Movie Astronomers

On Friday, N and J went to see the new Thor movie. I wish I could have come because I like watching movies with them but J said that they don't allow dogs in the movie theatre. I am apparently allowed on the bus here but not allowed to see a movie. I guess I will have to wait until they get it on dvd.

Anyway, I digress. After the movie, J and N were discussing the difference between movie astrophysicists and real astrophysicists. In the movie, the two main astrophysicist characters are shown to know how to detect gravitational anomalies using weird instruments and create essentially worm holes at a whim.  J mentioned that when Hollywood wants to depict a character to be really smart they always go for an astrophysicist. N said that she found it funny that she is an astrophysicist and she has no idea what the heck they were doing in the movie. Granted she does study a small part of the spectrum of astrophysics, but that brings up another point. The general public will assume that because you are an astrophysicist that you know everything about the subject. Unfortunately that is not the case. I asked N once when peanut butter came into existence within the universe and she said she had no idea.

On the other hand, there is a large portion of the public that has no idea what Astrophysics is. Most times when N or J say what they are they either get a blank stare or get asked questions about the most recent astro news on TV....which usually has nothing to do with what they do. It is a bit better with shows like The Big Bang theory, however we generally don't get to see what Kuthrapoli does. Likewise the public image of astrophysics is people working at a telescope or working on space missions, however there are many less high profile people who just work at computers producing simulations or theories for the observers to confirm or deny. And there are observers who never set foot on a telescope site because their telescopes are in space beaming back pretty pictures...and some not so pretty pictures. Unfortunately, not all observations look like Hubble observations. Some of the most powerful observations come from the squiggly lines of spectra.

Where am I going with this...oh ya. I guess what I wanted to say was that from living with these two astronomers I have found out that some parts of astronomy can be pretty boring...like making tables and figures...but the results and the chance to find something that nobody has seen before is what keeps them going. And I plan to help them in any way I can...unless I am sleeping, or eating, or dreaming about eating, or gnawing on my toys.

Speaking of gnawing, I know I left my rawhide around here somewhere...

Comfy Spot

When we moved here to Leeds, our stuff did not follow very quickly. I am told that it will arrive this Friday but until it arrives, I have had to find new comfy places to sleep. I had several favourite spots where I would snooze. These included two separate corners, my pillows and N's pillow. There are several things that make a good place to sleep including proximity, environment and of course comfiness.

Here is my guide for finding the most comfy spot to sleep.

1. All spots are viable spots. It does not matter if a spot is currently occupied, it is still a viable spot.

2. Depending on the time of year, consider whether you want to be cool or warm. In the case of cool, the best places include hard wood and tile floors. For warm, try to find a pillow or blanket to lie on. Even better is to find a human to snuggle up against or around.

3. Proximity to your humans is key. If you can try to be as close as possible while still maintaining comfort. If you have more than one human that you are looking after, try to make sure that you are in between them. If you you are trying to be cool/warm and this requires you to be in a different room, make sure that you can see your humans.

4. Comfiness is key. Soft pillows are the best. Especially if they already are being used. My favourite spot is N's pillow, curled around her head. Sometimes I will curl around and lie my head on hers or on her neck. If you cannot fit on a pillow with your human's head, then the next best place is on their chest or at their feet.

I have lost three of my four favourite spots from London. Two because we no longer have hardwood floors and the other because my pillows have not arrived (that will change on Friday I guess). I do still have Nicole's pillow and I guess it has been adequate, but I will enjoy my pillows and the actual bed once they arrive.

Baked beans on toast

Listening to N and J, there seem to be some very interesting food combinations here. They have mentioned Toad in the Hole which sounds like a game rather than a food, bangers and mash which sounds kinda like a heavy metal band, and the other day N had a Breakfast Pasty which had sausage, egg and baked beans in it. N says that a traditional english breakfast seems to include baked beans which for most back in Canada would think is weird. N did too until she had that Pasty. It was apparently pretty good. I would not know since I was not there when she had it...maybe next time.

But this brings me to the point of this post. Back in Canada, there were several times when N would make baked beans on toast and J thought that she was absolutely nuts. She had no idea where it came from just that her mom had made it and it was really good. For those wondering, baked beans on toast is quite literally baked beans (i.e., heinz or whatever) on bread, with a slice of cheese melted on top. Sounds a bit weird, but I would eat it....but I digress.

Yes, back to the point again. So J thought N was nuts but today she was vindicated....it seems that beans on toast (without the cheese) is an English dish. I guess this means that she was meant to come here...or at least will fit in a bit better. Beans on toast, not so weird here! Interestingly J has apparently come full circle as his great grandparents are actually from the Yorkshire area which is where Leeds is. So both of them were meant to be here. Me, I am just cute so I am meant to be anywhere. 

And for those of you who are wondering and don't know, Toad in the Hole is sausages and Yorkshire pudding, a pasty is a baked pastry with a filling (i.e., sausage, egg and baked beans), and bangers and mash are sausages and mashed potatoes. 

Alice

As promised (although a little later than originally thought) here is the story of the epic battle with Alice.

First some context. Alice was a spider with a large body about the size of a jeans button. The body was fairly bulbous and it had spots on it. At first, Alice was living on its web which was above the flower bush and generally only came out at night. However a few weeks ago we had a torrential downpour and Alice went missing...until J spied her (not sure if it is a her but since we are calling it Alice I will say her) on latch of the gate. She had made a new home! Unfortunately it was not in a good place as J knew he would have to get rid of it so that N would not freak.

