, and a farmhouse. There was a small stream with probably no crays. On the way back Piemaster pursued rabbits.

"Detour" actually really scary!

Perhaps best known for its comedic elements (i.e. Scully singing 'Jeremiah was a Bullfrog'), the season five x-files episode Detour is actually very scary. Especially when watched alone, and in the dark. "NO! DON'T GET SEPARATED IN THE WOODS! AAAAAHHHHH!" Thank goodness I had not seen it before we played 'what just brushed my shin' in the woods at night as kids, or I might have seriously injured myself trying to escape the elusive beings of the forest.

Fun with crayfish!

Behold at last more photos to satiate the masses!

here are some of my crayfish tanks in the animal house aquarium! and my precious bucket!


here is a native white clawed crayfish! gotta have a license to even touch these little guys, so they have lovely accommodation complete with festive air bubblers, detritus to nibble, and black tubes of darkness for...lurking. They also have special 'crab cuisine' crayfish food imported from Japan.

and here is my handy chart on my computer at work so people know where I am. sometimes it is even accurate! Since I have THREE labs, and I do alot of fieldwork I try to keep up with it.


There's other news too! I bought a used TV (cicra 1988) and VCR from the homeless charity furniture store to watch my delightful X-files. After some initial problems (AH! Why doesn't the TV recognize the VCR!?!?! oh, the cable wasn't plugged in all the way........) it works great for such an old feller.

Also, I'm sleeping in the living room again - long story short (and I DO mean long story), the bedroom just got painted and it smells painty and I don't want to breathe that. Luckily both the sofa and the futon thingy are very comfortable.

AND I took the new PhD kid out crayfish catching. He caught plenty of crayfish and probably had fun even tho the water was only about 9 degrees celcius and our hands went numb. He named one in the lab Craig. Cray-g. get it?

Photo Epic!

When even your own parents think your blog is dull, its time to spice things up. So, I give you, photos photos photos!

Today I went for a hike. I saw a wier:


PieMaster wanted to see what it would be like to look down on me for a change (she's on a pipe cover, the footpath is below):


I went over a cool bridge hidden behind the cinema (KT this one is for you):



On the way home I stopped at this fun-looking playground that kids never play on:


Pie mastered the roller-coaster thing:

Then we went home. While I put away laundry, Tasha observed her arch-nemesis, "Neighbor's-Backyard-Squirrel" She was too tired to bother pursuing it.



The most exciting part of the weekend - landlord sends someone to actually fix things and give me...A VACUUM CLEANER!


In celebration I finally moved my bed into the bedroom, put up weatherstripping ("draught excluder"), fixed up the scooter I found in a stream, washed my crayfish boots, reassembled my little foam chair/bed thingy, cleared out my car, Carl, :
and yes, vacuumed.

The end.