Evil Aunt Edith

Not only did I recently catch naughty Aunt Edith filling my daughter's head full of highly inappropriate information regarding the totally unacceptable practice (to Daddy at any rate) of ear piercing - see this for an amusing view of the subject: Ear Piercing
but, as you can see from the picture she has been annointing my son's hair with some unidentified jelly like substance of dubious provenance. (She found a tube of the stuff in the bathroom cabinet of a model home she was visiting!)
As it turned out everybody thought the look suited him and it certainly made no difference to his appreciation of the muffins his sister helped to bake.
BTW, for those who do not know the family Little Ted is pictured with his Grandmommy, not his evil Aunt Edith.

Spiders and other things

Sometimes I wonder why I come here when there are cougars in the back yard, alligators in the drainage ditches, and snakes in the trees.
Mrs Ted will gently remind me that "family" is the reason; just as well they are all such good family is what I think especially when I review websites such as these:

• Spiders of Texas
  
• Snakes of Texas
• Venomous snakes of Texas
  

I am assured that the spider in this picture would not be particularly deadly but you would still not want to encourage it to bite you!

A day at the beach with our cousins

Today we got together with Ray and his daughters, Jordan and Brooke; recently returned to the State of Texas from California. The girls seem to like being here and Eddy and Little Ted fairly enjoyed being in the company of their cousins.
The ex Californians got to paddle in the bay but Mrs Ted refused to let her little Scottish babies join their more hardy cousins.
Pictures of our day on Rockport beach can be seen at Tartanted.com
Don't be fooled by the blue sky and sunshine; the temperature was a measly 60F

A day in Corpus Christi for our wedding anniversary

What more can you ask but to be released from your children for a whole day (much as we love them), head off to town, have a civilised adult dinner where no food gets "accidentaly" spilt and follow it with a movie. Why, a visit to Barnes and Noble of course! Coffee and book buying - yummy.
Some pictures of the journey to Corpus Christi, but not much else, are on Tartanted.com

Tartan Ted's travels continued again ...

Part 3 - Houston to Corpus Christi:

... the power on the train cut and we were left wondering if it might be quicker to walk.
Eventually the air and the lights came back on and off we went to Terminal B still with plenty of time in hand. We were met off the train by an official who redirected us to a new gate for our flight but, to cut a long story short, this turned out to be cancelled. The departure boards continued to declare our flight to be "on time" for about another 30 minutes but we knew better. The airport was in chaos and we had to join a queue for reticketing and that took us over an hour to reach the front. The result: we were on standby for the 9.20pm to Corpus AND the 10.20 to Corpus. All we could do was sit around and hope. I registered our presence with the gate agent and he said it was very likely he could get us on the 9.20 flight. At 9.20 he announced that there was a plane at the gate and there was a crew in the airport, he just didn't know where they were but he would board the plane as soon as they turned up. The flight time was changed to 10pm. After the crew had arrived, to cheering from the assembled passengers, it was announced that the flight would board and that some standby passengers had already been allocated seats but everyone else should not panic as he still had other places to allocate. We were not included in the first allocation and Mrs Ted had reconciled herself to going on the later flight when the gate agent picked up the PA and announced eight names, one after the other, "if you are in the terminal come to the gate for boarding or you will be unloaded from the flight and lose your ticket ... NOW" and put the PA phone down. He then tapped on his computer and announced "Tartan Ted and family". Hooray, Christmas has come early we all responded and got on the plane before anyone turned up to complain about losing their seats!
The kids slept through the one hour flight; Little Ted had to be carried off the flight but Eddy bounced through the airport until she saw her grandmommy waiting and then ran, in true movie reunion style, into her grandmommys arms. Little Ted needed a nights sleep before he was able to enthuse about our arrival in Texas.
The really remarkable thing about all this is that our baggage was first off the plane at Corpus and as we were loading the van outside the airport we heard an announcement telling people who were missing luggage that it would come off the next plane from Houston! We left for Rockport mightily relieved to have all our belongings intact.

Tartan Ted's travels continued ...

Wal Mart; just for one small inexpensive purchase. I knew that was unlikely - but $100 later I'm back at the computer.
Now where was I?

