3 posts tagged “2009”
Last weekend Neil and I spent in Charleston, SC. Mostly we just wandered around, took some photos, and ate some fabulous food. Friday we went to the SC Aquarium -
I want to start by saying, I can't imagine what the costs and time and effort must be to run a place like an aquarium or zoo, but being that this aquarium is fairly new (opened May 2000), I was surprised at how small most of the tanks and habitats were. Especially the brand new penguin exhibit. There were 4 penguins in a tank that would have fit in my living room. Now maybe it extended back into an area not viewable by the public, but I don't actually think so. They had a bald eagle on exhibit...by itself, inside, in a netted in area that was no longer than the main hallway that runs the length of my house...and ceilings of about 15 feet, maybe 20. The part the bothered me the most, was that this eagle was still young. It didn't even have a fully white head yet. I understand the need to find spaces for birds and other animals that cannot be released back into the wild for whatever reason, but to me, this was close to being utterly unacceptable.
These alligators were in a habitat that in my estimation, would not hold even one full sized one. If memory serves, there were 3-5 young ones, all about the size of the guy pictured above. Granted, I don't think alligators are extremely active, but still...the room was small.
Overall, I was not impressed with the place - one of the largest areas in the entire building was the gift shop. I left there feeling like all the animals were living in conditions that would be the equivalent of having Moo live in a 5'x8' dog run her entire life. Maybe I was just having a bad day, but regardless, those were my impressions of the place.
I want to start keeping track of birds and other wildlife that I see outside either in the yard or at the feeders:
Birds:
- American goldfinches (only one pair so far...not the huge flocks like I got last year)
- House finches
- Common grackles (annoying suckers, but I am still fascinated with their iridescent coloring)
- Red-winged blackbird (so far I have seen two come to the feeder at separate times...they seem to be hanging out with the grackles, identified a female at the feeder today!)
- Tufted titmice
- Brown-headed cowbirds
- Song sparrows
- Wren (not sure which kind - they don't hold still long enough to get a good look at their striping)
- Carolina chickadees
- Mourning doves
- Northern cardinals
- Northern mockingbirds (these hang out in the trees and scrub on the hillside)
- Eastern bluebirds
- Black vultures (circling over the woods behind the house)
- hawk (maybe Cooper's hawk or sharp shinned hawk - seen circling the yard over the feeders)
- Barred owls (I haven't actually seen these yet, but I hear them every evening at dusk calling to each other - I keep looking for them)
- Killdeer (in the yard the other day - probably flew inland because of weather)
- Wild turkeys (seen along the road nearby the house)
- woodpecker (still working on what kind - today was the first one I've seen, though I hear them all the time beating on the trees in the woods!)
Wildlife:
- deer (yay! There are 4 of them this year)
- opossum
- rabbits
- squirrels (they are new-ish in this yard...last year I didn't see any around the property)
I don't really have any traditional resolutions this year...however, I do have some goals - they may not all get met, or at least not in their entirety, but I want to get a good start on all these things this year:
- Pay down/off my debt - this is top priority for me this year. This means I have to create a budget and stick to it - my frivolous spending needs to be curbed! First off, my truck.
- Get the yard together - I have to get working on the hardscaping of the yard (top seeding the lawn, planting area design, bedding area rock, edging, additional plants, etc.). It is going to be labor intensive and will cost some money, but it isn't at all frivolous money. The front yard is priority this year...the back will get some work too, but the big stuff back there will come later.
- Finish the interior painting - for real...how many years now have I been working on this? I have one living room wall left, the kitchen, my bathroom, a last coat in the dining room (which will be super easy), and a color adjustment in the guest bath (which will also be easy once I get everything taped off in there). If I can get MY part done, then I will invest (or ask for birthday present/this years Christmas present) in hiring someone to paint the living room/kitchen ceiling.
- Get healthy - OK, OK so this seems to pop up every year and I never get around to really doing anything about it. I will stick with my primary focus on eating healthier in 2009 (no more pizza Friday's, more veggies and fruit, etc.) with a dash of *gasp* more exercise (like taking the dogs for more walks rather than just taking them to the dog park to run around).
So, that's it. Nothing really Earth shattering...numbers 2 and 3 will greatly depend on number 1 and how much spending money will actually be available this year. The sad part is that it probably won't be much and what I will have will be going toward the grocery bill.
