thirtysomething...

So apparently some lucid Brazilian guys have been set loose in our US house and have started ripping out the sheetrock to sell on the Charleston Sheetrock Black Market.

Ok, so I lied. There was treasure hidden in the walls and they stole it. Ok, not really. They wanted the really old timbers to reconstruct some Civil War era boat. What, ya don't believe me? Just ask me.

Ok, so we're renovating the house. You caught me.

It's a good thing there's a big pond between Heather and Charleston, cause she flipped OUT when I showed her the pictures. Especially the one you're looking at right now. I believe her Exact words were, "HOLY SHIT! THAT'S OUR HOUSE?!??!" I asked her what she was expecting, and she said she didn't really know. I thought about getting down the dictionary and flipping to the pages with "Gutting" and "House", but that was only for a second or three. And to think, she wanted to know if we Really had to move out of the house for the renovations.

Ok, enough ribbing on Heather. The house is going to be great once it is finished. We've got the plans, and well, you don't so you will just have to take my word and Julia's pictures as proof.

To calm Heather down, I did show her pictures & 2 movies of Francesca, Julia & Samuel's little girl. She's the first of "our" (Heather and I will claim her if her actual parents get tired of her) babies to start walking! W00t W00t! So yeah, that helped alot and got Heather's mind on other things, like writing letters & whatnot.

Anyway, click the thumbnail to see the other shots (there are 4 total).

BTW, I've temporarily removed the Cumberland Island photos, so yeah, I know the link isa broka.

So I found a new use for my iSight camera... Apple's "Photo Booth"
 
Is there something in my eye??



Does that hat make my head look tiny?



I think it was something I ate...



Which way did he go?



Arty 1



Rockin' in CornyFeet



Are you talkin' to Me?



D Squared



The WolfMan



John Goodman



Ron Perlman



H Squared



Ok, that's just weird.

I need to get my passport renewed before the next crossing...

You think I can use this picture for my new passport & visa?

Some may have noticed (if you've been reading from the beginning) that I've started using a new host for my photos. Those of you who read the blog at work might have had problems viewing photos because my old image host may have been blocked. I'm in the process of moving old photoblogs over so everyone can see. I'll try to put a menu on the right of links straight to the photo pages. In the meantime:

Cumberland Island
The House
Headcorn (Lashenden) Aerodrome

I'm still working on the Germany & Prague images... not my best work by far, but you'll still get an idea...Maybe by the end of the week.


Oh yeah!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Watched the opening ceremonies tonight. It was nice to watch them live for a change. The choreography was very good. Especially the downhill skier bit. A must watch part. The Ferrari F1 burn-out on stage was really cool. Sorry, it's hard to remember all what happened... Heather's got the damn American Idol on in the background. :squint:

to Glasgow.

Heather's got biznass to take care of at her company's UK HQ, and I'm gonna go sightseeing. See ya in a few days!

(aka: Planes, Parachutes, and Pseudo Cujo)

Saturday was a laaaazy day. Stayed at the house, watched TV, and basically just laid around. Sunday would be the day to get out and wander around Headcorn.

We started out after lunch on Sunday. We'd heard about an Aerodrome that was close by and decided that would be our main destination for the day via Public Footpaths. It took us about 20 to 30 minutes to walk through the winding paths to the Aerodrome, which is about a mile out of town. The place was pretty cool. When we got to the field everyone there was looking up into the sky. Apparently you can learn to skydive for a modest fee. When I was a kid I always wanted to give it a try. Not so much now. Especially after seeing the 5 or so "Memorial Markers" of people who were Dead. Don't know if they died on a jump or not, but it kinda sucked the fun out of the possibility of a jump. From there we walked over to the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum. Two buildings filled with wrecked WWII plane parts, engines, turbochargers, placards, WWI uniforms, and the like. I'm thinking about Twin Charging the MINI with one of the turbochargers that was on display. It measured about two feet in diameter and about a foot thick. Wow. Probably have to mount it in the boot, cause that thing was huge. Wonder how long it would take to spin it up... Anyway, after wandering around the museum and airfield for awhile, we decided to head out and make our way back to the village by a different route. We found a footpath without too much trouble, but following the trail, now that was a different matter. After a few turn-arounds we finally began to make headway. Walked the edge of a few fields FILLED with sheep. Saw some horses as well. Cresting one hill we spooked a red fox that took off. Tried to get a shot of it, but man that thing was fast.

