Cat, Eagle, and a Fox walk onto a porch...

What a terrific series of videos! I don't at all understand how the eagle isn't eating the cats. Oh well, makes for a great clip!

Spring time in Kansas - Garter Snakes

The birds are singing and the trees are greening.... and the garter snakes are coming up out of the ground....We can usually tell when it's Spring at our place because the cats start bringing in Garter snakes (unharmed) to show us... The snakes are just emerging from hibernation and are easy to catch.. but not a lot of fun to play with (if you are a cat) because they don't move or try to get away. We have a den of them that hibernate underground during the winter in the remains of an old tree stump in our backyard. The cats find them when the snakes come up to catch some sun and get warmed up. Garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) are common in Kansas and harmless, feeding mostly on small insects and worms.

Kentucky never seceded from the Union. But.

Interesting tidbit about Kentucky and the Civil War. Not that this would be common knowledge, but it was an interesting look at how perception changed for the people in those States after the war:

"Kentucky never seceded. They did send 35,000 troops to the Confederacy and 90,000 to the U.S." Loewen said. "Today Kentucky has 74 Civil War monuments. Two are for the U.S. and 72 are for the Confederacy."

Check out 6 Busted Myths about the Civil War

Huge spider web spinning out of control in Australia

What an amazing sight! According to scientists in Australia, recent floods have pushed enormous colonies of spiders up above the water. Flood fleeing Australians have returned to their homes to find acres upon acres of land covered in spider webs!

 

No, that's not snow or fog! It is apparently the result of unchecked spider growth in the areas affected by the flooding in Australia. The population of spiders (a type of Wolf Spider) has boomed in the absence of humans to cull them. With the wet weather, insect population also surged providing plenty of food for the growing spider empire.

A similar phenomenon happened in Sindh, Pakistan (among other parts of PK) when flood waters rose there after the 2010 typhoon season dumped 10 years worth of rain in one week!

Link: Spider Webs in Pakistan

Creepy crawly fun!

Scale of the Universe!

Wow...this app is so awesome! I love it - pass this along to your kids. It's a great tool for learning and fun too!

http://notdoppler.com/thescaleoftheuniverse2.php