Boston Part 3, FINALLY

Greetings from Idaho! It's a lovely 60 degrees, I can see for at least 20 miles off the back deck and Max-the-dog-that-wont-die is looking spry and rolling around. The sound of a cat-fight drifts in through the window. It's lovely here.

But...the purpose today is to take you on a tour of terrific (and sometimes terrible) taxidermy of the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Enjoy.




Coelecanth. Check.



Things I don't want to hit with my car:
Anything with Tusks.

Giant armadillos. Note the regular sized armadillo..I've already hit one of those, it was bad enough.
Or bunny squirrel hybrids.
Tour of terrible taxidermy




Here kitty kitty kitty. Just in case museum goers of yore had never seen a house cat? Here's a stuffed one.
And finally, the Science Lab section. Ha Ha Ha.

Usually this is appropriate

Not sure if it applies today, but still daylight's burnin, and here I am...in the lab.

Fat Seal

Anybody else see the resemblance?

Boston Part 2

Here's the rest of the Historic walking tour photo essay.

I've had a killer day of being up to my eyeballs in enzyme assays that don't work (are we measuring enzyme activity or the binding of dye to proteins? or what? I don't know...maybe tomorrow I will) and Girl Scout meetings. Where are we meeting next year? I don't know... But we're going backpacking and that's final.

But for now, here's more pictures.

This is the Old South Meeting house. It's a Puritan church, where Ben Franklin attended services. It's also where the crowd dispersed from before the Boston Tea Party.
This is the Old State House. If you Brits look closely you'll see something near and dear to your hearts. A handsome prize if you can identify it. Also notice the balcony. If you had stood there in 1775 or something, you would have had a nice view of the Boston Massacre, which I learned last week wasn't really much of a massacre. It was mostly unruly people starting fights, and lots of subsequent propaganda (Thanks Paul Revere--he's the one who made the famous Boston Massacre wood engraving that circulated around the world, and was probably in your elementary school text book. What really happened, I guess, is that a group of rowdy drunk colonists were sick of the British occupation of Boston and began picking on a guard near the Old State House one night. Lots of taunting ensued, church bells rang, and in the confusion shots were fired.)
Paul Revere's house. Behind the Park Ranger. It's not much to look at from the outside, but you can pay to go inside.
The Puritans went to church in boxes? This is the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung in the steeple to send Paul Revere on his famous ride. The British are coming!

There are lots of old cemeteries in Boston.
The New State House. The hub of the universe I guess they call it. Paul Revere's company covered the dome in copper. And they also covered my cookware in copper.
The Shaw memorial across from the New State House on Beacon Hill. This was the first black regiment in the Civil War, I think. Or it was a black regiment in the Civil War. It's a nice sculpture and it's important. Go see it.
Boston Commons. It's a big, old park.

Dogs, cooling off in the Common.
There's an aquarium in Boston, it's covered in steel and looks very modern. We didn't go inside, but there was a display of Fat Seals outside. They were pretty fun to watch. And free.

Boston Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza #2!
Same rules, etc.

1)These ducks are EXTREMELY hard to find. Your answer must be specific. --"There are some trees near it" doesn't cut it, Anna.



2) Find the Dead Seal3) The BEST fountain ever.

Boston. Old Stuff Part 1

Hi everyone! I've made a Monday resolution to update my blog more often.

You may know that I managed to kill off all of my Maine fish. That's right, the Walmart fish-department recruiters have been ringing my phone off the hook!

That 3800 mile, 6 day trek I took in May ended in tragedy for those poor souls that were unfortunate enough to end up in my trap in Chewonki Maine. Turns out, you have to feed them chicken livers. Too bad I didn't learn this until it was TOOOOO LATE.

I went back to Maine last week to pick up some new fishies. They're currently swimming away in their new tanks with their bellies full of chicken livers. Cross your fingers, light a candle, say a prayer, keep them in your thoughts.

Even though it was under sad circumstances, the trip was great. My dad flew up and met me in New Hampshire and we went to Boston for a few days before I had to get to work up in the marsh in Maine.

Here is the Boston part of the story: We saw a lot of old buildings. There's a lovely [free] walking tour in Boston called the Freedom Trail. If you're ever in Boston I would highly recommend stopping into the Ranger Station next to the Old State House--by the State T-Stop--and book yerself a ranger led tour. Even if you don't want to follow a ranger around, you could still follow the red painted line on the sidewalk with the help of a few brochures, or even a cheap booklet you can pick up at any gift shop.

