Here we are at another Tuesday and of course that means it is creature day and this week’s creature is the Narwhal, heard of it, me neither.
They are the unicorns of the sea according to the book I am using; they have a sword-like spiral protruding from their head.
This ivory tusk is a long tooth which grows much longer in males then females up to 3 meters long about half their body length. Scientists believed it is used in mating rituals to impress females and to fight their rivals.
Others say the tusk is used as a tool for sensing changes in the environment, like differences in the water temperature or salt level. They also use it to rub against each other for cleaning.
It is related to bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales and orcas, they travel in pods of up to 20, but have been seen in groups of thousands in the Artic waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia.
Narwhal comes from the old Norse word Nar meaning corpse, they are thought to have been named this because the resemble the bodies of dead sailors.
They have been eaten by people in Artic villages in both Canada and Greenland for thousands of years. In Greenland most of it is eaten including the meat, the blubber, the skin and organs.
Hello Monday, hello fact day, hello whoever is reading this this week’s Earth facts concern water.
Around 71% of the Earth is covered in water, I am sure many of you would know this fact, I did. This water makes up five oceans and many smaller seas.
The worlds oceans not only important for the vast numbers of creatures that live in them, but they also influence our weather and climate conditions.
Around 70% of the oxygen we breath is produced by the oceans.
The water absorbs heat from the Sun particularly in tropical regions and carries it over the Earth is surface currents which affect the top 350 metres of the ocean.
Very cold water from the North and South Poles sinks beneath the warmer surface currents and drifts towards the equator, where it is warmed by the Sun, and becomes a surface current itself. It then changes direction drifting back towards the poles where it becomes a colder deep current again.
A bit of an early start today as I woke at 4.45am really needing to pee. I also woke to the sound of rain. It was 21 degrees when I got up and 19 degrees an hour later. I am feeling so very tired this morning.
The temp got as high as 23 degrees also raining on and off all day.
I have started to set up the laptop Tim bought a few months back, so I can use it. Spent a few hours doing so.
What a morning, I have been trying to connect the printer to this laptop, but it keeps telling me it doesn’t recognise the USB device and yes, I have plugged it straight into the laptop.
Tim has gone to Sydney for the appointment with the specialist arranged by his solicitor he caught the train down, Tasha drove him to the station.
It is another hot day but no air con just the fan with doors opens including the screen.
Sandy brought over another cable to connect the computer to the printer but still isn’t working I will work on it more tomorrow.
Well, this morning I got the printer installed and it still isn’t working also having trouble with my word program, it isn’t always saving so I am going to try using Microsoft word and see how that goes.
Tim took some cans over to earn & return and cashed them on for Natasha.
It is a warm sticky day, and I am frustrated that I cannot get the printer to word.
Dawson turned up and attempted to get the printer to work without any luck and in the end him & Tim went and bought me a similar printer and Dawson is setting that up. Dawson was here over 3hrs working on it.
I am feeling much less stressed this morning, I am wearing long pants the temp is 19 degrees and Sam has today off school again he was off sick yesterday as well. Turns out Jessica thought I was going with Tim to his afternoon appointment. I had thought about going but don’t think I will.
I change from long pant into shorts only to feel cold, so I changed into longer shorts and found myself cold again so back into long pants.
Tim was at the appointment longer than he thought would be, when I asked how it went as per usual, I got little information other than it went well they liked how prepared he was. He also said it was a good thing I didn’t go with him as the stairs to the office were steep and he didn’t think I would be able to manage them.
Another cool morning here both doors are open, and I am wearing longish pants, and it is raining. It was 17 degrees when I got up.
I walked Sam up the front using the walker due to light rain by the time I got back I was exhausted.
I did, however, manage to get most of my computer stuff done by 7.45am having a faster computer helps.
It is a sticky day and I do not like it. The temp is only 21 degrees.
By 4pm I was so tired, but I stuck it out till 5pm.
Had a good night woke at 4am to pee and straight back to sleep till the alarm went at 5am, it was only 16 degrees when I got up.
