Cool Animal Facts
Posted by: Claire on: December 16, 2009
Check out these awesome facts!!!!
1. Cats have 32 muscles in each ear.
2. Crocodiles can’t stick their tongues out.
3. All polar bears are left handed.
4. A snail can sleep for 3 years.
5. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
6. Butterflies taste with their feet.
7. If you cut off a cockroach’s head it can survive for weeks without starving to death.
8. Slugs have 4 noses.
9.Giraffes can clean their ears with their tongues.
Christmastime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Claire on: December 16, 2009
Holy cow!! It’s Christmastime already!!!! I’m not ready yet!! Of course I’m excited!! Who wouldn’t be!!?? Merry Christmas and a happy new year (for heaven’s sake!!!) !!!!!
Telling the Temerature by Listening to Insects (gasp)
Posted by: Claire on: December 12, 2009
Isn’t it cool that you can tell the temperature by listening to the insects?!?!?!! But it’s possible! My grandma says, ” There are so many things to know in this world.” Well, this is how to do it:
Cricket chirps:
1. Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds (Fun fact: they chirp by rubbing their wings together!)
2. Add 37. Your final number is the temperature!
Katydid chirps:
1.Count the number of chirps in a minute.
2. Subtract 19.
3.Divide by 3.
4. Add 60. Your final number is the temperature!
Chanchitos
Posted by: Claire on: December 2, 2009
My birthday was about a week ago, and one of my friends gave me a “chanchito”. Chanchitos are little three legged pigs. Supposedly, they are a token of goodwill and love when given to a friend. So, now I have a little clay chanchito from Chile. It is awesome!!!!! I named it snort.
Noises at Night
Posted by: Claire on: October 8, 2009
Do you ever lie awake at night thinking you hear strange footsteps or scary breathing? That’s nothing compared to what we hear outside in our tent at night! Rustle, stomp, crunch, bang! Those are just some of our onamonapeias.
Spelling my initials by flashlight in front of the tent.
One night, at 2:00 am, we heard a strange crunching sound, then a stomp stomp, rustle rustle. My dad unzipped the tent and shined the flashlight right on a pair of black, glowing eyes that were staring straight back at us. It was a raccoon. Not that we were surprised or anything. We get raccoons almost every night. What surprised us was that it was chewing up my dad’s shoe. Dad jumped out of the tent and shoed (ha ha) the raccoon away (which took some doing, for raccoons are not shy creatures). He took his shoe and brought it inside the tent. The creature slowly loped away, staring back at us occasionally with those beady, black eyes. Finally, in peace, we fell asleep. But, of course, it’s never peaceful for long.
Go Green!!!
Posted by: Claire on: October 3, 2009
As you all know , our environment is changing. Global warming, logging, pesticides, and many other harmful things are effecting our earth. But we can change that!!!!!!!!!!! If we work together, we can make a difference! Here are some ways you can help:
- Ride your bike! NOT a motorized bike! Car pollution sends gases into our atmosphere. Anyway, gasoline stinks. Have you ever gone through a parking lot and suddenly smell gas? Imagine how much pollution there is there!
- Turn of those lights! Don’t waste electricity!
- Do you use a clothesline? Well why not start! We use one and it’s become one of my mom’s favorite things to do. She just loves it! And, well, so do I except when friends or neighbors come over and see our underwear!
- Well, I’m not asking you to become a vegetarian or anything, but some people tend to eat meat just because it’s meat. Don’t do that!!! Maybe if you start to eat less of it you will realize that it isn’t that bad to just eat a little less of it! Making meat takes lots of pollution! Also, who wants to eat an animal?
For more ideas, go to my mom’s blog at www.thetanglednest.com, my dad’s blog at www.bikejuju.com, or read the awesome book “Recycle This Book.”
GO GREEN!!!!!!!
On Blog Vacation Till Fall (Or A Rainy Day!!!)
Posted by: Claire on: June 27, 2009
Hi there blog readers! I won’t be blogging until a rainy day or the fall because I’ve been spending most of my time outside and don’t feel like staying inside cooped up on the computer!!! I might add a few things to bookworm or a couple cool links or short posts, but not much to look at so you all can just take a break (or look at my Mom and Dad’s excellent blogs!!!!!!!)!!!
Have an excellent summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love Claire
Our garden - where I am spending most of my time!!!
How to Cook in a Box Oven
Posted by: Claire on: May 11, 2009
This weekend, I went to Girl Scout encampment with my troop. We baked brownies in a box oven-which is literally just a box covered in tin foil.
- Get a cardboard box
- Cover box in tin foil ( completely)
- Mix up the cookies or brownies or whatsoever
- Place them in the box
- Place the box on a cooling rack over some hot charcoal
- Let it sit and bake
Then enjoy!!! It’s a really fun process. Isn’t it cool how you can bake in a plain old cardboard box? I hope you have as much fun as I did!!!!
The Maya
Posted by: Claire on: April 23, 2009
Getting ready to climb the pyramid at Coba, Mexico!
The Maya are a veeeeery interesting Native American tribe that lived in Mexico. Here are some of the facts I learned about the Maya while I was in the Yucatan in Mexico where they lived.
SYSTEMS
The Maya were one of the few tribes that really had their own way to do almost everything. They had their own language, alphabet, creation story, way to tell time, and more. The Maya had a special pyramid where on the Equinox exactly half of it would be in sunlight, the other half shadowed. This would happen twice a year so they could figure out the date from there.
BEAUTY
The Maya thought it was beautiful for Mayan ladies to be cross-eyed, have a really slanted back forehead with a long, hooked nose coming from it, and pointed teeth (they would actually file them down).
CREATION STORY
The Maya creation story was rather strange. They believed that first, the gods made people out of mud. The mud people were OK, but they melted in rain. Next, the gods made people out of wood. The wood people were better than the mud, but they weren’t very smart. Finally, the gods made people out of corn and those were the Maya. They thought they were originally made out of corn. Weird huh?
We went to one of the Mayan ruins called Coba, where you can climb one of the pyramids, and we climbed all the way to the top!!!!
Chickens
Posted by: Claire on: April 23, 2009
I am holding Chrysanthemum.
You’ll never believe what we did today! We got chicken chicks! We’ve had chickens before in our old house. Our first batch got eaten by raccoons (I know it’s terrible!) and then we had to give our second batch to my great uncle when we moved because he has a farm. So we haven’t had chickens for a while. UNTIL NOW! We got 3 chicks. Chrysanthemum (mine), Esmerelda (mommy’s), and Lucy. Chickens rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
