1. What did we find? Name the animal and its bones. 2. Why could my husband see the remains when I couldn’t? 3. Do you see details like my husband, or the big picture like me? Support your answer. Think about how you solve a puzzle, do a math problem, or read a book. Answers are at the end of this post Do you see anything? How about now? No? That’s because there’s nothing there…now…but there was. My husband kicked something away before I could take a picture, but I took one anyway. Why? Because it tells you something about me. Here’s the story of what we found: My husband called for me to come outside. He was mumbling something about Halloween and Tennessee. I scanned the path beside the house and wondered what he was talking about. He led me up the path to this spot, and told me to stop. Then he asked if I saw anything. I said no. I was still scanning the woods and seeing nothing. He said look down, and this is what lay, literally, between my feet. Another step and I would have landed on top of it. Can you believe it? I wouldn’t have, but there it was, right there between my feet. I looked down to find eye sockets staring up at me. Now that is Halloween spooky! I cut and pasted these two pictures close together. It's pretty much what I saw, except, eye sockets aren't looking up at us. In all my years on the planet, I’ve never been this close to a skull. Ever! I'm a city girl. You don't find animal skeletons in town. I’ve only seen them in books and museums. And no, I didn’t get any closer, but I was fascinated enough to take pictures. But it gets better...Look at this picture. It’s what I saw when my husband told me to look at his feet. You see two skulls and a spine, but originally, that top skull was between by my feet. I’ve still can’t believe I was that close. I didn’t bend down, and I definitely didn’t touch it. ICK!!! Do you know what animal these skulls once belonged to? I didn’t, but my husband knew right away. I looked at the bones slowly, carefully. Then I saw a clue. Do you see it? Look at the bottom skull. There’s something beside it that says “deer.” Can you find it? If not, look at this picture. Do you see a deer’s leg? I found the black hoof first. Look for the hoof, and you’ll find the leg. Above it, the leg actually had hair on it. It’s a creepy detail, but it made me wonder how long the poor deer was dead. Did it happen two weeks ago when we were still there? Before? After? We’ll never know. We also wondered how they died. Was it natural causes, like sickness or disease? Was it a predator? Our house is in the Smokies where black bear and wildcats live. We’ve never seen them, but who knows? The skeletons do, but they wouldn’t talk. My husband noticed teeth marks on the bones. I didn’t, but I wasn’t going any closer. They were probably made by animal scavengers. They come in later to feed on the body and clean up the mess. They eat whatever’s left, including the bones. That’s where they get their calcium. It’s sad, but it’s the circle of life. Do you recognize this shape? It’s a snakeskin. It was left behind when a snake molts off his old skin and leaves it behind. I didn’t take this picture. I found it on the internet. Would you believe we found a skin, something like this, hanging from our deck stairs? I wish I had taken a picture. My lakehouse is beautiful. It’s heaven, but it’s also part of a wild kingdom. I forget, till l see a deer watching me from the road, or a lizard run across my deck, or till I take pictures like the ones above. I’ll be back in 2 weeks. I wonder if my skeletons will be waiting for me. I’ll let you know in another update. Can You Guess What We Found at the Lake? 1. What did we find? Name the animal and its bones. The skull and spine of 2 deer 2. Why could my husband see the remains when I couldn’t? My husband can see details in a landscape, like the skeleton. I see the big picture and then go down to detail. I saw the woods. I probably wouldn’t have looked down to see the skull. 3. Do you see details like my husband, or the big picture like me? Support your answer. Think about how you solve a puzzle, do a math problem, or read a book. Possible answers: I see details like your husband. When I’m working a puzzle, I can see the small parts of pictures, and I can put them together. I see the big picture like you. When I do a puzzle, I have to look at the box. I go back and forth from the box to the pieces until I see parts of the picture.
