Sharks!

Do you like sharks? Many people say they like sharks, but only if they can see them in an aquarium. That way they don’t get bitten. Some sharks are dangerous. I don’t think I would want to meet a great white shark while I was swimming in the ocean. But many sharks are just fine hunting for small fish or crabs along the bottom. Some sharks have huge teeth. Others have teeth so small it feels like sand paper. There are many different kinds of sharks. There are more than 500 different species. The smallest, the dwarf lantern shark, is only about 7 inches in length. The largest, the whale shark, can be 40 feet long. It has a huge mouth but eats only tiny animals called plankton. The hammerhead shark has a flat shovel-shaped head. They look really cool! Most sharks live in salt water, but some can visit freshwater rivers for a time. One shark, the Ganges shark live in fresh water all the time.

Sharks don’t have a skeleton. They have a skeleton made of cartilage. It’s the same kind of stuff you have in your ear. It makes them very flexible. The only bones they have are their jaws and teeth. That’s why it’s hard to find fossil sharks.

A sharks skin is amazing. If you rub its skin from front to back (be sure to avoid the teeth) it feels fairly smooth. If you rub its skin in the other direction, from tail to head, it feels very rough. In the old days, carpenters used to use it as sandpaper! This kind of skin helps them glide through the water.

Most sharks are cold blooded, which means they are the same temperature as the water around them. Great white sharks can raise their body temperature by moving their muscles. This lets them survive in colder waters and stay active.

Sharks are very helpful for the ecosystem. In coral reefs they are important in keeping fish populations under control. Otherwise all those fish might eat the whole reef and kill the coral.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark

I hope you liked the sharks!

Love, Papaw

If you would like to know more about sharks, here are some helpful sites.

 

More Information: 

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/shark 

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/sharks

Laughter

 I love telling jokes. Most people tell me I tell “Dad” jokes because they usually have a play on words in them somewhere. I don’t mind though. I just like to see people laugh. Laughing is fun, but be sure that you are not laughing at someone. That could hurt their feelings. It’s better when we laugh together. It turns out that laughing is good for us. Laughter can relieve stress and causes our bodies to produce chemicals called endorphins which make us feel happy and positive. The Bible tell us in Proverbs 17:22, A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Sometimes we even laugh because we are embarrassed. I love to watch funny movies. One of my favorites is Mary Poppins. They laugh a lot and tell funny jokes. In the movie Marry Poppins Burt, Mary, and Uncle Albert all sing,

“We love to laugh, loud and long and clear

We love to laugh, so everybody can hear

The more you laugh, the more you fill with glee

And the more the glee, the more we're a merrier we”

Did you know they have names for the funny way people laugh? My friend AI helped me find a few of them.

Types of Laughter:

• ·       Belly Laughter: A deep, unrestrained laugh that uses the abdominal muscles.
• ·       Giggle: A high-pitched, often nervous or silly laugh.
• ·       Chuckle: A quiet, soft laugh.
• ·       Guffaw: A loud, boisterous laugh.
• ·       Snicker/Snigger: A sly or suppressed laugh, often expressing amusement at someone else's misfortune.
• ·       Cackle: A loud, harsh laugh that can sound unpleasant.

Which way do you laugh? I think I belly laugh the most. At least that what your Aunty Beth says.

Here’s one of my favorite jokes.

Which animal do you think would be more dangerous, a dragon or a dinosaur?

A Dinosaur.

A dragon won’t explode but a “dino might”!

(Get it dynamite?)

You have to admit. That was funny. What’s your favorite joke? I have added a link to “80 fun kids jokes.” You can ask your parents to read some of them to you. Be sure to laugh, because it’s good for you!

https://entertainyourtoddler.com/best-jokes-for-kids/

I hope you have fun this week!

Love Papaw

Bee Good!

 

Are you afraid of bees? It’s ok if you are. Papaw is not really afraid of bees, but there are some that he doesn’t really like. Paper wasps, the slow, yellow and black kind, are really mean sometimes! They should probably be avoided. There are certain bees that I really like to watch. Honey bees are very pretty and help our plants grow food. They also make honey, which Papaw likes to put in his coffee.

On the flowers on Papaw’s fence are a special kind of bee. It is called the Valley Carpenter Bee. They are really big, so they look scary, but they are usually very gentle. They are really fizzy and make a cute buzzing sound. They fly from flower to flower gathering pollen and drinking nectar. One really cool thing is that the male and female are different colors. The female is all black and although she can sting, she never does unless she is attacked. The male looks like a fuzzy golden teddy bear with green eyes. Although he can’t sting, he likes to fly in your face and try to scare you. It makes Papaw laugh. I guess he just doesn’t want you to know he’s as scared as you are. Since he has no stinger he has to act tough. Papaw just smiles and tell him, “Go back to the flowers you silly bee”.  

The mom burrows into wood and lay her eggs in the tunnel. She leaves a package of food called “bee bread” for the baby. Then she seals the whole and lays another egg. She might do that 7 or 8 times! Later, they hatch one at a time, the outside ones first. She will feed them for a few days and them they fly away to find their own flowers. The dad just seems to fly around the flower bushes to try to keep other birds and insects from drinking his nectar. They honey bees just laugh and go get it anyway.

