Happy Cats

So far I have only posted about the exciting things overseas, but I wanted to share the pictures of our cats as well; they adapted very well to being shipped overseas, and seem to be happy. We were especially worried about Gabby because of her age and dragon like attitude. But she seems thrilled to have her own room, and loves the wide window sills that let her sleep in the sun all afternoon. And then she is all rested up to cause mischeif at night.

Oban

I finally got out to the highlands! On Tuesday I went to interview for a position at the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban, in the Western Highlands. The train ride went through Glasgow, and was gorgeous. Blue skies, water, green rolling hills, absolutely wonderful. Oban is a beautiful water front town; busy with tourist and as a port it has a thriving downtown without all the craziness of a large city like Edinburgh. The sanctuary is very nice; it is small, but does seal rehabilitation and has two resident seals and otters. The staff is very nice, easy going, but haven't had much experience with marine mammals, so my position would be to help run the rehab, training, enrichment, and research with the seals and otters mainly. The position seems to be a good fit for me if school doesn't work out (still waiting on those grants). It is also just a few hours away from Edinburgh, and it would be nice to be so close and be able to visit marc frequently, fingers crossed.

It was a busy day when I interviewed; in honor of the royal wedding tomorrow, the sanctuary had a wedding of its own. The two otters, Lewis and Isla, were married and even had a little herring cake to celebrate. However the newly weds were not very thrilled about the arranged marriage; both refused to come out of their den for the ceremony.

Happy Easter

It is a lovely spring day in Edinburgh, with all of the Japanese Cherry trees in full bloom. They are all over, and this one is particularly nice as it has both colored blossoms. It is from a grafting of Japanese cherry tree to the typical wild cherry tree of the area.

To celebrate easter, our cats received an easter egg made of yogurt and catnip. They seemed to enjoy it, and spent most of the day sleeping it off curled up in the sun.

Hippies in the trees

So most of my time is currently spent being nerdy and living in the library with Marc. He is studying for final exams next week, so we haven't been exploring much. However, he did give me a tour of the schools Easterbush campus, which has the sheep and dairy farms, vet clinic, and research institutes. Including the Roslin Institution, home of Dolly the cloned sheep. Since we were in the area we also stopped by the Rosslyn Chapel made famous in the Da Vinci Code. And tucked in the trees is also a hippie colony; a few years back they wanted to demolish a bunch of trees to create a bypass, but about 20 Edinburgh residents protested by creating tree houses and living there. It is perfectly legal to live in tree houses in the UK. I am kicking myself that I didn't have my camera; i need to start carrying it around everywhere!!!

Pics fife coastal path

Walking along the east coast of Scotland...and geocaching along the way :) We started at the base of the bridge connecting North and South Queensferry, and ended up on the other side.

Catch up on old pics - Lambing

Here are some of the pics from when I visited Marc during his lambing work.

Pics again

Yesterday Marc had an unfortunate fall over a cat...nobody hurt, but my computer was sacrificed. However, we got a good deal on a netbook that does everything I need, got all my info off the labtop, and this little netbook will let me take photos off of it, so photos are back up!

Btw...we had trouble getting data off of my old labtop because the screen was ruined, we couldn't see if it was even booting up normally. Couldn't get it to screen to screen transfer to work off of another computer either. But at the repair shop they have a nifty little £15 case that turns your computers hard drive into an external. So easy and cheap, never would have thought to do it. If anyone else has an unfortunate accident, look into a SATA to USB enclosure.

This weekend was spent figuring out ways to affordably fix the computer, but in between we had a wonderful sunny afternoon in the meadows, a central park here, and went to an amazing chocolate shop called the chocolate tree. I have never found such deliciously dark chocolate...it is hard to find anything over 80% usually and for me the darker the better. And they make rose gellato. Very tasty.

Fife Coastal Path and movies

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. Marc, Camille, and I went on a hike along the Fife Coastal Path, which runs from the Forth Estuary in the South to the Tay Estuary in the North. It stretches 150 kms along the coast of Scotland. We did a 10 mile segment of it, walking from North Queensferry up to Auberdeen. It is a stunning way to see Scotland...beautiful coastal walks, and it winds through all the coastal towns. We will have to pick up where we left off another day, and continue our way north.

The night before we went to the movies to see Source Code. UK theatres are very different...we went and saw it in downtown edinburgh, big city, but the theatre sat a fraction of the people one in the US would, and gave you more leg room, and big comfy seats. But there is an option to upgrade...just like in an airplane, you can move to first class with big leather seats, foot rests, etc. And the floors are not sticky, it is all clean carpet. But the movie wasn't all that great in comparison to the wonderful reviews it received. Terrible science, but enjoyable from a mindless action film perspective.

Postpone pics

My camera is having some trouble...whenever I plug it into my computer, it write protects the xD card and prevents me from accessing the pictures. In order to take new photos, I have to erase the card. It is only on my computer. Marc's computer is currently missing a power cable, so until that is fixed up there won't be any more picture updates. Which is to bad...this afternoon I went with Marc to the lambing facility he is working at right now and got some great shots of him with the babies. They will come at some point though :)

Leaving

Just finished my last shift at the creche...I will definitely miss the work and all of the good friends I have made. It is a tradition that on the last day you get an involuntary shower on your last day. Hosed down, dowsed in fish water, thrown into a seal pool. Last night a large water fight took place in the fish kitchen in my honor. That kitchen got very very clean, and several people got soaked with me :)

I will be spending the night in Amsterdam with friends from the creche, a great last day in Holland. And then back to Scotland with Marc.

I am definitely ready to be back with Marc for awhile. And for not living in a trailer with 16 other people :) But I think that at some point in my future I will end up back here.

Couple more eagle pics

"eagle"

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So we have a seal...it is spelled very oddly, a made up word by a dutch child, but it is pronounced "eagle". He is very special...he has been released four times, and always ends up back at the center. He won't eat wild fish, he likes the dead ones we give him. And he is far to socialized with people; while other seals run away, he comes and sits on your boats. Or puts his face on your camera. He also greatly enjoys splashing visitors and staff. He sort of claps his flippers which generates a very impressive wave. We are still figuring out what will happen to him, but he does not appear to be releasable.

Picture update