7:15am. Second good thing of the day – successfully outlasted Moira in the morning who's-going-to-get-up-and-make-the-coffee competition. Mmmm, she makes some fine coffee.
9:00am. Assist Ranting Spawn in preparing for picnic lunch.
10:00am. Head out in search of adventure. Our destination is this place, surprisingly close to the teeming metropolis of Des Moines.
11:30am. Arrive at wildlife refuge's impressively large and thoroughly unpopulated visitor center, greet visitor center attendants, who eagerly offer to turn on the lights at the visitor center for us.
11:31am. Decline offer, set out on trail in search of:
11:33am. See buffalo:
While the buffalo are, up to a point, "free roaming", and we ourselves were roaming freely, our populations were kept separate by the fence, and so I was unable to get a close picture. Also, still not deeply conversant with the intricacies of our digital camera, I didn't notice that the auto-focus feature was frequently choosing to ignore the buffalo in favor of nearby grasses.
12:30pm. Set off in futile search for shady spot for picnic. Defeated by prairie's general treelessness, and road construction. End up in park about 2 minute's drive from home.
3:00pm.Watched the first two episodes of HBO's miniseries about John Adams, especially appropriate today, as the second episode ends with a reading of the Declaration of Independence. (Well, in truth we also watched the 3rd episode, but that ends with Adams bedridden, feverish and delirious, so we'll just leave that part out.) At one point, slipped into ranting-old-man mode and remarked to the offspring that the entire populations of the current legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government combined haven't the worth of a single one of the persons on screen – Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams (John or Abigail), or even John Dickinson. Harrumph repeatedly. Where would we find such people now?
6:00pm. Take bitter comfort in realizing that despite all that, at least the U.S. has not sunk to the level of petty-minded governmental meddling represented by this:
Gateshead Council defended its decision. A spokesman said: ‘Research carried out by us discovered customers were often receiving huge quantities of salt with their fish and chips – up to half their daily allowance. The council was so disturbed it decided to commission a manufacturer to produce a salt shaker with fewer holes, which it distributed free to every fish and chip shop and hot food takeaway in Gateshead...'We believe the cost to be a small price to pay for potentially saving lives.’
6:10pm. Tried to imagine local city government attempting such a thing. Failed. Wonder: what has happened to the British, compared to the state of political thought in 1776, that their governments can even conceive of such a thing? Is a man's chip shop no longer his castle?
8:00pm. Go to see local fireworks. Forget camera.
Posted by David Fleck at 05 July 2008 11:15 AM
I like the grass picture best.
Posted by: Jonathan on July 6, 2008 02:10 PM
Liked the pictures.
Does your camera have manual focus? (Confession: My current digital camera, a Panasonic KZ8, has manual focus, which I need from time to time. But I tend to forget that it has that feature and keep trying to make the auto focus work.)
Posted by: Jim Miller on July 6, 2008 07:58 PM
Thanks. JM, that is exactly what happened – happens – the camera has all sorts of modes and switches and dials, and I just forget to use them. Besides, the manual focus depends on focussing the image in the little LCD window, and that can be hard to do with the bright sun beating down upon it. Anyway, trying to focus with the thumbwheel control (after pressing about 5 buttons) just doesn't work as well as a turning a big SLR-type lens.
Posted by: David Fleck on July 7, 2008 07:57 AM
Speaking of insanely bullied and bullying Brits - just when you think the zenith (nadir?) of insanity has been reached, you find it hasn't.
Posted by: Moira on July 7, 2008 02:06 PM
"Toddlers who dislike spicy food 'racist'", eh? Ha! Now we have a club with which to get the offspring to eat Mexican food. "Eat your chimichanga, dear, or you'll be ... racist!"
Except I think she'll just laugh at us.
Posted by: David Fleck on July 7, 2008 06:26 PM
Ever eaten British sausages? I love sausage, but the first time I tried bangers, "yuk" was the least of what I said. Suppose I'm racist against the British?
Your kid doesn't like Mexican food?? Now that's just weird.
Posted by: Angie Schultz on July 10, 2008 09:32 PM
My only exposure to full-on British sausages, or a reasonable facsimile, was while traveling through New Zealand. What are these tasteless, gray, tepid, rubbery things, and what's this tomato slice doing here?
<Shudder.>
Don't know what it is about the Mexican food, but no, she won't touch it, unless we disguise it sufficiently. "It all tastes the same," she says.
Loves devil's food cake, though.
Posted by: David Fleck on July 11, 2008 07:22 PM