Dombroskie Graduates From Military Basic Training
March 27, 2011
Air Force Airman 1st Class Laura A. Dombroskie graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.
The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.
She is the daughter of John Dombeoskie of Milestone Blvd., Cantonment, Fla. Dombroskie is a 2007 graduate of Tate High School.
Featured Recipe: Sopapilla Cheesecake
March 27, 2011
This weekend’s featured recipe is Sopapilla Cheesecake, an impressive combo of sugary crunch topping and a smooth and creamy center. It’s a terrific recipe for anyone looking to make a splash at dinner without spending all day in the kitchen. Garnish with berries or citrus zest for a lovely presentation and a memorable end to your meal.
To print today’s recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
Behind The Pollen: Those Majestic Oaks
March 26, 2011
Trees are slowly waking up after a long winter’s nap. While some trees awaken with a beautiful floral display, others are more subtle. One such restrained tree that is just waking up is the oak.
Oak trees produce flowers each spring, although their flowers are not the showy type. Showy flowers are showy for a reason; they need to attract insect pollinators to transfer their pollen. It’s the plants that don’t have showy flowers – cedars, oaks, pines, hickories, grass, and the notorious ragweed that make the lives of allergy sufferers miserable each year. These plants have chosen wind as their means of spreading pollen, and an effective method it is. Windblown pollen is produced in abundant quantities and can be carried for miles in the breeze.
All members of the Quercus genus are known to produce large amounts of pollen, making both deciduous and evergreen oaks highly, to extremely, allergenic. One way of knowing when the oak trees are blooming is the appearance of yellow pollen on your car, sidewalk or pool. Following the bloom, oak flowers, known as catkins, drop to the ground and accumulate along curbs.
Successful pollination results in the development of acorns. Curiously, the word for oak tree fruit is not the same word for the tree. Apples grow on apple trees, hickory nuts and pine nuts grow on hickories and pines, but acorns grow on oaks. This odd disconnection between the parent and fruit names goes back to an Old English word meaning fruit of a tree.
Oaks can be divided into two broad categories: the red (or sometimes called black) oaks and the white oaks. The main difference between the groups is the time it takes for the seed, or acorn, to mature.
Examples of red oaks include the laurel oak, Southern red oak, turkey oak and water oaks. Their leaf lobes are usually pointed or tipped with a fine bristle. A bristle is a small spine at the tip of the leaf. Red oaks produce flowers each spring. The acorns of these trees, however, take two seasons to mature following their formation, leading to the designation as biennial oaks.
Some examples of oaks in the white group include the live oak, post oak and the swamp chestnut oak. White oaks generally have a rounded leaf tip and rounded lobes without bristles. Their acorns are sweeter than those of the bitter red oak group, making them more palatable to both humans and wildlife. After pollination the white oak acorns grow and mature in only one season. Oaks that have acorns that mature in the fall of the year they are formed are designated as annual oaks.
If we have a warm spring and a summer with enough rain we typically will have a heavy crop of acorns in autumn. That’s why a heavy crop of acorns is not an indicator of the severity of winter to come but rather a reflection of the past spring and summer.
Oaks provide valuable food for vertebrate wildlife in the form of acorns. More than 100 species of vertebrate animals are known to consume acorns in the U.S., including mammals such as white-tailed deer, gray squirrels, fox squirrels, flying squirrels, mice, voles, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, gray foxes, red foxes, and wild hogs. Birds that feed on acorns include wild turkey, bobwhite quail, wood ducks, mallards, woodpeckers, crows, and jays.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County. Photo courtesy Theresa Friday.
NHS Anime Club Raising Funds For Japan Earthquake Victims
March 24, 2011
A Northview High School club is working to raise funds for earthquake victims in Japan.
The Northview Anime Club is selling t-shirts and rubber bracelets, with all proceeds going to the Americares relief effort in Japan. Bracelets should arrive at the school by Friday for $3 each; and “I (heart) Japan” t-shirts are pre-order at $10 each. The Japanese symbol for love is set within the heart.
The students chose a white shirt and red heart to symbolize the Japanese flag. The bracelets are similar in design with the symbol for love framing the wording.
For more details or to order a shirt, email Sascha Blackburn at bblackburn@escambia.k12.fl.us or stop by the Northview High front office.
Anime is form of animation art that originated in Japan.
Missing Area Dog Found 900 Miles Away In Texas, Flown Home
March 23, 2011
An Escambia County, Alabama, dog is back home today after being found 900 miles away in Brownsville, Texas.
