Globe Spinning

Good morning my  Monday raviolis.  I understand that Aurora raviolis were having fun with the globe grampy and I sent them as a house warming gift last year.  It's fun to play with a world globe, to see where the countries lie, the waters separate continents, the north and the south poles...all of it.  We live in a great big world.

I would like to travel to visit as many countries as I can...would you? Grampy and I have been very fortunate to travel and visit many places.  Aaron and Jason and their families are traveling everywhere too.  You can go to the other side of the world or maybe into another state and see wonderful things.

Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite place to visit so far.  Love to you all my raviolis.  Grandma-ma

Grandma-ma is home

Hello my wonderful ravs. 

Grandma-ma has been released from the hospital and is now back home with Grampy and Kota Bear.

I like being home with the ones that I love and love me.  Don't you?  It's always good to know that when you are sick or not feeling good or maybe just a little unhappy that the day didn't turn out the way you would have hoped, that you can always go home and jump into the arms of a family pet or a mom or dad or brother and sister or grandma and grandpa or aunts and uncles and know that they love you.  Just that squeeze from them tells you that things will be better and you can start a new day.

I love you my raviolis and thank you for all of the good thoughts, prayers and energy you sent me while I was healing. I am glad to be back home.

.

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday raviolis.  Today's word is:

"Hospital"

Why hospital, well this is where grandma-ma is writing today's post.  Now, don't get worried.  Grandma-ma is doing fine. She had a nasty bout of asthma and Grampy took her into the ER about 2am this morning.  She is hooked up to all kinds of neat stuff and the staff is taking very good care of her.

A hospital is a place where you go if you are sick or injured.  It can be a scary looking place, but always know that once you are inside, it is filled with wonderful and funny and smart and caring people who are there to just take care of you.  That is what all of these people are doing for grandma-ma.  They are taking care of her.

Here are some pictures of the ER room that Grandma-ma is in:

Here is grandma-ma's toes peeking out of her sheet. 

Here are grandma-ma's vitals.  They are good, but now we have to see if they will stay that way.  I put this photo up just for Nurse Cristi...the Aurora raviolis mommy.  Go ahead and laugh, Cristi, you know you want to.

The hospital staff brought grandma-ma breakfast.  It looked better then it tasted, but the eggs were good. 

Grampy brought Grandma-ma her laptop so she could get some work done.  I couldn't type with the oxygen indicator they put on my finger, so I moved it to my toe.  It works just fine there and I can write this post for my raviolis.  Doesn't my toe look cute?

So here is grandma-ma's first sentence today.  "Grandma-ma was very happy to be in a hospital where they take such good care of her."

Now you come up with three sentences using the word hospital too.  Love to you all.

Happy Dog

Hello my Monday raviolies. I know some of you will be starting school soon so I am posting this video of a "Happy Dog" taking a swing in the park.

Now, I don't usually say put your dog in a swing because most dogs would not like this.  However, some dogs will do unusual things and enjoy them. This beautiful gold pup seems to enjoy the swing ride.  What a good doggie.  Have a golden day my ravs. Grandma-ma loves you.

It's Friday!!!

Whoo hooo my Friday raviolis.  Yes, it's Friday and Grandma-ma loves Friday.  That means she and Grampy and Aunt Renee will enjoy the weekend. 

I will run errands,

put stuff in my antique booth,

and then go to dinner with Grampy. 

 Aunt Renee will be attending a wedding. 

On Sunday we will go to the pool and have fun. 

Yes, weekends are for having a good time and resting.  What will you do on your weekend?  Leave a comment and tell me.  Love to  you all my raviolis.  Grandma-ma

Ravioli mix.

Hello my raviolis. This has been a very busy week for my raviolis. One ravioli had to have 10 stitches in his head. Caleb is being very brave as the doctor stitches him up. I understand that he tried to sneak out to play with his skate board today. I was very happy to hear that he decided to not do so. Let you head and ear heal, my ravioli, so you can play without further injury.

Here is a ravioli who is already doing chin ups.

Please, no more photos. I must have my beauty rest.

And a mermaid swimming in the water. Can you see her, she is at the bottom of the pool looking for treasure.

