Hi! I'm Papaw, at least to my grandchildren. This blog is a collection of notes written for them. Please feel free to read them to your children too! May God bless all who read.
(From the author of "The Musings of a Left-Hand Man".)
Thanksgiving is the
national holiday were we stop and take time to be thankful for all we have. It is
celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Canada has a similar holiday, but
they celebrate it on the second Monday of October. It originally started as a harvest
festival. It has its beginnings in 1621 when newly arrived English colonists shared
with the indigenous people called the Wampanoag tribe. Squanto, a member of the
tribe, was instrumental in helping the colonists plant crops in the new world.
Without his help they probably wouldn’t have survive. The both brought food to
share, crops like corn and squash, and wild game like deer and water fowl. It is said the feast lasted 3 days.
Thanksgiving didn’t become
an official American holiday until 1863 while Abraham Lincoln was president. Turkey,
mashed potatoes with gravy, & pumpkin pie are a few of the official staples
at a modern Thanksgiving celebration. Others may have ham, brisket, and even
tamales. Oh, and don’t forget the cranberry sauce!
Although I love the green
bean casserole and the stuffing, and I
think my favorite food at Thanksgiving is Mema’s homemade pumpkin pie. It is
the perfect finish to a hearty meal. It also has to have a topping of whipped
cream. Yum!
What do you like about
Thanksgiving? Do you go to a parade or watch football? Do you make a special
meal? Do you get together with just your family or a whole houseful of relatives?
Whatever you do, I hope it’s fun. Just don’t forget to thank your parents for
all they do. Be sure to tell God thank you for your life and his wonderful
creation.
Here are some Thanksgiving coloring
pages for you.
It’s that time of year. The
air gets chillier. The leaves get ready to fall. Trees begin to show their colors.
Have you ever wondered why they change colors? It turns out that the colors
were there all along. Each color is a kind of pigment (color molecules) we call
chlorophyll. We are just used to only seeing the Green kind.
There are basically two
kinds of trees. Those that keep their leaves all the time (coniferous trees)
like pines and firs that have modified leaves called needles. There are also
some regular leaf trees that keep their leaves all year. They live in tropical
climates like the Amazon. Our broad leaf trees in the US usually go dormant in
the winter and drop all their leaves. These trees are called deciduous trees.
When trees are growing during
the summer, most of the chlorophyll that the trees use to make sugars (and
oxygen for us) are the green kind. The reds, oranges, and yellows also help; we
just can’t see them. When the tree starts to go dormant in the fall and the
leaves start to die, the green chlorophyll is the first to fade. The other
colors are longer lasting and so they are the ones we see. They may keep their colors
for weeks, but eventually even they will lose their color and the leaf will shrivel
and turn brown.
You can keep them longer by
pressing them. All you need is some thin, absorbent paper and a book. Place the
leaf between two sheets of paper and place the book on top of the “leaf
sandwich”. If you put a thin piece of cardboard in between, you can actually do
several layers of leaves. Leave them to dry. One hint, you may want to remove
the book for several minutes every day to help them dry out. Otherwise they could
get moldy.
Here’s a video that shows
you how.
I hoped you enjoyed our
talk about fall colors!
Love Papaw.It’s that time of year. The
air gets chillier. The leaves get ready to fall. Trees begin to show their colors.
Have you ever wondered why they change colors? It turns out that the colors
were there all along. Each color is a kind of pigment (color molecules) we call
chlorophyll. We are just used to only seeing the Green kind.
There are basically two
kinds of trees. Those that keep their leaves all the time (coniferous trees)
like pines and firs that have modified leaves called needles. There are also
some regular leaf trees that keep their leaves all year. They live in tropical
climates like the Amazon. Our broad leaf trees in the US usually go dormant in
the winter and drop all their leaves. These trees are called deciduous trees.
When trees are growing during
the summer, most of the chlorophyll that the trees use to make sugars (and
oxygen for us) are the green kind. The reds, oranges, and yellows also help; we
just can’t see them. When the tree starts to go dormant in the fall and the
leaves start to die, the green chlorophyll is the first to fade. The other
colors are longer lasting and so they are the ones we see. They may keep their colors
for weeks, but eventually even they will lose their color and the leaf will shrivel
and turn brown.