Part 2 continued:

I forgot to mention that on arrival at Newark we had to do some unscheduled stair climbing because the elevator from the arrival hall to the immigration area was out of order and the escalator had just blown a fuse. There being no other non powered alternative routes we were forced to walk up the malfuntioning escalator and that is no mean feat especially for little children.

So, although I am not averse to changing my children's diapers it was Mrs Ted who took Little Ted away to the restroom on this occasion. Trust me, I tell you this for a reason.
On this second flight we were in row 17, a vast improvement on the row 35 of the transatlantic leg, and meant that we would have been served our meal much earlier if only there were a meal service on the flight. Unfortunately there was no scheduled meal but then we knew that, hence the fried chicken. Once boarded and with the door closed our pilot announced on the PA that we were taking on additional fuel as he had been re-routed to avoid bad weather but we were still expected to make good time. After a few minutes delay we began to taxi towards the runway - but there we stopped. Once more on the PA our cheery pilot announced that he had good news, bad news, and possibly a little more good news depending on how upbeat we felt.
This translated to:

• the good news - we have extra fuel onboard so don't have to go back to the stand
  
• the bad news - Houston airport has just been shut down to incoming flights for the next 3 hours
• the more good news - we have a take-off slot in 1 hour

and that was how it came to pass that in 2005 we camped on the tarmac at Newark airport for 1 hour which was, at least, better than 2004 when we had to sleep on the terminal floor for 1 night!
One hour into the flight I returned to my seat from a toilet break of my own to find Little Ted sitting in my place. I asked him to move back to his own seat but he refused, telling me that he was wet. Sure enough my seat, yes my seat, was soaking wet, as was he. Well I was already standing in the aisle and I didn't feel like sitting in that seat, so I took him off to do the necessary. Now this is where you find out why I wanted you to know who changed the diaper at Newark airport because when I tried to change this diaper I couldn't find it. There was no diaper. Little Ted had gone commando for 2 hours. Hardly his fault he wet the seat. When we got back to our seats Mrs Ted had told the flight attendant about our accident and my seat cushion had been swapped out for a clean dry one with the comment that they were grateful to be told about it because people generally don't bother to own up to such accidents. Remember that the next time you sit down on your holiday flight to paradise. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived at Houston after the stormy weather had passed and all looked like going well as we had 90 minutes to make our connection and we knew exactly where we needed to go and how to get there. Imagine our dismay to find that, having boarded the inter terminal train successfully, the power on the train cut and we were left wondering if it might be quicker to walk.

Jet lag has now caught up on me and I must collapse in a heap on the bed.
More tomorrow ...

Tartan Ted's travels turn a tad tetchy today

Part 1 - Edinburgh to Newark:

So, we'll set the alarm for 4.30am, get everything ready and leave the house at 5.30am to allow plenty of time to check in before our 9am flight. Yeah right! Jim, who was going to run us to the airport, phoned us at 6.10am to ask where we were and so the fastest preparation for departure ever ensued. Leaving for Edinburgh airport at 7am is not a smart move, especially since it was a frosty morning and there were dense pockets of fog en route. Also the morning rush hour traffic does not help. Anyway, we arrived at Edinburgh airport at 7.50am and got to the check in at 7.58am to be greeted by a frosty young lady who proceeded to give us a row like we were naughty schoolchildren. "Check in closes in two minutes, where have you been?" I was tempted to tell her that if it closes in 2 minutes then we are perfectly well on time but thought better of it. Now I do not recommend this method of frantic departure but I must say that it cut out a great deal of the hanging around associated with international air travel. We did have concerns as to whether our luggage would ever be seen again but, to our pleasant surprise, it was first off the carousel in Newark; all four pieces, intact and quickly retrieved. We filled in the customs form saying nothing to declare and no, we have not been on a farm ,so naturally we were the only people redirected through the Department of Food and Agriculture baggage check area. I suspect we were making up their daily quota since they did not seem very busy. On then to Immigration where, although I am officially regarded as a non resident alien, the authorities tolerate my presence in the returning US citizen line as I am accompanying 3 bona fide USC's - Immigration is good that way. You might think that processing me into the USA would take longer than the other 3 but no, not today. Another reason for not checking in with 2 minutes to spare reared it's ugly head when we discovered that Continental in Edinburgh had input Patty's details into the immigration computer using her maiden name. Luckily the officer granting us admission to the States could read her passport, unlike the fellow in Edinburgh, and eventually persuaded his computer to let us all into the country.

