Historic snowfall!

Historic snowfall 

Snow fell on January 29, 2014 in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Icicles frozen on our beach house.

This does not look right!

Icicles on our stairs leading to the beach.

Snow on the beach.

Icy sea oats

Sand dunes

Usually these beaches are sugar white but Wednesday the the white came from the snow.

The sand looked brown from the rain that froze it.

During the freezing rain all the shells that were facing up had ice in them.

Kids that live on the Alabama coast have never seen snow or ice on the beach before! 

The adults say it has been 50 years.

All of these shells are stuck in ice due to freezing rain. 

Do you see the frozen water droplets the sea oats?

Snow and beach...WHAT?????

Icicles on the railing going to the beach.

Icicles + palm tree = not normal

Palm trees

The sand burrs are trapped by ice.

Sand burr plants.

The ice is thicker than the stem of the plant.

Huge plant frosted with ice

The walk to the beach is very icy.

Sea oats are covered with ice.

The ocean and frozen sea oats.

Our Beach House and Sand Dunes

This year we rented Aqua Vista, a house directly on the beach!

Aqua Vista is a 4 bedroom duplex and ours is on the left side. 

In February friends and family will be staying in the other side named Sandbox.

We LOVE seeing the dolphins from the huge windows facing the Gulf.  Another treat this year has been watching the Blue Angels practice over the Gulf.

Here is the VRBO link to the house http://www.vrbo.com/308451

The back of the house facing the Gulf Of Mexico.

The sand dunes are protected so we must stay on the path.  The sea oats roots hold the sand dunes together when waves crash against them.  The dunes are habitat for the endangered Alabama Beach Mouse and other animals. 

 After Christmas people donate their Christmas trees to the Gulf State Park.  The State Park volunteers lay the Christmas trees on the beach right up by the dunes so the sand can start piling up over the Christmas trees.

The sign in the background says 

NATURAL HABITAT

AREA:

Please Stay Off The 

Dunes & Sea Oats

                                              

This sign says that Orange Beach has a fine of up to $500 and/or 30 days in jail 

for walking or driving on the dunes.

 

Playing Opossum

Playing Opossum

This is Polly the Opossum.

The Gulf State Park Nature Center found a mother opossum that got hit by a car.

They rescued her babies and Polly is one of them.  Her siblings were released but they kept her.

Polly has a pouch for her young which means she is a marsupial.

She can have up to 13 babies.  When they are born they are the size of a honey bee.  

The babies go into her pouch and stay there for 70-125 days.  Then they go up to the mother`s back and hang on her for another 1-2 months to learn what to eat.  

They are omnivorous which means they eat meat and plants. 

She loves to hold on to you with her sharp nails and super strong tail as shown here with Mariah.

Opossums only live to be about 18 months in the wild.
In captivity they can live to be almost 4 years old.

Never approach a wild opossum and attempt to hold or pet it!
Polly is a Sweetheart because she was raised at the Nature Center.  

Rose Haired Tarantula

 Rose Haired Tarantula

Rebecca and Mariah holding a tarantula!

Anna, Rebecca and Mariah courageously let it crawl over their hands.  

They dared me to hold it but I was only brave enough to touch it! 

Anna`s turn to hold it! 

This tarantula is NOT native to Alabama.

The Gulf State Park Nature Center has one on display. 

The naturalist bought it at a pet store so visitors can enjoy learning about them.

Check out this neat video which tells more about this amazing creature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjoexDVIGG0

2 Wrecks in Fort Morgan

On Friday we drove west from Gulf Shores along the peninsula to Fort Morgan.  We set off to find a shipwreck but found a fatal wreck on the road along our way.

Halfway there we saw 15+ police plus a fire truck and an ambulance just arriving when we got there. 

We later found out that a snowbird couple was bicycling on the side of the road and got hit.

A helicopter was sent to take them to a hospital in Pensacola, FL.

The lady did not live and the man is still hospitalized.

Okay, enough of the sad part:-(

One reason we went out there was to film a "count down" for our church in Alabama.

Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k9YD2Jo6HY&feature=youtu.be

The main reason we went was to go treasure hunting for a mysterious shipwreck.

The wind and waves have revealed a "new" shipwreck over 150 years old.  

Most likely the sand will soon cover it again.

This recent article identifies the shipwreck as a Civil War Confederate Schooner from 1861.

http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/the_islander/local_news/article_2e6ed02a-73ce-11e3-82e5-001a4bcf887a.html 

Sea Turtles

Sea Turtles!

Today we went to a presentation on Sea Turtles.

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle makes the most nests here on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

In May through October the mother Sea Turtle lays her eggs. She goes up on the beach and digs a hole 18 to 21 inches deep with a hollow space at the bottom the size of a volleyball.

The temperature determines if the turtle will be a male or female. The turtles at the bottom of the hole will be males and the top will be females.

The fox is a predator to the Sea Turtles (on land) so someone thought of a great idea! They put a screen with 4 by 4 holes over the nest so the predators can`t get them while the turtles can get out.

In May of 2010 the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill greatly effected the turtles and all life in the ocean.

That year the volunteers who help make sure that the turtles get into the ocean did not want the turtles going into an oil infested ocean. So they dug up all the turtle's egg and transported them to a warehouse on the east coast and hatched and released them back into the ocean.

If you want to read more about the sea turtles go to www.alabamaseaturtles.com