Author: pat frederick

Strangest Animals in Every State Part 1

Alabama: Red Hills salamander

This official state amphibian is a long lean mean burrowing machine. Much larger than its other lung-less salamander peers at 11 inches, the Red Hills salamander breathes through its moist skin. It’s on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife endangered species list because much of the 60,000 acres of suitable habitat (i.e., the steep slopes and moist ravines of hardwood forests) are threatened by logging and deforestation.

Alaska: Ice worm

This relative of common earthworms and leeches makes its home inside glaciers and adjacent snowfields, moving through densely packed ice crystals with ease thanks to small bristles on the outside of their bodies. Its Latin name, Solifugus, meaning sun avoider, is basically a warning to the annelids who thrive best at zero degrees Celsius. According to the Alaska Centers public lands guide, when heated to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, an ice worm’s insides liquefy until it literally melts to death. Ouch!

Arizona: Javelina

Javelinas, also known as a collared peccary, are often confused for wild pigs thanks to their stumpy legs, porcine-like snouts, and tendency to communicate in snorts. But according to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, these “new world” herbivores/frugivores (fruit eaters) are distinguished from their “old world” lookalikes by numerous physical features including a scent gland in their rump that they rub on rocks and stumps to mark territory and on each other for identification. Pigs, on the other hand, lack scent glands.

Arkansas: Ozark cavefish

These endangered and nearly translucent cave dwellers live most or all of their lives in total darkness. But they’re blind because they lack eyes altogether and therefore use sense organs to detect movement in the water and find food. Very little is known about their reproductive habits, but the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation suspect that spring floods get them in the mood for making whoopee.

California: Banana slug

The sex life of these gooey, yellow mollusks is even more bizarre than their coloring or the fact that they inch down from high tree branches on thin strands of slime in much the same way as spiders utilize their webbing. For starters, according to a 1916 paper by Stanford University zoology professor Harold Heath, they are hermaphrodites. Two, a slug penis, which emerges from its head, can be as long as its entire body. That makes for some of the largest male genitalia of any species in proportion to its overall size. Three, reproductive sessions last hours and sometimes end in apophallation, which is when a banana slug gnaws off and eats its partner’s privates. They do not grow back.

Colorado: Sage grouse

Although the low fast fliers have poor eyesight themselves, they are quite the spectacle to watch during the spring breeding season. Defenders of Wildlife explains that males develop white chest feathers and specialized head plumage and that is just the beginning of their fascinating mating ritual. At dawn or dusk, birds in the mood for love assemble on leks—ancestral strutting grounds returned to annually that can be as far as 50 miles from their winter habitats—and strut, fan tail feathers, and puff their chests until bright yellow air sacs are revealed and hens are smitten.

Connecticut: Star-nosed mole

Star-nosed moles, according to National Geographic, eat faster than any other mammal on Earth. They decide if something is edible in 8 milliseconds and devour their meal (mostly bugs) in less than two-tenths of a second. They owe part of their ability to the extremely efficient operation of their nervous system and partly to their hideous “noses.” The star, which contains 100,000 nerve fibers contained into a space smaller than your fingertip, is the most sensitive touch organ in any mammal. They are also the only mammal known to smell underwater and again they have their grotesque snouts to thank. Moles blow bubbles into the water and then re-inhale them to catch a whiff of potential prey.

Delaware: Common grackle

These birds may be labeled “common,” but their foraging techniques are anything but. Grackles follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, snatch leeches from the legs of turtles, raid nests and steal worms from other birds, wade in shallow water to fish, and use the hard keel on the inside of their upper mandible to saw open acorns. They also practice the strange habit of anting, in which they get low to the ground, wings spread, and let ants crawl all over them. It is postulated that the formic acid deposited by the insects gets rid of parasites. When they can’t find ants, grackles have been known to use walnut juice, marigolds, lemons, limes, and mothballs to achieve the same results.

Florida: Manatee

Although manatees are born underwater and never go ashore in their lives, the mammals with egg-shaped heads are related to elephants, not dolphins or whales according to National Geographic. The blubbery gentle giants known as sea cows congregate near Florida power plant discharge pipes because the water is warmer there. Smithsonian.com reports that they eat for almost half the day, consuming 10 percent of their 1,200-pound body weight in plants.

Georgia: One-toed amphiuma

At first glance, it is easy to confuse the one-toed amphiuma for a water snake or an eel. In fact, one of its common names is the ditch eel. But, according to the Wildlife Resources Division of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, it is a very rare elongated salamander with a unique two pairs of tiny seemingly useless limbs (common to salamanders) with a single toe on each (unique to this species). It lacks external gills, and although it has gill slits, it breathes by periodically lifting its nose out of the mud or water.

Hawaii: Brahminy blind snake

Hawaii’s tourism boards would have people believe there are no snakes in paradise. And while there are not any that are indigenous to the 50th state, the claim is technically a fib. Let us be the first to introduce you to the blind snake, the world’s tiniest snake. Most likely spotted on Hawaii Island and Kauai, this earthworm lookalike was introduced to the state in the 1980s, likely in potting soil from the Philippines. They have managed to survive on the islands because they are the only known parthenogenic snakes, meaning their unfertilized eggs hatch into new female clones. (Geckos also utilize this adaptation.) And because they eat termites and ants, which are also non-native, they do not have any measurable effects on the ecosystem.

Idaho: Pygmy shrew

Weight watchers should be jealous of the second-smallest mammal in the world because despite consuming as much as three times its body weight every day and eating every three to four hours to maintain body heat, pygmy shrews usually only weigh less than an ounce and are two inches long. For them, their extraordinarily high metabolisms are more of a curse given it means they have to be on a constant hunt for food and can’t sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. Shrews swim, use the tunnels and nests of other animals, and burrow through snow in pursuit of the next meal. To compensate for a short food supply in winter, they may lose up to 40 percent of their body weight, which basically makes them a bag of bones and organs.

