In the south east corner of the yard behind where I work are some large trees and heavy bush. All manner of critter lives back there. But this year there is a new dominant creature, a cute but aggressive chipmunk. All day long he protects his territory by chasing away the many squirrels that gorge on the numerous walnuts. Little Mr chipmunk will not share the space and aggressively protects his turf. Every day I see this activity where the gray and black squirrels will enter the area trying to fatten up on walnuts and within seconds being run out of Dodge by Chippy that is about 1/3 their size. He proudly and loudly announces his triumph and goes back to patrolling his zone.
Little Chippy was orphaned early in the Spring but somehow survived and has developed a very strong personality. At night the yard is owned by a number of raccoons, skunks, and opossums. They tear up the yard digging for grubs and on at least four occasions have dined on squirrel. But little Chippy managed to steer clear of the big mammals living just below his nest. But the daytime belongs to the chipmunk. And he takes no crap from anyone.
October 29th, 2007 at 4:27 am
Ok, so I just stumbled upon your site from a link that you had to my corporate blog at http://www.icelandexpress.com/iceland .
So, how/why did all this start? Why don’t you just buy a ticket already? They’re not THAT expensive. Hell, I wish we flew to N. America… I’d give you a seat just to help you out.
Anyway, I’m an American who has been married to an Icelander for about 10 years. We’ve lived here on and off, but have been here for about 18 months on this stint. My advice: come in the summer. Yeah, the weather is better, but it’s also cheaper overall. Lots of people traveling that you can hitch rides with, and it’s easier to walk and bike around town. Plus camping is very popular and fairly cheap. You could avoid rental car and much of the hotel expense.
Overall, I think that your first experience here would be much better during the more temperate months.
It might mean an extra few months to wait, but that’s my two cents.
October 29th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Takk fyrir Erik for the comment. With the debt I’m working to eliminate, *everything* is expensive. With the flights costing much less in winter that is why I’m looking at that time. I figure I’d spend much of my time soaking in a hot pot and watching the aurora if I can catch a clear night. I’m not afraid of the weather but you’re right, there would be more opportunities to interact during the summer and perhaps offset costs with camping. I should be debt free and mostly off the grid credit wise by then.
It sounds like my constant blabbering about Iceland is reaching much beyond the people I talk to in person. I know they are getting tired of hearing about it.
The blog at IcelandExpress is pretty hip for a corporate site. It sounds like a dream job for an ex pat. I must admit to being envious of a gig like that…
A funny story I just remembered is about a website I hosted back in the slow days for an Icelander doing a Santa Claus site that needed a North American presence. This was before blogs, social sites, streaming media or much else that we take for granted these days.
I *will* be there soon.