Fort Worth Zoo Photo Safari - 10/25/08

Rhonda Boswell found a photo safari at the zoo in Fort Worth. The first session featured the FWZ's two tigers (Malaysian and White Bengal) so Rhonda, Mags and I signed up.

We had to be at the zoo by 8:45 so it meant getting Mags up early on a Saturday (no small feat). We made it to the zoo pretty close to on-time and headed to the Asian Falls exhibit.

The tigers had just finished their breakfast and were quite active (for big cats). We spent about an hour taking picture after picture.

Below is the Malaysian:















And the White Bengal:



We were released from the tiger area at 10:00 a.m. and were able to walk around the rest of the zoo. Below is a picture of Rhonda and me (taken by Mags, the budding young photographer):



The lions were out, and the female had four of her cubs out playing:



After the Texas Wilds exhibit, Rhonda wanted to go see the elephants. We also saw the rhinos and hippos. While at the giraffe exhibit, the baby giraffe saw a squirrel and wanted to play. Not sure what the squirrel did, but suddenly the baby giraffe with its gangly legs splayed out ran back to his mama:



Maggie and I had the best time at the zoo with Rhonda. Maggie chattered about how much fun she had all the way up to the lake. I think we have found a new hobby. In fact, I see a nice camera/lens purchase in our near future!

Seatons Invade Texoma

We invited the Seaton family (Matt, Sandy, Taylor, Avery and Emma) to Lake Texoma for the weekend October 18, 2008. They arrived around noon, and we had lunch. Then we went down to the dock for a boat ride, fishing and fossil hunting.

While Sandy, Bec and the girls went fossil hunting, Taylor caught a turtle, and Matt caught a sunfish.


The boys and Mags went up to the cabin for target practice with the pellet guns, and the girls joined up to cheer them on.












The parents cleaned up, Mags helped with dinner for the kids, and the adults left for the Boot Scootin' Ball out at Bar-K-R Ranch. The arena was transformed into a party barn. They had packed the sand down until it was hard as concrete, added tables, decorations, a dance floor, and a silent/live auction. We ate BBQ, drank margaritas and danced. Gary bid on and won the Dirk Nowitzki jersey.



Matt wore his grandfather's boots, which were really cool (but tiny).

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and then all went out to the ranch again. Mags saddled up Dakota while Avery, Emmy and Bec went out to the pasture to get Ranger. After both horses, were saddled up, we decided to borrow Star, too. Avery, Sandy and Bec went to the isolation pasture to collect her.

While Star was being saddled, Emmy was riding Ranger and Taylor rode Dakota. Both were led around. After Emmy and Taylor finished, Avery hopped on Ranger, Mags hopped on Dakota, and Sandy rode Star. After everyone was comfortable with their steeds, we took them off the lead ropes. They walked out to the mare pasture and rode around. Avery took a tumble off Ranger when she tried to canter, and Star reared up with Sandy a couple of times. No one was hurt, but I bet they were both a little stiff and sore on Monday morning.

Mags and Dakota raced Gary (in the car) from the beginning of the driveway back up to the arena. Dakota won!

While we were all riding, Taylor, Emmy, Matt and Gary played football.

After riding, we went back to the cabin, had lunch and packed up to head back to reality. It was a great weekend, and we can't wait to do it all again!

Sherramore Lodge Day 7 - 10/5/08

We left the lodge at 4:20 a.m. to go to the airport in Inverness. FlyBe charged us an exorbitant amount for our extra pieces of luggage (>$500 USD). We got into Gatwick and had to take a car to Heathrow for the last leg of our journey back home. Thankfully, we had no issues with American Airlines or British Airways during our trip. American and BA treated us very well.

We arrived home about 6:00 p.m. dog tired. And...Monday it was back to reality and work.

Sherramore Lodge Day 6 - 10/4/08

Time to tour a distillery. Mitch took us to Dalwhinnie for our distillery tour. He called this a lady’s whiskey because it is more smooth and flavored with honey and citrus. Dalwhinnie was established in 1898 and is set in the Grampian mountains. It is located at the highest altitude and has the coldest temperature of any other distillery. The whiskey is made using the old techniques, pine tubs, copper stills and copper cooling tubes. Photos were taken from Dalwhinnie's website since we couldn't take them with our cameras.

Afterwards, we went to The Glen Hotel in Newtonmore for lunch. This photo is of Doug, Diane and Debbie:



These are our new friends, Dave and Diane Webster:




Came back to the lodge, packed, paid Mike for the extra fees, took pictures of the antlers and passed out tips. Below is a picture of the antlers:


The hunters with their trophies:


The guides and Mike with his favorite bourbon:


We had venison for dinner! Below is a shot of the group:

Sherramore Lodge Day 5 - 10/3/08

I once had a PH who knew how to cook. Mike made breakfast, but worried that the girls were afraid to eat it. The men survived...but I'm afraid we hurt Mike's feelings.

