Z is for Zoos

We like to visit zoos and try to if we can when we're traveling. Not only do we like seeing the animals, we like the lush landscaping that often accompanies them. Below are a few pictures from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the Baltimore Zoo, the Toronto Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the North Carolina Aquarium.

Y is for You All

I grew up in West Virginia where there seemed to be a dividing line between the way people talked. To the north people spoke more with a Midwestern/nothern accent and to the south there was more of a southern accent. I actually saw a map once that showed this dividing line. From my experience, it made a lot of sense.

If you went one county north of me, you would hear a more Midwestern sound. Go one county south of me and you would hear more of a country, southern sound. These variations also happened between towns to the more rural areas. I was a town kid living more to the north, so I didn't have much of an accent. Well, we all have an accent one way or another, but I sounded more like a news anchor than Ellie Mae Clampett. People have often been surprised when I tell them that I'm from WV. They think I should have much more of a southern drawl.

Edgewater Beach Resort. This is where I first learned about my You all.

That was until I spent one summer in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I had just graduated college and before heading off to grad school, I was doing a summer of field work for the USGS (United States Geological Survey) there. After spending the day in swampy muck with almost unbearable numbers of mosquitoes, we spent the evening at the bar in the local fishing "resort" where we were staying. We made fast friends with the owners and several of the locals that hung out there.

One evening, Gary, one of the owner's sons, said that I had a very southern accent. He said, "You talk like this," with very drawn out twangy words. Very southern. He also said that I said, "You all." Well, I guess I did sound kind of southern to someone who lived much further north than I did. But I had never noticed that I said you all. I learned in English class that you could be both singular and plural and that's the way I wrote it. I thought I talked that way also. I knew I didn't say the southern contraction Y'all, but I hadn't realize that I said a form of it.

That summer, I tried to stop saying you all and use you for both singular and plural like I thought I was already doing. And I couldn't do it. If a group of people were standing around and I said, "Do you want to go to the movies?" I would wait for a minute and then had to add all so my meaning was clear, "Do you all want to go to the movies?" Without the all I was afraid that they wouldn't understand that I was inviting all of them. That's when I figured out that in my world you is singular and you all is plural.

And that's how it's been ever since. Just like it was before. You is singular and you all is plural.

What do you say? You, you all, y'all, youins, ...

X is for X with a tail

Mr. Dimmick

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I had the same math teacher all four years of high school--Mr. Dimmick. He taught math in a very logical and systematic way--just as it should be. He also made it seem like a game. We learned the rules of the game, and then we knew how to play. It seemed as easy as that. And he was very careful to make sure that we knew the rules.

Anyone, who has done much algebra, knows that there can be a lot of steps involved in solving a problem. Mr. Dimmick insisted that we be very systematic with our steps including making the unknown X that we were solving for with a tail. That way it would not be confused with X that was used for multiplication. Now to most, this seemed like an overkill. In fact, I've never run into anyone who had a math teacher who was this strict with the details and steps that needed to be shown in a problem.

However, this attention to detail paid off for me in college. When I was in my first calculus class, there came a point in the middle of the semester where complicated equations had to be broken down algebraically so they could be easily integrated. Most everyone in the class was confused when they were trying to do this. In fact, the teacher handed out worksheets so students could practice algebra again. But I didn't need them. Mr. Dimmick's careful teachings were still with me. Including making a tail on every unknown X in the equations.

I'll have to admit, decades later, I do not remember all of the math that Mr. Dimmick taught me, but I do remember that he taught me well and making my X's with a tail was an important part of that.

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But wait there's more:

I remember a story Mr. Dimmick told one day about his four year old granddaughter. He asked her what zero meant. Her answer was, "That's when you don't hold up any fingers." He had a big grin as he told it and it made me smile too.

W is for Woodchuck

Photri Images

Woodchucks go by several other names. I call them groundhogs, others call them whistlepigs, and some call them varmints. We'll get to reasons for that later. They are a rodent and in the same family as squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. Woodchucks are found across Canada and are common in the middle and eastern US. Prairie dogs and marmots are more common in the west.

They are fat with short little legs but run pretty fast considering the body they have to work with. However, they'd never win a race with their cousins, the squirrels. Their average size is 20 inches (50 cm) long and 10 pounds (4.5 kg). However, they can be double that size. They have coarse brown and gray fur. It's so coarse that they have never been hunted for it.

Groundhogs are herbivores and especially like clover and other tender grasses and plants. And every once in a while when they decide they don't want to pigeonholed into only one category (herbivores), they sneak in an insect or grub. They feed in groups and always have a lookout. When danger is sensed like a fox nearby, the guard groundhog gives a very shrill warning whistle. That's why the woodchuck/groundhog is called whistlepig by some.

