Castles With Style

 This week, Dylan, one of my grandsons ask me to write about castles. I asked him what kind of castle he wanted. He said his castle needed to have walls that couldn’t be broken. It has a drawbridge made of diamonds. There is a moat of lava surrounding the castle. Guarding this mighty fortress is an elite team of 1000 ninja alligators wearing armor.  Pretty cool idea, don’t you think?

So I got my friends at AI to do some drawing for me. (Actually I don’t know any AI computers personally, but they do some cool work if you ask nicely.) Here’s what they came up with.

So what would you find in a castle? Of course there is the wall. That’s for protection. The main gate has a huge iron gate. The diamond drawbridge can be lifted so enemies can’t walk right in. I don’t think many attackers would want to walk on the lava.

Inside the walls you would find the bailey a large courtyard area that has other buildings. There is a great hall where everyone can eat. The king’s throne would also be there. There would be a well for water and maybe a fountain. (I personally hope it’s made of chocolate.) There would be shops, a blacksmith to make weapons, and a stable to keep his flying horses. (Hey, he’s got alligator guards. Why not flying horses?) In the many towers on the wall are rooms for people to sleep.

The whole castle is guarded by 1000 ninja alligator guards in heavy armor. Each one has a diamond tipped spear. You don’t want to make them mad!

It’s almost sunset, so King Dylan is preparing for his famous fireworks display. People from all the surrounding villages gather to see the spectacular show. King Dylan is a wise, kind, and mighty king. He makes sure all of his subjects have the food they need and are protected at all times. Long live the King!

Well that was fun! I wonder what I’ll write about next week?

Until then,

Love Papaw.

Slime Time!

Almost every kid I have met likes to play with slime. It’s a common toy in many stores. It comes in all kinds of colors, textures, and levels of “sliminess” (called viscosity) and can even come with glitter or other texture items in it. It tends to get dirty quickly and will often dry out if left uncovered. This mean you need to keep going back for more.

But did you know you can make your own slime right at home? Papaw will show you his formula that he uses at school. You will need:

1.       A pan

2.     Water (1 quart)

3.     A box of Twenty Mule Team Borax

4.     A bottle of Elmer’s white glue.

5.     Food coloring, glitter or other things you want in your slime.

 

• Start be heating a 1 quart of water in a small sauce pan. Add about 1 cup of borax. Slowly stir until all (or most of it) is dissolved. Set it aside to cool.
• Mix 1-part glue with water.
• Add the color and glitter and mix again.
• Slowly add the borax solution a little at a time, mixing as you go until it becomes slime.
• Have fun playing!

**Be sure to keep it off of clothes and furniture, and don’t put it in your mouth!

Experiment with the glue and the borax mixture. If you add less water to the glue it will make thicker slime. It might even act like rubber!

Here are a couple videos about making slime using other materials you might have at home.

Hope you have fun!

Love Papaw.

 

Cicadas!

 

This week at the State Park I started noticing holes in the ground along the camping paths. They are about as big around as Papaw’s little finger. There are lots of creatures that make holes in the ground here, but at this time of year, it is probably made by an insect called the annual cicada. I put a picture of one on the left. They start out as tiny eggs laid by their mother in small slits in a tree branch. Soon they drop to the ground and burrow into the soil. It is a good thing that their mother started them up in a tree. They will spend the next year drinking sap from the tree’s roots. They continue to grow and stay in the ground over winter. In early summer, they begin to slowly dig their way to the surface. As they emerge, they leave those distinctive holes in the ground. They crawl to the nearest tree and climb part way up the trunk. They don’t look like their parents yet. They have a hard shell without wings that they need to shed.

Here a picture of what they look like when they first come out. They hold tight to the tree and begin the process of molting, which means they are going to come out of their hard shell. The shell splits down the back and they begin to pull themselves out. Their wings begin to unfold and stretch out, much like the way a butterfly does. Soon Their wings dry and harden. They fly into the trees and find a soft twig to land on. The new adults will drink sap from the trees for the rest of the summer. They will mate, lay more eggs, and then die in the fall. For the rest of the summer though, you will be able to hear their buzzing high up in the trees.

Here is a short video that shows what they sound like.

Well, that’s all for this week. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Love, Papaw.

Crickets: Nature’s Thermometers

 

Almost everyone has heard crickets chirping in the evening. But did you know that they are actually telling you the temperature outside? Today Papaw is going to give you a quick formula to calculate the temperature by listening to the crickets in your yard. You can even tell your math teacher that you did some math practice over the summer!

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has helped people with times for planting crops and preparing for the weather for over 200 years. Some things are pretty accurate; others are about 50/50. The formula they give for crickets has been tested scientifically and seems to be pretty accurate. You could even do an experiment on your own. All you need is a thermometer, a watch or clock, your awesome addition skills, and some crickets.

Crickets are cold-blooded (they don’t produce their own heat) so they stay the same temperature as the surrounding air. If they are cold, they cannot move as fast. When they warm up, they get more energy to chirp. If it’s too cold or too hot, they say “forget it” and go take a nap. Crickets usually don’t chirp if the temperature is under 50℉ (Fahrenheit, that’s the temperature we use here in the US.) or over 100 ℉.

To Convert Cricket Chirps to Degrees Fahrenheit:

Just count the number of chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40 to get the temperature. The number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature.

Example: 30 chirps + 40 = 70°F

Here is a simple guide I made so you can check out what the crickets are telling you.

 

 So next time you hear a cricket, check to see what temperature he is telling you!

Until next time,

Love Papaw.

