Seven Quick Takes: Spring, Birds, and The Last Billion Years

 1.  It's SPRING!  Honest to goodness spring right now, although ye olde blog reminds me that this time last year we had 7" of snow.

It's just a bit hard to enjoy because we are into our second week of
dealing with flu.

No one person gets it for more than a couple of days (thank you flu shots!), but with 8 people, it takes a looong time, especially when the people who looked totally immune start getting sick the day you finally decide you can go back to a normal schedule (and 20 minutes after you send the email telling people you will be having class again).

 2. In the meantime, Oob has been drawing birds.

Lots of cute birds!





One of my favorites (besides the Duck Billed Duck) is this Multi-Toed Happy-as-a-Lark Bird









 3. The class I had to cancel was Paleontology for Kids, and I'm just itching to do the next one!

I will do a proper blog post about the first class, but I just
have to share this timeline idea:  If one side of a sheet of copy paper is 100,000 years, then the top sheet looks like this.

That means two sides are 200,000 years, right? Using both sides, a ream of copy paper is 100 million years, and a case of copy paper is 1 billion years!

Multicellular life on Earth started 1 billion years ago!

 4. I would just like to say that our gerbils might be spoiled.

A friend who noticed the recent upgrade to their palatial  living quarters asked if we had gotten more gerbils.

No.  There are still just two of them in there.

Living their best life, evidently.


5. Speaking of spoiled pets...

Mike (full name: St. Michael the Archangel, Defend Us in Battle), continues to delight.

Not only does he sing and talk to us, but he also loves to drink tea.

I love how he looks like he's smacking his lips!




6. The seeds are sprouting indoors, and the weeds are sprouting outdoors!  I'm trying to get out to
plant some outdoor seeds and do a little gardening, but...see take 1.


7. Speaking of the great mythical outside, our front sidewalk is cracked, sinking in places, and prone to flooding.

I was thinking of breaking it up and replacing it with pavers that would be more porous and match the style of the garden better..

Which seemed like a great idea until I thought about shoveling snow.

Anyone have any words of experience, wisdom, or inspiration?

8. Bonus take!  This cartoon from Leena.

Have a great weekend!  More fun with Kelly!