Sometimes an Odd Shot is an eyeball to eyeball view.

For some reason, the linkies are not showing up. Please leave a comment if you have an Odd Shot so that we can visit you.

...and if you decide...

A news report concerning a problem with skunks in one of our nearby communities included options the citizens have for dealing with the critter invasion. An officer with the Department of Fish and Wildlife warned--with a subtle smile and a gleam in his eye--that if you decide to trap them yourself to use an enclosed trap.

Hmmmm.

Suppose he found out the hard way?

From the archives for the return of Odd Shots

I have to fess up. I really haven't been out and about with my camera much in the last few weeks. Though we have not had buckets and buckets of snow and ice like some parts of the country, it has been very cold and gray and mostly boring.

I have been poking about in my photo archives and came across this, which you may have seen some time ago.

It is the picture I took one spring break day when some boys came to the door and asked if they could go into our yard to get their ball.

At least...

I thought they said ball.

An Odd Shot is something visually unusual. Something taken from an unusual angle. Or something that just strikes your funny bone.

The details are here.

And here is the Linky, which will close about 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday. This is the first time I have used this Linky service, so be patient if I don't have it set up right. If the Linky doesn't work, leave your Odd Shot link in the comments.

Okay, so that is not what I goofed up. Why didn't I remember to set the time to schedule the post? The linky is set to start at 3:00 Sunday. We'll see if that happens if I get the post up too early. Darn! Did it again.

A treat while waiting in my world

If you have come early to the airport to get through security, and the airport is not particularly busy so security takes about half a minute, and your flight is one hour delayed, it could be boring.

As we were waiting, a group of puppy raisers for Guide Dogs of America came in to give their trainees some experience of the sights and sounds of an airport. There were eight beautiful young dogs and eight enthusiastic puppy raisers. Puppy raisers very generously raise these dogs to give them up, giving them their initial training in behavior and socialization, familiarizing them with situations in public places, teaching them to remain calm no mater what as facilitators assess them for the needed temperament. This group gather for outings such as this one on a fairly regular basis.

That calm no matter what part seems to be working well.

After spending a half hour or more in the terminal waiting area, this dedicated group went on their way to their next learning adventure.

That's what happenend to liven up My World this afternoon. To see what's happening in other parts of the world, visit the My World site.

On to London--Reflecting on St. James Park

St. James Park is a huge Royal Park in Central London. It is surrounded by famous places--Buckingham Palace is at one end. The Horse Guards are at the other. St. James Park Lake provided many opportunities for Weekend Reflections.

George took us on another hike while we were in Swansea

Well, actually Liz and Mike did, but George likes to take the credit.

They took us to this lovely beach.

With this awesome sky for SkyWatch Friday.

SkyWatch Friday has the SkyWatch Showcase at the site this week, along with this week's sky posts from around the world. Be sure to stop by to see.

Oops, George got distracted.

This view shows the reason that this is called Three Cliffs Beach.

Thanks for your patience. Still lots to do getting the house back to normal. We're sure we'll reach for things for the next few months and find them not there and say "oh..." But it's stuff--just stuff.

ABC Wednesday--G

G is for George.

Do you know George?

Everyone should know George. You can meet him and read about some of his antics at Finding Life Hard. His people are pretty cool, too.

We visited George, Liz, and Mike in Wales. It was one of the  highlights of our trip.

George was a bit upset that he didn't get to help take us to the station.

George is out of sequence in the story of our trip, but perfectly in sequence for ABC Wednesday's arrival at the letter G. See what else starts with G at ABC's link site.

Hadrian's Wall

Back in the year 122, the Emperor Hadrian traveled to the limits of the Empire to check things out. Rather than try to expand further, he decided that it would be wise to consolidate and strengthen the existing expanse of Roman territory. Visiting Roman England, he ordered that a wall be built--to keep the barbarian Picts from crossing into the Empire and making mischief.

You see, there was trouble from the Scots even then. My Scots husband had no trouble going down the steep hill on this portion of the wall trail. Myself, I was scooting down one stepping stone at a time on my seat.

The wall stretched from the Irish Sea on the west to the North Sea on the east--about 73 modern miles. From Carlisle to Newcastle--from the River Solway to the River Tyne--portions of the wall are still intact and the route of the wall makes up the popular trail.

It was eight to ten feet wide and 15 feet high. In a few portions of the path, you actually walk ON the wall, not just beside it.

It was not just a wall. Small forts called milecastles were built into it every Roman mile. There were gates opening to the north (not everyone on that side was feared.)

And several large forts were built as well.

the ruins of Houseteads--one of the larger forts

Since the Hadrian's Wall Path shares itself with sheep pasture, there are some means of keeping them in place. These gates do not assume that everyone will remember to close the gate behind them. And in some places, instead of a gate, there is a stile.

