Boston Daydreams

I recently had a chance to visit some old stomping grounds and my family in Boston, MA!  It was a fantastic visit and made me long for green grass, dandelions, humidity, sea water, trees, public transportation and more!

We departed extremely early from El Paso, because we did not want to waste the day away just traveling.  So upon arrival at Logan airport, we set out on the trains and buses to navigate our way to Watertown where my brother, sister in law and two kids lived.  I say lived because they are making a big move to Dallas and by the time this blog goes up, they will no longer reside on the east coast.  So it was our last chance to visit Boston with them!  I however still have family in Connecticut, where I grew up and hope to visit them soon as well!

I felt like a tourist all over again, trying to figure out the train and bus routes and payment info.  We stopped downtown to grab a quick bite to eat before continuing on.  All in all we took 2 planes, 3 trains and 1 bus! 

Hot dog and a lime rickey!  yes please.

Lucha Libre himself!

Beautiful path.  This led us to a fun park, the public library and a cute lunch spot!

David spent a lot of time teaching Anis how to climb trees.

The newest addition Issam.

UP!

I love and miss treeees!

My brother and his family from Connecticut came up to go with us to the Franklin Park Zoo.  This was where I interned right after my bachelors and then was a keeper for a bit.  I had a great experience as an intern and have vivid memories of working with the eider ducks, joey (baby kangaroo), anaconda and burmese python, birds birds birds and lots of great people (Anne, Jenna, Johnathon, Jake, Michelle and Hulia to name a few)!  I also have great memories from the intern classes we took each week and hope to bring some of those ideas into my workshops at the El Paso Zoo.  I have grown so much since I was an intern.  I remember interviewing and really not knowing much of anything!  Being an intern started my journey and my attitude to constantly be learning and questioning the world around me, which led to me going back to school for a masters degree in biology (wildlife).  Now, I have returned to the zoo world!

Let me tell you how impressed I am with little Jalloul.  He is pictured above and below.  While visiting the zoo we passed by a graphic of our local birds in the area.  He was able to identify chickadee, blue jay, cardinal, woodpecker and many more!  Most adults can not do that!

They loved the silly rides.

Chillin with the tigers.

If you go to Boston, there are few stops you must make.  Mike's Pastry shop is one of them.  The place is always packed and is nestled in the North End which is home to fantastic Italian restaurants.

While exploring some of downtown Boston, we noticed several Hubway areas.  Hubway is a unique way to rent a bike to get to work, get some lunch or tour the city!  Locations are set up all around the city to pick up and drop off the bikes.  Lots of people were utilizing this green service!

El Paso is trying to set up a rent a bike system for downtown as well so people don't have to use their cars for the short trips around downtown.  I am all for it!  But really, our downtown area is small enough that we should easily be able to walk from place to place in less than 5 blocks.  But the bikes would help to create a more bike and exercise friendly mind set.

One of the biggest differences of visiting Boston, is the amount of people out exercising, walking, enjoying parks, and using public transportation.  It is a culture of activity.  El Paso offers many outdoor activities and sunny weather to enjoy it, but I am still shocked at how many people have yet to visit the Franklin Mountains, the largest urban park in the country.  That's right, it is only about 20 minutes from downtown!   But while living here, I have not held up my end of the bargain either.  I vowed to ride my bike to work at least once a week.  This year, I have not rode my bike to work very often and I have not taken the bus much either.  The simple reason is time.  It takes a little over an hour on the bus or on my bike and about 15 minutes in my car.   Time is just another excuse.  Visiting Boston has sparked my ambition again and I hope to be back on the bike soon!  The traffic here is not as bad as in Boston but maybe the cars there are a bit more aware of bikes? 

Need motivation to ride your bike?  Read this article from Grist entitled, "Get your ass on that bike!" in honor of National Bike Month! 

I am so excited about a school I have been working with that is going to take public transportation for their field trip!  I love it and wish more schools took a chance and used public transportation!

Rent your Hubway bike!

Water taxi!  Call and they come and pick you up!

The crazy fam.

 Just enjoying the city!

Basically how we felt having to say goodbye. :(

It was awesome to visit family from Boston and Connecticut.  I am excited that some of them will be moving to Dallas.  I hope to get to them a lot More often! 

UNTIL NEXT TIME BOSTON!

I will be dreaming of seafood...

Clam chowda in a sourdough bread bowl and calamari. :)

Boston daydreams.

Party for the Planet!

Earth Day was this past weekend and we had a great event at the El Paso Zoo to celebrate wildlife and the environment and to challenge people to make a difference! 

If you know me at all, you know I love my Earth.  Yup, it's mine.  Everyone should feel like the Earth belongs to them and say, "yes, it is my world and I should take care of it!"  This past weekend was a chance to spread that Earthy enthusiasm to others. 

