"Bermy Donuts" at Harbor Nights

Deets: f/2.8, 1/200, 34mm, ISO800

Strange white substance?

See that strange white substance there in the hole of our "natural" backyard fence? Don't call the cops - it's salt!! Bermuda is home to a large breed of nocturnal toad, which kindly secretes a solution that's deadly poisonous to dogs and cats when it feels attacked...you know, like if a dog was chasing it...

A little over a week ago, I spotted one of these buggers in the area of the yard where the dogs do their business. Since Dave is chief in charge of pest control, this assignment was his domain. So far he has:

(a) Caught the thing in a bucket, took the bucket way down the street and dumped him out. (Dave has this thing about being kind to all creatures, great and small). Unfortunately, later that day, the bugger was back in the same.freaking.spot, glaring at me with his beady little eyes.

(b) Found the toad's nearby nocturnal hideaway hole in the ground and peered inside, only to find the toad staring at him. The toad was subsequently shut into his hole with a good amount of dirt. Apparently he had sufficiently aroused the ire of Dave, such that suffocation was deemed a viable option.

Of course, however, two days later the damn thing appeared the hole pictured here in the backyard wall in the same bloody area where the dogs do their business. In discussing these vermin with my admin assistant (a local), I was advised that I should put salt on its back. Although she indicated this would bring about the sucker's demise, I have no idea if there is actually any merit to this theory. However, when I spied that bugger taunting me in that cave in the broad daylight of Sunday afternoon, I made a beeline for the salt. I glared at him with my beady little eyes and poured a good half cup of table salt on his back. He barely flinched. A few minutes later, he stood up, shook most of the salt off and toddled off back in the direction of his previously shut-in hole. I sent Dave over there with the bucket and instructions to catch him and throw him in the ocean, but the elusive little bugger had vanished. Thankfully, though, there's been no sign of him since...although I've probably just jinxed myself by posting this tale.

Deets: f/2.8, 1/50, 27mm, ISO400

Grillin'

The house chef, hard at work. (Lotsa noise in this one.)


Deets: f/3.5, 1/100, 27mm, ISO1600

A little bashful

Lola's a bit shy about being in the kitchen sink. She's developed some sort of foot infection that requires frequent soaks with a special shampoo. Dave kindly provides this service in the kitchen sink. Luckily Roxy does not have this issue...I can only imagine what a circus a beagle in the kitchen sink would turn into!

Deets: f/3.5, 1/100, 70mm, ISO800

Early Birthday Present

I get gadget lust, especially if the gadget is an "i"-something. However, I thought I had the lust beat this time. In 2003, I bought a first generation iPod....I still have it but it looks like a Commodore 64 now. I also have an iPod Shuffle, an iPod Video and an iPhone. I'm bowing my head in embarrassment. The Video was justified by passing the first generation on to my husband, the Shuffle was justified because the Video is too big for the gym and the phone was justified, well, because it was a phone. I thought this over-consumption had taught me a lesson - never buy the first generation of any of Mr. Jobs' inventions because a few months later, a slicker, more powerful version will appear on store shelves.

So, when the iPad became available here in April, I was convinced I didn't need one. I wanted the souped-up iPad, with multi-tasking, app folders, a camera and memory slots...surely it would be just around the corner after the launch of the 4G phone. It wouldn't be more than a year. I could wait.

But then two months later I found myself stopping the ffwd function during PVR commercial skip so I could watch the iPad ads. It seems as though this subliminally encouraged Dave to buy me one, but "only the 16G, WiFi version, so we can justify a better one when the next generation hits shelves." Brilliant work, Mr. Jobs and Apple marketing team.

Deets: f/3.5, 1/320, 70mm, ISO800

Somebody's Had Their Weetabix!

It's not a biped, though! Our vet has prescribed a two-biscuit-per-day serving for the Beagle, to aid with some...um, rather unpleasant "gland issues". So, Roxy is now dining on Weetabix in addition to her regular delights. An unforeseen, yet pleasant, side effect of this has been that her ingestion time has slowed from Mach 3/warp speed to slower than Lola.

Deets: f/3.5, 1/320, 70mm, ISO800

Back in action

(It's been a while but I'm hoping to get this blog back up and running...)

I watch a bit of soccer football...um, about once every four years. World Cup 2010 is well underway...and you can tell where our allegiance lies!

Deets: f/2.8, 1/250, 24mm, ISO 1600