Happy Warm Weather Everyone!

Hey there again everybody!  Sorry I'm a little behind with your favorite blog (yes I know, modesty becomes me) ;-) but it's been all kinds of crazy over here at Lake Brandt getting the bus ready for hitting the town.  And the past few weeks, we hit it hard! 

On Wednesday, April 9th Neil and I were at the Water Festival at Lake Townsend.  We had a spot under one of the picnic shelters and Neil got to teach lessons on the water cycle with his very cool Enviro-Scape.  The kids were definitely into it and learning alot, and I was just trying not to steal his "dirt" from the model...since his "dirt" was actually powdered cocoa.  :)  If it were Nestle Quik, he'd have had no chance!  Mwah ha ha... 

 

After Neil was done with his talk I would teach the kids about some of the animals in and around aquatic environments.  I brought Delia, my favorite snapping turtle of course, plus an Eastern Kingsnake and a Red-Ear Slider (she's good because we can talk about aquatic turtles AND invasive species!)  :)

The day after that Neil, Jen and I took the bus to St. Pius X and had a great time with the awesome kids there!  We rotated through over each hour so the kids got to see the bus with Neil, play ecology games in the field with Jen and have a class with me about animals and ecosystems.  We did that a bunch of times so that we could see as many kids as possible.

And then there was Saturday (April 12th) ...the BIG day.  Neil and I took the bus to Burlington for the Herp Fest.  A big celebration of all things reptile and amphibian at Burlington City park.  We set up right in the middle and were there the whole day talking about the bus and our great new Environmental Education program...and of course the animals!  I will tell you, a few hours with ~30 lbs of boa constrictor on your shoulders might give you a slight crick in the neck (not to mention telescoping your spine a bit!).  But it was worth it!  Austin had a great time and so did all the animals and people who came to visit. 



Emily got to have fun, AND make sure Cookie behaved himself! :-)

Another great point by the way, we were lucky enough to have our future intern Emily G come out to lend a hand and she really added something to our presence that day.  She was great with the kids, helped Neil and I out in setting up, and even kept Cookie in line (which is no easy task!).  I'll do a post about Cookie some other time...suffice it to say he's a cantankerous, I mean, spirited Amazon parrot :-) All in all, it was an absolutely great day!



On Sunday (4/13) there was a new team-up.  Taylor and I took the bus downtown to a Plant Sale at the local Farmer's Market.  It was a very nice venue, and I did my best to behave myself and not go buy a bunch of plants.  Taylor and I got there in the morning and set up and were able to have some fun and interact with a bunch of people who came onto the bus during their visit to the sale.  It was very cool to see many of the local vendors and talk to them about what they do.  I even got to talk to a very nice gentleman who not only is a beekeeper, but does some very fine woodworking in his spare time.  I bought a jar of his raw, wildflower honey and must say...it's Awesome!  :-D 

Whew!  Okay, just writing about all of that makes me tired  - doing it wore me out!  Thank goodness for caffeine.  Now that you're mostly caught up, I hope all of you guys have a stupendous week and I'll talk to you soon!  The next big thing... April 26th.  We're going to have Paddlefest at Lake Brandt  (which is going to be amazing).  Just click on the link for more info or you can call the Lake Brandt office at (336) 373- 3741.  Enjoy the nice weather and we'll see you soon!