Samuel in his Play Pool

Originally uploaded by Korvar

This weekend, I went up to Arbroath for the traditional Christmas lunch with Adam and Amy (now with added Samuel!), with Brad in attendance as well. Alas, due to a sudden influx of snow, nobody else was able to come up, but it was a great time nonetheless. Amy always puts on a great feast, and I think I’ve not only broken this diet, but my next three!

It’s Samuel’s first Christmas, and he really seemed to enjoy his first Christmas present, a set of bath-time ducks from me. He had a great time unwrapping them and playing with them (and the box!), and one of them was his chosen post-bath-time toy! I feel honoured.

I got some photos of him in his little padded sitting ring, which I called his Play Pool but is apparently officially known as the Toy Hoard. He’s extremely photogenic, so he made even my bad photography skills look good!

This is also a semi-test post coming directly from Flickr; I shall have to see if this is something I do a lot…

I took some pics…

Snow!

Mouse, trapped!

I finally deployed my Live Catch Trip Trap Mouse Trap, as you’re supposed to check it every two hours, and this is really the first time since I bought it that I’d actually have the time to relocate the mouse should one turn up in it.

Well, only three hours later I start to hear an unfamiliar rattling sound, and lo and behold, there was a mouse in the mousetrap. It seemed okay, and had the cheezy wotsit and chocolate button bait to keep it happy, so I put on my shoes and headed out to drop of my prisoner.

Unfortunately, this being Scotland in November, and about half eight in the evening, it was cold, wet, windy and dark. So it wasn’t the most fun walk I’ve had ever but actually it wasn’t that bad. Keeping the hat on the head was a bit tricky, and it’s times like these I wish I could get windscreen wipers for my glasses…

Release point

Anyway, the chosen spot is about fifteen minutes walk away, approximately three-quarters of a mile.  As previously mentioned, I’ve heard various recommendations from one quarter to a full mile, and this seemed a decent compromise.  There’s a stream nearby, trees, and lots of grass.  Although not a mouse myself, I’d have thought this would be an okay place to be, apart from being in Scotland in November, of course, but I can’t help that.

The release went pretty well.  Simply opening the trap didn’t work, so I just removed the bait compartment.  I couldn’t actually see the mouse go, as it was really quite dark, and my glasses were covered in raindrops.

On the way back, I decided I deserved a post-release reward, so I bought some chips from the local Chinese take-away.  I think they make the best chips!

Bedraggled

This was me on my returned – slightly damp and windswept!

My reward!

And here is my reward: a portion of chips and a nice  cup of hot chocolate!

A mouse in a partially filled bathtub

So I found this slightly bedraggled mouse in my bathtub this morning, when I went for my morning wash. This would be the third mouse I’ve found there, and the second live one. I wonder if it’s something about the standing water that’s attracting them in? Anyway, as the mice are beginning to bug me, largely by keeping me awake at night with their scrabbling, I decided to rescue this one and release it.

Prisoner Transport Tube

I found a snack food tin that was lying around, which seemed that it would make a pretty good mouse transportation system. I added some air holes, then scooped up the little guy with as little water as I could manage.

Prisoner Ready For Transport

The mouse isn’t actually going nuclear in the first pic, it’s just the flash reflecting off the silvered interior. The second pic I took by holding the tube directly under the kitchen light so I didn’t need the flash.

Anyhoo, I have heard various opinions on how far away you need to release a mouse to stop it getting back, ranging from a quarter to a full mile; however, I had a bus to catch. There’s a stream with a bridge over it just before the car park where I catch the bus in to work, so I thought that might be an okay place. It’s five minutes walk away, which is no doubt not nearly far enough, but if I catch him (or any more), I’ve got a place a mile down the road I can walk to.

Didn’t think to get a shot of the release point, but here’s the last view I had of him…

Free at last!

Character sketch made with Brushes on my iPod Touch

This is a sketch I did for a one-shot Mage game at the Glasgow University Gaming Society Tuesday last (29th Sept). Turned out quite nicely, for electronic finger painting…

Potato Quarantine

The first one I did (the second one I planted – I think they’re “Red Duke of York”) had lots of potatoes with rather manky looking skin, round “sores” and some white flakes around the “sores”. I dubbed this “Spud Lurgie”. Some of the ones I harvested previously had Lurgie, too, but practically every single of the red ones were affected. They ended up quarantined, as can be seen in the photo. The photo links to to some closeups on Flickr, so you can decide for yourself what it is.

