As I mentioned in my Friday Food Fight post, my family and I spent the weekend camping in Hillsborough River State Park. Camping or not camping, I’m always up before the sun and my family, but then I capture moments like this.
Catching a glimpse of a sunrise through the trees is always sweet moment while camping, besides s’mores of course.
Psssst…While you’re visiting here, don’t miss my giveaway which ends tonight at midnight.
*Droid photo submitted to*
We’re into the second week of November and autumn has finally arrived in Tampa Bay. A Florida fall consists of much cooler weather with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the lower 50s.
And if you’re very observant, you’ll start to see some leaves turn colors.
It always makes me sad when the cypress trees in my neighborhood turn shades of brown.
Once the cypress trees begin to go brown, they lose their leaves quickly and their drab gray branches make the trees appear dead.
I wouldn’t mind barren trees if they were covered in white snow. Well, I would mind the snow, but at least the cypress trees wouldn’t look so lifeless.
I miss the green already. Is it too early to put up my Christmas tree?
“Fall in your neighborhood! Share some Fall pictures that capture the season in your neck of the woods.”
When Allana walks the dog, she finds the most interesting things. The other day she spotted a snake skin in the yard.
Thank goodness the snake was nowhere to be found.
Submitted to The Gallery: Animals
Also submitted to
A super moon and the first day of spring: Two miraculous events in nature to take your breath away.
*Image of Super Moon borrowed from Bay News 9*
Experiencing such a fantastic ensemble in nature forces you to stop and count your lucky stars and give praise that you are able to witness each one.
Visit Amanda, Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
Whoa. That’s a moon rainbow.
It’s a full on moon rainbow.
Oh my God!
Whoa.
It’s so beautiful.
What does this mean?!
This post was inspired by the Double Rainbow Guy.
For the seventh year, I hosted our annual Earth Day play date for our mommy group friends. As in past years, our Earth Day tradition included making dirt cups.
To keep it simple, we used small pudding pots, Oreos and gummy worms. After the food craft, we used our spoons as shovels and filled our pots with real dirt and wildflower seeds.
This year, Emmalynn brought along her bug catcher to the play date, which seemed like a good idea as there were all these furry caterpillars crawling about the park. When we went on our nature walk, she created a small caterpillar community inside her bug jar. Emmalynn was so proud of all the “pets” that she collected and she couldn’t wait to take them home to feed them and watch them grow into butterflies.
She collected more caterpillars at the tower and the pier, but I was too busy noticing the effects of this winter’s rainy season which had gradually grown a lake once again at our favorite park and I began reminiscing of walks along the pier when the water sat at the shore nearly submerging the dock.
At the end of the day, we pack up our pots of sowed seeds and Emmalynn’s pets. Unfortunately, on the way home, she opened her bug jar and some escaped. Thankfully, we hadn’t left the park so I calmly pulled the car over to save a dozen creepy, furry caterpillars crawling around in my mini-van surprisingly without skeeving or hurling.
But, I missed one. One creepy, pissed off grouchy caterpillar slinked across Emmalynn’s car seat. Emmalynn assured me that it was o.k. because she could simply let it crawl around on her arm until we got home.
However, once we were on the highway, it “stung” and she started screaming. Frantically, I pulled over and flicked the little furry bastard pet pest off of her into the grassy shoulder along the highway.
Since Emmalynn is highly allergic to bees and wasps, I wasn’t sure how her little system would handle a caterpillar “sting”. Having grown up in Florida, I know that there are certain breeds of caterpillars that are poisonous and hoped that these vile creatures were not one of them. I nervously watched the red bump for signs of swelling and anaphylactic shock. At the first sign of a reaction, I was prepared to administer her EpiPen. As we waited Emmalynn said in her saddest voice, “We can let that one go, Mommy. He’s mean and not as nice as the other caterpillars.”
After a few minutes, the swelling went down and there was no need to administer the Epi. When we continued our journey home, I explained to Emmalynn how some small animals and bugs use stings and sprays, such as a porcupine, a skunk or an octopus, to protect themselves from larger animals that want to eat them.
“But, I didn’t want to eat him, Mommy.”
Once we returned back home, I searched the Internet for Emmalynn’s pests pets, which are called White Tussock Moths. Moths. Oh for the love of Mother Nature. They’re moths. Gross. And they have urticating hairs (barbed hairs like tarantulas - double gross) which can cause an irritation and a reaction on the skin. Really?! No kidding.
