+ 2/28/15 Strange Growth

 

 

 

 

          It's nearly March! What does that mean? I seriously don't know... Wait, never mind! I know! The 20th is the first day of Spring! I still can't plant anything yet in my garden, but I can at least begin preparing the soil. I have something somewhat interesting to share today. You know Tropic, my purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea subs. purpurea right? In case you don't please view my posts starting... The very first post I did, (LOL). Well, back to the topic, my plant Tropic is growing, is it certaintly should (why wouldn't it?), but I noticed something... New, I should put it. It looks like a mushroom growing up from the very center of the plant, kind of like an anther on the top of a filament, but we are talking about pitcher plants, not Stamens. It's pretty much a bulge on the top of a thin stalk. Sadly, like the last month, I am unable to post pictures of my own plant, but I can provide a picture I drew online that is similar to what I am seeing with Tropic:

 

 

      So... If you are familiar with the odd lime green mushroom thing that is growing on my Sarracenia purpurea subs. purpurea plant, then please tell me! I'd like to know... BTW, the green stuff in the pot is the live (or, in my case, dying) sphagnum moss. That's about it for now..

* 2/26/15 The Beauty of the Oceans; and Why We Should Help

          If there is one thing that is important to life on Earth--it's water. Water sustains life, and is just as essential to human beings--and all organisms--as shelter or food. You can last a week without food, but only a few days without water. If we need it so bad, why don't we strive to preserve it? 75% of all the whole surface of the Earth is water--only 2.5% is drinkable. This means that all of the pollutants were carelessly dump in rivers, ponds, and streams? We are reducing the already little supply of freshwater we have, and there's not a lot left.

         You probably think you know a lot about marine life--and you probably do! But here are some of the little known facts about the watery world we have so little explored... How deep is the ocean, and how high does it rise? Well, this question cannot be answered officially, because the level is always rising. The Ice Age happened centuries ago, and turned the world into a giant ice cube. Now, due to Global Warming, glaciers and ice caps are melting into the ocean, raising the sea levels and leaving animals such as polar bears and penguins with diminishing habitats. Not only that, but 3 times the amount of rubbish and trash is dumped into the oceans as the weight of fish caught!


 But yet, there is a lot we can do to help! The name of the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean in the world, means "Peaceful ocean". However, at the rate we are going, with oil spills and global warming, the ocean might not be so "peaceful". Yet we can change that! Everyone goes to the beach at least once in their lifetime--and everyone makes a mess. But we can change our impact on the environment by simply cleaning after ourselves--and other people! No, it's not just "the owner cleans up what he owns", it's everyone cleaning up after everyone, and that can make all of the difference. Limiting your use of plastic products contributes a lot, too.

Rain barrels; large, trash-can like objects that can collect pure rain-water for later use , are great ways to preserve the water on earth and prevent it from pouring out to the oceans carrying oil, pesticides, and litter with it. The water stored in a rain barrel can be used to water gardens, wash cars, and other helpful chores.

- 2/24/15 Animal Facts

         I am NOT going to do something as difficult as last post. Instead, listen to this: a lobsters blood is colorless but when exposed to oxygen it turns blue! And that armadillos have 4 babies at a time and are all the same sex! I can imagine it now...

Armadillo mother: I'm pregnant!! (121 days later) It's a girl! And a girl! And a--
Other grown armadillo children: Wait--lemme guess, a girl?
Armadillo mother: Hush! It's, it's... A girl! Wait one more... A girl!
Other grown armadillo children: *facepalm*

And that's not all of the facts I have... Did you know that when lightning strikes it can reach up to 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit? This seems cooler...

Mom: Kids, what would you like to eat today?
Kids: Fried egg!
Mom: Okay. *gets egg* I'll set it outside while I get the pan... *puts egg outside and leaves*

(lighning strikes egg) (Egg gets fried)

Kids: Yummy! Fried egg! *run outside to eat*
Mom: WAIT! STOP, IT'S NOT FRIED YET--*sees perfectly fried egg* Wait, what?

And that's not even the best of them, hear this: African Grey Parrots have vocabularies of over 200 words!!! That's no bird-brain!

Man: Aww, parrot, I'm going shopping, okay?
Parrot: Polly want a cracker. Polly want a cracker.
Man: Be a good little bird *leaves*
Parrot: WOOHOO! FREEDOM! *dials number on phone*
Parrot friends: *fly in through window* PARTY!!! *eat popcorn and watch a movie all day*
Man: *comes home* What the...?
Parrot friends: *leave*
Parrot: Polly want a cracker?

And then there is still the awesome fact that fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill, and that it's possible to lead a cow up stairs but not down. Nature never fails to amaze me! That's all for now, bye!

