Dangerous Beauty

I had to alter today's fun fact a little because I felt like it was a bit intense for school lunch. The fact I originally stumbled across said there was a butterfly in Africa that had enough poison to kill up to six average house cats. This is what I changed it to.

My altered version is also true, and doesn't involve explicitly killing any pets. The butterfly is Papilio Antimachus, also known as the African Giant Swallowtail. It's found in the tropical rainforests of western and central Africa. Wikipedia says its range stretches through eleven countries. My five minute sketch does it no favors. It's a beautiful butterfly with wings in much better proportion than those seen above.

Upside Down

I try to research all the fun facts to make sure they're legit before I send them in to school. No need to spread misinformation even if it's in the name of fun, right?

Stanford had this bit of trivia confirmed on their website. They posted:

Flamingos feed with their heads down, and their bills are adapted accordingly. In most birds a smaller lower beak works against a larger upper one. In flamingos this is reversed; the lower bill is much larger and stronger, and the fat tongue runs within the bill's deep central groove. To complete the jaw reversal, unlike other birds (and mammals) the upper jaw is not rigidly fixed to the skull. Consequently, with the bird's head upside down during feeding the upper bill moves up and down, permitting the flamingo's jaws to work "normally."

Whole article found here.

Why did they adapt this way? Who knows. Maybe it's easier with those stilt legs to put their face in the water upside down.  The next time we go to the zoo, I'm going to wander by the flamingos and see if I can see this in action.

Two Fantastic Facts

Looks like I forgot to post on Friday. No surprise there. It was a busy day for us, ending in a joint talent and art show art the boy's school. Setting up the art show on Friday consumed most of my day.

Friday's fact was another one about the weather. While it's never really rained cats and dogs, it has rained frogs...sort of.

Today's fact is about one of the boy's favorite animals. He knows a lot about them from our trips to the zoo, but I think this might be a new fact for him.

When You Can't Find a Thermometer

Anyone who's met the boy knows that he loves the weather. We own approximately 2398574 books on the subject. We've read every book on weather our local library has on the shelves. He will read the same weather stories over and over, never tiring of them.

When he told me he wanted some fun facts, I immediately thought of giving him weather facts. The only problem is, most of the books we've read will have included nearly any fun fact I could think of. Cue weather research for this Mama.

I stumbled across this gem this morning, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be one he doesn't already know.

While the method varies, from counting for 14 seconds and adding 40 to counting to 15 seconds and adding 37, it seems people have tried this, and it works. The Library of Congress had this posted on a fun science facts site:






The frequency of chirping varies according to temperature. To get a rough estimate of the temperature in degrees fahrenheit, count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and then add 37. The number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature.






Looks like we have a little experiment to try once the crickets come out!

That's no Moon

It's actually 67 moons, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Who knew you'd learn something by reading this blog every day? I've got your second fun fact ready to hit you with a blast of awesome knowledge.

Please ignore the lumpiness of my poor Jupiter. A certain someone may have bumped my elbow while I was drawing. Still looks pretty close though, right?

A New Direction

I'm starting to run out of quality joke material. I mentioned to the boy that it might be fun to do something different for a bit and the boy expressed an interest in taking a break from jokes for a while. He asked that I send in some fun facts with his lunch instead. Today is our first fun fact.

While this has nothing to do with Uranus, it is more entertaining than a picture of a blue ball. Let's just pretend that adorable hedgehog has been sleeping for twenty one years. Little Rip Van Hedgie.

Not All Candy is Created Equal

I'm not talking about flavor here, folks, though that could be debated too. There are certainly some candies that are better than others. *cough* Kit Kats *cough*

My candy looks a little bit like it could be a Necco wafer's aunt or something. Those glasses make it look a bit older than what I was going for. 

See you on the flip side of the weekend.

Catch Up

Sorry, folks. Yesterday was busy. Have any of you ever been a room mom? The one that plans all the parties and gifts for your kid's classroom? Somehow I've been suckered into for the past two years. I have a love-hate relationship with it. As I sit here, staring at my hands, still stained with red food coloring from our slime craft yesterday, I'm not even a little sorry that I forgot to post yesterday's doodle.

Who knew porcupines looked so much like lima beans, right?

Our weather here has been all over the place for the past two weeks. High of 70 today, possibly wintry mix on Saturday. The back and forth is wreaking havoc on my sinuses. I woke up feeling a great deal below one hundred percent today. I don't know if that subconsciously inspired today's joke, but there's a good chance it did.

