Pigeon story

Posted in superdove, pigeons on November 19th, 2008

One of the fun things about giving talks and interviews about my book has been hearing stories about pigeons from other people. Though we usually hear negative things about pigeons in the media, I’ve been surprised at how many people have had really positive experiences with them–whether it was taking care of their uncle’s homing pigeons, or finding a baby pigeon on the street and helping it. Here’s a little note I got from a reader with a lovely pigeon story:

<meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR" /><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em>Dear Ms Humphries,</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> I am reading Superdove with great pleasure….and have a pigeon story for you. I worked at an urban daycare center in Albany, New York in the early 1970’s. One cold winter morning a child brought in a wounded pigeon, which had a mangled foot and a puncture wound of some sort under its wing. We kept it warm in the kitchen for the day and I took it home that evening.</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> Before I went to bed I lifted it out of the box to clean its bedding, and set it on the floor some feet away where it watched me with bright eyes. I then sat on the laundry room floor with one hand dangling over my crossed ankles and just watched this lovely gray creature for a moment. Then it hopped on its one good foot over to me, right by my hand, leaned forward and stroked my hand three times. Then it hopped a few more steps and squatted under my knee.</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> The next morning it was lying dead in its box.</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> I have loved pigeons ever since, so thank you for writing this book.</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> Sincerely,</em></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><em> Barb Richsad</em></p> <p>I’d love to hear more pigeon stories, good or bad! </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=35#respond" title="Comment on Pigeon story"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=35" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=35" dc:title="Pigeon story" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=35" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-34"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=34" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Adapting to Doritos">Adapting to Doritos</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on October 27th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>A friend sent me a link to this <a target="_blank" href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z2dyM2Buqs">news report</a> on a seagull in Aberdeen, Scotland that has become a serial thief of a local convenience store, shoplifting 20 bags of Tangy Cheese Doritos over several weeks. It’s not only cute and charming, but an example of how certain species are able to adapt incredibly well to humans–and of the strange ways they find to do it. I especially like the cameo by a pigeon at the end. </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=34#respond" title="Comment on Adapting to Doritos"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=34" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=34" dc:title="Adapting to Doritos" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=34" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-31"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=31" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Where the baby pigeons are">Where the baby pigeons are</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on September 22nd, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p><img id="image33" alt="baby pigeons.jpg" src="http://www.chumphries.org/blog///mnt/w0605/d40/s42/b0131718/www/superdove//wp-content/uploads/2008/09/baby%20pigeons.jpg" />If I were to compile a list of frequently asked questions about pigeons, one of the top entries would be: “where are all the baby pigeons?”</p> <p>The easy answer to the question is: the baby pigeons are in their nests. After hatching, pigeons spend a long time in their nests—about a month—growing and getting fed by their parents, until they finally leave the nest, or fledge. Pigeon nests are tucked away in many corners of the city, particularly on ledges and windowsills, under bridges, over awnings, and lots of other surfaces that are reasonably protected. It’s difficult to see a newborn pigeon chick in the “wild” of the city (the ones I’ve seen were all housed in lofts readily accessible by people). But it’s actually quite possible to see a very young pigeon if you keep your eyes open.</p> <p>Even when you can’t see them, you can sometimes hear them. I was recently on a visit to Denver and walked through the archway of an open-air pavilion downtown, when I was treated to a chorus of baby pigeon squeaks. I looked up and saw that the inner ledge of the pavilion was home to perhaps a half a dozen busy pigeon nests; the tails of the parents waved back and forth as they leaned in to the nests to feed their chicks.</p> <p>Once their feathers fill out, young pigeons are able to sit in the nests by themselves while their parents go off to find food. In my neighborhood in Boston, I’ve seen these youngsters lounging on ledges under windows or on top of air conditioners. Although they are in plain view, someone glancing quickly might mistake them for regular adult pigeons.</p> <p>After they leave the nest, you can often see a new fledge bird with its parents. The fledglings look very similar to adult pigeons, but they still have that slightly bulky black beak without a white growth, or cere, on top, and they are often small and thin, with delicate feet that are grayish-pink, not bright red. They peck the ground tentatively, watching their parents as examples, and are more skittish when people approach.