FOCUS on Global Warming Day

Thursday is the first annual FOCUS the Nation on Global Warming Day- it's a national teach-in where 1000's of educational institutions around the country all teach about climate change. Rookery Bay (of course!) is part of the extravaganza, as well as Florida Gulf Coast University, which is actually who provides my paycheck. Coordinating the event has been stressful, especially with the big birding festival and then science fair on back to back weekends, but this event will actually be really rewarding. I hope you've all seen the movie An Inconvenient Truth, where the Honorable Al Gore provides an in-depth analysis of global climate change.

By the way, its not global warming anymore; we now call it climate change because there is not 100% agreement among climate scientists on whether the planet is warming or cooling. But what everyone CAN agree on is that the climate is changing. Anyhow, at the end of the film, he announces a goal to train 1000 "climate messengers" around the world to help disseminate his same message. I was able to get in contact with one of these dedicated speakers and he is coming to Rookery Bay to give a lunch-time lecture and then do an evening event at the University. I'm very excited that the opportunity to not only talk about but actually educate the general public on this topic- its been so hush hush for ages, but it seems like environmental issues are now becoming more mainstream.

In case you still need a little convincing, or you want me to feel good about doing my part to educate the masses, take a look at this 10-minute you tube video, created by a high school science teacher in Oregon, called The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See:
Everyone celebrates Earth Day without batting an eye, and this is exactly how that day came to fruition. It started as a small teach-in and grew to actually be listed on calendars! I hope that our event can follow in great strides.

Day at the Dog Beach

What fun we all had at the dog beach today! Susan and I took the pups for some fun in the sun. Its a special beach where dogs get to be off the leash and even swim in the water! Payton ran around like a maniac, socializing with every dog (and owner!) there while Bailey played fetch in the water. It really was a comical time! We have two very tired monsters tonight. Its early to bed for the whole family :)

My famous black-bean-brownies!

I made some yummy brownies today with my new mixer- isn't it just so cute? I make these brownies for my vegetarian society dinners! They are so easy and are much better for you- check it out:

1. Puree one can of black beans (do not drain)

2. Stir in one box of brownie mix

3. Bake as directed

I know it sounds hokey, but I swear that you won't be able to tell the difference. If you try it, let me know what you think! Even if you think I'm crazy :)

I did some serious cooking on my paid holiday today! My stressful week of planning the birding festival is now over and I'm onto organizing 200 science fair projects for the regional science fair competition (much less stressful, really!) It was awesome to be home all day today, especially after the long hours that I spent at the festival all weekend (even Sunday!) It was so much better to have Ben visiting than to have a stressful week without Ben here! He got to spend THREE days in Naples and we even went out on Saturday night! We met up with old friends from when Ben worked at Big Cypress National Preserve and had a real nice time. He hasn't been in town on a weekend day since before he moved last April! And yes, he did lots of birding so he was thrilled; I think his dorky hobby is starting to grow on me maybe?

I also wanted to post this picture of a real Florida Panther for Rachael and Karinne: it was hit by a car over a year ago and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission had it taxidermied and now its on display at Rookery Bay.

One last bit of exciting news: I purchased my ticket home for February: Fri 2/8-Tues 2/12. Kim will be home part of that time so I'm really looking forward to the whole family being together! All the girls haven't been together since Charleston almost two years ago!

Paynes Prairie Preserve

Lots going on this past week! First, I started my Beginning Finance class on Tuesday nights. It wasn't as boring as it sounds, and I actually learned a lot- I'm taking it because I truly know NOTHING at all about stocks and all the fancy stuff. Its only 6 weeks long so I figure its a good investment of my time, no pun intended, haha.

I FINALLY went back to work at the Country Club on Thursday and made some good money. I wasn't sure if I still had a job there since I haven't worked at all of over a month! I'm officially back on the schedule every Thursday. I'm considering picking up another day every week because its so busy right now = $$$!

This weekend, Ben and I met up at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Its about the half-way point so it was lovely to just drive an afternoon-worth of miles and go camping! We went out birding and saw the rare sandhill cranes, which was pretty cool. They are the ones that they train to fly with the ultralight plane so that they migrate from Canada to Florida (check out the article here). This picture was taken through Ben's spotting scope (he's such a bird nerd!) but it was awesome to see them from so far away. The park also has wild horses and buffalo, even though we didn't find any buffalo (we did see horses, though!) We did a bit of hiking and had a nice time. It is so beautiful there! After our day of tree hugging, we drove into Gainesville and had a date to the movies to see Charlie Wilson's War. Julia Roberts is a favorite for both of us!

Back in Naples, I had a social afternoon with old friends. Alaina and Brandon celebrated our annual Christmas dinner at this great new restaurant and then later Andrea brought over Basil for a playdate with Payton. Now its time to get my organized for my busy week at work preparing for the 4th Annual Southwest Florida Birding & Wildlife Festival next weekend. You'd think I'm starting to like birds or something? :)

Rosie the Red-Foot

I'm back from my loooong vacation! It was quite nice to only work two days this week and then have off the whole weekend already! I celebrated by cleaning and going to the beach. Can you believe its warm enough here to be at the beach?

Our household might be gaining another tortoise! Rosie (pictured above) is also a Brazillian Red-footed Tortoise, just like Otis (to the right), but she's almost twice his size. She belongs to a friend who would like to find her a new home, soooooo, I will post more details as they unfold.

Thank you to everyone for making my christmas vacation so wonderful- it was awesome to have so much time at home to see everyone and do everything! I'm still working on putting away my 1,001 gifts, but that is a good project to have for my day off, even though I'm missing everyone!