ZACK THE KINGSNAKE GOES FREE

Remember Zack, the injured kingsnake? I posted about him shortly after Zick, the captive bred Florida kingsnake arrived in my classroom.  Zack, named after the lad who brought him to me, had a substantial wound about a quarter of the way back from his head.  The boy knew it was a harmless kingsnake thanks to a few weeks exposure to Zick in the classroom.

Thus, the presence of Zick saved Zack.

I put antibiotic ointment on the wound and kept Zack in a hospital cage at home.  The wound healed and his mobility improved a lot.

There must have been some nerve damage past the break, because even with the wound healed, he has some reduced movement at the back end.

I had a routine of taking him out on sunny weekend days and letting him crawl around. His mobility seemed to be better each time. If I didn't keep an eye on him, he would disappear beneath the leaves and grass in the yard.

Last weekend, even though I had grown attached to him, I knew it was time for Zack to go be a snake. He had not eaten during his time in hospital, but he had recently molted and seemed frisky enough.

So, I took him to a cozy gopher tortoise burrow here at PFHQ and wished him well.

There's a little video below that documents the release.

In Honor of Cyber Monday: FC's Review of The Kindle Fire

In a rare case of self- indulgence, I pre-ordered the Kindle Fire back in October, almost as soon as I heard about it.
I did go to the Amazon site and read about it of course. I'm not completely impulsive.

What allowed me to click the "submit purchase" button so quickly was the fact that I had already talked myself into buying the "new" Kindle Touch and was close to ordering when the press release about the Fire came out.

Let's see, I was already to buy a $139 Kindle Touch and suddenly, Amazon says, "Hey, if you can wait until November 15th, we are going to release the Kindle Fire with all of these whiz bang features ... blah, blah, blah, etc."

So, for $60 bucks more, I can get this sports car E-reader?
I was there.

Now, of course, the regular Kindles have dropped in price and they are a great reader at a great price, but it was too late for me, I was hooked on Fire.

I've had it for about 2 weeks now and let me tell you, I love it.

For those of you who may be trying to decide whether to buy one on this ubercyber shopping day, here are my thoughts:

The Kindle Fire is super easy to use, I never looked at the digital manual until last night, and that was just a case of browsing ... "Oh, hey, look, there are instructions!" 
For the record, the digital manual that is preloaded on your Fire is clear and easy to use.

The button on the right is the On/Off button.
The center slot is for charging it. The fire comes with an A/C charger of course.
The far left hole is for plugging in your ear buds or little speaker.
There are no other physical buttons, switches, or toggley thingies.
All other controls are on the touch screen.

The reading pages are bright, clear, and easy to read.
You could really see the difference when I held it up to my sister-n-law's Kindle Touch.
This one is definitely brighter.

Web browsing is very smooth and fast, even at my remote location with quick, but not super fast Hughesnet satellite broadband.
Somehow, the Fire mysteriously knows when I have tilted it from the vertical to the horizontal ... AND IT ADJUSTS FOR ME!
How do it know?

I swear, it's like living on board the Enterprise.

The view above is a full web page viewed on the vertical. A little spreading of the fingers against the screen enlarges things for easier reading.

I didn't take a shot of the digital keyboard that pops up at the bottom of the screen when you need to type something, but it is big, clear, and my big fingers don't hit the Q when I am aiming for the W.

I find it super easy to use.

 Above: Sound Check.
Buying music or apps is easy peasy seamless with Amazon, especially if you are Prime member. Prime membership gives you free 2 day shipping, cloud storage, and tons of digital content, much of it "free".

I watched "24" for the first time last week by streaming it for free on the Fire, while simultaneously texting my kids  ... and composing a PF post on the laptop.

It was a connected moment.

I don't usually reread fiction books, so I like the green aspect of digital content, plus, I like the price of digital texts.
With my simple, "nonsmart" phone, I haven't done much in the way of Apps in the past, but now I see my Kindle Fire as a repository for all kinds of useful Apps and nonfiction "DIY" style books that I do return to over and over again for advice.

