Braceface

Braceface, (Siberian) train tracks, metal mouth, tin grin, tinsel teeth, zipper mouth . . . what are some other insults for people who wear braces?
Dum dum who can't chew gum gum . . .

Happy ANZAC Day (Observed)

In our studies about World War I we learned that on every April 25th the countries of Australia and New Zealand honor the memory of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), and their sacrifice at Gallipoli. And a part of that celebration is making ANZAC Biscuits (cookies to you and me). Apparently these resilient cookies were sent over by wives and mothers to the soldiers serving in Turkey. We made these as part of our ANZAC day celebration, but we didn't get off from school, Dudeboy notes.

Varied Carpet Beetle

Here is a Varied Carpet Beetle that Dudeboy found crawling on his hand. They are a very common household pest. The larvae can cause a bit of damage to clothing, blankets, furniture, and the like. Apparently, they wreak havoc in museums.

The little booger (and I do mean little . . . an adult only measures 1.7 to 3.5 mm in length) would not stay still, so the photos are not as crisp as I would like.

Mottled Tortoise Beetle

Dudeboy and I are starting (with this post) a backyard bug series for the blog. Dr. J found this Mottled Tortoise Beetle on a leaf of Swiss Chard. Being ignorant of all things creepy crawly, we found our guy easy enough in a field guide on insects and spiders.

Apparently, the metallic gold fades with death. One bug site states, "this color shift is achieved by introducing, or withdrawing, moisture to the surface of the exoskeleton. When hydrated, a perfect reflecting surface is produced, but in the absence of the moisture the underlying colors become visible."


Darth Vader . . .

Todd County Cliffs

Saturday we joined some friends on a hike through the Todd County Cliffs area on a beautiful spring day.

Busy as a beaver . . . or the result.

Tarzan

Undocumented natural arch that we found on the hike

One of the two trees we used for crossing the creek

Dudeboy at another natural arch that we had previously documented

Falls at Copper Spring

Looeyville Part 3

Final installment for the Louisville trip

On Saturday we went to the Goss Avenue Antique Mall, and I liked it. I only got to go through half. I wanted to get a big metal key that I was going to hang on my room door, but I didn't have my money with me. Next we went to Suburban Social Club and ate fish for lunch. Then we met some friends at the Louisville Zoo. It seems like most of Louisville was at the zoo because it was the first pretty day of spring. I am glad they had a Komodo dragon; it was the first one I ever saw in real life. We saw a gorilla picking its nose for several minutes. You see how close gorillas are related to people? Sunday when we got back we went to a show at the WKU planetarium called "Exoplanets." It was definitely an action-packed spring break!
Dudeboy




Three dodos

Looavill Part 2

Second day of our trip to Louisville . . .

On Friday we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. I saw the first bat they made. It had a very thick handle compared to bats today. Bud Hillerich was the originator of the Louisville Slugger bat. On a day when a baseball player broke his bat, Bud jumped onto the field; he said, “I think I can make a better bat.” And he did. His father tried to talk him out of making baseball bats, but making butter churns like his father suggested wasn’t enough for Bud. We also did a factory tour.

Then we went to the 21c Museum Hotel. And we saw weird art. Sometimes I liked it, and sometimes I didn’t. There was a film called In G.O.D. We Trust that reminded me of the Yellow Submarine. I liked a piece of art that had falling letters called Text Rain (pictured below). There was portrait of Obama made out of wax that I really liked. That might of been my favorite piece of art at the gallery.

We also went to the Louisville Science Center and saw the imax movie named Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure that actually had parts from old films in it.

It was a very busy day!

Dudeboy

The world's largest bat built to scale from one of Babe Ruth's Louisville Sluggers.

Dudeboy needs to eat a few more hotdogs to really pull off this portrayal.
Big leaguer?

Signature row.

"Text Rain"

Orange is in this year.