Earth Hour

What are you doing tomorrow night, between 8:30 and 9:30pm? The correct answer is TURNING OFF YOUR LIGHTS! The World Wildlife Fund is hosting a campaign, called Earth Hour, encouraging lights off around the world. The moto is:

You can vote EARTH by switching off your lights for one hour.

Or you can vote GLOBAL WARMING by leaving your lights on.

The goal is to get 1,000,000,000 households to go dark for one hour to celebrate earth and demonstrate to the world leaders at the Global Climate Change conference that its time for action against global warming. Check it out at http://www.earthhour.org/.

Plankton Cruise

Susan invited me to join her and her graduate ecology class aboard the R/V Bellows. Her professor had written a grant to have this huge research boat come down from St. Petersburg and take the class out on a nighttime plankton trawl. We left from Ft. Myers and 6 o'clock and headed to the sampling site about 5 miles offshore from Sanibel Island. I'm so glad that I had those dandy anti-seasickness wristbands on because the waves were huge... we felt like we were on Deadliest Catch on Discovery at one point! The students deployed a sediment grab sampler, giant plankton net, and 40' otter trawl. We caught all kinds of cool critters, and a ton of them: about 250 scallops, over 100 sponges, approximately 200 or so sea urchins, and oodles of fish. I had to include the picture of the shrimp because I've never seen any shrimp that size anywhere ever! Really fun trip and great way to end the vacation!

Still the prettiest beach in the world

I miss the beach in Naples so much- while the Atlantic has cool whales and seals, the Gulf can't be beat! The white sand only compliments the bright blues and greens of the water. Not to mention, the water temperature is a steamy 70-degrees... compared to just 41 in the Outer Banks!

Yes, that is a dolphin, and very close to shore. There were two of them, frolicking in the surf, fishing and playing. The black and white birdies are black skimmers, some of Ben's favorites. They have a longer bottom bill so they can fly over the water and skim for fish, hence the name.

And its always a good feeling to be wearing flip flops this time year! It felt great to get a little sun on my mayonnaise arms and legs- I haven't been this pale since Moby was a minnow :)

Green Village Organics

I dropped by to see how Green Village Organics, the local organic produce co-op, was going in Naples (man I wish we had something like it here!) It was great to see Beth and the fruits of her labor, pun intended, as she has organized this entire shindig with the help of a few friends. For just $15, you can get a reusable shopping bag-full-o'goodies fresh from the organic farm. This week they got all kinds of yummies- apples, oranges, peaches, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and bok choy to name a few! Forty-seven bags of produce later, and dirt under my fingernails from picking kale (I didn't even know what kale looked like when I got there, haha) I really enjoyed seeing the raised beds in the backyard and how productive an average sized yard can be. And yes, I was getting ideas for my own yard, when I finally obtain one! They have a bee hive and all sorts of cool things (including a solar oven!) I gorged on fresh veg and am even bringing a souvenir back for my sweetie- organic, fair trade coffee. The coffee beans were grown on an organic farm in Mexico and then roasted in the US and fresh as can be! I wish Ben was here to see the possibilities of organic gardening and living gently!

Spring Break

How come when I actually was a student, spring break flights were cost-prohibitive but now that I'm in the real world, I can fly to Florida for peanuts? Whatever the rationale, I'm having a fantastic trip back to Naples to see everyone, including several newborns!

I'm staying with Joe and Amanda in their big awesome house and loving on Payton, of course. You could actually call my trip a paytation, that is, a vacation with lots of Payton-time! He loves his newly landscaped yard- way to go Joe, hanging birdfeeders and planting flowers :)

We just got back from a walk around the neighborhood- its just so darned pretty here. Heading ot the beach next!

Beautiful Morning on the Beach

Maverick and I enjoyed a simply gorgeous morning on the beach- he hunted for shells in the surf while I combed the beach. He ran and ran and enjoyed his freedom off the leash. Just last week, Mr. Police Officer topped Ben and Maverick, but due to Ben's good looks, charming appeal, and Maverick's angelic behavior, they got off without a ticket! When the truck pulled up to them, Ben said Maverick immediately stopped playing and ran over and sat next to Ben's feet, without being asked. Why should you have to tether such a good boy?

