July 28, 2008 by kim.

This past weekend, Chris and I went to see both Elvis Costello & The Imposters and The Police perform at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI. It was awesome! This was a birthday gift to Chris from me, and it was well worth it:

Elvis Costello & The Imposters

The Police

After the concert let out, we made our way back to our car along with 15,000 other people heading for their cars. You can see where this is going, right? We knew that it would take a while to exit the parking lot, but at the rate we were traveling, it would have literally taken 15 hours to proceed one mile. I know - I timed it. We got in the car at 10:45pm, and got out of the parking lot at 11:30pm. We went 1/20th of a mile in that time.

The problem was that there was no one directing traffic and breaking up the flow, so everyone was just trying to squeeze their way into the line. One guy was so desperate (or drunk) that he ran up to Chris’s open window to muscle his way in. Here is the conversation that followed:

Guy: “Can we sneak in?”
Chris: “Um, yeah, I guess…(noticing that he was nowhere near his own car). Are you getting in the car?”
Guy: “Yeah - thanks!” (throws Chris a dollar)

Nice. We let him in (a dollar is a dollar), and noticed (of course) that he wouldn’t let anyone else sneak in front of him.

Sigh. Isn’t that always the way?

Posted in Happy, Observation | No Comments »

July 20, 2008 by kim.

More bugs! Good grief!

This afternoon, we noticed a fly in the house. Then there were two. Then three, four, five, six, seven…EIGHT! Eight flies appeared out of nowhere and were trying to fly out of the closed kitchen window:

Where did they come from? It seemed like they all showed up at once. We thought it would be too much to do a catch and release, so for the time being, we just let them be. I went for my camera because I thought, hey - I could blog about this. When I came back into the room, Matilda was going crazy attacking one of the flies.

I was too stunned to get the video camera setting ready on my camera, but I watched as she meowed at the fly, swatted it, pounced on it, batted it around, and finally ate it.

One down, seven to go.

Chris and I got some paper cups (funny - I just bought them today for the purpose of catch and release) and got ready. We positioned ourselves in the kitchen, and waited for the right moment. First, I caught one and let it outside. Then, Chris got one. Then we both got one at the same time. Double release. Then Chris, then me, and finally Chris.

Rescued: Seven
Eaten: One

Whew - what a day!

Posted in Insects, Annoyance | No Comments »

July 18, 2008 by kim.

Introducing…Dimitri!

Isn’t he the cutest little thing?

We were staying with our friends Ann and Bob in Kansas City this past weekend, and while milling around the breakfast nook, in came this little long-legged fly. At first glance, we thought it was a mosquito. While Chris and I are all about catch and release, mosquitoes are the exception. Not because we want to harm them, but because they surprise us and “accidentally” get slapped.

Anyway, when we all realized that this was no mosquito, we decided to let it go about its business. It stayed around us for a couple of hours, and we were thoroughly entertained by the way it wasn’t afraid of us. When it landed on a candleholder, Bob was able to pick it up for a closer examination and it didn’t even fly away. We decided to name it, and Ann came up with the name ‘Dimitri’.

Here he is on the candleholder:

See how tiny he is?

Here he is on a leaf:

How handsome!

After a while, we noticed that we didn’t see him around anymore. We like to think that he just moved on to a different part of the house to rest his weary wings.

It was a pleasure to know you, Dimitri!

Posted in Insects | No Comments »

July 15, 2008 by kim.

We recently discovered the macro setting on our camera. Oh, what fun! Chris first took this picture of dew on some WI grass:

Then, back in our apartment, Chris came by with a teeny tiny bug in a paper towel prior to release, and I took this picture:

Ground beetle?

The next day, while locking the front door to the apartment, I took a picture of this little guy:

Predatory running mite?

Chris took this picture on the windowsill in our dining area:

Unknown

We finally got the idea to put an object nearby and take a picture from farther away to show size:

Aren’t we clever?

Here is yet another picture, taken by Chris:

Millipede

I’m sure we’ll be taking more pictures with this setting. It is so amazing to see these teeny tiny things up close!

Posted in Insects | No Comments »

July 8, 2008 by kim.

Last week, while Chris’s sister Julie and her kids Cassidy and Nicholas were visiting us, we were approached by a crazy lady.

We were admiring some old games displayed in the window of the Edgewater Historical Society, when she walked up behind us. Having lived in cities for some time now, Chris and I immediately had our guard up. She didn’t ask for money, which is what we thought she’d do. Instead, she recounted a story about how she had had her purse snatched by some guy the previous week, and warned us that this guy was still in the area. We thanked her for the information and started walking home. Then, she began to follow us.

Chris and Julie (sensing possible danger) began walking at a good clip, trying to shake her off. Cassidy and Nicholas walked behind them. I walked behind the kids. Since I was closest, crazy lady turned her attention to me.

I didn’t look at her. Instead, I focused on getting away from her. She started to tell her story again. I kept saying “Thank you” and tried to quicken my pace. Crazy lady kept up with me. She had a limp, but it didn’t seem to stop her. She could really move. Now I was beginning to wonder if she was the purse snatcher, herself. I didn’t want to find out.

By now, Chris and Julie were a good distance ahead. I nudged Cassidy forward and whispered to Nicholas to try and walk a little faster. We started to really hustle, and in no time at all, we were able to escape her. I continued to look around, making sure that no one else was going to approach us. No one did. Thankfully, we were close to home and we made it to the apartment, safe and sound.

That is definitely not something that we like to have happen - especially when people are visiting. Happily, we never saw the crazy lady again - until I uploaded my pictures to the computer:

There she is - heading straight for us!

Look out!

Posted in Annoyance | No Comments »

July 3, 2008 by kim.

Last month, Chris and I took a trip to East Africa. We had our trusty camera along, and Chris was able to get these amazing wildlife shots:

Can you believe how close he got?

Really, we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum (http://www.mpm.edu/). If you’ve never been there, I strongly encourage you to go. Their exhibits are amazing. I prefer it to any other natural history museum I’ve been to (those being in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles).

Go! Africa awaits!

Posted in Animals, Observation | No Comments »