March is fleeing

March is fleeing and so are we. Gosh, where did the month go?

Vintage Days was fun, albeit quite cold, and Tom was outstanding as Dr. Small. There was a good turnout in spite of the weather. The next weekend we attended a wonderful orchid show and then went to Key West for the weekend. Yes, Key West is crowded and touristy and had many college students on spring break, but we counter programmed so we seldom saw the students. Our hotel was right in the midst of everything and we wandered everywhere and visited the house where Hemingway lived for 8 years and did most of his best work. They still have 6-toed cats there, descended from his son Jack's cat. Great seafood and a spectacular sunset.

Work continues apace, Tom is doing some useful "chemistry" on the lichen and Keek and I continued preparing samples for the herbarium. Between us we will have done 800 samples. The team leaders are very happy with the output for the season from everyone, and, although we all have told them we will not be coming back next year, they have extended an open invitation to change our mind.

Back to orchids for a minute. In the early part of the 20th century orchid collectors plundered the Everglades for orchids (and tree snails). Very few of either still exist, but we had heard of a huge wild cow horn orchid in a remote part of the park, which is not known to tourists. We talked our leaders into an excursion to see it and it was amazing- bushel basket sized, and surviving on whatever Mother Nature provides. We also saw a few other orchids which were not in bloom - dollar orchids, and butterfly orchids. Another that was in bud, not flower is the mule ear orchid which is slowly succumbing to a particular fly which lays its eggs in the stem, and when the larva hatch, eat the inside of the stem.

Through a mutual friend, the curator of the Everglades gave us a tour of the collection (not usual to see all this) and it was fascinating the things they had. In addition to all the plant and animal specimens, there are cultural artifacts like Seminole clothing, Everglades souvenirs through the years, games and puzzles, oral histories, etc. Two of my favorite things were a cane carved by Dr. Samuel Mudd while a prisoner at Fort Jefferson off the Florida coast for being part of the conspiracy to kill Lincoln and the wallet of Guy Bradley who was an early park ranger hired by the Audubon Society in the 30's. Bradley was killed by hunters who wanted feathers from the birds and wanted him gone. We had heard a lot about him so it was neat they have it.

This will be my last post from here. It has been a fun three months, but we feel like we have "sucked all the juice out of this orange", so to speak, and are already beginning to think where we will spend next winter. Meanwhile, we are looking forward to getting home.

Regards,

Anne

Upcoming events

A lichen for your enjoyment

We aren't quite into planning our end game here, but things are getting busy. Some neighbors from UA spent most of a day here and we enjoyed showing them around. We showed them our dwelling as well as our lab and they got to peer into the microscopes at some lichen. Saw lots of 'gators too. I attended a day of workshops on orchid culture and (ahem) bought a few plants. Mar. 2 is Vintage Days and Tom has been tapped to portray John Kunkel Small, a botanist from the Bronx Botanical Garden who spent a bit of time down here cataloging plants in the early years of the 20th century. He found a lichen, among other things, and took it back north with him. It was not found in the Everglades again for a hundred years and a day, when our lichen team leaders found and identified it. (They were sort of looking for it.) I will portray a member of the Florida Federated Women's Club, which was very important in getting a part of the Everglades preserved as a State Park in 1916. Various characters who had a part in Everglades history, both good and evil, will be wandering the grounds. There will be both a pre-party and an after-party for those playing roles and that evening is the all staff annual picnic. On Mar. 16 is the volunteer appreciation dinner.

We are planning to leave here on Mar. 26 and hopefully will be home by Easter. It's getting hot and consequently buggy. We turned on the AC for the first time. We'll be ready to go by then.

 

More snakes (No gory pics)

Arriving at work last Thursday, I noticed a large green mesh bag being hosed off near our lab. I went over and discovered there was a live python in the bag. I asked the sweet young thing holding it who caught it and she replied, "I did". It turns out she is a wildlife biologist who was tracking a couple of the male pythons who were microchipped, when she noticed they were very close to one another. She guessed that there may have been a female nearby so began to look and, sure enough. She and a colleague got it in the mesh bag and into a cooler for transport to the lab (There is a standard procedure to doing this- never approach while it is coiled as it is all muscle and can then spring half its length.). A small crowd was gathering and when chief snakeologist, Skip Snow arrived, they emptied in onto the grassy area and stretched it out. Sweet young thing had hold of its head in some way so it could not open it's jaws. It was measured at 13.5 feet and Skip was kind enough to show us what someone referred to as her "lady parts", for she was indeed a female. Pictures were taken and then back into the bag. I later heard she weighed 90 pounds, but have not heard whether she will be micro chipped or euthanized.

