Senior men play softball

Let's play ball!

Two leagues offer softball teams locally. The Atlantic Division is men 55-64; the Coastal Division is men 65-75. Games will be played at Olsen Park, season runs April - October with a 3-week summer break in the schedule. A free conditioning clinic starts 1/4 and runs through 2/24 at 1 PM, twice weekly.

Contact Phil at 791-0852 or Harry at 256-0543.



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Cape Fear Cyclists invite you to join them

The Cape Fear Cyclists Club invites you to join them on regularly scheduled weekend rides, weekday rides, and many other individual rides.

All CFC sponsored club rides are led by members. Everyone is welcome on our rides, regardless of whether you are a member.

See their Ride Calendar for details. They also provide a comprehensive calendar of local area biking events and maintain a library of bike routes throughout Wilmington and the surrounding areas.

You can join the club here.

 

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Swap your shells at the Aquarium's Nature Swap

Need a reason to get outside? Swap your shells at the Aquarium’s Nature Swap.

 

Participate in the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher’s Nature Swap by first exploring together outside. Do you find objects in nature, such as interesting shells, bones, egg cases, rocks, pine cones and other treasures? If you enjoy exploring natural areas such as beaches and forests, and collecting found treasures, come to the Aquarium to share and swap. Nature Swap showcases natural objects, such as shark teeth, skulls, and shells.

You can learn more about natural objects from Aquarium staff by examining their collection, and by bringing in your own finds. And, you can acquire points for your treasures to use in trade for another item of equal or lesser value. If something rare catches your eye you can accumulate points by bringing different items until the value you cache equals the item of interest.

Nature Swap provides a great excuse to explore outdoors however, you are encouraged to do no damage while collecting treasures, and to follow a few guidelines established by the Aquarium:

~Earn points for each item you bring, for a maximum of 3 items per day.

~Earn extra points for doing some of your own research on the item you found.

~Your item must be cleaned and in good condition.

Acceptable items include: ~Clean bones, antlers, teeth, claws, skullsSnake sheds, eggs, and rattles (found in nature)Sand, interesting rocks, fossils, invertebrate molts, eggs cases, shellsCasts of animal footprintsPreserved plant parts, pine cones Items the Aquarium won’t accept include: ~Items from the Aquarium grounds ~Bird parts, feathers, eggs, or nests ~Alligator parts or mounts ~Live plants ~Sea turtle parts ~Marine mammal parts

Look for Nature Swap across from the Touch Tank. Aquarium members can participate in Nature Swap again and again with free Aquarium admission. Non-members must pay admission to access Nature Swap for each trade. …from WaterLogged, the NC Aquarium blog

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Sinking boat floats

A sunk boat that floats is what we need at Wrightsville Beach Marina. Artist/designer Julien Berthier designed and built "Love, Love," by cutting a large sailboat in half, adding a new keel and motor to enable the boat to move while appearing to capsize.  He sails in England and France.  How could we get him to come here?


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Coastal Water Watch teams up with Cape Fear River Watch

The Brunswick-based organization – Coastal Water Watch – and CFRW created a partnership this summer, allowing each group’s membership to enjoy full status in both.  This gives CFRW more presence in

Brunswick County and allows CWW to benefit from the CFRW’s advocacy program and membership in the Watershed Alliance. 

Sounds like a good idea.

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Aquarium helps cold-stunned turtles

The NC Aquariums are helping rescue cold-stunned sea turtles struggling with temperatures below freezing.   The NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher is assisting with the rehabilitation of 13 turtles. The 13 juvenile green sea turtles were cold-stunned.

“Cold-stunning” is a process that causes sea turtles to become immobile due to the dramatic decrease in water temperature, making it impossible for them to escape the cold water and migrate to warmer water. Cold-stunned turtles can float to the surface of the water and be pushed by wind and waves onto shore. A cold-stunned sea turtle on land may appear to be dead, but may actually be alive. Without proper intervention, a cold stunned sea turtle will inevitably die. Aquarium staff placed the turtles in large holding tanks, where they were assessed. It’s important that they be warmed slowly under controlled conditions. Any injuries to the animals are treated.

The turtles will remain at the Aquarium for further rehabilitation and eventual release. While all three NC Aquariums assist with cold-stunned sea turtles care, more severe cases are sent to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Beach.

To report the stranding of a sea turtle in the Kure Beach and Carolina Beach areas, call the Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project at (888) 290-1065.To report a sea turtle stranding in other areas, call the NC Wildlife Resources Commission Sea Turtle Project (252) 241-7367. Do not place the turtle in water or try to warm the turtle. The stranding response team will provide additional instructions based upon the situation.

….from Aquarium News

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Southeast NC Food Initiative connects farmers and chefs

The Southeast NC Food Systems Council held a very successful farmer-chef event in late October. It was the third such event, offering local chefs the opportunity to meet local farmers and strike business relationships. Beginning farmers and long-established farmers turned out to meet with the chefs, who are committed to sourcing local ingredients for their restaurants.

The SENCFS is establishing a new processing and distribution center to streamline and coordinate local food distribution in the Wilmington area. The new director is Renee Eli.

The SENCFS is a partnership, including the Cooperative Extension centers of Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson, Onslow and Duplin counties. It is led by Dr. Leslie Hossfield, public sociologist at UNCW.

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