Throughout the zoo there were activities, educational stations, partner organization booths and party music!  My area was appropriately titled "Dig in the Dirt" and was a chance for kids to get dirty.  Kids had to dig through three kiddie pools filled with dirt to find five plastic bugs each to win a prize of edible dirt!  I was a bit apprehensive that people wouldn't want to eat the dirt but boy was I wrong.  We made about 160 edible dirt cups and quickly gave them all out to eager kids with their dug up bugs and dirty hands.  The next day we moved on to a prize of an edible worm (sour gummy style) which was just as big of a hit.

My banner - all about how our soil is an important ecosystem service that goes unnoticed.

Throughout the zoo, people had the chance to learn all about how our environment silently gives back to us.  "Ecosystem Services are the processes by which the environment produces resources that we often take for granted such as clean water, timber, and habitat for fisheries, and pollination of native and agricultural plants."  In El Paso, and around the world, these ecosystem services are being taken for granted as we plow through open wildlife habitat to make roads wider, build bigger houses and much more. 

Edible dirt!  and yup cups are recyclable.

Although I didn't have much time to really "teach" about soil and its importance to our world, I was extremely happy to let kids get their hands dirty, sometimes at the sadness of their parents.  I loved the transformation of the "we have to do what" attitude to being aggressive to find more and more bugs with no fear.

Digging for bugs and getting their hands dirty!

Inside the classroom people had an opportunity to create a pledge of their commitment to make a difference in their everyday life to help out wildlife and the environment.  At first I thought we may get a few people to do it, but volunteers were awesome and we inspired lots of people to make a pledge!  They were also able to view the zoo staff and volunteers making their pledge on the TV in the room.  Click here to view the video that includes our zoo director, education curator and of course yours truly, pledging to make a difference!

So proud of all of the kids and parents that made a pledge to change the world!

 Check out some of the heart warming pledges that were made! :)

The classroom at the end of day one collecting more and more pledges!

Also got a quick chance to run around the zoo to see what was going on everywhere else.  Take a quick look at the excitement.  The education team offered many stations to learn more about ecosystem services and how you can take action to help our Earth and wildlife.

Miss Rose teaching kids all about PPMs! Should have stopped by if you don't know!

Waiting for their customers to teach them all about climate change!

 Rock climbing wall! Wish I got a chance.

These guys are my go to for plant ID! Love them! Wish I had their knowledge.

Plants and diseases and pests!  Grow a garden everyone!

Did you know just knowing that wild spaces are out there brings joy and happiness to people! CRAZY!

They auctioned off a Prius on Sunday in Las Cruces, I wonder who won???

I did not get a chance to make it over to my home girls (Heather) station in Africa where you could grow your own tornillo plant to be planted at the Rio Bosque park to restore native plants in the area.  What a unique way to help out the environment and I am excited to see what we get back in one month!  Unfortunately these little bugs have been eating lots of the seeds so it was a challenge to find the seeds, but making it all the more worth it in the end to see growing, healthy plants! 

What a great weekend to celebrate the Earth.  Let's continue it all year long.


And someone recently told me, I can't change the world!  I screamed back, YES I CAN!

Pure sass.

:)


Planet Party

The zoo has been a zoo!

The past two weeks at the zoo have literally been a zoo!  For the most part the weather has been great and it has been Spring Break!  Ahh, Spring Break, a time of relaxation and revitalization to push forward into a new year.  NO LONGER!  This spring break was an extremely busy yet creative time for me at the zoo. 

The first week of spring break we had our first ever Spring Break Camp from 9-12pm, Monday through Friday for kids ages 7-14.  It was a success.  Although I was crunched for time I loved coming up with activities for the kids to enjoy and at the same time be learning about wildlife and conservation.  The themed days were Nature Art, Geocaching, Nocturnal Animals, Backyard Wildlife and Tracks and Scat.  My two favorite activities for the kids was a home made nocturnal maze I built for them using materials we had at the zoo.  They were blindfolded and had to use their senses to navigate the maze.  The kids loved it but really loved leading each other through the maze.  My other favorite was chalk art, in which they were challenged to make their pavement box into an animal's habitat.  It took a while to set up but the kids enjoyed crawling around on the ground to create their masterpieces.  I am extremely thankful to the volunteers who helped me out during the week!  25 kids and no volunteers would have been horrible!  Luckily they also helped me break down and set up the zoo everyday. 

Nature Art: Chalk

Nocturnal Maze at the zoo!

Where are you?

To view all of the pictures from the camp thanks to Adrian Cisneros, take a look on the El Paso Zoo Facebook page here.  There are some really cute ones that will make you smile!