Part 2 - Newark to Houston:

Still with plently of time to catch our next flight we set off to the gate, confirmed the flight was running on time, arranged a toilet stop for the kids prior to boarding, and bought some fried chicken to eat because there is no meal on the 3.5 hour flight to Houston. (Newark is a nice clean airport with good clean toilet facilities, except for the "Companion toilet facility" I don't think much of the standard of cleanlieness associated with travelling companions in the Newark airport facility!)

... to be continued as I have been called away with an urgent request to visit Wal Mart.

Tartan Ted travels to Texas today

Once more we are about to subject ourselves to 18 hours locked in a confined space with a three and a four year old. At least the journey is broken down into 5 easy? stages; by road to Edinburgh, by air to Newark, by air to Houston, by air to Corpus Christi, and then by road to Rockport.
(Hmm, The Road to Rockport, sounds like a Bob Hope movie.)

Our own movie has been playing out here for the last two weeks as the kids have been flying around the light fittings shouting "WE GO TO TEXAS TO VISIT GRANDMOMMY AND GRANDFATHER TOMORROW TODAY NEXT WEEK" (They havn't quite grasped the concept of time just yet but then maybe that will work in our favour on the journey.)

Anyway, as cattle class is unlikely to have Internet access I do not expect to be posting anything more until we arrive.

Biggar Christmas Illuminations

Driving home tonight I took advantage of an empty parking bay in order to take a couple of pictures of the Christmas illuminations. As I sat in the car preparing my camera I noticed two things; first, the 18 wheeler bearing down on me from the Edinburgh direction and, secondly, an elderly border collie dog scavenging on the roadway. For one moment I thought I was destined to witness the final moments of the collies life but, being an elderly dog, he no doubt was very streetwise and waited until the juggernaut had passed and then crossed the road. Phew!

Loaningdale at night in the snow

Yesterday, Eddy and Daddy were looking at the Loaningdale webcam when Karen drove into the picture. So we called her on her cell phone and Eddy got a real kick out of talking to her and getting a wave from her, live, on the webcam.

Tonight I really meant to upload pictures from our walk up the hill this afternoon but Eddy wanted to check the webcam again and then said I should post this picture. Now it is dinner time and I've been told to put my computer away.

Today's view from Loaningdale

More on the snow

This is how much snow fell in 4 hours, about an inch an hour. Pretty impressive and apparently totally un-noticed by the South Lanarkshire roads department which did not manage to field a snow plough or a gritter until some considerable time after they were needed. Maybe all the appliances were involved in freeing up the M74 at Abington which was brought to a complete halt by the weather conditions. Who knows. Much more likely it was just an almighty administrative mess.

So the BBC was right - it gets thicker by the minute

Loaningdale webcam at 11.05 this morning.

Note the snow covered cobweb on the right hand side of the picture.

So the BBC was right - just a little early with their prediction.

Loaningdale webcam snapshot 9.40 this morning.

The snow has just started to fall here so at least my kids will be happy. They are both off school today with bad colds and when I left for work their noses were pressed to the window "watching for the snow"

Today the BBC promised us snow with high winds ...

This is a snapshot taken from the Loaningdale webcam at 10.45 this morning. Maybe the weather forecast will be proved right by the evening but in the mean time we can bask in the sunshine and appreciate the relatively high temperature compared to recent days.





This is more like the recent weather; freezing temperatures with morning fog and frosty fields.

Some children you love; some make it easy to dislike them.

Little Ted has a bit of a cold; actually he sounds like a dog barking when he coughs so his mother kept him out of Playgroup today and took him to town to buy a truck with the money his Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob sent him for his birthday. The theraputic value of trucks to a young man should not be underestimated - just look at the expression on his face.













