* 7/09/15 What do you MEAN I'm not a bear?

 Okay. I may or not have gone a month without updating... I feel really bad. I've been busy (ultimate excuse), but not so busy that I couldn't spare some time for a couple posts a week. Which is why I feel so bad. Anyway, this post is to make up for all the days I haven't posted, and hopefully I will begin posting regularly again!


Honestly, this a top koalaty post, as in for VIP only. Don't worry, you koalafy. However, why are Koala's not bears? I mean, they have all the koalaficatations. Okay... All these koala puns are getting unbearable...

On a more serious note, they really aren't bears, so I have my doubts about the person that named them. The Koala bear,  Phascolarctos cinereus, is a marsupial, not a bear, as you may already know. When born, the baby koala--or joey--is the size of a jelly, and is blind, hairless, and deaf. This tiny creature makes it's way to it's mother's pouch all on it's own! Like all marsupials, a Koala mother comes equipped with a handy pouch on her stomach, so the newborn joey can stay swaddled up, safe and cozy, for six whole months.

After that life of luxury, the infant emerges, and spends approximately another six months clinging to it's mothers back and having little escapades on it's own. A day in the life of a joey would consist of 18 hours of sleep, waking up, suckling, then as it gets older feeding on faecal pap--which is, in a sense, specialized poop (a specialized kind, that is actually very nutritious for the joey)--then at last leaving it's mother around the age of year when his mother has another joey to take care of.

Once it is on it's own, a koala has to find it's own territory, where it can hopefully start a new generation of Koala's living wild in Australia. Of course, from here on it's life isn't easy. Over 10 koala's die each day under the wheels of cars, dogs, and habitat loss. That's around 4,000 each year!

These amazing creatures, although not bears, are just as fascinating.


Sorry little guy, but you don't.. Koala's are in a completely different order of classification then bears, belonging to the order Diprotodontia, while bears are in Carnivora--yes, Koala's aren't even carnivores! Instead, they feed entirely on eucalyptus leaves. That's a big difference in two similar looking species.

+ 6/02/15 The Garden Updated

Its been 19 days since I posted a picture of my garden, and its already doubled in size! Sorry for the really long wait. I haven't really changed much myself to it, except planted the carrots and beans (the beans sprouted, but not the carrots, so I can't weed the spot where the carrots come up at. That's why its so messy there). Cue the lights! *lights turn off and projector displays picture on wall... I wish*

 

 

My garden from the last post times 2. It was raining when I took the picture, hence the dripping plants and wet soil (with dry grass blocking out the weeds).

 

My tomato plants. Compare this to the picture of my tomato plants in the last post and... wow. Its even flowering now!

 

 

 

 

My pepper! Wet, but big ☺

 

 

Sorry for the bad angle I took the picture at. But the Rosemary hasn't really changed... So that doesn't matter that much.

 

 

!!!♥♥♥The beans have sprouted ♥♥♥!!!

 I have 6 bean plants, but one of them is cut out of the picture on the top, and the other hasn't dropped it's seed cap yet. Its in between the 3rd and 4th one from the bottom.

 

 

 

Lastly, I am going to make a list of all of my current plants, plus pictures of them.

 

#1. Tomato1 (picture above)

#2. Tomato2 (picture above)

#3. Pepper (picture above)

#4. Rosemary (picture above)

#5. Beans (picture above)

#. Carrots (not sprouted)

#7. Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

 

#8. Purple Shamrock (Oxalis triangularis)

#9. Neanthe Bella (Chamaedorea elegans)

#10. Boston Fern (Nephralepis exaltata)

 

#11. Orchid

 

#12. Unidentified (new)

 

#13. Unidentified (new)

 

#14. Chamomile

 

#15 - 19. Unidentifed (new)

 

#20 - 21. Unidentified (new)

       So yes, I have a lot of plants I have figured out what they are yet, and I am working on it. If anyone knows what any of them are, please tell me ;) thanks. Till the next post.





 

+ 5/14/15 The Garden

Here are a few pictures of my garden, which is still pretty small. It's still small, even though I expanded it since last year. I currently have two tomatoes, one rosemary (new), one pepper, and will have a row of bush beans, and a row of carrots (new).

This is a picture of the entire garden from above. the grass in the bottom right corner of the picture is the edge of my garden.

These are my two tomatoes--although it looks like one. There is actually two separate stalks at the base, that I couldn't separate for fear of damaging the fragile root ball when I was planting it.

I also planted Rosemary for my mother, and it's doing well so far! In fact, all of my plants survived the transplant and began growing almost immediately afterwards.

