Bill W

Lee, I don't think the little boy would have felt comfortable with bears doing that, but he was familiar with dogs and seemed to trust them. His parents wouldn't have been comfortable see bears bringing him back either.

I've got to admit that I got that idea from a fairly recent event were a young boy got lost and his dogs kept him warm all night long until he was found. I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter, Chris.

Yes, Lee, the boys are going to have to be very careful if they transition into birds. There are a lot of predators out there they have to be wary of.

I'm disappointed in you, Jaames. I thought you'd be posting Muskrat Rag. 😁

Ah, I didn't know that. I knew beaver fur was a big thing at one time and that's how Astor made his fortune, but I didn't realize muskrat fur was desirable as well.

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed that part.

I would also like to thank @wildone and @astone2292, because Steve and Aaron put a great deal of time and effort into their blog entries. Good job, guys.

It's never good when rats aren't afraid of people.

Ok, I'll try to address these issues one at a time. First of all, the strength vs endurance isn't really the issue. Pa feels that by building Mac's upper body strength will help him with the endurance. Yes, the situation with the RV was careless, but there have been many document incidents like that. Fortunately, Devin and Pa were able to help save Jack once they transitioned into dogs. The issue with the firepit is that they hadn't used it in a long time, and for some reason it was taken down, possibly it was damaged somehow, so now they've rebuilt it. They only remove the metal frame between uses so they don't rust. Thanks for your interest in the story, drp.

Adrian, thank you for your comment, but I have to point out your mistake - I said several yards, not six, and 6 meters equals 6.56 yards. I always check my conversions out and put them in parentheses for those reading in countries that use the metric system. I know what you mean about the money conversion in Australia. I was in England when they changed from the pounds, shillings, et al and converted to a decimal system (base 10) and I saw the confusion it caused their for awhile. I remember one shopkeeper was having trouble with the change, so when you paid him he'd spend several seconds looking at what you gave him before giving you your change - and sometimes he'd give you too much and other times he wouldn't give you enough, but most people just let it go and didn't quarrel with him. And it's because of the time I spent in England that I don't have as much trouble with the 'u' words as most people in the US. Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you're enjoying this story.

I knew someone would post this eventually.

It's name possibly comes from an Algonquin word, muscascus, which literally means 'it is red'.

Muskrats can be found in swampsm, marshes, and wetland. You can find them from the northern areas of North American down to the Gulf coast. It is a rodent, like the rat and beaver.

@Myr 2: its fur You kind of cut this short. What about its fur?

Chapter 38 – Time With the McCaskills The time at the cabin was going very well, and Gramps, Pops, Faith, and Hope were going to join us for a cookout on the weekend. In order to prepare for it, on Friday we started getting ready for the cookout that would be held the following day. Devin and I went out fishing with Pa in the morning so we’d have plenty of fish to eat, while Ma was taking some venison steaks and other cuts of meat out of the freezer to thaw. This meat was all from variou

I wish to second this sentiment. The anthology team does a marvelous job.

Maunder can also apply to writing in a lengthy rambling or incoherent way. Although from my observation, the authors on this site do just the opposite of maundering.

The original meaning of maunder was 'to beg', but in the 17th century century it changed to its present day meaning.

I hope that I don't have maundering away in my future.

I'm already working on my story for the 'Long May You Run - A Tribute to Carlos Hazday'.

@sandrewn wrote: I have been to my fair share of weddings, but 'a nosegay' is a new one on me. I think 'a bouquet' will remain my first thought, in the time I have left. Brides typically carry a nosegay up the aisle. The term tussie-mussie (also tussy-mussy) comes from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), when the small bouquets became a popular fashion accessory. Typically, tussie-mussies include floral symbolism from the language of flowers, and therefore may be used to send a message to the recipient.[5] In modern times the term specifically refers to small bouquets in a conical metal holder, or the holder itself, particularly when used at a white wedding. So I assume a collection of black or dead flowers meant 'you're on my hit list'.

I'm thankful for my biological family and my GA family. but it's not fair that you tell us it was "Tony the Tiger, Greeeeeeeeeeat!" for you and not explain yourself. I want to know the details. Did you build a snowman or make tons of money plowing out your neighbor's driveways, since you live in the snowy Canadian wild? Enquiring minds want to know. LOL

Shakespeare used this term in his play to mean flowers that were pinned to the garments a person was wearing, such as a corsage or a multiflowered boutonniere. I'm not sure if this was thought to disguise body odor or to disguise the general smell in the area for the person wearing the flowers, because Medieval cities were filled with a variety of disgusting smells. You might have also heard the following nursery rhyme: as a child Ring Around the Rosie Pockets Full of Posies Ashes, Ashes We All Fall Down This nursery rhyme was about the Bubonic Plague or Black Death. The 'Ring Around the Rosie' referred to the red ring that first formed, and then it turned into a black boil. 'Pockets Full of Posies' is because at the time people thought diseases, such as this. were spread by smells, so the kept pockets full of fresh flowers to keep from getting the disease. Doctors at the time would wear masks with long beaks that were filled with flowers or other strong smells when treating patients. 'Ashes, Ashes' refers to burning the dead bodies, and 'We All Fall Down' refers to the huge number of people that contracted the disease. So nosegay were very important to people during the Middle Ages.

And today nosegay makes it sound as if only a person's nose is gay. Since many people might react to the gay portion of the word as having to do with a person's sexual orientation, I doubt this term will be used very often in the present day.

During a normal ejaculation, the male will release between 1.5 to 5 ml of spermatozoa. Since there can be 20 million to 150 million spermatozoon per ml, it means there can be between 30 million to 750 million spermatozoon in a normal ejaculation. However, there can only be one winner to fertilize an ovum (egg).