Maybe some Angry Birds will find their way in there too.

So, in summary:

• Yes, I think the Kindle Fire is great.
• No, I do not miss the "feel of a paper book". I can just imagine people thousands of years ago, in Egypt when papyrus first replaced clay tablets.  " Well, I don't know, Imhotep, I just like the feel of damp clay and a reed stylus in my hand."
• No, it's not a  little squished computer like an Ipad. It's a color E-reader with WIFI connectivity and some neat bells and whistles. It's also not $600, and with WIFI, not 3G, I don't have yet another data plan to fund.
• Yes, the screen is bigger and brighter than the Kindle Touch,. It's big enough for reading, email, and web browsing. I do not plan to write my novel on it. That's what laptops/desktops are for.

So there ya' go. Make up your own mind if you were thinking about which E-reader to buy today. I have no doubt that the Nook is a good reader too, but I'm a Fireman.

*Disclaimer: This is all just my personal opinion and experience with 2 whole weeks under Fire. I have no relationship with Amazon, except that I am a customer and a fan.

Now, quit cybershopping on the job and get back to work!

Turkey Guy

I am the "Turkey Guy" at this year's Thanksgiving feast. The shot above was taken during a basting break for the dinosaur bird.
Our traditional turkey method involves lots of basil and wine.
The gravy that is produced from the pan drippings is dark, rich, and DELICIOUS.
This is a short post since I have been up since 4:00 am cooking 2 turkeys. While they roasted, I also gave the BEAR dog a bath so he can be shiny and fresh for his grandma who loves him like another grandchild.

Right now, the turkey's are done and it's time for me to make the gravy.
I bid you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope the day, the gatherings, and the food go just as you had hoped.

Do Avocets Dream of Perfect Mud?

For three after work afternoons in a row, I had missed these avocets.

The first afternoon, I just could not stop, an appointment demanded my presence elsewhere.

The second day, I stopped, and they immediately flew off.

The third day, they were a little too far from the roadway.

On the fourth day, as I got into the JEEP to leave work, I prepared for OPERATION AVOCET.

• Step one: Unzip the passenger side window and fold it down.
• Open camera bag, check all camera settings.
• Pray,hope, wish that the birds will be there.

And they were.

Individually and in small troops, they slogged across the tidal mudflat, sweeping their upturned bills sideways through each and every ebb tide puddle.

Tiny mud snails, grass shrimps, and fish fry left behind by the retreating Gulf of Florida were efficiently and ruthlessly removed from their protective puddles by the left - right sweeping of the avocet's bill.

Our winter tides are tres, tres LOW and the migrating shorebirds, like these avocets, are reaping the mud's rich bounty.

I wonder if the avocets love the marshy mud for all it provides.
I know I do.
I love the smell of the estuary mud.
I love the texture ... like silt pudding.
I love sinking in it, sometimes up to my chest ... and feeling things, living things creeping through it, brushing my skin, reminding me that this mud is ALIVE.

The avocets know that last fact, that the mud is alive.
It's what draws them to slog across it, sweeping, ever sweeping.

I don't know if the bird brain allows an appreciation of the big picture though.
Does the avocet ever pause in awe at the wonder, the sheer magic, that transforms sunlight into diatoms in the mud, and then to snails, shrimps, and other mudflat plankton eaters, before finally, changing one more time into feathers, muscle, and long sweeping, upturned Avocet bills?

I don't speak Avocet, so I don't have an answer.

They were chattering about something while they worked though ...

Whole Lotta Moltin' Goin' On

The giant Malaysian prawn did it first.
Last week the kids walked in to an "empty" shrimp directly beside the "full' shrimp you see above.

"Wow! He shed!"
" He molted." (not me, another kid)
"Same thing."

"EEuuuuuu! He's eating it!"

Next, the mangrove seeds started. This is the seed of the black mangrove. They sprout on the tree, the better to get growing as soon as they drop to the mud, before an ebbing tide carries them beyond land.