They have 22 teeth to eat this food with. The front two incisors continuously grow (like rodent's teeth do), so they constantly have to be using them to keep them from becoming 10 feet long. They have molars in the back to grind their food. And as with most herbivores, there is a large gap between their front teeth and their back teeth.

I found this skull in my backyard in the same area where we see the groundhog holes. Notice the herbivore tooth pattern.

Groundhogs live in burrows and they are animals that do a true hibernation. That means when they curl their fat bodies up in their burrows in November, they don't emerge to eat until March. Their body temperatures drop and they can't see or feel things. I think it's amazing that some mammals can do this. I usually think about fish or frogs doing the body temperature drop thing in the winter, but groundhogs do it too.

Fresh digging (in March) at one of the entrances to
the groundhog burrows in the backyard.

Groundhogs breed once a year and usually have litters of 2-6 cubs. They stay with their mother (dad leaves the den as soon as they are born) for about 6 weeks until they are ready to go into the world to seek their fortune.

As forests were cut down, groundhogs were one of the animals that increased in population instead of decreased. When forestland was turned into farmland, the groundhogs found out they really liked what the farmer was growing like tomatoes, lettuce, beans, etc. Talk to almost anyone and they can tell you their frustration with the groundhog and what it has eaten out of their garden. Thus the name varmint that the groundhog is not so fondly called by many.

Who knew I had so much to say about groundhogs/woodchucks/whistlepigs? I didn't even get to my personal anecdotes, but this is getting a little long. Those will have to be on another day. I wonder if I can work them in under X, Y, or Z?

Sources:
Woodchucks by Emilie U. Lepthien, Copyright 1992.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

V is for Velleity

You know how they say if you are really going to learn a new word, you need to use it. Well, a couple of years ago, I learned, velleity, a new-to-me word that I thought was great. I could see using it on a daily basis. However, that never seemed to happen after the first week, and I forgot it until recently. So I'm going to take a stab at it again.
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Velleity 

Velleity---a noun that means to have a wish or desire to do something, but you are not interested in it enough to act on it.

--My desire to revamp the look of my blog was more of a velleity than a real plan.

--Velleity is what keeps me from cleaning up the pile on the bed in the guest room.

Can you think of a way that you could use velleity in a sentence?

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But wait, there's more.

Here's how you say velleity.

U is for Use it Up

This cold has knocked me for a loop and I don't seem to able to write many coherent thoughts. Today was first going to be Unexpected results, then Underwear, then an Update. But after three attempts with only a few words and a lot of screen staring, I decided it was best to go the simple way and share with you one of my favorite sayings on a cross stitch I did several years ago.

I am going to finish this A-Z Challenge one way or another. Only five more letters ago and time to look around at what else I can take a picture of because we all know, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

T is for Today

Today is going to be filled with...

Tissues, Throat lozenges, and Tea.

Turns out that it wasn't allergies after all. 

I have a Terrible cold. :(

S is for Second Look

How lucky is this? S falls on Wednesday, my regular Second Look day. I've had to be creative with my letters to work a Second Look in each week, but this week it was easy as pie. Thank goodness, because A-Z blogging fatigue is starting to set in.

For new visitors to this blog, you can check out my Second Look tab, but basically I explore my yard each week, to see what is going on. During this, I am hoping to see the flowers and not the weeds and see what the critters are up to and not the grass that needs to be mowed. So without further ado, here are some things I saw this week during a Second Look.

The peach tree seems to have a fair amount of blooms on it this year.

Different varieties of daffodils continue to bloom. At first glance these two kinds look the same, but notice the difference in their bells.  The daffodils in the next three pictures are new this week also.

Daffiodil

Daffodil ( Bonus points if you can find the spider on the bloom.)

Daffodil

Grape hyacinth

The bluebird almost finished a nest this week.

Red-bellied woodpecker

R is for Reading

or What I'm reading now
or What's on my nightstand

I think that I am like many and read several books at the same time. I like to have one for every mood. Well, maybe not every mood, but I do like to have a few to choose from depending on what strikes my fancy at any one point in time. Or maybe what I'm trying to say is I can't always make up my mind. Or I don't know. Maybe I'm saying its time to look at the books. In the post that is.

Currently on my nightstand:

From bottom up:

A Gardener's Weather Bible by Sally Roth
I have not seen a book quite like this before. It describes different kinds of weather systems, how they form, and how to garden in them.  For example, there's a chapter on wind that starts with wind currents around the earth, how storms form, etc. and then moves on to how to build a wind break for your garden. I am finding it quite interesting reading.