</p> <p>Sometimes I see young pigeons on streets or in parks that are clearly just shy of this fledgling stage. They have left the nest too early or been abandoned, or perhaps lost their parents. I’ve read that orphan fledglings can often survive by begging for food from other adults nearby or simply picking up the normal feeding strategies of pigeons. But I’ve seen several young birds that obviously are not going to be successful. I saw another one in the Boston Public Garden recently. Although it looked like a pigeon in form, it didn’t act like one. Instead it stood still under the shade of a tree, back hunched and black feathers flared as if it were cold, and simply watched the other pigeons. It didn’t wander around pecking for food or snaps its neck back and forth. It could only wait for food from its parents, which did not seem to be around. To me, this pigeon stood out like a sore in the park, but no one else noticed it as they passed on the nearby path.</p> <p>So the other answer to the question of where the baby pigeons are is: right under our noses. They are not trailing behind their parents in a cute line like ducklings, but they are learning the ways of pigeonhood—or failing to learn them—in plain view. </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=31#respond" title="Comment on Where the baby pigeons are"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=31" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=31" dc:title="Where the baby pigeons are" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=31" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-30"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=30" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Squab on Gourmet.com">Squab on Gourmet.com</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on September 8th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>An <a target="_blank" title="The Pigeon and the Plate" href="http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/09/eating-pigeons">article</a> I wrote about squab for Gourmet.com discusses the history of pigeons as food (and even the question of whether we should be eating all those birds on the street). It was fun for me to interview Barbara Lynch, the chef at No9 Park where I had my first taste of squab. </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=30#respond" title="Comment on Squab on Gourmet.com"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=30" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=30" dc:title="Squab on Gourmet.com" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=30" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-29"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=29" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Squabventure in Chinatown">Squabventure in Chinatown</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on September 4th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>I’ve been wanting to try the squab in Boston’s Chinatown for a while, but hadn’t made it down there for various reasons. It’s not easy convincing people to go out to dinner to eat pigeon, but I recently had a friend visiting who is a very agreeable person, and she was game. We went to the Best Little Restaurant in Chinatown, which is not the best place for atmosphere but is authentic enough not to have a sign in English outside.</p> <p>I ordered the crispy fried squab, which is a specialty. What I got was….a crispy fried squab. No dressing up this bird! It came without sauce or garnish, just cut into a few pieces, one of which was a crispy fried head. I took a picture on my cell phone but I have yet to figure out how to get the pictures off it; if I do I’ll post it. The skin was great, nice and crisp with a sweet-sour glaze, the meat was dense and slightly dry. I realized how little meat a pigeon has; much of my time was spent rooting through the bones looking for morsels. It may have been a particularly small bird, though; the squab producer I’ve talked with told me that restaurants that sell squab under $15 are making very little profit margin and tend to buy smaller, less expensive birds.</p> <p>I had no problems eating the squab at first, but as we made our way through all the pieces, I started to feel a little…uneasy? Eventually all that was left was the golden-brown bald head alone on the plate, its neck vertebrae curling out, with a black spot where the eye had been. I am not good at eating in the presence of heads. The best experience I had with this is when I was young and attended a Native American deer dinner in which the skull of the deer sat on a table in the room–I believe there was some kind of offering made out of respect to the deer. Perhaps I needed something similar for my pigeon. </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=29#respond" title="Comment on Squabventure in Chinatown"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=29" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=29" dc:title="Squabventure in Chinatown" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=29" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-28"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=28" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to NY Times Book Review!">NY Times Book Review!</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts in superdove" rel="category tag">superdove</a>, <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on September 2nd, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>A really nice and thoughtful <a target="_blank" title="The Un-Bird" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/books/review/Royte-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin">review </a>of Superdove in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=28#respond" title="Comment on NY Times Book Review!"