Feb 28th Clammin'

We're going clammin'. What's clammin'?
Please look at the pictures. 
A

Near this small island might be a good spot.
Let's call this place Clammin' Cove.
B

Can you see what's in the water?
It's a sting-ray. Be careful, don't step on it.
C

There they are. Fresh clams?
Are you hungry? Do you like clams?

D

Just a minute! The clams aren't ready yet.
Why not? Why are they in the water?
It's called, 'purging'. The water will clean the
dirt out of the clams. How long do you purge the clams?
About 24 hours or so. The clams can stay in that water for a long time.
Have a nice day!!!

Feb 27 Dolphins save dog

Dolphins are amazing animals. They are known
to be very selfless. Let's read this story from the Orlando Sentinel.

Turbo the dog was missing from his home for over 15 hours.
The dog got trapped near a canal. A passerby heard dolphins
from the canal. The dolphins had alerted the person to the
stranded dog. The person then rescued the dog and returned it home.
The dolphins were very upset until the dog was rescued out of the water.
Dolphins have been known for this kind of behavior.

 Thank you Mr. Dolphin!!!

Have a nice day!!!

Feb 25th Discovery

There goes 'Discovery'. It was quite a sight to see it launch.
It was very exciting and impressive. I wish you could have been here.

Here's the official NASA camerafrog at work.
Photographing launches can be dangerous to him.
Birds can also be dangerous.
His name is Freddy 'the photo' Frog. Frequently, Freddy
photographs flying shuttles.

Feb 24 Go Discovery Go

As I write this, I can still hear the rumbling of Discoverys'
lift off at the Kennedy Space Center.
Let's look at the pictures.

There it goes!!!

Have a Great Day!!!

Feb 22nd New Discovery

My name is Miguel Ponce de Leon. I'm a descendant of
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. My ancestor
discovered Florida in the year 1513.

A

I'm on my boat and sailing at sea when I spotted
a small island. I'm a discoverer so I must land here
and explore. What shall I name my discovered
island?

B

I've landed. Here's the island. Just like Ponce de Leon,
I've discovered an island. Now, I'll going looking for
the fountain of youth.

C

I've traveled inland searching but haven't found
the fountain. Is it just a legend? I will have to
search the next island I discover,

D

I'm back on my boat headed back to Spain.
I will resume my search for the fountain of youth tomorrow.
I shall name this  'Tree Island'.

Have a nice Day!

Feb 21 Sunken boat and cave

What is this? A sunken boat? Maybe it's a sunken pirate boat.

Many boats have sunk in Florida. Storms are common.

They are many abandoned boats from the last hurricane.

So, it's not usual to see an old boat.

What about that cave?

I wonder what's inside it?

Maybe it's the secret entrance to the

Bermuda Triangle. Or maybe there are some kind of

creatures living in it. It looks spooky to me.

Perhaps, there was a hurricane a long time ago.

Pirates in a boat trying to escape the storm

sank in front of the cave.

The pirates then took shelter in the cave.

Afterwards, they were known as Bermuda Cave Pirates...

perhaps.

In other news....

Two manatees were released recently into the wild.

The manatees were orphans who had lived in captivity

for years. They were released at Blue Springs State Park.

That's a nice place I hear. Soon, I want to go visit that park.

Sea World assisted in caring for the manatees.

Have a Nice Day! 

Feb 19 Anybody want an orange?

Florida's citrus industry.
The oranges look good help yourself.

A

How about some orange ice cream?
This would be good on a hot day.

B

You don't like ice cream? How about some cake?
That looks like orange bread.
Please take a slice.

C

If you don't want that, please try this.
It's orange cake. Orangesaurous Rex? O. Rex.
This is the 2nd largest industry in the state of Florida.
Only, tourism is bigger.

Have a nice day!

Feb 15 Columbus in the Bermuda Triangle

Columbus landed in the Bermuda Triangle

A

Here's a picture of Columbus landing in the new world.
He landed first on an island in present day Bermuda.
Yes, that's right. The Bermuda Triangle.
Was Columbus drawn to the 'Triangle'?
Or was there another reason?
Perhaps, instead of looking for the passage to the 'Indies',
he was searching for 'Atlantis'.
What do you think? Was it just coincidence or not?

We'' talk more tomorrow,

Have a nice Day!!!

Feb 13 Did dinosaur taste like chicken?

Did dinosaur taste like chicken?

Let's take a close look at this picture.
The animals look like birds to me.
Please look at the shape of the legs for example.
Those are chicken legs for sure. All we need is some
barbecue sauce and were ready. I think
chickens are the descendants of dinosaurs. As we know,
dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. It destroyed the
Jurassic Fried Chicken industry. I suggest that
because birds came from dinosaurs,
dinosaurs must have tasted like chicken.

Let ask some of our knowledgeable friends what they think.

"I definately think dinosuar tasted like chicken."- 'Allie' the alligator.

" I agree with the gator, I'm sure dinosaur was delicious." 'Krissy' the cougar.

Feb 12 Bermuda Triangle Sea Monster

The sea was dark and rioting with the fury of the storm.
Lightning lashed the surface of the water.
The roar of the wind was deafening.
Rain pelted the surging seas.
A shadowy power surged in and through the storm.
It's strength driving the storm with great momentum.

The supertanker sailed directly into maelstrom. With a full load of oil,
thesuper-tanker 'Eclipse' had only recently entered the 'Triangle'.
The storm had appeared suddenly and without warning.
It was bearing down on the ship at over 50 mph.
Head-on it came, a collision was imminent.

Feb 11 Dinosaur World

A

It's the entrance to Dinosaur World.