Ok, now things get tricky. We'd been following the footpath with some ease by now. We came up to a point where 4 fields came together, and there was a crossing step to continue on the footpath. We crossed over, looked around and couldn't tell where the path went from there. The field to the right had horse in it and the field to the left had a "Beware of Dog" sign. Ok, lets go Right. Walking down the edge of the field, the horse noticed us and slowly started walking our way. Heather is definitely not a fan of horses milling about, especially if they are milling about towards her. We get to the end of the field and guess what. No exit. Great. We turn around and head back the way we came. The whole time Heather's watching the horse while trying not to step in horse poo. I, on the other hand, am watching the next field over for signs of the dog. About halfway back Heather says the horse is coming towards us, and about the same time I say, "Heather, there's the dog." It was about 50 yards away.

It isn't a small dog either. Big, black, scary looking dog. And he looks wet. In my head I'm thinking "Cujo". The wetness could be blood, ya never know. Great. Mauled & left for dead in some random field near Headcorn. At this point he hadn't noticed us. By the time I actually thought that, his head picked up and, Oh Crap. "Heather, the dog sees us. What ever you do, Don't Run."

We began walking faster to the step where we entered the field. Now the dog is running towards us. There is a large gate that separates the dog's field from the one we are in, and Oh How Convenient, there's also an UN-GATED pass big enough for a person to walk through. I turned back to Heather and said "Come On. Hop the Fence". The dog is 15 feet away and the step is in His field. I'm over the 4 foot fence in a quarter of a second like Jessie Owens in the '36 Olympics, only covered in camera gear.

Oh Crap. I just jumped the fence and left my wife on the other side with some crazy psycho Cujo dog. Maybe she needs some help. DUH.

Turn around and she's got one leg up on the fence & hopping up and down. And The Dog Is Right There. Luckily, the three of us are all in separate fields separated by fences. Split rail fences. That dog can come threw any time he damn well feels like it. Great.

Uh. Nice Doggy? Who's a Gooood Boooy? Good Doggie...

Turns out, he was a good doggie, and wet (no it wasn't blood...) And I still left my wife on the other side of the fence. I Swear I thought she was RIGHT BEHIND ME. Really. Looking back, it's kinda humorous. At the time we didn't think so, and Heather REALLY didn't think so. She wanted me to tell the same story from her point of view, but I don't think I'd be able to do it justice. I'll try to get her to write it out for yaz.

From this point on we followed (mostly) the footpaths back to Headcorn with only a few minor deviations. The dog followed us all the way to the train tracks and then disappeared. We should have followed the dog, he was walking the footpath and we weren't. :shrug: He did spook out a pheasant for us to see. That was cool. We walked back through town, had a pot of tea & scones at the local Tea Room and headed on home. Out and back it was probably about 5 or 6 miles total. Especially with all the backtracking.

I don't think I did this story justice, but anyways, there it is.

Lessons Learned: 1. Buy a map of the area (with footpaths on it) 2. Push Heather over the fence FIRST, Then pet the nice doggie.

Click the Pic to see more from this adventure. Sorry, no pictures of the dog, fox or pheasant. :shrug:

So yeah, it could just be the Bitters talking but...

What's up with Europeans and bath & shower combos? Every tub (that I've had access to) that also has a shower head Does Not have a full surround. Normally it's only a hinged piece of tempered glass that's only half the length of the tub. Ya have to stand directly under the shower, with the head pointed straight down, and you still get splash out on the floor. What's up with that? Everywhere I've been in Europe that's the way it is. England, France, Germany, Czech Republic, italy, Switzerland...they all have that half-open half-closed deal.

A shower stall on the other hand is completely enclosed.

I don't get it. Even on old tubs in the US there's a shower curtain that goes all the way around the tub. There must be some kind of logic to the half surround, but I'm not seeing it.

Then again, it could be the many pints of Bitters I drank tonight. :shrug:

Ok you asked for it, well some of ya did...

Click the Pic.

Well the DSL line was finally turned on yesterday! Woo Hoo! Commence with the photos already... yeah yeah yeah. So with this new connection, I get free webspace, so I might be doing larger image pages over there with links to them from here... I'll see how it goes.

Here's a few to tide ya over. House pics coming later today. As always, click the pic to enlarge the photo.

It was a bit frosty last week...


Took the bus into Tenterden a few weeks ago...