Matanzas Pass Totally awesome!!!

 The roots are hanging above the ground! Some go down into it providing breeding

 grounds for many of the animals like Snook and Shrimp.

 I love Trees.  When I had the time to draw, I drew Trees.  I even wrote a story

about a tree once.       I have many photographs of trees.  Weird huh?

 I am working on memory since I didn't bring anything but a camera so forgive me for not remembering the teachers name,  I do recall him telling us that this was a very old and dead pine tree.  Great for starting fires when fire is what you want,  that is when you want a fire.  It is a hazard in a protected area if it does catch fire.

 This is the bay you can see through the trees.

 Mosquito ditches dug to control mosquitos.

 Mosquitos as the circle of life, Mosquito bites man, fish eats mosqito,

 man eats fish that ate the mosquito that bit man. 

 From what I recall this is more than one type of tree.

I just thought it was neat looking.

 Sail boats on the bay.  Later there was a dolphin swimming right out there.

 If you are in to sunrises, this is were it happens in the mornings here!

 Trying to get a picture of a nice house in the distance.  Oh well.

These are some of my classmates and one of the girls that assists on these trips.

 You can's see them real well but there are oyster beds here.

 I quit listening when they started talking about oysters filtering the water.  I love to eat them so...

 Beautiful picture of the walk way.  Sea Grape plants to the left and right.

 A birds nest

 The stump of an Austrailian Pine removed from the preserve. 

Austrailian Pines are not native to Florida and not a healthy additive to the envirnment.

SEA GRAPE JELLY.  YUM! 

Part II Sense of Place - My Neighborhood

        I live in a condo community in Fort Myers. My unit faces a preserve that is posted as a no trespassing zone.  There are no neighbors directy behind me to see or to see me.  The fact that there is a protected preserve is an effort to maintain some greenery and what ever may live in it, I assume. I have never ventured out into it because it is prohibited but I can say with all certainty that when we had thunderstorms every day for days on in, there was a wonderful song coming from frogs that must live in there.  I don't recall hearing them when it was dry and I have not heard them lately.   I noticed a snake on the sidewalk by my neighbors house a few months back also.  That is about the time I quit walking on the grass between my unit and the parking area.  

        

 

        It is more environmentally friendly than single homes in the fact that it is a mulit unit place according to the web site that measures our ecological footprint I mentioned in the previous post.  At the front of the community is a fensed in area next to the dumpster (that compacts the trash as it is added) are several green lidded containers that are labeled and used for recycling. There may be other efforts of sustainability around the neighborhood that I just dont notice. 

 

Empty as I am moving in.

My dog Kibbles walking around

        I love to sit on my lanai on mornings that arent so hot and have a glass of milk. That is relaxing to me, but my favorite place is right here in my living room looking out on the lanai and the preserve with my AC set for an economical 78 degrees.         

My Personal Ecological FootPrint

According to sustainability.pulicrado.org  I am making some right choices but it would still take 3.4 earths to sustain all the people on the planet if they lived just like me.  I have to laugh at this!  I am a single parent living on a small income so I am frugal with electricity, gas and things as such.  When I am out of money I am out!  I try to make it last as long as I possibly can by not taking leisure trips and by making as much out of every trip I do take. 

I reuse the same water bottle over and over,  I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as I can and reduce comsumption of electricity by eating out where someone else is going to use the power whether I am there or not.  OK that is just a little joke.  I do recycle when I can but not as often as I should. The reason for this is that I can not put things outside of my condo and dont have room in it to sort everything.  I will rethink this. 

There is alot of waste in the packaging of things, but again I try to eat more fresh foods and in fact prefer to buy them from local farmers markets or the flea market.  There is no doubt that I could not make more changes to be more eco friendly and I will implement a plan to do just that.  These are things that my 8 year old loves to do too so we can make it a family project! 

Thoughts about reading and what I see around me

I went over to Captiva this weekend to take my 8 year old on the Dolphin Cruise.  This was my first time going any further than the bridge/beach .  I was awestruck by some of the houses I seen as we drove along.  Beautiful houses with gated drives right across the street from the beach. Beach front but not right on the beach.  My first thought was how nice it was that the houses were not all right on the beach so that the general public can not enjoy it also.  My second thought was, what in the world does anyone do with so much house (4000+ square feet).  My thoughts then wandered to the readings on the State of the World. 

How much excess is in a house that big unless you are a polygamist that needs a house built for 8 wives and 30 children?  I can not say that if I had the money I might not be as self absorbed.  I will never know.  But when we think about sustainability and how much waste comes from living in such excess.  How much in natural resources are being wasted in just one of these houses and there are a bunch of them in a row? 

I am not so sure I am going to like the skeptic I will become from learning how wasteful civilized society has become.  When I think that I not only turn all of my lights off when I leave, I usually turn the breakers off to everything but the refrigerator to keep my utility bill down.  I do try to recycle.  Will my little bit of effort really make a difference when one family could waste more in a day than I would use in several years!

ALLIVON CALLING!

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SWAMP ROMP on the Campus Trails

        We went to Corkscrew Swamp Santuary on 9/7/10.  It was a nice trip, but very hot. I was a little disappointed and I guess I need to tour the entire trail to know what I missed.   Then again I don't think that will matter since we walked through the swamp on campus this past week.  

        I was so afraid of this trip and had myself  convinced it was going to be the worst and the scariest thing I have ever done.  I loved it! I so totally loved it.  It was awesome and I can not wait to take my 8 year old on a trip to a swamp.  I won't walk him through it but I want him to see it as it really is and not how the movies portray it, to appreciate the beauty and the calm of the it. 

        I couldnt help but to reflect on the readings from The Land Remembered. I tried to vision it as I was reading but had no idea what the book was talking about.  I could see the MacIvey's trying to brave the terrain on a cart with an ox.  I found it hard to believe any animal that didn't find shelter in the wetlands and swamp could be convinced to go into it.  I wish I thought to bring my camera with me. Maybe next trip!

Incoming Reflection

I was not sure what to expect from this class.  I heard several different opinions but all of them from different people in different classes I was taking that I know very little about.  So I came into it with an open mind, hopping for the best.

As a child I was a bit of a tom boy.  I loved to climb trees, swim in ditches, wander through the woods and I never thought anything about nature.  It was my playground.  I always had a fear of snakes but I wasn’t so afraid I wouldn’t venture out into the unknown.  That for me, was many years ago.  My idea of being outdoors now is lying by a pool or on a beach taking in some sun or a picnic at a park.  If I venture out in the water and I keep feeling things move around me, I get out! 

At this point I would have to say that if I have a relationship with the natural world; it is because I have an 8 year old son whose curiosity has motivated me to explore it.  We do know about recycling and we both try to be respectful of our water use and use of electricity.  We also pick up litter as we go and do not throw trash on the ground.   My son and I have developed a love for the Manatee's and are saddened by their slow depletion that is caused by careless boaters since our move to Florida.  

I got in a bit of a panic when I learned we would be romping through the swamp.  Since I will not walk through the reptile part of a pet store and have taken plenty of pictures of alligators right here on the campus we would be walking in the same swamps.  Yes, I had some serious anxieties and reservations about that part of the class.

My personal goals for this class started out to be to pass it.  I guess most of us have this fact in common.  Now that I have been in it for a few weeks I can see how the knowledge I get from it can be advantageous for me to know.  I can relate my place and my responsibilities to promote and protect the environment around me and how it applies to me.  I am excited to get to share this part of what I learn with my son so that he will grow up with some measure of respect and a desire to protect it also.