Off the Beaten Path--Utah by Michael Rutter
This is one of the areas we're considering for our next vacation. I think the rest of the books on this subject are downstairs.

Why Did The Chicken Cross the World? by Andrew Lawler
This is a book that Wally gave me because he said it was my kind of book. And I think he was right. The book looks at the evolution of the chicken with a historical perspective. It is really quite fascinating and I had no idea how important chickens have been throughout time. I've learned some really interesting facts from it. Too bad, I can't remember any to share with you right now.

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley
These are read aloud stories about a little girl's everyday life with her friends and her family. I first heard about these books from Sarah at Everyday Life on a Shoestring. And one day out of the blue, they showed up in the mail from her. :) When I want a very pleasant, calm story to go to sleep by, I read from Milly-Molly-Mandy. I've also shared them with some of my younger friends.

A bit of trivia about Milly-Molly-Mandy. This is from a comment I found on Amazon by the author's granddaughter.
This book has been a staple in my family for generations, as I am the great-grandaughter of the author! I am thrilled to be sharing it with my OWN child. What a pleasure it is to see these wholesome tales (based on the adventures of JLB's daughter (my grandmother) as a young girl in Holland) stand the test of time. I would highly recommend these stories. Milly Molly Mandy was originally published on the Children's Pages of the Christian Science Monitor in 1925. It was assumed by many readers that the stories take place in England, because of the book's first mass publishing in Great Britain. I am very proud of my Dutch heritage (as well as my famous relative), & wanted to be sure the readers knew where the stories originated from.


Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
This is a mystery in which Chris, who is grieving the death of his wife, decides to get away from it all and buys a large house back in England where he grew up.  Sixty years ago, a man died there and his wife was convicted and hanged for the murder. Chris becomes curious (obsessed as other's see it) to find out what really happened and if the wife did indeed commit murder. This book is for my book club and I haven't quite finished. If you've read it, don't tell me the ending.


The Best of Archie Comics featuring Betty & Veronica
When I saw this book, I was feeling a bit of nostalgia, so I checked it out to read. I didn't realize it, but they've been writing Archie comics since the 1940's so I imagine that there are a lot more people out there who read Archie comics in their youth besides me. In addition to the comics, different writers comment on the comics and the stories that have been told with Betty and Veronica. I am enjoying my trip down memory lane, but does any one else wonder what Betty and Veronica see in Archie? Also, I've wondered this for a while. When did comic books become graphic novels?


Maybe next time, I'll show the pile of library books that are in the den. :)

Q is for Queens, Princesses, and Royals

Okay, I admit it. I follow the British Royals. I'd like to say that I'm not interested in such an unimportant thing, but that wouldn't be telling the truth. I don't know if it's because they are a fairy tale come to life or if it's just because they have way better clothes than I do, but I read most of the stories I see about them.

I can tell you that Princess Kate (or Duchess of Cambridge, I think) shocked the fashion world when she wore panty hose during her trip to Canada. I can tell you that Prince Harry has served in Afghanistan and his father might be Diana's groomsman. I can tell you that the Queen rules the family with an iron hand and likes brightly colored, tailored suits. I can tell you that Camilla has always been Prince Charles's love and that he champions environmental causes. And I can tell you that Kate is due to have her second child any day now. Which brings me to my story.

The other morning Ward and I were eating breakfast. He was checking his work email to see what disasters were waiting for him when he made it to the office, and I was watching one of the morning news shows. At one point, the show did a teaser about how the hospital was preparing for Kate's imminent delivery. Ward poked his head up and said, "She's popping them out really fast, isn't she?" I know he didn't follow the details of the royal life, so I said, "You don't mean a third child, do you? She's only on her second." I proceeded to question him and found out that he had no idea that Kate was pregnant and ready to deliver the second in line to the throne. Not that he didn't know when she was due or whether or not she had morning sickness this time, he had NO idea that she was even pregnant.

And here's why I found that so amazing. This man can tell you every world situation and the backgrounds behind them. He can tell you the latest medical study and the pieces missing from the research. He can you about every presidential hopeful and their views on important issues. All of this means, that he does pay attention to what's going on in the world. It amazed me that somehow while he was paying attention to what was important, he hadn't noticed the constant stories about Kate's pregnancy. He said that he wasn't interested in that sort of thing. I totally understand that. What amazes me is that he was able to filter out the stories totally. (OK, maybe not totally. He did know who Kate was.)

