Our guide in Madeira warned us repeatedly about some common plant on the island that if you touch it and subsequently rub your eyes, it can cause blindness. However he never made it clear exactly which plant he was referring to. He seemed to be pointing at a cactus-y looking plant like in the bottom left of Jim's picture, but the guide may have been pointing to the plant next to the cactus-y one. I took this picture of where the guide was pointing, but I don't know which one is the bad one. It also sounded like he was saying the plant was a "Euphoria"

Here's something similar for you, Casey: the Great Torii (gate) in Miyajima, Japan. At low tide, people can walk to the base, like we did. There were many coins on the ground; maybe people leave them on purpose, I'm not sure. Anyone else been there? There are friendly, loose deer walking around the area.

This Forest Service worker gave a lengthy, colorful recounting of the events of that day, and really brought it to life. One of the things he noted is that a different volcanologist was scheduled to be observing the volcano, but he needed to attend a meeting at the university where was a grad student, so he arranged for a different volcanologist to man his post, for just one day -- May 18th. That other scientist wanted to see off a grad student of his that was returning to Germany on the morning of the 18th, so he arranged for yet another volcanologist, named David Johnston to cover the post that morning just until 10:00 A.M. Mr. Johnston reluctantly agreed, and the volcano blew at about 8:30. We lucked into beautiful weather when we visited: and hiked far enough that we could see Spirit Lake where Harry Truman (famed local curmudgeon who refused to evacuate) lived in a lakeside cabin Mount Adams is visible in the distance

lgmz_gaz, I'm glad my monarchs are at your place this year. This is the first year I have a lot of un-nibbled plants--usually I am transferring caterpillars from stripped sticks to foliage elsewhere in the yard. I finally gave up and cut the plants to the ground. ----------------- Funny about the snake sign photos. I just assume rattlesnakes are everywhere, and signs should just let me know where they are not. ;)