I have not been eaten by a kitten

Despite rumors to the contrary, I have not been eaten by a kitten. The kitten is getting bigger, but she is not yet big enough to eat me. When she gets that big, I will wrap myself in cellophane to thwart her people-eating tendencies. I have heard that this works.

This blog has been quiet for a while, though my camera has not. I have literally hundreds of pics from the drive across America (new readers: I just moved from San Francisco area to Minneapolis) and I have many lovely pics of my new state, including Itasca State Park with the beginning of fall color last weekend. I am going to reconfigure the blog a little bit in the next couple of weeks, and it will become a wildlife blog focused on observing the behavior of Minnesotans in their natural environment (this would be out in the country, or inside a restaurant consuming Hot Dish). If I can find the resources, I may tranquilize a couple of Minnesotans, attach radio collars, and track their movements, though I am told this may be illegal under some obscure legislation.

We had an F2 tornado in my new town, Blaine, yesterday. A house got ripped apart. My place was fine, but we had quite a scare. The Minnesotans appeared to have some advance knowledge of the storm, as several of them were seen busily cramming boxes of fruit into the corners of their garages to make room for their cars. It appears the Minnesotan has an aversion to hail damage. Contrast this to the Californian, who, when hail appears, says, "dude, hail!" and proceeds to stare for the duration of the downfall.

It is a clear blue sunny day here on the first full day of fall, birds chirping, squirrels rummaging, and gigantic old trees uprooted and lying askew in the road. As they say at the airport, Welcome to Minnesota.