7 Things We Learned This Week (Olympics, Tips, Soldiers, Eagle, Shopping, Animals)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Olympics

   For the first time in the history of the Olympics, our USA teams have more female athletes than males!

2. Soldiers and Suicide

   According to the June 23, 2012 issue of TIME, "More U.S. soldiers have killed themselves than have died in the Afghan war." "Every day, one U.S. soldier commits suicide." This is so sad.

3. Eagles

   Over at Jodi's Journey I learned some interesting facts about the eagle. I knew they fly above storms but didn't know that they can live to be 70 BUT to do so, in its 40s, it goes through a painful process of change that lasts 150 days. It loses its beak, talons and feathers and wait for them to grow back and lives another 30 years or so.

4. Household Tips

   Over at The Modern Mom I found Some Things You Never Thought Of that are helpful tips. The one I plan to try next I have to put keys or dog tags on a ring is to use a staple remover to hold it open instead of my nails. Another tip I'm going to try is using a microfiber cloth to prevent frost from forming on the windshield (if I can still remember by then). She gave several other great tips too--definitely worth checking them out!

5. Funny--Shopping Math

   See this video for how to shop for free that I found at Marythekaytheblog:
   

6. Animals
   

   

   Persian Onagar

   We saw a new animal at the Cleveland zoo yesterday--a Persian Onager. It's a fast wild horse, also referred to as a Persian donkey. It grows thick fur to adopt to cold weather and is fast.
   
   

   

   How to walk a possum

   
   We also found out that a possum's tail is muscle and it's fur feels like a dog's. I got to pet a possum named Pearl and an armadillo named Monte at the zoo yesterday when we went to eat breakfast with the animals. The volunteer held the possum's tail when she put her down on the table or the ground to walk around.
   

7. Pet Olympics Begin Today

   There are over 130 pets involved in this, including our three (Spunky Doodle, Manny Boy and Abby) to a small extent. Here is the schedule of events you may like to see for the weekend:
   FRIDAY, JULY 27
   Opening Extravaganza ~ http://www.roosdoins.com/
   Parade of Athletes ~ http://posiedorg.blogspot.com/
   Welcoming Speech ~ http://frankiefurterprice.blogspot.com
   SATURDAY, JULY 28
   Swimming ~ http://sargespeaksout.blogspot.com/
   Window Nose Art ~ http://jazzis-world.blogspot.com/
   
   SUNDAY, JULY 29
   Crazy Sleeping Singles ~ http://oskarsblog.com/ and Synchronized Snoozing  
   Bouncing http://bouncingbertie.blogspot.co/uk

Please note I may not visit your blog as often as usual because I will be spending time supporting the pet Olympics in Blogland. These bloggers who are hosting the events have put in lots and lots of work to make this happen and so I hope you will support their efforts too by checking out these special events with all the pets.

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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6 Things We Learned This Week 9 of 2012 (food, news, books, birds, comments)

 

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. We like to share what we've learned each week.

1. Prunes

   Prunes can make you gassy. You shouldn't eat a lot at a time. You can find out more Side Effects of Prunes and the Medical Benefits of Prunes at Livestrong.com.



2. Fire, HELP!

   From Sparkle's post, Sebastian's Friends Need Help Too, I learned about Kathi and her cats who were in a terrible fire and really need help. Her oldest cat died in the fire, she escaped with just the clothes on her back and lost everything else except for her cat, CJ, who got out but was very badly burned so has some big vet bills on top of everything else. I felt so sorry for this lady that I put up her "Chip In" widget. There's a problem with it updating the total donated so far, but the PayPal process completed okay.





image source:  Wikipedia

3. Peregrine

   By reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, I learned that a Peregrine is a bird. Miss Peregrine could change into a Peregrine Falcon.