Shady, a German shepherd mix went missing back in January. She somehow traveled from her Brewton, Alabama, home across four states to south Texas. Found wondering the streets of Brownsville with a pack of stray dogs, Brownsville animal control officers located her microchip and were able to contact owner Jodie Wilson back in Alabama.
“Receiving the phone call was shocking, knowing exactly where she was at and how far away it was with her being unharmed was utterly amazing! After being gone for so long we just assumed the worst. This is a wild but amazing story,” Wilson said.
Danny Ritter, a volunteer with Pilots N Paws flew Shady from Houston to Brewton for a happy reunion.
“We will never know how she got that far but Jesus was traveling with her because he put his angels to work. Shady’s guardian angels have rescued her, sheltered her, arranged for her to come home, transported her, watched over her, donated money for her journey home, flew her home and cared for her while she was on her big adventure,” Wilson said.
And Wilson’s advice for other pet owners? “Microchip your pet, it works!”
Pictured: Members of Shady’s family met her at the Brewton Airport after she was flown back from Texas. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Bands Concert Receive Music Awards
March 22, 2011
The Florida Bandmasters Association District 1 Concert Music Performance Assessment (MPA) was held recently at Washington High School. As part of the MPA, middle and high school bands play three prepared songs for three different judges and then play two pieces they have not seen before for a fourth judge.
The following Escambia County bands received an overall superior rating: Bailey Middle Symphonic, Brown Barge Middle, Ransom Middle Symphonic, Escambia High Symphonic, and Tate Symphonic.
The bands receiving an Excellent rating were Bellview Middle, Ferry Pass Middle, Bailey Middle Concert, Ransom Middle Concert, and Woodham Middle.
Northview, Ernest Ward FFA Members Attend Ag On The Hill
March 21, 2011
Students from the FFA chapters at Northview High and Ernest Ward Middle schools attended the annual “Ag On the Hill” event last week in Tallahassee.
The seven students were among about 150 from the state’s 15,000 FFA members chosen to take part in the event that introduces the students to state leaders and the Legislature.
The local FFA members were able to visit with Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, Sen. Greg Evers and Rep Doug Broxson. They were also introduced on the floor of the Legislature by Broxson.
Students attending from the Northview FFA were Lydia Weaver, Stephanie Solari, Allyson Bullard and Devin Bell, along with student teaching intern Anthony Cannon and FFA Advisor Perry Byars.
Students attending from Ernest Ward Middle School were Haylee Weaver, Allison Woodfin and Bethany Reynolds, with EWMS FFA Advisor Cindy Wilson.
For a photo gallery from the event, click here.
Ag on the Hill is presented annually by the Florida Association of Agricultural Educators, The University of Florida and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Pictured top: Northvew FFA members Stephanie Solari, Lydia Weaver, Allyson Bullard and Devin Bell; Sen. Greg Evers; Ernest Ward FFA members Allison Woodfin, Haylee Weaver and Bethany Reynolds at “Ag On the Hill. Pictured inset: Bullard and Bell on the floor of the Florida Legislature. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Students Awarded In Century Lions Sawmill Pageant Poster Contest
March 21, 2011
Two Escambia County (Ala.) Enrichment Program students were awarded for taking part in a poster contest to promote the 20th Annual Century Sawmill Pageant sponsored by the Century Lions Club. The winners were Mary Deese and Katelin Salter, both fifth graders at W.S. Neal Middle School.
The 20th Annual Century Sawmill Pageant sponsored by the Century Lions Club will be held Saturday, March 26 at 10 a.m. at the former Carver/Century School.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Did You See The Saturday Night ‘Super Moon’?
March 20, 2011
The full moon brightened the Saturday night sky as the biggest full moon seen in almost two decades.
The moon was at perigee, its closest point to Earth – only 221,565 miles away. The last time the full moon coincided with an extreme perigee was March 8, 1993.
The moon appeared 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter in the sky than lesser full moons — when the moon is farthest from the Earth. But to the casual observer, it was difficult to tell the difference without comparing the moon to a nearby object as in the top photo.
Pictured top: The moon rises behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington Saturday night (courtesy NASA). Picture inset: The moon rises in Walnut Hill, NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Featured Recipe: Bite-Size Bacon Wraps
March 20, 2011
This weekend’s featured recipe from Janet Tharpe is Bite-Size Bacon Wraps. They may be tiny, but brown sugar and bacon packs a big taste.
To print today’s “Just a Pinch” recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