There are also diamondback rattlesnakes here in the park and our team leaders came upon one during a lichen collection trip. They are very experienced and heard it so they were able to avoid it. Jean said it was perfectly camouflaged and had it not rattled, and often they don't, they might not have seen it. It was not a good trip for them as Jean also got into some poisonwood. They say if you only learn to recognize one tree in south Florida, it should be the Poisonwood tree. Its leaves cause a reaction like poison ivy ( only much worse) and if you get too much it will get into your bloodstream and make you sick. Lovely flora and fauna down here, wouldn't you say??

The great python hunt has ended with more of a whimper than a bang. Although 1500 people were registered as hunters, only 50 pythons were turned in. The Florida Wildlife people put a good face on it, but many folks are calling it a big disappointment. To me it seemed rather meaningless as all of the Everglades Nat'l Park was off limits. They are still thinking about whether to do it next year. Seems like its good for tourism and publicity.

PS. I found out the young lady's name is Michelle.

South Beach

We spent a night in South Beach for our anniversary and had a great time. It's about an hour from here. I was not prepared for how many of the old buildings from the 30's and 40's survive and have been turned into boutique hotels, etc. Of course it is known for the nightlife and (some) shopping nowadays, but we enjoyed the food and beach and just walking around. It's a wonderful walking city. We put the car in the garage when we got there and never took it out. Our favorite thing was the guided walking tour of the historic district and hearing stories about the places, such as " So and so movie was shot here". The reason building continued here through the depression was that organized crime was flush with money from its gambling and bootlegging operations so it also functioned as a bank and loaned money. Miami vice, I guess. Our anniversary meal was Nuevo Latino food and we also went to a place called sushi samba which mixed sushi with Peruvian influences.

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival sponsored by the Food Network was to open the day after we left. We are too old for whatever that scene would have been like.

To the north and to the west were the tall skyscrapers that could have been any city, but South Beach was one of a kind and very worth our visit.

Somehow we had such a good time that we forgot to take any pictures!

Field Trippin'

We have now been on two field trips collecting lichen. Anybody else would call it bush whacking or breaking trail. But we call it collecting lichen. First, an explanation of the landscape is important. There are several predominant type of vegetation. There is the famous "River of Grass", which is the 40 mile wide, shallow river that flows south from lake Okechobee to Florida Bay. Then there are the pine lands which are contiguous limestone reefs on the Atlantic side, made from sea shells and coral, where pine trees grow, and lastly there are hammocks which are slightly higher islands within the sawgrass which can support hardwood forests. Most lichens are found in the hardwood hammocks.

Trip 1

We ( Rick, Jean, and we 3 new volunteers) began from the research center and walked toward an area which is undergoing severe remediation to remove an invasive species(Brazilian pepperwood). Around us was heavy equipment joking called a brontosaurus, chomping up this invasive species and scraping it into huge piles. I won't go into this more right now, but it costs $20,000 per acre and is paid for by companies who need to buy credits for wetlands they are destroying.

After passing through this area we entered the pine lands on a fire road. After a mile or so we left the road to the Pinelands proper, which pose a significant hazard. The limestone surface is very susceptible to breakdown by acids to form solution holes. Acids can come via acid rain or decay of pine needles, etc. so as one walks along, hidden under the vegetation are holes. They come in all sizes, so we move slowly and probe the ground ahead with walking sticks and alerting those following. After going through the Pinelands we arrived at Junk hammock, named after a person, not what we might expect to find there. The outer edges of the hammock are exposed to sun and therefore have thick vegetation, a thicket, you might say. The interior of the hammock is more shaded, so less dense. After forcing our way through the thicket, we wandered around the interior of the hammock, Rick looking for a specific lichen while the rest of us tried to identify the trees we were seeing. Although Rick did not find what he was looking for, nonetheless he took several samples, which were put into sample bags with notes on which tree it was growing on, hence our need to learn the tree species. The ground in the hammock was incredibly spongy, due to decayed leaves-almost like bouncing on a bed in places. We saw and avoided the solution holes. Once we found a clearing with some logs for sitting, we broke for lunch and conversation. We had seen some wild orchids and various ferns and wild flowers and tried to recognize the difference between lichen and fungus on the trees. More tramping about after lunch and then walked back to the research center. About 5 hours.

