News Archives

The Trailhead is located in Lake County, Florida. map

For more information, please contact info@scrubjaytrail.org
(352) 429-5566

open:
sat - wed : 8:00-5:00

Email photo contributions
of wildlife or plants seen
on the trail to this address: photos@scrubjaytrail.org

June 28, 2008 Trailday Newsletter
Hello Trailblazers,

Rain, at last!!
How quickly things green up and the weeds come back with
a little rain. Kind of a "catch 22", but we're happy to have
the rainy season here again. It was reported on the news recently that we need another 2 1/2 feet of rain in order to bring
the lakes back to normal. I guess it'll be a while.

Not always good news. We, unfortunately, have some sad news about two very important people to the Scrub-Jay Trail.

Craig Tufts, Chief Naturalist for the National Wildlife Federation and a great supporter of
the Consortium, underwent surgery last week to remove a malignant tumor from his brain. This is a similar operation that Sen. Ted Kennedy just went through. Our latest information from Craig's wife, Jean, is that Craig is feeling good, he's up and around, eating and happy to be back home. We'll keep you posted on his progress.

Also, Walt Poynter, the construction teacher from South Lake High, who supervised
the students in the design and building of the kiosk on the Florida Scrub-Jay Trail,
has melanoma. This is a type of skin cancer that spread inside his body. Walt's medical expenses far exceed his resources, so there will be a benefit silent auction and spaghetti dinner on Saturday, June 28 at 5:30 pm at the First Baptist Church in Clermont.
Call 352-394-4221 for further information. Tickets are $15. Even if you can't attend the event, maybe you'd want to send a donation. They need to raise $40,000 towards Walt's
medical bills.

We hope and pray that both guys recover quickly from their illnesses. They both have so much to give, and the world needs more people like them.

This year, it appears that only one fledgling survived. He was quite active and being very well protected by the 3 other members of the family. Unfortunately, we haven't seen him for several days now. We've seen a lot of swallow-tail kite activity in the area as well as some hawks , and can only hope that they didn't pick off the baby. We'll keep you informed.

We were honored to be invited to have a booth at the Environmental Open House
(Expo 2008), hosted by The Walt Disney World® Resort Local Diversity Action Team.
This 2-day event was attended by over 1,000 Disney cast members, who learned about the Florida scrub-jay and scrub habitat. .

Yes, that right! 1,000 plants are lined up and ready to be planted and irrigated on
the Scrub-Jay Trail. The majority of these are quarts and 1gallon shrubs, wildflowers and ground covers. Activity has been stepped up to accommodate this workload, and we've had Trailblazers here every weekend. This includes the hard-working kids and parents of
Cub Scout Pack 998 , Neal and LouAnne Rossdeutscher (did I get it right this time?),
Jim Edminton, Vivian Laurence and Lucille Parent.

Besides making a good sized dent in that 1,000 figure,2,000 feet of blue line poly tubing have been laid out and many "spaghetti" tubing and spitters have been connected for the low volume irrigation.

Please feel free to join in any weekend.
We're making great progress.

This was a great event! A big crowd showed up to work and play on this Holiday. With so many people working, it was an amazing sight to see so many plants planted.

The secret leaked out that Bruce turned 65 on that day, so Cathy arranged to have our "House Band",
Stuart Hall and Vic DiGiornio set up and entertain
the troops on the Trail. If you've ever attended one of
the National Wildlife Federation Habitat Stewards Barbecue Reception, you'll be familiar with Stu's greatest hits like "I Don't Look Good Naked, Anymore" "The Cat's in the Kettle at the Peking Moon", "What Kind Of Cat Are You? and many, many more.
It was great having Vic join on Bass, too.

Of course, we were slightly disappointed that Cathy didn't lead us in a sing-along of our favorite Stephen Foster tunes for the occasion, but she obviously didn't want to steal Stu and Vic's thunder.

Judy Clark didn't let us down. She rose to the occasion and prepared a sumptuous spread of "Medicare Muffins" "Low cholesterol, low fat, high fiber, rev up your engine, good-for-you bran muffins (with just a schmear of strawberry cream cheese or frosting to anchor the party hats) and "Twinkie Bread Pudding" You only live once(and this just might kill ya). Yes, bread pudding made with Twinkies. To make it even more deadly, add eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips!

You see, if you don't come to these Traildays, look what you've been missing.
Following the work detail, we continued to gorge on a traditional cookout,
and a good time was had by all.

We're looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday, June 28 for the next Trailday. As we mentioned, many plants need to be planted and irrigated.

As usual, a covered dish breakfast will be served, and you're invited to contribute.
Please RSVP. I wonder what Judy will bring this time. It's getting harder to outdo herself, but we have confidence.