And then, today, Zick (who was being very secretive) began showing signs that she too is in a moltin' mood.

Her eyes have clouded over with the thin film of condensation that occurs when her skin begins to loosen.
Essentially, her windows have fogged up.
That means it won't be long before she molts into her new duds.

I predict tonight is the night.

She was peeking out of her cave and taking a long drink a few minutes ago.
I believe she was contemplating a little swim after I turn the lights out and go home.

A girl needs moisture to soften her skin.

It comes off so much easier that way.

The Week Past

The final game of the regular Academic Team season pitted my Cedar Key Sharks against daughter Emma's Bronson Eagles.
We played on her turf and split the day with a JV win for her and a Varsity win for me.
I almost had to forfeit when the scheduled bus driver for the 30 mile trip dropped the ball and forgot she had a trip that day.
Lucky for me, another bus driver finished her regular route and zipped back to pick us up for the trip to Bronson.

It was a fun match playing against kids I had coached for years and against my baby girl.
Fun.
Maybe a bit surreal too!

One corner of my messy "teacher table" in my classroom.
That's Zick in the aquarium. She is growing beautifully and loves to bask under a herp light that sits atop her cage.
I am predicting a shed very soon as it has been awhile and she is obviously getting bigger.

The Macro-Herp I hinted at yesterday was supposed to be a 5 foot corn snake, which would have been blogworthy, but instead it turned out to be a nice 5 foot grey rat snake. Now there must be about a million grey rat snake posts here on PF, so I didn't rush to get a photo of this snake.
It's just visiting the class and belongs to one of the 5th graders who Zick entertained in a classroom visit back about a month ago.

Yesterday, I intercepted my first "passed note" since coming to Cedar Key.
Now, I see and hear EVERYTHING in my classroom ... but I don't SEE and HEAR everything in my classroom.
Okay, class, who knows what that means?

ANSWER: You pick your battles.
A traveling note between kids who are on task and getting the job done is generally not SEEN by me.

A traveling note that has taken priority over the work to be done is definitely SEEN ... and removed from the system.

I have a file going back decades with great notes, some sad, some hilarious, some shocking.

This one was "noteworthy" only due to the Mayberryesque topic that was being discussed.

"Hey, I don't know if I can go with you to the cane grinding this weekend..."

A 21st century school note between two sweethearts about a date at the cane grinding.
 I love this place.


I'll end with this note, stuck to a locker just outside my classroom.

Who said letter writing is a lost art?

Nano-Herps

This is one of our crown snakes, of that, I am pretty sure. However, there are about 3 crown snake species in Florida, and I haven't had a chance to check it out.
This little guy was under a chunk of concrete. He wasn't visible when I turned it over, but a quick rake of the newly exposed dirt with my fingers brought him up wiggling and squirming.



This little frog was under the same piece of concrete.
What a cutie, right Dani?



I think it might be one of the cricket frogs, but am open to ID advice on that.
Again, my schedule is keeping me from a good look-up session, and it's not a frog I encounter that often.

He was squeaky, unlike a lot of frogs that don't say a word when you catch 'em.

I let him go in the leafy, mulchy, goodness of the flower bed next to the house, during a predawn rain yesterday.

Apparently, I will be getting a MACRO-HERP today, courtesy of an elementary student at my school.

If she and her Dad follow through, I will share it here this weekend.

1998 JEEP For Sale on Yahoo: Buyer Beware

JUST FOR THE RECORD ... AHEM ...  When my son sent me an email with the subject line: "HOLY CRAP DAD! THIS JEEP IS ONLY $3500 AND HAS ONLY 60,000 MILES !!!" ...

The first thing out of my mouth was, "Son, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Then, we talked and I too drank the kool-aid.
It was grape as I recall.

The boy ( he's really a young man now) has been suffering from a severe case of JEEP Fever for a long time and none of my half-hearted lessons on the impractical nature of the JEEP Wrangler have reduced his temperature. That kind of advice from me ... a registered JEEP Wrangler fanatic ... doesn't carry much weight.

