Dating 101: Have Fun

The rules to golfing:

Place the ball on the tee. Grab the club. Get a good, firm grip on the club. Position your feet apart and in line - where you want the ball to go. Bend your knees a bit. Focus on a particular point or spot on the ball. Slowly breathe in and out. Keep your left arm straight. Slowly bring the club back, not too far,

keeping that left arm straight. Then as you come down, put pressure on your left leg and put some force into your swing. Then whack the ball!

Here's a vidoe to help your sweet success at golfing:

Note that Ivy lifted up her right foot and didn't keep her left arm straight - bad news. You must keep both feet on the ground and arms straight. Try again, and again, again, again, and again until you got it down. It's a good thing we aren't professional golfers but at least we had fun and (Ivy) looked pretty cute!

Grandma: Ina (Betsy) Connelly

Today, Sunday June 29, 2008 my Grandma passed away. She left her old body, full of cancer and pain, and received a new body - as she entered the Kingdom and was welcomed by the Heavenly Father! She will be missed. She is already missed! I love my Grandma so much. I'm sad that she's not on earth anymore but very happy that she is completely healed! We were very fortunate to have spent time with her this past April and over the years. Walking around the circle, eating, talking, learning how to knit, playing with Katy (the cat), and watching MASH and Jeopardy! I love you Grandma!
Jeopardy: 'Famous' People: for 500: Answer: This person was the one of the greatest Grandmas: she took her grand-kids to Disney World and stood on long lines forever; who sat with us at the pool and let us swim for hours; who allowed us only four ginger-snaps with lunch; who let us drink as much favored club-soda as we wanted; allowed us to hit plastic golfballs in the backyard; told me to chew my gum with my mouth closed; who let me help with her puzzles; who gave me nickles for not worrying in school; who played poker with the family during reunions and laughed so much she had to pee!; who sat through an entire Red Sox Game and loved it...cheering for Manny (who has the long hair!); who came to my high school and college graduation, mine and my brother's wedding, and who came up 'north' where it's not 80 degrees all the time!
Question: Who is: (see Title above)

V A C A T I O N ! !

Vacation! Ivy and I went on vacation this past week. We drove 16 hours south to North Carolina to see some my extended family. It was a long trip with TONS of traffic, but it was a lot of fun. Ivy and I spent some quality time together and listened to "The Horse and His Boy" and "Prince Caspian" by C.S.Lewis during the trip. It was great. Listening to a story while sitting in traffic is more fun than just sitting in traffic. It made the trip not-so-long. Anyways, after visting family, we drove north towards PA. On our way there, we stopped in Shenandoah National Park and stayed there a night. It was fun hiking around and laying in the grass. View along Skyline Drive.We drove along Skyline Drive, up and down the mountains, yelling "wildlife!" every time we saw, well, wildlife...which was usually a squirrel, chipmuck, deer, or a turkey vulture! We first went Dark Hollow Falls. This was a moderate hike, not too steep...although, we were stiff because we were sitting in the car so long! But was nice. There was a small waterfall. Water is so cool to watch. We hiked along, looking at the water, the plants, and looking for wildlife. We think we saw a peregine falcon, but couldn't get close enough to see. We then went to Skyland Resort, where we stayed for the night. We checked in and then drove down to our room. It was a large room, but earth-friendly. I suppose all the National Parks are trying to "be green" nowadays, which is good. All the lights were CFLs, the shower was a low-flow, and instead of having those small shampoo/conditioner bottles, there was a "soap" dispenser that you pressed buttons and a small amount would squirt out. Nice. And lots of windows to light up the room, so we could use less eletricity. So we were friendly to the environment on Earth Day. ;) We relaxed and chilled out while in Shenandoah. Then we drove to PA to spend some time with Ivy's family.

Of course during our trip, my eye was looking for birds (wildlife!) and plants. Here are some photos!

Ferns growing out of a large boulder.

Signs of Spring with new flowers emerging.

A Dark-eyed Junco sitting on a wall on Hawksbill Mountain Summit (no hawks though).

While we were hiking in Shenandoah, we came across a Ruffed Grouse. Male drums with wings to produce a series of deep thumping sounds that increase in tempo. This is what we saw and took video of. It sounds like a tracker starting its engine. This is loud in the forest.

That was our traveling vacation! It was great! We are looking forward to the summer to have more vacation!! WILDLIFE!

