First off, it was pointed out to me that I missed a state on the map this morning. And yep, that's where Minneapolis is, so Minnesota has been added, for a total of 22 states visited.

You know what's really odd? Right now, for the life of me, I cannot remember how I got to the Twin Cities. By car, bus or plane? Do remember they have a great bus system, and a riverboat permanently moored below the bridge. And terribly clean streets, and a glass walkway across a downtown lane.

But no idea how I got there. A double-ruby moment, I guess.

Some noticed my dearth of visits east of the Mississippi, and suggested that is something that I might want to remedy.

Well, other than a bunch of diarists I would like to visit and a host of historical sites, museums and places significant in my family's history, that country is chock full of trees, people and traffic. So... why?

Okay, okay. So some experimentation with true urbanization and suburbanization might be enlightening. And I am sure there are wonderful habitats to look at and enjoy. But unless you got a bunch of places where you can sit down and know there is not another human being for at least ten miles in any direction, it's gonna feel awfully crowded.

A couple notes to clarify my clarification on the use and enjoyment of my photographs. To Julie: No, I have no problems with you using my Teton bison photo (or any others) for your desktop. And I have no idea what the etiquette for this would be, but I thank you for asking (as well as the others who did so). Since "etiquette" tends to mean "a standard set of rules of behavior accepted by the majority", I'm not sure such a thing exists on the internet in general, and with online journals specifically. Denver Doug was kind enough to ask my permission before even adding a link to my journal in his own, which I consider horribly polite and civil. Yet I have never done the same when posting links, and have just now linked to him without his permission.

Is that unethical? I don't know.

But on the photos... I feel like putting in some sort of disclaimer, like the NFL does for the broadcast of all their games. "For the intended private use of our audience..."

Basically, you put one of my images on your screen so you can think about these places and critters, and I got no problem with that.

You share one of those images with a co-worker, sibling, parent, child, friend, or anyone else who isn't a reader of Grousin' in the Sage, without my permission, and I do have a problem with that. Or post it anywhere that anyone else could pick it up. Or get it printed on a mousepad, t-shirt, calendar, coffee mug, anything besides the computer you use. That I don't want. I am getting vainly proud of some of these images, and would like to retain control of where they go and how they are used. Failing that, and I guess we'll be back to the 260-pixel shots I'd been posting before (which are still mine and just as copyrighted, but somehow less tempting to use elsewhere).

Oh, and to Sylvery: each Grouse Pic I store on Dland erases the Grouse Pic from before, so I'm guessing the reason you are getting old images popping up is because your browser is snatching them out of your cache memory, rather than downloading the new one. Hitting the reload button should bring in the newest image.

But you probably figured that out already.

Oh, and since it is technically, barely still the fourth of February, I thought I might mention that this is the 115th anniversary of Governor Moonlight granting a full pardon to Harry Longabaugh (a.k.a. the Sundance Kid).

If you keep track of such things.