Old Habits Die Hard...

Whilst in Florida I visited some good friends and colleagues that work in wildlife education.  During this time we went to the animal park where I visited animals I cared for and met some of the new animal ambassadors.  At one point, I heard a rustling in the maintenance equipment.  At first, I thought it was just an anole running through the brush.  The noise continued and I soon realized it was a slither and not a run.  When I looked down I saw that it was a snake.  Not an unusual sighting, we are near the St. John's River and the area is fairly undeveloped.  I quickly identified the snake as a black racer.   

Photo from Florida Natural History Museaum

During this quick assessment, I also noticed he was not slithering freely.  A roll of landscape netting had been left out and the snake was tangled amongst the little openings.  His small head fit through easily, his thicker body however, could not make it through.  

With very little thought I picked up the whole roll, got it out of the sun, and began to tear the snake out of its prison.  As I tore the openings in the mesh, the snake became more agile, and began to turn around and try to bite me, he unfortunately did not realize that I was there to help him.  Just at that momet, one of my colleagues happened to walk through the gate with a pair of canine nail clippers in her hands.   Without hesitation, she secured the gaping mouth so that I could continue to work on freeing the snake.  

Together and with the clippers, we quickly got the job done and released the snake.  We let him go in the same area, as a native snake he is an important part of the ecosystem and an excellent natural form of pest control.  More importantly, we removed the deer mesh from the outside storage area and moved it indoors.  

I lived in Florida for 14 years participating in wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release the entire time.  It felt good to get back in the saddle, however, frustrating to know that 90% of cases I have handled in more than 16 years now are a result of human interaction.  Please think about what you put in the environment, regardless of where you live.

A few of my favorite things...

I have made it to Florida safe and sound.  A great friend that I haven't seen in years picked my up from the airport and we got to hang out for the day visiting some old friends.  We were hoping to get out on the Intracoastal Waterway for a paddle, but the wind was up and the water was choppy, so instead we took a walk along the water and out on the pier in the new county park next door.  Mullet were jumping and there was even a frigate bird overhead.

We went to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach.  I absolutely love the menu (at all 3 Frenchy's Restaurants).  Seafood is caught locally and served fresh, We shared an order of Buffalo Shrimp and I had She Crab Soup as a starter.  For my main I had a Carribian Jerk Grouper Sandwich!  I was so full by the time my sandwich was served I could barely eat half of it. 

It was a great night, I think I was at the restaurant for 5 hours as friends came and went.  I was there so long I had another order of buffalo shrimp.   After all that time there, I nearly forgot to get my brother his bottle of hot sauce, good thing they have the store on the way out of the restaurant!

The American Suburbanite in Suburban America

    Well it has been 4 weeks since I left the UK and my visa application was delivered to the British Consulate in NY on Tuesday.  It took a bit (a lot) longer than I hoped to get it submitted, but I think it will be a hard application to deny at nearly 100 pages of supporting documents.

Whilst in America, I have been catching up with lots of old friends and spending time with my nephew.  It has been great to see some of my friends and family again, but I do miss my home and look forward to going back. 


That being said, I have slipped into suburban life again,.   I am driving on the right side of the road from the left side of the car with no problems, ok almost no problems.  I drove on the left side of the road once, but it was on a tiny little private road, there were not really 2 lanes, at least by American road standards! 

I have gone shopping a few times, but have not bought much.  I am a bit concerned I have lost my American zest for shopping, for now I am blaming it on the desire to loose weight before buying too much.

On that note, I have gone back to the gym here in PA, they have a weekly plan so I can cancel as soon as we get any news from UKBA. The gym here is so big compared to our little one at home, but I am starting to feel comfortable in such a big space.   I had a great meeting with the trainer and a crazy upper body work out.  I would love to have a trainer on a regular basis, but have to keep a close eye on the budget as I have not worked in over a year now.  I was reminded of some basics of working out that I had ignored for a bit.  Strength training will become more of a part of my routine and I will stop doing the full body circuit routine so many times a week, more rest time and more work on each muscle group...  

I wonder how much weight I can loose by Tuesday, I am going to Florida and I am far from bikini ready.  We had great weather in April in England, but it was not swimsuit weather and springtime in PA was slow to come, but we are in full blown summer as temperatures  soared into the 90's today.  I put on an old bikini to get some sun (don't want to burn when I go to FL), and I definitely have some work to do.  I am so excited to get to Florida (bikini ready or not)  It was my home for 14 years before moving to England, it is where we got married, and it will be our home again some day.  There was no way I could come to America and not spend some time in the Sunshine state.  I am looking forward to that feeling I get when I sit on the beach and watch the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a feeling I get no where else in the world, and I have missed that sense of renewal I get from it.  It will help me get through this waiting period and the time I am away from my husband.

Application Submitted

Nearly 3 weeks after our arrival in the US, my lawyer finished his end of the work (finally) and I had my biometrics appontment done and I went to the UPS store to post it all to the British Consulate in NY, now all I have to do is wait... fingers crossed it will be nearer the 2 week end of the scale as opposed to the 24 week time frame.