Recently we had the big due date for library books at work. So, I went there to drop/renew my books and I noticed a cool display about native plants, called BayScapes. On this page there is a 5.31MB pdf that can be downloaded. This is so nice because it shows plants native to the area and how they enhance the natural landscape. The pdf is loaded with cool info such as what is the optimum amount of sunlight, or rainfall, or soil type, or soil pH, or what kind of wildlife is attracted to a specific plant, i.e. which plants attract humming birds, or song birds, or other wildlife, etc.
There's also this cool link that talks about why native plants are so wonderful.
Why Use Native Plants?
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Going Native!
My family and I were honored this past weekend at the William & Mary Do One Thing (DOT) Sustainable campaign thanks to the DOT Facebook pledge that I made to get my free water bottle.
My Facebook Pledge is this: "To identify every plant on my small 1/2 acre property. Remove it if it's invasive or non-native, and plant all native plants. I will also advertise and preach this to all of my privet loving neighbors! Native plants attract native bugs and native birds."
It all started when Lorri Sutter, a grad student at VIMS, dangled a fancy, free aluminum drinking water bottle in front of me! Then, she showed me the DOT pledge deal where you make a pledge on the DOT facebook page to get one.
Apparently, out of 1000 DOTs, mine was in the top 10! This surprised me since there were so many great pledges, like a guy who installed solar panels and calculated that he is producing 40% of the energy his family uses, etc.
Anyhow, I took my family to the DOT/Earth Day festival at William & Mary where we were honored on stage and given a sweet T-shirt and Frisbees!
Rowan Lockwood is the very dedicated W&M geology professor who was the first to contact me and give me the great news. She also invited me to the event. I invited my family since we would be coming directly from a T-ball game, which was actually canceled due to the threat of rain.
Erin Ryan (not shown in the picture) is the law professor who actually handed me the gifts!
Also, before the whole thing W. Taylor Reveley III the William & Mary president read the Lorax, with the real Lorax present! It was very entertaining.
Oh and when I spoke with Rowan before the ceremony, she said that Cathy Lewis, on NPR's Hearsay recognized my facebook post. So, this is pretty cool stuff, which means that now I need to produce!
I chose my pledge because I felt like I needed to pledge something new. I've been reducing, reusing, and recycling. I used cloth grocery bags, take navy showers, turn off lights constantly, weather proofed the house, etc. Plus, we moved into our new place in Seaford in the fall of 08. Since then, we've been fixing up house stuff and until this spring not doing anything in the yard. Oh, btw, we moved to York County mainly so that we can both be closer to work. We commute 220 less miles per week as a result!
All I can say right now is that I used my lawn tractor to pull a huge privet piece by piece by the roots. It was a lot of fun because every time the strap that I had tied from my little tractor to the privit tightened at 4 miles per hour, one of three things would happen. 1. I would come to a dead stop, 2. the strap would snap and break, 3. the privet would come up (most likely).
Here's a picture of where the privet was. The bush next to the water that is much relieved is a wax myrtle. According to Jim Perry the privet is also allelopathic. In other words they emit biochemicals that influence the growth of nearby plants, not for the better.
Also, complements of Jim Perry, I've planted 28 black choke cherries along the fence on the south side of the property and two native hibiscus plants (Hibiscus palustris) near the mailbox.
Exceptions for food:
Finally, I will admit that I've made an exception for food plants for the following reasons: 1. Growing your food on your own property is a great, sustainable way to reduce the fossil fuel needed to transport food to the table. 2. I don't think any food plants will take off and be invasive like kudzu, even if they're not native. 3. Michael Pollan said that we should all have vegetable gardens! In my garden I've planted tomatoes(S. America), zucchini (native), eggplant(India), cucumber(western N. America), tomatillos(Central and South America), cayenne peppers(native, I think) and basil (Asia). Gosh, I guess I should have planted some corn!
My Facebook Pledge is this: "To identify every plant on my small 1/2 acre property. Remove it if it's invasive or non-native, and plant all native plants. I will also advertise and preach this to all of my privet loving neighbors! Native plants attract native bugs and native birds."
