Word Of The Week, 8/22/10

My Word Of The Week for August 22, 2010 is:

im-mense

Definition:
1: Supremely good, excellent
2: Greatness in size or degree

She did immensely well on her test.

Related words: immensely, immenseness

Hummingbird Hullaballoo!

Dad got me a hummingbird feeder a few months ago. We put it up, and the hummingbirds are just CRAZY! Every day we watch them fight each other just so they could get a drink. Mom says they could get more eating done if they'd stop fighting!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that's true, but it's never going to change.

Word Of The Week, 7/10/10

My Word of the Week for July 10th, 2010 is:

ed-i-ble
edible

able to be eaten, eatable
"That mushroom is certainly not edible."

Introducing Buddy!

Buddy is my dog. He is mostly a mix of an Australian Shepherd and a German Shepherd. He is so cute! We bought him in the autumn at a flea market. Sometimes, Buddy's tail crosses in what I call a "twix". That's the one unique thing about Buddy. I believe that there is a unique thing about every dog. It could be the color of it's fur, or how it acts...just anything.

I do admit it, Buddy doesn't have one single bit of retriever in him. But he loves to run and play (part of the car chase) and chew (part of why he doesn't bring back the ball or toy). Sometimes he tries to play tag and tears across the yard. Sometimes he'll go around the whole house!

There is a line of bushes in the front yard that Buddy and I love to play tag behind. He tries to hide from me behind those and the forsythia bushes. When I'm on one side, he'll hide on the other. When we're playing around the forsythia bushes, he stays in one spot until I run far enough so I can see him, then he runs to the other side of the bush and does it again. After a few times of that, he tears off somewhere else and I follow. But we don't play around those as much as we do around the bushes in the front yard. Usually at the start, when I lunge at him a few times, he just runs around the bushes a couple times - his warmup - then stops. I lunge at him, then he goes the other way - and the chase is on! Sometimes, Buddy comes one way and I go the other way. When he gets close enough to see that I'm heading his way, he stops. Then, I either lunge at him again (in which he goes the other way) or wait until he either runs the other way or keeps on running and slithers past me as he goes on.

Another silly thing he does is that he eats weird stuff. He turns his nose up on jalapenos, but loves sticks and liriope - both the purple bean-shaped flower petals on the long, purple-tinted stems and the long dark green leaves. He loves the flowers and stems most and won't eat leaves at certain times. Most of the time he just chews on a leaf for about a second and then drops it. Sometimes I even see peach pits around the place.

Of course, too, he terrorizes the neighbor cats - Min-Min, Nicholas, Sabrina, and Basil. After all, what is he? A dog.

Webkinz Fourth of July Contest

On July 5, 2010, I entered the Webkinz World Fourth of July contest for drawing a creative fireworks display with this picture. I just managed to draw it, scan it in, and enter at 9 something PM - less than 3 hours before the contest would end at midnight! It's good they gave me an extra day to get it done!
The left top firework is hearts, the middle one is a W for Webkinz World, the webkinz logo, and the top right is cats. The middle two are dogs on the left and paw prints on the right. The bottom three represent summer, fall, and winter. The bottom left is a sun, the bottom middle is a leaf, and the bottom right is a snowflake. Under the fireworks, there is a white terrier (left) and a red and white cat, which isn't even a real webkinz pet, I think (right). The cat is eating a watermelon slice while sitting and watching the fireworks. The terrier, as you can see, is up celebrating. The watermelon slice to the right of the red cat is the terrier's slice. To the right of it, there is a webkinz grocery bag containing the picnic. All is on a pink picnic blanket. The green around the blanket is the grass.
I hope you like my picture! Feel free to comment on it and rate it if you are able to.

