Dreaming of France

Day dreaming of France

I was strolling in DC one day

I never tire of strolling around the capital, looking at the sights. One thing I seldom see is other penguins, I think we are under represented in DC.

TR

I wonder if I can get in

Few people know this, but I was hatched in China. Does that qualify me for entry into the Asian reading room? Nice hallway and it is warmer then the Antarctic Reading Room.

TR

I went to the desert on a horse with no name

For some reason that song invaded my brain as I was looking at the pictures from New Mexico. It did feel to be out of the rain, until the monsoons hit in the afternoon. You never know what you will find when you are wandering around, going wherever Ms. Garmin tells you to go.

TR

Happy 4th of July!

TR

Two Mile High

I decided to hop up to the top of Sandia Peak. Fortunately for me there is a tram-way available to fly you to the top two miles above sea level.

TR

Desert Adventures

Well we were not off in Argentina having an illicit affair like a certain Governor, but we were off exploring on the edge of civilization late last week. I love the desert. It is so desert like, with rocks and cactus and such. It is Monsoon season and it rained in that desert sort of a way a couple of times. As to the dear Governor, we won't cry for you in Argentina.

TR

Nice Perch

This was taken on the roof of the new Modern Wing at the Art Institute in Chicago. They have a large arrangements of stone chairs on the roof deck. Great views and a wonderful building. It surprised me how few people were taking advantage of the comfortable perches: reminds me of home.

TR

Onward we go

While walking down the street in Chicago I came across this young bull. I hoped on and went for a walk - onward!

TR

Pro Racing Near the Nest

There was professional bicycle racing near the nest today. How exciting. 20 teams, over 120 riders, 14 laps, 109 miles on a closed circuit. A great time was had by this little bird. Tour de France someday!

TR

Never Forget

American Military Cemetery in Normandy

Order in the Court

At the moment there is order in the court. This court room in Williamsburg was used from the 1780's until 1952. If you get out of line the bailiff will toss a herring at you!

TR

I decided to get a feel for the lay of the land in Williamsburg last weekend. These relief maps are just my size.

TR

Retracing old steps

Thirty plus years ago, DG visited Williamsburg with his grandmother. His favorite picture of his grandmother was taken in the courtyard of the wheelwrights shop next to the Governors Mansion. Today we retraced those steps. Funny, the colonials didn't seem to have any quality birds.

TR

It is a long walk, but there is a nice view on the otherside

Who ever came up with the idea of sitting grand houses at the back of a big green lawn must have been carted around in a carriage on not been wattling down the drive on tiny little feet. There is a really nice view on the other side, if you are still conscious when you get there.

TR

Baahh!

I went out to Mt. Vernon to visit the quadrupeds today. Baah! They are so cute, warm and fuzzy and it is a beautiful spring day. Clear and blue and colder then it looks with a 15 mile per hour wind straght off a glacier someplace. There must be a glacier floating in the Potomac today. Baahhhh!

TR

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's TR

Here I am leaping tall buildings in a single bound once again. I like to perch high up and observe the world. The nest has a nice view of the people and the cars below. Where do you like to people watch from?

TR

Will they

Will they cast me in bronze someday? I would be so majestic.

TR

Spring

Spring in the city. Getting a little sun to warm my avian soul.

TR

Sunday Sun

It was cool, but pretty out on Sunday. The trees are starting to bloom, another week and the cherry blossoms will be at their peak.

TR

At the South End of L'Enfant Plaza South West

Go to the end of L'Enfant Plaza Southwest and either scramble down the grassy cliff or take the spiral street down to the river front and you will find DC's floating fish market. The vendors are on barges that float up and down on the River. The fish was a penguins delight. I can't wait to go back.

TR

Waiting for my carriage

Here I am waiting for my carriage to take me someplace. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it was about 40 degrees and raining. Great weather for sheep and penguins. Reminds me of home.

TR

Great View and Goose Shit

George Washington had a great view from the rambling front porch out over the Potomac. Really quite wonderful. The front lawn is a favorite landing ground for Canada Geese, and you know the old saying out something going through like grass through a goose. The front lawn is peppered with goose droppings. I am glad it was not on my shoes.

