A Nature Walk With: Ratty

Nature Center Magazine is introducing a new feature.We will interview bloggers about their blogs and their interest in nature.

Ratty is known as the Everyday Adventurer. He wanders through nature and shares his adventures with us. He is also the editor of Nature Center Magazine. We want to know him
a bit better so... let's take a walk with Ratty.


01. Welcome to Nature Center Magazine. We are all anxious to learn a little bit about you. Tell us what your blog is all about.

My first blog is The Everyday Adventurer. It's where I tell about my adventures from my little trips that I go on out with nature. I usually go for short hikes at the nearest nature parks, but I sometimes tell about nature right outside my house. I always try to make it clear there that my nature adventures are something anyone can do. I also have another blog called Rat Tales where I tell some wonderfully creepy fiction stories.


02. Everyone has their own unique story about what gave them the idea to start blogging. What is yours?

It's been awhile so I don't remember everything, but it all started when I began looking for something fun to do around where I lived at the time. I also had recently been on a very fun vacation, and I had the idea of trying to make my everyday life as fun as that vacation.So I began searching my city for fun things to do, but there was only one good thing I found for people my age. That was the nature parks near my house. Those parks and the nature parks from my vacation became my inspiration to start my blog.


03. What do you enjoy about nature and what benefits do you derive from it?

There are many things that I enjoy about nature, but the thing I enjoy the most is the relaxation. I'm a nervous person most of the time, but being out in the middle of a forest all alone is the one thing that relaxes me completely. A good nature park is the most peaceful place on Earth.


04. Each of us has our own way of being with nature. Some people hike, some take pictures, and some climb trees. How do you experience nature?

Like I said before, I like to go to the nature parks. I walk the trails at the parks I visit and I take pictures of what I see. I guess it would be classified as hiking, but I rarely go farther than a few miles at a time. The pictures are like the icing on the cake for me because they give me a record of what I experienced, and I love sharing those experiences.


05. Tell us about the most exciting or scary nature related thing that ever happened to you.

I'll tell you about the most exciting thing that happened to me. It was also kind of scary when I think about it. I was out at one of my favorite nature parks when a group of six raccoons came running towards me. That was scary at first, but I soon realized that they weren't full grown. These raccoons were just looking for a friend and I happened to be it. They soon crowded around me. I realized that I couldn't let this happen so I tried to shoo them away. When that didn't work, I had to run for about half a mile up and down hills and over a creek to get away from them.


06. If you were to take us on a nature tour of your area where would you take us first? Describe what we would see.

There are many places to take you in my new area, but the first place I'd take you is Stone Park. You can drive through this place to see many features of nature. It takes you up huge hills that many people would think of as mountains because of their huge size. The park is also filled with nature trails to walk through and explore. There are many places in this park where you can look out from the tops of the hills and see clear into other states. These places are easily accessible to everyone.


07. If you could visit any nature spot in the world, what would it be? Tell us why.

There was a place I visite3d when I was a kid called Cumberland Caverns in Tennessee. It's a place where they take you on a tour down through a cave. They show a little movie down in the deepest part. I think I'd like to go back and visit that place again. It has stuck in my mind ever since I was there. It was just a fascinating place. I've never been to anything else like it. 


08. Each blogger has gained their own insight into writing a blog.What have you learned that you would like to share with other bloggers?

The main thing I've learned is that you sometimes have to take time off from blogging. No matter how much you like it you can get burned out if you never take a break. If you feel like taking a day or two off, or even a week, then do it. You'll come back refreshed and ready to go again. 


09. Where can our readers find you? Give us the name and a link to your blog. If you have more than one to share, we would all like that too.

The Everyday Adventurer
Rat Tales


10. Is there anything we have not discussed that you would like to add?

Maybe a bit of writing advice. Never worry about what you write. Write the first thing that comes to your mind because it's usually the best. No amount of craziness, within reason, is going to really embarrass you. It's usually just going to make reading a bit more fun. If you're really insane and your first thoughts are too crazy to be written it will probably come out anyway, so don't worry about that part.
--

Thank you, Ratty. I enjoyed our walk. Now that we have learned some things about you, I hope everyone visits your blogs.


Do you write a nature related blog and you'd like to be interviewed by Nature Center Magazine? Click the link and let us know who you are and that you'd like to be featured in a Nature Walk: Interview Me.