* 2/22/15 Ostrich Eye vrs. Brain

        Hello! I have a very interesting fact for this post. Did you know that an ostrich's eye is larger then it's brain? Well, I'm sure you've heard the term "bird-brain" which is supposed to be an insult because birds have such small brains. But in this case, is it the eye that is big, or the brain that is small? I will proceed to list the facts I have acquired, compared to an average songbird:

A sparrow weighs 31 grams.
A sparrows brain weight is 14.17 grams.
Therefore the ratio is approximately 31/14

An ostrich weighs 102,512 grams.
An ostrich's brain weight is 42.1 grams.
Therefore the ratio is approximately 102512/47

An ostrich is 3306 times larger then a sparrow.
An ostrich's brain weighs approximately 2 times more then a sparrow.
Therefore the ostrich's brain is 1653 times smaller then it would be if it was proportional

            And yet, the eye of the ostrich is at the same time very large, so that factors in as well. So, I come to the conclusion that the ostrich's brain is 1653 times smaller then it would be if it was proportional, and that the eye is 1.13064133017 times larger the brain.
            A final note: All math done is approximate. The work is likely to be incorrect, do not claim as factual in your own work. The comparisons may or may not be valid, it is not proven or decreed either way.
            A final, final, note: The "final note" seems like one of those ads that you hear on the radio about some sort of medicine, that always mentions something like, "If your head gets swollen, your chest gets tight, you have problems breathing, or you break out in a rash, call your doctor and stop taking this medicine! This medicine might cause chest inflammation, head pains, and abdominal issues. If you have any of these symptoms, your life could be in danger. Stop taking this medicine now!" And just like that, I mentioned that my work is likely not true, despite all the effort I put into gathering the information and solving the equations. *sigh*. I wonder of those medicine-selling people feel this way... Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Bye!

- 2/20/15 Weather Journal

         I have noticed that my posts are getting a little less... informative. And really, this isn't a blog for sarcasm and humor, it's to learn about Nature! So, as you probably know from my posts last year, I am working on (still) an endless (not quite) book called The Great Big Book of Nature. TGBBN is not complete, but I will post what I have so far about it on my website!!! It'll be called TGBBN. No, The Great Big Book of Nature. No, too long! Nature book? Nah... Polka dotted jaguarondi? That's it! JK, umm, All About Nature? Okay, will do. So what are you waiting for, go check it out! Or not. Instead, why don't you make a weather notebook?
         Okay, a weather journal k is a notebook for you about the weather! How do you make one? Take a notebook and record important things such as the temperature, wind direction, clouds, and precipitation. How do you figure that out? Take the temperature with a thermometer, the wind direction with a weather vane and a compass, the clouds by looking at the following diagram, and the precipitation with a rain gauge/snow stick. Go, try it out!

- 2/18/15 Can't Wait Til Spring!

        A while back--a very, very, very long time ago, I posted about WolfQuest, a game I play where you are a wolf trying to survive in the wild. I provided a whole walkthrough for the first part, how to get started and move around. Now, I've gotten even more interested in it: to the point where I am now immersively studying wolves and writing a 5 paragraph essay on them. No, this is not an school assignment, it's fun, believe it or not, at least to me. So on the weekends/doing free time, I going crazy studying and learning about wolves. If you are also interested, go to www.wolfquest.org for awesome info.
      I did some research on plants (and solar panels, and wolves... what's up with me and studying?) and I learned that the best time to plant tomatoes is in April. But my brain is screaming "Garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden!!!" And driving me nuts. I just want to grab my hoe and churn my garden plot to loose soil and sprinkle in fertilizer and dig a hole and plant a ochre/tomatoes/bean seed/pepper or whatever I want to plant. It's an addiction, planting! This year I will not miss a day to post on my blog FROM NOW ON. I promise (I hope). Can't wait until then...
      I had a diary this year, but I gave up on it a little bit into the year (a week...). What does that have to do with anything? It's my silly excuse for writing 3 paragraph posts every other day. But I really can't keep someone's attention talking for as long as it will take to you to read this, but at least in writing people can come and go and read, and it won't bother me. Well, the first paragraph was about Wolf Quest, and the last sentence will too. I made a slideshow about wolf behavior. Till the next post, people.

+ 2/16/15 My New Plants

      I admit, I have not been on here posting for a while, and "a while" has amounted to--yes--a whole month. And in that period of time I have both acquired and lost a plant. That plant I have lost is Invi. No, she did not die, but she caught the disease that killed Marigold and Athorya and is dying as well, and I fear that the disease will pass on to Bella. So I sorta kicked Invi out of my room and left her in my mothers care which she originally came from.
           Bella, you ask? Well, Bella is my new plant, my stunning, pink flowered, slender, dark leaved orchid plant. No, I do not favor my plants based on looks, but I must say that Bella is beautiful. She wilted a bit but she had a rough time on the way from Cleveland, Ohio to Wilmington, Delaware. How? Well for starters, the trip between those two cities is what, 8 hours? That sounds right. And orchids love warm temperatures, say in the 70s. And the temperature at that time? Oh, some negative number.... Yes, a heat loving plant made a journey in temperature's lower then 0. Just lovely. Hey, I had a rough time too...
           Oh, wait! I sincerely forgot (like, for real) that I recently acquired another plant. Well, two more plants. Three, counting Bella. Sorry, sorry! My other two plants are (not named) and (not named). Isn;t that helpful? Lol, no, I doubt it. I mean, my other two plants are Nephrolepis exaltata (neff-FRAHL-lepp-piss eck-sahl-TAY-tuh) and Chamaedorea elegans (kam-ee-DOR-ee-uh EL-uh-ganz). Wait, now what???? You mean you don't get that??? (gasp). Even though I provided a way to pronounce it? You really ought to know such things on the blog of an Ecologist... Just kidding XD. Their common names are Boston Fern and Neanthe Bella. Easier to say for you, perhaps, but I prefer--don't worry, I won't bore you with the long names. Haha!