We’ve just been on holiday for a week in Northern Norway with some friends, well inside the arctic circle. We were lucky enough to see the Aurora on four nights. It really is very beautiful there. The dog sledging was horrifically expensive (actually, so was everything.)
Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry about that.
Anyway, turns out that taking pity on the cute* likkle wood mouses and letting them use our house during the cold spell was not without consequence. After finding mouse droppings on the breakfast table even Karen was convinced that murine check-out time had now arrived. We baited the (humane!) trap with peanut butter, which the little dears love so much that even once the trap door is opened to freedom they’d still rather have just one more little nibble before they go.
Six so far, and counting.
UPDATE: We took about 14 mice away, or possibly two mice seven times each (on average.) Then Karen took two of them a lot further away and now we have no mice at all. The house is quiet and sad again — we miss them. (But not their poo.)
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*oh! But they are SO cute!
Winter greetings to all my readers, and non-readers too. Wishing you all a happy and healthy year ahead!
I’m sending this Viva Monster to help Késia with her thesis defence tomorrow … wishing her lots of good luck!
UPDATE: It worked! Congratulations Dr. Késia!
Here’s something I found coming out of my sketchbook last weekend, sitting quietly in Sylvie’s Café with a hot drink and a slice of cake. Not sure where it came from. Or where it’s going.
We enjoyed an unsual musical act at the Old Fire Station on Friday. Thomas Truax plays songs with an understated, whimsical, often dark humour, with the occasional help of an mechanical drummer (named Mother Superior — you can see her at bottom-right in my doodle.) Also starring were the Hornicator and the Stringaling, and an impressive selection of effects pedals and looping tools. Thanks Thomas!
Another session at the Museum of the Histoy of Science, drawing objects through a microscope, and then monoprinting. It comes out in mirror image, and as I tried to write the ‘q’ of mosquito a sudden high pitched whining noise disturbed me.
The very energetic and interesting Dr. Helen Czerski presented “We need to Talk about Physics” at today’s meeting of Oxford Skeptics in the Pub. We learnt why blueberry jam isn’t blue; why the Hubble telescope is like a raw egg; and why there is a lot of physics still to do to understand everyday phenomena (such as how bubbles move in a turbulent fluid.)
I’m afraid the likeness is worse than usual. Dr. Czerski doesn’t do standing still.
Just a doodle from this evening. After scanning I added the flipped inverse image just because.