Illinois: Fishing spider

Spiders are generally creepy as a species, but a venomous one that can grow slightly wider than a human adult’s palm and submerge itself for more than 30 minutes to fish for small aquatic dwellers like tadpoles is next level sinister. The hairs on a fishing spider’s body trap air bubbles, which they use to breathe underwater while stalking their next meal. While down there, they also scope out the area above them because they can simultaneously eat insects skittering around and just above the water’s surface. Oh, and did we mention that as part of the nursery-web family, females lay eggs on a silken mat which they wrap into a ball and then carry said ball around in her jaws until she finds an ideal spot for them to hatch? It is attached to a web until hundreds of spiderlings emerge all at once and then disperse on their own silky threads to start fresh lives of hunting and haunting your nightmares.

Indiana: Hellbenders

These two-foot long and flattened aquatic salamanders with a devilish name once roamed nearly all of the Ohio River tributaries, but numbers are dwindling at a startling rate. Fewer than 300 remain in the state, all in the Blue River, according to The Nature Conservancy, thanks to degrading water quality, loss of habitat, accidental fishing, and fatal human interactions. A rumor even puts them on plates at a Harrison County fish fry in the 1970s. It would be a shame to lose what Popular Mechanics calls “a living fossil” because relatives of the gentle mud puppy show very little external evolutionary as far back as 160 million years.

Iowa: Common conehead

No, they don’t come from France but these insects with pointy pinched conical faces do consume mass quantities of grasses and corn crops. They have antennae longer than their bodies, strong jaws that can injure humans, and very long and powerful hind legs for jumping. Females have sword-like ovipositors to lay fertilized eggs inside plant tissue. According to InsectIdentification.org, they can be found by listening for their chirpy songs.

Kansas: Western hognose snake

If an animal Academy Awards existed, the hognose snake would be the reptilian Meryl Streep thanks to its convincing death scenes. (Although it can’t help but turn its nose up at fame.) When a hognose feels threatened, Reptiles Magazine explains it hisses, flattens its neck, raises its head like a cobra, and feigns strikes. If that fails to scare away its enemy, it will roll onto its back and play dead. It emits a stinky musk, poops, and lets its tongue hang out, sometimes even excreting blood droplets. If flipped upright while in this state, it will roll over again and continue the charade.

Kentucky: Scorpion fly

Scorpion flies look Frankenstein-ed together. According to The Wildlife Trusts, they have a tail that looks like the stinger of a scorpion although they don’t sting and it is not a tail at all. It’s actually the male’s clasper, which is used in courtship. Mating can be dangerous for males as the females have been known to kill their lovers. To dissuade her from post-mating murder, these garden/wood dwellers who have never met a stinging nettles bush they didn’t like will offer a dead insect or a wad of saliva. Its head contains a long beak used to feed.

Louisiana: Roseate spoonbill

The spoonbill is hard to miss thanks to its millennial pink feathers. But it’s the long speckled proboscis that leaves a lasting impression. Especially if you get to see one swinging it side to side to push away the muck in mudflats, tide pools, mangrove keys, and coastal marshes while on the prowl for crustaceans, snails, and various other residents of shallow waters. According to the Audubon Field Guide, they also use that beak as foreplay. Males and females first interact aggressively then huddle close, present twigs to each other, and wildly cross and clasp bills. For an unknown reason, the entire flock will suddenly fly up and circle the breeding area at the beginning of the season. They are no deadbeat dads either. They use the bill to gather materials to construct the nest should mating be successful and eventually help feed their young.

Maine: Tardigrade

An Oxford University study revealed that Tardigrades, eight-legged microscopic critters with a sucker-like pharynx on their faces, could outlive humans by 10 billion years because the sturdy water bears can survive extreme conditions like dehydration, freezing, autoclaving, exposure to the vacuum of space, and irradiation by using cryptobiosis to shut down their metabolism. They live in water and on lichen and moss in most countries and states including Maine.

Maryland: Nutria

This massive semi-aquatic rodent was introduced to America back in 1899 to kickstart a fur-farm industry. When the market collapsed in the 1940s, U.S. Fish & Wildlife reports that thousands were released into the wild and have been reported in 40 states. Nutria spend their days demolishing vegetation and roots, damaging ditches and levies with its burrowing, reproducing like wildfire (females can breed 48 hours after giving birth), and frightening musophobes (someone afraid of rats) with their beaver-like looks. Their hind legs are smaller than rear ones giving them a hunchback appearance. They have large yellow-orange front teeth, heavy scaly tails covered in wiry hairs, and facial features set high on their heads. Then there’s the vestigial toe dangling unconnected to the webbing that holds the other toes together. It does not show up in tracks. Female teats are also on the side of the body instead of the chest.

Massachusetts: Hickory horned devil

This is the kind of repugnant mug you can’t un-see. The devil is the green, orange, and black caterpillar stage of the royal walnut/regal moth. But its looks are “an elaborate ruse.” The horns don’t even sting. Devils are also easily handled by humans. They molt five times becoming bright green on the fifth round. Before pupation, a larva expels its guts and changes color to turquoise before heading underground. When they emerge as moths, they have severely reduced mouths so they do not feed and can only live for about a week.

Michigan: Snapping turtles

Don’t go insulting the largest turtles in North America because the snapping turtle will clap back. Equipped not only with a ferocious albeit toothless mouth, they have a growth on the tip of their tongues that looks like a wiggly worm reports the University of Michigan’s Bio Kids website. While buried in the mud or hidden by vegetation, turtles use the “worm” to lure fish into their jaws and eventually bellies. Some scientists believe they have developed such an aggressive personality because unlike most of their relatives, they cannot retract their limbs or head into their shells for protection. The curmudgeonly turtles are solitary with social interactions limited to fighting with other males. To pick up a mate, turtles face each other and communicate with leg movements.

