Star Stable: A MMO for Horse Lovers!!

Have you ever dreamt of going to a far off island where you ride horses, shop at malls, explore and uncover magic and island lore, and discover great mysteries? Have you ever dreamt of doing all of this in a Massive Multiplayer Online Game? Well, look no further! Star Stable is the MMO for you!

Simply create an in game avatar, and select what kind of starter horse you want, and away you go into the Island World of Jorvik. It's a place steeped in lore, mystery and lots of horseback riding. You begin at Moorland Stables, where you're instantly introduced to the game and swept up in a grand adventure. Now, I won't spoil anything for you, but there many things to do on the island. It's a pretty massive island too, so you can bide your time exploring if you'd like. In fact, that's encouraged. Not all of it will be open to you right away, but you'll unlock more and more of it as you explore and go through the story.

The best part about the game is that along the way, you can buy more horses! There are many different breeds to choose from. I have 5 horses right now. A snow white Tinker Horse named Diamond Dust, a cute little Jorvik Pony named Violetdawn, a gorgeous pale pearlescent gold Morgan named Everdawn, and my personal favorite, a pale Haflinger named  Honeydew (as seen in the picture above).

The game is incredibly detailed in that you have to take care of your horse properly in order to keep it happy and be able to get good times in races. You have 4 ways of taking care of your horse; feeding, watering, hoof picking, and brushing. Do all these at least once a day and your horse is happy and healthy and ready to ride. Don't, and your horse is going to be unhappy and sluggish and not easy to handle.

You can also do basic chores around each town's stables to earn extra in game currency, including feeding and watering the horses, and mucking out the stables. Yup, in this game you can actually scoop up digital poop with a digital shovel!

Anyways, here's my character in the Star Rider stables. That's the stables you get when you become a Star Rider, or member in the game. You can become one by buying a membership with real world currency. You can also get Star Coins, the coins you use to buy new horses, with real world currency.

Gabrielle Greenleaf

She is at level 10 as of now, same as Honeydew (yes horses in the game can be leveled up to be faster and more agile via training), and is wearing an assortment of purple riding gear. That's my favorite color if you didn't know. So of course, all my gear and tack has to be purple!!

Purple Power!!

So, if your interested in this game, follow the link I gave you at the beginning of this entry and join in the fun today!!

TTFN!!

Venus Fly Traps!

It's been a long and winding road for me these past few weeks, and one that led me to find myself with not one, not two, but three small Venus Fly Trap plants. I tried a new setup, as my past ones have all failed me. This time I took an old wash basin lying around and drilled 3 holes on each side about an inch from the bottom, leaving enough room for water to sit. Then, when that was done, I tried a "sandwich" technique with the substrate. First, I added a very thin layer of Long Fibered Sphagnum moss (LFS) from Canada, and then a glopped in organic sphagnum peat moss until the container was almost full. After that, I planted the 3 Venus Fly Traps (all are "typicals" or of no known cultivars), and then added the rest of the LFS I had on top of that. Then I set it outside in direct sunlight. This is the result.

We three Flytraps sitting in a bog (container).

Thankfully, the weather was cloudy so the plants had a bit of time to adjust to being in light again after two days of being shipped in total darkness within the cardboard box. As I went outside yesterday at noon, I noticed one of the traps was slightly deformed.

A trap with a bit of a pucker on one side.

I'm guessing this trap won't be able to function properly and will die off without trapping anything. Such a shame, but that sometimes happens, whether from bugs, or from being shipped. Either way, the plant shouldn't be phased one bit. It has other traps to help it catch prey.

Venus Fly Traps are fascinating little predators. Since the Venus Fly Trap lives in nutrient poor peat bogs, it evolved to catch the nutrients it needed via insects, spiders, and other small critters that can easily fit inside of it's traps. The trap secretes an intoxicating aroma that draws in it's prey, and when the prey is walking about on the open trap, it'll brush against one of 4 trigger hairs. Brushing against these hairs twice will trigger the trap to close rapidly and encase it's prey. Once closed, the trap seals itself shut, and begins secreting digestive enzymes to break down the prey and suck out the nutrient rich slurry that results. The trap opens once it's done "digesting" it's prey and reveals only the mere dried husk of the body. The trap is then ready to lure in another victim. Traps can do this up to 2-3 times before finally dying off, as new ones grow to replace them.

Their native habitat are the coastal peat bogs of North Carolina, the state where I live right now, and a tiny bit of the adjoining bogs in South Carolina. This surprised me as I always thought they were from some far off jungle in Africa or something. Of course, I wasn't alone in this assumption, as many think that. Sadly though, their native peat bog habitats are shrinking in size as the land is cleared for development of rich coastal mansions and whatnot. Some homeowners do try and keep whatever Venus Fly Traps they find on their land alive, however most just see them as unwanted weeds interfering with their otherwise immaculate green lawns.

Then there are those who illegally dig these lovely plants up to sell. Those are the poachers who we in the business heavily frown upon. Some will dig up Venus Fly Traps by the hundreds to sell illegally and make a tidy little sum in doing so. It's a sad reality, but there is a ray of hope in all of this. Recently, the penalty for poaching Venus Fly Traps has gone up in some places, including paying hefty fines and even jail time. However, this doesn't deter poachers altogether.

If any of my readers are interested in keeping Venus Fly Traps themselves, I highly recommend starting with reading Peter D'Amato's "The Savage Garden". You can find it on Amazon. I purchased my "revised" edition, the most recent of the editions to be released, and according to D'Amato, his final one. Not only that, but I have it signed by Peter himself.

Does that read "Feed your plants"?

Anyways, I've written enough for now, I'll update you on my plants progress later on.

TTFN