Trip 2

Trip 2 was quite different. This was supposed to be easier, so we were told the poles weren't necessary. Lucinda was not along as she had fallen and injured her wrist elsewhere, but Keek, a second year volunteer was along. We all piled in Rick's four wheel drive and headed off on a dirt road until it became impassable, then walked for about 2 miles on a diminishing road, muddy at times. We then went into the sawgrass, wet underfoot, toward Bequard hammock. We got through the thicket, but for reasons unknown to me, there were also many solution holes there (usually in pinelands). The procedure was the same as before, except it was wetter and the solution holes were treacherous. Imagine a pit 6 to 30 inches deep upon which branches have fallen and then years of vegetation such as dead leaves have covered. All but Keek fell into one of these pits. I was walking behind Tom when all of a sudden his left leg went down into a pit up to his hip. Shortly afterward I stepped into a shallower pit and lost my balance and fell forward onto the rough pock-marked rock. I came to rest on my knee and the heel of my hand. The knee bled, but the hand was ok. It was particularly hard getting out of this hammock-thick vegetation-and then retracing our steps. We were a sore and muddy bunch by the time we got back. For these trips we wear long pants and shirts, and sneakers which can be hosed off. Actually Tom and I hose each other off outside and the clothes go straight to the washer. Next time we vowed to bring our poles, no matter what we are told. Time was 6 hours.

Do I enjoy these trips? Hmmm... Not sure yet. They are good exercise and we see interesting plants, but if we have another trip like second one above, or if the weather gets hotter or it gets buggier, I may reconsider.

 

 

Exploring

We have had two four-day weekends in a row, so we have done quite a bit of exploring. The Everglades are huge and there are no thru roads so one weekend we went to the northwest part and explored the Gulf Coast side and the 10,000 islands. It is 50 miles as the crow flies, but more than a hundred via roads. Everglades City is classic "old Florida", having been the county seat until the 50's, when that was moved to Naples. Nothing much has been built there since. It was a company town for Barron Collier, who had all sorts of ideas for making money there-land, oil, timber, tourism. He was a prime mover behind the Tamiami Trail getting finished. There is a very good museum with lots of photos of the old days. Lots of people actually lived there, both Indians and homesteaders. It must have been a very tough life. We took a four hour ranger led canoe trip out into the ten thousand islands and were pleased we did as well as we did since its been a while since we canoed. A nice thing happened in that when we went in to register on Friday we mentioned that we were volunteers at the south part of the park. The next day when we showed up, one of the rangers took us aside and said not to rent a canoe ($24) because they had arranged for us to use one of the park canoes. Nice!

We also saw quite a bit of Big Cypress Preserve and met a couple of python hunters out for the big Python Challenge. They had actually caught a seven footer. Last I heard, only 20 pythons had been turned in. To be clear, no hunting is allowed in the Everglades national park itself (although law enforcement rangers can and do shoot them on sight and the park has 30 licensed hunters that work year round), so the idea that this hunt is going to give them an idea of where and how many there are seems foolish. (NY Times has an article on the hunt today, jan. 23.)

Our other trip was to the Keys. We are just at the spot where the Keys begin and it's 20 miles to the closest, Key Largo, and 130 miles to Key West. We had planned to stay in the mid Keys and not go all the way to Key West, but it was raining quite a bit, so we decided to go all the way, arriving about 2PM. The main attraction for us was the Truman Little White House. Truman, and later, Ike, spent time there. It was part of a sub base so pretty secure. Truman loved it, but Bess turned up her nose and called it a "fishing camp", whereupon the Navy hired the foremost interior decorator in Miami to do it up right. Lots of money was spent and most of those original furnishings remain. Our tour guide was excellent and many folks remarked that it was like going to their parents or grandparents house . It is still used on occasion (has the Presidential seal over the door). Colin Powell had some negotiations there when he was Secretary of State and there was to be some sort of Inaugural Ball there tonight. After that there was just time enough to wander through the old funky part of town and decide that we should come back and spend the night while we are this close. Quite expensive to stay in the downtown area. Then we got hung up in a nasty traffic jam with tourists leaving amid rush hour and some construction detours. They say they have only 25000 residents, but you would never have believed it. We also learned about Henry Flagler and his RR to Key West, built in 1912 and destroyed in a hurricane in 1935. It was an engineering marvel and we visited the quarries where they dug the stone, which is fossilized coral reefs. US Rt 1 was built on the ruins of the old railroad. Meanwhile we visited many of the state parks on the Keys and did some hiking. There is a state park well known for snorkeling and glass bottom boat viewing, but with the rain we decided to save that for another day.

All in all a good reconnaissance trip.

Another thing we did in the park was a slough slog (pronounced slew slog). A slough is a moving body of water, I.e. not a swamp. You go for a wade into water knee to thigh high into places like cypress domes which are a unique habitat. It's too much to get into all the hydrology, but it was fun. I include pictures.

