Loving & Living by God’s Plan.

I finally pulled the plug on Facebook and MySpace. This is something that I have been thinking about for a long time. We weighed the good against the bad, and it is more trouble than it’s worth. The whole “social network” thing felt like more of a trap to me. I don’t think there is real value in online social networking with those kind of websites (and that includes twitter).

I was thinking about how much garbage is stored on the sites. If I tell everyone “I just ate a cookie.” or “I just bought some new shoes.”, it really has no value after I type it. That is what I’m calling garbage. Now multiply that by the millions of people who use it. Now think about the servers that store all of that garbage. Think about the electricity needed to power the servers and networks that store and operate everything. And it is all so that someone I hardly know can tell me they “are clipping their toenails.” I think that is wasteful. It just is.

So we are done with those kind of websites. I joined Facebook hoping to keep in touch with other students at the zoo. That made sense to me at the time. I was hoping we could keep in touch about what was going on to make sure that everyone was on the same page. But that only led to trouble because the zoo didn’t want us posting all the details about what goes on at the zoo online, which makes perfect sense. It ended up becoming a waste of time. I found myself bombarded with pictures of people partying most of the time. And all the time wondering, “How did I end up here looking at this?” And Facebook wouldn’t let me control everything I had to see.

Those sites have a way of keeping people hooked. It is a sort of addiction really. It is a trap in many ways. So we’re done with that. Maybe one day if they set it up where the user can control everything they have to read and see from people on their friends list, we might give it a try again. But I will be very cautious about rejoining those websites.

We are going to continue to share and communicate socially online from our website here at mcteems.com. This is where all of our online communication will be done. So keep coming back here to get the latest! This website is going to have a complete overhaul and expand greatly after I graduate in August. Some time between the end of this year and next summer, we will have a bright, new presentation here for everyone to enjoy. I have lots of creative ideas to share. So stay tuned!!

Alright, we’ve made the move from “Doing what we love.” to “Loving & Living by God’s Plan.”

2 1/2 years ago when I started this blog all I wanted to do was be more active. I was tired of talking. I wanted to do more. I wanted my feet to be moving. I wanted my heart to be pumping. I wanted to sweat and work - see, hear, smell, and feel the world around me. That led me to zookeeping. Now that I have been here… I’ve experienced “the world” again. Ouch.

Alot has changed since my last run-in with “the world”. I was much younger and didn’t realize just how important God is when you are out and about. I don’t care if you are going to pick up groceries. God is watching. And evil is moving, never sleeping, always looking to bring pain into your life.

So… enters God - the redeemer. God is the neutralizer for an enemy that has no name or face but takes everyone’s name and face. He’s had your name. He’s had mine. So I’ve learned. And now, we will not waver or stop “doing what we love”. But the difference, and this is so massive words cannot describe it… G O D will be at the helm. God will call the shots. God has the plan. My responsibility is to be with God as I live, love, and experience God’s gift of life in the way that only he can give to our eyes and ears - to our hearts.

I hope you like the new slogan. God is an essential element to success. And if we want our dreams and goals to continue to grow, it can only be done through God. Stay with us. The future is incredibly bright!!

Well, it’s hard to believe. It’s hard to even really accept that I am just about 6 weeks from finishing my classes at Santa Fe College. I have worked so hard over the past 18 months or so - extremely hard. It has been a life-altering experience. That’s for sure.

I am moving over to my last section of the zoo - the Education Department. There are some really cool animals assigned to that area that I am looking forward to working with before leaving. Some examples are the Galapagos tortoises, the juvenile American Alligators, and the Glass Lizards. I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me before this is all over. So I wouldn’t go as far as to say it is “all down hill from here”. It’s not like that at all. But it is very close.

I can see the finish line on the horizon. And I am sooooooo EXCITED about the next step after this is over. Whenever God allows it, I will take that next step. And I can’t wait to share it with all of you! There will be some really cool and FUN online journaling to read, videos to watch, and photography to enjoy. But for now… back to work.

Here are a few photos I found online of the animals I am assigned to next semester. These are the species that I will be responsible for. There are many others that I will work with, but these are my guys. Enjoy!

In through the nose… out the mouth. In through the nose… out the mouth. And relax…

That is a good introduction to this post. That is what we are telling ourselves now with Alex. We love him so much, and he is growing up so fast. But we have officially entered the “terrible twos”. For us, terrible twos refers to the 2 in “20 months old”. I hope since he is starting this phase before his 2nd birthday it means he will stop this phase early. We’ll see.

This phase is a case of having your own ideas, will, and opinons, but not having the means to express them. And you have to add in a complete lack of ability to cope with your emotions. That equates to bursts of temper tantrums followed by sweet hugs and kisses followed by bouts of running, screaming, jumping and climbing followed by periods of adorable, quiet toddler talking. Whew. It’s a rollercoaster. I don’t even bother trying to keep up. I just kick the ball back into play when it comes my way. LOL! I’m totally kidding. But what I do is I have a pretty good line drawn at a fair level of toleration. And only when he crosses that line do I get into the mess and straighten things out. Otherwise, I would be going nonstop after something that isn’t for me to chase. It’s totally natural, and is just a phase that parents must wait out until it passes.