Minnesota: Grey tree frog

These frogs don’t look bizarre, but they have developed a pretty unique adaptation that comes in handy in a state with famously brutal winters. The Twin Cities Pioneer Press details its ability to partially freeze during the winter. It produces large amounts of glycerol to protect its body during the freezing process, but its heart, breathing, and other vital functions can stop. Once it thaws, the frog will reanimate.

Mississippi: Alligator gar

These behemoth fish, which can grow more than eight feet long, look like they belong in a natural history museum because alligator gars retain many of their Cretaceous ancestors’ primitive features including the ability to breath air, a body covered by sharp rigid scales, very sharp teeth, and much stronger bites than most lake fish you’ll find lurking in lakes in many Southern states.  Popular Mechanics also says they have a similar digestive system to sharks.

Missouri: Scolopendra heros

It’s hard not to get the heebie-jeebies when looking at a photo of the giant desert centipede, the largest centipede in North America, and its 21 or 23 pairs of yellow legs, fangs, red head, and greenish-black body. The bright coloration is aposematic, meaning it should act as a warning to stay away. The centipede hunts invertebrates and small vertebrates including rodents and reptiles, sometimes reaching into the air to grab flying bugs, and uses its cell-rupturing, membrane-compromising venom to subdue its future food. It can also pinch with its last pair of legs to bring the pain according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

SOURCE: READER’S DIGEST

By George!

I went looking for some interesting facts about our first President on what I thought was his birthday.  According to this article in MENTAL FLOSS, I got it wrong.  Read on for more interesting facts about George Washington.

By Arthur Holland Michel | Feb 22, 2019

You know that George Washington was the first president of the United States. Is that where your knowledge of this fascinating guy’s life and history ends? Here are 25 George Washington facts that may be new to you.

George Washington didn’t have a middle name.

With a name like George Washington, you don’t really need one.

George Washington’s birthday was not February 22, 1732.

Washington was actually born on February 11, 1731, but when the colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar, his birthday was moved 11 days. Since his birthday fell before the old date for New Year’s Day, but after the new date for New Year’s Day, his birth year was changed to 1732.

George Washington’s hair was all real.

It looks white because he powdered it.

George Washington was made an honorary citizen of France.

The quintessential American received this honor in 1792.

For a time, George Washington was a non-president commander-in-chief (but he didn’t do much).

In 1798, when fears were growing of a French invasion, Washington was named (by John Adams) commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, even though he wasn’t president anymore. Apparently, this was a strategy to help recruiting, as Washington’s name was very well-known. He only served in an advisory capacity, since he was pretty old by that point. But he felt he should have been a bit more involved. According to this letter, he was frustrated that even though he was the commander-in-chief, nobody really told him much about what was going on with the military.

No one will ever rank higher than him in the U.S. military.

In 1976 Washington was posthumously awarded the highest rank in the U.S. military—ever.

According to Air Force Magazine:

When Washington died, he was a lieutenant general. But as the centuries passed, this three-star rank did not seem commensurate with what he had accomplished. After all, Washington did more than defeat the British in battle. Along the way he established the framework for how American soldiers should organize themselves, how they should behave, and how they should relate to civilian leaders. Almost every big decision he made set a precedent. He was the father of the U.S. military as well as the U.S. itself.

So, a law was passed to make Washington the highest-ranking U.S. officer of all time: General of the Armies of the United States. Nobody will ever outrank him.

George Washington made a pretty hefty salary …

According to the Christian Science Monitor, in 1789, Washington’s presidential salary was 2 percent of the total U.S. budget.

… but he still had cash-flow problems.

Washington actually had to borrow money to attend his own first inauguration.

He was one of the sickliest presidents in history.

Throughout his life, Washington suffered from a laundry list of ailments: diphtheria, tuberculosis, smallpox, dysentery, malaria, quinsy (tonsillitis), carbuncle, pneumonia, and epiglottitis—to name a few.

He may or may not have died as a result of medical malpractice.

On the day he died—December 14, 1799—Washington was treated with four rounds of bloodletting, which removed 5 pints of blood from his body. It seems that it proved to be too much. In 1999, The New York Times wrote:

“On Washington’s fateful day, Albin Rawlins, one of his overseers and a bloodletter, was summoned. Washington bared his arm. The overseer had brought his lancet and made an incision. Washington said, ”Don’t be afraid.” That day, Rawlins drew 12 ounces of blood, then 18 ounces, another 18 ounces and a final 32 ounces into a porcelain bleeding bowl. After the fourth bloodletting, the patient improved slightly and was able to swallow. By about 10 p.m., his condition deteriorated, but he was still rational enough to whisper burial instructions to Col. Tobias Lear, his secretary. At 10:20 p.m., Dr. James Craik, 69, an Edinburgh-trained physician who had served with Washington in the French and Indian Wars, closed Washington’s eyes. Another Edinburgh-trained physician, Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown, 52, was also present. The third physician, Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, 37, who had been appointed coroner the previous year, stopped the clock in Washington’s bedroom at that moment.”

George Washington might have been infertile.

Washington had no children of his own. In 2007, John K. Amory of the University of Washington School of Medicine proposed that Washington was infertile. Armory goes through a number of possible reasons for Washington’s infertility, including an infection caused by his tuberculosis:

“Classic studies of soldiers with tuberculous pleurisy during World War II demonstrated that two-thirds developed chronic organ tuberculosis within five years of their initial infection. Infection of the epididymis or testes is seen in 20 percent of these individuals and frequently results in infertility.”

Washington’s body was almost buried in the Capitol.

Washington requested that he be buried at Mount Vernon, and his family upheld his request, despite repeated pleas by Congress. They wanted to put his body underneath a marble statue in the Capitol.

He was not very religious.

As Edward Lengel, writer of the George Washington biography Inventing George Washington, told NPR in 2011, “He was a very moral man. He was a very virtuous man, and he watched carefully everything he did. But he certainly doesn’t fit into our conception of a Christian evangelical or somebody who read his Bible every day and lived by a particular Christian theology. We can say he was not an atheist on the one hand, but on the other hand, he was not a devout Christian.”