Fingers crossed that mine is just sinus-related like I'm assuming it is. I've got too much to do to get sick! Hope you're all healthy and had a great Valentine's Day yesterday!

Hot Lips

Tomorrow is the big V-day. The boy recently told me that some of the boys in his class don't like the word 'kiss.' Why not? I asked him. They think it's gross, he said. He also said he's ok with it. Two of his best friends are girls, so I guess he doesn't buy into the whole girls have cooties thing. To his credit, he did say it would be weird if a girl kissed him, but he doesn't think the word is gross.

Today's joke made me think about that conversation.

I'll have to ask him how he feels about dragon kisses because those never came up.

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

Now that I have a Christmas Carol stuck in your head in the middle of February, I'll tell you a joke. Sorry about the earworm, it's just that drums always make me think of that song. It was my favorite when I was a kid. Now, I can't even listen to it all the way through. Except for the Bowie/Bing Crosby version. I still love that one.

I promised Valentine jokes, and today's joke is the first for the week.

We'll see if the boy appreciates these sappy jokes as much as I do.

I Take Requests

A girl from the boy's class told me this joke earlier this week, and I promised I would turn it into a doodle. The problem was, I forgot half of it. I had to ask her about it yesterday to clarify what you crossed the tarantula with.

In my research for images to refer to for this doodle, I discovered there is a snake with a spider tail. Sort of. It's called the spider-tailed viper.

As if snakes or spiders needed to be creepier. This one lures spider predators in with its tail and then eats them. Clever, but creepy. A fun fact to carry you into the weekend.

A Heart So Small

My friends. We had a snow day yesterday. Did we get to build a snowman? No. All it did was rain. All day. And we were out of school because of that. Apparently it was supposed to be icy. It wasn't. Just wet. So, there was no doodle yesterday as there was no lunch to tuck it into.

We took advantage of the day off to buy a snail for our fish tank and some treats to give to the boy's class. We also colored a giant cardboard pirate ship and went to the pool. It was a long dreary day, but I was mostly successful in keeping the boy away from screens. We did watch some shows while coloring, mostly for the background noise.

The sun is out today, and while it's bitterly cold, it's dry. So, here's the doodle I'm sending to school today.

I didn't mean to make the mouse look so sad. He looks like he knows he's facing almost certain rejection for that little heart of his. I'd like to think he'll be pleasantly surprised to find out he's wrong.

Winter Break

I've been doodling a lot of winter jokes lately. It makes since, given that it's winter and everything, but I thought it would be nice to give winter a break. Plus, I've drawn entirely too many snowmen already this winter. Next week, I'll bombard you with Valentine's Day jokes. I might even sneak a few of those in this week. I haven't decided yet. The boy loves Valentine's Day.

Two years ago, I started a tradition to make V-Day more fun for him. I bought a little mailbox. If the flag is up, there's something inside. I try to put at least one thing in there every day from February 1st to V-Day. Sometimes it's something small, just a note or a piece of candy. Other times, it's a new toy.

This year, the boy made me my own mailbox. So, now I get a daily note or small trinket from him. It's been fun seeing what he puts in there. My favorite so far has been a giant blue plastic egg with a smaller egg inside it, which had a smaller egg inside it that was filled with playdoh. Buried in the playdoh was a note that said I love you. It was so creative!

Given his excitement about the upcoming holiday, I might doodle a few extra V-Day jokes. But today's isn't about V-Day at all.

So, my chocolate looks more like a Lego than something edible. I should have drawn a Hershey's kiss or something.

Snow Business

We've got another two hour delay today for wintry weather. This time, it's just ice. Still not enough snow to make a snowman. I'm beginning to think it's not going to happen this year. That's why I keep sending snowmen in the boy's lunch. They might be the only snowmen he gets this year.

When you draw your audience, the jokes always go over well. Hope you (and the boy) enjoy it as much as this snowman did.

A Different Kind of Cold

Yesterday, the temps got up to the fifties. Probably good since it rained all night. We would have gotten a heap of snow had it been colder. Cue today: highs that won't leave the thirties. Holy cold snap, Batman.

Did I just use cold as the punchline for two days in a row? I did! The pictures are even similar, but they're not the same type of cold. So, it doesn't count.

Spreading More Than Just Love

It's that time of year folks. When germs run rampant, reducing every household to a den of sniffling, hacking, feverish humans. We've survived round one here, but there is still plenty of winter remaining.

When I came across this joke, I felt it was timely, especially since the boy has a lingering cough from his last cold that doesn't seem ready to relinquish its hold on his lungs.