A Wandering WeyrCat...

On April 14, we took to the streets of Trenton, NJ, along with thousands of people across the nation, to send a message to the United States government: Science, not Silence!

Shane and I went to this special evening admission at the local zoo to see the animals when they're most active! We've been to the zoo before, and it's a GREAT zoo, but it's really hot in Florida. If I could sleep through the hottest part of the day and ignore all the screaming children, I probably would too. We had a schedule to keep, so first went to see the Wings Over Water show. It was the same show they do during the day, but I always love it. ONE exception: Hunter the Eurasian Eagle Owl is back! He's been out for a while because of a foot fungus, but was back and ready for pictures. Is it weird that I know these things? I did get to see a Harris's Hawk, Austin, which was made extra cool because I'd just seen a little educational video on them the night before! During the WoW show the birds fly very close to you while the hosts tell you about the birds, their habitat, and how you can help preserve that habitat through little things. I always enjoy it....

In big news: I made beignets for the first time. I think I'm finally worthy to call myself my grandmother's granddaughter. Seriously, I'm terrified of cooking in oil so I never tried before. They came out a little dense but delicious. Husband had never had them before and is now expecting them every week. I have to find a way to get more. I could definitely get into eating these each Sunday. I caught up on a little genealogy (a minor hobby of mine). I love when I learn weird things. Apparently around 1775, my 8th great grandfather's son Arthur was kidnapped and forced to be a sailor on a ship to New York. Grandfather thought him dead and named their next son Arthur after him. When they migrated, they found Arthur 1 again. First Arthur had black hair and the second had red, so they became known as Black Art (my 7th great grandfather) and Red Art. More after the pagebreak!

In school: I got a 54% (108/200) on my Chem2 final. Average was 98/200. I got a B (3.0) in the class. Officially have an A in the Lab. Husband graduated with his Bachelor's in Science of Mathematics, Summa Cum Laude. He chose not to walk. Seriously, it's $200 for the garb, and no one would be able to go anyway! From Nursing to Teaching:     I'm now studying for my teaching program's entrance exam; it's on the 15th! Wish me luck! I have officially put in the paperwork to switch my major (you may remember I was kicked back onto the waiting list for the Nursing program last year). I'd decided to be a nurse a few years back for the wrong reasons: yes, there's job security in being able to find a job where-ever my military husband ended up, there would also be good pay, an interesting and challenging work environment, and I'd be helping people! All these things I want, but I'd honestly decided to be a nurse because I didn't know what ...

I had my birthday right as Finals started, so I'm a little late in posting. Husband took me out to The Cheesecake Factory, my first time, and it was fantastic. The dark brown bread is to die for, the chicken cashew salad is delicious, and the cheesecake... need I say it? Yes, yes, I must: Ah-mazing. He got a great shot of me beginning to devour the chocolate banana shake. MUWAHAHAHA! Too old for silliness I'm not. I don't want to gloat about gifts too much, but I would like to point out the awesome owl earrings my mom sent me (wearing them in the photo). Husband got me a fantastic camera. This camera has some ridiculous zoom, and I was able to get a dragonfly 25 feet off the ground.... You can see the veins in its wing. I take it pretty much everywhere now! I upload the photos to my DeviantArt ( http://weyrcat.deviantart.com/gallery/ ) because it lets me keep the size and quality to a greater extent than Picasa. The Dragonfly: Dragonfly 120424 by ~ WeyrCa...

Welcome to Sunday, when I avoid studying at work by collecting what's been on my brain this week and shoving it into the internet in one cohesive bloggy time-capsule! The highlight is a woodpecker. THE woodpecker. The one I kept getting awful blurry photos of last year because he wouldn't sit still. Then, magic of all magics, THERE WERE TWO. Two woodpeckers.  I'm so excited... and I just can't hide it... dan dan daaaaan.....No really. I'm pretty gleeful about this. :) There've been scrub jays all over today too, but they don't sit still very long and I've an older camera. The kind that still has a 1GB XD card. For casual uses it's a darn trooper. In actually life updates there is little: I register for classes tomorrow and will hopefully get what I'm planning on. We're coming to the end of the semester and it's getting busy again, but it's nothing that some ice cream can't fix. And NO. I didn't see Hunger Games . ...

Husband and I ran the 8.1 miles obstacle course and trail run called Super Spartan, and we did it in 3 hours and 15 minutes. We signed up for it and began to train. Immediately School set in and we stopped training! We were unprepared for the run, but so were the people we went with (his buddy Daniel and Daniel's sister Donna.) It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I think it was harder than the 2.5 mile ruck on fractured legs. I didn't cry, like I did back then, but I'm a little older now. :D I'm bruised, lacerated, and picking mud out of pretty much everywhere. I had so much fun. The run is made up of "15+" obstacles, some road/grass run, and a huge chunk of trail run. Real trail; as in, we cleared it three days ago and left some stumps sticking out of the middle of the trail. The obstacles I recall off the top of my head, in as close to the order as I can come up with... -10' river crossing (wade.) -100m lake swim/wade. ---Some grass/...

