Sorry for the Interruption...

Even though I love the new colors on the blog (and header), it still feels not right, so I will be tweaking things. Sorry for the mess. I promise it will be in order soon.

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Green Turtle Friends

I need your help, blogosphere! In this picture, taken a few days ago by the hubs, there is a beautiful green turtle with some friends following him. I know the picture is a bit blue, but the fish were very yellow and my Peterson field guide
is in Florida. Do any of you know what this fish is?

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Turtle Nesting

This is one of my favorite beaches in St. Thomas and has been the setting for many of my past Floyd posts. Its location is kind of a secret and you are usually one of about three people on the beach.

It is even a bit more remarkable in that it is one of the few places where leatherback turtles nest. This beach is very important for their survival. Unfortunately, many people have started building beach shacks and use the area for ATVs. This puts the turtle nests in danger. All it takes is one bonfire in the wrong spot or one careless driver driving over one nest to destroy what the turtles have worked so hard to accomplish. The worst of it is there are signs posted warning beach goers of these very activities and explaining about the turtle nests.

I guess the purpose of this post is to serve as a lesson. Please pay attention to posted signs, not just on a beach, but on any nature outing. Be respectful of your surroundings and don't destroy the beauty that is there to enjoy... you may be doing more damage than you realize.

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The Acacia

Okay, so my post title is vague. Besides a slew of restaurants having this name (including one here in St. Thomas), it is also the genus to a group of plants that covers five different phyla! It's also a common name for tons of different plants, adding to the confusion even more. To attempt simplification, the genus has been split into five genera, but still.

Here on island, people call all sorts of things Acacia (pronounced CASH-ah, locally). Acacia gets its name from the Greek word akis, meaning sharp point. Many of the plants here catch you. This is an acacia of some sort to the right that I am unknowingly riding into. Good shot, Nick! I got a face full of thorns.

So what is the point of all this? Well, in Kenya, they have found a use for one of the native varieties. Faidherbia albida is said to be able to nourish the depleted soils on farms due to the high levels of organic nitrogen the plants leech into the soil. Apparently it is something that has been well studied. Half a million farmers in Tanzania began using the trees for various crops. Maize grown in the canopy of these trees had a 280% increase in yield. That is monumental! It even increased the yields of sorghum, millet, cotton and more. This could greatly affect how much food is grown and really aid in the quality of life for people everywhere.

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Migraines

For the past two days I have had a bad headache. It actually started between my shoulder blades and crept its way up on to (yes it feels "on") my head while I was sleeping. I don't really know what causes them. Everyone has different warning signs for getting one. Since it shows no sign of letting up, I felt it was an appropriate time to write about migraines. Please remember, I am not a physician and this is just a post about what causes them and is not intended to diagnose or aid in treatment. Please seek advice from a professional. (WOW, that is a lot of legal jargon!)

Now, since my headache started between my shoulders, it is very easy to assume it is a tension headache. Besides, at first, I am pretty sure that is what all of my migraines start as. However, by the end of the day, I have full-blown migraine like symptoms. WebMD includes the following as a list of symptoms:

• Moderate to severe pain (often described as pounding, throbbing pain) that can affect whole head, or can shift from one side of the head to the other
  
• Sensitivity to light, noise or odors
• Blurred vision
• Nausea or vomiting, stomach upset, abdominal pain
• Loss of appetite
• Sensations of being very warm or cold
• Paleness
• Fatigue
• Bright flashing dots or lights, blind spots, wavy or jagged lines (aura)

and a few more...

So what causes these things? Well, at the root of it, it appears to be hereditary. Four of five migraine sufferers had family members who also suffered from attacks. Mom, do you get real migraines?

Besides this, there are also certain triggers for certain people. I have enough to worry about avoiding my triggers for bipolar disorder, so I don't know if I have any. Regular exercise, eating healthy, and relaxation techniques can help with this. Believe it or not, taking medications for your headache may result in a rebound headache. Lucky for me, I hate pills.

Some of the foods that cause migraines, I hate to say, are some of my favorites. However, I will have you know that I haven't eaten anything on this list the past week.

• Red wine
• Some alcoholic beverages
• Old/aged cheese
• Processed meats
• Nitrates and nitrites in processed foods (what gives ham its pink color)

Can you believe after all of this, I still haven't found the source. What is it that happens in your head that causes this pain? I even found out that 70% of all migraine sufferers are female and 60% of those women get them before menstruation. I am a woman but am not pre-menstruation so I am at a loss. What is it? I still don't know the secret "what." I have triggers, symptoms, histories, statistics, but no answer? Do you know?

