I stopped to talk to the FAA about classifying us as flightless. Engineers claim that there is no way that a bumble bee can fly, but it never stopped them and they were never classified as flightless. Unfortunately the person in charge of such classifications was busy changing airline flight numbers and adjusting flight times by 2 minutes to protect the future, security and safety of American air travel. I will try again the next time I am town.
TR
DG wants to see a bear in the wild. He has tried in Alaska, he even tried to talk one of the locals in Anchorage into taking him out to the local dump at snack time. But she was afraid of becoming the snack, apparently she had the windows broken out of her car in a parking lot behind the Anchorage Police department a couple of months earlier when she left her lunch on the seat one warm spring day. There is a line in a promo for a TV programing that says "that warm fuzzy bear can rip your head off and eat you when it wants to." For now I am content to visit indoor bears, like this cute little trio in the National Portrait Gallery in DC.
I went looking for the man in the funny hat
For the first time in years we were able to get inside the US Capital. You have to take a guided tour to get into the Capital, I can remember the good old days when you could just walk in through any of the doors. But, in the name of security, yada-yada-yada! At any rate if you go to the south east corner of the Capital property at around 9:00 AM and stand in line you can get tickets for public tours. The tickets have a tour time and you show up and go through security. I thought DG was going to be strip searched because he had replacement batteries for the camera in his pocket. They stopped the line, made five people go back through the metal detector until they had cleared the security risk (2 AA batteries.) An interesting piece of trivia, the original capital dome was made of wood, it was replaced with a massive cast iron dome. What happened to the wood dome? It was burned to produce steam to power the cranes that lifted the cast iron dome into place. 
I was wondering around the US Capital on Tuesday and I came across the special entrance, too bad I left the jacket home. We had to dodge a congressmen from Tennessee driving a Buick Roadmaster, he nearly ran over us three times on the plaza outside the east entrance to the Capital. Perhaps I should run for Congress! I promise a chicken in every pot!
We are off bright and early Tuesday morning for a conference in DC. It is going to be hot enough to melt members of my species, and DG will be in a long series of mind numbing meetings, but we will make the most of it and try to stop and admire the history along the way. I can smell the power from here, or is that just the tourists steaming in the sun?
I just love lunch with a view, fresh grilled seafood is a plus. Meritt's daughter's should try this one on the boyfriend to find out what he is really made of. 
We made it to Saturday. Time to relax. No reason to panic. It will all be ok. One way or another we always make it through. I am sure of it. Next week we are in DC Tuesday through Friday, most of it in a series of mind numbing meetings, but with a few hours at the beginning and end to enjoy the wonderful city. It looks like this may be the only visit to DC this year so we will try to make the most of it. 
DG has had a very long and exhausting week. And he has one more very long day to go with 5 hours on two panel presentations for a major statewide convention tomorrow. We may have do like the helpful lady at the dairy farm in northern Indiana and get out the pulling straps to wrench him out of bed in the morning. 
Here I am hanging out in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Chicago over Memorial Day Weekend, I wonder if that is Mahala's long lost rocker?
We are headed out to sea in September. WH and DG are taking a cruise to Alaska in September to help DG recover from the sorrow of turning %0 the end of August. The cruise line has been warned to stock up on liquid anesthetics, tasty foods and krill. DG is hoping to see whales, eagles, bears and flightless water fowl. I am hoping to run into a few old friends along the way. Hotel reservations have been made in Seattle for a couple of nights on each end of the trip. I hope the ride is as wonderful as our crossing of the English Chanel last August shown in the picture above. 
You would think after all we did in Scotland last summer they would at least reward us with a decent single malt. Oh well, it sure was better then the typical airport offerings. Nice and refreshing after a long days toil in Georgia.
DG and I are off in the morning for a quick trip south, flying into Savannah Georgia. DG gets to go get paid for talking for a day about things that he talks about in his sleep, you would never believe the things he talks about in his sleep. I am along for the ride. As pretty as Savannah is, we probably will not see any of it. Our destination is about 15 miles northwest of the city with no time in the schedule for anything but work. Such is the life of a flightless traveling fowl. 
Other then the lack of ice filled water ways, the other drawback of nesting in Lexington, Kentucky is a lack of museums. When we get away for a few days, it is always fun to visit a couple of nice collections. You never know when you are going to see something older then Kell, WC, WH and DG all put together, not much older - but older.
Happy Birthday to certain fuzzy woodland creatures, find someplace nice and indulge yourself. 
Hundreds of the finest retail merchants in the world and not a single feather grooming shop in the lot! 
Deep dish is real pizza, none of the thin cardboard that you have to fold in half to get any traction, but something that is five times as much topping as crust. Last time we were in Chicago we went to Geno's East, this time to Lou Malnati's. One of them Geno's is best, one of them thinks Malnati's is better. I just want to know why they don't put more anchovies on top.
