Polar Plunge

Going outside fully dressed on a cold day is enough of a polar plunge for me. Jumping in the springs at Ichetucknee in the summer took my breath away so jumping into the Atlantic (or any outside, cold body of water) on New Year’s Day seems like insanity to me. The Polar Plungers have been growing in numbers and New Year’s Day is the day when these events often occur, however, there are groups of people that take the plunge every weekend throughout the seasons, including the colder ones and they do this for their health. I like many others plan to resolve to get healthier in 2013, but I am just not convinced that the Polar Plunge is the way for me to begin.

I do think being active outdoors is the best way to get healthier in 2013. As a child growing up in Chicago, I loved being outdoors in all kinds of weather and for 2013, I look forward to spending time outside walking, bike riding, gardening, and enjoying nature once again. Maybe if my resolutions are a little more general this coming year they will be harder to discard. In years past it seems like I have made resolutions that in retrospect I was bound to break. So this year I am focusing on outdoor activity and hope the benefits of better health will result. Look out because I expect to be plunging out my door for the New Year!

*Blogger’s Note: My first official book signing is Saturday, Jan. 5 from 1-3 pm at the Camden Public Library (across from the Winn Dixie). You are invited to drop in and help celebrate this first with me!

-Jo

New Year’s Eve

Other than the same old tired resolutions, any new New Year’s Eve traditions out there? Here are some of my favorites.

Happy Noon Year parties celebrate the New Year at noon instead of midnight. This works well for toddlers and people that have trouble staying awake until the ball drops (me) and I also enjoy an apple juice toast before naptime. I love that they are doing one of these at the zoo this year so kids can celebrate the New Year with a bunch of party animals.

Eating black eyed peas is also one of my favorite traditions, because I like black eyed peas (the band with Will.i.am too) but I am confused about whether you eat them on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. My solution is to eat them on both days. I like them in a recipe I keep on my fridge called Redneck Caviar which, when you combine black eyed peas, corn, pepper, onions, a can of hot Ro*tel, and Italian salad dressing and refrigerate, makes a delicious dip for tortilla chips and fakes the kids into eating black eyed peas (something they usually turn their noses up at) for the New Year.

This last one is one that my husband has had us doing every year since it was his family’s tradition. We light a bayberry candle on New Year’s Eve and if it remains lit through until New Year’s Day it portends good fortune in the New Year. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you want to adopt this tradition. Don’t light your candle under the ceiling fan. Plan to light it close enough to midnight so it won’t be completely burned out before the ball drops. Bayberry candles aren't always the easiest to find so if you are lighting your last one (like I am this year), plan to start looking for next year’s early on (think like an after Christmas sale only after New Year’s Day). Guess I won’t need an excuse to take a trip to Cracker Barrel or the mall. There's no doubt, at least this year, there will be one bayberry candle welcoming the New Year on Andros Island. And in St. Marys there will be one blogger sipping apple juice and eating redneck caviar near a flickering bayberry scented candle too. 

What would it take for you to trade in your gun?

In LosAngeles the mayor decided not to wait until May to hold their annual anonymous gun buy-back program. During the previous buy-back held last May, the police collected 1,700 guns. In exchange the anonymous donors received a $100 grocery gift card for each gun and a $200 grocery gift card for each assault rifle. This December more than 2000 more guns were turned in.

In other news a list of gun owners was made public in a newspaper story and this has angered many gun owners. I imagine the information in the article could be used like the websites that help you locate registered sex offenders in your neighborhood, just substitute registered gun owners.

On FaceBook a while back a mother (my nephew’s wife) shared her angst over a first invitation to a play date for one of my great nieces and included that if she found out that the parents of her daughter’s friend kept guns in their home it would be her one and only play date with that friend.

Another FB friend asked me if I remembered a student who was shot in the eye by a BB gun by his brother. I did remember and although it didn’t put his eye out it did damage his cornea and permanently (negatively) effect his vision.

In Connecticut a mother was shot with her own gun and killed by her adult son.

What would it take for you to trade in your gun?

Little Free Libraries

They look like over sized bird houses on posts with sides that open wide to reveal a cache of books for all ages inside. You can buy one or build one, fill it, plant it, and register it and become a part of the Little Free Library movement. There are no cards or fees needed to use the Little Free Library, and the benefits of usage have the ripple effect, from putting smiles on the faces of readers young and old to promoting literacy in places where it may not be so easy to get access to a book.  

