Bill W

Yes, raccoons are cute. It's probably why these used one for the Ranger Rick magazine.

Chapter 32 – The Last of the Predators When we woke the following morning, we ate breakfast and then got started working on the mountain lion again. The process was going much faster than with the previous animals, and even after having taken the entire weekend off, I managed to successfully transition into a mountain lion again. The shaman only noticed a couple of minor issues I had to improve on, and once I did that he felt we were nearly done. Since it was going so well, the sham

And just because a guy has the nickname Chipper doesn't mean that he's actually a chipper person. You can trust me on that, because I knew one of those unchipper Chippers.

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to our hearty neighbors to the north. Make sure to start a fire in the fireplace so you'll be nice and warm while you're stuffing your face. By the way, Steve. I've finished my Halloween stories and I will be posting them soon. I hope they meet your approval.

Since marijuana is classified as a flowering herb, I wonder if large growers could also be classified as herbalists. Herbs were also used in witchcraft and magical spells, so I imagine every witch and warlock was an herbalist as well.

Famous herbalist include: Robert Hooke, who in 1635 was one of the first two scientists to discover microorganisms using a microscope. Carl Linnaeus, the scientist responsible for formalizing binomial nomenclature, which is the system we use for naming organisms. Joseph Banks, a botanists who sails on Captain James Cooke's first great voyage the visited Brazil, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. He was President of the Royal Society for over 41 years, and during his tenure he was responsible for bringing over 30,000 plant species to England. Thomas Culpeper, who was credited with cataloging hundreds of medicinal herbs that where used by physicians at that time.

I'll issue a warning so you won't someday make the same mistake I did when I was younger. Don't confuse bonsai, the pruning of miniature trees and shrubs, with banzai, which was a cry that was used by Japanese soldiers during World War II. The complete phrase was Tenno Heika Banzai, which means 'Japanese Emperor may he live for ten thousand years'. It was used by Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid movies, and it can be used as a greeting when meeting the Japanese Emperor to wish him long life.

There are a lot of alerts throughout GA, and the abductor may be fleeing with the child to stay with friends or extended family in MS. They supposedly send the alert to anyplace where the abductor might possibly go.

I guess that during the time period in which the town was named it was probably the best choice, either Cistern, Texas or Outhouse, Texas. 😈 🤪

With parental abductions, the parents are typically divorced and that might be where the other parents lives currently and they expect he'll return, or you might be along the route that parent might take to return home. The alert doesn't just go out to the state where the child is abducted.

I didn't know this was going to happen, so when the alert on my cell phone went off, it used the same series of tones that it uses to alert us that to an Amber alert, so I thought meant there was another missing child until I checked the screen. When the TV alert went off it interfered with a very important part of the program I was watching and pissed me off, but at least they didn't do it on Saturday during one of the college football games.

The difference between a cistern and a well is that a cisterns main function is to collect rainwater, while a well taps into a underground source of water and then you either use a pump to bring the water to the surface or you do it manually using a bucket. Farms and ranches commonly have large cisterns in addition to a well or well to ensure that they have enough water for the crops and/or animals.

Hmmm... isn't it funny that you would think of The Castaway Hotel while reading this chapter. It's true that I mixed in a little history and local information into this chapter, while also giving you a mental tour of the sites. I'm very pleased that you not only noticed this, but seemed to enjoy it as well.

Thanks, Danilo. I appreciate your support.

A colander can also be used to rinse vegetables. and colanders can be stainless steel or plastic.

Thanks, Al. I appreciate everyone's help with this. At first I thought I'd made a mistake and got something wrong, but now I see it's different strokes for different folks.

Thanks, but I'm going to leave it as is now.

Yep, talk about once in a blue moon. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. 🤪

By the way, I corrected that section so it now reads: Huevos Rancheros, or rancher’s eggs, the same as the others. It’s a vegetarian meal that is typically served for breakfast on Mexican farms. It consists of corn tortillas covered with fried eggs and topped with warmed salsa and feta cheese, and there were refried beans off to the side.

I wasn't offended and I appreciate being corrected and learning new things. However, I got that information off of a website, and it might have even been the website for the restaurant. No problem, though.

How's this for perfect timing. I was watching the program, The UnXplained Special Edition 'Mystical Structures' on the History channel, and they featured the spiral staircase at the Loretto Chapel. The first claim they made was that even though scientists could identife the species of wood that was used to build it, they could find no match to any other wood that currently appeared on earth. They also said that the stairs had sort of a spongy feeling when you walked on them, and there was a total of 33 stairs leading up to the choir loft. They pointed out that it was the same number of years that Christ had lived on earth, and it was also an important number to the Knights Templar, who were known to be master builders. It was also the number that indicated the highest degree or rank they could attain. Another claim was that after it was completed, the nuns could not find the carpenter so they could pay him for his work and the materials he used, although no one in the local area claimed to have supplied him with any of the materials that he used. I thought you might find that interesting, although the same information was probably in the articles that were found. I just thought it was ironic that it aired the same day as this chapter was posted.

And talk about perfect timing, when I collected my mail today, I had a letter from Heifer International. It's a non-profit charity whose goal in ending hunger and poverty. Not sure how they decided to name this organization, but their timing was perfect with today's "Word of the Day".

I'm not sure, but that's the information I got during my research, unless I misinterpreted it. I have days when my eyesight isn't very good.

I was raised by my grandparents, and they had a set of encyclopedias that they had purchased for their children. I was doing a report on World War I, but had trouble finding it, because it was listed as The Great War. The encyclopedia was a bit outdated, the probably purchased it before the start of World War II, but I got some unique information for my repor t.

Thanks, Anton. I wasn't prepared for such a strong positive reaction to this chapter, since no one transitioned except to sleep. I'm glad, you and the others enjoyed it. Bye the way, did you check the copyright on those encyclopedias? I'm not sure if the companies are still printing hard copies. I thought they went paperless and you could subscribe (purchase) the editions through an online service.