Poe Springs the Wild Florida You Should See

We have been meaning to go to Poe Springs all summer, but finally got there yesterday. Poe Springs, is located just across the Alachua County line, as you leave Gilchrist County, in High Springs. It is a very rural, and rustic spring. There are Park Rangers, and workers on staff. So, it isn't like you are just in the boonies with the wild all by yourself. There are no lifeguards however, so you have to be cognizant of that. Poe Springs is a natural spring, off the Santa Fe River. There are several springs right in this same stretch of river. The park is a county owned park, with gazebos, playground, tennis, hiking, swimming, and lots of extra picnic tables. The springs are down the boardwalk, a little walk from the play area. Keep that in mind if you decide to visit. We saw lots of turtles in the springs. DJ got a picture of one good sized one. The kids saw a gator in the river, but they don't come in the springs. They are pretty much always there. A snake passed by too, which kind of freaked me out, but he didn't want anything to do with us. Next week, we are visiting Blue Springs, just up the road from Poe. There are two Blue Springs. One in Levy County, which is not as nice, and one in Gilchrist County, that is beautiful. Stay tuned for pics from there next week. Public schools start back to school on Monday, but we have three more weeks off. Oh yeah!

Digging For Fossils at Alfred A Ring Park

On Friday our Earth Kids group went digging for fossils at Alfred A Ring Park in Gainesville. The kids of course love all the field trips we get to do, but this one was especially neat. Florida used to not be a land mass, it was under the ocean. Then millions of years ago, when whatever happened, happened, Florida rose out of the ocean to become a peninsula. All the sea creatures that had died and been buried at sea, now can be found by digging for them in several fossil digging areas in Florida. There are very strict rules for digging for fossils. The most important being if it is state owned water, you can not keep vertebrates other than shark teeth, and you can not keep human artifacts such as pottery or flints. Hogtown Creek is not state owned water, so we didn't have to worry about that. We did not find an plant fossils, at least I didn't. The kids were mostly seeking shark teeth so they might have put them back. I found lots of shells, and one big shark tooth. I found a ton of manta ray teeth or jaw bone, since they don't really have teeth. I had one jaw bone that fell apart before I got it home or got a picture of it. I found some really neat rocks as well. The two that I liked the most, was a white one with blue specks, kind of looks like Medusa Quartz if anyone is familiar with that, and the other was mostly blue with tiny white specks on it. Alfred A Park is a lovely little park, with picnic area, small playground, clean bathroom facilities and hiking trails. I believe we will be going back just to hike in the near future. I have other pics, but on the other computer. This was a most enjoyable field trip, and the weather was perfect. We have collected shells from other trips as well.  When we get enough and the time we will be doing various crafts with them, including wind chimes and jewelry.

Angler Fish Upcycled Bird Feeder and Sandwiches

So, we made the bird feeders using recycled milk jugs. We were supposed to do four but one jug got forgotten at home. If you don't know what an Angler Fish looks like, they are a hideous scary fish that live in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean. They have a lure on the top of their head that glows to attract prey. So we took milk jugs, cleaned and dried them of course, and cut a really big mouth opening. Angler Fish have large appearing mouths with long sharp teeth. Since we wanted birds, or squirrels to come and eat from the feeder we opted to leave off the long spiky teeth. We did cut the top of the mouth with scissors in strips and colored them in black to appear to be sharp teeth. They spray painted the jugs with yellow or green spray paint. Then after they dried, they added googly eyes, the lure which is just a pipe cleaner and a puff ball glued to the end of it. The lure is held in place by cutting a small slit in the back of the jug sticking in the pipe cleaner and then bending it over to hold it in place. DJ added a goatee to his, but since he was in the shade you can't really see his very well. I forgot the worksheets I had printed out, but thankfully DJ is well aware of the Angler Fish and was able to lead the class without them. Due to the holiday in November, our next meeting is in two weeks, and we will be going on a fossil hunt. There are very specific rules for this, and I will share them in a future post.  Oh I almost forgot the sandwiches.  I used a biscuit cutter to make them round, added the chicken salad, then made the lure with a pepper and olive.  An olive makes the eye.  I tried to use shredded cheese to make teeth but it was the fine shredded rather than the thicker shredded cheese so it wouldn't work.

Terrific Thursday: Have You Been To San Diego Backroadsd?

Todays Terrific Thursday, is another of my favorite blogs. I visit this blog every day, and am never disappointed with what I find. San Diego Backroads, is a blog about places to hike, and visit in San Diego. If you love scenery pictures, that will knock your socks off, this blog is for you. Matter of fact the authors pictures are so good, she really doesnt need to add words. If you like to learn about places to visit, hike, or just about the history and beauty of someplace, San Diego Backroads is the place to visit. To check out this great blog go to http://sandiegobackroads.today.com/ Have a great day, everyone.