Waiting for 'De Plane"

This year we booked our flight home from Long Island on Pineapple Air, hoping they would prove more reliable than Bahamas Air. Alas, they were not. We made ourselves as comfy as one can at an airport with goats on the landing strip and waited it out. Apparently, they all run on BST, Bahamas Standard Time.

Long Island Dump

Here I am getting some excercise at the dump. On an island of 3,000,
you get your kicks where you can.

The Brrrrhamas

Don't be too jealous, here we are freezing our rears off in the
Bahamas! Merry Christmas everyone.

Savour: Illustration Friday

The picniking pangolin savoured the crunch of each and every ant that crossed his blanket that afternoon.
Hooray for pangolins! Native to Asia and Africa, these unique mammals look a little like the child of an artichoke and an armadillo. Last summer we visited the Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity. They had a pangolin rescued from poachers and they're working on starting up a breeding program.

Pumpkin Pie A la Waco

How sweet! The menfolk have been tenderizing the pumpkin with the 45 mm.

Thanksgiving in Waco

What have the guys been up to out at Uncle Ronnie's?

AFTERWARDS: Illustration Friday

On Thursday morning, the kindergartners painted in tints and shades of green. Afterwards, Julissa carefully and proudly applied her painting to her face. And for the rest of the day, everyone knew that Julissa had painted with tints and shades of green in Art.
(Yes, this really happened. You can support my students' more appropriate artistic endeavors by donating via the link at right!)

A Nice Caterpillar

We like this caterpillar Jeff found in the driveway. He matches our
kitchen!

RACING: Illustration Friday

Hermit crab racing on Guana Key has become a family tradition. On Christmas Day, we don snorkels and swim to the island. We are greeted by charming, curly-tailed iguanas and hermit crabs. We crack open coconuts and feed them before selecting crabs to race. Each racer places his or her crab in the center of two concentric rings drawn in the sand. The first crab to cross the outermost ring is the winner. Scroll down for photos from last year's race.
Support my art students by clicking on the Donors Choose link to the right.

SPOOKY: Illustration Friday

Driving alone across Yellowstone at night was very spooky. I would speed along, hoping to catch up with another car's tail lights.

Why Me?

Zilla is in a terrible mood after having her luxurious, plush coat
soaked in the sulphur-lime dip. Hopefully she will forgive Harriet for
having Demodex mites.

Mite-y Kitten

Poor Harri only wants to be held and babied while in the "cone of shame." Right now she thinks the cure maybe worse than the sickness. Hopefully, the sulphur lime dip will bring an end to her weeks of itchy, Demodex mite-misery!

The Sulphur Sisters

Harriet has been pulling out her fur, licking and scratching. Her coat has bare spots and patches of flakey scabs. It is obvious that she is miserably itchy. When she was spayed two weeks ago the vet did a skin scrape test and informed us that she has cat Demodex mites.
Demodex in cats is extremely rare. It is small parasite that lives in the cat's hair follicle and causes a form of mange. The only safe and effective cure for Demodex is a sulphur-lime dip. Both cats had to go in for the dip yesterday. The girls came back smelling like fireworks. They had to wear cones on their heads for the next 24 hours. We also have to put drops in their eyes twice daily for the next three
days. The total cost of this treatment for both cats was $77 so far. Our vet works hard to keep costs down so I'm sure this is a pretty reasonable price for this process. I am blogging about Demodex in hopes of helping other pet owners. If your cat is pulling her fur out, ask your vet to test for Demodex mites. Cats with Demodex often go misdiagnosed as having allergies, depression, anxiety or even a neurological condition. My vet charged $7 for the skin scrape test. They have to pinch while scraping to squeeze the mites out of the follicles. The vet said he had only seen it once before in his 27 years as a vet. He thinks Harriet has it because her immune system was lowered while fighting off Feline Leukemia as a newborn. She is the sweetest, coolest little cat though. Her kitty hugs and games of fetch totally make up for having the house smell like a fireworks stand!

