Thumper

Let me introduce you to Thumper.

This little bundle of fur hopped into our lives around this time last year (precise date completely forgotten unknown).
I say little but she is actually the size of a small dog a bit bigger than your average bunny.


We first spotted Thumper on a Monday evening when I was taking the girls to piano. Julianna was taking her sweet time getting ready as per usual so Michella and I decided to stand beside the side door to wait for her. When we shut the door something gray darted under the garden furniture. We worked out that it was a rabbit - the ears somewhat gave her away. I did make the comment that it was a gray bunny so could possibly be a tame one but the rabbit wanted nothing to do with us at this point so we thought no more of it.

The bunny next came up when we were just heading out the door to go to school on the Wednesday morning. Vinny was walking the girls to school too so I told Michella to tell her dad what we had seen in the backyard just two days ago. Before I had even finished my sentence, one of the girls goes, 'Look! There it is!' So Vinny, naturally, says, 'Let's try and catch it.'

So they tried and they succeeded. The girls have been trying to catch a bunny for years and have never been successful. I don't think that there was much of an idea that we would be successful in achieving the object this time.

I mean, what do you do with a bunny that you have just caught in the backyard?

It didn't work out well for the Barbies, who were dumped mercilessly out of their nice, cozy box onto the cold, hard floor. The bunny was then dumped, with a little more care, into the nice, cozy box.

Remember, this is all before 8.30am. This is how the bunny spent her first day with us. I was asked to look up 'how to look after a rabbit' on the internet because no one had any idea. Well, Robbin would have known because she had a house bunny when she was younger but she was at work (which is probably how we managed to get away with catching and keeping a bunny). So we gave the bunny iceberg lettuce and carrots.

Cos that is what rabbits eat, right?

Wrong! Apparently, you never give a rabbit iceberg lettuce and eating carrots makes them really fat so they are only meant to be given as treats. Just like Ben & Jerry's should only be eaten in small portions and not straight out of the carton all in one go. Which I never do because that is disgusting and so unhealthy. And if you believe that, you'll believe anything.

So, we actually left the carrots but switched the iceberg for dandelion leaves, blueberries and a strawberry (also a treat).The bunny did get her own cage and it turns out that she is 'potty trained'. Yes, that's right, people! The bunny that we caught in the backyard uses a litter box. Can't complain too much about that.

We think that she was let go by her owners. They had probably gotten her as a gift for Easter and then she grew too big so they just dumped her (much like the Barbies out of the box). Well, their loss is our gain.

The girls came home from school that afternoon and christened the bunny Thumper. I know what you are thinking: totally zany, wacky pretty ordinary name for a gray bunny. It suits her.

She didn't think much of the name either at first but then she realised that the book tasted really good so she must be named after a really great bunny!

Thumper is a very sweet pet and puts up with a lot of manhandling loving. She loves carrots and strawberries and company. She is definitely interested in what is going on around her. She doesn't give two hoots when the dog next door, Ceili, wants to play with her in a way that may or may not end in Thumper's demise accidentally or on purpose. No one really knows that, except for Ceili, of course, and she isn't getting much of a chance to play the game! She has her own pen out in the backyard with a cover over the top so that a hawk doesn't swoop in and snatch her. She loves to drag the girls around when she is on the leash (because you can't lead a bunny like you can lead a dog on a leash. You have to follow them.) Yes, I do realise that leash is the American version but then, I have lived here for nearly two years!Well, I must say that Thumper is such a super rabbit. I'm definitely going to have a hard time saying goodbye to her. She is my little buddy that keeps me company in the day! Maybe I'll just go and give her a strawberry.......

Hitting The Big Five-Oh!

My aim, before I left NY, was to get 50 geocaches. I started in September 08 and found my first, Malcolm Wilson Micro, on Sept 25th. I didn't do much caching in the winter months because it was just too blinking cold. But I started again in earnest at the beginning of April after a 4 month hiatus.

Yesterday, I got that coveted 50th cache. It was in a little wooded area called Butler Woods which was right beside the Bronx River Parkway. It was a really pretty place, despite being so close to the BRP.

Shame that the cache wasn't in good shape at all, but whatever! I found it all the same!

