Archives for Dec 2005
15th December, 2005
Happy Birthday Miss Kitty
Hey, spread a little love and wish the magnificent Miss Kitty a happy birthday!
Fly Guy
Thirty five years ago to the day, the Soviet built Venera 7 became the first human built craft to send information back to Earth from the surface of another planet. It told us that Venus was a hot, crushing uninhabitable planet, smiting the last hopes of Jules Verne fans, who were all packed up to move there as soon as the ship was ready to sail.
We're still searching through our solar system, with varying degrees of success. Three Earth days ago, Martian rover Opportunity celebrated its first Martian birthday. A few weeks ago on November 21st, it was the slightly older Spirit rover's Martian birthday. Aw. I wonder if they had cake?
14th December, 2005
Christmas Kitchen
At Christmas, we like to have ourselves a feast spread on our table. To achieve this, it is absolutely essential that one particular room is in good, working order: the kitchen.
The Christmas kitchen is a hot, bustling hive of activity, steaming pans and very earnest amateur chefs. There's a lot of food to do for a lot of mouths. It's a pressure environment, so the kitchen has to be in absolutely tip-top condition to get that wonderful meal out on the plates.
Yes, well, as you can see from the picture, our kitchen is not exactly in the best shape right now.
13th December, 2005
City In The Sky
The UK famously has really, really bad weather. But, it's not bad. It's just plain rubbish.
The aggravating, mind numbing part about it is that it isn't bad in any sort of exciting way. It's just dismal. Drear. Wan. You know, grey. It's cloudy, and wet, and cold. You see? It's bad because it's miserable.
12th December, 2005
New Owl
I
have to make a special mention here. Some might have noticed the new Owl in
the header. Well, that was provided
for me by Celti,
so I'd like to give her a great big blog snog!
Muuuwah!
Thanks Celti!
Baby E's Sort-Of-First Christmas Tree
Last
week a few things got underway, and one of
them was putting up the Christmas
tree.
We have a tiny house for the five of us, which is a bit of a problem all of the time, but when it comes to Christmas Sarah really does like her big tree. So, we squeeze it in, regardless of the fact that we can now no longer get to the phone books, the CDs, a shelf of books, and the CD player. Ah well, it's Christmas.
9th December, 2005
Google, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
These days, websites can live or die by Google alone. There are no people directly controlling listings on Google, only dark algorithms, eldritch and mystic, that control the fates and weave the very reality of the Internet. It hasn't always been this way. When I first started using the Internet, the only way to find websites was through Yahoo!. There just wasn't any choice. How things have changed, and yet remained the same.
7th December, 2005
Toy Box
So,
Santa's coming, and he's bringing sackloads of toys for the kids... they hope.
And, truth be known, I hope so too. It'd be dreadful to find out they'd been too naughty for toys this year.
For instance, this was the look on Baby E's face when she was told that she actually might not get a biscuit. A biscuit! Imagine if we tell her that no, she can't have the pink castle, or the pastel blue pegasus. I mean, the castle was a bit drafty, for one thing, and people forget just how much looking after a pegasus demands. I know who'd end up doing the mucking out, too.
6th December, 2005
Reflections at Kirkcudbright Tattoo
You'd
be forgiven for thinking that Kirkcudbright is a ridiculous name for anywhere.
It's pronounced ku-coo-brih - and remember to roll your Rs when you say it.
That's Scotland for you, I told Baby E. She
seemed to accept this as she adopted
her wistfully staring off camera pose.
5th December, 2005
Reliving the Border Reivers
Between
the 13th and early 17th
Centuries, the land north and south of the Scottish
borders was a dangerous place. Bands of murderous and well-organised thieves
were tearing up the place, and they didn't give a damn about the law. They were
the infamous border
Reivers.
3rd December, 2005
Much excitement about lying about
Now, I know there are some who are waiting somewhat impatiently for the Scotland post, but I'm just going to make this post as an interrim to record the events that are kind of more current. It's worth it. There's been sloth, a movie, and a 3am neighbourhood drama. How can I put together a Scotland post with all that going on?
1st December, 2005
Three Things Meme
The first of two today, I've been tagged for a meme by the lovely Kami at Craptastic, so here goes:
16th December, 2005
Weirderer and Weirderer
I've been tagged by the gorgeous and really quite sane Melanie to do a meme. In this, I have to reveal five weird habits that I have.
Actually, in Melanie's post for this, she says she has to "name" her five weird habits. So, John, Paul, George, Ringo, and for that seasonal touch, Santa. No?
No, well, I suspect that that isn't going to pass muster. Nor is saying things like "I blog," although it is a pretty weird habit. Or, "I flay myself with rose bushes in the autumn," because, although that's weird, it's clearly not true. Or at least it's an exaggeration.
So here goes, my five really true and possibly weird habits.
Go read the rest >>