I won something!

For the first time in my life, I actually managed to win something in a raffle this week. Sadly it was a variety sampler pack of beers and a t-shirt from the beer company. Not so exciting for me, but it made my friends happy that I tagged along with them to a beerfestival in Destin. I was the only person in our group that won anything. So, yeah, went to a beerfestival yesterday. I actually tried a couple of things I liked. Of course they werent really beers. Theres a brand of fruity drinks called lambac (I think&) that I enjoyed and then of course theres the solid old hard ciders. They handed out all kind of goofy things at this festival: a necklace that could suspend your beer bottle from your neck, thong underware bosting the names of various companies, hats, t-shirts, bottle openers, etc. It was amusing. Afterwards we all went out and got some sushi, which as always was awesome.

The rest of my week was really pretty bland. Hung out with the woodpeckers each morning and wrote down who copulated with whom. Theyre pretty funny about it. They wake up, fly out of their trees, find a solid branch, the female displays, BOOM!- theyre done, and they send the rest of their morning feeding and generally not hanging out very near each other.

Im also supposed to be looking out for kestrels breeding. One of my co-workers claims that I will know it when I hear it because the females call gets higher and higher and higher and then finally she kinda sighs and her voice slides down the length of its range and its done. I found this description very anthropomorphic and funny. Alright, thats all you get on the breeding habits of birds. I feel oddly voyeuristic writing about it.

My creature of the week this week was a pod of dolphins! Sadly, I cant tell you what species, but as I was sitting on the beach talking with my brother a small pod (maybe 12 individuals) swam by within 30 feet of the shore. No one jumped out of the water or anything so I didnt get to see any real defining characteristics, but they were there with their backs and dorsal fins out of the water and I was happy. I also saw a new bird species this week: the eastern meadow lark. They like open grassy fields so these birds hang out on the bombing ranges. Gotta wonder what happens when the military has a mission. Hopefully the birds are smart enough to get away&

Thats it for me!