Today, I took Carolyn geocaching. We went to Sprain Brook Park where there are 8 caches in all. We managed to find 5. We would have gotten more but Carolyn needed to go back home so we will have to go back for the other 3. I think she enjoyed her taste of geocaching. I had fun but got sunburned on the first hot day of the year. It was in the 80s (near 30 celsius).

This was our first find of the day. This is the second part of a multi. (My nails are blue, not black in case you were wondering. Or even if you weren't!)

The cache was in the hollow of the tree.Carolyn couldn't see it even though it was right in front of her. Maybe because she had her eyes closed! :-)Wild turkeys!! How funny!Carolyn found this one! I had all but given up on the cache!

So much fun!

You may (or may not) have noticed that I have a little geocache counter thingy on my sidebar below my Twitter updates. I thought that was kind of cool.

And for those of you who do not know what geocaching is, here is the blurb from the caching website - geocaching.com

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world
by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate
hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences
online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense
of community and support for the environment.

Feeling The Pressure

Ok, Sarah, this one's for you.

Apparently I haven't updated my blog in the last few days. I didn't realise that anyone read it or liked reading it. Sarah does though, 'it's like a highlight of the night for me to read it'. That is a direct quote by the way. I copied and pasted from Facebook.

Actually, I haven't posted on here because this week has been a little dry. Really, not a lot of stuff has gone on. I know that I have only about a third of my Nashville/Memphis trip up here but I loaded all my photos on Facebook which took forever and I got tired looking at them. Maybe sometime in the future.....

For now, you can have some pictures from the weekend when I met Chen Li in the city. We went geocaching and saw 17 Again. Awesome film. I'm still laughing about it.

I think it is funny that I was walking round Manhattan in cowboy boots and carrying a bag that I got free at the Tartan Day Parade! Ha!

I also got my hair cut. I realise that this picture looks nothing like me but it is the only one that I got. I was getting ready for church at the time so couldn't take a lot. I told the hairdresser to keep the length. She missed the memo. It is actually a lot shorter than it looks in this photo! At least it will grow.... but I didn't spend all those months growing it for her to just lop it off. Having said that, I do actually like the cut!!

There hasn't been a lot to this post. I know and I apologise. But I've got to please the 'Rabble', you know. Sarah, hopefully this will tide you over for a few days until something interesting (or not) happens in my life. In the mean time, may I remind you that Beth also has a blog. Badger her to update it cos she never does. :-)

Loveless in the Loveless Cafe

On my first morning in Nashville I decided to take a wee drive to a little place called the Loveless Cafe.

No, it isn't like some singles cafe or something weird like that. It is named after some previous owners, Lon and Annie Loveless. They are pretty renowned apparently and are usually fairly busy. Maybe not for breakfast and maybe not on a Wednesday because it was dead, for want of a better word, when I was there. I definitely didn't have to wait for a table.

I decided upon granola and biscuits with gravy for my breakfast at the Loveless and, boy, was I pleased with it!

The granola was delightful!

The long orange things are dried peach. It was so tasty......... Sorry! Just remember it. Mmmmmm!

The biscuits and gravy was great.

These are biscuits in the US. Biscuits back home are cookies. Cookies don't taste good with gravy.

What you can't see in the picture are the three little pots of jam (strawberry, blackberry and peach) that came with the biscuits and gravy. This threw my a little because, just like cookies don't go well with gravy, neither does jam!

What you should know is that the biscuits are made with a secret recipe that is actually sold with the property when it changes hands. They were good, I will say that!

This is me. Loveless in the Loveless Cafe. And look, I'm rather happy about it! :-)

The Parthenon

You didn't know I'd gone to Athens, did you?

Or that the Parthenon had been restored?

No, you are right. I'm not in Greece. I'm not even in Athens, Tennessee!
This is in good ol' Nashville's Centennial Park.Pretty impressive (although I didn't bother to pay $6 to go and see the exhibits inside.!) isn't it?!

Did I mention that I LOVE Nashville??

Geocaching in Nashville

This is how things went.

Got off plane.

Picked up rental car.

Drove to hotel.

Checked in.