You can keep them longer by
pressing them. All you need is some thin, absorbent paper and a book. Place the
leaf between two sheets of paper and place the book on top of the “leaf
sandwich”. If you put a thin piece of cardboard in between, you can actually do
several layers of leaves. Leave them to dry. One hint, you may want to remove
the book for several minutes every day to help them dry out. Otherwise they could
get moldy.
This week one of my granddaughters
requested a post about otters. So, I guess I “otter” get started. Although there
are 14 species of otters in the world, they are basically divided into two main
kinds: river otters and sea otters. As it turns out, we have both kinds here in
California. We have river otters in the Stanislaus River that runs through the
State Park where I work during the summer, and sea otters in the waters along
the California coast, especially around Monterey Bay.
River otters are smaller
and thinner than their ocean going cousins. They can be 2-3 feet long and
weight between 20-30 lbs. a river otter can live for up to 25 years. They live
in dens (tunnels in the river bank). Mothers can give birth to between 1-5
babies called “kits” or sometimes “pups”. Once they are ready to swim, they may
spend all day in the water playing and searching for food. Otters have some of
the thickest fur of any mammal. Their dense fur helps keep them warm even if
there is ice on the water.
River otters love to eat
fish, crayfish & clams. One time an otter even stole Papaw’s anchovy off of
his fishing line! They have very sharp teeth and are really good hunters. They
have sensitive whiskers that help them find food in the water.
Sea otters like to live in
the ocean. They are much bigger than the river otters (4-5 feet long and close
to 100 lbs.). They spend a lot of time just floating in the kelp. They can even
sleep while floating in the water. One of their favorite treats is a sea
urchin. Urchins have lots of spines, but they are no match for a clever sea
otter. The otters have a special pouch under their arm where they keep their
favorite rock. They set the rock on their chest and smash the urchin on it
until it breaks open. They can even break clam shells that way! Once the urchin
or tasty clam is open, it’s dinner time.
Here’s the live sea Otter cam
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
This week I want to talk about another special mammal,
the Manatee. Mammals are warm-blooded
creatures that breathe air, have fur or hair, and feed their young with milk. Most
live on land, but some like whales, dolphins and manatees live in rivers or oceans. There are manatees that live around Florida, the Caribbean, India, the
Amazon, and West Africa. They are called by other names around the world. In Australia
there is a related “cousin” of the manatee called the dugong. They look a lot like
the manatee, but have a different shaped tail.
Manatees are often called “sea cows” because they like
to graze on sea grass growing in the warm shallow waters. They only eat plants
so it is important for us to protect the sea grass beds where they live. They
can hold their breath for 20 minutes while they feed on the grasses.
They can get up to 13 feet long (that’s twice as long
as your dad if he laid in the grass) and can weight over 1200 lbs. That’s
really heavy! A baby manatee weighs about 60 lbs. at birth. That’s as big as a
second grader! They have cute whiskers, gray wrinkly skin, and a cute snout. Manatees can live for up to 60 years.
Manatees are usually solitary, which means they like
to be by themselves, but you can often see mothers with their babies, called
calves, feeding in the shallows. In winter they can group together in warmer
spring-fed rivers. They need water that is above 60 degrees.
Manatees do not really have any natural predators. The
biggest danger to manatees are boat propellers. Many are killed every year by
being struck by boats. Others have scars on their backs that show they were run
over. If you are ever in a boat where manatees live, please drive carefully. You
don’t want to hurt one. They are gentle creatures who just want to eat in
peace.
Whenever I go to the ocean,
I get excited when I see dolphins. You can occasionally see them swimming by as
the look for food or the others in their group. A group of dolphins is called a
pod. Once when Memaw and I were on a whale watching boat, we had some dolphins
swimming right in front of the boat. They seem to swim effortlessly as they
played in the wave called a “bow wave” that is pushed out in front of the boat.
At a park called Marine World, I even got to feed one of the dolphins a tasty
fish. He even said “thanks”, well I think that’s what he said. It was that or “Wow,
you look handsome in that shirt”. It was hard to be sure.
There are over 30 kinds of
dolphins in the world’s oceans. There are also some that live in fresh water
rivers. Dolphins are actually considered small tooth whales. They are not fish.