He found the JEEP ad on Yahoo.
Some things just stunk about this deal:

1. The mileage was waaaay low for a 13 year old JEEP ... but, down here we see snowbirds all the time with RV's towing a little JEEP Wrangler on their way to Sarasota or some other "waiting to die" retirement location.  Those JEEPs barely get used.
2. It was too cherry for 13 years.  I baby my Wrangler, but dang ... no way the paint job is as good as this blue one.
3. It was an out of state deal.
4. It didn't sell in the week or so that Junior went back and forth investigating it. A JEEP like that, with a price like that would have sold the very first hour of the first day down here.
5. The seller would use Google Checkout and that sounded good, but he would also ship it at his cost for a 7 day check it out period. That sure is generous. Ridiculously generous.

To make a long story short, we couldn't quite talk ourselves out of pursuing this further. Lucky for us Western Union actually saved the day.
This deal set off all kinds of Internet fraud warnings at their office.

Result.
No deal.

So, if you are shopping for a used JEEP Wrangler, and you see this advertisement ... just keep cruising.
It stinks to high heaven.

Don't you love it when you get an expensive life lesson for FREE!

Repeat after me: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably  is.

Water + Trees = Birds

Saturday morning in St. Augustine, I woke up early (as usual) and zipped out to get breakfast from Theo's for Mom and Dad.

Since I was early, I had time to stop at this retention pond that my brother had mentioned as we visited Dad in the hospital the day before.

Terry said the Spoonbills were roosting in the band of trees planted on one side of the pond.

... and they were.

It was cold ... a good day for snuggling your huge featherless bill under a warm wing.

The sun was barely peeking over the edge, so these photos may be a little soft.

A water turkey debates whether to exert the energy needed to fly away, or should it rest and just keep an eye on this intruder.

Flying is such hard work.

Especially if you are an anhinga.

Much easier to swim for this bird.

Cold morning though ...

...decisions.

Lots of other birds were cruising, flying, flitting about in the skinny band of trees, in the retention pond, in the middle of a business district of shops, hospitals, warehouses, and small factories.

Water + trees = birds.

Even here.

Well, ...  not there ... not on the moon.

Here.

Ramping Up For A Landing

That's my Dad on his birthday back in September. The brace is a legacy of his battle with Polio when he was about 12.

Dad won.

Polio got in some good licks though, and for the last 25 years or so, he has needed a leg brace to strengthen "the polio leg".

He fell and cracked his knee cap a few weeks ago, so we have all been helping out, taking care giver shifts, and generally trying to take some of the load off my Mom.

There was a scary incident this week that required a trip to the hospital for an overnight stay while he was checked out by the doctor.  Luckily, Mrs. FC was there when that happened, so the incident was handled quickly and professionally.
(She is an RN)
He's home now, with a home health care nurse scheduled to come in and help with physical therapy, etc.

For a while at least, a wheelchair will be a big part of his life, so I am working on a ramp for the back porch this weekend. I have one landing about done and am dashing into Home Depot after this post.
(Thank you Barnes and Noble WiFi)

Just wanted to pop in and  explain the lack of critter posts this week.

Gotta go.

Cedar Key Traffic Jam

Oh my gosh! The traffic!
If it gets any worse, we'll need a traffic light here on the island.

The clam farm boat in the picture was creeping along ahead of me yesterday morning.
They had just pulled into the road and the guy in the boat was stowing a few things away. A moment later, the truck stopped, he hopped down from the boat, and jumped into the truck.

That's a pretty typical clamming boat. The motor is up front ... "bird dog" style. The cut-a-way stern allows the clammers easier access when they are lifting clam bags from the muddy bottom and up onto the boat.

Zack Update

You may recall the injured wild Florida Kingsnake that one of my students brought to me about a month ago. This was only about two weeks after Zick, the captive bred Florida Kingsnake arrived in the classroom via UPS. I credit Zick with saving this snake's life because thanks to her presence in the classroom, the student who found this injured snake recognized it and saved it.