Are there any others of you out there who didn't know Princess Kate is pregnant with her second child?
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And as long as we're on the subject of royals, a book recommendation:

The Uncommon Reader: a Novella by Alan Bennett

The is a fun little story about the Queen after she borrows a book from a bookmobile in front of the palace. That book leads to another and she starts reading a wide variety of books that change her views on life and the world. I don't know if the descriptions are correct, but it also gives an idea of what it must be like to be a royal and always on display.

P is Politeness

Polite or Not-So-Polite

When you talk about politeness, I think the first thing that comes to most people's mind is saying, "Please" and "Thank You." Those are the basic things we try to teach our kids when they are young and build upon that as they get older. While what people consider polite behavior can vary from culture to culture and person and person, I think that most would agree that being polite is showing respect to another person during your interactions with them. However, that doesn't always happen. I think we all have examples of the indifferent sales person as well as a friend that says something insensitive. I know I, myself, had been guilty of this from time to time. Sometimes even with the best of intentions, the foot gets inserted into the mouth, and some not-so-polite things come out.

Have you ever said something that you wish you could take back or had something said to you that crossed the line into the not-so-polite area? I asked a few people for examples of not-so-polite behavior and here are some that they gave me.

I was wearing drawstring pants and on an elevator when a person said,
"When are you due?"
"I'm not pregnant."
"Yes, you are. I see your belly button."
"That's not my belly button, that's the tie from my drawstring pants. I'm not pregnant. I'm fat."

My mother had a brain scan because of visual migraines and when it was over, the doctor said,
"You have a beautiful brain for someone your age."
"What does that mean?"
"If you were in your 20's I'd be concerned, but for someone in their 60's, it doesn't look too bad."

To a coworker, "You are thin except for your hips."

Cheerleading sponsor to high school cheerleader, "I can't get over how bowlegged you are. Did your mother ever give you cod liver oil?"

Now for one of my own unfortunate foot-in-mouth stories.
I was back at work after having my first baby, not sleeping well, and overwhelmed with the new parent thing. I was talking to a coworker who said her mother had seven kids. I said, "Wow, how did she keep from going crazy?" She replied, "She didn't. She jumped off the Mississippi River Bridge."

After she said this, I was embarrassed and felt horrible because I hadn't meant to make light of a very serious subject. But sometimes it just happens even when there are the best of intentions.
(BTW, her mother survived and was able to get help.)

So tactless and not-so-polite things are going to be said. When one of them happens, I always think about what my mother told me when I was in school, "Remember the source and move on." Then I try to remember the polite and nice things that happen every day.

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O is for Orange

I Spy Something Orange

Can you find?

--A smiling magnet holding up a "pileated woodpecker"

--An excellent biography about a woman who lives on and on

--The seed we use to feed real pileated woodpeckers and other visitors to our feeders

--Some candy we're saving for National Jelly Bean Day on April 22

--A tea kettle that helps with dry air in the winter

--Wally and Theo's sleds that are now used mostly to carry mulch

--The fringe on a classic flower of spring

--A book about a girl in a singing group with her sisters and who appeared often on the Lawrence Welk Show

--A fruit that would be hard to work into a rhyming poem

N is for Name and/or Nature

N is for Names

“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

This was going to be a post about names. How a name can affect perceptions and personalities. About how certain names are becoming extinct (Waldo and Zelma) and how Johnny Cash didn't like the name of Sue. Also, I was going to talk about the most popular names of last year (Sophia and Noah) and most popular names over the last 100 years (James and Mary). (BTW, the Social Security Administration has some interesting stats complied in this area.)  Then I was going to touch on crazy celebrity kid's names like North West, Apple, and Myrtle.

Next, I was going to tell the story about a friend, who after her divorce, decided to pick an entirely new last name--not her maiden name or her married name, but just one she like the sound of. And I was going to end with asking if you like your name and have you ever thought about changing it.

However, it was much too nice out to stay inside and develop these Name ideas. So I decided to go outside and do a Second Look and use the N for Nature.
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N is for Nature

Here are few things in nature that I saw 

this week during a Second Look.

This is the second set of daffodils to bloom.

This variety bloomed last week, but this is the first bloom in another bed.

The triple blossom daffodils are just coming out also.

Violets

Forsythia. 

The bumble bees have been swarming around the pieris japonica blooms. But also notice the smaller bee in the middle of the picture.

That smaller bee attached itself to the bottom of one of the bumble bees. I asked a friend, who raises bees, what was going on and she didn't know. Now, I've got the question into the extension agent. I've never seen anything quite like that.

This is the first bluebird I've seen this spring and I hope it builds a nest in the box. Last year it fought with sparrows for the box and the sparrows won. 

Female cardinal