Officially, it was embarrassing...

Unofficially, it was still embarrassing! And somewhat annoying when all's said and done...

Well, perhaps the proof isn't always in the pudding, or in the viewing if you've just watched tonight's evening news here in Vermont.

For the 10+ minutes of filming that took place yesterday only a couple of snippets from our interview made it into WCAX-TV's 'The Real Deal' feature, which sought to dispel or explain various urban myths, including the whole "are pigs smarter than cows?" thing.

And, oh my gosh, how did the editor in all his/her wisdom come to pick out that clip we ask ourselves?? Groan...

THE one and only moment when Adam chose to crack a joke (oh yes, we know all about those moments!) is aired, over and above all our other nuggets of expert opinion and scientific fact on the matter. And then, if it wasn't bad enough, one of the pearls that Jayne had dropped into the actual interview about pig intelligence being proven by some to be beyond that of a three year old child, was spewed out on TV by the reporter herself - smashing >:/

15 minutes of fame? You can keep it. 15 seconds is already more than enough for us!

Ah well, Adam has learnt much from this... ONLY if he has something he wants to say about his work, ONLY if he has thought about what he specifically wants to say AND ONLY if he doesn't drag his wife into it should he ever agree to do any TV interview again! Oh, and he should try very hard to avoid cracking jokes about cows and maze/maize ;)

The house build - 25 April

OK, so we are obsessed. We've taken to walking Safi around the build site instead of her usual route - she likes running through the woods there and it's nice to keep an eye on progress. Plus, we're already meeting some of our new neighbours! It's probably safe to say tho' that you're not as excited as we are by every little change...

If you are interested, the concrete's been poured :)

The house build - 22 April

Only 3 days later and there's even more progress to be seen with the house. (It's not that we're obsessed or anything...)

Definitely a lot more wall and roof since the last pics

Definitely looking more like a house

Definitely lots more work still to be done!

Adam sneaks up the temporary stairs next door to get his first peek at the second floor

Adam at the top of our non-existent stairs

The house build - 19 April

Things have been moving on with the house since we visited the site with Mam and Dad T. Here are some pics (ok, lots of pics... sorry) taken 19 April.

The view down Songbird Road - you can see our house being built at the far end on Hummingbird Lane

Our house will be second from the left (as you look at it) in this set of four



Adam walks up what will be our driveway into the garage

Through what will be our front door

The pipes on the left are where the downstairs loo will be - the stairs will go up on the other side of the wooden framing you see to the right - Adam and Saf are standing in the dining area



View from what will be our kitchen into the dining area on right and living room to the left

Some snow still hanging out in the kitchen!

View from dining area through the kitchen, mudroom and garage - Adam is standing somewhere between the office and downstairs loo

The back of the house (Safi did her first poopy in the garden! And yes, Adam scooped it admirably)

View from the office window

View from upstairs

The maze of timbers upstairs - I had no idea where I was standing!

Which are smarter... pigs or cows?

That's the question WCAX-TV asked us yesterday during our interview for the Vermont evening news... I know, very bizarre and rather amusing!

I don't know what's going to be more embarrassing - being on TV talking about pigs being smarter than cows (you know that's the right answer!) or being so bad they cut us altogether... I guess we'll find out between 6 and 7pm tonight ;)

Dr Lock looks thoughtful while talking with Channel 3 news reporter, Kristin Carlson

[Note Mildred in the background, sussing out the tripod... she almost fell over in fright (literally) when the camera man moved it. Now, is that smart?]

Aaah, yes. Now he's off and running...

Stop filming those cows Mr Camera Man, or they'll think they're gonna be in a moooo-vie (oh dear, look who's been on the Ben & Jerrys tour too often)

That's a wrap! Mr Camera Man packs up.

A whale of a tail

Yesterday evening was so nice we decided to take Safi on a mission to find the whale tails we've so often seen whilst driving on I-89. We had a good idea where they were so it wasn't long before we happened upon 'Reverence'...

Reverence is a sculpture created by Jim Sardonis in 1989. The sculpture depicts two tails of whales "diving" into a sea of grass and is meant to symbolize the fragility of the planet. The tails were made from 36 tons of African black granite and stand 12-13 feet tall. The sculpture was originally commissioned by British metals trader David Threlkeld, who was then a resident of Randolph, Vermont.

The evening sun behind the sculpture made for some great silhouette shots... tho' we couldn't get that blackbird to budge from the whale tail furthest to the right!