Had a message from Tasha asking me to make sure she is awake by 9am, which I will do.
By 7am the temp had dropped to 15 degrees, and by 7.30am all emails had been checked and blogs read damn it feels good to have things going well. I am even not shaking that much that typing has been easier.
Tim is changing the oil in the car; Tasha is using the dryer which has pissed Tim off, but she needs her work clothes dried before she goes to work this afternoon.
Here we are at another Friday so that means it is time for some Parkinson’s Disease information. This week we are looking at sleep, we all need a good night’s sleep but when someone has Parkinson’s it is considered very important to get a good eight-hour sleep.
It isn’t uncommon for someone with Parkinson’s to need an after-lunch nap, there are those who say the suffer shouldn’t nod off in their chair during the day but there are others who recommend just closing your eyes for 10-20 minutes if feeling very tired during the day. I prefer to do that close my eyes for up to 20 minutes when the tiredness gets too much.
There are several things that can cause someone with Parkinson’s to not sleep well, such as involuntary movements, pain, needing to pee, vivid dreams or hallucinations. I have nights when my legs move so much it feels like I am trying to swim in bed. I have that some suffers even scream while sleeping.
Some people have so much trouble sleeping they are prescribed sleeping pills which may help but are not good long term in my opinion.
I have read that sometimes the suffers other half who shares their bed may want to have single beds as they find the tossing and thrashing about makes it hard for them too.
Hello everyone, here we are at another Thursday and this week we have the second part about shearing in the 1890’s.
It was a difficult job back then which could cause muscle soreness from bending and picking up the sheep.
A blade shearer might take up to four years to master the skill in the 1880’s something called the Wolseley machine started being used this machine made it easier for unskilled workers to take up shearing. They could learn adequate skills within weeks.
The work was undertaken in huge woolsheds which might be divided into as many as 90 boards which are sections where individual sheep were shorn.
During the “off” season shearers did other itinerant work such as fencing, clearing land, rabbiting, and mining. Occupations associated with shearing included that of shearer’s cook and that of tar-boy. A tar-boy was employed to cauterise any wound the sheep may receive.
The “white-collar” wool-classer would usually stay in the manager’s house and was paid anything from one pound to 25 shillings 100 fleeces for his skill.
Good morning all I thought I would share something about our Prime Ministers, first up what annoys me is that many can tell you who was America’s first president was but not who our first Prime minster was but moving on here is a little info about Aussie P M’s
Australia has had 31 Prime Ministers since 1901 with Edmund Barton being our first and Anthony Albanese our current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard was our only female Prime Minister.
Our federal elections are held every 3yrs, however, our Prime Minister can call an early election, there is no fixed term for Prime Ministers.
Our longest serving Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies who served for a total of 18yrs & 163 days. His first tenure was between 1939-1941 but his second tenure was from 1949-1966.
Our shortest serving Prime Minister was Frank Forde who only held office for 7 days in 1945. He became Prime Minister immediately after the death of John Curtin on 5 July 1945, his term ended when Ben Chifley was elected on the 12 July 1945. Frank Forde was our 15th Prime Minister.
There are three main or major political parties in Australia The Australian Labor Party, The Liberal Party and the Nationals, these are the parties that have held office at one time or another since 1910.
It is Tuesday all day long and half the night and Tuesday as we all know is creature day this week we have the North American Porcupine.
It has a coat of prickly quills over its body a nice pointy warning that it’s not going to be easy prey, the needle like spines lay flat until it feels threatened when they pop up on command.
It is considered the largest of its species at a length of 1 metre which is 3.3feet and has more than 30,000 barbed quills. All naturally have a sharp tip which is difficult to remove once in the skin of a predator or silly human. All quills lost are soon replaced with a new one.
They are great climbers and spend a lot of time in trees, they use their front teeth to devour wood, bark and stems and have even been known to chew on canoe paddles.
Well it is Monday and that means it is facts day with some how the hell do they know that facts from The Great Book of Knowledge that I am using for these posts. This is another book of Sam’s that they no longer want and was passed on to nana to use.
