Why Can't We Be Friends?

I have always loved going to zoos and wildlife parks. I love to look at the animals. My problem is that it does not seem like animals like me. I have been bitten and attacked by all sorts of animals.

The first occurrence of my bad luck came when I was about five years old. We were at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, which is a drive through wildlife park where you can feed the animals. When you enter the park they tell you that feeding the animals is at your own risk. They also tell you to drop the food onto the ground and do not feed the animals out of your hands. Well, I was feeding the animals out of my hands and it was all going great until we got to the zebras. In case you never knew, zebras bite, often, and one bit me right in the palm of my hand. To this day I am still frightened of zebras and their giant faces and teeth.

My fear of zebras is nothing compared to my fear of cheetahs. Most people probably think this is nuts, but I have a legitimate reason for my terror. We were visiting the zoo when I was around eight years old. I vividly remember that I was wearing a bright yellow shirt that day. The cheetahs enclosure could be seen from above as well as from a window at ground level. My family had walked down the stairs and was looking at the cheetah that was laying down a long way from the window and I had stopped at the top of the stairs to look at another animal. They had been watching it for a while when I walked down the stairs. When I reached the window the cheetah had seen me and run all the way across the enclosure and slammed into the glass window right where I was standing. I am pretty sure I cried or screamed or both. To this day I do not wear yellow shirts. I have bought yellow shirts a couple of times only to wear them and remember the cheetah. Those yellow shirts quickly got donated to the Salvation Army.

Then, there were several times I got bit by birds. Birds are mean and they hurt. Landa Park always has ducks and geese that people feed. When we would go to the park we occasionally fed them. The bad part comes when you quit feeding the geese or when they think you should start feeding them. They chase you down and will bite you. You may think getting bit by a goose is not painful, but it does not feel good. My other most hated bird is some kind of crowned something or another from Africa. I got bit by this bird at the zoo and it really, hurts. I won't lie and say that this was the birds fault. I was a dumb child who did not listen to my parents or obey the signs that told me not to put my fingers in the cages. So, I put my childish fingers in the cage to touch the beautiful crowned bird and instead of touching fluffy feathers, I got bit in the finger by a sharp beak.

The last bad animal encounter comes from my adult life. Let me just say I did not really learn my lesson from my past animal encounters. When I was pregnant with Little Bear, we went on a trip to Texas and went to Fossil Rim, another drive through wildlife place. I was feeding the addax and when I quit feeding one of them it made him angry. He somehow managed to get part of his horns IN THE CAR and was bashing me in the head with his horns and the top of his head. It was scary and painful. When he whacked me in the head, Popeye said I had a strange and confused look on my face. He asked if I was okay and I responded with something like, "Yeah, I guess so."  I was yelling at Popeye to "Go, Go" and he said something along the lines of "I can't his head is in the car," as I got whacked in the head again. I kept yelling and finally Popeye started driving. What felt like a long time later with a combination of Popeye driving and me shoving the mean antelope away we got away and I was safe again.

Since then, I really try to be more careful with wildlife. I have successfully taken Little Bear to a drive through wildlife ranch without any injuries. I don't stick my fingers through cages now. I don't feed birds. I roll the windows up when we get close to zebras. I don't wear yellow shirts. I hope my awful animal encounters are over.

Five Free and Cheap Places to Go in Northeast Florida

1.) Big Talbot Island State Park

Big Talbot Island State Park is a stunning park. It has beautiful hiking trails and also has stunning beaches. Much of the beach is covered by tree “graveyards”. These long dead trees have fallen on the beach making a hauntingly beautiful scenery. When we arrived at the park on a late morning the fog was an almost eerie sight. We walked for a while down the beach and climbed on the dead trees. We also found whelks, crustaceans, jellyfish, birds, and horseshoe crab skeletons.

Admission to the park is $3 per vehicle for day use. You can find more information on Big Talbot Island State Park here.   

2.) Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is found in Saint Augustine. This fort was built between 1672 and 1695. It was built by the Spanish and later used by the British, the United States, and the Confederate States. It is made of coquina that was found on Anastasia Island. The fort is now run by the National Park Service and regularly has re-enactments with cannons and muskets. The fort also provides incredible views of the water and boats coming and going through the channel.

