I have reached a milestone.

I am now officially halfway through my grad courses at IUPUI!

First summer session I am taking a class on Intellectual Freedom. I'm looking forward to it especially since I recently had a conversation about banning a Berenstain Bear's book, the institutional racism if the ALA (American Library Association), and the bigotry of Melvil Dewey.

Part of the class involves blogging and if the prof will let me I would like to use this blog so I don't have to create another one. I'm not big on redundancy. Anyhow, you may see this turn into classwork soon but never fear my three readers I will be back to normal someday!

Sad news for today. This morning the female eagle at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens was killed when she was struck while fishing by a landing plane. No one on the plane was injured and the plane itself sustained minimal damage.

Three baby eaglets now must rely soley on the father who will more than likely continue to care for them until they fledge. The eaglets are about a week away from being able to fend for themselves.

The moderated feed today on the Norfolk eagle cam site stated that the pair had been together since 2003 after the females first mate was killed, also by a plane. The male has been perched by the nest all day but his instinct to take over care hasn't kicked in yet. He's relied on her for 19 years and 19 successful babies fledging so it may take awhile.

The staff at Norfolk and the Center for Conservation Biology will see if he feeds them tomorrow before making a decision about whether or not to remove the eaglets from the nest. If they are removed they are all healthy enough to be raised in a manner that will allow their release into the wild. And that IS good news.