But what about the story of him kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge to pray? According to Lengel, “That’s a story that was made up by [early Washington biographer] Parson Weems.”

While he would attend church, Washington wouldn’t take communion. According to biographer Barry Schwartz, Washington’s “practice of Christianity was limited and superficial, because he was not himself a Christian. In the enlightened tradition of his day, he was a devout Deist—just as many of the clergymen who knew him suspected.”

He never chopped down that cherry tree.

Parson Weems, who wrote a myth-filled biography of Washington shortly after he died, made up the cherry tree story. The Mount Vernon Digital Encyclopedia identifies that book, The Life of Washington, as ” the point of origin for many long-held myths about Washington.”

He was an inveterate letter-writer.

We don’t have an exact number, but the best estimates seem to put the number of letters he penned somewhere between 18,000 and 20,000. If you wrote one letter a day, it would take you between 50 and 55 years to write that many.

Before becoming the father of the nation, he was a master surveyor.

Washington spent the early part of his career as a professional surveyor. One of the earliest maps he created was of his half-brother Lawrence Washington’s turnip garden. Over the course of his life, Washington created some 199 land surveys. Washington took this skill with him into his role as a military leader.

Before fighting the British, he fought for the British.

At the age of 21, Washington was sent to lead a British colonial force against the French in Ohio. He lost, and this helped spark the Seven Years War in North America.

He was a dog lover.

Washington kept and bred many hunting hounds. He is known as the “Father of the American Foxhound,” and kept more than 30 of the dogs. According to his journals, three of the hounds’ names were Drunkard, Tipler, and Tipsy.

He lost more battles than he won.

According to Joseph J. Ellis’s His Excellency: George Washington, our first president “lost more battles than any victorious general in modern history.”

He was lucky, but his coat wasn’t.

In the Braddock disaster of 1755, Washington’s troops were caught in the crossfire between British and Native American soldiers. Two horses were shot from under Washington, and his coat was pierced by four musket balls, none of which hit his actual body.

He didn’t have wooden teeth.

He did, however, have teeth problems. When he attended his first inauguration, he only had one tooth left in his head. Throughout the rest of his life, he had different sets of dentures. They were made of a variety of materials, including ivory, brass, horse teeth, and, yes, even human teeth, possibly from slaves.

George Washington is the only president to actually go into battle while serving as president.

But only if you don’t count Bill Pullman in Independence Day. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, “On September 19, 1794, George Washington became the only sitting U.S. president to personally lead troops in the field when he led the militia on a nearly month-long march west over the Allegheny Mountains to the town of Bedford.”

He fell in love with his best friend’s wife.

According to Joseph Ellis’s His Excellency, several letters show that before he married Martha, Washington was in love with Sally Fairfax, who was the wife of George William Fairfax.

In 1758, Washington wrote to Sally his famous “Votary to Love” letter:

“‘Tis true I profess myself a votary to Love. I acknowledge that a Lady is in the case; and, further, I confess that this lady is known to you. Yes, Madam, as well as she is to one who is too sensible of her Charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever submit to … You have drawn me, my dear Madam, or rather I have drawn myself, into an honest confession of a Simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning, ’tis obvious; doubt it not or expose it. The world has no business to know the object of my love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. One thing above all things, in this World I wish to know, and only one person of your acquaintance can solve me that or guess my meaning—but adieu to this till happier times, if ever I shall see them.”

George Washington was widely criticized in the press in the later years of his presidency.

He was accused of having an overly monarchical style and was criticized for his declaration of neutrality in overseas conflicts. Thomas Jefferson was among the most critical of Washington in the press, and John Adams recalled that after the Jay Treaty, the presidential mansion “was surrounded by innumerable multitudes, from day-to-day buzzing, demanding war against England, cursing Washington.”

He owned a whiskey distillery.

He installed it at Mount Vernon in 1798 and it was profitable. According to Julian Niemcewicz, a Polish visitor to the estate, it distilled 12,000 gallons a year. In 1799, Washington wrote to his nephew: “Two hundred gallons of Whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better, as the demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk.”

SOURCE: MENTAL FLOSS

By Arthur Holland Michel | Feb 22, 2019

Weird Wednesdays: The Plane House in Mississippi

Today’s entry in weirdness is in Mississippi.  A woman bought a old Boeing plane and turned it into her home.  The story is from Only in Your State.

Living in an airplane may seem like a concept only plausible for the rich and famous, but this unusual Mississippi home proves otherwise. Fashioned from an old Boeing 727, the airplane house is the creation of Benoit resident Jo Ann Ussery.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that definitely holds true in Jo Ann’s case. In the mid-1990s, the Benoit hairdresser was searching for a new mobile home since she lost her previous home in a fire. After searching with no luck, Jo Ann’s brother-in-law, an air traffic controller, suggested she purchase an old Boeing 727 and turn it into a home.

And that’s just what Jo Ann did. She paid $2,000 for the old aircraft, $4,000 to have it moved to her lakefront property, and $25,000 to have it renovated into her dream home. After six months of renovations, most of which were done by Jo Ann, the plane was completely transformed.

The unorthodox home is 12’ x 127’ and contains 1,300 sq. feet of living space, which includes three bedrooms, a living room, a fully-equipped kitchen (which even has a dish washer), and two bathrooms. The home also features some “luxuries,” including a Jacuzzi in the cockpit that overlooks the lake down below.

Although the airplane underwent extensive renovations, Joanne didn’t get rid of all the original features. The fold-down stairs were kept and are now opened with a standard garage door opener, while the four emergency exits, which are in the living room, can be opened to allow for a breeze.

Since the plane didn’t have wings when it was purchased, Jo Ann utilized the extra space and added a spacious patio and carport. And if it’s a view you’re looking for, Jo Ann thought of that, too. A huge deck, which overlooks Lake Whittington, can be accessed by a spiral staircase that was actually salvaged from a Boeing 747.