Carpenter Bees can be very helpful to farmers. In Hawaii, Carpenter Bees help pollenate the passion fruit vines. Papaw love passion fruit in his drinks. It’s a good thing that there are bees to help them grow. Next time you get the chance, stop and watch the busy bees.  You will find out how much they do. Just don't touch them without your parent's permission!

I have added a couple short videos of the moms drinking nectar and gathering pollen. You can see the yellow pollen on her fuzzy back. I couldn't get one of the dad but I will keep looking!

I hope you liked meeting Papaw’s busy bee friends!

Love,

Papaw

**Male bee  picture courtesy of  https://thrasherpestcontrol.com/golden-snitch-of-the-bee-world-male-valley-carpenter-bees-take-flight/

For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_sonorina

Mother’s Day

This Sunday May 11^th, is Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is celebrated in some form pretty much all around the world. England, in the 1800’s had Mother’s Sunday. Other countries have various traditions and different days. Although the origin of the celebration is hard to track down, the first Mother’s Day in the US was started by Anna Jarvis in 1907 in honor of her own mother. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day?scrlybrkr 

It is traditionally commemorated on the 2^nd Sunday of May. It is a time where we appreciate and celebrate our mothers who have done so much for us. I know your mothers work very hard, even after you go to sleep. They might be cleaning, doing laundry, planning meals, studying, or even making a surprise dessert for you! They do so many things that you may not think about. Some may be your teacher. Some have a job in a company. Some stay at home and work very hard making sure your home is a happy place. Some may even have to do both! On the weekends, they might also be Sunday School teachers, lead worship, or even be a coach.

So how can we show our mothers how much we love them? First, give her a great big hug and tell her you love her. Next, ask your dad how you as a family can make her day special. Going to church with her is always a good idea.

Here is a short list of other things you could do. (You may have to ask your dad to help you with some of these ideas.)

·         Personalized Card: Make a card for your mom. Tell her how much you lover her!

·         Spa Day at Home: Create a relaxing atmosphere with scented candles, a hot bath, face masks, and hand creams. 

·         Picnic in the Park: Pack a basket with her favorite snacks and drinks and enjoy the outdoors. 

·         Nature Hike: Choose a well-worn trail or explore a new area together. 

·         Brunch at Home: Prepare a delicious brunch with her favorite dishes. 

·         Fragrant Florals: Give her a beautiful bouquet of flowers or a plant to brighten up her space. 

·         Fashionable Accessories: Choose a necklace, bracelet, or other jewelry that she'll love. 

·         Food and Chocolates: Treat her to her favorite sweets or a gourmet food basket. 

Make or Buy a Special Card for Her:

Here are some coloring pages so you can make your own card for mother. Color it pretty! Make sure you tell her how special she is to you!

     

  

  

Love, Papaw

Lightning & Thunder

This week I want to talk about lightning & thunder. Have you ever been in a storm where you heard thunder? It can be kind of scary! But the thunder cannot hurt you. It’s just noise. And it happens after the lightning has already happened. It’s still a good thing to go indoors when you hear it.  You don’t want to get struck by lightning!

Lightning is a huge spark that can strike from a cloud to the ground, from the ground up to a cloud, or even from cloud to cloud. Lightning is very hot. It can be 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit! I can have the power of up to 80 million car batteries. Wow that’s powerful. They say that lightning strikes the earth somewhere 100 times every second.  We do not have that much lightning in California, but there is a place in Venezuela called Lake Maracaibo that has the most lightning of any place in the world, It has thunderstorms about 150 days a year. That’s like having a lightning storm every 3 days! Benjamin Franklin (the guy on the $100 dollar bill) is said to be the inventor of the lightning rod. It was a piece of metal put on houses in the 1700’s to keep them from catching fire during lightning storms. Lightning rods saved a lot of buildings and they are still in use today in some places. 

If you want to find out more about lightning, here are some fun sites.

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/lightning-

https://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather/lightning/

 

Here are some fun facts about lightning:

• ·      Lightning is caused by imbalances in electric charges within or between clouds and the ground.
• ·       The air around a lightning strike can be heated to an incredible 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,700 degrees Celsius), which is hotter than the surface of the sun.
• ·       Thunder is the sound produced by the rapid expansion of air due to the intense heat of a lightning strike.
• ·       You can estimate the distance of a thunderstorm by counting the seconds between seeing lightning and hearing thunder, with each 5 seconds representing 1 mile.
• ·       The Earth experiences an average of 100 lightning strikes per second worldwide.
• ·       Lightning can strike outside of thunderstorms, and it's important to take shelter indoors when thunder is heard, according to the National Weather Service (.gov).
• ·       Lightning can strike the same place multiple times.
• ·       Lightning can occur even without rain, sometimes called blue-sky lightning.
• ·       Volcanic eruptions can also cause lightning as ash and other debris collide.
• ·       A rare phenomenon where a glowing ball of lightning appears, sometimes lasting longer than a normal lightning strike.
• ·       Lightning can strike beaches and melt sand, forming unique rock formations called fulgurites.

            (Generated by AI)

Here are some videos to help explain lightning. 

      

Hope you enjoyed thunder & lightning!

Papaw.