Time to face the strange....

So I am going to be honest here and say that I was thinking of getting rid of a lot of the prior posts. I am sure you know which ones they may be but I kind of felt that it was a little petty. Also, what would I gain from doing that. It doesn't change what my life has been up until this point. All of that still happened. I am angry at her and with the situation that we are in but I don't hate her.

I have to say that it is odd being on my own. I don't really remember a time where I lived on my own and had to make decisions that really only affected me. It's amazing how one singular event can bring about such massive change in a person's life. I was thinking of some of these things, mainly going back to school, since before this whole divorce thing started but now I am giving it much more thought. This opens up a whole new set of decisions that revolve around yet another decision. Do I stay down here in South Carolina where I have a good job, that pays well along with getting to set my own schedule or do I move back up to Michigan and become one of the jobless masses. I think the answer to that one is pretty obvious. It is South Carolina for me, at least for the time being.

For school there is only one down here that I would want to attend, at least in Columbia, and that is USC. It's a good school and has great Biology and Ecology programs. I don't know exactly what I would go to school for but I have always considered Wetlands Ecology or Conservation Biology.

Lately I have been contemplating some type of adventure. The need to get away and just do something extremely different from what I am used to. Sort of a mental reset. I don't know what I would do, where I would go, how long this adventure would last. One option, and yes I developed this because of something I saw on TV, would be to volunteer to sail to Antarctica and stop illegal whaling. Yes, this is the time of reality shows and I have watched Whale Wars. If you haven't seen it check it out. It could be and probably would be dangerous but it deals with something that I feel strongly with and that is one of the things these people are looking for. This is just a thought mind you. I have no idea if I am brave enough to take on this type of adventure. And an adventure it would be. Who knows if I even need that much of an adventure, maybe it would be something as simple as getting away form everyone and everything for a week and just camping and hiking by myself. There are plenty of great places I could go to accomplish that. This also sounds like a more reasonable option. I wouldn't have to jeopardize my job by being away so long. Although my friend Katie said she would give up one of her weeks of vacation pay she has saved up for me if I went and she also thinks our boss may be cool with it. I somewhat doubt that.

Alright so those are some of the changes/choices/decisions/thoughts that I am facing right now. Too many things to be doing to be on here typing. More to come.

Serious misadventures of a newly single ecologist in South Carolina

Okay, so that is a long title but its a start. I haven't done this in a while and I am out of practice but I have to say I might dig doing this again. I have a lot of stuff to say and I have a lot of changes coming up in my life so it could be an interesting ride. We shall see. I hope it will be.

The reasoning behind this whole thing is this. My wife of eight years has decided that she is done with our marriage. That is another story for another post not this one, I am not ready for that right now. So, now I have moved out and am living on my own for the first time in a long time and am doing what I need to do to deal with this situation while making the decisions that will affect the rest of my life.

Facts to make you think

Solar

- In one second, our sun produces enough energy to meet the current needs of the entire Earth for 500,000 years

8 minutes
The time it takes for light from the sun to reach Earth

4 trillion 100 watt bulbs
Equivelant to the amount of solar energy hitting the Earth every second

4 million barrels of oil
Equivelant to the amount of solar energy that hits one square mile each year

1% of U.S. electricity
The percentage of U.S. energy generated from solar power

Corporate

The biggest retailer in the world covers an area larger than Manhattan

-The island of Manhattan is approximately 15,000 acres; Walmart total store acreage 18,810

Pesticides

2/3
Pounds of pesticides used to grow the cotton for one pair of non-organic jeans

1,500,000
Number of children examined in an Indiana University study that concluded that children born in spring perform worse in math and English because they were conceived in summer, when pesticide use and exposure is highest

6
Times greater the incidence of children born with autism to mothers living within 500 meters of California fields sprayed with pesticides than the rate of autism births nationwide

245,000
Number of fish killed in 1995 when a heavy rainstorm caused runoff from Alabama cotton fields into a nearby creek

75
Estimated percentage of pesticides sprayed from a crop duster that blow away rather than reach the ground

5
Number of the 9 most common pesticides used on cotton that are classified as "known carcinogens" by the EPA

8-10
Number of years it takes to develop a new pesticide for use on cotton, ata a cost of $100 million

5-6
Number of years it takes weevils to become immune to a new pesticide

23
Number of elementary-school children whose urine revealed the presence of pesticides at the beginning of an Emory University study

1
Number of those same children whose urine contained any detectable traces of pesticides after four days of eating organic food

10,400
Number of people who die in the U.S. each year from cancer related to pesticide exposure

250
Number of people in the U.S. killed each year by assault rifles

14,000,000
Number of people in the U.S. who routinely drink water contaminated with carcinogenic herbicides

90
Percentage of municipal water treatment facilities lacking equipment to remove these chemicals from drinking water

Our Yard (part one)

"How does one miss what one has never known?