TR

Lambing Season

I went out to Mt Vernon, George Washington's estate today. It is lambing season, the soon to be mom's are being confined for the indignity. It was nice to say, "hi, how are you doing, it will all be over soon."

TR

Weather

Two weekends ago it snowed, not alot, but it does not take much to put DC into panic mode. Last weekend was warm and it truly felt like spring, I took a nice long walk both days last weekend. This morning it is 39 degrees out, overcast and very humid. The weather gods appear to be suffering from bipolar disorder. Makes me want to hunker down in the nest and wait for spring.

TR

It is not the birds

You can hear this place from half a block away and it is not the bird. No self respecting penguin would be caught dead in the place, it is so noisy. The crowd of human hatchlings is incredible and they are capable of the most incredible high pitched sounds . . . it hurts my ears . . . maybe then I could find my ears.

TR

Perfect Perch

I could perch here and watch the people looking at the city for hours. They are so interesting, ohhing and ahhing. They are always searching from up here, for things that they know down there. Many refuse to believe that things really are, where they are, but they are. A few are surprised at how things look from the top having spent all of their lives looking up. I could sit here all day and people watch.

TR

Dressed for the Occasion

You never know what you are going to stumble across in DC. Last Saturday we went for a 3 mile stroll into the city including a nice visit at the Jefferson Memorial. As we were approaching the police stopped traffic and a large limo pulled up and stopped. I thought, well Obama must have finally gotten to my name on the list for potential cabinet appointments, but no, it was a wedding. The bride in the full virgin sacrifice outfit (yea, like very many of them would qualify) and the men in nice penguin suits. I fit right in. I hope the marriage lasts longer then it takes to pay for.

TR

We hold these truths to be self evident

That all flightless aqutic fowl are created equally, and they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them freedom, travel and the pursuit of krill.

TR

On the bird watch

I found this great park over the weekend, just across a creek from the north end of the runway at National Airport. There was a flock of geese there that definitely need watching, you know what they can do to flight operations.

TR

Dreaming

I am dreaming of a nice slow cruise to tropical ports of call. I think that beats icy waterways any day.

TR

How did that get there

What does not belong there. On a recent trip we rented a car and took a couple of pictures. What is out of place between these two pictures?

TR

What happened to Disney Village

Once upon a time, in a land not to far south of Orlando there was this wonderfully sedate collection of upscale shops and restaurants known as Disney Village. Then the shareholders got restless, ran off Michael (not Mickey, Mikey, the CEO) and replaced Disney Village with Downtown Disney filled with overpriced junk shops aimed at a shopper with an age and IQ of about 12. Screaming children have replaced 24-Karat adornments. You move away for a few years and the old neighborhood is never the same.

TR

Destined to Happen

If it keeps snowing, this is destined to happen!

TR

Perfect Timing

The last time I visited the National Archives we stood in line for what seemed like hours and were herded through like sheep, with signs telling us how long we could spend looking at the historic documents. This morning was so different. Very magical. No lines, no one shouting directions. You could spend all the time you want, DG even read Article II to find the oath of office that Robert's bumbled on January 20th. Wonderful!

TR

Cold and Ice

It is cold and icy across the country. WH is home without power. Nasty, icy, reminds me of home and why I don't want to go back.

TR

Nice Week

It is estimated that a million out of town visitors spent a billion-dollars in DC this week, what a great way to stimulate the economy. Run the cowboy out of town. Former President Jimmy Carter gets the quote of the week, as the helcopter took off from the east side of the Capital carrying former President George W Bush off to fly home to Texas, Jimmy Carter turned to the person next to him and said, "I've been waiting eight years to watch that helcopter take off."



When DG passed through the subway station yesterday evening on his way home there was a duck sitting there preening itself in the place that the homeless woman with the goatee normally sits surrounded by pigeons. I wonder what happened to the pigeons? (Be careful when typing the word Duck, the D and the F keys are to close together and spell check won't catch that one.)