Aside from the unique factor, the home has many other advantages. For instance, it will never have to be re-roofed or repainted and termites won’t ever be an issue.

This Benoit home has been featured in countless magazines and television shows, including the “Today Show” and “The David Letterman Show,” in addition to being named one of the “20 Most Bizarre Homes in the World.” Sadly, in May of 1999, the home was severely damaged while being relocated a distance of one mile.

SOURCE: ONLY in YOUR STATE

What Shall We Make Today?

Today’s offering is an easy (!) Chicken Noodle Soup. I found this recipe at Land o Lakes website when I was looking for low-sodium alternates. I haven’t tried this one yet, but it seemed simple enough.

Ingredients

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

3 (14.5-ounce) cans low sodium chicken broth

3 medium (1 1/2 cups) carrots, sliced

2 ribs (1 cup) celery, sliced

1 small (1/2 cup) onion, chopped

2 cups uncooked dried wide egg noodles

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Salt

Pepper

Directions

STEP 1

Combine all ingredients except egg noodles, parsley, salt and pepper in 4-quart saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, 5-8 minutes or until mixture just comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes or until carrots are tender.

STEP 2

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Stir hot cooked noodles into hot soup mixture. Sprinkle with parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ENJOY!

Surprising Uses for Coffee Filters

On a trip to Walmart, the coffee filters we usually buy were not to be found anywhere.  Instead, they had “natural” ones which quite frankly looked already used—light brown in color. I bought them anyway in case we ran out.  They’ve been in the pantry since then and I wondered if I could use them for anything else.  Lo and behold, I found an article on The Spruce detailing such uses!

From The Spruce:

Coffee filters aren’t just for coffee makers anymore. The inexpensive filters are perfect for tasks from the kitchen to the garden because of their bowl shape, strength when wet, absorbency, and they are lint-free.

We gathered 17 clever uses for coffee filters around the house, and after reading, we’ll bet you find many more reasons to keep the filters on hand.

Protect Dinnerware from Scratches

Constantly stacking dinnerware can cause tiny scratches on the surfaces that look unattractive and weaken the material. Place a single coffee filter between each plate when storing or moving dinnerware to help protect the finishes.

Catch Popsicle Drips and Taco Spills

Eating can be messy, but not if you keep some coffee filters on hand. Cut a small slit in the center of a filter so you can slip in the wooden stick of a popsicle before you hand it over to be enjoyed.  The round filters are also a perfect fit to hold a taco or burger if you’re standing up at a party or eating on the run in your car.

Prevent Rust on Cast Iron Pans

Dampness is the enemy of cast iron pans and cookware. After washing and drying your favorite pan, slip a coffee filter inside to absorb any moisture that might linger. A bonus is that the filter will protect the interior surface from scratches if you stack the pans.

No More Messy Hands When Baking

Most bakeware should be greased before adding the batter to prevent sticking. The process can result in messy hands but not if you use a coffee filter to spread the butter or shortening. Simply use the filter to evenly spread the butter, toss it in the trash, and keep on baking.

Absorb Grease from Foods

Most people use a paper towel to absorb excess grease from bacon, French fries, or fried chicken. But, a few coffee filters work just as well. Line a plate with the filters and watch them soak up the oil.

Make Glassware Sparkle

If your drinkware has spots after removing it from the dishwasher, use a coffee filter to make it shine. The filters are lint-free and slightly textured so they gently scrub away the minerals that leave water spots.

Tip

Coffee filters work well on shower doors and bathroom mirrors with water spots.

Save the Cost of a Plumber

Coffee filters won’t unclog a sink, but they can save you the cost of a plumber to remove the clog.  When cleaning vegetables or scraping plates after dinner, put a coffee filter over the drain. It will catch the small pieces of food and debris that might create a clog. When you are finished at the sink, gather up the filter and toss it away.

Remove Dust from Electronics Screens

The screens on electronics are sensitive and easily scratched by gritty cleaning clothes and stiff paper towels that can leave lint. Coffee filters are perfect for quick clean-ups of television, laptop, and gaming screens. Just use a light touch and dust and fingerprints will be gone.

Prevent Microwave Splatters

We’ve all done it; placed a dish of leftovers in the microwave uncovered and then discovered an oven filled with splatters. Use a coffee filter over foods to catch the mess before it happens.

Spout Some Seeds

If you enjoy fresh chia seed sprouts for salads or just want to get a head start on the successful planting of some types of seeds, use a coffee filter.  Dampen the filter, sprinkle on the seeds in a closed container (glass jar or plastic bag), and place in a warm spot. The seeds will sprout with ease.

Line a Plant Container

Drainage is essential in a plant container but you don’t want soil leaking out of the drainage holes. Whether you are planting a pot or a hanging basket, place a coffee filter (or a few) in the bottom of the container before you add the soil. The water will drain out easily but the soil will stay in place.

Shine Stainless Steel Until it Is Streak-free

After cleaning a stainless-steel appliance or piece of cookware, use a coffee filter to buff the finish. Work in the direction of the grain and because the filters are lint-free, you’ll get a great shine.

Tip

After you clean a stainless-steel kitchen sink, dry it with a coffee filter to prevent water spots and streaks.

Protect Treasured Holiday Ornaments

Even if you have customized containers for storing heirloom holiday ornaments, use a coffee filter to wrap each one to add protection from dust and scratches. The filters are inexpensive and easy to use. You’ll enjoy unwrapping each one year after year.

Get Streak Free Windows

Coffee filters are the perfect last touch when cleaning windows. They will leave a lint-free, streak-free finish as you dry the glass. They also work great on car windows, mirrors, and glass tabletops.

Corral Small Pieces When Assembling Furniture

When you open a DIY furniture kit, use a coffee filter to hold the small screws and pieces. The bowl shape will help you keep them from rolling away and the filters are inexpensive enough that you can use several to sort the pieces. The same tip works great for kid’s game pieces.