High Gas Prices are GOOD

Bring on $6 a gallon gasoline!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/133994

Some Vernal Pool Species

To the left is a photo of a wood frog (Rana sylvatica). Wood frogs are found throughout New England and northern North America. They are common, small frogs (~2 inches) that don't get very large but their singing can be heard during the spring time. Here's what they sound like http://allaboutfrogs.org/files/sounds/wood.wav
Right now the frogs are migrating from the forested uplands into the vernal pools.


Vernal Pools also are home to salamanders. To the right is a spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). The salamanders are also migrating from the upland to the vernal pools. These salamanders are quite common and large (some grow up to 7 inches). If you ever come across one, make sure you wet your hands with water or wear latex gloves. All amphibians have pores on their skin and are very sensitive. Salamanders also diffuse a slim as a deterant for predators (and humans). It's a sticky slim or goo. Not nice to get on you! Usually there's a Big Night once a year, usually in April. It's when many salamanders move from the upland to the vernal pools/wetlands, and usually "they choose" a rainy, warm night.
The reasons to 'why' they are migrating to the pools is for mating. And that is why Vernal Pools are so important to the ecosystem, and why vernal pools are protected.
(These photos were taken by Jon).

Favorite Videos - So You Think You Can Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv8XMUtan54&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGY5lhFZFpc&feature=related

Paper or Plastic

There's an article on MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23358591 that discusses which is better: paper or plastic. Paper weighs more, costs more to ship (from tree to factory to consumer...and paper factories pollute a lot!) Plastic bags are made from fossil fuels (OIL) but weighs less and shipping costs are lower than paper. Paper bags are easier to recycle, plastic bags not so muchl; plus trees are a renewable resource while the oil needed for plastic is not. Also, there are certain areas that specifically grow trees for paper use. A good alternative: reusable bags. Pretty much anything resuable is best for the environment in the long run. The link above is a good interactive website. Another website: http://msnbc.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/11/1359519-battle-of-the-bags-paper-vs-plastic discusses what others think about the topic. I'm going to use reusable bags only.

Killdeer

Here are two pictures of the same bird. This is a killdeer. Everytime I see this bird, I think that it is a sand-piper or plover but it's not. It's a killdeer, which is pretty common. An interesting fact about this bird is that if you are getting too close to its nest, the adult bird will make it's wing appear to be broken and lure you away from the nest. Pretty ingenius way to get rid of predators and/or humans. I saw this bird on Tuesday next to a pond which was next to an apartment complex. It's fun to see birds everywhere. Take hawks for instance, I see so many hawks on the side of the road or in trees next to highways. They are everywhere! So cool. I love birds.

It's been awhile since my last post. I hope you haven't been anxiously awaiting for a post from me...anyways, I found this link on the Nature Conservancy Website and I thought it was cool [maybe depressing] to know how much of my life, everyday chores, work, yada yada yada affects the environment. Check out this website and take the survey: http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/?src=search
My household emits about 57 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere a year. Is that bad? It isn't good. It's below the national average for my household. I think that these Carbon surveys can be read two ways. 1) Make you feel quilty and "push" you towards eating organic, buying "green" houses/cars, etc. OR 2) making you aware that everything you do affects the world around you. Some people might say you (I am) ignorant because I don't drive a hybrid or eat organic food. Eating organic is expensive! I refused to buy apples at Shaws because they were $1.29/lb. Maybe I'm cheap (probably) but I'm not going to pay more (up front) to "be green." Because even buying a hybrid isn't all that great. Yeah, it saves you $$ at the pump, but the battery for the hybrid and all the other "extras" end up costing you more in the long run. I'll write more later, I'm done for now.

Derby has passed

Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today in great memory of our friend, Derby/Diesel - the beta-fish. He has lived and blessed so many lives, particularly the lives within GCTS, and my family. This is with great sadness that Derby/Diesel has passed into the great blue, he has followed the light, and has left his home. We don't know how old he is/was but he was well loved. Thank you Ian and Sally for bringing this friend into our lives and my family's lives. He will be missed. We will miss you, Derby.

Lunar Eclipse

Cool!

Birds Birds Birds

I love searching for birds, rare or common. It excites me! I went birding this past Sunday and Monday, it was great. I also saw two rainbows on Monday afternoon, pretty sweet. I think that I'm going birding again this weekend, so if anyone wants to come along, let me know. I also saw many buffleheads, goldeneyes, cormorants, and possibly a harlequin-duck! Birding is fun. I heard some chickadees this morning when I was sitting in my office. Great.

