Evening Walk at the Buffer Preserve

Had a really nice 3 mile walk out at the buffer preserve this evening. Got some good looks at deer. And LOTS of water from the recent rains. If you didn't GOYB and join me, here's what you missed:

This beautiful doe came out to say hi and pose nice.

This was a row-picnic table. Kinda like a row boat, but more picnic-y. There is a LOT of standing water out there.

This is a terrible picture, but I think it's a baby deer. The color is bad, but you can see he is spot, doesn't have the same solid color coat as the grown ups.

Hope to see you out there with me soon! There's always something cool to see out there, you just have to GOYB!

A Taste of Tuesday: Spice Primer

I got one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received for my birthday from Heather. She made me this awesome chart so I could learn how to use spices. Hope you find it as helpful as I do!

Send me an email if you would like a PDF version of it.

5 Miles in the Stick Marsh

I was joined today by the divine Ms. H for a 5 mile jaunt through the stick marsh. Weather was perfect, and there were tons of critters out there, including tons of alligators (including 8 way too close to the bush that I usually use for a pee stop - wound up holding it today :-), lots of white pelicans, black-neck stilts, bobolinks (which turned out to be a life bird for me!) I didn't take a ton of pictures, but if you didn't GOYB and join us, here's what you missed:

Terrible iPhone photo, but trust me, it's a Bobolink, there were a zillion out there.

A HUGE soft-shell turtle who was kind enough to pose for us before he meandered off into the grass.

Fun in the sun, great conversation, and lots of wildlife.

Be sure to check the schedule for our next trip. Remember, you can see cool pictures here on the web site, but you can only see a soft shell turtle in person if you GOYB and join us!

Restarting the Blog!

Back by popular demand! Ok, no one demanded it, I just wanted to start this up again... I am restarting this blog and once again scheduling events and outings to help you (and me) GOYB.

So, what have I been doing for the past year? Well, last July I was alone and bored 4th of July weekend, so I started reading a book that's been on my shelf for a long time but I never got around to reading, called "Rational Recovery" This book is about alcoholism, but it clearly related to my issues with food. I know now that there is only ONE single reason that I eat crap: Because it tastes better than broccoli. It is not because of depression, or loneliness, or boredom, or any of the other 10 million bullshit excuses I've used over the years. The book was simply the kick in the head that I needed.

I've lost some weight since reading it - numbers don't matter - but what does matter is that I recognize that my eating habits are mine and I am in control of them. If I eat a bunch of cookies - I ate them - I put them in my mouth, and I was in control of the action. Is eating cookies a wise choice? Nope, but it was mine. It's funny how crap doesn't taste as good now that I don't have depression or anxiety or 1,000,000 other excuses for eating it.

In other news, I've been walking pretty regularly all this time, still with camera in hand, but just haven't been updating this blog.

So what's the purpose of this post?  It's time to start scheduling walks and getting other people out there with me again. Check out the events list on the left side of this page, and come out and join me. Please shoot me an email if you plan to join me so I know to wait for you.

My motto is still the same: You can see pictures of cool stuff on the internet, but you can only experience it if you Get Off Your Butt and join me!

Hope to see you out there.

Manatee Watch - Sick Manatee!

I had a manatee that was just lying in shallow water, other than breathing now and then, it wasn't really moving at all. I also noticed white around the snout, which indicates cold stress. I called Fish and Wildlife, and after laying there for over 2 hours, the stupid manatee just up and swam off literally 1 minute before FFW got there. But here are some pictures, I really did see a sick manatee, we just couldn't do anything about it cause it took off. Hopefully it will warm up or at least find a warmer place to hang out.

Birds of a Feather Fest

We had a great time out at the Birds of a Feather Festival this weekend. Thanks so much to all the folks who came out for our field trips and classes, we really enjoyed it. For those of you who didn't get out and join us, here's just a few of the things that you missed!

On our Saturday field trip started with great looks at a Pileated WoodPecker.

We also got great looks at some Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

 This picture makes me laugh - I didn't realize there were 2 woodpeckers there until I downloaded it!

 Another Red-bellied Woodpecker.

 This was some really neat lichen. It looked just like snow, except we didn't have to shovel it!

This is me, welcoming my beginning birding class. Doesn't the clipboard almost make me look like a responsible adult? Ha! The class quickly learned better.

Our next even is teaching beginning birding at the Enchanted Forest in Titusville on February 21. Hope to see you out there. Remember, you can only see cool pictures here on the web, but to really experience the fun, you need to GOYB!

January Nature Walks

I've been so busy out having fun that I have gotten behind in updating the site. If you haven't GOYB and joined us, here are the highlights of what you've missed this month.

There have been more White Pelicans out at the manatee watch landing than I've ever seen before there! On some days there have been about 60.

Two manatees om-nom-noming.

 They really like this green stuff that comes over the spillway.

Long one of my nemesis birds, I finally added the White-eyed Vireo to my life list on my Pish-free birding trip at the Space Coast Festival. This is proof that you don't have to harass the birds to get them to pose!

Another one from the Pish-free Birding trip, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Another manateee watch.

A barnacle covered manatee.

A wild turkey who posed nice for me.

Be sure to keep checking back, I do walks almost every weekend, drop me mail and come out to join me! Remember you can see this stuff on line but you can only experience it if you GOYB and get out there with me!