Create Pressed Flowers

Coffee filters work beautifully to absorb moisture when pressing flowers in a book or a flower press. The smooth texture will not leave “dimples” like some embossed paper towels and no dye transfer to delicate petals.

Make a Shoe Freshener

To help keep sneakers and shoes smelling fresh between washings, make some odor absorbers using coffee filters.  Put about one-fourth cup of baking soda in the center of a filter. Gather up the edges and tie them with some string or use a rubber band.  Place the pouches in the shoes to absorb odors. After about a month of use, toss the filters and make a fresh batch.

SOURCE: THE SPRUCE: Mary Marlowe Leverette

GREASE!

Today is John Travolta’s birthday, so let’s look at some interesting facts about Grease from the Mental Floss website.

The movie Grease (1978), based on the musical of the same name, is about to be reimagined for a new generation. HBO Max just announced that it will be premiering Grease: Rydell High, a musical series inspired by the film. In the 1978 big-screen adaptation, John Travolta played tough guy Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John starred as sweet Sandy Olsson, two teenagers whose summer romance suddenly blossoms into a full-fledged high school love affair.

Shot on a budget of $6 million budget, Grease made nearly $400 million at the box office—making it one of the highest-grossing musical movies of all time.

Henry Winkler turned down the role of Danny Zuko.

As far as Henry Winkler was concerned, Danny Zuko was too similar to Fonzie, the tough guy with a heart of gold he was already playing on Happy Days.

Marie Osmond and Susan Dey said no to playing Sandy.

Marie Osmond told Larry King that she turned the part down because she “didn’t want my teenagers someday to say, you know, ‘You have to go bad to get the boy.’ It was just a personal choice as a someday mother.” Dey (Laurie on The Partridge Family) didn’t want to play another teenager. Director Randal Kleiser went to the Star Wars mixing stage to visit his college roommate, George Lucas, and to see Carrie Fisher in one of the battle scenes. But Kleiser couldn’t tell from the scene whether Fisher was right for the part, so he kept looking. In 1998, Travolta revealed he heard singer Linda Ronstadt was also in consideration.

Olivia Newton-John insisted on having a screen test with John Travolta.

Producer/co-writer Allan Carr met Olivia Newton-John at a party thrown by fellow Australian singer Helen Reddy and was “completely smitten” and begged her to sign on for the part. Travolta told The Morning Call that he rallied for Newton-John to get the part, too. Not trusting her good fortune or her acting (her previous film, Toomorrow, had been released back in 1970), Newton-John requested a screen test with Travolta to make sure they had chemistry.

Andy Warhol and an adult film star would have been cast if Paramount hadn’t stepped in.

Carr wanted Warhol to play the art teacher. One unnamed studio executive said he would not have “that man” in the movie, which Carr interpreted as the executive having a personal vendetta against the legendary artist. Carr also wanted porn star Harry Reems to play Coach Calhoun and offered him the part after a screening of Casablanca at Hugh Hefner’s mansion. The studio wouldn’t have it. “They bounced me out of the cast,” Reems said. “They thought they might lose some play dates in the South.” Carr felt so badly about it that he wrote Reems a personal check for $5000.

Lorenzo Lamas landed a role when a president’s son backed out.

Gerald Ford’s son, Steven, was too nervous to play Tom Chisum, Sandy’s jock boyfriend, who had a grand total of zero lines. Lamas (later Lance Cumson on Falcon Crest and Hector Ramírez on The Bold and the Beautiful) jumped at the chance, agreeing to lighten his dark hair because he looked too much like a T-Bird. “I would have dyed it green, fuchsia, anything,” Lamas told People.

Most of the main actors were far too old to be in high school.

Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 34 when the film was released. Newton-John was 29. Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) was 27. Travolta was 24. Jamie Donnelly (Jan) was 30 during filming, and had to dye her hair from her premature grey to black. Her hair grew back so quickly that her roots had to be colored in with a black crayon every day.

The title song was written by Barry Gibb, and Peter Frampton played guitar.

Kleiser didn’t like this song because he thought the lyrics were too dark and not fitting of the 1950s. Kleiser asked Gibb to make the lyrics more upbeat; Gibb told Kleiser he should shoot a serious scene to match the song. It became a number one single in the United States.

Rizzo’s hickeys were real.

Conaway gave Channing a real hickey because he wanted it to be authentic. Conaway was also so infatuated with Newton-John that he was tongue-tied whenever she was around. He later married Olivia’s sister, Rona.

“Greased Lightnin'” was supposed to be sung by Jeff Conaway, not John Travolta.

Travolta’s two conditions for agreeing to play Danny were that he could sing “Greased Lightnin’,” even though Kenickie sang it in the stage production; and that he had to have “blue black hair like Elvis Presley and Rock Hudson in the movies” because “it’s surreal and it’s very 1950s.” The star also argued with Kleiser over the end of the song “Sandy”; he wanted a close-up of himself instead of the cartoon shot of a hot dog diving into a bun. Kleiser got his way.

Coca-Cola signs were (mostly) blacked out.

Carr made a promotional deal with Pepsi; the set decorator didn’t know that. When the producer saw footage from the movie featuring Coke products he went “ballistic,” according to Kleiser. The Coca-Cola logos were blocked out with an optical printer. They couldn’t alter the Coke cooler, because it was impossible to cover with the technology available at the time. Pepsi never complained. They would have unblocked the Coke signs when the Pepsi deal expired before the 20th anniversary re-release if the original print hadn’t been lost.

Travolta kept flubbing a word so much it was kept in the movie.

Travolta kept lip-syncing “heap lap trials” instead of “heat lap trials,” and Kleiser claims you could see this in the finished product. Kleiser believed Travolta was distracted after reading a magazine article that morning about his recently deceased girlfriend, Diana Hyland, who had passed away from cancer.

