Monday, May 30, 2011

Rules for 5-minute activity suggestions

I have officially reinstated the 5-minute Right Now! activities on this blog and am looking for suggestions from readers. The point of these activities is to get myself (and anyone reading) up and moving just 5 minutes a few times a day. Studies have shown that long periods of sitting is incredibly unhealthy, and now that I am plagued with arthritis, I feel it even more. So let's get moving!

I am probably asking for trouble, but here's a promise: if you make a suggestion for a 5 minute activity, I officially promise to post a photo of me doing the activity. Within reason of course. Rules include:
  • Nothing involving nudity or things that will get me kicked off blogger or facebook. 
  • If your suggestion includes music, please post either a youtube link or the name of the song. 
  • These are intended to be brief activities that can be performed on breaks at work. So, save the "run a marathon" suggestions for weekends.
  • If I'm doing these activities, I expect my readers to be doing the same! If you aren't brave enough to submit pictures, at least post a reply to my picture to let me know your experience!
You can submit in the following ways:
  • Post your suggestion on twitter, using the #deemotivationgoyb hash tag. These posts will automatically appear in the feed at the left of the main page. 
  • Reply to this post with your suggestion
  • Send me email Please put either DeeMotivation or 5-minute Activity in the subject line.
Past 5 minute activities have included:
Lets have some fun with this!

Upcoming Event

Wednesday, June 1: Evening walk on 512. Meet at county pool parking lot at 6:30. Apropos of nothing, it is exactly 1.5 miles from there to Dairy Queen.

Sent from my iPhone

Event Update: Daybreak at A1A

We got out of bed early on a  holiday no less to do 5 miles out on A1A. If you didn't GOYB today, here is what you missed. As usual, click photos to embiggen:

 Sometimes we walk in more urban areas. There are advantages to both rural and urban. It seems one of the disadvantages is that we see more dead critters in the urban areas.  This is a baby bird, predated by something, not sure if human or some other critter.
I guess the red bellied woodpeckers really like telephone poles. This photo is almost identical to the one I took in the everglades a few weekends ago.
 This is a ...something worm... David told be what it is called, but danged if i can remember.
This is a dead legless lizard, also called a glass snake. Legless lizard is the most appropriate term, it is not a snake at all, it's a lizard with no legs. You can see that it moves completely different than snakes. It is a really pretty critter, and it made me very sad to see one dead. They look sturdy, but are in fact pretty fragile creatures, so it doesn't take much to do one in. We couldn't really tell what happened here, but it looks like something got its tail.
And, on a happier note, Heather and HFC David spotting something near the end of our 5-mile trek. A hot, but great walk as always!

Be sure to check the main page here for updates and new events. Hope to see you off your butt and outside with us soon!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Event Update: Viera Wetlands

We went out to the Viera Wetlands today. It was just me and HFC David today. Lots of cool stuff to see. If you didn't GOYB today, here is what you missed. Click on photos to embiggen:

 This is a snake skeleton, David thinks perhaps a garter snake. It was pretty neat, kind of the next stage after the picture I got in the Everglades a few weeks ago.
 This is a least bittern, in a somewhat uncharacteristic pose. They usually stick their beak straight up so they blend in with the reads. Notice how well his color blends in, when the head is straight up, they become almost invisible.
 A Gulf Fritillary nomming on a plant.
Yours truly. I am really not grumpy. I have those glasses that get dark outside, but they don't get dark enough, so I'm always squinting and looking grumpy. I really was having a good time out there.
HFC David, with binoculars.
 This was a really cute tiny alligator. My only fear was that his mom was around somewhere, but if she was, I didn't see her.
This was new for me: baby Anhingas. I didn't know they are white when they are little.
 A Sandhill Crane
 A White Ibis. They are common as dirt down here, but I still think they are so very pretty.
This is 2 baby great blue herons, one of whom was having a very bad hair day.
This was my favorite picture of the day. I have never seen a great blue heron's tongue before. This poor guy was very very hot and panting.

This is a 4-spotted Pendant dragonfly.
As we were leaving the wetlands we went through the Click ponds, there was nothing there, then we cruised over to River Lakes Conservation Area.
This is a view of one of the canals at River Lakes. Really pretty place. This is a really neat area that I don't get to often enough. David said there is a 6-mile-ish loop out to the river. I'm thinking this will be a future event, but perhaps when it gets a little cooler and less buggy.

Sorry if you missed all the cool stuff today, Be sure to check back for upcoming evens!