Monday Fun Fact Aug 31

 Tiger! Tiger!

image from Pinterest

Isn't the tiger a beautiful animal?

The tiger's skin under his fur is also striped.  So if you happened to shave the fur off a tiger, it would still have stripes!

The stripe pattern on every tiger is different.  Like our fingerprints, every tiger has it's own stripe pattern.

  

Cats usually do not care for water, but tigers are excellent swimmers.  Young tigers will play in water.

You can hear a tiger's roar from two miles away!

Have a great day!  See you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact August 28

Today is National Bow Tie Day!

 

image from Freerange Stock

Bow ties are so versatile!  You can wear them to be fancy and dressed up, or you can wear them to be fun and lighthearted.  The bow tie was a modification of the cravat.  The cravat is a neckband that was first used in the 1800s to keep the collars of shirts together at the neck. 

image from Pinterest

Boys and girls can wear bow ties - some around your neck, or some in your hair!

image from Club Factory

Have fun with bow ties today!

  Have a great weekend!

Monday Fun Fact August 24

 Yummy!

image from Betty Crocker

Today is National Peach Pie Day!

  There are two kinds of peaches:  freestone and clingstone.  If the pit of a peach comes away cleanly, it is a freestone peach.  Likewise, if the pit sticks to the flesh of the peach, it is considered a clingstone peach.  Georgia is known as the Peach State.

image from Unsplash

Today is also National Waffle Day!

Cornelius Swarthout in New York received his patent for the waffle iron on this day in 1869.

Tomorrow is National Banana Split Day!

Yum! Yum! Yummy!!!

See you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact August 21

 Hello Ostrich!

image from Pixabay

The ostrich is the world's largest bird!

It is over 8 feet tall and weighs around 350 pounds. The ostrich is found in the savannahs and open woodland of Africa.

image from Nature Picture Library

The ostrich does not fly, but it can certainly run!  With its strong thighs and powerful feet, an ostrich can reach speeds of over 40 miles per hour. It uses its short wings to keep balance while running.

That's all for today!  Have a great weekend!

Monday Fun Fact August 17

 

 Love Your Feet!

image from Seussblog-WordPress.com

Today is National I Love My Feet Day.  Think about all the work that your feet do everyday:  walking, standing, skipping, running, jumping, hopping, dancing, tiptoeing, paddling, skating, swinging . . .  the list goes on and on!

Take time today to give your feet a little extra loving :)  

You can give those toes a little massaging and perhaps a bubble bath.  Your feet would thank you if they could!

See you on Friday! 

Friday Fun Fact August 14

 Our Sun Vs. Lightning

Which is hotter:  the sun or a bolt of lightning?

The surface of the sun is around 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is pretty hot when you compare that to our temperature today of 88 degrees Fahrenheit in Columbia, Missouri.   We look downright chilly! 

Is that hotter than a lightning bolt?

image from Depositphotos

A bolt of lightning can peak at 55,000 degrees Fahrenheit - that is 4 times hotter than the sun!  WOW!!!

Winner:  lightning!  I'm glad that lightning is not as regular as the sun in interacting with our earth!

Weather Fun Fact #2

Do you remember the big storm that we had this past Monday night?  Wind was blowing madly and rain poured down.  

We were lucky, though, because people in the state of Iowa had a storm that produced a derecho.  A derecho (pronounced "deh-REY-cho") is a weather term for a wide-spread, long-lived windstorm.  A derecho can cause damage similar to a tornado, but in one direction along a straight path.  Tornados spin and have crazy paths. 

That is all for today.  Have a great weekend!

Monday Fun Fact August 10

 How Far Can YOU Jump?

Mike Powell holds the record for the long jump.  He jumped 29 feet, 4 inches.  How long is that?  About the length of two minivans!

The long jump is a track and field event.  Athletes combine speed, agility, and strength to leap as far as possible from a take off point.  This was an event in the Ancient Olympic Games and has been a part of the modern Olympic Games since 1896.

image from Folks-Pillpack

Wilma Rudolph had scarlet fever and pneumonia and polio as a child, and the doctors thought that she would never walk again.

Wilma overcame her disabilities and competed in the 1956 Olympics in track and field.  At the 1960 Olympics, Wilma became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics.

"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit.  We are all the same in this notion: the potential for greatness lives within each of us."

-  Wilma Rudolph

 

Have a great day!  See you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact August 7

 Flying Jewels 

image from Depositphotos

When the early Spanish explorers first saw hummingbirds, they called them "Joyas Voladoras" or "Flying Jewels".  Its easy to see why:  hummingbirds are colorful and tiny, and they have the ability to fly forwards AND backwards!  Hummingbirds can also hover for a long time.  They need to eat five to eight times an hour, hovering near a flower and licking nectar with its fringed tongue.

All-free-download.com

Hummingbirds spend the winter months in Central America or Mexico and migrate north to the southern United States in the springtime.  They would love to feed at your hummingbird feeder if you have one!

Fine Art America

That's all for today.  Have a wonderful weekend!

 

  

Monday Fun Fact August 3

Where Is the Sun?

image from Cliparts.co

We have been experiencing sun and clouds lately, haven't we?

  Ever wonder where you can find the most sun?  It's Yuma, Arizona! 

The city of Yuma was built because it was the best place to cross the Colorado River.  The Colorado River is very wide - it is the river that cuts through the Grand Canyon - but in Yuma, the river narrows quite a bit, and it is easily crossed on a ferry.  Travelers in the California Gold Rush considered Yuma to be the gateway to California.

image from Clikr

So where is the least sunny place?  The South Pole!

At the South Pole, the sun only shines for an average of 182 days a year!

Astronauts Return

Do you remember back on May 30 when the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off, carrying the Crew Dragon space capsule to the International Space Station?  Onboard the Dragon capsule were astronauts Bob Behnken and Douglas Hurley.  These two astronauts arrived at the space station on May 31 and spent the next few weeks  

helping the space station crew run laboratory investigations and participating in public engagement events and spacewalks.

After 62 days on the International Space Station, Bob and Doug climbed back aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, undocked from the International Space Station, and landed in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday.  This was the first water landing by an American space crew since 1975. 

That's all for today.  See you on Friday!