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A Very Hard Decision.

Category: Fun | Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 5:15 am

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Yesterday while I was heading home from college, I decided to stop by the local plant nursery because its getting close to winter and they usually have pretty good deals on plants. I made my way over to the sale rack and saw that they had a lot of things on sale for 50% off and some things for buy one get one free. Needless to say I was very excited. I immediately started looking around. My eyes caught a Tasmanian Tree Fern (Dicksonia antarctica) which I have been noticing since summer, but now was 50% off. I was about to grab it and go, but then I saw yet another deal that I couldn't pass up. I saw some pitcher plants that were on sale for buy one get one free. They were Sarracenia 'Judith Hindle' and unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the other one, but maybe either Sarracenia 'Jessica' or Sarracenia 'Judy.' So now I was faced with a very hard decision, a fern or two pitcher plants. I eventually decided on the fern because I have two Nepenthes which are not doing that well and I usually have better luck with ferns. So while it was a hard decision, it was probably the best one for me, but who knows I still might go back and see if I can get those pitcher plants. :P

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Study Abroad Canada Trip

Category: Fun | Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:00 am

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I was told in my Plant Morphology class that there will be a study abroad trip to Churchhill, Manitoba, Canada. That particular area is where three different ecosystems come together. I was instantly intrigued and wanted to sign up, but then I discovered it has a $3,200 price tag on it excluding tuition. I really want to go so I e-mailed my professor about scholarships that might be available. She e-mailed me back saying that just for signing up that I would get a minimum of a $750 scholarship. I instantly signed up and am around $2,000 now. I just need to find a way to get some more money, whether it be by selling my other cars, or by applying for some competitive scholarships that I may or may not get, but I'm willing to try anything because I've always wanted to visit and study Canada. The trip includes room and board, polar bear protection/insurance, food, air fair, train fair, and a whale watching tour of which she guaranteed us to see at least a Beluga Whale. I'm really excited and hope I will be able to go. I'm not a fan of the cold, but I will put up with it for this chance. I'm also told that I might be able to see the northern lights up there, which is something else that I've always wanted to see. So fingers crossed that I will be able to go. :)

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Caving in North Georgia.

Category: Fun | Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:46 am

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Another one of my adventures finds me in some caves in North Georgia, one cave who's name I can't remember and another called Sitton's Cave (my favorite one). We started in the cave I can't remember the name to, it was supposed to be a wet cave where you had to enter through a waterfall, but it had been so dry that there was no water. When we got inside we sat down and turned our lights off for about 15 minutes to let our eyes adjust to the dark. After that we turned our lights back on, split into two groups and went separate ways. The way we went led us to a 40 foot cliff in the cave with a small ledge that extended out along the cliff wall. Well, our guide asked if anyone would want to go on the ledge and I said I wanted to. So the guide, me, and a few others went out on this ledge which was very scary and fun at the same time. When we got to the very end of the ledge, I grabbed a small stone and dropped it off the side. It took about 3 or 4 seconds to hit the bottom. After this experience, we headed for a room called the Art Room where people who past visited molded things out of the clay and left them there for others to see. Right out side of the room there was a small hole barely big enough for me to fit in. I asked my guide where it went and he said he didn't know, but that I could find out if I wanted. So of course I took this opportunity, pulled off my pack, and headed into the unknown. I crawled into the hole backwards because it turned downward. When I got to the straight down part, I was literally hanging by my hands and feet with pressure on the walls around me over this black and seemingly never ending hole. At that point I realized that this was probably not a good idea and slowly crawled my way out of the hole. When I came out I went into the Art Room and saw everyone's creations. There were all manner of things that had been molded in there, and I even left a clay guitar. The next day we went to Sitton's cave, a big hole in the side of a mountain. The entrance was a precarious drop of what seemed like a 70-80 degree slope into the cave. Once in, we had to crawl on our hands and knees through a dry creek bed until it opened up into this dried up underground river(again only dry due to no rain for a couple months) where we adjusted our eyes again. We were then free to roam the cave at our leisure as the guides knew this cave very well and said it was hard to get lost, not true for first timers. :) As I tend to do, I found another hole in the side of a wall and proceeded to explore it. I ended up crawling over this crevice just to end up at a dead end, but I thought that while I was there that it would be a good idea to turn off my light and listen. It was pitch black, the blackest black you have ever seen and the silence was almost overpowering. I felt truly alone so I turned my light back on and headed back. On the way back I discovered another hole going under the way I came in so I took it. It actually led me through the crevice that I had previously crawled over and back out to where I came in. I explored further into the cave and started hearing the distinct sounds of bats, again I turned my light off and listened to them. It was actually kind of scary because they sounded like the creatures from The Descent movie and it freaked me out a little so I turned my light back on to discover that there was a bat circling me, YES, circling me. I watched it circle me a few times and then it flew away into the blackness. Well, about this time it was time to leave. I bid the caves a very fond farewell and we headed back for home.