Now for those of you who may not know, spider killing requires the right set of tools. As described in the earlier post, for house spiders, the proper tools is a vacuum. Outside, apparently, the proper tools are a garden weeder (the hand weeders that dig out the weeds), gardening gloves and a pot.

J's initial strategy was to stab the spider with the weeder and hopefully kill it. Unfortunately things did not go quite as planned as I watched from the safety of N's arms on the stoop. The battle started with J jabbing at Alice and Alice falling....and then climbing right back up to the latch on her web. J tried a couple more times, but it seemed that the stabbing method was not going to work. N suggested trying to flick Alice onto the street, but J couldn't get the right angle. It was suggested to try and jab then cut the web and step on it, but J didn't want to step on it for fear of the squish it would make. N suggested using a nearby flower pot instead. So finally, with blood lust in his eyes J jabbed at Alice again and while she was dazed, knocked her to the ground and squished her with the pot. J: 1, Alice: 0.

Once may ask what was the function of the gardening gloves. I have many theories about that. The obvious is that if Alice had gotten bold and jumped on J's hand, she would have been on the glove, not actually his hand. The second is that it was cold and therefore they were needed to maintain dexterity in the hand holding the weeder. However, I know the real reason....one always needs to be fashionable and these are all the rage in outdoor spider killing fashion.

Til next time, stay fluffy!

Spiders vs Vacuums

As you may recall, I like playing with spiders. They make very interesting objects to hunt however they don't seem to do well when I eat them. Back in London, I only encountered a couple spiders (and a couple houseflies that didn't last long once I got them) but here we have encountered at least half a dozen in the house in the last week. And that doesn't include the one that was hanging out on the flower bush outside (J called him Alice. Alice is dead now after an epic battle involving a hand weeder and a pot. I will leave that story for another time).

All of the spiders that J and N have found in the house have been ones with really small bodies and really long legs. They seem to like to hang out in the corners near the ceiling. The first one they found was in the bed room up near the door. J named him Frank. At first I thought that they were going to get me to go after it. I have to admit that I liked the idea of the hunt again, but there was no way I was going to get up there to go after it. J couldn't even reach it! So I was a bit curious as to how they were going to deal with it. Just a note, neither J nor N like spiders. 

Later that day, I learned how they planned to deal with it. A small portable vacuum that has a long extendable hose. I am sad to say that Frank met his demise to the vacuum before I was able to play with him. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, Frank was not the only one. In the same corner there has been Frank Jr and Frank Jr Jr. There have been a couple in the lounge down stairs. And last night there was a HUGE one (legspanwise ....laid flat the span would have been larger than my paw!) moseying its way up the wall. The most amusing one (although N would not agree) was the one that N found crawling on her sweatshirt when she was trying to put it on. That resulted in a scream and the sweatshirt being thrown to the ground. That one ended up escaping but we may have gotten it some other time. 

So at the end of the day the lesson for the spiders trying to make homes in our house: Beware of J and the vacuum!

Puppy abroad

So it has been quite a while and much has happened. I promise that I will try to not let things go quite as long as it has been, but perhaps after you hear what has been happening the last 8 months you will forgive me.

As the title of this post suggests, I am now a world traveller. Hello from Leeds UK! How did I end up here? Well lets go back in time. 

Back in the fall of 2012, N was approaching the end of her PhD and thus had to start applying for jobs so that she could keep me in all the designer puppy toys and such... She says it so that we could all still enjoy stuff but really its just about the puppy stuff. Anyway, she applied for many things but rejections were abound. Then in February she applied to a position in Leeds on the urging of the person offering the job (N had met her at a conference that she went to in Japan in Dec 2012). As you can probably guess, long story short, she got the job and all three of us had to move to Leeds. 

N and J told me that I would become an English pup, but I didn't know what that meant. At first it seemed to mean going to the vet to get some shots and a microchip. That didn't seem too bad. Then it seemed to mean that people would come see the condo for which we had to make sure that we were not there. That wasn't so bad...it meant that I got to go for car rides. Then it seemed that it meant that all of our stuff was getting packed up and taken out of the apartment. That was a little harder to take. I had to make sure I supervised those guys as they bubble wrapped everything up. Had to make sure my toys were safe. Finally though I understood what it meant. On Aug 24, we packed everything else up, drove to the airport in Toronto and then N and J left me in my new strange crate to be packed onto a strange giant tube that was very noisy. I am not sure what all went on because it was dark and noisy. Apparently we were flying across the Atlantic. All I know is that when they opened the doors, I made sure they knew that I was there by barking as much as I could. It seemed to have worked as somebody came and got me and took me to a building where I could run around. A couple hours later, J and N came and collected me. I was so happy to see them. After that we started the rest of our journey to our new home...er well the hotel before we could get our new home. This included a taxi ride and a train ride. It is so nice that I am allowed on trains here. I wasn't allowed in Canada. N and J also tell me that I am allowed on the subway in London and the buses in Leeds. I have not been on either yet, but perhaps they will take me at some point.

Now we are settled in our new home here on the other side of the pond. My toys have not yet arrived though. J and N tell me that they are waiting to be shipped and that when they are they will take some time because unlike us they will be going across by boat. I hope my toys don't get wet. I don't like wet toys...except if it is from me drooling on them.

So the lesson for all puppies out there that live with astronomers as I do, is that once they have gotten their thingy called a PhD, you may end up travelling half way across the world just so they can continue to provide you with all of your luxury dog toys.