Wondering About the First Robin.

We have been having some ugly, rainy, cold weather here lately.  Right now it is only 36 degrees outside with a light rain.  Makes it somewhat on the miserable side to be outside doing things.  At least I got my exercise in by carrying the garbage can down to the road for pickup later today. (I hope)  Sometimes they come on schedule and sometimes they just don't come.  Don't tell me to switch garbage pick-up companies because since WM (Waste Management) stopped service in my area because of too few customers, there has only been two choices, the company I am using now or take the stuff to the dump myself at a cost of $120.00 per visit and I only have a Jeep Liberty and can't carry much at all.

The weather didn't affect the birds coming to the feeders.  There were a lot of them.  I don't mean 5, 10, or 15, I mean 50 or 100 or more.  All kinds, all sizes, all colors.  But what really made our day was the spotting of the first robin.  Yep, just one robin.  Maybe he was a straggler and was just real late heading south or maybe he wanted to be the early bird and get the worm and was the first to head back north.  Either way, we enjoyed seeing him and hope that he wasn't too lost.  Normally, we see very few robins here, especially individuals.  When we do see them, they are usually in huge flocks of hundreds or thousands and they only stop over for very short periods of time, so it was really unusual seeing one lone robin in the back yard.  I hope it was a good omen of an early Spring.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About Some Useless Facts.

I got wondering about some useless facts.  Yep, they may be useless but they are fun and interesting, so I guess that makes them useful for something, right?  Well I am going to make use out of some of them by putting them in my blog.  OK, here is the first one:  No!!  Let me make it a little more interesting.  Instead of just listing the facts, I am going to make it a test.  I will list the questions and then at the end of the post I will list the correct answers.  You will be on your honor system to report how many you got right.

1.   What is a necropsy?

2.   What does karoke mean in Japan?

3.   Where is the geographical center of North America?

4.   What percentage of the world's mail does the the U.S. Post Office handle?

5.   Which is hotter, the surface of the sun or a lightning bolt?

6.   What is the longest word typed with only the left hand?

7.   What is the only continent that doesn't have land areas below sea level?

8.   What Piece of Marilyn Monroe's clothing was sold for $14,000.00.

9.   What is a "palindrome"?

10.  What is the only English word that ends in "amt"?

OK, just ten simple questions that you all should know, right? Well, let us just see how smart you all are.  Below are the correct answers.  Now, tell us how many of them did you get right?


Answers:
1.   A necropsy is an autopsy on animals.

2.   Karoke means empty orchestra in Japan.

3.   Rygby, North Dakota is at the center.

4.   43 percent.

5.   A lightning bolt can be up to five times hotter than the sun's surface.

6.   Stewardesses.

7.   Antarctica.

8.   Her bra, worn in the film "Some Like It Hot".

9.   A word or sentence that is the same front and back, like racecar or kayak.

10.  Dreamt.

Hope you all enjoyed this little quiz and that you all got them all correct.  Please let us know how well you did and no matter what your score, I hope you all had a great time taking the quiz and that you will have a great day, today, you hear?

Wondering About Seeing Faces in Things.

I have always been able to see faces in things, especially wall paper designs.  So, I figured I would search the Internet and try to find pictures of things that look like faces.  I found a lot so instead of rambling on here, I will just post the pictures.  BTW, my wife and I are still not up to par but both of us are much better.  Here are the pictures and I hope you get a chuckle out of them and maybe a cringe out some others:

Carrot-Man-1:

Apple Man:

Hugging carrots:



Green pepper faces:

Skulls growing on trees:

Now, this old washer or dryer or whatever it is, sure looks like it is on its last legs or at least is sick and ready to throw-up. 

And some vegetable can be real monsters, like this red bell pepper.  Look, it has a crown, so it must be royalty of some sort:

And if that is not scary enough, how about this one:

 

So, from now on, you better be real nice to all vegetables, you hear?

Wondering About Kepler

Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer.  He is the one who presented his laws of planetary motion to explain how the planets orbit the sun.  Below are a couple of pictures of this great man:

The first part of this blog showed Kepler, the man but the rest of this blog will be about the space craft that carries his name.  You have all, I am sure, heard about the Hubble Space telescope but how many of you have heard of its predecessor, the Kepler Space Telescope.  It was launched on March 7,2009 and its job was to find exoplanets.  BTW, it isn't in earth orbit but trails earth.  I guess that you could say that it orbits the sun and can be used 24 hours a day.

The above picture is the Kepler space craft and the picture below are of some of the exoplanets that it has discovered.

The more we look the more we find.  With such a full universe, there just has to be some form of life out there, somewhere.

My wife and I are still under the weather but are feeling better today.

Wondering About Male Names.

What do you believe is the most popular male name in the world?  I am asking you now to give you some time to think about it.  Yes, I will tell you later and then you can tell me if you were right or not.

How many times have you heard the saying, he's not just any "Tom, Dick, or Harry"?  Back in my day, that was a very popular saying.  Why did they pick those three names for that saying?  Because they were the most popular male names at the time.  In the western world they were the most popular but not all over the world.  Yep, I am one of the big three, my name is Dick.  Actually, my given name is Richard, but as long as I can remember, I have answered to Dick.

Here in the United States, the list of the most popular names is a little different than a world wide list. 
http://baby-names.familyeducation.com/popular-names/boys/
Could you find yourself on that list?

OK, I have given you enough time to come up with what you think is the most popular male name in the world.  Here is the answer:

Mohammed is the most common first name in the world.

 According to the sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia (2000), Muhammad is "probably the most common given name" in the world, including variations. It is estimated that more than 15 million people in the world bear the name Muhammad.

How many of you were correct?  I used to be one of the big three, but it has been surpassed by the name Muhammad or one of its variations.  Sort of gives us a hint to what is happening in this world today and most of what I see, I don't like.  But please try to have a great day anyway, you hear?

One Last Christmas Picture.

I know, I know, you are all sick of Christmas pictures.  But my wife and I are still down with this dang flu and I don't feel like coming up with something else.  Anyway, these two newly acquired grandkids are really cute and well behaved and like any proud grandpa, why not show them off a bit?  So here they are on Christmas evening in our living room just before they opened all their gifts.

 

 



Even after a big day they still seem all excited.  Aren't they cute?

This was the highlight of my Christmas, now tell me about the best thing that happened to you for Christmas.  Have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About a Christmas Present.

I got a Christmas present that I would like to show you.  I am sure you know that all men like a new toy now and then, and I am no different.  This toy should give me many, many hours of enjoyment and maybe a few hours of frustration, too.  Do I have you curiosity stirred up yet?  No?  OK, I show you the box it comes in:

 

The next picture shows the pad.  There are a lot of games that you can be played on it but the first one I tried was Chase Me.  Oh yes, after you put batteries in it, it lights up.  During the Chase Me game, you have to touch the circle that flashes.  Usually, multiple circles flash and this game can move on very quickly.  It is a real test of hand/eye coordination.



 

 Below is the way it looks when you first turn it on.



 

Dim the lights some and it shows up even better. 

 

 This last picture shows it turned on and laying in front of its box.

 

 

OK, now you know what I am doing if I am late posting.  By the way, this game is for all ages, not just for old farts like me.  Now you all have a great evening, you hear?