Seeing Stars at the Marine Lab

We took our younger son, D, and his girlfriend, K, to the beach and stopped off at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea. B and I had never been when it was open, though we had stopped a couple of times many years ago and found them closed.

K studies sea stars in San Francisco Bay, so it was fun to go with her to see Florida sea stars. There were quite a few varieties in several touch tanks.

On these below, you can see how some of the arms are regenerating.

In the picture below, you can see the tube feet. K informs us that they are used for mobility and to attach to their prey. They eat mussels, snails, barnacles, limpets and other shelled creatures. When they eat, they insert their stomaches into the live animal.  

In this amazing little video that K showed us, you can watch this happening. See for yourself!

http://vimeo.com/45154593

This is another video clip of sea stars that came out from BBC in 2011.

http://www.metatube.com/en/videos/90640/BBC-Nature-Brinicle-ice-finger-of-death-filmed-in-Antarctic/

Clever Car

We spotted this amusing car at the grocery store.

Mailbox Monday: Christmas Box, Florida Style

Bobcat!

The mascot for the school where I teach is the bobcat. I went many years without ever having seen a bobcat in the wild but in the past decade or so, B and I have spotted several down at the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge. 

At Thanksgiving, we went down there with our "kids" who were all in town. We were just telling those in our truck that we have seen bobcats out on the sand spit, when.....

there was one!

It sat in the late afternoon sun, posing for us for quite a while.

Then moved on.

What a pretty kitty!

Stay Out of My Drawers!

And out of our house.

It happened again. Our house was broken into.

This time, they took wrapped Christmas gifts, B's anniversary watch and not only my jewelry, but the drawer it was in! I now have an antique two-drawer chest with only one drawer.

Before, they took the jewelry box and all of its contents from the same drawer. I had not replaced the box and was just using cardboard and tins to hold items that I had bought after the other daily wear things were stolen. The last time, they had not bothered with my Christmas jewelry and fall things that a kindergarten teacher likes to wear. This time, all of that was in the drawer and lost, save what I had on that day: a snowman pin and earrings.

This all happened on 12-12-12. Wasn't that supposed to be a lucky day? I guess the lucky part was that they did not come in armed when we were home. It was mid-morning. And other than the thefts and destroying the doorway, they did not make a mess.

We refused to let the Grinch win. I was able to reorder the gifts taken and they arrived on time. B is working on the door repairs to shore up the results of two forced entries. I think it will look better than ever when he is done.

Yesterday, we learned that a neighborhood eighteen-year-old has been arrested and charged with two burglaries in our area and is suspected of others that occurred in a short period of time, including ours. It is all just too sad to see a young man with so much--their house is certainly nicer than our modest one--turn to crime, engaging in the destruction of others' property. His family must be heartbroken.

A Big Weekend

It would seem that at least for now, the blog is usable again. Yay! Thank you for the kind comments of encouragement. I have begun to be inundated with spam comments. So to help prevent that, I have adjusted an option that will also disallow anonymous comments. I rather regret that the two seem to have to go together as I have enjoyed all comments that relate to the blog, but all these ads have really gotten out of hand.

So, the big weekend is finally winding down. And I must say, it is really quiet here at our house tonight.

On Friday, I took the day off from school and B and I drove down to Gainesville. Our first born graduated at the University of Florida as a PhD. Thank you, Lord!

We could not be more proud. His wife and their nine month old son were there to celebrate with  us. Our younger son was able to come from Missouri where he is in graduate school to see his brother hooded. The father-in-law also came to show support.

We all came back to our house for the weekend. It was such a gift to be all together again.

Then on Sunday morning, our grandson was baptized in our church. It was a ritual of promises made to raise him in a Christian home and within a church. He was just too sweet in his little, white bubble suit.

Life is very good here.

Full

Apparently, I have hit the wall. It had not occurred to me that I would have a space limit with Blogger, but I seem to be there and until I can figure out how to work with this, this blog will be in a holding pattern. Please check back later this month. S of SNB.