During my caterpillar research, I also learned that White Tussock Moths feed on oak leaves (not sugar water like butterflies). I used this newly acquired knowledge to persuade Emmalynn to release her pests pets back into the world. She could watch them feed on the oak trees in our yard. Yay. Hooray for ugly moths swarming our garage lights like…well like a moth to a flame.
Besides a lesson in conservation this Earth Day, Emmalynn learned a valuable lesson in insect defense mechanisms. Although Miss Spider has been saying it for years, Emmalynn understands firsthand why we need to be good to bugs.
One of our favorite family pastimes is visiting Brooker Creek Preserve for its hikes, story time and hands-on education center.
While visiting the center the other day, I heard some heartbreaking news. Brooker Creek Preserve faces closure due to budget cuts. Pinellas county commissioners have drastically reduced the staff and the operating hours of the center despite the facility already relying heavily volunteers to run its programs.
As a resident of a neighboring county, I would gladly pay an entrance fees to keep the gates of Brooker Creek Preserve and Weedon Island open to support these invaluable resources and the many lessons taught there.
Both centers offer wonderful lessons of our delicate ecosystems and local history.
I would rather share with my children lessons of conservation rather than sad stories of bureaucrats not seeing the beauty and educational value in such wonderful places.
Since Pinellas residents already pay significant taxes to support these centers, county officials should promote both centers as points of interest to tourists and draw revenue from its visitors and residents outside of Pinellas rather than closing its gates permanently.
If you live in the Tampa Bay area, I urge to support these centers by asking Pinellas County Commissioners to reconsider their position or contact The Friends of Brooker Creek and The Friends of Weedon Island to learn how you can help.
From the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve website:
The Friends will continue to provide as much support as possible for programs and other needs at Brooker Creek Preserve. We are in the process of finding ways to raise funds to that end. To succeed, we need YOU! We are looking for ideas, event planning assistance, and some energized hands. If you are interested in joining us in this important mission, please contact us at 727-934-2680 or info@friendsofbrookercreekpreserve.org.
One of Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop prompts for this week “Tell us about your trip” inspired me to share some found memories from our canoe trip on the Peace River last April.
My friend, Chrissy, had always talked about how much she and her family loved canoeing the Peace River and invited us along for the fun. Unfortunately, we arrived late to the outpost and missed our friends, so we had to take a later bus to the launch location. We were left to explore the river without our friends and our shovels and pails.
Peace River is best known for its abundance of fossils and shark teeth deposited in the river bed. The canoe outpost provides shovels and pails, but in our rush to get to the river, we forgot to grab our archeological dig gear. My girls didn’t seem to mind using their hands to search for treasure.
Along the river, the roots of cypress trees construct a natural wall and their huge canopies offer plenty of shade.
There are several shallow spots to take a quick break from paddling and cool off in the water. The girls loved swimming and wading through the water searching for sharks’ teeth.
We enjoyed taking our time to explore each new spot, but it seemed we weren’t the only ones who liked roaming the river banks.
We assumed our friends were far ahead of us, but Allana and Allan decided to let them know we were here.
As we drew closer to the end of our trip, we passed under an old railroad bridge being used as a diving platform by some crazy boaters brave souls.
Although we enjoyed every minute of our two hour expedition, the girls were glad to finally arrive back at the outpost and on dry land.
In the end, we found quite a few sharks’ teeth, but ironically Allana lost one of her own.
Like Chrissy, we fell in love with Peace River that day and we are looking forward to warmer days to paddle down the river once again this spring…
…with my bump and minus the beer, of course.
During the winter months, my family and I love to visit the TECO Manatee Viewing Center. Last month, I had the pleasure to visit the center twice in one week with my girls.
With the frequent drops in the temperature this winter season, there are more manatee than ever in the warm waters adjacent to power station in Apollo Beach, FL. On both days, we counted close to 60 manatees…
…and a dozen stingrays.
This free educational viewing center is operated by retired TECO volunteers, who happily educate the public about manatees and conservation.
Recently, the center renovated its hands-on education building with a 12 foot illuminated information panel, a life size skeleton exhibit…
…puzzles, a hurricane simulator and a video game where users pedal to help a manatee swim to safety.
Whether you walk the tidal nature trail or watch from the observation deck, every spot offers a great view…
…unless you happen to stop for a rest along the way.
And if you’re really lucky, you may discover manatees mating, like we witnessed on our second visit.
While visiting Ashe County, N.C., my family and I were amazed by the number of Christmas tree farms cascading along the mountainside. Later, we learned that Ashe County is one of the nation’s top producers of Christmas Trees, particularly the Fraser Fur.
We couldn’t help loving these tiny tannenbaums!
