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Bacon Ridge Natural Area Open House

Last weekend our school took a short hike at SERC. This weekend coming up though is a great opportunity to see a beautiful area in our County that is still being prepared for opening to the public. You will have the opportunity to have a guided walk through some pristine woods and see some of our best marsh and water for natural habitat, as well as learn why this is so important to our county.  Here is the official announcement:

 

Join Anne Arundel County & SRLT this Saturday for a fall colors hike! There will be one guided, strenuous 4-mile off-trail hike to the mill site, led by Barry Boyd at 10:30 a.m. Those who would like to explore the cemetery or beaver dam loop trail on their own can come anytime. Trails will be open for hiking from 10-2, please arrive no later than 1 pm to enjoy the day.

If you have any questions, or to RSVP, email alyssa@SRLT.org. For day-of questions, call 248.860.7635. Directions: Take Generals Highway to Crownsville Road, turn right on Marbury Road (within 1/4 mile of Generals Highway). Continue onto Farm Road (unmarked). Parking area is to the left after the overpass (different than Walk for the Woods — you can drive over the overpass onto the grass). Please note that this entrance is only open to the public for special occasions.

For more information on the Scenic Rivers Land Trust follow the link.

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Lunar Eclipse Reminds Us To Appreciate Our Lives

Last night one of the most interesting solar events took place.  It was a lunar eclipse, which in and of itself is not that unusual, but becomes more unusual when you realize that it fell on the winter solstice.  The last time that happened was hundreds of years ago, say 372 years to be exact and will not happen again till 2094.  I am pretty sure I will not be here in the flesh at that time so……

At 3 AM I was awakened to go out in the cold and observe.  Though I stayed only for a few minutes, the photo I have featured here is what I saw. (I did not take this photo)  It was amazing and inspiring.  I would have liked to have stayed up to watch the entire event, as the sky was clear and the stars bright, but it was not happening that morning.  (There are many mornings that 3:30 is my wake up time)

Observing the solar system in this manner, or nature in general, has always inspired me to think Continue reading “Lunar Eclipse Reminds Us To Appreciate Our Lives”

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Disaster in Gulf creates a challenge for us

All of us have been watching the disaster that is occurring in the Gulf with the oil spill.  I am not sure how anyone else feels, but I am literally sick to my stomach about this event and worried sick about what the long term effects are going to be on the environment and the people of these regions.

Since the first week I have asked myself, What can I do?  What could we as a school do to have some positive effect for the environment and the people involved.   I was paralyzed.  I not only did not know – but I was getting to a point that it was hard for me to watch one more minute of the reports.

Today though I came upon a group that all of us can help and I would like to propose that we find a way to do so.  Here is the website for you to look at. 

http://www.matteroftrust.org/

Which one of our students will step up and make a plan to get our school, city and county involved with some solutions to the problem.  Taking action is the right thing to do.  Sitting around and complaining about what others are not doing is not the way students at Balanced Life Skills want to react to challenges.  

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Clean up of our waterways

I have just learned that September 19th is an international day devoted to cleaning up the waterways and is used as a day of awareness of what we can do to contribute to the health of our oceans and rivers.  I would like to invite our school and community to join with Balanced Life Skills in creating one or more projects that we can do on that date to help in this cause. 

If you know of a beach or creek or any waterway that needs the attention of humans – to undo what humans have done – please contact us so we can put groups together to spend this one day working on this important type of self defense. 

Talk to your friends and neighbors and lets make a difference in our environment.