Unknown Name Cave ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






A few of the things in the Art Room. ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Mountain of Sitton's Cave ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Entrance to Sitton's Cave ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Bottom of the Entrance ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Salami Room ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )





Last edited: Fri May 01, 2009 6:56 am

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Past Trip to Sapelo Island.

Category: Fun | Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:58 pm

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Last year I went on this Ecology trip that went around Georgia to state parks to learn about the native flora and fauna and geology of the area. The first day we went to Arabia Mountain where we learned about succession. We learned that rain erodes the rock to form depressions where silt and sediment settle in and start to form soil. Plants then come in and erode the rock even further with their roots going in the cracks and splitting the rock. The plants also change the soil to something else by introducing bio-matter. The next place we went is Providence Canyon to camp overnight and learn about how it was formed. It started as a farm, but rain kept eroding the land. It got out of control and turned into a canyon. They tried to introduce Kudzu to stop the soil from being eroded, but it took over everything. The next day we headed to Broxton Rocks, a rare rock feature. They had some Longleaf Pines which they had to burn to keep alive because the trees need the fire to survive. The fire keeps the duff under the tree to a controllable level. The water that runs through that whole area is stained brown from the tannins in the roots of plants leaking out into the water kind of like what happens when you make tea. After this place it was but a short drive to Moody Forest. This was a preserved old growth Longleaf Pine forest. Again they would burn every now and then to keep the habitat running smoothly. They also had a Bald Cypress swamp which was really cool. We spent the night at a camp site near the Ocmulgee River. The next day we had a nice five hour drive to Sapelo Island, a nature reserve where you take a ferry to get there and need special permission to go to. There are residents, but they are the descendants of the slaves that were kept on the plantation there. This place was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It had these Bar-pits (borrow pits) where they borrowed the soil there and water filled them in and becomes this blue-aqua-green color. We got to see wild alligators and armadillos along with a very large renegade bull that roamed the island. The island was full of salt marshes, swamps, forests, and amazing beaches. We stayed in these dorms where the showers smelled like sulfur and felt like someone dribbling on you, but other then that they were nice. One day we went on a shrimp boat to troll for stuff in the bay. We caught stingrays, puffer fish, mackerel, squid, shrimp, crabs, etc. The captain of the ship collected all the shrimp and edible fish that we caught and cooked it for dinner for us in a low country boil fashion. This was the most amazing food I had and still have ever eaten. Everything was same day fresh and oh so good. That was our last night there. The next day we cleaned up everything and left for home. It was sad to leave; I could have stayed forever. I'm so excited to be able to go again this year. I only have two more weeks and Sapelo here I come. These are the highlights from last year's trip.




Top of Arabia Mountain ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Senecio ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Providence Canyon ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Top of Canyon ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






In the Canyon ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Broxton Rocks ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Broxton Rocks ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






A rare Orchid that only grows at Broxton and Cuba ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Moody Forest - Bald Cypress ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






A Crazy Water Oak ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






The Lighthouse ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )






Sunrise on Sapelo ( photo / image / picture from FlowerFreak22's Garden )



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