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1. What are 3 things you’d lose if you lived in the US Virgin Islands? 2. Name 2 groups who are helping families or schools. 3. What could you do to help children in the US Virgin Islands? Answers are at the end of this post Sept. 6th Irma hit the US Virgin Islands. Nine days later Maria made landfall on Sept. 22nd. Today is Oct. 20th. It’s 45 days later, and there’s still so much damage left to repair. Can you imagine surviving Irma, then Maria, and returning home to this? That’s what happened to people who live on St. Thomas, St. Johns, St. Croix, and the minor islands that make up the US Virgin Islands. I can’t imagine living like this for a month-and-a-half with your home open to the elements. Water’s leaking or blowing inside. YUCK! You’ve also lived with a boil-water advisory for 45 days. If you don’t have bottled water, you boil or add a few drops of bleach every time before you drink or brush your teeth. What a pain! YUCK! October temperatures average about 86F with high heat and humidity. You’re on an island so you can go to the beach. Except, no swimming. Bacteria in the water could make you sick. Here’s a tiny bit of good news: the water system is now 90 % restored, and there’s 4-9 days of emergency water. With high heat and humidity, you miss air conditioning. It doesn’t work without power/electricity, which you lost 45 days ago. That means no AC, lights, running water, or toilets. If you’re lucky, you have a generator. But it only works with a tankful of gas or diesel fuel. Gas and diesel are in short supply, like everything else. They must be shipped in, then delivered or picked up. Roads are damaged, like everything else in the US Virgin Islands. Little by little the power’s coming back on. By Christmas 90% of the electricity will be restored. That’s still 64 days away. I hope things go faster than expected. Worst of all, if you live on the US Virgin Islands, you might feel forgotten. People talk about Puerto Rico, and not you. But it’s not true! There are people who want to help. Adopt a Family, USVI is one of the groups trying to help. They’re behind these packages that were delivered to the US Virgin Islands. Can you imagine how great you’d feel if one arrived on your doorstep? Adopt a Family matches a supporter with a family in need. It’s a wonderful way to help families living without power, hospitals, or running water. Life doesn’t feel safe anymore. Sending a book or a t-shirt means the world to parents and children who’ve lived through a hurricane. This is a picture from their Facebook page. You can also visit their website at: http://www.adoptafamilyusvi.com/. I hope you’ll check them out! Homes got hit, and so did schools. The first picture is a pair of twins from the Lowcountry of South Carolina. These 4th grade girls spearheaded a drive in early October that brought in about 1,000 books. If my classroom was destroyed, I’d be grateful for their help. The second picture is from adoptafamilyusvi.com. They came up with the idea to adopt a classroom. The need is still great. I just read a post today that showed a building like the one in my first picture. It read “This is not an old picture.” That post was 4 hours old. If buildings look like this, so do schools. Some were condemned while other were severely damaged. So, Adopt A Family decided to sponsor Adopt A Classroom, USVI to help classrooms in need. I checked them out and signed up. I should hear early in November who I get to help. I can’t wait! Here’s the basic supply list. There are so many things that I, as a retired teacher, can buy, and I get to help 1st/2nd graders. I’m so excited! I'm ready to start shopping! There’s also an adoption form/contract. It says: 1. We’re committing to adopt (1) classroom in the USVI for three consecutive months. 2. By adopting a classroom we are committing to sending enough supplies for a classroom of 15-35 students for three consecutive months. 3. I understand Adopt A Classroom, USVI suggests we send (4) Large Flat Rate USPS priority boxes per month OR the equivalent. 4. A pen pal relationship is highly probable however we ask you to please send a return envelope and stamps. 5. I understand that our preferred adoption grade is NOT guaranteed. 