Also, this other picture is from a different day but comes under the same heading of "things that endear", Little Ted likes to have his friends with him whilst watching TV. He placed the tiger on the table so that he could share his favorite programme with someone.






As for the third picture:
This is what the children of Biggar enjoy as an evening pastime; lurking in the graveyard until an unsuspecting motorist drives by and gets half a dozen eggs thrown at them. I've had this before although on that occassion it was a water filled balloon. Still as frightening but a whole lot easier to clean up! I did call into the local police station on the way home to report the incident but, alas for the state of public services in the UK today, there was no-one home, only a voice on a telephone from somewhere in Glasgow to advise me that the nearest policeman was 12 miles away in Lanark and would I like to be put through to them? Would I diddl-ey. Best to get home quickly and save my paint job with copious amounts of soap and water.

What a great autumn day on which to turn 3

Little Ted is 3 today. The sun is shining and the air is frosty; a beautiful combination and very cheery to help a young man appreciate his special day. Pictures of Little Ted's day and his party can be seen on TartanTed.com

Bonfire Night

On Saturday night we went to the Skirling village bonfire and fireworks display. The weather was ideal being dry and fairly windless so the display was a great success.
Eddy decided she wanted to see the graveyard and, in spite of it being pitch black and being told she could go on her own, she actually set off to explore. Needless to say daddy immediately followed at a discrete distance as she made her way up the hill. Photographs of her exploration can be seen at Bonfire Night on TartanTed.com

This is a photograph of the gate ornament at the entrance to the churchyard.

Lichen in Lanarkshire

I don't often get out of the office but today was different; I visited the River Clyde at Abington and found, amongst other things, some lichen and some stencilled wood panelling.

Trick or Treat - well worth the effort!

Little Ted examines the stash of goodies he received during his expedition around the neighbourhood with his sister and their friends. We won't need to buy any candy for weeks!

While the kids were out with their mommy I was left at home with a box of treats and instructions to make sure any callers got a "treat" and we were not subjected to any "tricks". Just as well I was home as quite a few scary visitors of the devil, skeleton, ghoul variety rang our doorbell last night.

Halloween Preparations

Going to show granny their costumes.















Mommy prepares the pumpkin lantern.


















Jean works on the Twaddles pumpkin and Mhairi helps to eat the chocolates.


















The end result seemed to please everyone.

Conjuring up Honey Bun Cake

My favourite little witch helped her mommy make a delicious cake yesterday and today I was allowed to take some to work for afternoon coffee time.

The cake is delicious and for those wishing to try it for themselves the recipe can be had from Yamboy's Garden.

Hartree reunion weekend

As chance would have it the hotel at which this years reunion took place provided a number of large brass ornaments which allowed my children to continue their theme of "killing bad animals"
In the lounge there was a brass warthog; in the dining room a large brass boar and a deer; in the reception, guarding entrance to the hotel , this big bear. All these poor creatures were subjected to various attacks throughout the weekend most of which involved being run through with "Aunt Kathy's swords" - you know who you are Aunt Kathy!
Little Ted did experiment with punching the bear on the nose but only once! Thankfully no harm was done and the hotel staff were very understanding. Pictures from the weekend are available on TartanTed's website.

Eddy's new mousetrap design

All day yesterday Eddy, who is four going on five years old, refined her design for a mousetrap. Recently she has been telling me that, when she grows up, she is going to kill bad animals. I pressed the point and was told that she had been learning about bears and wolves in nursery. I couldn't figure out if they were the "big bad" variety or the "you should really be into preservation of the species" types. Nevertheless she was quite intent on assassination in the future. Perhaps it is as well that she has turned her attention to capturing mice rather than stalking wolves! I am certainly very impressed with this work of engineering and I'm sure our mice will welcome the easy access it affords to their dinner.

The Falkirk Wheel

Falkirk Wheel

Today we visited the Falkirk Wheel with Anna; this is the second time we have been there and the second time we did not go on the boat trip. The kids were much more interested in the Irn Bru playpark which kept them amused for ages. However they were not impressed with the idea of sitting on a boat for an hour taking in the views from the canal. Oh well, maybe next time, when they are a little older we may be able to persuade them of the benefits of canal boat travel.

