Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Toad Tuesday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. The three surviving species of camel are the dromedary, or one-humped camel (C. dromedarius), which inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa; the Bactrian, or two-humped camel (C. bactrianus), which inhabits Central Asia; and the critically endangered wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) that has limited populations in remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia. Bactrian camels take their name from the historical Bactria region of Central Asia... Both the dromedary and the Bactrian camels have been domesticated; they provide milk, meat, hair for textiles or goods such as felted pouches, and are working animals with tasks ranging from human transport to bearing loads.
The term camel is derived via Latin and Greek (camelus and κάμηλος kamēlos respectively) from Hebrew or Phoenician gāmāl.
Most of the world's camels are dromedaries (94%) while Bactrian camels and wild Bactrian camels make up only 6% of the total camel population ... "Camel" may also be used more broadly to describe any of the seven camel-like mammals in the family Camelidae: the three true camels and the four New World camelids (the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña).
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The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years. A full-grown adult camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph). Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg (660 to 1,320 lb). For instance, the average speed for the one humped camel is about 40 km/hour while the two humped camel has around 27.2 km/hour.
The male dromedary camel has in its throat an organ called a dulla, a large, inflatable sac he extrudes from his mouth when in rut to assert dominance and attract females. It resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind. The male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session. Camelids are the only ungulates to mate in a sitting position.
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Camels do not directly store water in their humps as was once commonly believed. The humps are actually reservoirs of fatty tissue: concentrating body fat in their humps minimizes the insulating effect fat would have if distributed over the rest of their bodies, helping camels survive in hot climates. In hot and dry environments, within 8 to 10 days only the dromedary camels might consume water which during this period the third of their body's weight may be reduced due to the dehydration (Breulmann, et al., 2007). When this tissue is metabolized, it yields more than one gram of water for every gram of fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water.
Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water. Unlike other mammals, their red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration and makes them better at withstanding high osmotic variation without rupturing when drinking large amounts of water: a 600 kg (1,300 lb) camel can drink 200 L (53 US gal) of water in three minutes.
Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other animals.
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Like the horse, before their extinction in their native land, camels spread across the Bering land bridge, moving the opposite direction from the Asian immigration to America, to survive in the Old World and eventually be domesticated and spread globally by humans. Most camels surviving today are domesticated. Along with many other megafauna in North America, the original wild camels were wiped out during the spread of Native Americans from Asia into North America, 12,000 to 10,000 years ago. Although feral populations exist in Australia, India and Kazakhstan, the only wild camels left are the wild Bactrian camels of the Gobi Desert.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Molly and Todd on Monday
Well here it is another week.
We have had an interesting week.
The first thing was we had was a noisy neighbor. Todd and I were outside and all at once there was a little guy chipping at us.
This is us looking at him. We had to look for him but we found him and finally BG found him and took pictures of him.
We liked to watch it fall.
It is pretty. BG lets us play in the snow.
Then BG decided to take our Close-up picture for Mr. DeMille.
Then Tara stopped to give BG the mail and we had a nice visit.
BG did some cropping and so we have a nice "Mr.DeMille" picture of her. She is really nice. And she also came and shoveled our snow.
Then BG let us wander around some more. You can see all our "tracks" all over.
Here is our Close-Up for Mr. DeMille.
And now we are worn out and it is nap time.
Thanks for stopping to see us. Woof!
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Apiarian
"Were I to be the founder of a new sect, I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee, advise them to extract the honey of every sect."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"
Albert Einstein
No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night. We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them.
- Elie Wiesel
Open to me, so that I may open. Provide me with your inspiration. So that I may see mine.
~ Rumi
All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event -- in the living act, the undoubted deed -- there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask.
-Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1 Aug 1819-1891)
“To embrace suffering culminates in greater empathy, the capacity to feel what it is like for the other to suffer, which is the ground for unsentimental compassion and love."
― Stephen Batchelor
It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
~ Rumi
There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.
~Alan Paton
"Let me give up the need to know why things happen as they do. I will never know and constant wondering is constant suffering."
~Caroline Myss
To get what you love, you must first be patient with what you hate.
~ Sufi Saying
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Friday, January 27, 2017
Night Music ~ I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU DOLLY PARTON
Encore - Dolly Parton & Vince Gill "I Will Always Love You" live
Found For Friday
Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.
He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass ?"
"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat grass."
"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you," the lawyer said.
"But sir, I have a wife and two children with me.
They are over there eating grass under that tree."
"Bring them along," the lawyer replied.
Turning to the second poor man he stated,
"You may come with us, also."
The other man, in a pitiful voice, then said,
"But sir, I also have a wife and six children with me!"
"Bring them all as well," the lawyer answered.
They all entered the car, which was no easy task,
even for a car as large as the limousine.
Once under way, one of the poor fellows turned to the lawyer and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."
The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place.
The grass is almost a foot high."
Come on . . . did you really think there was such a thing as a heart-warming lawyer story?
Look at Congress -- over 300 Lawyers!!!
Sod farms provide instant grassification.
A church welcomes all denominations but prefers tens and twenties.
"What do you call it when 20 people get food poisoning at an Italian restaurant?"
"Parmageddon"
When the musician got in a car accident, his guitar was destroyed. The accident was a Fender bender.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.
A lot of money is tainted - Taint yours and taint mine.
An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Latvian, a Chinese, a Japanese, a Kiwi, an Eskimo, a Fijian, a Turk, an Aussie, a Yank, an Egyptian, a Spaniard, a Mongolian, a Tibetan, a Pole, a Mexican, a Greek, a Russian, an Estonian, a German, an Indian, an Italian, a Brazilian, a Kenyan, a South African, a Filipino, a Pakistani, a Korean, an Argentinean, a Lithuanian, a Dane, a Finn, a Swede, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Czech, a Croat, and a Panamanian go to a fancy bar...
The bouncer says: "Sorry. I can't let you in without a Thai."
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Throwback Thursday
This is another of my rescued dishes. I got it from an antique shop in Sac City, Iowa on one of my trips to Sioux City.
It is one of those things that I really like.
1399. Oriental China Nippon. Mark datable to the "Nippon" period 1890-1921, probably 1910-20.
The word "Nippon" in western characters means "Japan" and occurs on most Japanese wares from around 1890 until the early 1920s. From 1891 imports to America were required to be marked with the country of origin, in western characters. Thus Japanese exports (to America) were marked with "Nippon" in English from this date to 1922, when the requirement was changed to that the word "Japan" should be used. These are the so-called "Nippon wares". However, the rule doesn't apply in other countries nor always in America because sometimes paper labels and the like was used. So while finding a back stamp saying "Nippon" is a useful dating aid its absence is not determinative. Regarding 'Nippon' marked porcelain, wares marked 'Japan' or 'Made in Japan' have not been as desirable as those marked 'Nippon'. Particularly in the US, Nippon marked pieces have always brought a large premium over those marked Japan or Made in Japan and certainly more than unmarked wares. This is true even for pieces of similar quality. In the 1960s, collector ranks swelled and demand for marked Nippon pieces vastly exceeded the supply. Thus arose the transfer (stencil) based fake Nippon mark applied by unscrupulous dealers to thousands of imported Japanese porcelain. This kind of marks can be identified by the mark being applied inside a glaze area looking a bit like a piece of scotch tape. The resulting flood of fakes became well known to dealers and the more knowledgeable collectors. The motive was money as it usually is and the confusion eventually dampened collector enthusiasm.
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