What longing, then, would drive one to repair the damage" - Noah's Garden - Sara Stein

I have decided to add a feature to my blog called Our Yard. I wanted to call it My Yard but thought that it sounded a little pretentious. I was thinking that our yard is pretty interesting and has a variety of plants and animal life and it would be interesting to investigate and write about what I find. Each new post would be devoted to things I find be it plant, animal or whatever else may show up. Through out the year I would visit the different areas again and make note of the changes that have occured. I am not sure what fall is like down here but I assume that some of the trees around here change color. Spring should be interesting too, I have noticed some interesting trees in our yard and neighborhood that have potential to put on a nice show. Who knows. This will give me an opportunity to get to know my yard and hopefully entertain my friends and other readers.

I suppose that I will give you a preliminary introduction to our yard.

Back Yard

Me in the backyard

(do I always look like that?)

Looking at front porch

Back yard again

Looking towards street

Well thats our yard. Actually there is a lot more to our yard but this was just a preliminary introduction. I look forward to getting to know our yard I hope you do too. It should be fun.

Out in the woods somewhere they crashed for the night and slept the sleep of the just. The just plain satisfied.

So. Here I am. Again, at last. We finally got Internet connected for ourselves. We no longer can hitch a free ride onto the information superhighway through the courtesy of our neighbors wireless Internet.

No matter how much I like free things all good things must come to an end. It is surprising how only a week without it makes you see how dependent you have become on the Internet. I refuse to call it an addiction. I have to admit it gave me the opportunity to go the library and get a library card. The library system down here is amazing. Their main library puts the one in Grand Rapids to shame, sorry folks its true. They have so many books I am excited to wander around and see what I can find. On the bottom level which is the children's level and also the garden level they have a mural of "Where the wild things are". The same picture is on the library card itself.

Things are getting settled, Eva just finished her first full week at school; I am back in the swing of things at work after getting back from my nice little vacation. I hadn't been that emotional about leaving Michigan before my trip but coming back there and visiting with my parents and staying with all my friends really made me realize what I was missing.

I am really enjoying my job. I feel quite comfortable and am quickly beginning to feel that I belong to a family. It is a large mix of people with the minority of them actually being from South Carolina. It is nice to be in an environment that nurtures sustainability and the power of community. I see many people each day who believe in the things I believe in, think in a similar way and generally have great concern for the environment. I am looking forward to developing new friendships and seeing what else South Carolina has to offer us.

One Step Closer

So I am employed. I really only put my application into one place. Well, I suppose that is not entirely true. I also sent my resume into another store called Earth Fare which is pretty much the same type of store.
I have to admit that I have been enjoying not having a job. It has been nice having some time to read and get the house set up. Spending time watching lizards and chasing them around has been great also.
I suppose that it will be good to get into a job again and start getting paid. Eva will start teaching on the 23rd but will be doing a lot at her schools over the next week. I can't sit at home by myself all the time. I have already run out of new books to read and don't know when I will next get an opportunity to get some new ones. Maybe I can borrow some from my dad when I go back to Michigan in a week.
Anyway, as you can see by the pretty little graphic at the start of this post that the place I am working is called the Rosewood Market. It is a natural foods and organic produce market where they have a deli where they serve breakfast and lunch and make nice, tasty baked goods. I am not quite sure exactly what I am going to be doing but he said one position that he was thinking of was being in charge of the bulk foods department where I would place orders and keep everything filled and clean and I would also get to make the peanut butter and also the almond butter.
From what I got by talking to the owner Basil it is not as much of a sustainable living focused business as I first thought but it may just be his opinion. The people that I have met so far seem to be concerned with the environment and living sustainably so I think that this will put me in a good position to meet the type of people that I am looking for down here. Who knows maybe I will find the people who may be interested in my idea of starting a Bioneers group down here. Who knows. So Earth Fare might be more of the type of statement that I want to make but the Rosewood Market is a family owned business that has been around for thirty years and that is one thing that makes it more desirable to me. Only time will tell and I think that I will be happy working there.

I am the Lizard King, I can do anything! (including updating my blog)

Southeastern Five-lined Skink

Eumeces inexpectatus

Green Anole

Anolis carolinensis

I have always loved lizards. As I have gone through life I have considered myself lucky if I ever saw a lizard out in the wild. The fish and reptile house was always one of my favorites things to see at the zoo. It still is. Now that we have moved here to South Carolina I have been lucky to a see a lot of lizards, so far mainly the two kinds shown above. These are all pictures that I have taken here at my house. I hope that I see more I have fun spotting them and sometimes trying to catch them. I haven't succeeded yet but just wait, I will catch one. It's gonna be sweet.