Mysterious Flower

This flower popped up in our yard after a lot of rain. It has no
leaves, just a plain stalk. We have no idea what it is and we would
like to identify it. If you know what it is, please comment.

Adventures with the Yarboroughs

We stopped at this open house. It was very 90s - like something from a
Seinfeld episode. There were bees living in a wall and no realtor in
sight. Very strange.

Buck to Spare?

We went garage saling with Aaron and Jennifer today. For some strange
reason, I felt compelled to buy this deer head. It was $5. It may come
in handy for a prank.

BENEATH: Illustration Friday

From BENEATH a curtain of limestone and moss, we emerged into a chamber in the heart of the mountain. Hundreds of seated Buddahs gazed down from their perches in every cranny of the mountain. In the center of it all, under the protection of an ornate temple, a large reclining Buddah slumbered peacefully.

Wat Kirisan - Phnom Sor - Cambodia

My family had the privilege of visiting this magical place which actually exists, near Kep, Cambodia. The temple is Wat Kirisan, built into the base of Phnom Sor cave moutain. Watch our video of Wat Kirisan!

My Studio

This is a post for for Lexi. She says I need to post more often. Here
is my new desk in my art studio. The studio is also Harriet's bedroom
and she has a secret nook behind the boxes on shelves.

Illustration Friday: Old-Fashioned

I love the romance of old-fashioned aeronautics - when Amelia Earhart
flew the skies and there was still something magical about flying.

Send me to Philly too!

Just kidding, Lexi. I'm not sending you our Harriet. I crochetted
these elephants for Kevin's uncle's newly adopted twins. They're on
their way to New York City with a stopover with Lexi in Philidelphia.

A morning in Yellowstone with my parents via the Old Faithful VEC Webcam!

This morning from 1,344 miles away, I shared a cup of coffee with my parents in front of Old Faithful geyser. We chatted about the weather, the drive up from Park City, funny outfits worn by German tourists. It was like many a Labor Day weekend spent with my family in Yellowstone, except that I was on my couch in Dallas. You can reach this view of my own personal Heaven by clicking here. Two other views of Old Faithful and cameras at Mammoth and atop the summit of Mt. Washburn are available on the web cam page on the NPS Yellowstone site. The banner at the top of the web cam image even tells you when you can expect Old Faithful's next eruption!

Homesick

Watching Old Faithful erupt from 1,338 miles away, I'm feeling more than a little homesick. Did the National Park Service put this camera up as some kind of cruel joke?

Wyoming Sunrise

I watched the sunrise in Yellowstone this morning from a grim little corner of West Dallas. My parents are up there for the weekend and I really wanted to go, but couldn't find any good deals on airfare. I check the Old Faithful Webcam pretty often and it's been kind of overcast all week, but today it had to be beautiful just to taunt me.

Jeff - STEM Award

That's Jeff in red being awarded the TI STEM award. This is for being
an outstanding teacher! Go Jeff!

Vietnam 2010

Vietnam 2010

Westmoreland Retriever Kitten

We found her on Westmoreland Street and she fetches. Here is Harriet
in action!

Kitten is a thug!

Harri has decapitated her pink kitty toy after playing with it for all
of five minutes! Woe unto any mouse in this house.

Zilla & Harry

YOU! How dare you drink the last Dr. Pepper!

Neener Neener Neener!

Put that back in your mouth young lady!

The New Fall Fashion

Harriet's Sweater Vest

In his wife's absence today, Jeff has apparently taken up kitten
fashion design.

Cambodian Cave Mountain

The Dr Pepper

Jeff has discovered a little slice of Texas, far from home on the
airport in Seoul, Korea.

Contemplating Naval Excercises

We are currently in the airport in Seoul, Korea. We have an incredibly
long layover here and spent the night sleeping on some soft benches
next to a planter of bamboo. We had our silk sleep sacks that we
bought in Hanoi yesterday, so it was pretty comfortable. If you must
spend the night in an airport, this is probably one of the best. It's
a little unnerving that our stopover coincides with the US-Korea
joint naval excercises. The airport is on an island just south of the
boarder with North Korea. But for now anyway, everything is quiet and
Jeff sleeps on...