It all started when Lorri Sutter, a grad student at VIMS, dangled a fancy, free aluminum drinking water bottle in front of me! Then, she showed me the DOT pledge deal where you make a pledge on the DOT facebook page to get one.
Apparently, out of 1000 DOTs, mine was in the top 10! This surprised me since there were so many great pledges, like a guy who installed solar panels and calculated that he is producing 40% of the energy his family uses, etc.
Anyhow, I took my family to the DOT/Earth Day festival at William & Mary where we were honored on stage and given a sweet T-shirt and Frisbees!
Rowan Lockwood is the very dedicated W&M geology professor who was the first to contact me and give me the great news. She also invited me to the event. I invited my family since we would be coming directly from a T-ball game, which was actually canceled due to the threat of rain.
Erin Ryan (not shown in the picture) is the law professor who actually handed me the gifts!
Also, before the whole thing W. Taylor Reveley III the William & Mary president read the Lorax, with the real Lorax present! It was very entertaining.
Oh and when I spoke with Rowan before the ceremony, she said that Cathy Lewis, on NPR's Hearsay recognized my facebook post. So, this is pretty cool stuff, which means that now I need to produce!
I chose my pledge because I felt like I needed to pledge something new. I've been reducing, reusing, and recycling. I used cloth grocery bags, take navy showers, turn off lights constantly, weather proofed the house, etc. Plus, we moved into our new place in Seaford in the fall of 08. Since then, we've been fixing up house stuff and until this spring not doing anything in the yard. Oh, btw, we moved to York County mainly so that we can both be closer to work. We commute 220 less miles per week as a result!
All I can say right now is that I used my lawn tractor to pull a huge privet piece by piece by the roots. It was a lot of fun because every time the strap that I had tied from my little tractor to the privit tightened at 4 miles per hour, one of three things would happen. 1. I would come to a dead stop, 2. the strap would snap and break, 3. the privet would come up (most likely).
Here's a picture of where the privet was. The bush next to the water that is much relieved is a wax myrtle. According to Jim Perry the privet is also allelopathic. In other words they emit biochemicals that influence the growth of nearby plants, not for the better.
Also, complements of Jim Perry, I've planted 28 black choke cherries along the fence on the south side of the property and two native hibiscus plants (Hibiscus palustris) near the mailbox.
Exceptions for food:
Finally, I will admit that I've made an exception for food plants for the following reasons: 1. Growing your food on your own property is a great, sustainable way to reduce the fossil fuel needed to transport food to the table. 2. I don't think any food plants will take off and be invasive like kudzu, even if they're not native. 3. Michael Pollan said that we should all have vegetable gardens! In my garden I've planted tomatoes(S. America), zucchini (native), eggplant(India), cucumber(western N. America), tomatillos(Central and South America), cayenne peppers(native, I think) and basil (Asia). Gosh, I guess I should have planted some corn!
Friday, November 13, 2009
09 nor'easter!
The tides reached 7.5 feet above MLL and this was about 6. This storm came a foot shy of Hurricane Isabel.
This is a night vision mode video of the back yard. In the video I state that "this is not even the highest tide that we're going to get." Actually, it was. At the time, the next high tide was predicted to be even higher.
This pic shows the absolute highest that the water got. Yes that dark shadow is water.
This is a night vision mode video of the back yard. In the video I state that "this is not even the highest tide that we're going to get." Actually, it was. At the time, the next high tide was predicted to be even higher.
This pic shows the absolute highest that the water got. Yes that dark shadow is water.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Nice vacation - skewer boy
We just returned from our annual family vacation in Duck, NC. The refreshing 17oC water felt wonderful in contrast to the air temps in the high 30s.
"The cool water appears to be due to the upwelling deep coastal water replacement of the warm surface water that is blown offshore with the southwest wind. Anyhow, I think the water feels refreshing in contrast to the hot air. The boy had such stoke that he stayed in the water despite shivering hard, until I ordered him to take a break.
Here he is riding on the nose of my 9'2" Becker longboard. This freaked Mommy a little.