Virginia Birding Trip

Although I had it planned long before Ben surprised me with tickets to Modest Mouse last week... I surprised him with a birding trip to Virginia! I came across the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail Guide a while back and planned out an entire weekend of festivities. You'll have to keep up on Ben's Blog to find out what species we saw, but here's a list of where we visited:

Northwest River Park- great little place not too far from home, neat trails to explore

North Landing River Natural Area Preserve- didn't get to see too much of this 3000 acre preserve, will visit again

Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center- lots to see and do here, great place to visit on a rainy day

First Landing State Park- pretty place, might like to camp there this summer

Fort Story- active military base, saw the new and old Cape Henry lighthouses

Chesapeake Arboretum- quaint little park, conveniently located next to the Honda dealership where I can get my tuneups

The Aquarium was much enjoyed by both of us- I liked seeing the seals, sharks, otters, and turtles, while Ben swooned over the birds (they have a real aviary there!) It pretty much poured and was freezing all weekend so we probably could have done a lot more outside if the weather had cooperated more but it was really fun to see new places. We will definitely have to check it out when it gets a little warmer (which will coincide nicely with spring migration, according to Ben)- fabulous!

Sarah's Surprise

It was a normal day at work on Wednesday until our way back to the office after lunch when Ben said "do you really want to go back to work this afternoon" and I said "no, its too nice outside" and then he turned the car the opposite direction and told me this crazy plan about a road trip to Raleigh (which is 4 hours away!) He was making me nuts with his antics about where we were going because I didn't believe that we were actually going to Raleigh... then he showed me concert tickets for Modest Mouse, in Raleigh indeed! He had worked it out with the office for us to have the afternoon off as well as a few hours the next morning so we could sleep in! We had the best time driving with the windows down, going shopping, eating dinner at a reasonably affordable place, and of course, at the concert! It was amazing- we were so close to the front, which was fantastic until almost the end of the show when it was so unbearably hot from the 400 people around us trying to weasel closer to the stage when we decided that we're getting old! We waited in line at the bar to buy bottled water instead of beer (again, a sign of our aging, haha!) It was a truly great surprise; thanks Ben!!

Otis's Ramp

The new reptile house is now complete and Otis had his first lesson going up (and down!) the ramp... we put his food bowl on the second-story so he has more space for cruising around underneath. In order to teach him where to dine, we baited him with mushrooms to get him to walk up the ramp all by himself. It was a very comical experience for the whole family, so much in fact, I've uploaded the "coming down the ramp" video to You Tube for the whole world to enjoy Otis's blunders through life. Check it out!

Otis goes UP!

Otis goes DOWN!

Lunar Halo

I'm definitely still learning with my fancy camera, but here's my best attempt at this crazy phenomenon that we saw outside last night: a lunar halo. Its formed when ice in the atmosphere (above 25,000 feet!) reflects that light of the moon. There is local lore that a lunar halo preceeds a warming event, much like we had today, when it was in the high 70s!

Maverick and his lemon

While we were finishing up the ramp for Otis's new house, Maverick was really wanting to help with everything, i.e. walk on everything and be attached at your heels following our every move around the house. When we got it all set up and in place (look for it coming up on the blog, soon!) it was time to make dinner and Mr. Maverick decided that helping by carrying around the empty lemon juice was his calling in life. He was so happy with himself and extremely entertaining as he played and played. Enjoy the slideshow of the many faces of Maverick :)

Tut tut, the Otis Hut is almost complete

As a very sincere V-day present, Ben has been building Otis a new house! He drew up the design, cranked out some algebra and trigonometry, and headed to Home Depot, only to return with all of kinds of tools and supplies. I secretly think this was Ben's way of persuading me into allowing him to buy a jigsaw, but the house is perfect and Otis is very happy inside, so be it :)

The house is 4' wide by 2' high, complete with a cave for the tortoise to hide inside. We installed a super bright and fancy UVB heat lamp for him to feel like he's back in south Florida. I tested the temperature in the sunlight and it gets up to 81-degrees! I might be crawling in there with him to get a tan because its been between 20 and 30-degrees outside the past two days!

On top of the cave area is going to be the second story, complete with ramp for self-service; no elevator necessary! This is where Otis will enjoy his meals, therefore allowing more space to cruise around on the bottom story. The little devil seems so content in his big house now, thanks to Ben!

My Tiny Red Kitchen

I really treated myself this weekend with a shopping trip to the big city of Chesapeake and returned with some great buys! I finally own a complete set of measuring spoons- all of the moves that I've had over the past few years have left me with just a teaspoon and 1/2 tablespoon. I found some cute red ones on sale and scooped them up- now I can make bread with confidence in my measurements (many a loaves have fallen in the middle or didn't rise because I was not accurate enough!) While in the kitchen aisle of TJ Maxx, I also found a cookbook holder and a chopping block, which I love! And with my new apron for Valentine's Day, I feel like my tiny kitchen is now more complete!

With the addition of some fresh shrimpies from Wanchese and a little couscous... Ben and I enjoyed a fabulous meal, complete with some fancy wine called "Rare Bird" haha. It was paired nicely with the lovely box o'goodies (crusty bread, brownies, and all the fixin's) that just arrived (thanks Matt!) Not that this dinner would have been a disaster without all of my new toys, but I do think it was a whole lot more fun to make... and tastier :)