4. February Comments

   We received 210 comments in February so are donating $105 to Caroline's Kids Pet Rescue. For March, we will donate 50 cents per legitimate comment to the American Cancer Society.  Two bloggers I visit regularly, Mrs 4444 at Half-Past Kissin' Time and Lucky Lady at Country Pictures are both participating in Relay for Life so we'll split our donation between them if it is still going on at the end of this month..

5. Bible Study

   
   I finished Beth Moore's Bible study on the book of James called James--Mercy Triumphs and will post my review of it Sunday on Grab A Book From Our Stack. I learned so much about James that I didn't know before and have memorized the Chapters 1 and 2. Some of the teachings really sunk in too. It was a very thought-provoking study that I enjoyed very much.

6. Postage

   When buying stamps this week, I learned that postage went up a penny to 45 cents for one stamp.

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5 Things We Learned This Week 5 of 2012 (food, charity, birds, news, celebrities)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. We like to share what we've learned each week.

1. Einstein's

   Einstein's sells little sized doggie bagels! Abby enjoyed her first one ever this week:  It's A Doggie Bagel.  It was cute, about a quarter size of the regular kind.

2. Cat Appreciation Month

   Thanks to Sparkle the Cat, I learned that February is Cat Appreciation Month.  So, that is why we are choosing Caroline's Kids Pet Rescue for our charity for February to donate 50 centers per legitimate comment on our blogs. Caroline's Kids is a houseful of all kinds of cats who need homes.

3. Count Birds

   Over at 365 Cat Ladies and Friends: Birds Count I learned that in the U.S. and Canada the annual "Great Backyard Bird Count" begins Feb. 17-20. There are really instructions on how to participate! I never heard of this before, have you?

4. Jim Tressel

   Former OSU football coach, Jim Tressel, got another coaching job for Akron earning $200,000 a year! I say good for him.

5. Guide Dogs

   Chloe, a guide dog, competes in high school athletics. I think this is so cool, both for Sami, the blind girl, and Chloe! That girl has courage! Read all about it: Blind runner Defies Odds Thanks to Guide Dog. I found this story when playing www.freekibble.com

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3 Things We Learned This Week 42 of 2011 (Health, nature, funny)

Women's Health

From the Parade insert in the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, I learned the following interesting facts:

• Women who eat 6-10 prunes a day have significantly higher bone density than those who eat other fruit. Prunes can help increase bone mass so I'm going to start eating them again.
• Calling your mother can help reduce stress. I would love to talk to my mom but she died the end of 1999.
• Women on average need between 5-6 1/2 hours of sleep each night for a long, healthy life. (Men need more, 8 hours per night average.)
• More than 38% of women pay more than $20 billion per year to manage Incontinence. One way to reduce your risk is to cut down on coffee--Caffeine stimulates urine production and acts as a bladder irritant.

There is also a Men's Health quiz at www.parade.com/men.

Used by permission by My Quality Day

Woodpeckers

I thought woodpeckers just pecked at trees, but nope, wrong again. Over at "My Quality Day" I met A Woodpecker Named Murphy who made a big hole in a wood building! Another good reason to have a brick house!

Death

"Cancel Your Credit Cards Before You Die" over at Jodi's Journey was the funniest post I read this week. Plus, good advice!

Find more Friday Fragments or link up some of your own at Half-Past Kissin' Time.

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3 Things We Learned This Week 27 of 2011 (birds, disabilities, chimps)

Bald Eagle

Over at Comedy Plus, I learned some interesting facts about our national bird, the bald eagle. It only lives in North America and is no longer considered endangered but threatened. It is a felony to shoot an eagle. Visit her post to find out more!

Special Olympics

Mama Kat actually went to Greece to cover the Special Olympics for Blogland and listed 7 Things You Should Know About the Special Olympics. I didn't realize what a huge event this is not that you do not have to be physically handicapped to participate. I was also surprised to learn that these athletes are actually talented.