Little Free Library organization’s mission is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide, to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations, and to build more than 2,510 libraries around the world - more than Andrew Carnegie--and then more. More information about this movement, including FAQs and building plans and instructions, can be found at littlefreelibrary.org and I think it would be nice to have a couple of Little Free Libraries on Andros Island and here in St. Marys. 

Wood Storks

Wood Storks are the only storks that breed in the U.S. They are large wading birds and they have long beaks, like pelicans, without the pouches, that they can close very quickly around the fish they trap to eat. They use their long beaks to make clacking noises too. They have bare naked heads like vultures and long legs like many other wading birds. While wading, or perching wood storks look ungainly, but they are quite distinctive and beautiful in flight with their necks out stretched, large black and white wingspan, and legs extended behind them. They live and breed in colonies with several pairs building stick nests in wet land area trees. The young wood storks are not precocial like killdeer or chickens but altricial, unable to find food or hide from predators shortly after hatching, so both parents care and feed them until they fledge and can find their own food. A large colony of wood storks have decided that the trees in the African animal exhibit area at the Jacksonville Zoo is the ideal place for a rookery but my favorite wood stork rookery is at Etowah Park where Kings Bay Naval Submarine base meets Crooked River State Park.

Scarfing All the Way

I received a lovely Christmas gift from my husband this year. I ruffled scarf, not meant to keep me warm, but a very nice accessory. He did have an odd look on his face just before he gave it to me because I was actually crocheting one just like it when he got home for the holiday. He said, “I didn't know you were crocheting that kind of scarf,” and then he pulled it out of his backpack. I loved it because it had all the shades of my favorite color, and I told him so. I had several skeins of yarn but none in the color he brought home and I was planning to turn them into Christmas gifts. I had just learned how to make the scarves and besides making great gifts, I figured crocheting would keep my hands busy and keep me from eating so much over the holidays. Crocheting could help me get a jump on my usual (eat less-exercise more) New Year’s Resolution and I’d make some very cool scarves all at the same time.

Then the best laid plans (mine at least) took a turn off the hook, crochet hook to be exact. I let my daughter wear my first scarf to work and told her as a last minute gift item she could sell it for $10. She came home with orders for 6 more. My husband and I were traveling to St. Pete the next day to visit his brother and I figured I could use the drive time on the way south in the daylight to crochet and read my Kindle on the way back since it would be too dark to crochet and now the pressure was on to do just that. I crocheted 4 scarves (one per hour) on the trip and when I got home I called the friend who taught me how to make the scarves and she was kind enough to let me sell 2 of hers for $10 each too. Then the race was on to finish the Christmas gifts.

Yes it is 2 days after Christmas and I am finally finished making the gift scarves. The story doesn't end there though. I have now got my sister and two granddaughters crocheting the scarves along with me and each scarf is uniquely colorful, fashionable, and beautiful…and yes, a bargain at only $10. (My oldest granddaughter is saving up for a car.) So let me know if you’re interested in purchasing one! That’s a wrap!

Obstreperous

Obstreperous is a word I read used to describe someone like Donald Trump.  I think many a divorced husband or unhappily dumped boyfriend might use it to describe their exes also. Obstreperous is defined as marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness and/or stubborn resistance to control. The only thing controllable for the Don seems to be his bad comb over. Money and business savvy aside, I think obstreperousness is an ingrained personality trait in Trump’s case as is evidenced by his political nonsense this election year. Some other obstreperous types may feel free to disagree with me and that’s okay because as far as thinking Trump’s behavior is obstreperous, well that’s just my opinion.

But closer to home, in my own backyard actually, there are some obstreperous goings on occurring daily. As soon as any movement, however quiet or slight, in the house is detected by my cat, Sherbie, he goes to caterwauling (a word according to the dictionary as synonymous with obstreperous) at the door demanding his breakfast. I believe with all his obstreperousness that the word caterwauling may have even been invented just to describe my Sherb! He stubbornly persists until a scoop of cat food appears in his dish outside the door. Then when the sun comes up my hens (no rooster in my flock) also come obstreperously to my door complaining with a worried drawn out chicken, “Ohhhh.” The funny thing about this is it seems like when one girl stops another takes up the call so it’s continuous (and obstreperous) until I come out and throw some scratch around. It’s the most noise they make (with the exception of announcing when they lay an egg) all day. Makes the start of each day for me, well, pretty obstreperous!