Squirrel Stuff I Own: Haverford Black Squirrel

I started this series with a gift from my friend E's family, and that is how this series shall end.

This is a plush black squirrel from Haverford College. And he is adorable.

This guy sits on my dresser and watches us sleep at night. Creepy, eh? No, not really. He's quite friendly and spends a lot of time hanging out with Bernard when we leave the house for a few days or more. You can't tell from this photo, but he's holding a plush acorn in his little paws. So cute and friendly, even though he attacks B every once in a while when he's feeling particularly squirrely.

And that, my friends, is the end of my series on squirrel stuff I own. It seemed like such a short series, didn't it? I know, I simply do not own enough squirrel stuff. If you would like for the series to continue, you should feel free to send me new squirrelish things and I shall post about them.

But until then... we've got to move out of this apartment and get on a plane this afternoon! By the next time I post we shall be back in Minnesota, at least temporarily.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Well, it's a beautiful day up here in Morningside Heights.

B and I have spent the whole day packing and cleaning and packing some more. Well, actually we're not packing because the movers are coming tomorrow and they're going to do that part, but we've done a lot of organizing and cleaning. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate when you don't move for three years. But we've accomplished a lot today and I hope that the movers will work quickly tomorrow since we need to have our butts out the door by about 4 PM.

And the other B in my life, Bernard, is already packed and ready for his next big adventure!

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Book

A few birthdays ago, B was out shopping for books for me. He correctly went to the wildlife section where he found this little gem! Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide was written by Richard Thorington Jr., the curator of mammals at the Smithsonian.

This book is awesome. It takes a question-and-answer format, and the questions are fantastic. One of my favorites is, "How are squirrels incorporated into literature?" This book has taught me that the world's largest squirrels live in Kazakhstan (E is working on getting a picture for me...) and that squirrels rotate their hind legs in order to climb down trees and biologists have yet to figure out exactly how they do it. This is a book I get off the shelf at least once a month either to check a fact or just do a little pleasure reading.

Okay, all you squirrel fans out there, I've got just one more squirrel item to feature in this series and it's a doozy! Come back tomorrow (as I know you will) to experience the ultimate in fuzzy squirrel pleasure.

Parental Visit: Days Five, Six, Seven, and Eight

Alright, I've taken a small break from blogging, mostly because we've been out of town and away from Internet access for a few days. The last few days were pretty full, but I've slowly stopped taking pictures as it becomes more and more tiring each day.

Day Five was the law school graduation, which was far more pleasant than the big university commencement. We were in tents! And I got to sit next to my good friend T and my good friend S and and my good friend N's family so it was all just lots of good friendly love. Then after three receptions we ended the day by giving B his graduation presents. I got him a lovely map of Saint Paul from 1891, nicely framed. Ignore the cardboard edging in this picture... we're packing this baby up tomorrow and didn't think it was worth it to take off the cardboard.

Day Six was a crazy day. We got up early and headed down to Battery Park to go see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was incredibly hot and crowded and I was quite grumpy. Brandon did most of the pictures that day, and he got this good shot of the Financial District as we were leaving Manhattan.

I know everyone has seen pictures of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island before so I'm not going to bother to post those. In the Ellis Island Museum I found this interesting display of pamphlets advertising Minnesota in a selection of Scandinavian languages and English. I thought that was cool.

So then the crazy part of Day Six... we got on the train and went to Philadelphia!

Day Seven we woke up in Philly and had a pretty full day in the historical section of the city. We took a tour of Independence Hall and saw where they wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence and also where all the branches of the government met during the first years after our nation's birth.

We also managed to try Philly Cheesesteak and eat some ice cream. And after a short nap in the hotel (During which I watched part of the Jon & Kate Plus 8 marathon on TLC! Yay TV!), we went to the City Tavern where they had a selection of beer supposedly made by the old popular recipes around the time of the American Revolution. I tried Alexander Hamilton's "Treasury Ale" and also Thomas Jefferson's famous beer.

