Arctic fox update

It has been awhile since I worked with the foxes from the zoo, time flies! But the work is finally being published (it will be out in print this March).

To celebrate, marc found this lovely watercolor made by a New Zealand artist (a bit random). Though I have seen this photo online before, so it isn't original.

I also have heard back about the boys; both Cassius and Brutus are well, causing cute trouble just like always. Though Cassius has lost his pink spots on his nose, and they are hard to tell apart.  They are terrible twins now :)

Kitty Puzzles

It has been awhile since I have posted, mostly because my life mostly consists of thesis and less of cool adventures these days.

But this weekend is snowy, cold, and Marc and I both caught a flu bug. So we are hiding inside, with nothing else better to do then harass our cats :)

Our cats have to work for their snack's; we have several kitty puzzle boards where they have to overcome obstacles to get at food. In the top pictures, midnight has to move puzzle pieces and open drawers to get his food.  Below, Pachelbelle has to navigate food around posts and grab pieces of food out of mini fish bowls.

And as a result of these amusing efforts, we have created little monsters capable of opening doors and cabinets.  But they seem very proud of their accomplishments.

Gabby

Tonight Gabby passed away peacefully.  

From Marc: "She's tripping God on the stairway to heaven now"

Rosslyn Glen and Chapel

 Marc and I finally got around to visiting Rosslyn this break.  First we did a 5 km hike around the Rosslyn Glen, which was lovely.  It is a pretty easy trail, but has lots of fun obstacles with downed trees and clinging to rocks along the river to keep it exciting. And wonderful views :) And then we finally visited the chapel.  It is small, but very ornate. With all the money coming in post Da Vinci Code, they are doing great renovation work.  A nice visit to have finally gotten around to :)

NZ scenery

The trip to NZ has come to a close, and I am back in Scotland. To finish up, I wanted to share a few photos of the stunning scenery.  The second photo is of Lake Tekapo, where we visited a hot springs overlooking the lake (can't beat the view, plus the mountains in the background are the misty mountains from the hobbit :) ). 

A wonderful trip, highly recommend a visit!

NZ Fur Seals: Babies!

The fur seals were all over NZ.  There was a particularly large colony just north of Kaikora.  Just off the highway, there was a small lookout point that let you observe the wild animals, hidden from view so as not to bother them.  And we were there in time for the new babies! 

Albatross

New Zealand is home to several species of albatross. They are massive birds; there wingspan gets over 4m!  It's hard to tell when they are flying on there own, but when you see a tiny speck of a seagull flying next to them it is very impressive!  I also like that when they land they "walk on water", like in the photo above.