My father-in-law and the boy boogie boarding. He had some sweet rides and some wipeouts, both surfing and boogie boarding.
I probably spent more time in the water walking next to him while he snorkeled than any other activity while at the beach.
This is my favorite underwater picture.
...my second favorite underwater picture
...a really goofy underwater picture
WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED FOR THIS NEXT PART OF MY BLOG
On the second to the last day of our beach week when I was walking on the deck to go in and get my beach stuff, I encountered this. I never saw it coming. It snapped off and I felt a pain like a cactus and simultaneously heard a "SNAP!".
a reenactment
The bamboo skewer that someone dropped the night before went all the way through my flip-flop, the thong, 2 inches into my foot, and broke off in my flip flop. I looked and was like, "seriously???" Then I had a good time discussing and joking about the eventual removal of the stick in my foot.
My father-in-law said, "awww, just put a stick in his mouth and pull it out!" I laughed at this and asked my paramedic brother-in-law what he thought.
He said that "they" tell us never to remove an object in "the field".
So, off to the doc in the box, where we joked and carried on more. I had to hop on my good foot to the desk, to my chair, to the restroom during the hour that I had to wait behind all of the sunburns and sour stomachs. More fodder for our snarky comments.
the real deal - a bamboo skewer 2 inches in the flesh
the swelling...
Once I got to the actual office I still had to hop to room 4, to the x ray room on the other side of the facility, then back to room 4 - and no they didn't have a wheelchair. One of the nurses even said, "he's getting good at that!" as I hopped away from xray.
When the doctor arrived, he looked at me and said, "okay, you need to take your flip flop off."
I looked at him as if he had sprouted another head and I said, "I can't."
He started making all kinds of exclamations like, "oh!...Oh my!!...wow!..
He exited the room and then a nurse entered and said, "I'm sorry but I just had to see it." Then she started bringing the tools in to fix me... Yay!
The doc tried to cut the wrong part of my flipper. I had to show him where to cut it and then he almost cut my foot.
Finally, he numbed it with Novocaine and used some rusty pliers and he remove it! Praise God! He had to pull very hard, but I felt no pain at this point.
The doc said whatever you do, don't go to the beach. He said you DON'T want to get sand in it. I kept bandaids and tennis shoes on for the rest of my beach week.
I just can't imagine a grain of sand 2 inches inside my foot. Ouch.
God bless modern pharmaceuticals! Otherwise, I'd have just bit a stick and had somebody yank it out.
"The cool water appears to be due to the upwelling deep coastal water replacement of the warm surface water that is blown offshore with the southwest wind. Anyhow, I think the water feels refreshing in contrast to the hot air. The boy had such stoke that he stayed in the water despite shivering hard, until I ordered him to take a break.
Here he is riding on the nose of my 9'2" Becker longboard. This freaked Mommy a little.
My father-in-law and the boy boogie boarding. He had some sweet rides and some wipeouts, both surfing and boogie boarding.
I probably spent more time in the water walking next to him while he snorkeled than any other activity while at the beach.
This is my favorite underwater picture.
...my second favorite underwater picture
...a really goofy underwater picture
WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED FOR THIS NEXT PART OF MY BLOG
On the second to the last day of our beach week when I was walking on the deck to go in and get my beach stuff, I encountered this. I never saw it coming. It snapped off and I felt a pain like a cactus and simultaneously heard a "SNAP!".
a reenactment
The bamboo skewer that someone dropped the night before went all the way through my flip-flop, the thong, 2 inches into my foot, and broke off in my flip flop. I looked and was like, "seriously???" Then I had a good time discussing and joking about the eventual removal of the stick in my foot.
My father-in-law said, "awww, just put a stick in his mouth and pull it out!" I laughed at this and asked my paramedic brother-in-law what he thought.
He said that "they" tell us never to remove an object in "the field".
So, off to the doc in the box, where we joked and carried on more. I had to hop on my good foot to the desk, to my chair, to the restroom during the hour that I had to wait behind all of the sunburns and sour stomachs. More fodder for our snarky comments.
the real deal - a bamboo skewer 2 inches in the flesh
the swelling...