Today is Day Eight, also the last day of the parental visit. We got up early and got our butts on the train back to New York City. Once again, no pictures. Seriously, people, I can only take pictures for so many days before I snap (ha ha, it's a pun). And don't get me started on posing for pictures. I hate posing for pictures. So much.

The Super Shuttle is coming to pick up B's parents in about a half hour, so I better go finish with our visiting. We've got lots of packing to do tomorrow and then we're moving out the next day, but I'm hoping to get some blogging done in that time. I still have some squirrel things to feature!

Parental Visit: Day Four

Yesterday was the giant university commencement! We had to scurry over and get seats at 8:40 AM, but the actual ceremony didn't even start until about 11 AM. Of course, they had to get all of the graduates seated and that took about an hour. Seriously, an hour. Poor B didn't even get a good spot - all he could see was the granite wall in front of him!

There was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was very intense, so about a half hour into the ceremony we ran for the shade. We hung out there for a bit until they did the conferring of degrees on the law grads. It's such a big event that we couldn't see the speaker and had to watch him on the giant screen. Here is the dean of the law school asking the president of the university to give the law students their degrees.

After the commencement B picked up his diploma, and we attended a reception (with champagne!). And then we had more New York City excitement, as we went to the Burger Joint for lunch!

After that we rode a carriage through Central Park, and then walked around in FAO Schwartz and Tiffany's, and then hit Rockefeller Center and Saint Patrick's Cathedral. And then we were exhausted.

We have the real law school graduation today, which will be much smaller and nicer, so that's exciting. And there will be about five receptions for us to attend afterward, but that will be cool. Hopefully there will be champagne!

Parental Visit: Day Three

Oh man, today was a big day.

We started out with a small luncheon for the law school graduates, which was a lot smaller and less fancy than I had expected. Also they served us Red Delicious apples, which are the most disgusting apples known to man. But I'm a big girl and I can deal, and I finally got to meet Mama B and Papa M, and Sister B and even some grandparents of L, so that was exciting. (My habit of abbreviating names is not as efficient as I had hoped, is it?)

After the luncheon we headed to Times Square to find some Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth. I found this funny little Latin inscription next to us while we were standing in line. It's cute but I wonder why they put it on the water meter cover and not on something a little more... grand?

After acquiring tickets for Guys and Dolls we headed to the Empire State Building. Brandon and I haven't been to the top since our first September here. It's a much different experience when you actually know what buildings you're looking at! We paid the extra money to go to the 102nd floor, which we all agreed was well worth the extra cash. Although it's not open air like the other observation deck, it does give you a much more expansive view and it's not crowded at all. I took this picture of East Midtown with the shadow of the Empire State Building in it. Pretty cool.

We were a little too slow at the Empire State Building, so we ended up practically running to our 7:00 show at the Nederlander Theatre. I had seen Guys and Dolls before at Macalester, and had enjoyed it there, but obviously this experience was on a totally different level. Lauren Graham (from Gilmore Girls) was in it, and we got to meet her briefly outside the theater afterward.

Now my feet are all torn up from wearing heels all day, but luckily we get to sit for hours during the big university commencement in about an hour. And I need to go get ready for that...

Parental Visit: Day Two

Yesterday we took the parents on a semi-confusing tour of the Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, and the South Street Seaport. It was quite fun, and included a lot of walking and a lot of running around on public transit. Quite the day!

I was kind of sick of taking pictures, so I didn't document the day as well as I should have. We did run into a cute little courtyard in Greenwich Village.



I would so love to live here. I can't even imagine how expensive it is.

We've got a little reception at the law school today and then we're not sure what our plans are. The weather is beautiful today so we might head out to the Empire State Building and possibly see a musical tonight. Either way, we need to be in bed early since seating for commencement starts at 8:30 AM tomorrow and I'm sure the line starts forming much earlier!

Parental Visit: Day One

B's parents showed up for graduation late on a Saturday night. So late, in fact, that we barely got home before midnight and all basically collapsed into bed rather than try to do any cool New York City sorts of things.