Hello. I’m not sure if anyone has clicked on the link “shrimp suck” but it’s a website that says why we should stay away from eating shrimp. “Shrimp is the #1 seafood in the U.S. Eating shrimp can be among the worst things you can do to the ocean. Bottom trawling and farming for shrimp can destroy the ocean. You don't want to be a part of that.” The site urges consumers to stop eating the country's most popular seafood, which is typically caught using turtle- and dolphin-killing nets. The reason that it’s on my blog is because I read it in Outside Magazine and it brings up a valuable point – everything we do and eat has an affect on the Environment.
That being said, I have a confession to make – I love eating shrimp. It tastes so good. Ivy and I ate some on Friday night at Legal Seafood and it was amazingly good. I had a trio of fish, and shrimp and scallops; so good! I do believe in caring for the environment but it’s not like I eat shrimp everyday. Agh, now I feel better. I’m gonna go eat some shrimp…just kidding!!

Skiing Adventure

So this is Ivy learning how to downhill ski...just kidding!
This past Saturday, Ivy and I trekked northward in search of snow and mountains. We found ourselves at Ragged Mountain. It's a nice mountain to ski at, although it is a long drive from the highway. I enjoy downhill skiing but I often go alone because Ivy doesn't like to ski very much because she doesn't know really how to ski. BUT she agreed to go skiing with me and was also willing to take a lesson. Fine by me! :) So Ivy took an hour private lesson, and her instructor even took her to the top! Ivy is good at skiing, she just needs to relax and enjoy the views. She had fun. I had fun too. It was a nice day to ski. Not too cold and it even snowed. Skiing in the snow making seeing more difficult though. I always say that skiing is like riding a bike, you just remember. I remembered but it was difficult. It has been a year since I last skied. I definitely didn't ski like the photo above but it was good. I think I'm done with Ragged Mountain. Too small. It's too bad that skiing is so expensive! Normally it would have cost $60 per lift ticket! That's crazy expensive! No thanks. Ivy and I had a good day though. I'm glad we went. Maybe we'll go again this season now that she's a pro!

It's Underdog!

So you would think that a movie about Underdog, an old cartoon, would be pretty stupid and not worth the effort to rent and then watch...wrong-o. Underdog the movie is so funny!! I laughed pretty much the entire movie.
"It's a bird, no it's a plane, it's a frog! A frog?!"
"It's no bird, no plane, no frog, IT'S UNDERDOG!!!"
What else rhymes with dog?
Great movie. So funny. Highly recommend.

More Birds

So today I and some friends went birding again. This time we went up to Plum Island. Our ultimate goal was to see a snowy owl but we figured we would see other awesome birds while we were up there, and we did. We did end up seeing a snowy owl but didn't know it until someone told us later...we saw it from a distance. But we saw many short-eared owls...like the picture above. As we were leaving the Park, we followed an owl along the road and it happened to stop and perch on top of a wooden stake, perfect for a photo without a scope! (Which I still need to figure out how to use). It was awesome. We saw tons of hawks too. Birding is a fun hobby. We also saw many mallard ducks in the marshes. They are so funny to watch because their butts float as their heads are under water searching for food. It was a great day to bird...despite a little wind and cold.

Greetings, and welcome to our blog. We are new at this but figured 'what do we have to lose' by setting up a blog? Asolutely nothing...so here goes:

So today I went up to Newburyport, along the Merrimack River, and went birding. Birding isn't catching birds or trapping them, it is simply watching and looking for certain birds. Today I was in search for Bald Eagles. Bald Eagles migrate to the Merrimack River every winter because of the open water. Today I drove north on 95 and drove along the River. Immediately I saw 7 Bald Eagles hanging out on a sand-bar in the middle of the River. I was pumped with excitement! I got my binoculars out and looked through them, and saw 2 adult Bald Eagles and 5 juveniles just hangin' out on the sandbar and in the shallow water. They were playing and washing themselves. It was a sight. Then I setup my scope and tripod to view the eagles through it. Much better than the binoculars! They were flying back and forth from the nearby white pine and paper birch trees along the River to the sand bar. They are so cool to watch. They are so majestic! I took some photos, but they didn't come out so well. I tried to take the photos through the scope but not so good. Oh well, it's the best I can do now.
Then I drove down along the River to a park and saw another Bald Eagle soaring in the wind. Today was a windy day to say the least! Cool.