Excursion Day

While I'm not really into hunting or fishing anymore, that's a lot of what we do at work... and Excursion Day was actually pretty fun! This is an annual event where the county invites all of its residents to see our center and enjoy free activities, like climbing the lighthouse and visiting the Whalehead Club (both of which are normally $7 each) plus they provide a free picnic. Ben and I took full advantage of today's activities, I mean, when in Rome...

We competed at archery, where neither of us actually hit the bulls eye but had a fun time trying to out shoot each other. We put about 10 arrows each in the kill zone, so I guess we're pretty decent. **Notice the new hairdo in this picture!

Ben tried out the laser shot program, which is basically a bigger, fancier version of Duck Hunt for Nintendo. You stand in front of a screen and "shoot" the wildlife with a play rifle. He was really good at shooting clay pigeons!

To top off our day of work- we posed next to Grave Digger, yes, that is a monster truck. Parked right in front of the Whalehead Club, which is so funny because its very fancy over there. Who knew Currituck County is home to the famous Grave Digger?

New Age, New Haircut

Its all chopped off! Ten inches from the Sarah-hair farm will be sent to Locks of Love to be made into wigs for kids with cancer. Ben was a good sport and took pictures while the stylist and I chatted and laughed. It feels much MUCH lighter and only requires about 1/4 the shampoo!

**Sorry we forgot to take an "after haircut" picture... will post one soon :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

I've been having a wonderful birthday celebration- for days! I guess that's an only child thing, to celebrate your b-day over and over again :) Ben orchestrated a surprise dinner party at a tapas restaurant, you know the kind where everyone orders several little appetizer-sized entrees and you pass them around the table sampling everything. It was WONDERFUL and very thoughtful of him to invite 9 of our friends to join us! As if spending gobs of money on dinner with friends wasn't enough- he also showered me with gifts! I'm very excited to get started with my Aerogarden! In just 3 weeks, it should look like this picture. Combined with my breadmaker cookbook (thank you Mom!), we're set for a long cold winter on an island, haha! Thank you to everyone for all your kind wishes, I feel so loved :)

A Learning Weekend

Ben & I traveled to Fayetteville for a workshop on Amphibians of North Carolina. It was really fun to see our friend Matt before he deploys to Iraq and hang out at his new house! We had such a fun time exploring the middle of the state; we stopped at a several nature centers and took Mavie on hiking trails. And yes, Ben looked for birds!

Our workshop was really cool- we learned about lots of frogs, toads, and salamanders. We hiked around Clark Park and found lots of cute little critters, the two in the picture are both southern toads. There are about 22 species of frogs and toads in eastern North Carolina!

Then on Saturday, while my old friends were celebrating National Estuary Day (sigh, I miss you guys!), Ben and I were out at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in honor of National Hunting and Fishing Day (who knew?) The event was sponsored by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Ducks Unlimited, so the kids received a t-shirt and hat, fishing rod and reel, bait and a tackle box to keep. There were prizes for the heaviest and longest fish and hot dogs for lunch (I ate chips and cookies instead!) We did have a good time- it reminded me of when I used to go to those tournaments with Dad and Rayme, and when I won a nice pole with a 16" trout! The part of the refuge that we were in is not usually open to the public, so Ben got lots of bird-action: 36 species! Not bad for a day at work :)

Maverick's Shenanigans

The Currituck Sound does not experience traditional tides like the ocean; its tides are wind-driven. We've been experiencing some very strong north-east winds and as a result, there is an extreme low tide on the sound right now. Maverick thinks that this means he has more play area, since there are vast areas of mud exposed where there is usually water. He has been a manic running around through the mud and grass, loving life! We went over to the Whalehead Club and where the old landing strip for planes had washed away, you could see the pilings that are normally underwater. He's squinting his eyes in this pic because its so windy!

And with these NE winds comes some cooler weather! We've had our windows open for a week now and even had to dress a little warmer to play outside (yes, that is a scarf around my neck- it isn't even this cold in January in Florida!) Of course, Ben and Maverick love it outside while Sarah and Otis seek the sunshine filtering through the skylights!

Speaking of Mav loving the outdoors right now, he's discovered that a "kitty cat" likes to hide in the massive pile of bicycles next to our house. The rental store downstairs apparently isn't renting many bikes these days because there are a ton, all lined up, providing stealth cover for the cat. Everytime we go outside, we allow some extra time for "kitty cat hunting" :)

Food!

We've been putting in our time at the Sanderling, that's for sure! Its been fun though, actually, and the food is so good that its worth the dogs barking after 12+ hours on the feet! And... we've been coming home with lots of goodies! I've stocked up on all kinds of candles, vases, coozies, and even salt water taffy.

Otis is a big fan of the flowers we've been bringing home with us. And its win-win for us, too, because I enjoy the bouquet in our house and feed the tortoise a few petals at a time, and when the flowers wilt up and turn brown, they go into our compost bin at work where the wormies eat them up and make rich soil for my plants. My herbs are coming along nicely- lush basil, happy cilantro, skinny lil' chives, and sensual parsley. Did you know that you can grow cacti from a seed? They are the size of a pinhead now, but hopefully they'll grow up to be blog-worthy before I feed them to the shelled-monster. I also have some baby tomato and pepper plants that are going to be our indoor produce supply this winter!

And last but not least... I bought myself an early b-day present: a bread machine! I've been bakin' away and having a lot of fun trying out new stuff. Right now I'm making some sourdough with fresh rosemary and it smells so good my mouth is watering just typing about it! I figure that when its blistering cold outside (which I hope is no time soon!) I will be able to whip up some fresh bread and stay cozy.

Smithsonian Whale

I was recently designated as a marine mammal stranding responder at work and within a few days, I was out responding to my first beached whale! This was a Blainsville Beaked Whale, and only the second one to ever wash up in all of North Carolina, ever! It weighed about 1000 pounds and washed up on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Because this species is so rare and not much is known about them, some fancy researchers arrived from Wilmington to take a look. We performed a necropsy and noticed that she had recently given birth, but was no longer lactating, meaning that her baby would be able to survive on its own now. The cause of death is yet to be determined, but we cleaned up her skeleton and she was shipped to the Smithsonian for display!

These whales dive up to 3000 feet in search of squid, which makes them of particular interest to scientists. How do they hold their breath that long? It is suspected that these guys are extra sensitve to military sonar, which sometimes results in beaching. In fact, some of the researchers that I met that day from UNC-Wilmington are actually employed by the Navy to fly a 40-mile transect from Jacksonville, NC out towards Bermuda every 10 days so that they can estimate whale populations in the area. There is a proposed underwater training facility for submarines near Jacksonville, which means high concentrations of sonar in the near future.

All and all, a very fascinating day...