Lions in your neighborhood, or wolves just down the street, how about a Tiger lurking near by? These are all the animals and more that you will find at the St. Augustine Wild Reserve. I had the pleasure recently to visit the St. Augustine Wild Reserve, and sit down and talk with one of their veteran volunteers Karen Malfry. We spent the good part of an hour talking as Karen shared one story after another about the animals at the reserve. While Karen and I talked, you could not help notice the deer, turkeys and the Siberian Lynx eavesdropping nearby. Karen was open about her experiences at the reserve; you could tell her obvious passion for helping the animals. The St. Augustine Wild Reserve is the “last resort for unhomed exotics” in Florida. It was founded by Deborah Warrick, a carnivore biologist, and wild animal handler, to educate the public about exotic animal ownership as well as prevent future animal abuse.The facility spans over seven acres, tucked away among other lots and farms near St. Augustine, Fl. It was a hidden secret of sorts, well that was until they became a hit on Trip Advisor. As a non-profit, the reserve is strictly volunteer run and donation sponsored, as they do not receive any federal grants or funding. Q. Can you describe the St. Augustine Wild Reserve as if no one knew about it? It is principally a rescue facility; they are not breeding animals. They are a home of last resort for many animals that would otherwise be euthanized. […]

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Risen is a Biblical tale seen through the eyes of an unbeliever. Clavius is a tribune of Julius Caesar, who follows the story of Jesus’ rising from the dead. The story unfolds as the Romans seek to silence the disciples and all those that are spreading the good news. Clavius searches high and low for the remaining disciples. To his chagrin when he encounters them, they are not afraid of Pilate’s wrath. Not only does Pilate order Clavius to find the disciples, but he also ordered him to locate the body of Jesus. He wanted proof that would silence Jesus’ followers once and for all. Clavius struggles to find the evidence that Pilate is looking for. In turn, he finds the proof he never thought existed. Instead of finding a crucified body to return to Pilate as evidence, he encounters Jesus himself. This encounter changes everything for him, as it would anyone. He finds himself in the dilemma of knowing that he watched him die. Now days later he sees the same man alive again. What else could he believe? The radical followers that he had been chasing, perhaps they were not so radical? #RisenMovie Click To Tweet Maybe they did not steal the body as originally thought? What did this all mean? Clavius does what any good soldier would do. He ran. That does not sound right, yet it was. He ran with the Apostles; he helped them escape the Roman soldiers that hunted them. His doubts began to fade as he witnessed more […]

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As I write this I am a bit sore and tired from a busy few days of vacation. Sore from all the adventures, tired from all the much-needed sleep. Sounds terrible doesn’t it, I mean how awful to spend a few days with no agenda, fresh water to swim in and plenty of sunshine in December? We decided to take a quick four-day getaway before all the holiday festivities were upon us. Being that we are dog owners we always try to find places where we can take them along as well. My wife did a little bit of research on the Web and found a site called Home Away. Home Away is where people open up their homes or other real estate to be rented as a vacation rental. After spending some time and numerous emails we found our destination over on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Pensacola on the Santa Rosa sound. We packed up our two dogs and hit the road for about a five-hour trip to the other side of our home state last Thursday. After traveling the entertaining stretch of I-10 (anyone that knows the stretch knows that is a stretch) we arrived at our destination in a small town of Mary Esther tucked in between Fort Walton and Pensacola Florida. We were greeted by our host Steve and our dogs soon to be best friend, his dog Cooper. Steve showed us the two bedroom cottage that would be our home away for the next few days along with […]

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