Ba Na Hill Station

Sent from my iPhone

Ba Na Hill Station

The ruins are mysterious and fun to explore and the hiking is all
downhill. There's no need to hike uphill, just hop on the gondola and
sail above the tree ferns!

Ba Na Hill Station

The French built the Ba Na Hill Station in the 1930s to escape the
heat. The station is reached by a series of two gondolas. The place is
a wonderland of swirling mist and French ruins with a massive seated
Buddah guarding over it all and irridescent violet butterflies dancing
through.

The Coolest Place in Vietnam

We are wrapping up our time in Vietnam now. Yesterday we went scuba
diving off Cham Island. Jeff was attacked by a Titan Triggerfish. It
chomped his leg and then tweaked my swim fins before Jeff landed a
good punch and fought it off. Apparently this happens often-there was
a sign warning of this fish on the boat.
So, after the miserable heat here in SE Asia, we decided to seek out
the coolest place in Vietnam. Up, up and away to the Ba Na Hill Station!

At the Pepper Plantation

It becomes obvious that Jeff is no Peter Piper and will not be picking
any pecks of pepper, pickeled, or otherwise.

Tuk tuk through the countryside

We piled into a tuk tuk for a trip out to an amazing cave mountain and
a pepper farm. We followed an underground passageway behind a Buddhist
temple into a mountain and after a walk through a cave, popped out in
a hidden valley with a small temple (complete with reclining Buddah)
in the center of the mountain. Khmer school children gave us a tour of
the rest of the karst mountain. It was a mini Shangri-la. See the
video on Facebook.

All's well that ends...

So the night bus let us off at 6 am to stand in the mud and rain
waiting for transfer onto the second to last bus in the series that
delivered us to Kep. Happily, we found a sunny, flowery cluster of
bungalows to stay in. This heaven even included hammocks, toucans
swooping through the jungle above and this kitten for company.

More Night Bus

Here is Jeff in the bunk he gave to me when My bunk had exhaust
leaking into it. We were promised pillows, blankets, free water
bottles and a toilet on the bus. We were given only blankets with waxy
residue and told that the driver would stop if we needed a restroom.
When we stopped, the passengers stormed the W.C. of any nearby stand.
When we stopped in the middle of the night in a dark stand of huts we
squatted next to the road. Good times, good times...

Night Bus Torture

We took this bus between Siem Reap and Kep on the southern coast.
There were three rows of bunks and you were to sleep with your torso
raised and feet out straight. The bunks were covered with thin foam
pads enveloped in vinyl. Lexi is in the top bunk.

Lonely Wat

Today was our last day in Siem Reap. We visited this wat off the
tourist track, hidden behind a temple and monastary.

Banteay Srei

Here we are in front of our last Angkor site, Banteay Srei. It was a
beautiful, small wat. We stopped in at a wonderful wildlife sanctuary.
They actually had a pangolin that had been rescued from poachers.
Pangolins are a critically endangered mammal somewhat similar to the
armadillo. Our last stop was at the Land Mine Museum. That was a tough
thing to face. Unknown to most Americans, the US carpet bombed
Cambodia during the Vietnam War in an attempt to drive the Viet Cong
out. That bombing cost 600,000 Cambodians their lives and in many
ways, ushered the Khmer Rouge into power. Cases were filled with land
mines and unexploded ordinance dropped or placed by the US, Russia,
China and Vietnam. Behind the museum, children missing limbs played
soccer.

Kbal Spean

This was one of our favorite Angkor sites. Also known as the 'River of
a Thousand Lingas,' it is a carved riverbed. I am standing next to a
carved stone frog above a pretty waterfall.

Angkor Wat's all the green crap?

This is the Angkor Wat of our visit. Veiled in green tarps for her
restoration, she's not looking her best these days. Many of the other
temples have also had major cosmetic surgery going on.

Wat of a Million Stairs