Once I got to the actual office I still had to hop to room 4, to the x ray room on the other side of the facility, then back to room 4 - and no they didn't have a wheelchair. One of the nurses even said, "he's getting good at that!" as I hopped away from xray.
When the doctor arrived, he looked at me and said, "okay, you need to take your flip flop off."
I looked at him as if he had sprouted another head and I said, "I can't."
He started making all kinds of exclamations like, "oh!...Oh my!!...wow!..
He exited the room and then a nurse entered and said, "I'm sorry but I just had to see it." Then she started bringing the tools in to fix me... Yay!
The doc tried to cut the wrong part of my flipper. I had to show him where to cut it and then he almost cut my foot.
Finally, he numbed it with Novocaine and used some rusty pliers and he remove it! Praise God! He had to pull very hard, but I felt no pain at this point.
The doc said whatever you do, don't go to the beach. He said you DON'T want to get sand in it. I kept bandaids and tennis shoes on for the rest of my beach week.
I just can't imagine a grain of sand 2 inches inside my foot. Ouch.
God bless modern pharmaceuticals! Otherwise, I'd have just bit a stick and had somebody yank it out.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Harrell Family Catfishing Tournament
On Saturday, June 6, the Harrell family hosted a super fun catfishing tournament and fish fry.
I really think that C has caught the fishing bug. He was covered in fish guts for the entire day. He had a blast playing with the menhaden that we used for bait. He made frankenfish and happily threw the heads and tails overboard, which actually proved to be good chum.
When we were cleaning the fish on the dock, C insisted that all of the fish cutters cut the stomachs open, and they happily obliged. The results were interesting. Many of the big fish had bellies full of menhaden or other fishes. Most of the medium size fish had bellies full of bivalves (clams and mussels) that weren't even open! Finally, one small catfish had a belly full of seeds that resembled acorns. I should have kept a few of those...
Anyhow, C spend 6 hours on the boat and reveled in the guts for the first 4. For the last two he kept inquiring as to when we would be going home and I just gave him an update of how many hours and minutes we had.
One time C threw his pole in the water while Frans and I both had fish on! I somehow used my pole (with fish on) to scoop C's out of the water as it sank with the current! Frans grabbed it and it was saved!
So, I'm not sure if C was a handicap since he was very noisy, or if he was an asset with all of his chumming.
After the long day C went out like a light, for the night!
What an incredible day!
Okay, so this isn't the catfishing tournament, but just a day in the back yard eeling.
Caleb caught this catfish all by himself!
Trevor with he and Travis' mess and the 2nd place winner at 12-lbs. The 1st place was only 12-1/4-lbs fish.
Our team with my 3rd place winner...
pile of fish
Michael skinning
Travis with the fishing report!
...what happens when you refuse to take your nap on the boat!
I really think that C has caught the fishing bug. He was covered in fish guts for the entire day. He had a blast playing with the menhaden that we used for bait. He made frankenfish and happily threw the heads and tails overboard, which actually proved to be good chum.
When we were cleaning the fish on the dock, C insisted that all of the fish cutters cut the stomachs open, and they happily obliged. The results were interesting. Many of the big fish had bellies full of menhaden or other fishes. Most of the medium size fish had bellies full of bivalves (clams and mussels) that weren't even open! Finally, one small catfish had a belly full of seeds that resembled acorns. I should have kept a few of those...
Anyhow, C spend 6 hours on the boat and reveled in the guts for the first 4. For the last two he kept inquiring as to when we would be going home and I just gave him an update of how many hours and minutes we had.
One time C threw his pole in the water while Frans and I both had fish on! I somehow used my pole (with fish on) to scoop C's out of the water as it sank with the current! Frans grabbed it and it was saved!
So, I'm not sure if C was a handicap since he was very noisy, or if he was an asset with all of his chumming.
After the long day C went out like a light, for the night!
What an incredible day!
Okay, so this isn't the catfishing tournament, but just a day in the back yard eeling.
