Read linked content Came home before 5pm and plopped down on the futon. A few moments later felt the futon bouncing very slightly and heard the “ticking” of picture frames re-positioning against the acrylic wall paint. Thought it was activity at the nearby construction site, but they had all gone home for the day. Very cool!
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Just read the Nov/Dev 2011 Audobon magazine article, Life Support, about the improving state of Everglades since the author’s previous visit 10 years ago. I won’t go into the details of the article. Nor will I pretend to have a solution for that region. However, the article conjured up some environmentally-related memories from growing up in Florida, so here goes: As a child I was frequently puzzled by the fact that nobody knew exactly what to do with their old engine oil.
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Read linked content Caught an episode of Nature last night. Great as always. Spotted skunks …. my, what a coat! You can watch the full episode, just click the title of this post.
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They’re marshes, and they’re in Iraq. What the? Seriously. And the people that inhabit them staged a minor uprising against Saddam in the 90s. Saddam got pissed, and made a conscious effort to divert water away from the marshes, thus draining them. The people were displaced; the land turned to desert. But seeds are robust. After the fall of Saddam, some of the diversion banks were breached in order to send water back into the area and restore the marshes.
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When you camp during the week you avoid all those people that can’t help but bring their obnoxious modern life to the wilderness. We went to Oscar Scherer State Park last Wednesday for 3 days, 2 nights, just before a different crowd flooded in for the weekend. It’s a good thing, too, because our last trip to Wekiva Springs overlapped a Friday night, where we noticed a big change in the campers.
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The PBS Nature episode Superfish was enlightening on how much overfishing of billfish has occurred. We’ve mapped out the points in the ocean where currents converge. These places are normally feeding and breeding grounds, but they’re also the perfect places to fish and haul in the biggest possible catch. Problem is, this makes it so much easier to overfish. When hundreds of boats haul up tons of fish every day, it’s easy to see this heading in a bad direction.
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Guess what I found in my trash can? Yesterday a bit of fall was in the air so I decided to linger and do some yard cleanup. While near the trash can, which normally doesn’t smell at all, I looked inside to see if the trash bag had broken and left some trash behind. Yes. And then I looked closer, tipped the can and something moved in the bottom. Apparently I woke up a baby opossum, with a body about 7 inches long.
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