Admission to the park is $10 per adult and free for children 15 and under. More information about Castillo de San Marcos can be found here.

3.) Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park

Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park is just a little ways south of Jacksonville, Florida. Camp Blanding is a military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard. Just outside of the base gates you can find the museum and memorial park. Inside the museum is an array of exhibits from World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. At one time this base served as a training station for the United States Army as well as a prisoner of war camp. The stories you can read in the museum are enlightening. Outside you can find many aircraft and army vehicles dating from World War I all the way to Desert Storm. The museum is run by volunteers, mostly veterans who have been stationed or trained here.

Admission is free, but they do accept donations. You can find more information about Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park here.

4.) Riverside Arts Market

Riverside Arts Market is a weekly event held on Saturdays from 10 am - 3 pm. This weekly event is a gathering of local artists, farmers, restaurants, and musicians. There are food trucks and booths galore. The artists sell paintings, photographs, signs, jewelry, and so much more. The farmers sell local and seasonal produce, honey, baked goods, and eggs. Each week there are different musicians. There are also themed markets geared towards different types of music, cultural groups, pets, and more. The market is pet-friendly and fun for the whole family. It is under a bridge along the river so the scenery is nice.

Admission to the market is free. Parking is somewhat difficult and you may have to walk a little ways to get to the market. You can find more information about the Riverside Arts Market, including booths and farmers, here.

5.) Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve Beach Access Points

I love the beach. There are a couple of things I look for when I look for a good beach. First, I want to go somewhere that is pretty clean. Second, I want to go somewhere that the water does not get too deep too quickly. Third, I want to go somewhere with a decent amount of shells and hopefully shark’s teeth. The beaches that have access from the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve have been among my favorite. These beach access points are between Jacksonville and Saint Augustine along A1A. They are not too crowded and I always find several shark’s teeth as well as a variety of shells.

Admission to these beaches is free. You can find more information about these beaches and the reserve here.

My Top 10 Favorite Places to Visit

I have been blessed in my life to travel across much of the United States. I have been to 36 of 50 states, not including the states I have only been to airports in. Many of the states I have been to were in my childhood, but they were still amazing and memorable. In my adult life, I have also been to some glorious places.

Out of all these great states, I have ten places I have most enjoyed visiting and have some of my fondest memories at.

1) The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, NM & CO

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is by far my favorite place. First, the historic steam train is super cool. Second, the landscape and scenery are gorgeous. The first time I was there I was in kindergarten and we saw the Indiana Jones train cars on the tracks. We visited the railroad almost every year after that until I graduated high school. I have been blessed to go back several times as an adult and love it just as much if not more now.

2) The Alamo & Missions, San Antonio, TX

The Alamo and the missions in San Antonio will always have a special place in my heart. First, they are an amazing part of Texas history. They have a sad story that is also filled with hope and joy. They are also a place of beauty and peace. I can wander these missions for hours or sit and enjoy the peace that I feel in these places.

3) Shenandoah National Park, VA

Shenandoah National Park has a special place in my heart. It is one of the first places we took Little Bear hiking. We also went camping there once and saw more bears than I had ever seen. We saw 11 bears on our trip including three bear cubs. It was amazing. Skyline Drive is an amazing drive through the mountains, whether it is spring, summer, winter, or fall.  

4) Echo Amphitheater, NM 

Echo Amphitheater is an interesting and beautiful rock formation found in New Mexico. It is a lovely spot stuck between the mountains and the High Desert. The landscape is stunning. So stunning in fact that many famous artists such as Georgia O'Keefe have used the scenery for inspiration for their work.

5) Cass Scenic Railroad, WV

The Cass Scenic Railroad is a really neat place in West Virginia. When Popeye came home from his first deployment. While the Cass will never take the place of the Cumbres and Toltec it is a truly beautiful railroad. It is in the middle of nowhere, which gives it a really nice relaxing atmosphere. The Cass Scenic Railroad and the wonderful bed and breakfast we stayed at made a perfect getaway after months apart.