This is the view of Chicago from our hotel room. What a city, the things that a bird can get into in that city. I about waddled my feet off exploring the wild and not so wild sides of the city. 
I am headed to Chicago for a few days in a real city. New pictures and posting inspiration will follow. 
I was amazed by the wonderful color scheme on this fast little plane in a museum in Florida (yes there were palm trees nearby.) I wonder if they were thinking of the flying skills of the mighty penguin when they picked the paint colors. As I recall the plane has a reputation of flying like a penguin.
Even in paradise you have to watch out for the falling coconuts blowing out of the trees. 
I wonder what they do in a hurricane? The lobby of the Caribe Hilton in San Juan is open to the outside on the side that cars drive up on. There is a glass wall on the other side, facing the water and stopping the ever present wind from blowing through, but the side nearest the reception desk is open to the outside. 
A production company was filing scenes for a movie (they were using film cameras, so it was almost certainly a movie not television) at the hotel in San Juan one evening while we were there. Watching movie making is fun, I think the last time we had a chance was when the modern classic "Earnest Saves Christmas" was being filmed (DG can identify many of the locations in Orlando and tell you where he was standing when about 5 of them were filmed.) This time around we could see little of what was going on, they were filming on a deck and in a suite on the second level overlooking the bar. The bar is the birthplace of the Pina Colada, I wonder if pineapples played any role? 
The theory is that if the plane could fly through the terminal and not stop as it picked up and dropped passengers, it could operate more efficiently. Maybe if they build a moving sidewalk that moves at the same rate as the airplane (like the moving sidewalk in the Haunted Mansion at Disney World) it would work, though at 100+ mile per hour it could be a problem. At any-rate here is a demonstration project underway by USless airways in Charlotte. Dad always told me I should learn to fly. 
It felt like a 100 mile an hour wind was rattling the house this morning, but there was no wind, and the rumbling sound was not like thunder, it was an earthquake, my first, check that one off the list of things to experience in this lifetime. 
Well this appears to be the hottest trend in beach side hotels, giant chess sets. I thought that they made ideal portable perches. 
And with those lacy feathers and long legs he will never be able to swim!
Not often, but every once in a while, something makes me want to settle down, stay in one place, hatch an egg or two, like Mr & Mrs Squirrel just did. Of course in my family that means nesting in the rocks near the waters edge. On the other hand, nestling in the rocks might have been brought on by trying not to be blown away. That is Ft. Geronimo in the background, defending the entrance to the harbour and waiting for the rodent invasion.
Yes, it was warm, lows of around 72 and highs of around 80, a nearly perfect tropical climate. A tropical climate complete with lots of humidity, rain, thunder storms, and oh did I mention it was windy, a nice constant 20-30 mile per hour wind blowing in off the ocean. Who say's penguins can't fly! At least it was a warm wind. We arrived home early this morning, wait till I get a chance to tell you about check in at the airport, it is amazing that anyone ever leaves the Island.
DG and I are tropics bound in the morning, headed to Puerto Rico for 49 hours. He has work to do, I have a beach to thaw on. We should be able to get a couple of pictures to share with you all. In September we have reservations headed in the opposite direction, we are booked on a cruise to Alaska from Seattle. Plans are underway for a rendezvous with west cost furry critters. 
Someone asked Uncle Bert's class where wood comes from and one of the students promptly replied, "plastic!" I suspect these are well traveled children who have see the plastic forests at the Happiest Place on Earth! I am getting a little jaded but, during our recent visit I couldn't help but ask myself, "why do people come here to see replicas of the world, rather then visiting the world." 
Sushi and champagne, I am looking for a reason to celebrate. Spring would be a good one. I didn't snow here, but it was cold enough to make a penguin feel at home. Quiet week for DG, he will be in the office trying to get far enough ahead to make it through April without going nuts. The first week in April we are going to Puerto Rico for 49 hours. Lots of things going on locally in the second week. 
All I wanted was a nice cold glass of water, DG was waiting for a diet coke. Why do they make me wait for the kitchen to squirt his glass full of sweet and sticky, when all I want is ice and water. Simple enough, it reminds me of home. So we sat there and waited watching this nice young couple with 2.6 children at the table across from us. Mom was flustered with the kids, Dad was checking his office email on his Blackberry. The youngest .6 was desperate for attention. When crawling under the table and climbing up on Dad's lap didn't work, he sat in his chair and put his feet up on the table with one foot landing squarely in the middle of his father's salad. Dad simply pushed the child and salad away and returned to his email. Why did Dad even bother to come and wait for his ice water, he could have ignored his children back in the office and gotten his ice water faster. 