So after sleeping in quite a bit (we were all exhausted) we headed out for a look around our neighborhood. Set up for graduation has continued at a quick pace, and they're almost ready for the big day on Wednesday. Check out the bleachers for the graduates and the tents for the families below. It's like the circus has come to town.

We made our way down into the Upper West Side where we ran into a street fair that seemed to go on forever. B was hoping to find deep-fried Oreos, but didn't. I was hoping to find cheap sunglasses that aren't as big as a dinner plate, but that's pretty much impossible these days.

After the street fair we made our way down to Grand Central, and then a nice long walk through Bryant Park to Times Square. Times Square was, of course, filled with people, although less busy than normal. That was pretty much all that our tired selves could handle, so we came home. B and I had an event to attend, and the 'rents had some relaxing to do. We're not sure about our plans for today, though, so we'll see what happens. We have two full days of graduation stuff happening in the middle of the week so we're trying to fit all the city stuf in today.

Oh, and one of the best parts of yesterday was a squirrel at Columbia who was very interested in me. We flirted a little bit, but I think he just wanted to use me for my food.

New York City is such a strange place to live.

People shouldn't take offense at the title of this post. I know many of you reading this are real New Yorkers, born and raised here, and many are adopted New Yorkers, who love the city and don't want to live anywhere else, at least for the next ten years. New York has its good points, that's for sure. But I think we can all agree that there is no other city like it in the United States, and that living here is a very particular type of experience.

So today's New York topic is milk, in particular the expiration date on milk. Behold the photo below. This is a fresh half-gallon of milk B picked up from the store a few days ago. Please note in particular that there are two expiration dates!

Yes, that's right, New York City has its own system for calculating expiration dates, separate from the system used in the rest of the state. The official explanation is... well, I couldn't easily find an official explanation on the Internet, but B and I have our theories about this.

Those of you who live in New York City have surely noticed that it's almost impossible for deliveries to be made to the bodegas and delis and grocery stores in an efficient manner. There is always some sort of double or triple parking going on, always not enough workers to quickly move the food. I have often walked past the Morton Williams up here and noticed many, many large boxes piled with food just sitting in front of the store waiting to be taken to the storage underground. And yes, I have seen frozen dairy products (frozen yogurt) sitting out in the sun. In other parts of the nation, the dairy products move directly from their refrigerated truck and into the refrigerated storage in the grocery store with less than two minutes spent out in the heat of the day. That's simply not possible in New York City, thus, your milk is probably going to go bad before it would in Albany.

Another interesting thing about New York City milk, unrelated to this expiration date issue, is that the price of milk is regulated by the city. They recalibrate the price monthly, and last June the price of a gallon of milk was supposed to be no more than $3.93. Of course, this may be the law but very few grocers actually follow it. I know I pay more than that for a gallon of milk on a regular basis.

New York City is a weird place. We pay too much for milk here despite the law regulating the price, and the milk expires much quicker than elsewhere. I'm sure I'll come up with a billion more posts about why living in New York City is so strange in the next couple of years. In the meantime, I've got some milk that needs to be taken care of before it goes bad...

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Calendar

This is something I think all of our houseguests notice as soon as they walk into our apartment. I mean, who in the world actually buys and proudly displays a squirrel calendar? Oh right, that would be me. And apparently other people do too because I've had no problem acquiring these squirrel calendars for the past two years.

Here is the squirrel from May, in all his fuzzy little glory. As I was saying to B earlier when I was taking the picture of this thing, "This calendar is like porn for me." To which he replied, "That is definitely the sign of a serious problem." Whatever, he bought this latest calendar for me. Either for my birthday or Christmas. They're only 24 days apart and sometimes it's hard to remember which gift came from which event.

I am very sad to think that I will have to pack up this squirrel calendar soon, and even sadder to think that by the time I unpack it it will already be November and I will have missed out on a full five months of squirrel porn. For this reason, I am actually thinking that I'll take the calendar with me, and hang it where we happen to be at the moment.

Home is where the squirrel calendar is, right? That is how the saying goes?