On the really cool side of things, Alex is learning his alphabet! He enjoys the alphabet as much as counting, if not more. He can already say A, B, D, E, I, L, M, N, O, R, and X. As far as numbers go, we’ve heard him say 1, 2, 6, and 10. His T’s and P’s aren’t quite there yet. Neither are his S’s. We are thinking he will start preschool in about a year or so. So we are very happy with his progress to this point. He’s only 20 months old, and we have lots of time to keep practicing.

How about that?!?! Pretty amazing, huh? 32 years old, and I’ve been married for 13 years already. Cameron and I are so thankful that God put us together at such a young age. I have needed her so much over the years - and vice versa.

I spent my anniversary taking midterm exams and working at the zoo. But I’m not complaining. Right now is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So you have to sacrifice. No question about that. And we have a couple hours tonight to enjoy dinner and a flick from Netflix.

Here is a picture taken just after I walked in the door from my day at the zoo. I think it’s funny because Cameron is all dressed up for our anniversary because she was off from work with Alex all day, and I have all these sweat spots and stink on me from a good day’s work at the zoo. It definitely captured the moment.

Here’s a little inspiration for anyone who needs some right now. I know I do. This is good stuff from a different time.

And here is the final sequence from this classic movie about never giving up, especially in the darkest hour.

This is my second Father’s Day. It seems like my first. Alex was so young last year in June. I didn’t really have to be much of a father. I was more of a babysitter. LOL. But now, he is old enough to need a father’s guidance, friendship, and love. So in a way, this is my first Father’s Day.

I love being a Dad!! It really is a special blessing to be a father in a lifetime. I’m so happy to have such a good son. Alex is so funny. We love him so much.

So Happy Father’s Day to all the father’s reading! We have the huge responsibility of setting a good example for future generations to follow. I know we are up to the task.

Here are a few pics from me & Alex on Easter hunting for eggs. Enjoy. Have a great day!!

… are really cool. I was able to work with three of them this week. I really enjoyed it. They are completely fascinating to me. In fact, so far in my work, they are my favorite lizard. I enjoyed working with a savannah monitor, green iguanas are ok, and the Gould’s monitor I take care of right now is pretty neat. But the prehensile-tailed skinks are probably my favorite. They have really long tails with sharp claws. Those features are designed for an arboreal life in the trees.

They move very slow unless they are fleeing. They are herbivores. They thrive on leafy matter. And they seem to be rather intelligent. They take care of their young. Pretty neat, huh? Lizards that take care of their young. What!? Why? I know, right. Fascinating. Stick around and care for your young. Who would have thought we would see that in a lizard? And they usually only reproduce every other year, or even less than that. I guess that explains why their babies are such treasures to them.

These guys are having a tough time too. The pet trade has taken too many directly from the wild. And the even bigger problem, which is most often the big killer, is habitat desruction. You cut the trees down and these guys have no place to literally “hang out”. So captive breeding is critical for this species. I’m keeping this one in the back of my mind for the future. I just might set up a little captive environment of my own one day and give a little back for one of the coolest lizards alive today - the Prehensile-tailed Skink.

Ok. When we bought Sunny (our cornsnake) last August, he was about 18 inches long. So I am guessing that he was about a year (maybe 18 months) old at that point. Now, he is well on his way to about 3 years old. I’m so excited that that he has done so well with us over the last ten months!!

From the very tip of his tail to the tip of his snout, he is just over 4 FEET LONG!!!! He grew 2 1/2 feet in 10 months!!! I can’t believe that. I know it is important that reptiles grow at a steady rate because it can cause health problems for them when they gain weight too quickly. So I didn’t overfeed him at all. I fed him never more than once every 5 days. And for a long time, he was only eating once every 7 or 8 days.

I’m very happy about his growth! I would love for him to turn out to be a giant specimen for a corn snake. I’m going to have to get him a new enclosure now though. I didn’t expect him to grow this fast! He took a month off from feeding recently. He wouldn’t eat. And I attribute that to him sensing that his body needed some time off from eating.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this. You can get a good look at him in the pictures below. He is very long, and still kind of thin. He has been growing in length. And that is good. My understanding of bone growth is that it happens at a young age. So the idea is to get good, healthy, long bone growth when they are young, and then build the size (girth) with age. Woo Hoo!!! Too cool.

And keep in mind that this is my first snake, so I am extra excited about all of this. :o)

This Wednesday, my herpeculture class went to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. We were given a guided tour, including a peek behind the scenes. It was really cool to get the chance to see so many of the species we study in the classroom. The endangered Indian Gharial was one of my favorites because of its bizarre bulbous structure on its snout, which is only found in the males. The Australian Saltwater Crocodile “Maximo” was very intimidating. I bet it would be really cool to watch them feed him on Saturdays.

I put together a 7 1/2 minute video from my visit. It also shows an area of the park that I think has to be one of the coolest native waterbird immersion exhibits I have ever seen in Florida. I would HIGHLY recommend a visit during June. They had waterbirds in the thousands there. They were in every life stage you could imagine - egg, chick, fledgling, juvenile, and adults. And this was all in one place along a boardwalk! You just stroll along seeing every life stage of several of Florida’s native waterbirds. It is really unique. I saw a few Wood Storks. Didn’t see any heron. It seemed to me like the numbers of egrets were the highest. I saw lots of great and snowy egrets. I also saw my first wild tri-colored egret. She was on a nest with 4 teal eggs. She is in the video I made for everyone to enjoy.

Ok. So if you have 8 minutes to spare, sit back, relax, and enjoy a fun little guided video tour of the St. Augustine Zoological Park.