pelf-ism is contagious

The Research Team at the Wetlands Institute not only conducts scientific research to increase the survival of the diamondback terrapins in the area. And one of the “other” activities that we do is host terrapin releases throughout the summer.

Terrapin hatchlings that hatched and emerged last summer/fall were sent to the head-starting facility at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (affectionately known as Stockton College). The care taker, John, raises the hatchlings for about 10 months — he takes care of their nutritional needs and makes sure that the hatchlings do not kill each other

The highlight of all the terrapin releases, especially at the beginning of the summer, was definitely the release by the Avalon/Stone Harbor kindergarteners. Every year, under the guidance and supervision of their teacher, Mrs. Dean, the kindergarteners bake turtle cookies and sell them for a quarter (25 cents) a piece to anybody who would buy them to raise funds for the Wetlands Institute. And because these kids couldn’t really count well, you know how messy it is when it comes to counting their “profits”. And they would then hold hands and run across the street to the bank to deposit the money that they raise

A local bank who serves the Cape May County of New Jersey exclusively, Sturdy Savings Bank, matches dollar-for-dollar the amount that the kindergarteners raise and on top of that, makes a generous donation to the Wetlands Institute as well

On the day of the release, Scute, the terrapin mascot will usually make an appearance to “meet and greet” everybody.

Before the terrapin release, Dr. Roger Wood, the Director of Research usually gives a briefing to the audience about the life history of the diamondback terrapin, the threats to their survival and the projects that are being conducted at the Wetlands Institute. He would then demonstrate to the audience the right way of holding a terrapin so that it does not scratch or bite the person holding it — and he calls this the “turtle handshake”. And because the kids are all so eager to hold a terrapin, everybody pays 100% attention to him

When we’re done with the briefing, each intern will be in charge of one (or more) kindergartener and we will all hold hands and walk towards the dock where the terrapins will be released.

At the dock, once again we emphasize the importance of holding the terrapin in a correct way so that neither the terrapin nor the kid would be hurt in the process. And we line them up along the dock so that they will be able to see how the release is performed.

More pictures taken during the various terrapin releases here:

• by special kids @ Ocean City, NJ
• by school children @ Somers Point, NJ
• by Avalon and Stone Harbor kindergarteners @ The Wetlands Institute, NJ
• by the Philadelphia Zoo campers @ Avalon Public Marina, NJ
• by donors/adopters @ The Wetlands Institute, NJ

We believe that these releases are important to educate the public on the importance of helping to conserve the diamondback terrapins. It is very heart-warming to see how some kids become so affectionately attached to the terrapin that they had just “known” in a short hour.

There is this sweet little store called Cape May Signs on the 96th Street in Stone Harbor, just before the traffic lights on 3rd Avenue. The store has a variety of funny, witty and sarcastic signs pasted on all walls and windows and not a single inch of space is wasted.

There were sooo many signs that some of them were also displayed outside the store to attract potential customers.

When I first saw the “spending my kids’ inheritance” sign, it reminded me of a quote I read somewhere which says that the earth/planet that we are living on is borrowed from our children. It was clearly a quote on “sustainability” and “conservation” but I guess some subjects can just be applied to a wide range of things!

The “horn broken” sign is absolutely hilarious though I am not a “finger person”. I guess if you put that sign up on your car, you are being polite by informing other drivers about the “finger”

And of all the signs that can be found in the store, I guess my favourite sign must be this one:

I know it’s crude and not all that appealing to the general public, and frankly speaking, it’s a little too vulgar for my liking. But then again, think about it. Think about all the annoying people who annoy the “whatever” out of you daily. And well, if these annoying people could fly, I’m sure this place would be an airport!

Check out other funny signs here (please DO NOT click if you think you might be offended by such signs).

OK, let’s take a break from all the road patrols and gory-looking pictures and ugly horseshoe crabs and do something FUN!

But first, I’d like to congratulate myself for successfully upgrading my blogs and my sister’s to WordPress 2.6 WITHOUT messing anything up, and without having to call Edrei in the middle of the night to help me fix it. GREAT JOB, PELF!

Anyway, let’s get back to this very FUN Flickr game that I picked up from Edrei. For those of you who might be interested, I have been uploading pictures taken from my maiden voyage to the USA into my Flickr account, so if you’ve got time, do drop by. BTW, I am based at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, NJ until August 8th.

Now, the rules of the Flickr game are simple. First, answer the following set of questions. Then use those answers to search for pictures in Flickr using Flickr search. Then, pick a picture from the first page of your search results. Then copy and paste each of the photo’s URLs for the images into the Mosaic Maker.

If you’re ready, these are the questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favourite food?
3. Where did you go to high school?
4. What is your favourite colour?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favourite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favourite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

Look what I’ve got!

Image credits:
1. The intruder, 2. Legendary Panda Cub tree climber, Su Lin., 3. Porta de Santiago (A Famosa) (#24), 4. The View Of Tehran - Greens Vs Blue Sky, 5. Richard Gere, 6. peachy, 7. Waiting for Belphegor HDR, 8. Too, 9. Leaving the nest, 10. A Helping Hand, 11. Fresh Dinner, 12. Aren’t the penguins cute??!!

And these are my answers/keywords, just so you know what’s what in the mosaic above

1. Pelf (like Edrei, I found it funny that none of my photos appeared on the search result)
2. Chinese (NOT the panda)
3. Melaka
4. Green (though not all shades of green)
5. Richard Gere (hey, I heard he’s a Buddhist too)
6. Anything peachy
7. Paris (it’s called a DREAM vacation, OK?!)
8. Chocolate chocolate chip ice cream
9. Turtle scientist (that’s a picture of leatherback turtle hatchlings emerging)
10. My family (and everybody else I call “family”)
11. Interesting
12. Pelf Nyok (this is my current Flickr profile)

Please feel free to snatch this and post it on your blog (and let me know so that I can check out your mosaic)! It’s FUN