The Battle of Hastings: incapable allies and lack of martial discipline undo King Harold

In 1066 following the death of King Edward, Harold began and ended his reign as King of England. Several months after the coronation ceremony, both the Norse vikings and King William of Normandy with his army invaded the coasts of England. Harold had originally placed his army on the southern coast to defend against the Norman invassion, then marched North when the vikings invaded first and prooved too much for his northern allies. The vikings were soon crushed, and none too soon as William and his army landed at Susseux. After a swift march South, Harold met with William outside of Hastings and battle ensued.

Despite marching all over the countryside and back and being forced to take a defensive possition, Harold had the advantage as he held the high ground with a narrow avenue of approach. William needed a swift victory or else Harold would continue to muster his army. The Norman archers, heavy infantry and cavalry attacked the hill and could not break the defenders' shield wall for much of the day. To make the story brief, the line only failed after small groups of Harold's army, most of them not professional soldiers, continually broke rank to persue fleeing enemies and then were in turn isolated and destroyed. Harold himself was eventually killed.

Thus bagan the Norman rule of England.

Animal of the Week: Dendrobates leucomelas

Dendrobates leucomelas, or the bumble bee dart frog, comes in orange or yellow with highly variable patterns of black spots and bands. This frog originates in northern South America, mostly Venezuela. They are non-toxic in captivity, due to a change in diet, and make great pets as long as you have a steady source of food for them. They will eat any small insects and I have found they prefer Drosophila melanogaster or similar sized morsels. Also of note to those who might want to keep them, they do require calcium supplements or they will suffer neurological malfunctions, possibly leading to death. I would suggest not feeding them ants of the subfamily Formicinae, as these ants are the suspected source of precursor molecules used to manufacture toxins.

Paintball

I found a great video of the game I took the guys to back in May:



This one is from the field we will visit in October:



That's about as extreme a sport can get.

Daily Feeding Ritual

Here we see Tuco and Donatello feasting on vitamin-dusted Drosophila hydei. Tuco actually prefers the smaller D. melanogaster, but he will eat either.

We keep the following animals at our house:

1 Hyla regilla

1 Dendrobates leucomelas

2 Mantidae

1 Tegenaria sp.

~1000 Drosophila melanogaster

~50 Drosophila hydei

2 half-pint Homo sapiens

Animal of the Week: Hyla regilla

Hyla regilla, or the Pacific Tree Frog, is common along the pacific coast from northern California to Washington, but also ranges South to Baja California, East to Idaho and Montana, and North to Canada.

In my youth I kept one as a pet. His name was Fred. Just today Jenny found one at church, so we added him to our vivarium at home. Thomy named him Donatello.

Multiple color morphs exist, mostly brown to green, but also sparkly golden and a rare blue form.

Thomy's First Day at Preschool

Thomy now goes to Mi Escuelita, a new bilingual preschool here in Newberg. Here are some pictures from his first day.

Horsees

Thanks Nana and Papa for taking us horse-riding.

Animal of the Week: Morphidae

One of my most memorable moments in insect collecting was riding down the Rio Tambopata in a small motor-driven craft on a rainy day swinging nets at these blue beauties. They were an uncommon sight under the canopy and I did not expect to see them that day since most insects take cover during rainstorms, but for some reason we found them flying up and down the bank of the river (actually it was a tributary of Tambopata called Aguas Negras). Gavin and I caught three or four in a short time. They really are beautiful.

Morphidae is the family containing these large, metallic blue butterflies, Morpho being the genus.

Nana's Favorite Jeff Trick

Boys Doing Homework

I wanted to post a picture of Thomy and Jeff doing their homework. Here it is:

Thomy also wanted to write something on my blog, so here he goes:

ihpqnmtoyyaxmb 1234567890

Jeff always has to copy his brother:

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Ta-ta for now.

Long-lost Friend

I broke down and created my very own Facebook profile, but I did it with a specific intention: to hunt down my old friend Ben Anderson. I still had some difficulty but achieved my goal in the end. I hope he doesn't mind if I link to his Facebook photo here.

Ben is on the left in the blue shirt. He and I met when his family moved in next door to us. I must have been about three years old, and I remember showing off my Hotwheel tricycle when he and his brother first came over. Ben and I spent the next fourteen years or so as best friends until he moved to Arkansas and we lost contact. Facebook has paid off and I will now promise to criticize it less than before. It was nice to talk to you again, Ben.

Swimming and Dinner

Jenny and I took the kids to family swim time at the public pool yesterday. We all had fun, but Jeff was disappointed when we wouldn't let him go down the water slide.

We also went to the park where Jeff learned a new trick and insisted on having no help.

Later that evening we had the Masjuan family over for dinner. A few other people ended up on the invitee list as well.

We ate arros verde, pasta primavera and crepes for desert.

Hood-to-coast 2009

I participated in the Hood-to-coast relay race this year for the first time. After working all night previous to the race and sleeping only four hours the night before that, I was very tired. For me, the race was more an exercise in will power to stay awake. But now I have a couple of photographs and a medal to prove I did it.