Late summer bloom

A late warm day brought out a large number of butterflies; since this is Scotland in late September I guess they won't last long. The back yard is littered with fallen leaves every morning and there will be frosts sooner rather than later.

This butterfly, I've no idea what variety it is, landed in the echinops flowerbed outside my bedroom window.

25 Sept and I've looked up my butterfly guide; it is a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Haggis and Yachts

Yesterday we ventured into Edinburgh on one of our infrequent visits. This time we had a purpose; to have Anna's glasses fixed and take her on a tour of The Royal Yacht Britannia which is berthed at Ocean Terminal in Leith.

First things first so we headed for a suitable restaurant. Baxter's "Forth View" seemed to be in this category and we settled in around a big table with, yes you guessed it, a view of the Forth. I didn't have a tripod with me but I did take a few photographs to try out on my panorama making software and you can see the result above. Not bad for hand held. The ship on the left is not Britannia; she is berthed just out of sight on the right hand side of the photograph. Although you probably will not be able to make it out on this web picture the Forth Bridge is visible in the background just to the left of the ship.
My choice for lunch; Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties - delicious but seriously overpriced even allowing for the view.

After lunch, and after collecting Anna's now fixed glasses, it was off to the tour of Britannia. Poor Little Ted thought he really wanted to go look at the "boat" - until he got there. Both children managed to have a good time even if it was a tad boring for them; at least there were lots of opportunities for them to get up to mischief and then there was the fudge shop! We bought pink fudge for Eddy and chocolate fudge for Little Ted. Pictures from our visit may be viewed at Tartanted.com

I swear I didn't back into this Give Way sign

This was the weekend we went to visit Frances in Prestwick. We had great weather and enjoyed a delightful lunch prepared by Frances, followed by an afternoon on the beach , returning later for tea and cakes in her garden. Mrs Ted has already posted some flower pictures on Yamboy


We had been advised to take the Sorn road as there was a flower festival on in Ayrshire and it would help us avoid most of the traffic. As we passed this road end I noticed that Windy had just clocked up 77,777.7 miles and I couldn't resist stopping to record the moment. Mrs Ted says I'm a sad individual but we all have our own enthusiasms :-)
It was not until right now that I noticed the similarity to a traffic accident record picture. IT WAS DEFINITLY LIKE THAT BEFORE I REVERSED INTO THE ROAD!
More pictures from that weekend here Tartanted.com

On a less controversial note here is a picture taken in the centre of the village of Sorn in Ayrshire which shows quite clearly how proud the inhabitants are of their village and it's gardens.

Eddy and Little Ted have a new bicycle adventure

Saturday 13th August, a day with little time between downpours of rain, was filled with a rush to cut the front yard followed by a rush to assemble our new Revolution Glider.

"What does this bit do Daddy?"
"No idea"
"I'll get my screwdriver and help"
"Nooooooooooooooooo!"
"Is it ready yet Daddy?"
"For the fifth time - not yet sweetpea"
"Can we ride to Loaningdale for hot chocs?"
"What a good idea"

Anyway, in spite of all the "help" I received whilst assembling the bike I succeeded in completing the task before the next downpour. However Eddy, being but 4 years old, could not contain herself any longer and insisted on a test drive around the sub division. So off we went at exactly the same time as the heavens opened. Well, it didn't take long for the weeping and wailing to commence and we returned to the house 2 minutes later and very much damper than we had set off. I do not think my daughter has an outdoors type personality.

Later, after returning from Loaningdale (pictures can be seen here) Little Ted got to try out the Glider. He is a tad small for it right now but he held on tightly and enjoyed a trip around our street whilst Jenna kept an eye on his progress.

Catering contrasts

Whilst in Edinburgh yesterday I had occassion to have coffee in Debenham's restaurant at Ocean Terminal. The coffee cost £1.60 and a small macaroon biscuit was £1.35 Both were ok but I suspect there is a premium element to the cost based on the proximity of the Royal Yacht Britannia which is berthed outside the restaurant window.









