Event Update

Well, I ended up skipping McKee Botanical Gardens yesterday as I didn't have any RSVPs, and I had some other stuff I had to get done.  But we did get in a hike at Goodwin Wildlife Management Area. If you didn't GOYB, here is what you missed (Click on the picture to enlarge. The turtle is especially neat enlarged):

A red shoulder hawk. It's rare that I get a picture that actually shows why they are called red-shouldered hawks.

 We saw lots of red-winged blackbirds. They are another of my favorites, I just like the burst of color against so much blackness.

 This was our find of the day. Shown here is the divine Ms. H with a very dead turtle. The neat thing is, it was perfectly preserved. It appeared to have died of old age, there were no signs of a struggle or predators.

 It was completely stripped of soft tissue, most likely by bugs after death. The rest of it was completely intact, and, most likely due to dry hot air, it was almost mummified.

 Ibrahim showing how huge the turtle was.

Deer, dears. I love the diversity at Goodwin WMA - birds, turtles, deer, snakes. Critters galore!

We saw a LOT of REALLY big snakes this trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge the camera before I left, and most of the pictures of the snakes didn't come out. We also saw a huge herd of Roseate Spoonbills who are hanging out at the roost just as you come out of the parking area. I plan to charge the camera and go back for another dusk walk this week, most likely on Wednesday. If you haven't ever seen a Roseate, this is the walk to join me on, they are close to the road and easy to photograph (IF you remember to charge your camera battery, that is.)

Hope to see you out there with me soon!

Event updates...

Sorry for the late post, I had the sniffles earlier in the week,  wasn't sure if I was up for getting out this weekend. Now I'm all better and raring to go. Hope you can join me at either McKee Botanical Gardens or  Goodwin Wildlife Management area this weekend.

Todays walk is cancelled

Today's afternoon walk at Goodwin is cancelled due to illness.  Please check in tomorrow for the weekend schedule.

Objects in mirror are smaller than they look...

So, I try to stay really positive, try to stay active, try to remember the important stuff like why I created this blog, and why I try to get people to come out on walks with me. But sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's really hard.

Case in point: A few weeks ago, the gym I go to started running a promotion where if you came in to the gym more that 150 times in the past year, you got a t-shirt that says "WORLDS BIGGEST USER" I thought the shirts were neat and I asked for one, given that I have been in 5x/week for over a year, I knew that I had earned it. The problem though, is that the t-shirts only went up to size XL. I was mortified. I've wear a 3x, and they just don't make them that big. I was so embarrassed, I started crying when I was telling my trainer about it. She talked me down, and that is actually how it came to pass that she challenged me to go 21 days without sugar to try to get me back on track eating a little better. 

Anyway, after a few days without sugar, Alison gave me one of the x-large t-shirts and told me to hang on to it for inspiration. I felt bad taking it, knowing it wouldn't fit any time soon, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I took it home. After seeing it sit in the laundry pile for a few days, just for laughs I decided to try it on to see how much further I have to go...

 (In case you can't read the writing, that is the "WORLDS BIGGEST USER", size xl t-shirt I am wearing in this picture, taken today.)

I've said all along that working out and getting off my butt in general isn't about losing weight, it's about getting out and feeling good and living in the world and not my head. But apparently somewhere along the way I have managed to drop a shirt size or two.

This post is for Allison, who made me do it :-)

Event Update - Turkey Creek

We had another glorious outing today. We (Heather, Ibrahim and I) went to Turkey Creek Sanctuary in Palm Bay. If you didn't GOYB today, here is what you missed (click on pictures to enlarge):

 This is a skink. The photo doesn't do him justice, he was a beautiful critter, kind of a silky black, brown and tan.

This is another skink that was hanging out. Again, the photo doesn't do him justice, his coloring was amazing, with the black and brown, but then the bright orange head.

This is a picture of Heather being really mean to poor defenseless little me. We somehow got onto a trail that ended in the middle of the boardwalk. Heather hopped right up onto the boardwalk, but I made the mistake of sitting my camera down, and Heather snapped this picture of me gracefully (haha) climbing up.

 We finally made it to the water's edge. There were tons of kitty fish swimming around.

 There were also tons of turtles sunning on logs today.

 Here is Heather doing her patented turtle-sitting-on-a-log imitation.

 Heather took this neat artsy picture of your truly in front of the Turkey Creek sign, with Galardia in the foreground.  (If anyone from Sampson Island is reading this, I mistakenly identified this a Coriopsis. Sorry about that). This picture came out so nice that I forgave her for the boardwalk one:-)

Heather and Ibrahim on the dock at Goode Park.

We are talking about doing a kayak trip for a future DeeMotivation event, so on the way home we stopped here to check out the launch facilities. From here you can kayak through Turkey Creek. As I will have to hire a leader and rent kayaks, please drop me an email if you are interested in joining, and I will schedule a trip. 

As always, it was a lovely outing, thanks to Heather and Ibrahim for making it so much fun! Hope everyone reading this can make it out to a future event!

The Return of a Taste of Tuesday

A while ago, I went through a vegetarian phase. My buddy Joy sent me a bunch of recipes, including one for Spinach Casserole. I have adapted it a little to suit my tastes. It's really good as a side dish, but it has enough nutrients to be a main dish as well.

Spinach Casserole

Ingredients:

• (2) 9 oz bags fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz your favorite cheese. I like cabot 50% pepperjack
• Spices in dish: I use nutmeg, cayanne and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• Pumpkin seeds
• 1 onion, diced
• Brown rice, cooked (I use a bag of boil-in-bag brown rice, it's easy to cook and hard to screw up)
• Paprika (enough to look pretty)
• Garlic (to taste, I use LOTS)

Procedure:

1. Cook the rice according to package directions and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, cook the garlic and onions till the onions are translucent.  I use regular cooking oil, but I guess you could use Pam if you wanted to reduce the calorie count.  Add the chopped spinach by handfulls. letting it cook down (it will eventually all fit in there.) 
3. When the spinach mixture is all cooked, take pan off the heat. Either in the frying pan or in a big bowl, add the cooked rice, cheese, egg whites, nutmeg, cayanne an black pepper to the spinach.
4. Spray a cooking dish with Pam and dump the mixture into it. 
5. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top to taste (I like the texture, so I add quite a few), then add enough paprika to make it look pretty. 
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until browned on top.
7. Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom.

A few questions on the state of the blog...

 I am trying to decide the direction in which I want to take this blog. If you are reading here, it would be great if you could either reply here anonymously or send me email answering a few questions:

• I have mostly been doing trips here in Indian River County. If you live somewhere else, would you attend events if I held them in your area? (A general description of where you live would be helpful, either the town or county.)
• I've been most doing walking/birding tours, just because that is my interest.  I have always been open to other events, but haven't received any outside input. Would you attend other types of outings such as, for example, shopping, concerts, festivals, playing softball or other games? Let me know what else you might be interested in.
• Other than giving a few people my card, I really haven't promoted this blog at all. In your opinion, should I try promoting it? Is the advice/information I post here interesting and worthwhile? 
• What other topics would you like to read about here? 

Basically, I would like to reach a wider audience, but also do not want to waste people's time.  Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much.