Fish breath underwater using gills. Dolphins breath air like us instead of having
gills. Dolphins are also aquatic (it means living in the water) mammals. They feed their babies milk and even have eyelashes! Dolphins can live for 40-50
years. They love to eat small fish which they find with the help of echolocation. They make a series of clicks and whistles which help them locate the
fish. They can even find fish buried in the sand and mud!
Dolphins are very intelligent.
They even have a kind of language. All
those clicks and whistles really mean something. Unfortunately, Papaw doesn’t
speak dolphin, so I can’t tell you what they talk about.
One of my favorite dolphins lives in the Amazon River
of Brazil, South America. It’s called the pink
dolphin because its skin looks,
well, pink. It’s a bit bigger than the ocean dolphins. Ocean dolphins are
usually 5-6 feet long. The pink dolphin can be 7-8 feet long. They eat many different kinds of fish. The
males are the pinkest. They also have a big forehead that scientists call the “melon”.
It helps them echolocate and hunt easier in the muddier water. They can swim in
groups, but often are found in pairs. They can be really playful. They have been
known to rub against fishermen’s boats and even grab their oars. They love to
play with things in the water like sticks, or even turtles. It looks fun, but I’m
not sure if the turtle likes it.
Here’s a fun video about
dolphins. I hope you like it!
This time of year here in
the Central Valley is usually dry and dusty. If you look around building
foundations, fence posts, or anywhere the dust tends to pile up, you may see a
strange thing. You will find upside-down cones in the dirt. You probably have
them around where you live too if you look closely. They look like this.
The cone is actually a trap
made by the larva of an antlion. They are often called “doodlebugs” because of
the way they spin and wiggle. The walls of the pit are very steep and lined
with loose sand and dust particles. When an unsuspecting ant falls in one, it
finds it very hard to crawl out. The doodlebug throws sand at the ant to knock it
further down towards the bottom. If the ant falls to the bottom of the pit, the
larva grabs it with its sharp mandibles (jaws) and pulls it underground. Its
mandibles are hollow like a straw so it sucks all the juices out of the ant and
throws the dry part out of the pit. Them to waits patiently for another ant or
small insect to wander by. They eat, and eat, and eat! Here’s a video of a doodlebug
in action.
When it gets large enough,
it will for a pupa and rest for a few days. Soon it will emerge as an adult ant
lion. The adults look a lot like
damselflies. You don’t usually see them flying around during the day. They are
pretty shy. The y don’t eat ants like the doodlebugs but instead prefer to sip
nectar from flowers. They only live a few weeks in their adult form.
If you look around carefully, you
might find some. They are fun to watch and really can’t hurt us. We’re just way
to big to get trapped like an ant!
Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects in
nature. They can fly in any direction, up down, sideways, backwards, you name
it. They have incredible eyes. They can see all around them, even backwards.
This is good, because they have to see everything while they are flying. They
hunt for insects like mosquitoes and flies while all the while watching for predators
like birds ore even bigger dragonflies.
Dragonflies have 4 wings witch can be clear or have colored markings. They are divided into little cell areas that scientists use to help identify all the different kinds. Each species of dragonfly is unique. They
are cold blooded so they need to warm up in the sun every morning before they
can get started. You can often find them sunning on a fencepost or wire so that
they can dry off from the morning dew and warm their flight muscles. Once they
are airborne they will fly over grassy fields and meadows looking for
unsuspecting insects. One single dragonfly can catch and devour over 100 insects
in a single day. The have a cool way of catching them. They make a “basket”
with their legs and scoop them up right out of the air!
Dragonflies start their lives
in the water. The female lays eggs on plants just under the surface of the
water. When they hatch, the larva (called a nymph) starts searching for small
water dwellers to eat. They have a jaw that shoots out like some kind of alien!
They eat and eat until they are full grown. Then they crawl out of the water on
the stem of a plant. Their skin splits down the back and the adult dragonfly
pulls itself out. When its wings are expanded and fully dried, they take their
place in the skies as fierce hunters like their parents.
A cousin of the dragonfly is the damselfly. You can
tell them apart because the dragonfly rests with its wings laid flat. A damselfly
rests with its wing folded back. They are also much thinner. You can tell the
difference in the larva also. They have feathery gills that they wave around in
the water.
Dragonflies can’t really
hurt you. If you see one, watch it carefully. They are really amazing.