Chimp Sanctuary

Gerard learned there is a sanctuary for chimps when he read The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary. Chimps were rescued from a research lab and moved to Fauna Sanctuary. He says he'll never look at chimps the same way again! Click on the link to read his review. Here is a short video about it:


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Let The Birds Entertain You With Wildlife Wendy

At our library, we enjoyed seeing a bird show by Wildlife Wendy.  She brought at least seven beautiful tropical birds that were very entertaining.  Skipper, the blue one had the children cracking up when it would keep sliding down from its perch while Wendy was working with another bird. 

These birds climbed a ladder from the floor to the table, did some arithmetic, rode a scooter, raised a flag, picked up and returned a dollar bill to a stranger in the audience, flew to a designated area, played some basketball, sang, made animal noises, and were very fun to watch!  Some even let her hold them upside by their feet!  Not all of them did everything but they all did something special. 

For your entertainment, I have included a video clip of parts of the performance to share with you! 

The library offers way more than just books!  I was very impressed with Wildlife Wendy.  She has been on several different TV shows and her parrot who did the math won on Animal Planet’s Pet Stars.  She is taking her show to many different libraries.  Visit her website at www.wildlifewendy.com to see all her beautiful birds and her schedule.  To see her whole show and her appearances on TV shows, you can view Wildlife Wendy's video on YouTube at  http://youtu.be/9OT4ZVvIpw4.

6+1 Things We Learned This Week 24 of 2011(EC, shoes, trees, hockey)

Beware of Entrecard

Mountain Woman's computer was attacked by a trojan horse while returning drops on Entrecard. You can read about it at Ah, Frustration. I do not return drops anymore and rarely use it to find new blogs because of this. I generally just use it to advertise on other blogs and drop when visiting. This is very sad and aggravating that attack sites are in there.

Now they feel much better!

Shoes

Gerard's new tennis shoes didn't feel right for the first 4 times he wore them. Then he finally took a closer look inside and discovered why--there was cardboard stuck inside! This made me actually laugh out loud.

Birds

I never heard of a cat bird until I read "My Apologies to the Bird in our Azalea" over at For Love Or Funny. They lay pretty blue eggs and squawk like cats!

Trees and Roots

Maple trees are noted for having fast growing shallow roots. The slower growing roots are deeper in the ground.  Some even have red leaves.  I learned this from a co-worker.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are the NHL Champions! They haven't won the championship in 39 years--definitely time to celebrate and buy some more Bruins stuff.  We will have a hockey post up tomorrow with pictures of all our happy bears!

OSU Hockey

I just found out this week that Ohio State University has a hockey team. In January, they will play a game against Michigan at Progressive Field (where the Cleveland Indians play).

UPDATED 6:48 a.m.: One more!

We Won!

Over at Up North, we won a copy of The Happiness Project! Thanks, Ann!

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6 Things We Learned This Week 14 of 2011 (charities, animals, Chinese, exercise, Autism, exercise)

Comment For Charity

I am so encouraged to see another blogger, Beth Ann at It's Just Life, start donating to charity for comments left on her blog too! This month being Parkinson's Awareness month, she will be donating 50 cents to The National Parkinson’s Foundation for each legitimate comment on her blog. I am starting a blog roll in my right sidebar for blogs I discover that are doing this. Wouldn't it be great if more would join in? I you decide to do this, please let me know! I'd love to add your blog to the list and comment regularly.

Smart Birds

Over at Everyday Adventurer I learned that that crows are now believed by many scientists to possibly be the second most intelligent creatures on the planet? They're only behind humans. That's right. Not even chimps or dolphins are as intelligent as these birds. Ratty even got a great picture of a crow flying which is hard to do!

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If You Were A Bird, What Kind Would You Be?

My Owl is next to the chair that Spunky is under.

I would like to be an owl--wise and cute! Sometimes at the zoo a volunteer will bring out a barn owl and I love being able to get up close to it. One of the first things I bought for my own place when I moved from my parents house was a large ceramic owl. I still love the piece and never once regretted spending the $100 on it.

