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Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
All proceeds (minus shipping and packing) will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo of the prop and its cost here along with a few details as to its condition. The first person to call the farm and talk with Brian, 208-882-6819, becomes the new owner of a little bit of herstory. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS, our choice. No returns.

Campanology

Would you sign up for a lesson in campanology?
My glamping friends are no doubt whooping “YES!” with cabin-fevered fervor.
We’re all chomping at the bit in anticipation of our first spring camping trip,
but campanology really has nothing at all to do with tents or teardrop trailers.
Speaking of which …
Trailer envy!
Wait—what am I saying?
Ah, yeah, back to the point:
Does “campanology” ring a bell with anyone?
(Hint: that was an intentional pun.)
The term campanology refers to the study of REALLY BIG bells, like these:
By study, I mean all facets of bell construction and tuning to the art of ringing these behemoths, an age-old practice that doesn’t command a lot of attention these days, especially here in the U.S.
Derived from the Latin word for bell, campana, campanology was coined in the Campania region of Italy, which is known for the mining of bronze that was used to cast bells.
These days, though, much of the talk of campanology resounds from the hallowed halls of English churches, and I was surprised at how many young people are chiming in.
Take, for instance, Becky Dunnet. She’s the teen star of this fun bit of campanology promotion:
I never would have guessed that campanology is considered cool.
Now, about that camping trip … have you made any plans yet?

speaking of dialects …

Howdy, you ‘uns!
Last Cabbage Night,
Farmer Jane was sitting out on the veranda
chewing on a homemade grinder
when she heard the spine-tingling scream of a catamount
tearing through the timber.
The sound caused her chickens to pile up in a real gawk block.
Feathers ruffled as the girls gathered to gabble about the clear and present danger.
Jane fled to get her faithful old flintlock
in case she would need to defend her flock.
But when she returned, all was quiet.
Still prickled with goose bumps,
Jane decided to stand guard a while longer.
She tucked her hair into a horsetail,
popped a PEEcan
(peCON?) into her mouth,
and counted the peenie wallies
as they began to flash in the shadows.
Just another night on the farm!
…
Jest dabblin’ in the dialects that pepper various regions of the country. Even though we all speak the same language, nuances abound!!!
To pin down your own dialect, take this fun quiz, published recently in the New York Times.
Were you surprised at your results?

Quiz Time!

Quiz time, girls!
This is a fun one.
We’re all familiar with common collective nouns that describe groups of animals.
Examples: pride of lions, herd of horses, flock of birds.
But, there are dozens more descriptors out there that most of us have never heard.
A congress of baboons?
Well, now …
if the shoe fits!
Seriously, though, I wonder how many of the following you can match up. I’ll list the group names first and the animals below. In some cases, you’ll find that the group name stems from a species’ behavior; in others, alliteration is at work. Of course, some seem to make no sense at all.
The answers are at the bottom of this post, so don’t peek until you’re sufficiently stumped!
Group Names:
- ambush
- charm
- clowder
- crash
- descent
- grist
- hurtle
- implausibility
- kine (hint: you may have seen this in a previous entry)
- knot
- memory
- mischief
- ostentation
- rabble
- shiver
- shrewdness
- sleuth
- sneak
- storytelling
- zeal