If you want to find out more, check the links above or visit WebMD's migraine and headache page.

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A Lemur Downfall

Climbing lemur
Originally uploaded by Tambako the Jaguar

Conservation International released photos earlier today showing the horrors of a lemur hunt. Please take heed, the photos are brutal. Since a coup that occurred earlier in the year, the very thing that draws visitors and money has been decimated. From the illegal destruction of the islands hardwood forests to the current mass poaching of the very animals that people go to Madagascar to see. All of this has lead to a drastic decline of ecotourism and a horrid decline on the ecology of this amazing place.

Earlier in the year, I mentioned amazing frog fossils that were found there, but it is more than that. it's estimated that 85%-90% of all wildlife in Madagascar is found no where else on earth! It is a veritable garden of Eden. Unfortunately, due to human interference, the island has lost about one-third its native vegetation since the 1970's. This latest catastrophe does not help.The poaching is done by groups of criminal gangs that are selling the meat to "luxury" restaurants.

The president of Conservation International, Dr. Russ Mittermeier, had the following to say:

What is happening to the biodiversity of Madagascar is truly appalling, and the slaughter for these delightful, gentle, and unique animals is simply unacceptable. And it is not for subsistence, but rather to serve what is certainly a “luxury” market in restaurants of larger towns in the region. More than anything else, these poachers are killing the goose that laid the golden egg, wiping out the very animals that people most want to see, and undercutting the country and especially local communities by robbing them of future ecotourism revenue.

In the last week Madagascar has taken important steps towards resolving its political crisis and move towards the restoration of democracy. It is counterproductive of the international donor community to continue denying conservation and development funding because this only encourages poor governance of the country’s natural resources. The world community must act now to support the dedicated local wildlife authorities who are battling to prevent this globally important resource from being destroyed.

Hopefully, there is some way we can save these creatures before it's too late.


Photo licensed under Creative Commons. Climbing lemur Originally uploaded by Tambako the Jaguar on Flickr.

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Drug Money

I've got my eye one you. Yeah YOU! I know your money's history. Cocaine. Yeah. You can't fool me. I have proof. In fact, 90% of banknotes in the good ol' US of A have cocaine. Sound unlikely? Well, it's not. In fact, 95% of the money in the capitol is laced. You want low levels of cocaine on your money? Well, then move to Salt Lake City. It had the lowest levels of cocaine contamination of any big city studied.

A study done by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth presented the findings at the 238th meeting of the American Chemical Society. In the study, they samples and analyzed banknotes from China, Japan, Canada, and Brazil as well. Everyone had lower rates of contamination than we did. We win again! Sorry. That was a bad joke.

Still, they didn't study TOO many bank notes. Who knows where they got the money anyway? Only 234 banknotes were tested. That is a large sample size if you are doing a different kind of study, but money is everywhere. It seems an awful small sample.

Oh, and NO, this does not mean your money is going to make you fail a drug test. The levels are to low to affect your blood stream. You can't get high from the money. But now you know... you and your filthy drug money!

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Hurricane Bill

Yes, it's official: Bill is a hurricane now. He reached sustained winds of 75mph (120 km/hr) making him a category one by the Saffir-Simpson scale. He is the first hurricane of the season. You can see in the photo above that Ana is piddly and mostly just rain now. Very cloudy and cool today.

Bill is moving faster WNW at about 22 mph (35 km/hr). I don't get any more information on this guy until the next advisory comes out of the National Hurricane Center at 11 am. That is all. More updates to come on this very busy week!

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So Long, Ana!

So dear Ana is now a depression. Good for us, yet bad for us. She is leaving a lot of moisture for Bill to pick up. A Claudette was named, but not the fearful wave off the coast of Africa, like I thought. That wave is still there and has a serious low pressure center already. Can you say, yikes? We evaded the first storm and are going to get a bit of rain the next few days, but the worst may or may not be yet to come. Don't you love the unpredictability of nature? I do! Keeps us meddling humans on our toes! We're still due to have some pretty strong gusts through here. Bill, hopefully, will continue on it's track and pass north of us. He is still a few days away but I will definitely keep you guys updated.

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Tropical Weather Update

It was pretty quiet evening after all. Ana is moving west at about 20 miles per hour and we (the leeward islands) are in Tropical Storm Watch mode until further notice. She has sustained winds of 40 miles per hour. Bill is moving west at 15 miles per hour. His winds are stronger at 45 miles per hour. He will continue to strengthen as Ana leaves moisture behind. TD depression 4 is moving in to the Florida panhandle. There is a tropical wave off west Africa looking nice enough to be a storm system soon.

