Florida & Her Beautiful Beaches

I am a native Floridian, I was born in Rockledge Florida and have been a beach baby all my life. Even when I lived in Texas our family made summer pilgrimages to Galveston. The beach has been a constant in my life until now. I have been robbed of my one true love, the beautiful colorful clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. My favorite thing was snorkeling or diving on the reefs with their flourishing marine life. Everyone has a favorite thing and that was mine. Diving for shells and just exploring the peaceful serene beauty under the water.

Well those days are gone, I have only been in the water once since the BP spill and then I only went in up to my knees. I remember all to well the screaming in my head every time they showed the planes flying over the Gulf spraying dispersant's after the explosion and consequent spill of billions of gallons of oil. But BP said it's ok it is just like dish soap, really it is. Well we all knew that was a lie and with the capping of the gusher one year ago yesterday where are we now you ask?

Here is a link to TampaBay.com from April 17th, 2011.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/sick-fish-suggest-oil-spill-still-affecting-gulf/1164042

Here is another from ABC Action News from today...

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_south_pinellas/madeira_beach/usf-scientists-partner-with-commercial-fishermen-to-study-gulf-fish-lesions

I will not eat seafood from the gulf, nor will I go in the water to float leisurely on a raft or any other water activities I used to do. I never imagined that I would be here now looking at a toxic waste dump. Even NOAA is warning people of the sick fish in the gulf.

http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/noaa-warns-of-sick-fish-with-lesions-and-discolored-skin-in-gulf-lsu-scientist-studying-problem-very-worried/comment-page-2

http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/2011/07/12/oil_spill_scientists_made_national_headlines

Read the following article that was written 20 years after the Valdez spill,

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29838444/ns/us_news-environment/t/oil-plagues-sound-years-after-exxon-valdez/

I will leave you with a few youtube videos from this year..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu-amEoBA6U&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBl1qAPmHw&NR=1

Start A Fun New Garden

Over the weekend I was surfing the web looking for what plants grow well in my zone which is 9b. I am in Florida but a lot of my fellow Texans are also in zone 9b. So I thought I would share this with you. I stumbled on a fun new way to garden called Straw Bale Gardening. There were several websites on straw bale gardening but I preferred this approach because it does not involve getting the bale ready by using Ammonia Nitrate. The website I found is called doug green's beginner-gardening.com, he also has a facebook a fan page. This is a perfect way to have a garden if you do not have a lot of space or if you are looking at garden possibilities give this some consideration. It would also provide the ability to garden for those who may not be able to bend over as much, and a fresh fun way to get your children involved and introduce them to gardening. It is also an inexpensive way to getting started. I called my local feed store this morning and asked for straw not hay bales and they do have them for under $7.00 a bale! I told the owner about the website and she is going to post it in her store, so I am already passing the straw bale gardening idea locally as well.

The key is buying a bale of straw, not hay. I am going to purchase extra twine to run tightly around the bale to keep it together good and tight and I am going to put pavers under the bale to keep it off the ground. Besides the benefits you gain from growing your own fresh vegetables and herbs, the straw bale will eventually become compost. An added bonus for other areas of your yard to boot, it is a win win situation.

The inspiration for having my own garden came from several factors, one being that I have been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, tune in on ABC on Friday nights. If you have missed any of the episodes go his website posted below and you can watch them all from the beginning to date. I was dumb struck when he was talking to children in elementary school and the kids could not identify different vegetable that he held up for them. I have already blogged on this show in my blog from Saturday, March 27, 2010 entitled "Unbelievable, We Need This Wake Up Call". I posted again on facebook after watching this past Friday nights show, one of my facebook peeps said that she thought that it should be required viewing by every parent out there and I agree with her.

The second factor is wanting produce that is not covered in chemicals, I know exactly where it came from, that it has been grown organically, it has not been handled by a ton of people, picked before it was ripe which causes you to loose most of the vitamins and benefits and that it is truly fresh. So this has been my inspiration starting my own garden.

Below are the links to Doug Green and also to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. If you have not already signed his food revolution petition and recognise the importance of what he is doing sign up today and join in. Lets save our children from obesity and improve our overall health.

http://www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

So What If... Should It Really Matter?

Ok, so I been reading and hearing that the whole global warming thing is one big fat hoax and it has some people very upset. Why do people get so full of themselves and why do some love to say "see I told you so" and completly ignore the bigger picture. So what if it is a hoax, should it really matter? We should still be taking responsibility for the earth and our effect on it and the condition we leave it in.

Let me just say this, coming from someone who lives in Florida near the beach. I snorkel a lot and when I go out I take my mesh bag and free dive down to pick up trash off the ocean floor. I also walk the beaches with bags and pick up all the trash that people leave behind. It really does not matter if global warming is an issue or not. People should be responsible for the care and resources of this planet period. So if you are pissed because you went out and bought some energy efficent light bulbs, don't come crying to me. Everyone should be aware of what you do that effects this planet and if it is something as simple as a light bulb so be it. If you don't think that there is a problem with trash, chemical run off and all of the other lousy things that we do to hurt this planet then you should open you eyes.............

Second Annual Slithering Hunt

I started this blog while eating my lunch, lets just say that was a mistake and lunch got pushed to the side and thrown away. There is such a huge ewe and yuck factor here I could not continue. However moving on, The Sunshine State is getting ready to host it's second annual python, anaconda and monitor lizard hunt. The hunting licenses went on sale today for a mere $26. I am totally serious...so many people obtain these exotic beautiful slithery creatures as pets and when they become to much to deal with they drive to the Everglades and set them free. Which means they have now taken over the glades. So now the hunt for 2010 is about to begin and time line is from March 8th - April 16th for those of you who would like to set up a nice hunting trip.

So that brings me to what do you do with these creatures once you have killed your quota of python, anaconda or monitor lizards. Do you eat it, sell the skin or just kill it for pure sport? So I jumped online and I guess there is not a whole lot of eating going on, plenty of people looking for ways to cook them, but I found websites where you could purchase the meat. However if anyone out there happens to have an old family recipe that you are willing to share please post it in the comment section of my blog. The state of Florida thanks you!