Two Tails Ranch

[taken in part from a friend's blog]

15 miles south of Gainesville in Williston is a large animal rescue/sanctuary, the Two Tails Ranch. We went there this week with our home school group to see elephants, zebras, giant tortoises, tigers, ostriches and more.

It turns out that the reason she was “dancing” is because elephants are so heavy, they have to stay in constant movement or their organs will become crushed under their own weight. This is also why they sleep standing up; lying down for more than 20-30 minutes causes fluid to build up in their lungs. Amazing.

The elephants at Two Tails are all Asian elephants, distinguished from their African cousins by smaller ears, lighter skin, no tusks for the females, two domes on the head instead of one, and a difference in toe count. The lighter skin pigment includes freckles, as see on this female’s face:


The information given was rather sobering. Unless current bans on importing elephants to the US are lifted and intensive breeding programs are implemented, these endangered animals will likely be extinct in the next 75-100 years. They require enormous amounts of land in order to thrive, as they are destructive of their habitats and must migrate often. Unfortunately, current preserves are insufficient, and elephants in Asia are being culled as nuisance animals in areas heavily populated by humans. Their shrinking habitat has also caused insufficient genetic diversity among potential mates for healthy offspring. Add to this the fact that elephants are actually choosy about their mates, and the birth rate is drastically insufficient to keep up with the death rate.

Luke, a beautiful male, did a log-manipulation demonstration for us. He also lay down for the trainer, which she said requires absolute trust, as that is the elephant’s most vulnerable position, since they can’t get up quickly.


This emu is about 4 months old, half the size of an adult. A handler picked it up and let the kids pet the feathers on his back.


The sanctuary also had several zebras. We learned that predators see mostly in black and white, so the zebras’ stripes make it hard for the predators to distinguish individual animals in a herd, which discourages attack. The zebras were fearless and came right up to our group to check us out:

Habitats at Morningside Nature Center

[taken in part from a friend's blog]


Our group took a lovely field trip this week to Morningside Nature Center. They’ve been doing programs for both public and home schooled children for years, and it shows. Their presentation was well-organized, engaging, and really reached the kids.

The title was “Animal Homes.” There was a brief discussion of animals’ physical adaptations which give them advantages in their environments (complete with skeletons and taxidermy for illustration), then the focus moved to habitats. The kids learned that the 4 necessary components of any habitat are: food, water, shelter, and space. Then the fun part began.


Each student was given a small plastic animal and a laminated sheet with information about it. Then, with the presenter’s guidance, they built a habitat for the animals in a big wading pool filled with sand that included all the necessary elements. The presenter talked them through the food chain and how it influenced the spacing and placement of different species. One of the children was feeling contrary and refused to place his frog in the habitat, but instead of derailing the lesson, the presenter used the frog’s absence to demonstrate how the entire ecosystem could be disrupted by the destruction of one species. It was really quite ingenious.

Then she used a toy bulldozer to level some trees and build a “house” by the lake, and she talked about all the various ways that humans dwelling in that particular spot were likely to cause damage. She guided the kids through ways that humans could more thoughtfully establish their own habitat within the system to minimize environmental impact, and the kids really got into it. It warmed my heart, I have to say.

Then we went on a nature walk. It was quite cold, so we didn’t see any animals, but our guide pointed out many signs showing where they’d been.

Learning about Bats

The Lubee Bat Conservancy is about 10 miles north of Gainesville, not too far from our own dwelling. The Conservancy’s focus is on plant-visiting “fruit and nectar” bats, which include the giant flying foxes with wingspans up to to six feet. They are absolutely gorgeous.


We learned that most fruit-and-nectar bats are “macro-bats,” while most insectivorous bats are “micro-bats.” While the micro-bats have the large ears and tiny bodies that allow them to hear their prey and swiftly chase it, macro-bats have relatively small ears, but large eyes and noses to help them find their food.

The Buzz about Bees

We attended a presentation on honey bees at the Museum of Natural History. They all enjoyed the program. The learned about the different classes of bee (queen, worker, drone, etc.), the fact that bees can be promoted from one job to another, and what different “dance moves” mean in communicating the location of food. Apparently there was a movie and honey samples, so it must have been good.