Without further ado, here's the first of several Boston photo-essays.

My dad and I took the T down to State Street. It was fun and easy. What you can't tell from this picture is that the people sitting across from us are carrying a basket full of kittens. I didn't get to actually see them, but I could tell they were kittens by the way everyone was cooing.

We found Paul Revere first thing. This is what anyone visiting Boston should do. I dressed myself, by the way. It was 3:30 in the morning and I was half asleep. QED.
My old friend Adrienne lives in Boston and we met up and drank some beer and ran around town. **Confidential to Adrienne: Thanks for the really awesome local-guided tour, I had a super great time.

The next day, my dad and I took the Ranger Guided Freedom Trail tour. This is Fanuiel hall. It was built in 1742 as a market place and local meeting hall. Sam Adams, Ben Franklin and other big shots of the Colonial times spoke their minds here. Now its surrounded by a few more market buildings and is still used for its original purpose--only now there are high school graduations in the great hall upstairs and probably less revolutionary speeches.

This is the inside.

Dad takes a lot of pictures. I hope he puts them on a CD and sends them to me.....

Bonus Fun Section!!!

Name the place where these items are found and you will be rewarded with a handsome prize!!


1. Creeeeepy Eagle of Freedom. Watch your kids!
2. Coddilicious
3. Only a TRUE Bostonian knows where this is.

At least I saved $40

Submitted for your review: Something that is harder than it looks.

Scott doesn't seem to mind too much, but Laura has refused to walk him in his current mangled state. I think that's the way she put it.

In other news: I spent last week in Boston and Maine with my Dad touring around and collecting fishies.

File this under "Things I hate"

I am SO tired of blankety-blank mosquitoes in the blankety-blank lab.

Seriously.

I should not be bitten a dozen times a day while I'm trying to work. Sometimes my work involves precision in my movements and patience and a certain amount of agility. It is really hard to pipette small amounts of expensive, invisible crap when I'm trying to dance around the mosquitoes that are trying to bite me on my face.

I sent an email on Sunday after I was mobbed by about 10,000 hungry insects while I was waiting for the elevator. It was nice, it was like "Hey what is up with all these mosquitoes? Have you noticed? Cause I have, and it's itchy" I bet I wasn't the only one, either, because the head-facilities guy wrote a campus wide email about the problem today. Then some uppity faculty member (who I'm SURE isn't sitting at his desk applying cortizone-10Plus, which is $5 a tube by the way) writes back about how mosquito spraying is bad, and that we should just suffer through this mosquito problem. Maybe he'll switch offices with me? Hate Hate Hate.

Love Hearts

Could someone please explain to me why my Love Heart says

Granny P

or is it Cranny?

4th of July Part 2: the Fifth of July

I did what is customary and American for my 4th of July: Celebrated independence from the Brits with a Baseball Game (because Round bats are SO much better), set off cheap crappy fireworks in the parking lot next door and sang patriotic songs.

The Marlins won, but you really shouldn't be surprised. We were playing the Pirates for Goodness-sakes.



In other news: I rode in the back of a proper pack of bikers today. I think it's called a pelton? It's french, don't worry. It's easier to ride faster when there are a lot of people. Especially if you're in the back. I was behind an old guy who looked like he had about 20 marbles under the skin of his right leg, and a girl on a pink bike. At least she didn't have tassles off her handlebars.

4th of July

I've begun my triathlon training. That means: I've been out on my bike twice. I've decided that I'm not a very good biker that I have sensitive skin. I get heat rash--little sweat filled blisters--all over my body. I hate Miami.

Today marks the one year anniversary for me and my bike. Good ol' Annie. She's a good bike, even though the brake pads rub, and she weighs a lot and the wheels don't spin in a proper circle.

The Marlins were in first place again, until yesterday--when the Damn Pirates beat them. Seriously! The Pirates are the National Leagues biggest joke (maybe on par with the Nationals actually, now that I think about it). I'll be at the game tonight (where EVERYONE should be on the 4th). Hopefully they'll make me proud.

Thank you for tuning into this post-workout-hazy brain edition of Moving Targets. Stay tuned, I've got a lot going on: Planning a trip to Finland, learning Finnish, and trying to study or something, all at once.

Next week: Maine Part II