I will update regularly so keep checking back!

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It's That Time of Year Again...

Even though it officially started in June, the Sahara dust that has been ruining my view dried the air over the Atlantic considerably so I didn't have to think about it until now. What didn't I have to think about? Hurricane season, of course! Last year, we here at Potspoon! had a blast when an unexpected Omar made a wrong turn and came backwards towards us. It pretty much means that you can get all the updates on tropical systems here since we are now officially glued to the computer.

Tropical Storm Ana is supposed to hit Monday (but I am pretty sure she will miss). Bill is said to be a decent hurricane by Thursday and we are in his projected path. To top it off, there is a beautiful wave pushing off the west coast of Africa that I am pretty sure will be Claudette in a day or so. If she does form and continue east, that will mean 3 storms passing by in one week!

While the hubs and I don't worry too much, it does make for great posts and give us yet another reason to remind people to check their emergency preparedness kits. There are plenty of websites that have amazing lists so I won't go into it now: just please be prepared. Even if you don't live in a hurricane zone, there are any number of emergencies you may need to be ready for. Flash flooding, blizzards (hey, I do have readers in the southern hemisphere!), tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes and many more things can happen when you least expect it. It is always better to be safe.

I, on the other hand, will cuddle on the couch with Floyd, secure in my solid poured concrete bunker of a home, and cook myself dinner on my gas stove by candle light. I use candles a lot. Sometimes, the power company is hokier than the weather!

Keep checking back for your tropical weather updates!

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Island Ecology: St. Christopher and Nevis

Ah, I'm back and the trip was delicious.

To prepare you for some of the oodles of info in future posts, I am going to give you a teensy bit of background info on the history, land, and ecology of St. Kitts and Nevis. Don't be scared. I promise it will only take a second. I gotta leave some of it for future posts!

The island of St. Kitts was originally named Liamuiga by the Kalingo peoples that inhabited the island before the colonization of the West Indies. Liamuiga is now the name of the tallest volcano on the island. It stands at 3,792 feet (1,156 m). There are four volcanic peaks on the island but none have been "active" since the late 1600's or possibly one in the mid 1800's, but these reports have been unverified.

Liamuiga literally translates to "fertile land," which St. Kitts definitely is. The peak was originally referred to as Mount Misery. The peak was renamed in 1983 after St. Kitts gained independence as an homage to the islands original inhabitants. Because of all the volcanic soil, St. Kitts used to be an agriculture island. There is still evidence of this in fenced off fields that now lay fallow with overgrown sugarcane. About 15 years ago, however, St. Christoper and Nevis decided to focus on an economy based on tourism. I refer to this as "Making a Deal with the Devil 101." Ridiculously, even though St. Kitts was one of the largest sugar producers until just over a decade ago, it now imports its sugar.

The island is dotted with a multitude of ruins from the plantation days of sugar and other crops. Crumbling mills are found in people's backyards, on the side of the road, in school yards, and on hill sides throughout the island. Makes the few we have in the Virgin Islands seem piddly in comparison. The land is very windswept and dry on the eastern side as intense trade winds from across the Atlantic blow constantly. The sides of the volcanoes are covered in dense tropical rain forest. The tops of the volcanoes are virtually always covered in cloud and do contain cloud forest.

All of this, combined with lack of any natural predators made this a perfect home for the imported Vervet monkeys on island. I only saw one species of Anolis lizard while I was there and a few species of birds and butterflies. There are also salt post with their own plethora of wild life, albeit mostly tiny!

I hope this gets you all acquainted and salivating for more information!

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Western Adventure: Part 3

Click to Play

In this final installment of my Western Adventure trilogy, we're in East Rosebud Canyon in Montana. Enjoy!

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A Post About a Video

I know, I know... go ahead and faint. I almost did. Can you believe, after a year (I'm so lazy), I FINALLY finished Western Adventure Part 3? It is taking forever to upload. Really. But I did it. It's finished. I promise you will have it by tomorrow (crosses fingers and does sign to ward off bad wuju). You can go watch Part 1. It's WAYYY better than Part 2.

At least Part 3 will give you something to pick apart while I'm on my amazing vacation to St. Kitts. Oh, you didn't know I was going to St. Kitts? I'm really excited. I'm sure it may be another year before I finish off this vacations videos as well, but hey, you keep coming back, don't ya? Yay, wilderness videos!

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