Travolta got more of the stage script into the movie.

Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, who wrote the original musical’s book, weren’t invited on set during production of the movie. Travolta had played Danny more than 100 times on the road doing the musical, and gradually got more lines from Jacobs and Casey’s version into the film, which was written by Carr and Bronté Woodard. When Travolta didn’t think a line of dialogue was working, he would quote a line from the original, and Kleiser would tend to agree and use that line instead.

That Elvis Presley lyric is creepy.

In “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” Rizzo sings “Elvis, Elvis, let me be, keep that pelvis far from me,” while looking at a picture of The King. That scene was shot on August 16, 1977—the day Presley died. “It was very eerie,” Kleiser told The New York Post. “It was all over the news, so everyone knew. We did this number, and everybody kind of looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, this is creepy.’” When Carr first bought the film rights to Grease, he envisioned Elvis as Danny and Ann-Margret as Sandy. According to Broadway.com, Presley was offered the role of Teen Angel but turned it down.

Olivia Newton-John was sewn into those spandex pants.

“They sewed me into those pants every morning for a week,” Newton-John said. “Believe me, I had to be very careful about what I ate and drank. It was excruciating.” It was 106 degrees on the set for the carnival finale.

George Lucas helped get the movie re-released.

In 1997, Kleiser called Sherry Lansing, then head of Paramount, and insisted that Grease had to come back again for its 20th anniversary. Lansing informed Kleiser that George Lucas had called her a few days earlier and said that out of all of the movies in the Paramount vault, Grease is the one that should come back. The Star Wars creator explained that every nine-year-old he knew watched a VHS copy of Grease every day.

SOURCE: MENTAL FLOSS:  ROGER CORMIER

Arkansas State Mammal: Whitetail Deer

White-tailed deer, also known as “whitetail deer,” or “Virginia deer,” are an extremely common American mammal. These deer are the most widespread wild ungulate, or hoofed mammal, in the Americas. These frequently sighted animals have a number of sub-species throughout their range. Read on to learn about the whitetail deer.

Description of the Whitetail Deer

Whitetails range in color from reddish brown in warmer months, to grey in the winter and fall. The most recognizable characteristic is the deer’s white under-tail, which is visible when the tail is raised. The males, known as “bucks,” grow new antlers yearly. It is extremely rare for the does (female deer) to grow antlers.

Interesting Facts About the Whitetail Deer

While virtually everyone in the central and eastern United States has seen a white-tailed deer, most people know very little about them. There are a number of interesting tidbits about whitetail deer.

Bergmann’s Rule – Though there are exceptions, white-tailed deer typically follow the Bergmann’s rule, which states that the average size of an animal increases the farther away you get from the equator. The average weight of an adult male white-tailed deer is about 150 lbs., but in the northernmost end of their range the deer can exceed 250 lbs.!

Substantial Subspecies – Scientists estimate that there may be between 30 and 40 sub species of whitetail deer across their range. Some examples include the Columbian white-tailed deer, and the Florida key deer. Both of these sub species are listed as endangered on the S. Endangered Species Act.

Not-so-Camouflaged Camo – Despite the popularity of wearing intricate camouflage while hunting deer, safety-color orange shirts and hats work just as well as fancy leaf patterns! Whitetail deer have dichromatic vision, meaning that they see blue and yellow colors the best. This also means that they are very poor at distinguishing orange and red colors.

Velvet Cover – White-tailed deer bucks shed their antlers every year, and grow a new pair. The growing antlers take time to develop, and during this time a soft skin called “velvet” protects them. The velvet is filled with many veins, which supply blood to the antlers, allowing rapid growth to occur. Once the antlers are fully-grown, the velvet dries out and is shed.

Habitat of the Whitetail Deer

White-tail deer are extremely common and widespread because they are generalists. This means that they can adapt to a wide range of habitats. They are commonly found in temperate forests, partially wooded lowlands, open prairies, savannahs, mountains, tropical forests, and wetlands.

Distribution of the Whitetail Deer

In North America, whitetail deer can be found as far north as Canada, and as far south as Mexico. Their range spreads all the way to the eastern coast of the United States. They can also be seen across Central America, and into the northern edges of South America into Peru.

Diet of the Whitetail Deer

White-tailed deer eat a wide variety of vegetation. They frequently feed on legumes, including alfalfa and clover, but will also eat the shoots and leaves of many other plants and grasses. In desert habitats they will also feed on cactus. Whitetails have also been known to eat fruit, corn, acorns, mushrooms, and poison ivy.

Horns or Antlers?

Many people incorrectly refer to deer antlers as “horns,” but horns and antlers are extremely different. While deer, elk, and moose have antlers, cows, sheep, bison, and buffalo have horns.

Horns

Horns are made with a base of bone growing from the skull of the animal, similar to antlers. A sheath of keratin, the same material that makes up your fingernails and hair, covers the base of bone. The horns grow continuously throughout the animal’s life, and are never shed. Because the horns are live bone and keratin, they will bleed if broken.

Antlers

Antlers are shed every year, and will regrow. They are made entirely of bone. Antlers have no center “core,” consisting instead of a single structure of hardened bone.

Whitetail Deer and Human Interaction

Deer and humans have multiple negative interactions. Humans hunt deer, both for sustenance, as trophies or sport, and to control deer populations. Overgrown deer populations can cause the spread of disease, and vulnerable plant species to be decimated. Deer are also kept as livestock in a number of countries for their meat, antlers, and fur. Deer cause millions of car collisions each year, an increasingly serious problem in the United States.

Domestication

Farmed populations of whitetail deer have been domesticated to some extent. While they are not fully domesticated, like cattle or sheep, they have undergone selective breeding. When farming deer, farmers selectively breed docile individuals with good meat production, and large antlers.

Whitetail Deer Care

White-tailed deer must be provided with a large enclosure that allows for plenty of foraging. The fence should be at least eight feet tall, as deer are extremely proficient jumpers. Their diet should also be supplemented with vitamins and minerals, as well as additional vegetation if their habitat does not provide enough for them to maintain their weight.