Webkinz World is an online site for adopting an adorable pet of your choice. There are dozens of pets to choose from, like the gingerbread cat, the silversoft cat, the white terrier, the golden retriever, the tomato clownfish, the grey manatee, and so much more. First, go to any webkinz seller and buy a webkinz, then go home and open the tag. Go to http://www.webkinz.com/ and click on "New Member", then go through the adoption process. After that, click on "Play With Your Pet" and the computer will load your room. Then, explore, earn Kinz Cash, play games, buy furniture and food from the W Shop, and more!
If your pet gets stuck in the doorway, can't move, or any other problem happens, go to http://www.webkinzinsider.com/, where you find solutions to problems and even tracking threads! NEVER share your webkinz password with anybody else. Have fun!

Butterfly Garden Update: Black Eyed Susans, Pollination

My butterfly garden now has a few black eyed susan (rudbeckia hirta) flowers coming on. I saw bees pollinating them one day, so that means they will produce more black eyed susans later! Black eyed susans are my grandmother's favorite flowers. Also, we have dill on its way.
My zinnias are doing very well and one whole side of my garden is already covered with zinnias, both high and low!
One day, I saw two variegated frittilary butterflies come to my garden! I quietly watched as one of them came to around 24/30 of the zinnias. I saw bees pollinating the zinnias, too, and I'm already wondering if the flowers in our butterfly garden will just make it and produce pretty new zinnias and black eyed susans.

Word Of The Week, 7/4/10

My Word Of The Week for July 4th, 2010 is:

In-de-pen-dence Day

1. A civil holiday for the celebration of the anniversary of the beginnings of national independence.
2. July 4 is observed as a legal holiday in the United States in commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Word Of The Week, 6/27/10

My Word of the Week for June 27, 2010 is:

des-o-la-tion

1. a. grief, sadness b. loneliness
2. devastation, ruin
3. barren wasteland

The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness.
- from White Fang (by Jack London), Chapter 1

Beautiful Butterflies: My Butterfly Garden

I have my own little butterfly garden with sweet alyssum, african daisies, sunflowers, purple coneflowers, zinnias, dill, sage, and rosemary (and chicken wire because the dog dug up the first one). Some of the zinnias have already opened up. Already a few butterflies have come to the opening sweet alyssum (carpet of snow) and who knows what else? As more and more butterflies hear about it, it will get busier and busier... and who knows what will happen?

Caterpillar Update: Frizz's Chrysalis

Frizz made himself a web for his cocoon! It is made of his settae (or hairs). And it is transparent, so we can see inside to watch what happens over time! Over time, Frizz is developing - he curled up and made three little colored bean-looking items. Maybe they are food! Nature is so mysterious... So that's why he didn't go eat the lettuce on the bottom. Now I'll have to leave him alone for a few days until he turns into a butterfly. I can't wait! Here's another picture that I found on google.

Word Of The Week, 6/20/10

Our word of the week is:

vo-ra-cious

1. Having a huge appetite

Frizz is a very voracious caterpillar!

2. Excessively eager

Ashley is a voracious gardener.

Caterpillar Update: Mr. Hungry

Our caterpillar ate the lettuce we gave it down to the STEM!!! We named him Frizz and put another few little pieces of lettuce in for him to munch on. Now we know what he eats!

About My Dog, Buddy

I have a cute little dog named Buddy. He is an Australian Shepherd/German Shepherd mix, so I call him a double shepherd. He is a very friendly dog, while sometimes even while he is playing he bites my leg, and sometimes when he is jumping around I get scared because I think he is going to bite me (ouch!). But most of the time he is very friendly. He was born on May 17, 2009. I adopted him October 2009. Here is a picture of him on his first day here.

Plants From the Garden

Mom and I just went to our garden and picked yellow squash, cucumbers, peas, green beans, and lettuce. We found a caterpillar among the peas. We googled it and found out it was a yellow bear caterpillar. I first thought it was a woolly bear caterpillar, which turns into a white moth with black spots. A few of them came into our house. I can't wait to watch the caterpillar transform into a butterfly! We put it in our butterfly habitat with a piece of lettuce. We tried to take some pictures, but they didn't come out clearly, so we found one off google. Nature is so amazing!