Later, in central Edinburgh, we tried a new restaurant called The Sizzling Scot. When we went in we told them that we just had to eat and run as our baby sitter needed to be relieved by 9pm. The service was excellent and the wait staff were very pleasant. We ordered steaks and 10 minutes later two large plates of appetising food arrived and we tucked in with gusto. The verdict; we need to go again for a more leisurly visit to allow for starters and desserts!
If in Edinburgh try this place, it really was very good.

A roadtrip with the kids

Wednesday and Daddy has to go to Aberfoyle to visit Dounans Outdoor Centre and, although Mommy does not want to come, the kids are happy to oblige and so, bikes in car, off we go on another adventure. Pictures can be viewed at Aberfoyle Adventure

Friday and Mommy decides to enlist the kids' help in baking a birthday cake. Although her birthday is not until tomorrow we all get to have birthday cake for dessert this evening. I'll post more pictures after Mrs Ted has actually had her next birthday.

Croissants from a cash machine?

On Saturday, as I was busy working on my computer, my wife and kids set off for the Biggar Show ahead of me. They also took my last £10 note with them so, when I was ready to follow , I first had to pay a visit to the cash machine. Normally the local High Street Bank machine is either out of order or has a long queue on a Saturday but today it had an enormous line of people waiting at it. So I drove on by and went to the Co-Op machine (HEB equivalent) There was no queue there - because it was broken! Oh well, the good thing about the Co-Op is that you can get cash back at the checkout so in I went to find an item of produce, which I did not need other than to justify my presence at the till, .... and that is how we ended up having croissants for breakfast on Sunday.

After breakfast we embarked on a trip to Livingston to buy a present for one of Eddy's little friends who is having a birthday party next Saturday. We arrived at lunchtime, had chicken and chips from KFC, and then braved the Toys R Us store with Eddy and Little Ted. They were very restrained really - for 4 and 2 year olds; but we still didn't manage to get out without buying yet more toys for Eddy and Little Ted as well as an appropriate offering for the birthday gilrl!
On the way home we called in to see Jim, Jean, Mhairi, and Cameron and the kids got to have a go on their new trampoline.
Pictures can be seen at: Fun Day Out

Saturday is agricultural show day ...

... and Biggar, in South Lanarkshire is no exception.
This is where the local farmers parade their prize stock and compete for best of show rosettes and then retire to the beer tent for a well deserved refreshment.
Strangely, there seem to be no pigs at the Biggar show; there is also a noticable lack of donkeys as well. Perhaps they don't specialize in these areas in Lanarkshire. Certainly, at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh you get all these things together.
One of the quaint things about a local show is the competitions for best scone, or best loaf of bread, or best flower arrangement. Biggar is no exception here and there was a superb display of such things in the "Industrial Tent" - why in this tent? Unfortunately I had a lapse of concentration whilst in this area and neglected to take any pictures. This is a shame because I'm sure everyone would be facinated by views of cakes and muffins all protected on their tables by a screen of chicken wire. Still, the photo of my daughter attempting to milk a cow in the same tent may go some way to compensate for this ommission.

The pictures from our day out at Biggar show are "on show" at this location on Ted's website

... more from Friday

On leaving the office around 6pm I heard a cat being strangled and went to investigate. It was not, of course, a real case of animal cruelty but rather Jimmy warming up his bagpipes to give a group of French tourists a truly Scottish experience.

Jimmy pipes in the haggis for our French visitors each year.

Nearly home and I stopped to talk to neighbours, Sharon and Jim, who were out attending to their garden.

.... much later in the night, even Jenna is worn out and has taken up her place guarding the children from any unsavory elements such as, oh say - the bedroom cleanup fairy.

Friday, a day at the end of the week

We had a new photocopier delivered this afternoon; deposited in bits on the office floor awaiting installation engineers who, sadly, did not feel inclined to start a 3 hour assembly job at 4.30pm Alas we shall have to wait until Monday to appreciate the delights of our new Multi Function Printer.

This is the debris left, at our request, by the delivery people and destined to form the start of a bonfire.