Since many of my readers did not like the python autopsy pictures and told me not to use them anymore, I am instead including pictures of extraordinary beauty. There is a well known orchid grower/seller nearby which offered tour on the weekends. I assumed it would be through the greenhouses, but it actually was through the grounds of the private home of the third generation owner. It was spectacular, both the orchids integrated into the landscape, and the other tropical plants gathered from all over the world. Enjoy.

Our team leaders are back and tomorrow we go on our first field trip to collect lichen samples.

i continue to be completely frustrated about how the pictures look in the blog. If I rotate these pic, then i cant upload them to the blog so i send them this way. also they don't go where i want them. Oh, well.

Anne

 

 

 

 

Everglades

I had assumed my blogging days were over, but I have been asked to blog about our volunteer season in the Everglades, so here we go.

This first blog will also go by email to those I think might be interested. Otherwise just up to the blog:

Http://gardenladyanne.blogspot.com

We arrived on New Year's Day and got into our apartment. It's a kind of duplex with our unit on one end and Cindy and Tom on the other end with a shared laundry room in between. It is small but functional and was recently upgraded with new appliances and furniture. And, sacre bleu, we have granite countertops! Much to the envy of some other volunteers. The best part is a large screened porch, about 12 x 15 feet. The worst is lack of counter space. Those granite countertops consist of about six inches on either side of the sink and about 18 inches on each side of the stove. But, we will be fine. I even have some space to try a couple of tomato plants.

The weather is fine, even a bit too warm and humid sometimes, although I know I won't get much sympathy on that issue. I will try to refrain from talking about the weather any more.

As many of you know we will be on a lichen research team. Our second day we met the rest of the team. The leaders are a husband and wife team (they are quite fascinating and will warrant more remarks later), Rick and Jean. There is a returning volunteer named Keek from Montana and another new volunteer named Lucinda from Vermont. Rick spent about an hour giving us an overview and then said, "Go get settled in and get acquainted with the park. See you next Monday (Jan. 7)". Unfortunately since then his mother has had some serious health issues and they left last Sat. to deal with that, which means that Keek was in charge today. She is very competent and it was already the plan to have her train us on the database entry, which is very detailed and punctilious. Basically we are taking their field notes and inputting into the database the different samples they have collected. You will realize how detailed it is when I tell you that each of the three new volunteers managed to input two samples today. Our workday is 9 to 4 because he realizes that longer hours invite errors. Accuracy is vital for being able to search the database. At some point we will get to go along on some of these field trips. They collect samples and input into the database, using the volunteers, in the winter and spend the warmer weather crunching the data. So far they have identified 40 lichens new to North America and 10 that are new To science. Already with the data entry we are learning a lot about lichens. I think it will be fun.

(Lady below is camp host where python was caught)

But the most fun thing we did today had nothing to do with lichens. We are adjacent to the "wet lab" and they were autopsying a Burmese python. We didn't see him make the original cut, but she was cut from end to end and we saw the heart and liver and egg sac (she was not pregnant, but had eggs waiting to be fertilized). The stomach had a largely digested meal, but there was evidence an alligator was part of it. (The bony protuberances on an alligators back are called scoots and are very distinctive- they were there-even I could see that). The researcher, Skip, was very willing to talk about everything with us, I.e., we were not considered a nuisance. He said it was the biggest one he has ever done at 17 ft. 4 in. The record is 17 ft. 8 in. So he said he stretched it out as long as he could but no record. The other person at the autopsy was in charge of the day use area where it was captured. It was in a picnic area and the snake was just lying out in the sun. People assumed it was dead and were walking around looking at it. Then somebody poked it and it raised its head and hissed. She said the hiss was really something-like the air rushing out of a balloon. So she shooed the people away and called a law enforcement ranger who can shoot it, and then tried to keep it in the area. They like to kill or capture them if possible as they are killing a lot of the small game and changing the ecosystem. At one point her husband tried to whack the head off with his machete, but it barely made a scratch. Skip said that probably was not a good idea. The autopsy room smelled like a seafood shop where all the fish are a little old. In other words, kind of stinky. [i found out CNN did a piece on the capture in the picnic area. If you google CNN python Florida, you should find it.]

We also in our wanderings these first few days have seen a crocodile. A big one. Crocs only exist in the very tip of Florida and the keys and this is the only area in the world where both exist. We also got a brief glimpse of a manatee surfacing.

Day 2. Another python. This time it was only 12 feet long and had been run over by a vehicle in town. No autopsy today. Our work is going better. I did 5 specimens today and we quit at 3 PM. Keek has managed to stir up a hornet's nest and says that she is going to leave as soon as Rick and Jean are back and we new volunteers are up to speed. I hope she stays as I like her. We only heard her side of the story and there are always two (or more) so I can't take sides but she has certainly made some enemies.

Enough. I want to get this out today.

Anne