Most schools were off the second week in March but there were a decent amount that were off the third week.  For those kids and families we offered daily one hour workshops at 10am and 2pm everyday Monday through Friday.  There were families that joined us everyday and I grew close to them and looked forward to their arrival each day.  A one hour workshop was perfect to entice them with the activity for the day but also explore more that the zoo has to offer.  I loved the workshops.

One family thanked me for the week with this awesome potted plant! LOVE.

The second Saturday of my Spring Break was working at Kidspalooza!  Even without knowing what Kidspalooza is, it sounds like a madhouse... and it was!  The El Paso Zoological Society had a booth at the downtown El Paso children's event.  My station was making magical animal masks out of household materials (paper plates).  In my head the point was that you don't have to have all the supplies in the world to be creative and do a project with your kids.  There are tons of materials you can upcycle into beautiful works of art.  With 20,000 people attending Kidspalooza I don't think that message was passed along.  We probably had a few thousand come by our table and it was busy the entire day.  People were crazy about the masks but I don't think many of them thought, wow this is something I could do at home!  Throughout the day, I did manage to gather a few more emails for the email list at the zoo.  If you would like to know about upcoming programs or events or just see my dandy emails, sign up here.  No worries, I won't sell your emails and you will only receive about 1 per month unless there is so much going on I need to send 2!  Thank you to Renee, the Zoological society director, Darrel (volunteer), and the facilities guys that dropped off and picked up the tent and tables!

Our peaceful setup prior to the thousands of people!

My Spring Break continues... The 6th annual Poppies Festival on Castner Range is this upcoming weekend March 31st at the Museum of Archaeology!   The planning committee has been planning this event for months and this year the Mexican Gold Poppies are blooming!  I am the chairperson for this event and I have also never seen the poppies before so I am sooo excited for this Saturday!  The event is FREE and will include children's activities, about 30 unique art vendors and 30 educational exhibitors, live entertainment from local indian groups and musicians, a live wolf, nature talks, nature tours, food including local buffalo stew and so much more!  The event is 10-4 and parking is at the EPCC transmountain campus with shuttles provided.  

Spread the word about the Poppies Fest and join us to help preserve Castner Range.  The Museum of Archaeology is in the heart of Castner Range.  Castner Range is a former artillery range, owned by Fort Bliss, known for its cultural, geologic and unique biology.  Many consider Castner Range the crown jewel of the Franklin Mountains.  This is the reason I got involved in the event.  Often during my programs at the zoo urban sprawl comes up, and it is easy for people to picture urban sprawl happening around the world.  Many wild places are being destroyed for human use for homes, apartments, stores, roads, etc.  But what people don't realize is this is happening in our backyards.  The Franklin Mountains are part of El Paso but only the state park is preserved as a wild space.  The foothills of the mountains is being sought after by contractors to build houses, roads and more.  This area is extremely important for the rich biodiversity of the area.  If you want to learn more, come to the event!  The Franklin Mountains Wildnerness Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to preserve the scenic beauty and wilderness character of the Franklin Mountains.  Even if you don't frequent hiking in the mountains, but just value being able to look up from downtown El Paso and see the mountains, come to the Poppies Fest! 

Castner range in all its glory!

Beautiful.

My Spring "Break" should really be called Spring Madness.  But the good kind: the fun, creative, exhausting Madness! 

Madness.

Its been way too long.

It has been almost a month since my last blog post!  Lets just say things have gone haywire.  I am sure all of your lives have too.   It was holiday time for crying out loud.  Instead of boring you with the ins and outs of the last month and my conservation random thoughts over that time I will limit myself to three items.  I have challenged myself to only list three highlights from the last month.   May I mention how incredibly hard that is for myself.  On an hour basis my brain runs through a little over 1000 thoughts, multiply that by one month and now three seems like an incredible mystifying feat!  And even more phenomenal I will limit myself to a few pictures from the last month... GULP!  In traditional countdown form here we gooo:

3.  Turpentine Creek.  In December, while I was in Arkansas, I was set up with a special tour (Thanks Carrie) of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge that takes in mostly big cats from around the country.  I lived in Arkansas for about three years and for about two of those years drove by Turpentine Creek on an almost daily basis en route to my job.  I never stopped.  I never went.  I was scared.  I have stopped at many "wildlife refuges" in the past that ended up to be more of a horrid roadside attraction in which I left in tears.  After a few of those experiences I am quite picky about the places I go to.   Although, I know they are not all bad.  I worked as a keeper at a place in North Carolina that housed some animals that were confiscated pets and the habitats were natural, extensive and beautiful.  Probably the best habitats I have ever seen.  I just did not want to run into another bad one again and feel as if there was nothing I could do. 