When I was a kid, my favorite birds were penguins and used to imitate how they walked all dressed up in tuxedos.

I guess I should be glad I didn't get a cuckoo bird when I took this little quiz. I got a crow! I don't know much about crows except they have black feathers and there used to be a cartoon with a couple crows but I can't remember their names.

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Poor Birdie

When I got to work a couple weeks ago on Thursday, I saw a little sparrow in the lobby by the window, trying to fly through it to get out. It didn't work very well. I watched it for awhile, feeling sorry for it and tried to pick it up to take it outside, but it kept fluttering and I didn't want to scare it too much to make it fly farther into the building. I told the concierge and he called someone to take care of it. I waited with the bird, watching it for about 20 minutes but had to leave to get to work on time.

I knew how the bird should go, but couldn't get it's attention. I doubt if it trusted me much either. It reminded me of how God must feel when we insist on doing things our way instead of His way. We are like that little bird, banging persistently against the glass instead of going through the doors that God has for us. To me it makes a lot of sense to trust God completely because He is so much wiser and knows the best way for us to go. He sees the big picture and knows the future. I find great comfort in knowing my life is in His hands.

What about you? Have you surrendered control of your life to God? I guess this is on my mind after reading "Flight to Heaven" by Captain Dale Black, the lone survivor of a plane crash who was in critical condition but recovered enough to fly again just a year later. Check out my review at Grab A Book From Our Stack.

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4 Things I Learned This Week #89 (polls, funny, social media, roosters)

How Many Books Do You Read At A Time?

According to my little poll of 22 people at Grab A Book From Our Stack, 12 people read only one book at a time, but what surprised us is that six read MORE than two at a time!

Social Networking

I never knew there were so many social networking sites until I watched this video at Mike's Live Live 365 blog. It's hilarious and he is so creative. Check out his post about it: How To Increase Your Network Of Friends.

Getting Spayed

I had Spunky Doodle spayed when we took her in as a kitten and I felt horrible but after reading Harley's explanation, now I know about the garden inside the girl cats. Harley has a great way of explaining things in his "How Does That Work?" posts over at "Daisy, The Curly Cat."

Roosters

Being a city girl, I love learning more about farm animals and the country over at Red Pine Mountain. This week I learned from Mountain Man that roosters fight when they are in closed quarters and get bored. They have seven roosters!

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From A Bird's Perspective

Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? –Matthew 6:26

God Cares For You

As a creature of the Lord’s
God shows He loves me too.
And I am just a bird—
Much more he cares for you!

The Bible says God guides us,
He tells us where to feed.
Now if God cares for animals,
He’ll surely meet your need!

So don’t get scared and worry
About things of this earth.
God says He will protect you;
To Him, you have great worth.

And when a worry tempts you,
Quick, lay it at God’s feet.
Allow the Lord to show you
That trusting Him is sweet.

But you must take that first step;
Refuse to fret and fear.
Fill up your mind with Scripture,
And let Christ draw you near.

Reprinted here from A Closer Look At the Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.


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Chirp, Chirp--I Sing Because I'm Happy

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.--Matthew 10:29, 31

With Spring comes chirping birds. I remember how my bird, Blue Boy, used to chirp when I played the piano and how I was so surprised how much I missed him when he died. He was just a little blue and white parakeet, but I got attached to the little thing.

When I first dated Gerard he had a bird named Dickie Bird, also a blue and white parakeet. I was impressed with how much he talked to that bird and cared for him. Dickie Bird was our first pet, before we got Moe, our cat. Dickie Bird used to swing on his swing and chirp every morning when the sun came up. He loved the sunshine! He would also walk along his perch bobbing his head to the music on the radio. Again, it was a sad day for us when Dickie Bird died. Gerard buried him in the back yard and we plant flowers there, referring to it as “Dickie Bird’s Garden.”

It never ceases to amaze me how loving God is that he sees the little tiny sparrows.