6) Top of the Rock, NYC, NY 

When we visited New York City it was a really neat trip. We did a lot of cool stuff including seeing the Statue of Liberty, but I felt overwhelmed by the crowds everywhere. I was thrilled with the views from The Top of the Rock. Top of the Rock was amazing. We could see all of New York City from up there. It was a special moment in time that I will never forget. 

7) Yellowstone National Park 

Yellowstone National Park is a really stunning place. We went when I was in middle school. I don't think my family planned to go there on vacation, but we ended up there. It was one of the coolest vacations we ever went on. We saw wildlife galore, but even cooler than the wildlife are the geysers, springs, and mud pots. The bubbling ground is so interesting. The science and nature combined to make bubbling mud pots, water that has so much acid it can dissolve almost anything, and water that shoots through the crust of the earth rising high into the sky at regular intervals is a feat that only God could perfect. 

8) Colonial Williamsburg Williamsburg, VA 

Colonial Williamsburg is a beautiful historic area. It has more history than almost anywhere I have ever been. The Revolutionary War and Colonial history here give you opportunities to learn so many stories. Besides learning about all the history you can enjoy the stunning gardens. During Christmastime, the Colonial style decorations are interesting and have inspired lots of craft projects for me. 

9) Fort Washington National Park, Fort Washington, MD 

Fort Washington National Park can be found tucked away along the Potomac River just outside of Washington D.C. It is a quiet park with an amazing historic fort that served our country from 1809 until 1939. The historic fort has a beautiful view across the river. It is filled with historic batteries, cannons, and more history than most of us can imagine. When you walk down from the fort to the shores of the Potomac you can fish and find sea glass or river glass as the case may be.  

10) The Blue Ridge Parkway, NC and VA

The Blue Ridge Parkway is the first place Popeye and I went camping. It is also where we rode the first train together of our married life. We made several trips up and down parts of The Blue Ridge Parkway in the early years of our marriage. It will always be one of my favorite places. The Scenery is lovely.

Birds

I hate birds. I have always hated birds. I don't know if it stems from watching parts of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" as a child or if it comes from being bitten by several birds at the zoo and chased by geese at the park, and dive bombed by seagulls at the beach. Either way, I really do not like birds.

My Grandma always loved birds. She had bird feeders and bird houses. She had hummingbird feeders she kept full all the time. She had little bird decorations and Christmas ornaments. She loved her birds.

When she moved into the assisted living apartment she did not have anywhere to hang a bird house or bird feeder. Sometimes she would buy bird food when she rode the bus to Walmart. She would put the bird seed out on the little balcony porch she had. Then, one day she quit buying bird seed.

She started getting bread and rolls from her apartment and putting them out on the little porch for the birds to eat. She would always get doves that would come and eat her bread. They seemed to keep all the other birds away. She still enjoyed the doves and any other birds she saw.

All through the years, Grandma would tell me stories about her birds. Before the assisted living place, she had constant complaints about squirrels getting into the bird feeders. Then, there were the complaints about the birds being picky and only eating certain types of seeds, like sunflower seeds. In my life, I never appreciated her love for birds.

The last couple of years, I have finally started to find an appreciation for birds. I am by no means a birder or even a real lover of birds. I have begun to enjoy seeing the wide variety of birds that comes through our yard each year. I have also begun to appreciate taking pictures of birds. Some birds have a majestic and stately look, others have beautiful and vibrant coloring, then there are strange looking birds and even elegant birds. I never expected to grow to like birds, but I do. I still would like to keep them at a distance. I have no intention of getting bitten by birds ever again.

The Great Ladybug Release Part 2

Well, our ladybugs have been here two and a half weeks now. I still see normal ladybugs regularly, but now we see something new. Little Bear and I have gotten to see ladybugs in their pupas and in their larval form. Adult ladybugs are awesome. We all know them by their beautiful hard red or orange shells spots. Most people recognize ladybugs immediately. The pupal and larval stages make them look weird and I mean really, really odd and nothing like their adult form.