I went.  All of the animals have their individual story but the overall theme is the same.  Some dumbass (it's my blog I can swear!) decides an exotic animal would be super cool in their house... and then the animal grows up and has to eat and be taken care of.  One lion was bought for a measly 150 bucks.  Turpentine takes in as many animals as it can house.  The director made a statement at one point: as soon as the habitats for these animals are built the current exhibits they are in now will be destroyed so that we physically can not accept more to fill the old exhibits.  The problem is, if they have room they can't turn the cats down.  There are few sanctuaries that have the facilities to take in large cats and other exotic animals.  There are too many exotic animals that need a home.  Yet, you can buy all kinds of exotics online and some states have no laws against owning them!  Here is a summary of state laws regarding exotic animal ownership by private owners.  How does your state rack up? 

In some habitats mountain lions rotate days out in the big habitats.

Turpentine does have many old exhibits but they are working on building more natural habitats.  They have received many donations to build new habitats and have the space to do so.  It just takes time and they still need more donations.  They are starting to move towards a capital campaign where they will be able to collect the kind of money they need to make things happen and give the animals the habitats and space they need.  I will check back in often to see how they are doing.  But for now, check out their website.  If you live near Eureka, go visit and donate some cash.  I am pretty sure that locals get in free! 


What Turpentine really needs is more laws regulating the ownership of exotic animals.  Remember the ridiculous situation in Ohio recently, which is one of the most lax states when it comes to exotic animal laws.  Click here to sign a petition to ban the sale, ownership and harboring of exotic animals in Ohio. 



2.  Work Work Work.  Here is a quick update at the zoo:  It snowed over an inch and melted within a day.  The animals were all fine and probably enjoyed some snow. 

January:

Career Days - probably around 600 kids coming for career days at the zoo which is a day full of educational animal programs, career day presentation, scavenger hunt, animal encounter, conservation and of course fun!  For all of you that know me, I am a mammalogist, lots of experience wrangling bats, raccoons, gray foxes, mountain lions, black bears, ringtails... but not too fond of snakes.  I blame my two older brothers for tormenting me when I was young.  But I am becoming much more comfortable and here is the prooooof: Local newscast about the career day with miss snake and me. 

A Biodiversity of the Chihuahuan Desert Teacher Workshop.  Interactive activities, lesson plans, behind the scenes, and more to inspire teachers to engage their students with what is right outside their front doors!

Year of the Bat Kickoff Celebration - an event to bring awareness to the plight of bats, rid them of their negative reputations and educate people about local bats.  So much bat fun!  

1.  Arkansas.  Yes, I visited Arkansas for Christmas.  I love the trees but do not miss the bitter humid cold winter weather.  Although I hear that yesterday was 60 degrees!

This mailbox perfectly describes the town of Eureka Springs in Arkansas.

We spent the Xmas hanging out with family and friends.  Some of the kids got the all time BB gun for Xmas and everyone had a blast taking their turn hitting some cans.  I miss David's family and I miss my friends from Arkansas.  I am extremely thankful for all of their kindness and hospitality and love that they are all in my life.  But... I will be back when its warm.  :)

BB gun Christmas.

A walk down the road in Eureka.

I also got a chance to meet up with several friends from my old job.  I worked at the Ozark Natural Science Center (ONSC) for about three years.  It is a residential environmental education facility.  Kids embark on an overnight adventure to explore the great outdoors while being led by a highly knowledgeable, inspired and motivated Teacher Naturalist.  What I miss most about ONSC is the people and the campfires.  The people kept me thirsty for a quest for knowledge by always finding new plants and animals to discover while the campfires kept me sane and warm.  On this past trip, they gave me a scrapbook of my times at ONSC and I flipping LOVE it. 

Liz (ONSC co-worker) and Zac's cute baby girl... or lamb?

Honorable Mention.  A future number 1:

Zoo Story.  Life in the Garden of Captives.  By:  Thomas French

I read the book in five days.  I had never heard of the book before it was in my mailbox thanks to my Aunt Mary!  The book takes you inside a zoo and inside the animals and keepers thoughts.  The author eloquently writes about the positive and negative of zoos and compares zoos to the wild and vice versa.  The book gets you thinking as it describes the rise and fall of the Lowry Park Zoo in Florida.  The author never takes a side although at times you think you know where his beliefs lie.   I loved the book for the story itself but also for the journalism.  I related to several stories throughout and reminded me of several zoos, coworkers and animals.  Even if you are not in the field it is still an important read as zoos are part of communities around the country and world. 

Although this deserves to be my number one, I am not ready to tackle my entire thoughts and opinion about zoos and the wild in this blog.  I will give you a chance to read the book first. 

Silly giraffe picture I snapped during a Behind the Scenes Tour.  Characters.

A busy busy past month and even more busy days ahead.

"Recognize the challenge and do something about it!"


Challenge.