Three or four afternons a week we walk past a man sitting on a box holding out an empty starbucks cup asking for spare change. The other afternoon we were a little early and traffic was heavey and there he was, sitting in his new car waiting to turn into the parking garage, commuting to work.


Another nice week in the Nations Capital,



TR

I think I may stay home on Tuesday

Bad luck for birds on Inauguration Day

Don't feed the pigeons
On the day of Richard Nixon's 1973 inauguration, Pennsylvania Avenue was dotted with sick and dead pigeons. At the president's request, the inauguration committee spent $13,000 to spread a chemical bird repellent on the tree branches along the parade route to deter the pigeons. According to the Washington Post, the chemicals in Roost-No-More were supposed to cause the birds' feet to itch so they wouldn't roost in the trees. Unfortunately, the birds ate the repellent, causing them to get sick and die along the parade route.

Turn up the heat
After the north wing of the Treasury Building proved too small for President Ulysses S. Grant's first inaugural ball in 1869, a temporary structure was built in Judiciary Square for his second inaugural ball in 1873. Unfortunately, the structure had no heat or insulation, so guests danced in their coats and hats to stay warm in the minus-4-degree temperature, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Events. Making matters worse, the food was cold, the hot chocolate and coffee ran out and the poor caged canaries -- used as decorations -- froze to death.

TR

Some days it does not pay to get out of the nest

DG braved the cold and was at his desk at 7:55 AM this fine cold morning. He shook the mouse on his computer to wake it up from it's slumber and nothing happened. He pressed the magic buttons and nothing. Cold, dark nothing. The computer had died in it's sleep overnight. He called the IT "customer care" number and was connected to Chicago, no one cares that early in the morning on the east coast. He was told that a work order was being dispatched and someone would be by shortly. He caught up on his reading, cleared off the desk, did email on his phone, contemplated joining the computer, called home, and waited. The Polish computer technician arrived about 9:30. She tried pressing the start button, checked to see that things were plugged in, took the battery out and tried jump starting the computer and said, "itis-dead." She went to fetch a loaner, aka the last semi working model of a laptop designed for Windows 2000. That was made somewhat functional by 10:30. He spent 15 minutes trying to decide if he should scream or cry when she explained the largest professional membership organization in the world (oops too much information) does not sync files from the work stations to the file servers automatically. The three hours of tedious work on Thursday afternoon exist only on the hard drive of the dead computer. About 11:00 he got a call from IT saying that that they had transplanted the hard drive from the deceased into a new body and it appeared to be working. By then it was time for a phone interview for a summer intern (who stood us up for the second time this week, she won't be getting a job offer - it is a paid internship in DC at the brand name organization in the industry and she sets a time for us to call her and then does not answer the phone -- - - - - - - her mental health or ours? - - - IN THIS JOB MARKET - she must be nuts. After that he has a meeting and a working lunch and lunch and then back to the office to find the successful transplant patient working. It is cold and DG actually got about 12 minutes work done in the office today. Not worth getting out of bed for. Work has been emailed home and 3-4 hours work will get done over the long weekend.

Some days it does not pay to get out of the nest,

TR

Penguin Under Glass

I ran across Uncle Herbert the ofher day at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He is has a very important job there but he does not want to talk about it because he is working under cover of glass.

TR

People Watching

You run into the most interesting people in the museums in DC. This lady has been camped out in the Modern Art collection at the National Portrait Gallery for sometime.

TR

Where to today?

Where do I want to go today? Flying off to someplace warm and sunny sounds like a wonderful idea, but flying is not easy for me to do without help. Is there a herring museum around anyplace close?

TR

Now Arriving

Northwest Airlines proudly announces their latest arrival at the Smithsonian, really quite amazing. But the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has the entire fuselage and one wing hanging from the ceiling.

TR

Leftovers

I was just finishing up the Christmas leftovers this evening. Cheers!

TR

Happy New Years

Happy New Years and welcome to 2009!

Think outside the box, color outside the lines, be creative and have fun this year!

TR