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=28" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=28" dc:title="NY Times Book Review!" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=28" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-27"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=27" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Interview in USA Today">Interview in USA Today</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts in superdove" rel="category tag">superdove</a>, <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on August 21st, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>An <a title="'Superdove' scribe sees grace, beauty in unlikely source" target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2008-08-20-superdove-pigeons-humphries_N.htm">interview</a> with me is in today’s USA Today, complete with photo of me and pigeons (I will never stop being “pigeon girl,” will I?). </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=27#respond" title="Comment on Interview in USA Today"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=27" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=27" dc:title="Interview in USA Today" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=27" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-26"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=26" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to More Superdove on the radio….">More Superdove on the radio….</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts in superdove" rel="category tag">superdove</a>, <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on August 19th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>I had a brief <a title="Pigeon, aka Superdove" target="_blank" href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2008/08/18/segments/106088">appearance</a> on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate show while I was in New York. Lots of questions about squab! </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=26#comments" title="Comment on More Superdove on the radio....">2 Comments »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=26" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=26" dc:title="More Superdove on the radio…." trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=26" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-25"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=25" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Pigeons as ice-breaker">Pigeons as ice-breaker</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts in superdove" rel="category tag">superdove</a>, <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on August 19th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" /><title /><meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR" /><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style></p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in"> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in"><em>This post was originally written for the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.chumphries.org/blog/wp-admin/Gather.com">Gather.com</a> community. </em></p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">“Oh, you’re writing a book! What’s it about?”</p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">“Well, it’s about…..pigeons.”</p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">I’ve reenacted this exchange in countless cocktail party conversations since I began writing this book a couple of years ago (and even before then, when I was busily working on the idea and proposal for the book). I had to explain to many, many people—friends, family, co-workers, in-laws, strangers—that I was working on a book about a bird that many people consider to be mere vermin, if they’ve considered it at all.</p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">Reactions varied greatly. Some people laughed. Others nodded and smiled vaguely and changed the subject. One or two seemed as impressed as if I’d said I was writing about Abraham Lincoln. An elderly gentleman told me I didn’t look like a pigeon writer, which I took as a compliment. Most people were politely skeptical but also curious. The more I repeated this exchange, the more I began to find a perverse pleasure in seeing how people would react. The pigeon book became a sort of litmus test of my social interactions.</p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">What surprised me is that, after giving it a little thought, most people had many things to say about pigeons—and a lot to ask. Even those who were skeptical at first might end up peppering me with questions after I explained a little more about the project. Pigeons aren’t a subject that most people devote time to thinking about. But we’ve all seen them, so we all have impressions, overlooked memories, and back-of-the-mind thoughts about them.</p> <p style="text-indent: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in">Watching people gradually unearth these hidden ideas and opinions is one of the pleasures of writing a book about a commonplace animal. I heard about the pigeons that plagued people’s apartment buildings, the homing pigeons their father kept when they were kids, the time they were frightened by a mass of pigeons in Venice, the bird with the broken wing they saw and worried about. People have many different associations with pigeons—as birds, as pests, as pets, as food—and seeing these played out in party conversations was instructive. And now that I’ve finished the book, I’m starting to realize how much I’ve grown to depend on pigeons as my own personal ice-breaker.