Behavior of the Whitetail Deer

Bucks will compete amongst one another to determine a dominance hierarchy. More dominant males are able to reproduce with more females. During the breeding season, known as “rut,” the males will battle and attempt to breed with as many females as possible. During this time, they will lose significant amounts of weight, as they rarely eat or rest.

Reproduction of the Whitetail Deer

Females become receptive to mating in late October and early November, and they will give birth in May or June. She will give birth to 1 to 3 baby deer, called “fawns,” and nurse them for 8-10 weeks. Young bucks will stay with their mothers for about one year, and females will stay for two years.

SOURCE: ANIMALS.NET

Arizona State Mammal: Ringtail

Ringtails are cat-like mammals that are related to raccoons. Many people also call them “ringtail cats,” “ring-tailed cats,” “bassarisks,” and “miner’s cats.” While they are not genetically related to cats, they do look quite similar to felines. Instead, ringtails are in the Procyonidae family, along with raccoons, kinkajous, coatis, and olingos.

Description of the Ringtail

These cat-like mammals have buff-brown fur, with relatively large ears, and a long tail. As their name suggests, their tail has black and white rings, much like raccoons and coatis have.

Their tail is usually just as long as their body, between 12 and 17 in. long. With body and tail combined, ringtails measure around 24 – 34 in. long. However, they are lean creatures, and typically weigh around 2 lbs.

Interesting Facts About the Ringtail

Ringtails are interesting looking creatures, with interesting behavior and traits. There are a number of different fun facts about ringtails, read a few below!

Miner’s Cat – One of the more unusual nicknames of the ringtail is the miner’s cat. During the 1800s, miners in Arizona and California commonly kept these creatures as pets. Apparently, the miners were quite fond of their ringtail companions because they were wonderfully efficient mouse catchers!

Musky Mouthful– Ringtails are usually smaller than the average housecat, and half of their length is tail alone. Because of this, they commonly fall prey to many different predators. To avoid becoming lunch, ringtails excrete a strong-smelling musk when startled. This musk confuses and deters many different predators.

Cat-Like Climbers – Ringtails may look a little like cats, but they sure can climb better than most housecats! They can rotate their ankles over 180º, which allows them to climb up and down trees easily. Ringtails can even change direction on a branch by doing a cartwheel!

Striped Tail – This mammal’s long tail is not just for show. While their tail is not prehensile, and they cannot use it to grip branches, it is still quite useful. Ringtails use their tails to help them balance while climbing. Because their tail is so long, it works very efficiently as a counterbalance.

Habitat of the Ringtail

While these creatures live in a few different types of habitats, they live in arid environments most frequently. Rocky deserts are their favorite, but they also live in desert-like habitats near water sources. In these ecosystems, they nest in abandoned structures, mineshafts, hollow trees, caves, and more. These mammals also live in pine, conifer, and juniper forests with low rainfall.

Distribution of the Ringtail

Ringtails live in the Southwestern United States and across Mexico. Populations live in southern Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, parts of Kansas, and Texas.

Its range in Mexico is from the United States border south to Oaxaca. They are widespread in Mexico, but their distribution in the northern ends of their range is rather spotty.

Diet of the Ringtail

Ringtails are omnivores, but most of their diet consists of animals rather than plants. Their primary prey includes mice, rats, rabbits, ground squirrels, insects, and other small mammals.

Some less common food sources include fish, snakes, birds, lizards, and carrion. They also eat fruit, and some of their favorites include prickly pear, juniper, blackberries, hack, persimmon, and more. Their diet changes based upon the availability of food, for example, when mice are plentiful, they eat more mice.

Ringtail and Human Interaction

Humans and ringtails actually lived quite harmoniously. Because miners recognized their ability to catch mice and other pests, they often kept the creatures as pets.

Nowadays, it is illegal to own a ringtail as a pet without proper permits, though humans still acknowledge them as pest control. As with any animal, habitat destruction can be a problem, but their population is stable. The IUCN lists these animals as Least Concern.

Domestication

Though humans commonly kept these creatures as pets, they never formally domesticated ringtails.

Does the Ringtail Make a Good Pet

Ringtails did make good pets to miners, but that was because there were plenty of vermin for them to hunt. In a typical household, ringtails would not make good pets, simply because there wouldn’t be enough for them to do.

These creatures are wild animals, and when miners kept them as pets, they slept during the day, and hunted for vermin at night. Their relationship was really more of a partnership than anything. The miners provided safe nests to sleep in, and the ringtails hunted the pesky mice.

Ringtail Care

In zoos, ringtails need a little more stimulation, because they can’t exactly let them out to hunt mice at night. Instead, the zookeepers give the little predators a variety of puzzles, new scents, and fun toys, as well as training them using positive reinforcement.

These animals eat a diet of small mammals, like mice, rats, rabbits, and more. Because their natural diet also contains fruit, zookeepers give them a variety of fruits as treats. Their habitats have plenty of hiding places, and a variety of objects to climb and exercise on.

Behavior of the Ringtail

These little mammals are relatively similar to their raccoon cousins. They are nocturnal and active at night, and live alone. Unlike raccoons, ringtails are relatively shy, and avoid human contact.

Rather than roaming suburbs for garbage, these creatures actively spend their nights hunting small prey. They spend the rest of their time marking the boundaries of their territories. Males and females have overlapping territories, but they rarely interact outside of breeding season.

Reproduction of the Ringtail

Females are only receptive to mates in the spring. After mating, the male brings the female food during her 45 – 50 day gestation period. The female usually gives birth to 2 – 4 offspring, called “cubs.”

It takes a month for the cubs to open their eyes, and they will not learn to hunt until they are 4 months old. Once the cubs are 10 months old, they can reproduce themselves, and leave their mother.

SOURCE: ANIMALS.NET