The Whale Tails are more than just fanciful. Fossils of marine invertebrates found in the Champlain Valley reveal that Vermont was underwater as well during the Paleozoic Era, more than 300 million years ago.

• The last glacier melted away about 12,500 years ago, and the sea poured in. This inland sea was inhabited by many of the animals that inhabit the North Atlantic today, including mollusks, sea urchins, squid, herring, cod, salmon, seals, and belugas.
• In 1849, while constructing a railroad, workmen uncovered the bones of a beluga whale in a swampy area in Charlotte, VT. The fossil beluga is housed in the Perkins Museum at UVM.
• By about 10,000 years ago, the Champlain Valley had risen above sea level. The Valley’s waters drained northward into the St. Lawrence River, which flows north of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.
• Over 20 fossils of ancient beluga whales have been found around Lake Champlain.

Safi was quite oblivious to the whale tails diving around her and enjoyed racing around the grassy trails instead. She took a little breather before making a beeline for the nearest pond... you just can't keep her out of the water these days!

Sugar on snow

On Honors Day we sampled an old Vermont tradition we had previously known nothing about - Sugar on Snow.

On one day each year the university upholds this tradition by serving up boiling maple syrup poured over fresh Vermont snow... hence the name sugar on snow. It just so happened to fall on Honors Day this year so we were lucky enough to learn all about it from Mrs Bickford, sometime between lunch and the awards ceremony.

Imagine the scene... a folk group (www.atlanticcrossingvt.com) is playing lively, cheerful tunes out in the open air, a relaxed throng has gathered in the sunshine - a mixture of students, faculty and visitors to the campus. A gentle breeze circulates the aroma of warm maple syrup, and pickles!

Mrs Bickford enjoyed telling us stories of when she would make sugar on snow as a child, going out to dig fresh snow just for the purpose. Things were much the same here, save for the fact that in this day of health and safety no doubt it was hygienically manufactured crushed ice... we still called it snow tho'.

So, what's the big deal? Well, it was quite a nice thing actually. The hot syrup quickly cools and turns the 'snow' into a sweet slush while it solidifies into something resembling toffee (or taffy as the Americans might refer to it). The key, we were told, is to work the syrup with your trusty little wooden fork so that it becomes a smooth and chewy treat, instead of something like an industrial strength glue that could easily wrench out all your teeth in one fell swoop!

The other part of this tradition is to have a small heap of sour pickles on the side to 'refresh your palate' after all the sugary stickiness... it kinda works nicely, tho Adam didn't venture into the sour side of things.

Just a bit more about the weather we're getting... I think the pics below say it all. Now, where are me flip-flops and self-tanning lotion??

Looking out across the UVM Ag. Engineering parking lot, Mt Mansfield and Camels Hump on the distant horizon

Same parking lot and the landmark UVM water tower

Honors Day

Honors day was Friday. It was a beautiful sunny day, as it has been ever since. Within two days Vermonters have gone from wearing woolly hats and snow gear to shorts and flip flops. Seriously! It's 77degF here right now.

Anyway, in celebration of the grant that Adam and his student Courtney won (see earlier posting) we had lunch with the Dean of the College and Mrs Bickford on Friday before the awards ceremony took place. Afterwards we went out onto the balcony for some pictures...

L to R: Courtney, Rachel Johnson (Dean), Mrs Bickford, Adam

The Dean presents Adam with the Bickford Award in Nurtition and Food Science

Adam chats with Mrs Bickford after the presentations

Congratulations Adam and Courtney.

Habachi Nights

OK, so I've only just got round to downloading photos from our camera from when M&D T visited. By doing so I've also discovered a momentarily forgotten, yet very memorable night out...


One of our first meals out with the folks was to Koto, a Japanese restaurant and habachi grill in town. The food was excellent and the evening was, let's say, more entertaining than your average meal out.

Our habachi chef warms up, beginning with a fast & furious display of tool twirling

[I would have been more impressed if it was knives, not spatulas... some folk are so hard to please -J]

Then the whole place warms up - watch yer eyebrows father!

Time for some food throwing/catching... Adam caught everything chucked at him, Jayne caught nowt (I don't think squishing it between boob and arm counts!), Dad missed altogether and, after a near miss (above)...

... Mumsie had some success with her cunning two-handed chin-to-chest manouvre

Chef starts building up his onion volcano...

Onion inferno

Smokin'

Note to the Lock clan - definitely a must-go place for dinner next time you're over this way!