The very first plant-like organisms appeared in the Earth’s oceans around 3,500 million years ago. They used light from the Sun to make food from water and carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen into the air as a by-product. This process is called photosynthesis and was repeated over millions of years until there was enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support other forms of life.
Photosynthesis is it appears bloody important as the survival of pretty much everything depends on it, who knew, not me. This is because it plays an important role in maintaining oxygen levels but it keeps the plants we need for food healthy, didn’t know that either.
Now we all should know that all living things adapt to their environment including plants just look at those plants that survive in the desert like cacti they store large amounts of water in their broad stems and have widespread root systems that are able to collect water from a distance. Making them able to survive in those areas with very little rainfall.
At the other end of things we have plants like the arctic poppies which grow very well in cold climates, on mountains and in dry river beds. You can find them amongst stones which absorb heat from the Sun and provide shelter for their roots, I didn’t know that nor did I know that their flowers continually turn to face the Sun as it makes its way across the sky.
That will do for this week next week we will look at how there is water everywhere.
Slept well woke with the alarm in fact the alarm had been going for a bit before I realised what it was. Temp of 19 degrees this morning.
No issues doing the shopping which is good, I even manged to go back in and add Tim’s coffee.
Dawson came over to of a photo album that was mum & dads, he was here for about 45 minutes.
At midday it was 26 degrees at midday and by 2pm it was 28 degrees.
Tim took me down to the chemist.
Another good night, I am getting use to these good nights ope I haven’t jinxed myself by saying that.
At 5am it was 23 degrees according to my phone and at 5.30am it had dropped to 19 degrees. Is it any wonder that of a morning I can go from shorts to three quarter length pants then back to shorts when it warms up again.
I am feeling restless today and can’t be bothered trying to find something for lunch.
It 27 degrees and I am drenched in sweat. However, I didn’t ask for the air con just stuck it out.
Jess got called into work, stuff this 40hr week she often does more like 60hrs per week. At least she is earning good money.
Talk about jinxing oneself last night I tossed and turned for a good hour or more but when I did settle I slept well, waking only once to pee.
It was 19 degrees at 5am and 17 degrees at 5.30am, we are in for another bloody hot day.
When the shopping came I couldn’t help but notice that the paper bags it was packed in are half the size they use to be.
By 11am it was 27 degrees, when it hit 30 degrees I turned the air con on. Also after Tasha went off because it wasn’t on and I was drenched in sweat.
Had another pretty good night, banana and custard for breakie. It is 19 degrees here 5.30am down form the 21 degrees it was at 5am and by 8am it was back at 21 degrees.
The cleaners came, Tim had the security camera set up in his office and we caught one of the cleaners sitting in his office looking around then she moved the camera with the feather duster so we couldn’t see what she was doing. Tim sent an email to his case worker at Youi to complain and he is following it up, I do not want them back here.
KELLI’S BIRTHDAY SHE IS NOW 30
Another good night, only 17 degrees when I got up at 5am. I have spent 45 minutes getting the laptop to work it did an automatic update during the night and I had to shut down and reboot before anything would work, so frustrating. Another hot day with a temp of 33 degrees, yes I have the air con on and yes I am drenched in sweat.
Had a pretty good night took a little bit to fully settle last night but once I did I was right and slept through to 3.15 when I needed to pee, then back to bed and in a blink the alarm was going off.
Temp of only 17 degrees at 5am and not suppose to get much hotter by 5.45am it was 21 degrees. Didn’t get any hotter.
Tasha sent Blain down with a basket of her cleaning cloths to be dried in the dryer as it is raining.
Jess just rang to tell me she got called into work and will not be home till around 6.30pm.
It has been raining on and off all day.
When I got up this morning I opened the house up like I do every morning but by 5.45am I had to close the doors due to being cold. Temp was 19 degrees but felt colder.
Tasha asked me to wake her at 9am which I will do. I walked up to Tasha’s to wake her up due to it raining.
The internet stopped working at 6am I just have to wait for it to come good again.
Most of the day has been fine with a temp of 23 degrees.
Jo-AnneRamplings 