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4 Things I Learned This Week--Part 28

Birds

When reading Mountain Man Mondays, What's That In Your Hand I found out that birds like grape jelly! I also found out that woodpeckers like to eat upside down!

Softball Tip

When we played softball last Saturday, I picked up this tip from the opposing team. Their pitcher was having trouble finding the "handle" on a slow rolling ball and not facing first base but heard the first baseman yelling to him. I overheard him say after the inning that hearing her voice helped him to know where to throw the ball and was able to get our runner out. Since I play first, this is a tip I tucked away.

Tennis Site

I discovered this great site for tennis players: www.tennis.com/yourgame. It has a lot of instruction in forms of articles, videos and a whole archive to "Tips of the Week."

Digital Camera

I finally got around to loading the photo loader software and reading the manual for my digital camera while on vacation this week. I learned how to add audio to a photo. I can play it on the computer but don't know how to upload it here. I also found out I can crop and resize pictures right on the camera! There's also a feature to take movies and upload them directly to YouTube but I haven't decided if I want to do that yet. I'd have to install more software and don't want it messing up my Flip stuff. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Birdie Bombs My Library Book--A Close Call

At lunch today, I went to the mall garden to get a picture for a blog post, then to the library garden (pictured above) to read. It was in the low 80s and a gorgeous day. The sun was so bright it made me squint and couldn't concentrate so I moved to the shade under the trees in the middle of the garden near the water. That was much better. All of a sudden, plop, right on a page of the book I'm reading about nature in Adventures With Ari, a birdie dropping fell on it. Fortunately, it missed my head. It would have been messy since I didn't wear my cap today, but from now on I will. I wiped the page off the best I could using a leaf before closing the book. I didn't think about that when I moved under the trees. Have to watch out for those bird bombers!

7 Things I Learned This Week-Part 19

My Funny Dad, Harry Giveaway

When visiting Mountain Woman's blog at Red Pine Mountain, I saw she's having a book giveaway contest for four copies! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment that you would like to enter. There are some other things you can do to get more chances to win. The drawing will be June 12 for Father's Day. I was glad to see there were some who wanted it! Click here to head on over to enter!

Anti-Monkey Butt Powder

Kathy at "The Junk Drawer" discovered this product at her drug store and actually took several photos of it. This is a new product to me; never knew there was such a thing. Here is the link to her post about it: Do You Have A Monkey Butt?.

Birds & Squirrels

My new animal fact I learned this week is that sometimes birds attack squirrels. You can read all about the bird-squirrel fight at Forest Fight at The Everyday Adventurer.

Self Defense

I found a great post this week about teaching kids self defense at For Your Protection. There is also a link in the post to a whole video series about different ways kids can get away from an abductor here: Expert Village. If I had kids, I'd sure want them to know how to defend themselves.

Coolest Horse

At Just Wondering, I came across this video of the coolest horse ever. I never knew a pony could ride in a car and live inside a house, answer the phone and bring his owner a beer from the refrigerator. It even laid on the bed! I wonder if the horse is happy or if it wouldn't rather be out running. What do you think? Watch this video: The Coolest Horse,

How To Protect Your Address Book

This came from an email sent to me by a friend. I'm not guaranteeing it works, but it's simple enough to give it a shot. This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has gotten into your system.

Here's what you do:

First, open your address book and click on 'new contact,' just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in 'A'.

For the screen name or email address, type AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA
(mailto:AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA)

Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
The name 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book as entry.

This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. When it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA (mailto:AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA), it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered. If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and none of your friends will be infected. You'll also get an undeliverable message which alerts you that a virus has entered your computer and you can take care of it.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta

From reading "Handle With Care" by Jodi Picoult, I learned Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is a rare bone disease where a person's bones break very easily--just by getting bumped, falling down, or even sneezing. The person with this disease is generally very short too. Much of their time is spent in the hospital and living with casts which is extremely costly.