Dinosaur World is located in Plant City, Florida.

It's between Orlando and Tampa.
Dinosaur World opened in 1998.

B

That's a triceratops!!! Run!!!

It's coming after us. This animal was a herbivore.
There are over 150 dinosaur sculptures

here in Dinosaur World.

C

It's a raptor. This must have been a dangerous animal.
Dinosaur World has over 200,000 visitors a year.

D

Hey! What's this? This isn't a dinosaur.

How do you know?
Because that's an alligator!!!

It's not extinct!

How many types of alligator are there?

Have a nice day!!!

Feb 10 Let's go for a walk

I needed some exercise. So I decided to take a walk.
In the National Park! (Cape Canaveral National Seashore)

A

I went to a different area of the park today.

The water we'll look at is  actually a canal.

A canal is a man-made waterway.

This picture is from the north bank of the canal.

B

The water was very clear but a little cold.

That's a white Ibis.

C

The water's clear isn't it?

That's not sand but tiny seashells.

Would you like some?

Taking anything from the park is forbidden.

D

Look! What's that? Is it pre-Columbian ruins?

I think so. It was built by an ancient culture.

Do you remember pre-Columbian?

E

What's that ahead? It's a wildfire!

No, it's not! It's a prescribed burn.

The fire's controlled by the park service.

The park service starts many small fires to prevent big ones.

F

I drove right by it so I had to stop.

I got really close. Look at the fire.

I was in no danger at all, I think.

But it was really exciting.

I love Florida.

There's something new to see everyday!

Have a nice Day!!!

Feb 9 Loch Ness monster seen in Florida

Nessie in Florida!!!

A

Terror and panic have hit Florida as the Loch Ness

monster was seen. Also known as Nessie, the giant

reptile was spotted near South Beach close to Miami.

Eyewitnesses describe Nessie as being very big, like

a lizard or something. 

B

This picture is the original one of Nessie taken in Scotland.

As we can see, this is an exact match.

Residents should be warned to stay away from the

beaches and waterways. Nessie isn't known to attack people.

However, we should be careful.

Questions we will practise

How did Nessie get to Florida?

Where was that picture taken?

Where's Scotland?

What should residents do?

What does 'exact match' mean?

Is this a true story or did you make it up?

Feb 8 Man of War in south Florida

Man of War invades south Florida

It's called a jellyfish but it's not. It's a collection of highly specialized
individuals. This animal can be found all over the Atlantic Ocean
and other oceans. But it's mostly found in tropical waters.
This animal is a big problem in Australia. Over 10,000 people a year
are stung by it.


A

The Man of War has returned to south Florida beaches.

Fortunately, I live in central Florida

and the water is cooler than south Florida.

So, there are no Man of War here.

Not yet!!!

B

That's not a tattoo. That's a sting from a man of war.
When I was younger, I visited Florida
 and got stung by a Man of War. It really hurt for about 4 hours.
There's was nothing I could do to stop the pain.
All you have to do is touch this animal and it hurts.
If you see it floating on the water... get out of the water!!!

Feb 7 Mangrove

A

Mangrove is an important plant in the Florida eco-system.
There are three main mangrove plants here, the white, red and black mangrove.
Each one is different. Red mangrove grows closest to the water.

B

This looks like a different mangrove tree.

They can live in salt or brackish waters.

Mangrove provide an environment for many fish.

C

These are called prop roots and it helps stabilize the area.

This is a tropical plant but it can survive in Florida's

northern sub tropical climate.

Have a nice day

Feb 6 Pirate house?

A

This is an old pirate house. It's located in the Bermuda Triangle.
This house was used by pirates as far back as colonial times.
The first to use this house were Spanish pirates. They were followed
by French pirates then...

"Excuse me!, that's not a pirate house. And it's not in the Bermuda Triangle.
 Please tell the truth."

Ok, ok, it's not a pirate house. And it's not in the Bermuda Triangle.
But within the last 100 years it was used by smugglers and .....

"Excuse me again!. It's not a smugglers house."

Ok, it's an old boat house. It has no use. Only birds sit on it.
That's not a very interesting story.
(Later, I will tell you the pirate stories.)


Have a great day!!!

Bermuda Triangle Feb 5

Is it fact or fiction? truth or myth?
It's the Bermuda Triangle.
Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico make up the triangle.
Let's study this map.

A

It's a simple map of the Bermuda Triangle area.

B

This is a picture of a sunken ship.

Those are sharks swimming over the ship.

That looks like a scary place.

It's just the kind of place we'd find in the...

Bermuda Triangle.

Can you see anything else in the picture?

C

This picture has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle...

or does it? No, it doesn't I think. I just want you to say 'red gator'

three times as fast as you can.

D

This map has a lot of things to look at.

I don't live in the 'Triangle'. But I live close to it.

Let's call it, sub-triangle, like sub-tropical.

I live in the sub-triangle area of the Bermuda Triangle.

Feb 4 Butterfly World

A

It's Butterfly World.
Located in Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek, FL.
It's close to Miami and south of where I live.
They have a butterfly aviary. It has 3,000 species
of butterfly. There's also a museum called an Insectarium.
There's lot's of bugs in there.

B

It think it's a Zebra Longwing.

The color is green. I've seen yellow Zebras

before. But I haven't seen a green one yet.

C

It's a Monarch. I've seen this butterfly many times.

It's very nice. Do you have Monarchs where you live?

Butterfly World has a nice web-site.

You should check it out if you have time.

www.butterflyworld.com/

Have a nice day!!! 

Here's some more pictures

Here's a picture of the Butterfly World aviaries.

This is a picture of one of the gardens.

It's a giant butterfly flower.