</p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=25#respond" title="Comment on Pigeons as ice-breaker"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=25" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=25" dc:title="Pigeons as ice-breaker" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=25" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <!-- uncomment the "by admin to put the author's name on the post --> <div class="post"> <h2 id="post-24"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=24" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Reassessing the Pigeon on NPR’s On Point">Reassessing the Pigeon on NPR’s On Point</a></h2> <small>Posted in <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts in superdove" rel="category tag">superdove</a>, <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in pigeons" rel="category tag">pigeons</a> on August 13th, 2008 <!-- by admin --></small> <div class="entry"> <p>I had a great time talking with Jane Clayson on <a target="_blank" title="Reassessing the Pigeon" href="http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/08/superdove/">this morning’s On Point</a>; we had some fun caller stories! </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=24#respond" title="Comment on Reassessing the Pigeon on NPR's On Point"> Leave A Comment »</a></p> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=24" dc:identifier="http://chumphries.org/blog/?p=24" dc:title="Reassessing the Pigeon on NPR’s On Point" trackback:ping="/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=24" /> </rdf:RDF></div> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/index.php?paged=2">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/index.php?paged=2"></a></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar"> <ul> <li> <form method="get" id="searchform" action="/blog/index.php"> <div><input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form> </li> <!-- <li><h2>Author</h2> <p>See the <a href="all-about-robin.php">All About Robin</a> page for more information about me!</p> </li> --> <li> </li> <li class="pagenav"><h2>Pages</h2><ul><li class="page_item"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?page_id=2" title="About Courtney Humphries">About Courtney Humphries</a></li> <li class="page_item"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?page_id=8" title="Superdove in the News">Superdove in the News</a></li> </ul></li> <li><h2>Archives</h2> <ul> <li><a href='http://chumphries.org/blog/?m=200811' title='November 2008'>November 2008</a></li> <li><a href='http://chumphries.org/blog/?m=200810' title='October 2008'>October 2008</a></li> <li><a href='http://chumphries.org/blog/?m=200809' title='September 2008'>September 2008</a></li> <li><a href='http://chumphries.org/blog/?m=200808' title='August 2008'>August 2008</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><h2>Categories</h2> <ul> <li><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts filed under pigeons">pigeons</a> (16) </li> <li><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?cat=2" title="View all posts filed under superdove">superdove</a> (13) </li> </ul> </li> <li id="linkcat-2"><h2>My Links</h2> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.chumphries.org">My Website</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <table id="wp-calendar"> <caption>January 2009</caption> <thead> <tr> <th abbr="Monday" scope="col" title="Monday">M</th> <th abbr="Tuesday" scope="col" title="Tuesday">T</th> <th abbr="Wednesday" scope="col" title="Wednesday">W</th> <th abbr="Thursday" scope="col" title="Thursday">T</th> <th abbr="Friday" scope="col" title="Friday">F</th> <th abbr="Saturday" scope="col" title="Saturday">S</th> <th abbr="Sunday" scope="col" title="Sunday">S</th> </tr> </thead> <tfoot> <tr> <td abbr="November" colspan="3" id="prev"><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?m=200811" title="View posts for November 2008">« Nov</a></td> <td class="pad"> </td> <td colspan="3" id="next" class="pad"> </td> </tr> </tfoot> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="pad"> </td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td><td>6</td><td id="today">7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>11</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td><td>13</td><td>14</td><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>17</td><td>18</td> </tr> <tr> <td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>25</td> </tr> <tr> <td>26</td><td>27</td><td>28</td><td>29</td><td>30</td><td>31</td> <td class="pad" colspan="1"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <ul> <li><h2>Technorati</h2></li> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://technorati.com/embed/8i45nj9kcp.js"> </script> <li><h2>Meta</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/blog/wp-register.php">Register</a></li> <li><a href="/blog/wp-login.php">Login</a></li> <li><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer" title="This page validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional">Valid <abbr title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language">XHTML</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/"><abbr title="XHTML Friends Network">XFN</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="http://wordpress.org/" title="Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.">WordPress</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <hr /> <div id="footer"> <p class="center"> The Strangest Sea is proudly powered by <a href="http://wordpress.org">WordPress</a> <br /><a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?feed=rss2">Entries (RSS)</a> and <a href="http://chumphries.org/blog/?feed=comments-rss2">Comments (RSS)</a>. <!-- 42 queries. 0.768 seconds. --> </p> </div> </div> <!-- Design by Robin Hastings - http://www.rhastings.net/ --> </body> </html>