Laughed about the fact that my hotel room had no exterior window, just one overlooking the indoor pool (guitar shaped btw). Also laughed about the fact that my room had two doors.

Gave thanks that there was a security chain on both doors.

Geocached.

I decided to just do some geocaches straight away because otherwise I would get distracted and end up not doing any at all!

My hotel was right across the street from the LP Field where the Tennessee Titans play their football (American, of course. Boo!). Just behind that was a little 'park' beside the river. Downtown Nashville was over the river.

There were about 4 or 5 geocaches on this little stretch of land and I decided to make them part of my journey into downtown.

This was the first one that I found. I'll tell you that it was somewhere on the metal structure! Good place for photo opportunities!

The next one was further along the path. I had trouble with this one because I could see it but couldn't reach it. If worst came to worst I would have taken a picture of it and hoped that it would count as a find but in the end (after returning from downtown) I asked a tall muggle (non geocacher) to help me reach it. Except, he left before I had put it back so it was interesting getting it back into place! Again, it was in the metal structure!Then I crossed over into downtown but to do that I had to cross over the pedestrian bridge. Again, of course, there was another geocache and let's just say that I was a little worried that this one might just end up in the bottom of the river!I also did a virtual cache (which I haven't logged yet!). This is Fort Nashborough.

So, that was four that day. The next day I found another one by another of the bridges going into downtown. On this bridge there were some other good views.

Actually this is the Tennessee State Capitol which I saw from the bridge and had to go and find out what it was.

So there you have it. I found five in Tennessee. I was hoping to do more but I got one DNF and planned a few others but the tornadoes laughed in my face about those ones. Maybe another time.......

She's Country......

from her Cowboy boots to her down home roots. Country.

That is a Jason Aldean song, by the way, and is currently my alarm tone. And, granted I don't have the down home roots (oh, how I wish I did! I would consider giving up Scotland for them. I wouldn't, but I would consider it!) but I do have the Cowboy boots! Yee Haw!

Actually I have two pairs.

This was pretty much the first thing that I did when I was in Nashville. I walked into downtown (doing some geocached on the way, naturally!) and decided that before I could go on with my trip, I had to be properly equipped. I had read about a store in my Nashville & Memphis tourist guide from Frommer's called Boot Country so decided to check that place out first.
I have had this tourist guide book since last summer. I didn't plan to go to Nashville last summer but I really wanted to go at some point. I think I have read the book inside out and front to back at least three times. I love it.

I digress. I found Boot Country and they were having a humongous sale: Buy 1 pair, get 2 pairs free. I said, you buy one, you get two free. Oh, I came over all 'Frank's Factory Flooring' then! Wow, what a bargain!
I walked in the shop and asked someone to help me. I asked cos I've never bought Cowboy boots before and was pretty sure that I'd get it wrong. I would have, I think. But Molly, the woman I asked to help, was very helpful. She told me the three things that I should remember:

1) Your toes should be lying flat in the boot. The toe won't change shape so don't even bother hoping that they will. They may loosen up a smudge but nothing significant.

2) It should feel as if there is a strap over the top of your foot.

3) Your heel should lift up slightly inside the boot as you walk but if it lifts more than an inch then that is no good.

She did also say that you may have to go up or down a shoe size but it doesn't matter. Just go with whatever is comfortable.

So, with that information embedded into my brain I was let loose in the store. I managed to find two pairs that I liked and that fit well. I ended up just getting one pair free. Firstly, it was all I could take back with me. I didn't want to check any bags on the flight home. Secondly, I had found two pairs that I really loved and hadn't seen another pair that I really liked. It seemed pointless just to get that extra pair.
I wasn't sure about these ones at first. I didn't really think that they suited me. But it turns out that they are really, really comfy and.......
... look really good under jeans. Here I am standing on the circle at the Grand Ole Opry. This piece of floor was cut from the Ryman Auditorium and placed on the Grand Ole Opry House stage. More about that another day......

I actually don't have any pics of my other boots yet but I'll try and take a pic tomorrow or something. But they are totally different to these ones.

I gotta tell you, I LOVE my Cowboy boots! *In fact, I'm wearing a pair right now!!*