And it Still Continues to Rain - July 14

     With all of the rain we've been having we're pretty well saturated around here.  One of Brian's favorite places to go is Congaree National Park.  They have an upper and lower boardwalk and when it rains a LOT the lower boardwalk is covered.

     Brian ran out there for the day to see what was going on, and it didn't seem too bad. The upper boardwalk (above) is usually right up to the walking level and all of the support beams are underwater - clearly not the case today.

      He did manage a bunch of nice pictures though.

If you're in SC and have never hiked through Congaree you should really consider it. BRING the bug spray though, the mosquitoes can be vicious.

The Summer of Rain

     We are used to a scattered afternoon storm here in the South in the summer.  We are NOT, however, used to the daily deluge we've been getting.  We have so many mushrooms in our yard we figure it will rival the grass soon.  We also have a permanent mud puddle in the backyard near the pond.
     Brian decided to take Cheesie outside and take advantage of the giant mushroom in the front yard (as well as his photoshop skills) and managed to capture this:

Making Candles - June 28, 2013

    If you're married to, or related to, a teacher..... you may know that we have a terrible problem with hoarding every copy of everything we might use in the classroom.  We also are known to hold on to old "stuff" in case we change back to that grade level.  HOWEVER, with everything on the internet (and easily found on pinterest), emptying those unused bins of junk is a priority this summer.  

    While emptying one of my bins, I found an old coffee can and crockpot that I used when I taught 4th grade (a LONG while ago) as well as a huge block of wax.  I hauled it all out, and asked the girls if they wanted to make candles (why yes, they did).  So we added water to the crockpot, inserted the coffee can of old wax, and while that melted we whacked the huge chunk of wax into pieces.

     The girls started out by dipping, but after doing a bunch of wonky looking ones they decided to use the little votive forms, as well as old glass jars that used to hold candles and poured the wax in.  So I now have a whole bunch of candles in case of an emergency.   BUT, I still have a lot of wax left so I wasn't able to empty that bin, but I did manage to get about 9 bins down to 3 so I'm calling that progress. 

Angel Oak

Summer time

Chopper

Kiawah Turtle Release - June 18, 2013

     Everyone should have a friend like my friend Karen.  Monday night she calls and tells me that there would be a turtle release on Kiawah the next morning.  I was able to rearrange a meeting with my new teaching partner, and I loaded the kids (and my mom) in the car and headed out for the 2.5 hour drive.

   We got there as soon as the park opened up.  I was THRILLED to go to this beach.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and with lifeguards (necessary for my family because of rip currents). Our Charleston area islands have a tradition of the "turtle ladies."  These women (I'm sure there are men too) walk the beaches on the coast everyday to look for new turtle nests, mark them, and supervise their hatchings.  They remind beach front owners to keep porch lights off in the summer (it confuses the new hatchlings) and their overall goal is conservation and education.  If I lived down there I would thoroughly join their group every summer.  Their goal is to make sure everyone leaves the big girls alone as they lay their eggs, and not bother nests, so that populations of these turtles will increase.

 

      While the ladies set up, we staked out our spot on the line with our chairs and then went to explore a little.  This release had been well publicized so a lot of people were expected. We were excited to find a starfish....

 

 which we all took a turn holding until we tried to toss him back into the ocean.

  

We also found a critter in his shell - which not everyone wanted to touch.

     We walked around and found out they were releasing one loggerhead turtle and seven Kemps Ridley turtles.  The Charleston Aquarium has a wonderful sea turtle hospital, and all of these turtles had been rehabilitated and were ready to go back to being wild.

 

More info on the Turtle Hospital

 

Close to the release, folks really started lining up.  The ladies had created barrier lines and the crowd lined that runway for a good look. 

 

Even though the tide was coming in, some stood in the surf for a good look, while respectfully keep their distance. 

     First up was the loggerhead.  As soon as they put him down he knew exactly where he anted to be.  They did stop him for a minute for pictures....

 

but then let him go.  He was not visible for long. 

 

With the Kemp's they had turtle ladies bring them down two at a time. One lady would walk one side of the line, and the other would cover the folks on the far side.  Kids were brought in from the crowd to carry signs with the turtle's name on it.  These 7 were caught up north when the water was too cold, so they were brought down here to get back in shape. 

 

 The ladies were great about answering questions and really letting people see the turtles without it being too invasive to the animal.  They also stood by and followed the turtle out a bit so that it wouldn't accidentally swim into the folks standing in the water.  People down here are well versed in how to behave.  It was such a great opportunity for my girls  to see two different kinds of turtles from the green turtles we saw in Hawaii last summer, and learn a bit about conservation.  At some point I'm going to have to bring the kids back to this beach this summer and get in some more ocean time.