I'll have to blog in pieces. I've had a great winter break and there's just too much to put in one post. Husband and I took some time to go see some family of mine that were down in Florida. It was awesome. More on that in another post. After leaving them (all too soon,) we set up camp in the Myakka State Park. We'd reserved two nights, though it's so busy during winter that we couldn't camp at the same spot twice. We got in, set up camp, and found the Nature Trail. We did the 1.3 miles really quickly since it was a short trail. It actually seemed too short, so we doubled back at a sign that said "Canopy Trail" thinking we'd missed part or that there was another leg. The Canopy Trail led to a 70 ft tall Canopy Walk. Winding stairs took us about halfway to the top (over the canopy) and had a soft bridge you needed to walk over. It was sooo neat. On the other side was the rest of the  stairway up to the top. Shane read that scientists use the v...

You know that song, Christmas Eve Sarajevo? If you don't know the name you've probably heard the song anyway. I recommend this vid to refresh your memory. Well Husband remembered that Trans Siberian Orchestra (the group commonly known for the tune) plays here in Florida every December, and thought he remembered that his granma had always wanted to go. SO, we called her up, invited, her, bought tickets, and two days later, drove 2.5 hours to get her, then 3 hours to Miami, and then did the whole thing in reverse. It was awesome. We had dinner at the Chili's at the Port. Chili's is Chili's but the view was wonderful! We watched the sky go from day, through twilight, and into night. The whole marina ended up lit by colorful lights, and then was made even brighter by the boats decorated for an upcoming boat parade.   After dinner we walked the short distance to the concert hall. We were a couple hours early and pretty much just hung out until they let us in....

Greetings! Haven't blogged in a while, or written letters, or done anything in a long while but I have something to show for it! A in Calculus, A in Biological Principles Lab, and B+ in Bio-Princ lecture. I wasn't slacking, I'll have you know. I studied my brains out and missed my A by 4 points (356/360). I don't know what happened. I did throw up a status on it, I was that distraught, I'll paste it here: Felt like I got a 99%, got an 87%... Since school ended Husband and I have still been kind of busy, but in a good way. Went to the Palm Beach Zoo; it was fantastic. I expected it to be kind of small but we got there just after they opened and stayed almost until closing. The only reason we fled early was to escape the downpour that snuck up on us. We plan to go back to finish it: there were some animals that didn't show *coughTIGERS*. They have a volunteer program that teaches you to care for the animals and teach others about it. I squealed, and plan to ...

May30.2010 Run: Tread 0inc. 1mile. 0:12:35. (4.5-5.3mph). Walk: Tread 0inc. .5mi 0:08:45 (3.5~mph). Stretched. Shitty day is ultra shitty. May31.2010 BBQ shishkibobs(sp) w/creamy cucumbers. Delicious Mich Ultra Dragonfruit/Peach =4/5. Did the Calusa Nature Center trails; they were great. Very unkempt & unpolished. Ducked under branches, hopped over felled trees, and squeezed beween bushes. Wilderness trail @1.5Mi, Cypress trail (can't find a distance for it) & Pine (0.5 mile). Tons of pix. The Nature Center & Planetarium were disappointing: one room apiece. June01.2010 Swam all 9 dogs! Ate1000 calories of Mac&Cheese, Creamed spinach, & Fat-Sprite. Feel like a pig, but god it was good. Need to get diet back on track. Also: 50$ down the drain as I woke up to find one of the inside-feral cats had pulled my Lunette bag out of my backpack and shredded my Cup! chewed the stem off, clawed it full of holes. I was so upset I was speechless. Ordered another one. Jun...

Busch Gardens Africa Tampa FL May 19, 2010 * The Picasa Album for all these Photos * Being back in FL and staying with family for the interim Shane and I decided to use another of the Military boons and go to Busch Gardens Africa. I did my little pre-stalking thing and checked out park map and rides. We knew going in that Kumba (one of their famous roller-coasters) was going to be closed this whole month. We also knew that the Serengeti Plain (where the free roaming animals are) was going to be a non-event due to the Serengeti Train being out of commission due to construction at the park, and the only only ride that goes into the Plain was a 35$ per person Serengeti Safari truck ride (where you'd get to touch Giraffe). Keeping this trip as inexpensive as possible, we opted out for the the Safari. 2 hour and change drive, for two free tickets, a packed lunch with snacks, and only paying for gas and some water bottles before we get there; even after a few snacks there the...