The Horseshoe Crab

Way back when, even before your parents were born, Papaw had a chance to see a bizarre but wonderful creature at the ocean’s shore. I was travelling for the college in a music group. That day we were in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay. Since I had never even seen the ocean, I got up really early and went to the beach. There I found this creature – the horseshoe crab.

They are not really crabs but are more closely related to spiders and ticks. They have 4 pairs of walking legs and a pair that act like pinchers to grab their food. Their favorite foods are sea worms, mollusks (like clams) and other crustaceans.

They normally like living in deeper waters but come close to shore to spawn. They can lay 20,000 eggs each night for several days. That is where Papaw saw them. They are fun to watch. They can even swim upside-down! They are only found in the Atlantic Ocean. They can be found from Maine all the way down to Mexico. They are sometimes called “living fossils”. That’s because their fossils look just like they do today. They have 9 eyes and can see very well. It helps them find their food.

Horseshoe crabs have helped us develop medicines. They have blue blood. There is a special chemical in their blood that can tell us if vaccines or other drugs are ready to give to sick people. Scientist draw out some blood and then release it back into the ocean. It usually doesn’t hurt them. Still, we need to be careful and take care of them. They need clean water and safe beaches to lay their eggs.

(https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2020/05/19/11-facts-horseshoe-crabs-will-blow-mind)

I hope you like learning about horseshoe crabs. Here’s a short video about them.

Until next time,

Love Papaw.

Fireworks!

 (This week both the Musings page and Notes from Papaw have the same post. I’m either lazy or on vacation. Honestly, I’m not sure which.)

This Saturday is the Fourth of July. People around the nation will attend parades, have picnics, light of fireworks at their home, and if your city is having one, attend a professional fireworks display. There you can see bursts of wonderful colors and different shapes, golden showers of sparkles, and eye-widening kabooms!

Have you ever wondered how professional fireworks are made? Ya, so did I. So let’s take a look at the anatomy of a typical firework. When you see a firework display from the launching end, It looks like a bunch of tubes all lined up together. These tubes are called mortars. Inside the tube is the shell. The shell is made of two parts, The lifting charge and the color pellets. The lifting charge is located on the bottom of the shell that is usually made of black powder. It is there to lift the top section high into the air. This makes it easier to see. It also keeps the explosions, sparks, and any hot embers away from people and high enough to burn out before they hit the ground. The top section of the shell has the colorful part. It contains small pellets called stars. These can be made to produce different colors, shapes, and noises. Some of the designs are proprietary, which means they were invented by the firework makers, and the formulas are closely guarded secrets. There are usually at least two fuses. The first fuse lights the lift charge. Once the firework is safely in the air, a second fuse, sometimes called the timer fuse, causes the section with the stars to explode (the burst charge) and starts the stars burning also. They now can even create designs with the fireworks. One special firework that I have seen ends up making a smiley face!

The colors usually come from various metal salts. A salt is a combination of a metal and one or more nonmetals. Table salt is sodium chloride, made of the metal sodium and a gas called chlorine. Here is a list of the most commonly used salts.

Strontium: Red

Calcium: Orange

Sodium: Yellow

Barium: Green

Copper: Blue

Strontium + Copper: Purple

Magnesium, Aluminum + Titanium: White

(Source: https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/science-at-home/diy-science-fun/the-science-of-fireworks)

And to think these all started with the Chinese putting gun powder into long bamboo tubes. This is thought to have happened somewhere between 600-800 AD, during the Tang Dynasty.

For those of you who don’t have a fireworks display in their home town, here is a display from 2025, courtesy of the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. Enjoy!

Why Are There So Many Mosquitoes?!

It’s summer and the mosquitoes are flying fast and furious. If you live in a mosquito free area, count yourself fortunate. The only place we have been where we really don’t see many mosquitoes is at the ocean. They don’t like salt water. Otherwise, wherever you go around here the mosquitos are active. But where do they all come from?

Mosquitos are in the group of insects with flies and gnats. They spend the first part of their life under water, and then fly in the air as adults. Interestingly, the female is the only one that bites. She needs the protein in blood to make here eggs. The eggs are laid on the surface of a stagnant pool of fresh water. When they hatch they become “wigglers” in the water. They don’t have gills so they need to come up to the surface to breath. They have a tube on their tail which they use as a snorkel. When they have grown enough, they float to the surface and form a pupa, or resting stage. After a few days, they hatch out as adult mosquitos. The males do not have the long straw like mouth parts to drink blood. They mostly feed on nectar from flowers.

A female mosquitos wings beat super-fast, sometimes 1000 times a second. That what make the buzzing sound if they get close to your ear. They are drawn to the carbon dioxide that we breath out. They can smell it 100 feet away! There are over 3500 kinds of mosquitoes in the world. Only Antarctica is mosquito free.

Some mosquitoes can carry dangerous diseases. That why it’s important to try and avoid them if you can. Here are some hints.

·       Wear an approved mosquito repellant. There are kid safe types if you do not like DEET.

·       Where loose fitting, light colored clothing. Long pants are recommended.

·       Limit time outside at dawn and dusk – the most active time for mosquitoes.

·       Dump out all standing water or get “mosquito dunks” so they cannot breed.

·       Make sure your doors and windows have tight fitting screens without holes.

·       You could get an electric mosquito zapper for your outside patio. It’s fun to listen to them get zapped. Hey, at least they are not biting you!

·       Some people put up bat houses. Bats eat thousands of mosquitoes every night!

·       If you do get bitten and it starts to itch, try not to scratch it. It might get infected. They make anti-itch cream that your parents can put on the bite to make it feel better.

 

Here’s a fun video about mosquitoes.

Well I hope you have a fun mosquito-free summer!

Until next time,

Love Papaw.