Caleb caught this catfish all by himself!
Trevor with he and Travis' mess and the 2nd place winner at 12-lbs. The 1st place was only 12-1/4-lbs fish.
Our team with my 3rd place winner...
pile of fish
Michael skinning
Travis with the fishing report!
...what happens when you refuse to take your nap on the boat!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Whistler Blackcomb Vancouver, Canada
I just returned from Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia for a ski-week. What an incredible time! It was a badly needed break from work for me and I only wished I could have taken the family. Work schedules don't always meld and so I took the opportunity to go with some ODU friends and their network of Ultimate frisby players who had already organized everything. It really wasn't that expensive, thanks to a lot of careful planning and cost sharing among the group. We spent a week at the 2010Winter Olympics venue. It was dreamy powder and endless skiing with endless snow falling. I am so spoiled! Thanks for making it happen guys!
Here's a picture of Vancouver that I took out of the window from our van.
Stocking up on food and BEER - notice the size of the respective carts? Honestly, the ladies went back to the store for more food.
Travis, limo driver, snowboard jumper!
The boarder - it wasn't too bad, but on our way out of Canada the officer asked if we had any "maple leaf candy!"
Jill, Chris, and Travis heading up!
oh, hell yeah! a little closer to "heaven"...
Me, K.C., and Joe
Popular Mechanics sums it up pretty well:
Passenger cabins hang as high as 1427 ft. (higher than four-and-a-half Statues of Liberty) and travel nearly 2 miles without passing a single support tower. It’s the longest unsupported span of any lift of its type.
This thing is nuts. It connects the two mounain peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb. Awesome! Here's the view with low visibility:
Those are actually very large trees in the valley by the river.
Jill and Chris chillen:
One of the many slopes from aloft:
The village from the lower step.
Joe, Travis and me
A slight clearing - it snowed most of the time:
Joe and Jill went up the hill...
alll yeah!
Jill
K.C. - "Oh Canada!"
Jill, Travis, and Joe - about to GO!
Paul and Bri in front of the accomadations.
Chris
Chris - getting ready for another sesh - with a belly full from the top of the hill lodge.
I love Ski School!!!
The Newman Family Unit minus Sawyer
Thirsty?
blowing snow - whitout time!
ice ice baby...
extracurricular art project
porthole to heaven
Chris - chillin in the hot tub...
Happy St. Patrick's - Canadian Irish style
headin up.
Chris - about to head down.
Travis
The End
Here's a picture of Vancouver that I took out of the window from our van.
Stocking up on food and BEER - notice the size of the respective carts? Honestly, the ladies went back to the store for more food.
Travis, limo driver, snowboard jumper!
The boarder - it wasn't too bad, but on our way out of Canada the officer asked if we had any "maple leaf candy!"
Jill, Chris, and Travis heading up!
oh, hell yeah! a little closer to "heaven"...
Me, K.C., and Joe
Popular Mechanics sums it up pretty well:
Passenger cabins hang as high as 1427 ft. (higher than four-and-a-half Statues of Liberty) and travel nearly 2 miles without passing a single support tower. It’s the longest unsupported span of any lift of its type.
This thing is nuts. It connects the two mounain peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb. Awesome! Here's the view with low visibility:
Those are actually very large trees in the valley by the river.
Jill and Chris chillen:
One of the many slopes from aloft:
The village from the lower step.
Joe, Travis and me
A slight clearing - it snowed most of the time:
Joe and Jill went up the hill...
alll yeah!
Jill
K.C. - "Oh Canada!"
Jill, Travis, and Joe - about to GO!
Paul and Bri in front of the accomadations.
Chris
Chris - getting ready for another sesh - with a belly full from the top of the hill lodge.
I love Ski School!!!
The Newman Family Unit minus Sawyer
Thirsty?
blowing snow - whitout time!
ice ice baby...
extracurricular art project
porthole to heaven
Chris - chillin in the hot tub...
Happy St. Patrick's - Canadian Irish style
headin up.
Chris - about to head down.
Travis
The End
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