Post-Thanksgiving/ Black Friday Musings

So what was it like, Black Friday, I asked a Target employee in electronics. Well-mannered crowds who thanked him for working on Thanksgiving. The popular items—iPads, iPods and phones. And yes, the shelves are socked today for those of you with some cash in your wallet. I’m not sure I envy these people, standing in line for hours or even days, but at least they have ideas! Our family tuned in to the Macy’s Parade, but this year we quickly tuned out—too many breaks to non-parade events (like singers), boring floats (can’t McDonalds do better than the clown—I'm partial to the fries and soda)—and some ho-hum announcers.

With major ongoing cleanup efforts from Sandy , couldn’t the media have cut away to some of the scenes— the more than 10,000 Thanksgiving meals served by Occupy Sandy and more than 26,000 by the city of New York to affected areas? The focus of what used to be Thanksgiving is now spending. According to media reports, 247-million shoppers (in-store and online) spent an average of $423 (for a total of $59.1 billion—those figures may be updated later this week). One economist predicted spending would subside—after all, so much was spent in this initial Thanksgiving-Black Friday weekend. For those of you with pocket change remaining, there’s always Powerball (with $425-million).

A lot of you have gotten shopping underway, but I am still seeking ideas. . . . .

Thumps in my attic, mice and cookies and wayward wildlife

If you have read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Numeroff, 1985), you’ll remember the potential consequences of sharing a cookie with a mouse. You find yourself in a demanding relationship. . . . It started with occasional thumps in the attic, then evolved into what sounded like wild parties. Even my cats sat vigilant, watching the ceiling above my closet, as if something might fall through. A wildlife trapper left baited cages. And early the first morning, I saw a mouse had been caught. He was much too small to be the party animal. But still he had been caught and needed to be released quickly. A rooftop in the Florida sun is no place to be. Waiting for the trapper to return (eight hours later), I moved the mouse to the shade, gave him a name (Vito, nicknamed after a famous tango dancer) as well as some fruit to keep him hydrated. We were starting to bond. By noon, I moved the mouse down the ladder to a shaded brush area under a tree. By now, I have posted his picture on Facebook, and he’s getting lots of “likes.”

But he was wildlife and didn’t want to be caged. All those committees I served on monitoring the treatment of laboratory animals in a university made me question guidelines, concerning captured wildlife. By early afternoon, I had called numerous government agencies, each sending me elsewhere--county animal control, Fish and Wildlife Commission, Florida Department of Agriculture and within that agency, the Department of Entomology and Pest Control, which deals with rodents. My mouse, a rodent! I left a message, and to date, no one has responded. Finally, I called a friend at a school of veterinary medicine. We agreed--the most humane course would be to release the mouse to the nearby woods. The trapper arrived just as I was preparing the release mission. I plan to learn more about the guidelines for treatment of captured wildlife. My mouse was not demanding, but would he have been if we had started with a cookie?

Lagoon Day--A Missed Opportunity?

MELBOURNE—Nov. 20, 2012--The name itself resounds with potential! The lagoon, which extends 156 miles, is home to the bottleneck dolphin and thousands of species of flora and fauna. Considered the most diverse estuary in North America, its health is critical to the water quality and the economy of many communities. I only learned of Lagoon Day from small signs I saw when biking. Online information included a listing in a community calendar and a press release from the St. Johns River Water Management District. Were these the only ways to promote the event?

When I went Saturday at noon, the non-profit workers and booths outnumbered the public. Most text-dense documentation focused on detailed information about the geographical features (such as Canaveral National Seashore), water pollution or flora and fauna. Even the talks were pretty specialized—algal blooms and sea grass, funding agencies, stormwater impact on the lagoon. An inflatable castle, face painting, a turtle hurdle game and some coloring books targeted the younger kids. Making an oyster mat or planted mangrove seedling (propagule) might have appealed to the older kids.

Non-profits have inadequate financial resources. They need to create specialized messages that address the local audience. They need to be able to provide hands-on activities that engage young, receptive audiences. Would it have been possible to bring in a boat? Show water testing? Have a large-scale model of runoff from lawns into the water? Show the impact of chemicals on wildlife? A Lagoon Day needs to be as almost as much fun (and more educational) as a trip to see Santa at the mall or a Halloween street party. Maybe we can work together for a Lagoon Day, 2013. . . .

Aftermath of the storm and eve of the election

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, communities continue to deal with lives lost, property damaged, power outages, transportation system shutdowns, insurance claims and cold weather. . . . Now, some areas are working to provide alternate voting sites and still deal with the cleanup.

What is encouraging in the midst of the storm and the too-frequent verbal snipes in an election campaign is that across the nation, approximately 35 percent of voters took advantage of the early voting (and some had to wait in line for hours). Although the New York City marathon was canceled, many runners have volunteered to help in the relief efforts.

The 2008 presidential election had a 61.6 percent voter turnout, according to FactCheck.org. Let’s hope for record turnouts and quick relief efforts for the victims of the storm, all of whom are in our thoughts. On another note, has anyone calculated the adverse environmental impact of these campaign signs?