Gary went out with Doug and Diane on an early hunt.

Our first tourist stop was the Barracks.

Then we went to Carr-Bridge to see the packhorse bridge that was built in 1717. The river was too hard to cross during spring when it was rushing so General Alexander Grant had the bridge commissioned. There was a flood in 1829 where the river rose 35-40 ft, and it damaged the parapets and side walls.

At the Battlefield of Culloden which was fought in 1746, we went into a museum, watched a video of the battle and listened to a story-teller. When I purchased the ticket, the gentleman asked me where I was from and if I had relatives from Scotland. He told me that both clans had relatives killed on the battlefield, and I should look for the clan memorials.



The Battle of Culloden was between the Jacobites and the Government. The Jacobites were led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the government forces were led by the Duke of Cumberland. It was the last great pitched battle on the soil of mainland Britain. It was also the end of the Gaelic clan system, which had survived in the mountains of Scotland long after it had disappeared from Ireland. The battle was brutal, and the Highland clansmen were the ones that opened fire first. The Jacobites suffered terrible injuries as they stood in line, waiting for the order to charge. Around 700 Jacobites were killed.

Mitch took us to see the Clava viaduct. It has 28 arches.



Then we went to the Clava Cairns, which are a prehistoric cemetery made between 3000 and 4000 years ago. The cairns were dome-shaped, and there was a small passage-way that you entered by crawling through. Mitch said that the dead were cremated on the outside, placed in urns with a bit of jewelry for currency, food and a weapon. Then the urn was placed in the cairn toward the front. As more were interred, the urn moved toward the back of the cairn. At winter solstice, the sun would shine directly into the cairn. There were several stones placed upright around the outside of the cairn, and they marked each of the solstices. For the visible bit of stone, 1/3 of it was placed underground to hold it up.

Lunch was at a fish and chips place that was voted best in Scotland.

On to Buely where we stopped at the priory. Just outside the priory was a scale. Mitch said that goods were weighed there before being taken into the market. If the weight was fudged, the person was put in the stockades and his ears were nailed down. From thereon, he was a marked man, and no one would do business with him.



The priory was built in 1230 and is made of sandstone. When Mitch brushed a stone, the sand just sprinkled to the ground. The priory was built in the shape of a cross, and it was a monastery. The monks had to attend 8 services each day and spend 3 hours per day studying. There were many graves inside the priory on the floor. Mitch explained the markings to us. There was also a room with coffins which looked much like sarcophagus. It was an ancient mausoleum.





Gary obtained red stag #3 at 4 p.m., and it was an old 9-pointer.




Mike and Mitch had been threatening us with a traditional Scottish dish, called haggis, all week. Guess what we had for dinner?!! Our appetizer for dinner was haggis, followed by pork tenderloin, beet root and parsnips, par-boiled roasted potatoes with rosemary and fried red cabbage. The haggis tasted a lot better than we expected, and the dessert of sherry trifle more than made made up for it.

Sherramore Lodge Day 4 - 10/2/08

Gary and Dave had finished their two hunts and went touring with us. First, Mitch drove us to Pitlochry to go shopping. Gary found a nice olive green tweed sportcoat. I found Sweeney Tod and a grist mill to photograph. There were lots of cute shops to go into in this quaint little village.





Next we stopped at a bridge by Killiecrankie to admire the view up the river. Mitch also told us about the battle at Killiecrankie between the Jacobites and William’s army in 1689. They were under Graham of Claverhouse, but he was killed. Most of them then lost heart and returned to the Highlands.

The Garry bridge also marks the junction of an ancient route to the West and Western Isles with it being the main road between the Highlands and Lowlands.

At Bruar, we had lunch then Gary and I visited an art gallery where we saw the most spectacular sculpture of two stags fighting.

Then we took the path to go up to the Falls of Bruar. It was a nice hike, but I got tired half-way up and had to rest.





We took the tour at Blair Castle built prior to 1269. In 1746, it was the site of a Jacobite uprising, and it is the last castle in the Birtish isles to be fired upon in anger. Today, the Duke of Atholl, the owner of the castle is the only British subject permitted to maintain a private army, called the Atholl Highlanders. Bonnie Prince Charlie slept here prior to the siege.

Dinner was cooked by Mike. He served salmon with lemon butter sauce, broccoli, boiled potatoes and leftover dessert.

Sherramore Lodge Day 3 - 10/01/08

Mitch took us to see Highland cattle. The original color of these cows was black or white. The Victorians decided that they would look better as a golden color so they’ve been bred to that standard.

