26 February - The Llamas of Lluray


Molly the Llama

I had the pleasure of driving down to Luray, Virginia on Saturday to witness the arrival of the new llamas at the Taylor Farm - the Taylors are old Friends of the Museum, and are just getting into the llama biz. I learned a great deal about llamas. Llamas are very nice creatures with lovely kind eyes. Llamas do spit, but mostly at each other - no one spat at me, at all. Llamas hum when they're nervous. All of the new llamas - Lunar, Lindsay, Molly, Aztec, and - I think the last one's name was Lucinda Williams - are pregnant. A llama's gestation lasts eleven to twelve months. The baby llama is called a cria. When a male's in heat, he makes a sound called an "orgle" - said to be "...reminiscient of gargling, but with a more forceful, buzzing edge". Young males can suffer from

25 February - More Weather



We got more weather today. Natasha, who may be

23 February - Cephalopod Sightings



Many thanks to the 28 Friends of the Museum who sent me various links pertaining to

Max (left) keeps watch on

19 February - The Conqueror Cats



Unique among sci-fi epics, the hideous monster of The

19 February - Exciting New Webcam



Our intern Zoe has installed a new webcam in the Museum's Fellows Lounge - an early capture shows Cat Max reading over our maintenance man Gus' shoulder. Gus says he was "on break" - I'm just surprised that he knows how to read. He's wearing his beautiful new Pakistani

The Fellows Cam will alternate uploads with the Circle Cam, though the Curator has commanded me to shut it off during meetings, sherry binges, and the like. Right now it's aimed at the sofa, where one or other of the Museum Cats can frequently be viewed snoozing.

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17 February - Delicious Enrobed Cephalopods



I'm sorry it's a bit late for Valentine's Day, but

16 February - Impressions



Museum Cat Max entertained us last night with his hilarious impression of

14 February - The Current Winter Event



These are the current conditions in ice-bound Washington Grove. If you were thinking about visiting the Janus Museum today, don't - we're closed, iced in. Gus, our maintenance man, has already "slipped" and "hurt his ankle", leaving me to shovel the damn walks. Things are rough all over - our old friend Hank Burchard,

The Raving

Upon yester midnight dreary,
As I nodded, pale and bleary,
Over televised predictions
Of several icy inches more

Suddenly there came a thumping
As of randy cattle humping
Or some spectral Ahab stumping
Just outside my glass front door

Staunchly I refused to cower;
"Tis no bear at such an hour,
"Just an ice-o'erburdened bower
"Whumping on the outer floor"

But the thumping grew intensive
And I grew most apprehensive,
Weighing options self-defensive
As I trembled toward the door

However, in the flashlight beaming
Aught but innocent ice was gleaming.
Nothing out of place was seeming;
Ice I saw and nothing more

But just as I regained my chair
There came upon the midnight air
Resumption of the thumping there,
On my frangible front door

"Tis the wind, the wind," I muttered
But the way the words were uttered --
Whimpered, whispered, strangled, stuttered --
Betrayed my terror all the more

With a feigned, bravado chortle
Stumbled I toward the portal
In the grip of fear near mortal,
Inching toward that dreadful door

Girding loins I flung it wide,
Faced the frigid darkness, cried
"Get thee gone or come inside!"
Revealing thus my judgment poor

With a sound more sensed than heard,
Past my posturing absurd,
Flew a small, determined bird,
A harmless creature, nothing more

While it may sound like the bunco,
Twas in fact a dark-eyed junco
That hit the ceiling with a thunk-o
And fell senseless to the floor

As I cupped the tiny form,
Orphan of the cruel storm,
Revived by the surroundings warm,
From my cupping hands it tore

Long I chased it room to room
As in lamplight or in gloom
It would twist and turn and zoom,
My grasp evading evermore

And the junco, seldom sitting,
Still is flitting, still is flitting,
Every now and then beshitting
Sink or counter, bed or floor

Sadly was this wisdom learned,
Costly was this lesson earned:
O that I'd the impulse spurned
To open fling that fateful door!

11 February - Red Clay Cats



The latest rage with the Circle Cats is to cover themselves with the fine red clay that Washington Grove is built on - they all look like they're rusting, and when you pat one on the head, a reddish cloud rises. It's not so apparent on Cat Peake, above, him being a darkish sort of cat, unless you compare the shot with

10 February - Wagner, the Miniseries



The 1983 miniseries

10 February - Another Titanic Struggle



It's always a terrifying sight when

10 February - Vernacular Landscape of Washington Grove



Here's another shot; simple yet strangely eloquent and moving, from

"I had the Cheesehead sitting on my the lap, I was using it as a pillow. As soon as we lost power, I brought my arms up and held the Cheesehead in front of my face." Emmert was hospitalized at St. Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, having suffered a shattered right ankle and cuts and bruises.

4 February - Railroad Street



Washington Grove's bustling business center on Railroad Street takes on a more mellow

4 February - The Heroic Barry, Stuffed


Barry, Stuffed and Mounted. Albumen carte-de-visite photograph, Janus Museum Collection

Barry (1800-1814), the most famous St. Bernard dog, was said to have rescued forty travellers in Switzerland's St. Bernard Pass.

3 February - Cousin Bette



We enjoyed

... wearing a pretty nice sort of smoking cap. Except that it's not really a smoking cap, but

3 February - Amitabh Saved from Vicious Camel Attack by Headgear



Amitabh Bachchan, one of our totally favorite stars of all time, was kicked by a camel on the set of the film

3 February - Again from the Collection



The Museum is fortunate to have this rare example of 1850s advertising, a mock banknote from Emerson's Photographic & Daguerrian Palace of Keokuk, Iowa - I wonder how many other palaces were in Keokuk, back then? According to John Craig's invaluable

Active as a daguerreian in Keokuk, Iowa, 1853-1860. In 1853 he operated the "Great Western Daguerrean Gallery" at #3 Third Street. Business directories listed him from 1856; in 1856-1857 his gallery was on Third Street between Main and Johnson Streets. He boarded on the northwest corner of Second and High Streets. In 1857 he was listed as an ambrotypist at 81 Main Street. In 1859-1860 he was listed as a photographist at the same address.