Final Spud Harvest

The third and last planter (which is the third I actually planted), however, yielded a lot of very healthy-looking, very “potato”-looking potatoes. Made me feel like the whole enterprise was worthwhile They’ve all gone into my potato sack, along with the healthy ones from the first planter.

I decided that I wasn’t going to let Lurgie stop me from enjoying my spuds; I gave them a good peel, and all the badness appeared to be on the surface. So they’ve all gone into the freezer for later. Quite frankly, if there’s something that can survive being peeled away, frozen, and then cooked, clearly it’s the superior organism, and it deserves to infect me.

Looking for the Apple Store in Glasgow...

I was looking for the Apple Store in Glasgow, to get some doodads for my iPod touch. I walked up and down the street I don’t know how many times…

Mouse

This is a mouse that was annoying me, by scrabbling about right underneath my bed at night when I was trying to sleep. I cunningly trapped him by having a bathtub that he couldn’t climb out of. Actually, I’m not sure how he got into the bathtub in the first place – I’m pretty sure there’s no mouse-navigable path. Anyway, once he was in the bathtub, I captured him (using the lid of a CD-cake, much as you would use a glass to trap a fly) and transported him to a wooded area, where I released him onto a fast food burger container. I thought that might ease his transition from a man-made world to a natural one. However, he was quite shy, and I never really got a good shot of him.

Spud Harvest

I harvested some of my spuds – the first of the three planters. I’ve been neglecting them shamefully, and the plants are basically dead, so it was time. Plus, I cunningly managed to leave my freezer door open, which meant I had to suddenly cook a whole bunch of food, and adding potatoes to the mix seemed a good idea. I think some of them were trying to sprout, as they had odd little manky bits on their skins, but some swift peeler action soon dealt with that. I’ve used about half of this pile in a stew, which should last me a few days. I have now eaten one of the stew portions, and the potatoes were quite tasty!

Punch line: I’m fine. Some stuff got taken.

Current status: My door has been fixed, and should be stronger than it was. The door frame has been replaced, and reinforced with metal. They took my graphics tablet (grr!), one of my monitors, a laptop, some USB bits and bobs, some chargers, a camcorder that didn’t work too well, a small tripod and my ADSL router.

Next steps: My landlord says he will fit a second lock (so there’s not just one point of failure on the door). I am going to start looking for a new place, probably closer to my new job. Might buy some of the locking things they use in the labs and lock down everything I own as I no longer trust doors. A new ADSL router is on its way.

Explanation: Not entirely sure if this is actually the catalyst, but I ordered a new monitor from ebuyer.com. Thought I’d specified a Saturday delivery (when I’m in) but their system decided on Thursday. On Thursday, I checked the UPS website, and discovered the delivery had been signed for and delivered. Get home, no monitor, just a UPS card saying it had been signed for by someone, with a flat number of the flat above me. Flat above me is open and empty, as far as I can tell.

(Subsequent investigations lead me to think that probably the upstairs neighbour did sign for it and leave it by my door. I’m not blaming him, I’m blaming the UPS delivery person, who should have known not to let anyone else sign it without instructions to do so).

Note: no instructions for the delivery people to allow anybody else to sign for any deliveries of mine.

Friday, I come back from work, and discover my door’s been kicked in. The door’s more-or-less-intact, but the frame on the lock side has failed. Much of the plaster next to the frame all over the place.

It looks like they only took what they could easily grab, and they probably don’t know that much about what they took – for example, they took the graphics tablet, but not the pen that actually makes it work. They didn’t take any of the actual computers or the CRT monitors; apart from the ADSL box (My Internet! My precious, precious Internet!), life can pretty much continue as before.

I am well aware that a sensible person would have found a better way to communicate with friends and family; to an extent, a lot of contact info is on my monitor-less computer, and quite frankly didn’t feel like doing any heavy lifting this weekend. And I also think a phone call might induce panic. I dunno. Like I said, a sensible person would have found a better way.

So, in summary, not hurt, apart from my faith in humanity and doors.

My new desk

I’ve taken delivery of a new desk, which means I now have enough space to bring my graphics tablet out of hiding. I’m hoping that this will mean I actually do some artwork occasionally…

The old desk is going back into the spare room, to be my (theoretical) physical art station.