Then we drove to Kingbussy to shop for gators for Gary and David.

Afterwards, on to Loch Ness where we looked but did not find Nessy. The story is that St. Columbo was sailing in around 560, and was attacked by a large serpent.

Then we drove to Urquhart Castle, which was built to guard the Great Glen in the early 1200’s. St. Columba is said to have stayed here in the 6th century. It played an important role in the Wars of Independence, being taken by Edward I and later held by Robert the Bruce. During the Jacobite troubles in 1692, part of the castle was blown up to prevent it falling into “rebel” hands.


Then we drove to Buelly, ate lunch and tried to go to the Priory, which is where monks lived. It was raining too hard so we went shopping at Tesco.


Doug and Gary got deer today. Gary got his second stag, which was a 10-pointer. Doug also got his first deer in the early morning hunt. George got his second deer.


Dinner was prime rib, carrots with parsnips, scalloped potatoes with lemon mousse for dessert.

Sherramore Lodge Day 2 - 9/30/08

The men got up at dawn for an early, pre-breakfast hunt. They came back around 8 for breakfast with us then were scheduled to depart again at 9:30 but had a rain delay (imagine that?!!) for an hour.

Meanwhile, Diane and I went with Mitch touring. First, we stopped to see a private house that has been turned into a hunting lodge, called Ardverikie, which was built in 1870. It’s gatehouse is an exact replica of the lodge, and at one time Queen Victoria had thought about purchasing it. However, she decided that there were too many midges (small, biting insects) and bought Balmoral instead. The house is currently the site of a BBC television series called “Monarch of the Glen”.




Next we stopped at a cemetery, Cille Choirill (St. Cairell’s Chapel) that were on the top of a hill. The cemetery included a large number of Celtic crosses, and there were several bishops and clergymen buried there. The cemetery was still in use, but some of the earliest graves were from the 1500’s. The site has connections that go back to the days of the Irish missionary, Cairell, about 600 AD.



Then we drove to the World War II memorial. Mitch told us that many of the armed forces (including the US) had gathered there to train before they went into battle. The terrain was very hilly and mimicked the ground that they would be fighting on.

Since the glen was full of peat moss, wood was laid down, and the road was built on top of it. Therefore, the road floated and the weight of the car would cause it to go up and down slightly.

We stopped to see Neptune’s Staircase, which is a canal with a series of 15 locks that was hand dug between 1810 and 1820 as a shortcut between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This canal was dug for Scottish ships to get safely from one side of the country to the other. If they went around the north of Scotland, they kept getting attacked by French military or American privateers during our War of Independence. This set of locks is still be used and costs around 380-400 pounds for a two-way pass.


We went to see the Bonnie Prince Charlie Memorial. This is where he landed when he returned to Scotland from France. He did not speak Gaelic (only French) and was not well-received until he started winning battles, like the insurrection of 1745.


I also took the hike up the hill to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct. This viaduct was used during the filming of Harry Potter.


Next we drove into Fort William to eat lunch and shop. Mitch took us around to a couple of shops looking for gators for the hunter’s boots. Then he left Diane and I to find a place to dine and shop. We ate at The Tavern then meandered through the street. We walked down by the river, and Mitch told us it was 860 ft deep. They did deep sea training in it for welding.

Mitch picked us up at 2:30, and drove us to Inverlochy Castle. This castle was built in the 1280’s, and was the home of the Red Comyn’s (which is the clan that Mitch belongs to). He told us that Robert Bruce killed the head of the Red Comyn’s in 1308, which solidified his place as King of Scotland. If Red Comyn had won the battle, he would have become King instead. After that, the Comyn’s were rarely heard from again.


The main hall, Comyn Hall, had three levels. There was a spiral staircase that ascended to the Great Hall, which was on the second floor. Above that was the bedroom, and above that was the roof where the soldiers lived and defended the castle. The walls of the castle were 15 ft thick and constructed of stacked stone from the river. The bottom of the walls were flared out so that the soldiers could drop rocks on them, and they would ricochet into the chests of their enemies stopping their hearts.

We headed back to the lodge, but stopped for a few pictures. One of these is the island in the middle of the river where the former Kings of Scotland are buried from when there were four kingdoms (400-600 AD).


About 6 p.m., Mitch took us to where Diane and the men had been hunting. We saw a 6-point red stag shortly after leaving the lodge. Then we saw a Sika buck standing along the forest. When we got to the hills, we “glassed” until we found more red deer on the ridges.

Around 7:15, we returned for dinner which was chicken and tomato casserole, rosemary potatoes, peas and apple crisp.