My one pepper plant, which is the smallest thing in my garden as of now. I will soon plant some beans and carrots hopefully.

I will make another post on my garden soon ;) till the next post.

 

 

 

 

 

* 5/12/15 Say No to Water Bottles

Yes, so Earth Month passed, but that's no reason to give up efforts. I came across this video while doing some research, and it was certainty worth posting here. This relatively short clip is about bottled water, and it's negative effects on the environment. Like many of the environmentally friendly alternatives, using filtered tap water over bottled water saves money, and of course nature. The video covers most everything needed to be known, but I will gloss over the main idea.

The main reason bottled water became so popular is because of manufactured demand. This is when companies draw attention to their product. As the video explains, bottled water companies use methods to get you think their product is better then tap water. One such method is scaring you into thinking that tap water is unclean. This is not true, as a study shows that bottled water is sometimes even less pure then tap water, and doesn't taste as good either.

 Also, companies like Aquifina picture pristine mountains and wildlife on their label--when the reality is that the water comes from the tap. Bottled water is 2,000 times more expensive then tap water, when you really are purchasing something you can get for nearly free in your own kitchen. Can you imagine buying a 10,000 sandwich?

Lastly, bottled water companies mislead their costumers in advertisements in paper or on television. Nestle posted a full-page ad stating that, "Bottled water is the most environmentally friendly consumer product in the world." However, all along the water bottle's life cycle, the environment is being trashed. When the bottles are being manufactured, enough oil is used in one year to fuel 1 million cars. Even more energy is used to ship it around the planet to where you live, and all of that is just to be thrown away two minutes.

In conclusion, water bottles are polluting our planet, while people can simply take a cup of tap water that is 2,000 times cheaper. When traveling, a reusable plastic bottle can carry more water for a far cheaper price. And even if you do buy a water bottle, be sure to recycle it and spare the environment another deadly blow, or else the bottle will end up in a landfill waiting for countless years, before it's precious materials degrade away. It's so simple to take action, so why don't we all come together to ensure our lives are as environmentally friendly as possible and give the future generations a safe, healthy world to live on.

+ 5/10/15 The First of Many

      The first plant of this years garden is planted! At least, for my garden. My dad already has 6 of his 9 tomato plants in the ground, as well his cucumber plants. I planted one tomato plant... But, at the same time, it's not really one. It's more like 2. Two tomato's sharing a root ball, and their stems smushed up together like they are one plant. I'll call them the Twins.

For the second plant I have... Which I have had for seemingly eternity (since January 26th, as I wrote in my plant log), I provided some additional care for it's little leaves. My Nephrolepis exaltata (yes, I memorized it's scientific name for whatever reason I don't know), now has this;

 

I started off with a circular tin tray. I filled it with pebbles, and filled the tin with water.

Then, I placed the Boston Fern on top of the tray, and the tray + pot on top of my dresser counter. In this picture you can see the orchid (far left), Boston Fern (second from left), Palm Tree (Middle, Green pot), and my newest addition, Oxalis triangularis, a.k.a. Purple Shamrock (far right). You can also see me holding my fathers phone in the mirror.

 

+ 5/08/15 Garden

I finally got some work done on my garden--and it's marking the start of a lot of progress. I technically got this done on the 9nth, but I'm posting a day before. (I'm confusing myself). So my dad tilled (roto-tilled) his garden, and I relented and said he could till my garden (I was prejudiced about tillers because they crush worms, but my dad said that tilling also loosens the soil and improves the conditions for the worms).

Then he said that he can do my garden, but I have to take out the fence. So I did, he tilled it, and it took a lot less time then April 2nd, when I did it by hand. Now, my dad said that we can purchase plants for our gardens this week, and hopefully by next week it'll be all done. That will be around the 20-30th, and that's the time my garden was finished last year. So I'm on track. Somewhat. (dials Longwood Gardens) Any clue how much the tomato plant are? Alright, be right over. Till the next post.

* 5/06/15 Killer whales

Alright, I promised an essay, and so here; Killer whales are fascinating creatures, and often misunderstood. They are one of the fastest creatures in the sea, and can travel up to 30 miles per hour. They are also able to control the flow of blood to their hearts and brains to prevent suffering from a lack of oxygen. Also, to provide the energy for all of their actions, Killer whales have to eat around 5% of their of weight every day. That means over 500 pounds per Orca.

Orcas are very social, and interact within their own pod. However, they socialize with other pods too. They are indeed known for being aggressive, but not to humans. The only cases of a killer whale attacking a human are in captivity. Orcas get their name for feeding on other dolphins and even some whales.