We hiked along just a few miles of Hadrian's Wall. We would like to go back to walk more of the wall and see the ruins of the Roman town of Vindolanda, where civilian artifacts have recently been found, including typical letters home.

Hercules' Garden

So our week of Highland hikes has come to an end and we are on our way back to Edinburgh to make our ways back to the next phase of our lives. Alexander and Elizabeth back to their studies, Nicola back to work, and the two of us on for further adventures. Shaun had another group to meet on Saturday, so Jon from Walkabout Scotland came to join us and escort us on our journey back to reality. He had a few small adventures for us along the way, though, including a stop at Blair castle's garden.

Outside the garden was a statue of Hercules, thus its name. The formal garden spans ten acres, but the best of it was the pond. This pair of swans had a single fledgling, who stuck pretty close to mom and dad.

A perfect Weekend Reflection

Some other random bits from the day are appearing at my photo only blog. Haven't been over there? Be sure to look through all the August archive. They are all full screen images--odds and ends from the Scotland trip, and will continue into England and Wales with us next week.

Guide at Work

Can you imagine a job where you get to hike every day in your favorite places and share them with people from all over the world? We get a bit of that as volunteers at Mt. Rainier. Shaun gets to do it for a living.

I love this picture of him. Why is he puzzling over that map? That was the day we were climbing Beinn Dampf. It was extremely foggy, and I believe Shaun was verifying how much farther it was to the top since we couldn't see it from there.

The perfect guide, Shaun learned quickly how far to push each of us. On that day, I was dragging. I would have been happy to give up and wait down the mountain. Shaun knew I could go farther, and when I just couldn't handle another bit of up, he set us up for a safe and comfortable wait while the others claimed the peak. Here they come back down again.

And below getting pictures of each of us at the waterfall on Beinn Eighe--another part of the job: official photographer for the trip (until he met me and my camera.)

Part medic (here he's making quick use of his first aid kit--we won't mention who stabbed herself in the knee) and part mountain goat checking the trail ahead.

He knew just when to guide us to the tea shop--TEA? that's hot chocolate and an awful lot of whipped cream.


And when his family stopped  in the area and he got a visit with his dog, we got to see a different side of Shaun. He misses the kids and the dog when he's out on a guiding job.



Shaun was guiding us for Walkabout Scotland on this trip, and has his own guiding company TreadinGround where he specializes in really tailoring the trip to the group. If you want an outdoor experience in Scotland, you can't go wrong with either of them.

At Work on Thursday

One wonders if it is a cushy job--out in the open, clip clopping up and down the streets, no stress no worries? Or not? Could it possibly get boring just as an office job might? I think, actually, it very much depends on the person. If you love your job, it doesn't much matter how it looks to others.

White Pelicans Summer in My World

They arrive on the Yakima River sometime in March each year and are gone some time in the Fall. When I commuted, I generally would not see them early in the morning--I think they are late risers. But along about nine or ten o'clock if you would be going along the river, you might see them flying in formation--two, five or ten. Rarely solitary, they seem to prefer the society of the flock. On my commute home I might see them already settling for the night--again in groups.

On our return trip from Leavenworth Sunday afternoon we found this flock in the Yakima River Canyon between Ellensburg and Yakima and stopped for a good look. I've never seen so many at once--Linda counted seventy and I had estimated about the same but was too busy with the camera to do a detailed count. (I guess they are standing still for us now, so you can check our accuracy if you wish.)

What's happening in your part of the world today?

Visit My World today.

My World--return to the wild horses

As I said here, someday I would return to the Wild Horses Monument off I-90 near Vantage, Washington, with my hiking boots and ready to go.  Preparations included tucking my jeans inside my socks because:                          

 I also said windbreaker, but with the temp up near 80º, that was replaced on the supply list with water, sunscreen, and a wide brimmed hat.

That's a long way up--and up is the word. It really isn't that great a distance, but it is up. A glimpse of some others who took up the challenge gives some perspective.

The Washington desert (yes, a desert--it's not all evergreen forest) was in bloom.

As we were reaching the summit of the trail, we got our first close peek at the wild horse sculptures along the top.

And then:

A view of the horses?

Or a view from the horses?

It was awfully hard to pick my favorite.

For a sense of proportion, hubby took a picture of me next to one of the horses. Can you see why the camera is usually in my hands?

But, at least,  unlike my dear departed sister, he did not cut off my head.

Any rattlers? No. We were definitely alert because it is snake country, and we didn't see any. But on the way down, hubby called my attention to a lizard by the side of the trail. By the time I got there, the camera shy guy was not cooperating. All there was for the lens was the tail. do you see it?

(Does the ostrich come to mind?)

I have more pictures from the Sculpture installation, which is formally called "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies" which will appear in coming weeks on my 365 photo blog.

And that was my world this week.

I am adding a link here to the story of "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies."