Monday, May 19, 2014

Under Construction!

Hey Y'all! Don't be alarmed if you notice a few changes on and around the blog for the next day or so. I am trying to "pretty, pretty" things up for the summer. So just hang tight and know I am working some kinks out! Also... check out the number of sea turtle nests we have in SC right now! We still don't have anything here, but from the looks of it, we should have some soon! Hang Tight! Tootles! JKP

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Howdy… and Guess Who’s an Official Turtle Lady Now?

 

Hey Y’all!

I am so sorry for taking a few months off from the blog. But, as with any major change in life, sometimes you have to sit back for a little while and let everything sink in. And. That is what I did during February,  March, April and this part of May. If you have kept up with my instagram feed on the left side of the blog, you know that we have been busy. But, I just couldn’t get myself in a blogging frame of mind. So many folks have told me how much they miss reading the blog, so I thought it was time for me to end by blogging vacation. Just in time too, because folks… it’s Loggerhead Turtle Nesting season.. and guess who is an official Turtle Lady now? ME!!!!!

Y’all may remember that last summer I attended several turtle nest inventories in the Garden City Beach area. I met several folks and I was very interested in volunteering. Fast forward to April and I finally got to take my turtle training! I walk the beaches in the wee hours of the morning.. well 6:00 and look for turtle tracks and signs of turtle nests. It is still early in the season, so we haven’t seen anything yet. But we hope to in the next week or so. We also monitor the beach for erosion, pick up trash and educate folks about the turtles when folks get curious. I am walking on Sunday right now, but I hope once school gets out I can add another day. Our group has a lot of volunteers this season so getting one day already is a blessing! I just love spending time on the beach and it is very peaceful early in the morning. Right now we have a ton of jellyfish in the area and I have seen several sharks too. While walking this morning we saw evidence of ghost crabs that had been VERY busy.

20140518_062150

My walking buddy is actually one of my former parents! My former student Hayleigh sometimes walks with us too.

IMG_20140518_061704

One of the most moving things I get to see on my Sunday morning walks are the sunrises. They are so beautiful!

IMG_20140518_074610

After we walk, we go to the pier and look in the water. Last week we saw a HUGE Horseshoe crab and then a few seconds later we saw a loggerhead sea turtle! It was such a neat experience! This week we just saw a ton of jellies… which is good because the turtles like to snack on those!

Pitty Pat is doing great and is marking off the days on the calendar until summer. As of right now we have 14 days. Woot!!!! I am not doing anything major this summer. No classes. Just turtle watching!

IMG_20140511_220212

One exciting thing that has happened is that I got a Fitbit from the Easter Bunny! I have the Zip and I just love it. I also love that by 10 am on Sunday I usually have all 10,000 of my steps in from walking the beach. You’ve got to love that!

That’s about all that is going on here. I have also added a SC Sea Turtle Nest counter to the left side of the page so you can see how many nests we have on the coast. The box is a clickable link that will take you to the Seaturtle.org website. There’s tons of great info on there!

Well let me run, tomorrow is a school day and I have been up since 5:15. Well. I did sneak in a nap, but it is bed time y’all!

Tootles!

JKP