So have a wonderful day my raviolis. Grandma-ma loves you all.

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday raviolis. Today's word follows yesterday's post about my visit to the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA. So today's word is:

  "whale"

Whales are not fish but large, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs (unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans. Whales have hair (although they have a lot less than land mammals, and have almost none as adults).  Whales are warm-blooded (they maintain a high body temperature) and they have mammary glands with which they nourish their young.  

The biggest whale is the Blue Whale and can measure 94 feet in length. 

 It is also the loudest animal on Earth and is larger than any of the giant dinosaurs were.

The smallest whale is the dwarf sperm whale which as an adult is only 8.5 feet long.

The species makes slow, deliberate movements with little splash or blow and usually lies motionless when at the sea's surface.  It is about the size of a dolphin so this is a small whale.

Whales are pretty creatures and they are fun to learn about.  Remember, to use the word whale in three sentences today.  Did you guess which whale species if grandma-ma's favorite?  Well I will tell you in my sentence below.

My first sentene of the day with the word whale in it is:  "Grandma-ma's favorite whale is the Sperm Whale."  Do you know why?  Let me tell you, I like the shape of this whale, it looks the most friendly to me.

Have a "whale" of a day my raviolis.  Love Grandma-ma

Whaling Museum - New Bedford, MA

Hello my raviolis.  Grandma-ma had a wonderful time in Massachusetts with Grampy.  He took me to the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA.  There were so many wonderful things to see about the whaling industry.  The biggest exhibits were the whale bones they had and today's post will be all about those bones.

The entrance to the Whaling Museum. They had lots of whale activities for children going on.  I thought of all of you and what fun we would have tying ships knots, making candles, climbing rigging, painting faces and shooting harpoons at targets.

When you walk into the main lobby you are greeted by a huge skeleton of a whale that is hung from the ceiling.  I won't tell you what type of whale this is.  I want you to guess after you have read the entire post.

A closeup of the skull.  This is huge, about the size of a Volkswagen beetle.  What is that shiny, sticky brown stuff on the whale bones and particularly on the skull?  Do you know?

Grandma-ma is standing directly under the rib cage and looking up. These bones were huge.

The rib cage of one whale and the tail of another that is hung next to it.

This whale skull is full of this brown, sticky fluid which is whale oil.  Whale bones contain lots and lots of oil and it can take decades (20 years or more) to leach the oil out of the bones until they are dry and white.  This skeleton was buried for 7 years in sandy materials to pull or leach the oil of the bones.  This still left lots of oil in the porous bones of the skull so rather then keep it buried for so long, the museum decided to suspend the skeleton and put a big Plexiglas pan under the skull and now the oil slowly drips onto the pan and down a long tube.  Can you see the oil drips on the pan?

The beaker that the tube is in and the oil from the whale spills into it.  This is three months of oil that is slowly collected from just the bones.  How amazing is this?

Can you see how many whale skeletons are hanging?  Can you see all three?

This is a blue whale skull that is in one of the whale rooms.  This was a small whale skeleton that measured about 20 feet in length.  The teeth you see are about 6-9 inches in length.  The blue whales in the exhibits were not killed for the museum.  These were whale carcass's that washed up along the shore or whales found floating that had already died. 

Whales that were hunted in the 18th and 19th century were completely used and produced many necessary products.  Whale oil being the most sought after commodity.  It burns clean and was the oil used in nearly all gas lamps and lights in America and in much of the world.  Now I am going to give you a guessing game?  I have four whale pictures below.  Can you name what kind of whale species they are?  The answers will be below and then I want you to guess which is grandma-ma favorite whale species and why.  You can tell me by leaving a comment. 

Whale 1 is a ?

Whale 2 is a ?

Whale 3 is a ?

Whale 4 is a ?

I hope you enjoyed learning about the whales at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  Love and kisses and big whale hugs to you all. Love Grandma-ma

answers: 

Whale 1 - Blue Whale

Whale 2 - Orca or Killer Whale

Whale 3 - Sperm Whale

Whale 4 - Humpback Whale

Don't forget, which of the four whales do you think is grandma-ma's favorite and why?