Week numero two

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Monday: Today began with chatting with everyone, getting some more direction, and some more research on the butterfly garden specifically in our office – I don’t know if I mentioned this, but we – college interns- have our own office. It’s like an ice box, and I love it. Matt ate with us – I think joining around food helps humanize people. That is, I feel that even though I think he’s incredibly smart and our boss, he’s approachable and does what he can to make us feel at home. We left for another field trip after a couple hours of more researching. We went to Emerson’s point, and hiked around a bit. Then we made our way to Terra Ceia Bay. After we went to the mouth of the manatee river we came back and made a detour to the post office – I’m glad that he’s so helpful because mom needed what I mailed her! Then we were close to Anna Maria, so he decided to show us. It was beautiful, and it completely helped me put the city/river map into perspective. We came back for some exploring – we found the pool and decided that it was worth trying out. Then I botched dinner, but I think that I’ve learned what I did wrong. I’ll get it again next time.

Tuesday: We’re continuing on our journey toward informational signage. It’s becoming more and more tangible and exciting. Today we also saw the planetarium showing of the Ultimate Universe. It was a little terrifying. The magnitude of size of the universe intimidates me – eternity is scary. It was still very good – a creationist’s nightmare, but I thought it was really great in the planetarium. Then we learned the ins and outs of the copy machine – that was useful as the whole password thing would have tripped me up, and it’s way fancier than the HC admission office’s. We copied some super useful information that we were given to read up on. I’m thankful for it, as it’s given us even more direction. We were also invited to the birthday celebration. Apparently, each month Scott makes a cake for everyone who has a birthday in that month. I don’t like cake, but, boy, did he make a delicious one!

Wednesday: Today started with a meeting-ette with Matt and Ashley, they talked to us about Snooty and his birthday that’s coming up. We got to learn about a super old Ediphone! It was so neat. The museum couldn’t use it, as it could really use a restoration. Matt told us about Edison's invention a day quota – I never hear good things about Thomas Edison’s demeanor. We went back to the office and started making a list of all the butterflies and their corresponding host and nectar plants. We couldn’t find many host plants on the list that we were given from the contractors. So far, it looks bad. Shannon and I found out while we were talking to Matt and Ashley that there is a humane society right up the way that has dog walking and such. We went to volunteer there – it’s about a block away- and found out that we needed two references, a skill set, our driver’s license number… basically our life story, I guess. So we’re waiting for the call back, so that we can spend our lunches cat cuddling! We also got to sit in on a staff meeting about Snooty’s birthday. Shannon and I are going to be working the kiddie games. I can’t wait. Afterward Shannon’s mom and grandma came to pick us up to celebrate Shannon’s birthday.

Thursday: Glorious Shake Pit.. Today started with talking to Matt and deciding to send the list to him asap – we also met with Ashley to set up the exhibit that she had put together. It’s her father’s artwork displaying various clouds, their nomenclature and significance. It looks great. We learned how to make beveled edges for labels of an exhibit with matte board and a cut machine and special spray glue. We were given the chance to make some. It was super fun. We also talked to Ashley’s helpers/interns, Teresa and Michelle, for a little bit before helping Teresa with transporting a couple 800 year old artifacts from pre-Spanish mounds of Florida. No biggie. I was fortunate enough to get to hold the biggest of the jars. After that was lunch and some more researching. Matt gave us the tour de river walk. I usually think that construction zones are simply dreadful. I try to imagine what the end product might be, but my imagination evades me in such situations. Nevertheless, I can have confidence that the end product will be exactly as planned. With this, however, I am worried. I am especially worried about the tidal area. Now it looks like a ditch with weeds growing out of it. The bio-swale area is nice and as big as I imagined – but I have no clue what to put to encompass everything in 75 words or less. We ended the day with tying up a few details on the native butterfly list and their respective host plants and such. After work we ate at this place Dr. Philipp recommended - I didn't think it would be that good. I didn't think Hinkles was anything special - so surely this wouldn't be something to write home about... but indeed they are. Shannon and I have decided to make this a weekly dealio.

Friday: Today we found out more information about the plans for the river walk and worked on finding more information. We are still waiting to hear back from Mike. It’s a plan by the city of Bradenton to increase tourism and funnel money into the city. There will be a skate park and a couple of amphitheatres. It seems like a good plan. Our part, though, is tougher than I imagined. We hypothesize that the botanical garden was changed into the butterfly garden without the plant layout changing. Matt offered that we leave early and start the weekend early. We ended up leaving around 3. We began our weekend with some incredible shake pit shakes, yes two days in a row – I hoped that I wouldn’t like them that much.

Saturday:Kayaking again! This time it was in Boca Ciega Bay. We did this first thing. The waves were huge! It was very choppy at first. Once we got to the relatively calm water, we decided to book it across the way to an island looking area. When we paddled up next to it, we noticed that the area was quite shallow – there were so many mangroves. We followed the shoreline until we found a sign that said no trespassing and that it was a mangrove restoration area. It was exciting – we circled around the restoration site to head back to Shannon’s aunt’s house. From here we went to John’s Pass and I spent lots of money, but I bought lovely souvenirs and I finally have a bathing suit. Dinner and midnight swimming followed.

Sunday: Father’s day was a sunny and happy day. We did some more shopping to buy more business casual clothes. I bought some great books for a pretty good price at Barnes and Nobles. I hope that I can get to read them and start studying for the GRE. We came back for the law and order marathon and ate take out.

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Photos

Kayaking in Boca Ciega
The mangrove restoration site