Persephone, one of our friends' dogs died today. Our thoughts and condolences to them.  She was a big sweetie.

Persephone, at their wedding [Sept 2004]

The dogs had something cornered near this fence this morning.  I thought they were barking at the dog next door throught the fence.  Then I saw something move. Thought it was a rat, or a bunny.  Put on my shoes and got closer...snake!  They had a largish snake at bay against the fence.  Rosie and GG weren't getting too close to it (it was flipping its tail).

I chased them off, and got a good look at it. OK--round pupils, no pits. Not a cottonmouth.  He was still kinda agressive, striking at a stick I moved near him.  I put the dogs in the house, and went back out the find it.  He retreated underneath the sailboat, and I couldn't find him after 10 minutes of poking about.  Did find a wasp nest, and a large anole.

So I brought Rosie out and asked her to Find It! And she did--she went right to where he was (poor GG was still lookin by the fence by where she saw it last). Rosie stood off a bit, and grumbled at me, and pointed at where the snake was.  I didn't believe her because I couldn't see it.  She grumbled louder, pointed harder.  Ahhh, there it is.  She was very good, and didn't get close to it.

I told Rosie to leave it (she did), and then I chased the snake around a bit.  Darn, where'd it go.  Andi says---hey, it's over here in the lawn.  Wow, how'd it get over there that fast? Aha, got it.  Pinned it with a walking stick.  Check again...yep, not a cottonmouth. 

Ok, picked it up by the back of the head. Wow, thanks for showing me your mouth (it's gaping its mouth at me).  No fangs.  Stinky, though.  Held it long enough to have Andi get a pic:

Snake, originally uploaded by TimScott.

It's a Nerodia erythrogaster (plain-bellied water snake). I let it go near the ditch behind our house, so it can go on eating toads.

Baby dove, originally uploaded by TimScott.

I got a new camera lens in today, a Tamron 75-300mm F/4-5.6.  Got a very good deal on eBay.  The picture quality isn't as good as a Canon EF-S, or even Canon L-grade lens...but it is 10% of the price.  That's all I need right now.

That little dove has been hanging around the front planter.  Hope a cat doesn't find it.

We actually got to go out tonight--we went to a friends' graduation party.  Elissa was very well behaved.  She spent most of her time being passed around and cuddled.

So, a while back I had the idea to combine inkjet printer technology with the latest in bathroom tissue dispensers.  Your TP could come out with witty saying, the latest headlines, or whatever you want.

Luckily (?), I'm not the only one thinking this way.  Check out this conceptual product:

Many of the baby books and other resources have lists of ways to calm your crying baby.  Things like:

1. Try feeding her
2. Change her diaper
3. Hold or rock her
4. Walk around with her
5. She's too cold or too warm
6. Something is causing her pain--find it
7. Burp her
8. Overstimulation -- go somewhere quiet
9. Boredom -- she wants something different
10. Play some white noise, water running, etc.

A useful list.  But what they don't tell you is that the list repeats!  You could work your way to the bottom of the list, and she's still crying 20 minutes later.  Great!  Now start from the top again. 

So the list should end as:

11. Goto 1.

Allrighty, I've resurrected the blog.  We'll see how long it lasts.  Hopefully I'll be more inclined to post stuff about Elissa!

Pics will be at Flickr, available to "Friends and Family" only.  Let me know what your Flickr login is and I'll add you as a contact, and you'll be able to see family pictures.

Still tweaking the theme...got some weird problem with the footer.  Also trying to make Flickr blog posting play well with dasBlog.