No, it's not another astronut diaper post. I gotta get outta here. Have needed to for quite a while. I'm not stopping blogging (I think), but in order not to do that, I need a change of scenery. Y'all are most welcome to come with me, to my new little place. This blog was kind of like my dreamhouse, my big farmhouse with the wraparound porch. But it's been the scene of some crimes, and the maintenance costs have gotten too high, and coming here doesn't make me happy any more, so I gotta go. I might come back here some day, after some major renovations are done; I don't know. But until I figure that out, I'm moving across town to a little cottage. Fewer bells and whistles, and not much hanging on the walls yet, but with help I'll try to make it homey and welcoming. Thanks for visiting me here. I hope you'll come with me to the new place.

You'll see when you come over, I've moved some old furniture in there. I may eventually move all my old posts there. It's a pain, though, you know? Anyhow, I already have a new post up there.

Why are you still here?

When I'm wrong, I don't mind admitting it. I reported some news here back in February that, turns out, was in error. I really don't want to send you all out into the world with misinformation. So here's the real poop news:

ORLANDO, Fla. - Former astronaut Lisa Nowak didn't wear diapers during her 950-mile road trip to confront a romantic rival, her lawyer said Friday, disputing one of the more bizarre details to emerge from the NASA love triangle.

"The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has been told is that my client drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, nonstop, wearing a diaper," Donald Lykkebak said after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak's criminal case. "That is an absolute fabrication."

The tidbit that Nowak wore diapers during her trip was written in the police report filed after Nowak's arrest in February.

"I then asked Mrs. Nowak why she had baby diapers," according to the charging affidavit written by Officer William "Chris" Becton. "Mrs. Nowak said that she didn't want to stop and use the restroom, so she used the diapers to collect her urine."

There were toddler-size diapers in her car when she was arrested, but they were several years old, Lykkebak said. Nowak and her family had used them when Houston was evacuated in 2005 during Hurricane Rita, he said.

The diaper detail became fodder for late-night TV comics and talk radio and even inspired an episode of the NBC show "Law & Order."

"It jeopardizes our ability to have a fair trial when the accused is the butt of jokes," Lykkebak said.

UPDATE (7/9): Thanks for the guesses. We went to Vermont. More details here in the comments. It will take me a few days to sort through all the pix and get more up on flickr. My flickr badge is still not welcome in my sidebar for some reason, so if you want to check for more photos, just click on any one posted here and it will take you to my flickr place. (I've never invited you to my flickr place before, have I? This is a new level of commitment for us.)

I'm baaaa-aaack. I promised y'all I'd show you some pix and see if you could guess where I went. Slight glitch in that plan. I used a new camera (a gift received over a year ago, and just now getting the energy/wherewithal to really try it) and I didn't know what I was doing, and I ended up with some really bad pix. In fact, I'm quite bummed out about it because we went to a very lovely place and the photos don't do it justice at all. I had the settings screwed up; I hope the new fancy camera will do better when I learn it better. As it stands now, I can take better pix with my 3.3 megapixel dinosaur camera, when I'm drunk, than I can with the new one. End of camera whine. It was a really nice vacation. WTF went along, but only overpowered me for one night and one afternoon. The rest of the time, I maintained the upper hand. So. Here's some of what we saw. You ever seen this place?

Some of the first things we noticed were the unusual (to us) road signs. This is a place where the signs are (mostly) clear and to the point:









OK, the above? That one tickled us. We had never seen it before, but Jif and I understood it, didn't think much of it, didn't comment. LG didn't get it, though:

LG: What is that a picture of?
Jif: What?
LG: They're telling us "do not run over . . ." something, but what is it we're not supposed to run over? What's the other thing on that sign, besides the car?
Jif: No, that's a cocktail. A martini. It means don't drink and drive.
LG: Oooohhhh. I thought it meant, like, don't run over your giant drink. Because if you do, you'll have to clean up the mess. And that is strictly enforced. The clean-up part, I mean.


There are LOTS of these where we went:


And quite a few places to do this:


And lovely farms with rolling hills:


This man made me cry on July 4th, because he read the entire Declaration of Independence, in a clear, passionate voice, and it was very moving. I'd never heard it read before. He said that in the 19th century, no July 4th celebration was complete without a reading of the Declaration. What a great tradition! How have I missed that? Why don't we have more of that?


The place where we went is rather well known for its cow products, among other things:


See the little enclosed porch that comes out over the river? We had lunch there! Beautiful and delicious. A famous potter and glass-blower has his shops there.


And this is a gorge. Gorge-ous. Near where we stayed.


Guesses? I'll tell you soon, and I'll put up more (sucky) pix as I get time. Missed you guys. Hope you had a good holiday. xxx