6. I understand our primary resourced for questions/concerns is: http://tinyurl.com/launchclassroom I hope you'll consider adopting either a family or a classroom. For parents, teachers, and schools, this is a great opportunity to help others, and maybe, to find a pen pal from another culture. Just think how many children you can help, when you help one classroom. Facebook Sources: 1. Adopt A Family USVI 2. Adopt A Classroom USVI Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/20/559026813/st-john-could-get-electricity-turned-back-on-6-weeks-after-hurricane-irma Update: The US Virgin Islands Work to Repair Hurricane Damage 1. What are 3 things you’d lose after the hurricane? Possible answers: drinking or running water, electricity, air conditioning, toilets, swimming at the beach 2. Name 2 groups who are helping families or schools. Adopt A Family USVI Adopt A School USVI 3. What could you do to help children in the US Virgin Islands? Talk to your parents or teachers. Show them this post. Decide together how you’d like to help. Where in Columbus are you? 1. I was the first custom-made soccer stadium in the US. Where are you? 2. For great pasta, come to my restaurant. Where are you? 3. If you want to shop, come visit me. Where are you? 4. If you want to see where laws are made, come visit me. Where are you? 5. Where would you go if you could visit Columbus? It can be a place not mentioned in this post. Give proof for your answer. Answers are at the end of this post. Can you guess where we went after the Statehouse? If you guessed Spaghetti Warehouse, you’re right! Most years we take our German kids there. Why? It’s fast and easy to seat a lot of people, especially with reservations. This time we had 15 hungry people who started munching on breadsticks right away. When you have hungry guests, you don’t want to keep them waiting. Plus, the menu is great! There’s something for everyone. Most of the German kids love pasta, but a few are vegetarians. They won’t eat meat or anything produced by an animal. Not even an egg. Spaghetti Warehouse gives them choices, which is wonderful! You don’t want a guest stuck with one choice. What if they don’t like it? If you’re in Columbus or Toledo, Spaghetti Warehouse is a great place to go! Thanks to a Wapakoneta graduate, we took a tour of Mapfre Stadium after lunch. He works for the Columbus Crew and invited us to a game between the Crew and Eintracht Frankfurt (Ine-trokt). We couldn’t, so we settled for a tour. A few soccer facts: in Germany soccer is called Fußball (foos-ball). Over there our football is called American football, literally. The Crew play in the MLS, Major League Soccer. Frankfurt plays in the Bundesliga (boon-des-le-ga). The positions and rules are the same in both countries. The first map shows you how to travel from Lengerich to Frankfurt. Do you see Dortmund? It’s south of Lengerich, and has its own professional soccer team. The second map shows you how to get from Wapakoneta to Columbus. The Crew is the only MLS team in Ohio, but there are 2 professional football teams, in Cincinnati and Cleveland. This is Lamar Hunt. His statue stands next to the stadium. He and his son founded the Crew in 1996. It was one of the first 10 teams in the MLS. Now there are 19. The Crew played first in Ohio Stadium, AKA the Shoe. It wasn’t a good fit so Lamar raised money and built Columbus Crew Stadium. It opened in 1999. Would you believe it was the first custom-built soccer stadium in the US? In Ohio we love football and soccer! Do you know know how Mapfre Stadium got its name? The Crew tried to sell the naming rights for a corporate sponsorship. The field remained Crew Stadium for 15 years until 2014. That’s when Mapfre Insurance bought the rights, and the name changed to Mapfre Stadium. Mapfre is a company from Madrid, Spain. It has a Columbus office. Who knew Columbus was so international! We ended Columbus day at Tanger Outlets. I couldn’t believe it…the boys wanted to go shopping. Did you know prices in the US are a lot cheaper than in Germany? Also, did you know there’s a limit to how much money they can spend over here? If you go over the limit, you’re fined. If you try to cheat, the fine gets bigger! BIG TIME! Looking back on the trip to Columbus, I think the German kids liked the restaurant and mall best. It seems funny, but if you’re visiting a new place, you want to explore and have fun. The statehouse was interesting, but fun, not so much. Eating and shopping are! You relax and make your own choices, When you have guests from down the block or from across the ocean, don’t forget…have fun! Where in Columbus are you? 1. I was the first custom-made soccer stadium in the US. Where are you? Mapfre Stadium 2. For great pasta, come to my restaurant. Where are you? Spaghetti Warehouse 3. If you want to shop, come visit me. Where are you? Tanger Outlets 4. If you want to see where laws are made, come visit me. Where are you? Ohio Statehouse 5. Where would you go if you could visit Columbus? It can be a place not mentioned in this post. Give proof for your answer. Example: Good answer: I’d go to the Shoe to see the Buckeyes play. Great: I’d go to the Shoe. I want to see the band march in. I want to see the football Buckeyes win. |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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