Small Larva

The first day I saw these I only noticed three pupas and one larva. The next day I went out to check and see what we had and there are over twenty pupas and at least three larvae. Two of the larvae are very fat and large. One of the larva is very small and the body is shaped more like a caterpillar with six legs in the front. The amount I noticed today was astounding. My larvae have a ton of bugs to feed on in this area of the yard. I have some dandelions here and I have no idea why or what kind of bugs they are, but they keep my ladybugs well fed.

Since I saw these weird orange pupa stage ladybugs I started doing some research about the life cycle of a ladybug. Little Bear is a bug lover. He has enjoyed helping me research this and comparing it to other life cycles he has learned about.  What we found is that the life cycle of a lady bug starts with some tiny yellow or white eggs that are laid on leaves. We did not find any eggs, but I also didn't look terribly hard. It takes about three to five days for the eggs to hatch.

Once the eggs hatch you have the larval stage. The larval stage is where things get really strange. These little guys look nothing like the adult lady bug, in color or in shape. They are a long narrow black bug and they get pretty big. They have what looks like spines on their backs and they just look weird. They remind me of bugs people would typically squish on sight. They remain in the larval stage for two to three weeks. During this stage they eat aphids and other small bugs.

The next stage is the pupa stage. Here the larvae attach themselves to a leaf by their tail and form the pupa. This stage is much like that of a butterfly. It lasts about a week.

Pupa

The last stage is the adult lady bug. When the lady bug emerges from the pupa is a beautiful adult lady bug, with the shiny red and black shell we all expect. When the adult lady bug emerges the shell is thinner than an older adult. This makes the susceptible to attack the first few days after emerging from the pupa.

According to my research the adult lady bugs will hibernate during the fall and winter months and emerge during spring.

If you have bug lovers, releasing ladybugs and watching them as they go through the life cycle is a really cool thing. Little Bear loves them. He has enjoyed watching them and checking on them.

You can get your own ladybugs here.


Sources:
About Education. "The Life Cycle of Ladybugs". December 14, 2014.
School World. "Ladybug Life Cycle".
Simple Science. "Ladybug Life Cycle".

A large larva. As you can see it has plenty to eat.

Left: Larva and Pupa
Right: The Next Day there were 2 Pupas

The Great Ladybug Release

Day of The Great Ladybug Release

My garden and flowers have had aphids and other bugs... and while I like bugs I do not like bugs that hurt my plants. I have tried organic gardening sprays and my bug problems were getting worse not better. I had been reading everything I could find on the internet about what to try. I tried Neem Oil, mixes with Dawn Dish Soap, and a couple of other store bought things. Nothing was helping... So I bought ladybugs. I found a package of 1500 ladybugs on amazon. They do recommend ordering them with expedited shipping so they don't die from heat or cold in the mail.

Day 2

I was expecting to have at least some dead lady bugs, but amazingly there were very few dead ones. When my ladybugs arrived I opened the package, and they did not smell awesome, but it wasn't too bad. The package said to release your ladybugs at dusk or early in the morning. While you wait for time to release them it says to refrigerate your ladybugs. They come in a mesh pouch with a little bit of wood/straw bedding.


Our ladybugs sat in the fridge for about 5 hours before we released them. We released them about 6:30pm. That gave us enough time to do it before my son had to go to bed and the day had cooled off some by then. We snipped the bag open and the ladybugs started trickling out. After a few minutes the ladybugs really started waking up; they would crawl out of the bag and up our hands and arms and onto the roses and the garden plants. My son got a kick out of releasing the cute little bugs. He loved letting them crawl all over him. He also has enjoyed scouring the yard looking for them everyday.

Day 3

Over a few days a lot of the ladybugs flew off. It poured down rain off and on the first three days we had them. They did pretty well. I still find some when I check my garden plants a week later. They seem to spend a lot of time in my roses and parsley or at least they are easier to find on those plants. I do not see as many other bugs or damage on my plants as I was before we released the ladybugs. It has been a week since we released them and they are doing well.

You can order the ladybugs here.

Day 6