There's a post about Zack the injured snake, but the short story is he had an open wound about one third of the way back from his head that was more than skin deep. It looked pretty bad at the time, but I took him home to see if he could be fixed.

I doctored him with Neosporin and he did the rest.

Currently, the wound has healed over. There is a noticeable bump in his otherwise sleek appearance which is probably some scar tissue buildup. 

Apparently, there is some nerve damage at that point, because he is perfectly snakey wiggly from the scar forward, but not so much from the scar to the tail.

It's not a case of paralysis. He can move his back end, but in a more clumsy, less responsive manner. Nerve tissue being what it is, ... I'm not sure that will improve.

He doesn't seem interested in pinky mice or earthworms, or anything else I have offered yet. I know he's a snake and can go a long time without eating, but I would love to see him chomp down on some vittles.

He is maintaining his body mass, so I'm not worried about him. It just would be really reassuring to see him eat.

I've included a short, nasally narrated (stuffy nose that day) video of him basking in the sun last weekend.

He's a cutie.

Keep your scales crossed that he fully recovers.

The Last Macrobrachium

 Regular Pure Floridians may remember my Macrobrachium rosenbergii aquaculture project with my kids at my old school.
The students and I built a simple small scale recirculating aquaculture system and grew giant prawns from tiny post-larvae tots to hulking examples of prawnliness.

The system worked great, the shrimp grew well, and losses were minimal.
The only heavy losses were totally due to misjudgement on my part ... underestimating raccoon cleverness and procrastination.
Both of those errors in judgement (again, mine, not the kids) happened in the "in between" time known as summer.
The prawns all came home to spend the summer with me when school shut down. They moved in to my old tilapia tank to spend the summer and await the next school year.

While raccoon predation was not an issue in the classroom, it was a challenge in an outdoor setting.
I covered the tank with old fencing and stopped that issue, but not before losing some prawns to the bandits.

The worst loss of prawns was simply due to waiting one week too long to move them back to class a year ago. A cold snap SNAPPED the last weekend before I planned to transport them back to school.
It was a sad, massive kill.

A few weeks ago, I went out to check on the final survivor (after a cold snap... arrrrgh) and he was on his side, at the bottom, immobile.

Dang!
I did it again.

I dipped him up and ... he twitched!

A quick plunge into an aquarium with fresh 72 degree well water and he revived just fine, thank you maam.

Call me "Lucky".

So Lucky is now living in my new classroom, amazing everyone who sees him and triggering interest in doing the whole thing over again here at Cedar Key School.

What?

Oh ... Lucky says to tell you he's molted since these photos were taken and has a new unbroken rostrum and bright blue claws.

Pride in appearance.

It's a shrimp thang.

Resurrection Test

Bear puts Resurrection Fern (Polypodium polypodioides) to the ultimate resurrectionalistical test.

Dewsday Morning

Saturday was cool and rainy, so I took a photo walk without the Bear dog.

He doesn't have the patience for nature photography.

The rain had walked this path before me.

Miss Guara wearing her diamond necklace.

The palmetto that I burned in last winter's micro-controlled burn is thriving and making more frondifinous fuel for this winter's burn.

I have a lot of old laurel oaks that apparently are near the end of their short (in tree terms) life span. Every once in awhile, one just ups and quits, like this one did about a year ago.

It's mostly a main trunk now. The branches have succumbed to gravity and lie around the base.

There is a mad scramble for light going on as holly, bay, and oak saplings race for the sun.

The wild persimmon tree was all "Fally this, and fally that."

I tried to ignore her, but she kept showing off.

Spider Structural Support, Inc was busy down by the pond.

The rugged little kumquat tree surprised me with some dangling, ripening fruit.

This poor neglected tree gets frozen back to a stump about every third year or so, but it always picks itself up and starts back up again.

The yellow leaves are the kumquat's way of saying, "Hey! I'm anemic here! Helloooooooo! How about some fertilizer?"

It's not easy being a fruit tree at PFHQ.