Not Back to School Potluck

Today, along with six other homeschooling families, we celebrated not going back to school. A potluck gathering meant lots of fun and socializing to be had, for kids, moms and dads alike! Among this setting, there were groups forming to act out the Boxcar Children, a children's army, petting and caring for the goats, dress-up, water play, trains, LEGOs, and archery.



It was really a great way to continue our summer past the arbitrary school calendar cut-off. It was a hard transition to leave for pretty much everyone. Luckily, we'll see almost everyone again tomorrow (most dads will be back to work, and miss our fun trip to the owl sanctuary!).

Carousel Horses

Went to library and learned about the miniature (under 27" tall) therapy horses. Heard about a ton of books about horses, but P wasn't interested in checking any out. Instead, we checked out Star Wars and other books.

Civil Action for Love

There was a peaceful gathering on Wednesday, starting at 6:45 pm, expressing love for ALL of our neighbors in front of the "Dove World Outreach Center". It was a good gathering -- between 70 and 100 people on the street in front of the church. Noone seemed to show for their 7 PM service, though it is summer, and things often change then. A nice gathering of many faiths all talking love. :)

http://www.wcjb.com/news/4288/hateful-sign-causes-neighborhood-uproar

Blue Springs exploriation

We enjoyed exploring the spring-fed "watering hole", looking for snails, watching the fish swim past, feeling the cool water.

http://www.bluespringspark.com/

Circle Camp Finale

After two weeks of our peace talk-themed summer camp, the kids put on an amazing performance complete with drumming, dancing, singing, and skits. Lots was learned in terms of talking with others compassionately and getting to feelings and needs instead of blame and hurt.

Ft. Clinch Camping

Enjoyed group camping for first time. Explored Ft. Clinch park. Cold water!!

Maypole

For K's BD, we researched a traditional maypole design and looked at examples in P's medieval knight and castle books. Cut and sewed together ribbons and tied them to a hoop around our sycamore tree, which the kids used to do several different rotations and styles of circling the tree.

Maslenitsa

The family attended Maslenitsa, a traditional Russian celebration of spring, hosted by the Russian studies program at the University of Florida. The children got to watch traditional dancing, singing and dancing.

Horses and Butterflies

P and K visited the Mill Creek Horse Retirement Farm and Butterfly Museum today with Aunt Shelli.

Inauguration Potluck

Today was an exciting day -- we joined with people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and socio-economical position to watch the Presidential Inauguration. P was very excited, and listened to the conversations about this being an important event in many respects, not the least of which was the election of our first African-American president.

Following the live broadcast, P and K helped break down the decorations and clean up the large areas that were used for both the potluck lunch beforehand and the broadcast afterwards. They also engaged in conversation with some of the attendees about the event.

There is a FIRE in the house!!

We received vocal smoke detectors for our house to replace the traditional ones. With P & K's help, we recorded an emergency message that is meant to wake them up (studies show that sleeping children do not wake to standard fire alarms but do to ones that have a familiar voice). As there isn't much time on the recording to speak, we ended with: "P**!! K**!! There's a fire in the house!!"

They still remember the rest of the message that we wanted to use: "Touch the door: if it's hot -- stay; if it's cold, crawl!" We discussed that a hot door means that there is a fire right outside the door and they shouldn't open it. Because their windows are hard to open, they need to stay put near the window and try and open it, otherwise they would need to wait for help. However, if the door is cold, they can open it, but need to crawl along the floor to safety (the front door) to stay out of the smoke.

Christmas Carol Pageant

P took part in a production of the Christmas Carol at fellowship. He also sung with the Shalom Chorus before and after the play.

In the afternoon, P and K watched animations on how CD players worked. We looked a record album and discussed how the laser replaced the needle for reading grooves. We also talked about how DVDs and CDs differ from VHS tapes.

Winterfest 2008

Grand Kitten Re-naming

We finally brought our kittens home (Magic was a hestitant weaner -- will fit in great here!), and the kids renamed them.

Introducing: MAGIC EARTHMEN!!!


Introducing: PRINCESS NIGHT!!!

Shalom Chorus

P and K have decided to join the Shalom Chorus at the UU Fellowship. They practice weekly for about 30 minutes and perform about once every 6 weeks.

P is really enjoying it, and has shown great concern over his ability, including going up and talking to Ms. Ruth about not being able to match pitch exactly.

K feels shy, but loves being up on stage. We'll see how it goes for her.

July 10th

P drew a tree after observing another child drawing the same subject.