Brunswick Voice

Paws-Ability Goes to the Wilmington Cat Show

February 27, 2008

Paws-Ability Goes to the Wilmington Cat Show

Paws-Ability is excited to participate in the Wilmington Cat Show this year. We will be there to tell cat lovers attending about Paws’ mission to help Brunswick County rescue groups. We will also be selling Paws-Ability Mardi Paws T-shirts and posters.

The 3rd Annual CFA All Breed Cat Show is sponsored by the Coastal Paws Cat Club. It is Saturday, March 15, from 9am until 5pm at Cape Fear Community College’s Schwartz Center, 610 Front Street in downtown Wilmington.

More than 200 pedigreed cats from around the country are expected to compete. See many of the 41 recognized cat breeds and talk with local and national breeders. Vendors will be offering cat toys, supplies, grooming products, jewelry, cat trees and more! The public is welcome. Admission is $6 adults, $4 seniors, $4 children, under 3 free. For more information visit the Coastal Paws Cat Club site at http://www.coastalpaws.com/.

Please come out and show your support for Paws-Ability and have fun seeing how cats are judged by the CFA. See you there!

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Barnacles – Striped barnacle and Ivory Barnacle

February 12, 2008

I was walking near the pier on Ocean Isle Beach, NC and noticed all the barnacles on the pier pilings.
Surprise, surprise, these are crustaceans! The crustaceans you are used to seeing, lobsters, shrimp, and crabs are in the subclass Malacostraca, but barnacles are in the subclass Cirripedia. They have fewer appendages and segments and their organs are rearranged. In fact, the barnacles that are attached to surfaces are thought to be attached by their heads!
Most barnacles are hermaphroditic and they cross fertilize their eggs. They drift though the water and find a suitable place to attach. As they mature, their mantle secretes an external shell. They have plates that interlock by overlapping and in the center they have two sets of plates that act as a door. When in the water, the barnacle opens and closes it’s doors and it extends it’s cirri (feathery legs) and catches any plankton or detritus in the water. They are filter feeders. After they mature,they put out a chemical which attracts other barnacles. That’s why you will find them in clusters. Most live attached to firm surfaces like pilings (where these pictures were taken), rocks, oysters , boat bottoms or even turtles, whales and crabs .Early naturalists misclassified barnacles as mollusks
because of the outer shell-like structure.

This is a Striped Barnacle Balanus crenatus.
It’s interesting because in the North, it is white with grey stripes and south of Cape Hatteras, it’s white with purple stripes.

It is very similar to the Ivory Barnacle Balanus eburneus which is smooth and white. Seen below.

Someone sent me a video on bio-luminescence and camouflage in sea creatures and I thought it was very interesting.
Click on the link below to watch.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/206

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Marti Gras Paws-Ability 2008

February 10, 2008

We wish to thank the following donors who made the 2008 Mardi-Gras Pawsability Party possible:

Blue Crab Blue Gift Shop ———Mad Hatter Mobile Dog Groomer
Brunswick Plantation ————-Ocean Isle Surf Academy
Brunswick Little Theatre ———Ryder Truck Rentals
Cinelli’s Italian Restaurant ——Silver Coast Winery
Ocean Isle Inn ———————-Southern Living At Home

Belks ———————————Skipper Graphics Printing and Design

ABC Signs —————————Sloane Realty

Green Up, Inc. ———————Sharky’s Restaurant

We had a great time raising funds for the
‘forgotten animals of Brunswick County’
on February 5, 2008.
We will have our meeting on the 18th of February to determine which 501(c) animal organization’s wish lists will receive funding from the Marti-Gras Pawsability Party. We will post the results soon after the meeting. Thanks again for all your help and attendance at this fund raiser and be sure to let the businesses above know how much you appreciate their help!

We had a very successful Marti Gras Paws-Ability party 2008. We don’t have the final

figures yet, but we’re certain we have raised a lot more than the 2007 party.
Pictured above is our resident artist for the 2008 Marti Gras Paws-Ability, Darlene Patterson.

Pictured L-R are the president of Paws-Ability, Janie Withers, our 2008 king and queen,
Joy David and John Jenks.