And the winner is:
Robin Blitchok, who said on March 31, 2014:
“Love all the vintage musicals, Debbie Reynolds, Doris Day, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Audrey Hepburn, and Julie Andrews.”
Robin, watch for an e-mail from the farm so we can get your new movie, Calamity Jane, on its way to you!
And the original post was:
“Yippeeeee! It’s the Big Bonanza in Musical Extravaganza!” reads the cover of this 1953 classic, starring Doris Day in the title role and Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok.
“At first, curvaceous Calamity is too durned busy fighting Indians and cracking a bullwhip to pay mind to such girlie what-alls as dresses and perfume. And Wild Bill is too danged busy wooing a dainty chanteuse to give a hoot about a hot-headed tomboy. But things change in a rootin’, tootin’, big way when each becomes love’s target. These are wide-open Technicolor Western spaces, lots of high-stepping dances, and a hummable humdinger of a score.”
How the West was sung!
If you like vintage musicals, you’re going to love this DVD! Leave a comment telling us who’s your favorite musical comedy star, and we’ll enter you in our giveaway. We’ll put your name in a hat and pull out the winner … stay tuned!
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … CJ Armstrong!!!
CJ Armstrong (ceejay48, #665) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Weather Merit Badge!
BEGINNER:
How does one describe the Earth’s atmosphere and weather? A very complicated, complex process that we can only begin to understand. Earth’s atmosphere is briefly described as “layers of gas,” which are mostly nitrogen, but contain some oxygen. The short term is “air.” Often, certain air masses remain stationary over certain areas for a time; for example, the air over a tropical climate would become hot and humid. But the masses can shift and could bring changes to an area that are not typical for that region. But the atmosphere is ever-changing and moving, causing a variety of weather conditions. Part of that process causes changes in the atmospheric pressure, and a high-pressure system would indicate good weather, while a low-pressure system means clouds and precipitation are probably in the works.
A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure and can indicate short-term changes in the weather.
Wind is basically movement of air and, briefly described, is formed with changes in the Earth temperatures, with different heating patterns between the equator and the poles, and is affected by the planet’s rotation. Wind is also difficult to describe.
Studying all the elements of how weather is formed is very interesting and very intricate. Some of the other areas I have studied that impact weather are air masses, process of evaporation, jet streams, and El Niño.
INTERMEDIATE:
One could study clouds for a long time and one could watch them form and move on for hours. They are beautiful, interesting, and ever-changing. Basically, clouds are formed of condensed water/ice and are formed when rising air expands and cools to the point that molecules clump together faster than they are torn apart by thermal energy.
Common types of clouds are:
Cumulus, meaning “heap”
Stratus, meaning “layer”
Cirrus, meaning “curl of hair”
Nimbus, meaning “rain”
There are also classifications of high-level, mid-level, low-level, and vertically formed clouds.
I learned to classify clouds a long time ago as a child in school. It’s something that my husband and I still practice so that we have sense of what weather might be coming our way, and it’s something we taught our daughter when she was in school. Very intriguing practice!
EXPERT:
Because of our need to know what weather might impact travel, gardening, building projects, outdoor activities, and numerous other situations or activities, my husband and I have been charting weather in our area for a long time.
We are mindful of what might be ahead before planning any activity or project that is going to be greatly affected by the weather.”
Let’s escape to one of England’s Wendy Houses.
What’s a Wendy House, right?
According to Wikipedia, “A Wendy house or playhouse is a small house for children, large enough for one or more children to enter. Size and solidity can vary from a plastic kit to something resembling a real house in a child’s size. Usually there is one room, a doorway with a window on either side, and little or no furniture other than that which the children improvise.”
Something, oh, like this little dandy on the grounds of Mona Vale, a historic homestead in Christchurch, New Zealand:
Photo by Ann (Helen) Devereux via Wikimedia Commons
Such a playhouse would suit any young Wendy … or Jane, as the case may be.
The original “Wendy House” was, as you might have guessed, built for Wendy Darling in J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play, Peter Pan. When Wendy was shot by one of the Lost Boys, Peter and the boys built a small house around her body, attempting to construct the cottage that their beloved Wendy had once wished for:
“I wish I had a darling house
The littlest ever seen,
With funny little red walls
And roof of mossy green.”
Illustration of Wendy’s house by Alice B. Woodward via Wikipedia
But, just as Peter Pan refused to grow up, even “big girls” hold fast to dreams of dwelling in a cottage like Wendy’s. How can we resist? The temptation is particularly irresistible in the face of houses such as these …
Photo by Len Williams via Geograph.org.uk
That’s beguiling brick Marycot at Chartwell, constructed for Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, Mary. Below is a whimsical Wendy House on the grounds of Eaton Hall in Cheshire, England.
I think my favorite may be the marvelous Mawley Hall Wendy House in Shropshire, a wooden model of the estate’s summer house, built in the 1970s. It stands about 6 feet tall and contains scaled-down furnishings for little lords and ladies.
Photo by Alan Terrill via Geograph.org.uk
Last on our tour through Neverland is “Y Bwthyn Bach” (The Little Cottage) at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, given to the queen on her sixth birthday in 1932 “on behalf of the people of Wales” and renovated within the past few years by Princess Beatrice.
Photo courtesy of ApartmentTherapy.com
Lucky for us, the video below gives a precious peek inside (!) the queen’s cottage:
Now, if we could just find some of that “Drink Me” potion that shrunk Alice to miniature size …
But (sigh) they probably only have that in Wonderland.
Truth be told, I can hardly even stand to think it …
P …
Pee (wince) cycling.
There.
You did read “pee.”
Peecycling.
Oh, merciful milk cows.
Believe it or not, this cringe-worthy concept is for real.
In fact, it may actually indicate that we, the world, are moving in the right direction.
WHAT!?
Allow me to elaborate:
In Amsterdam (I know—those, uhm, innovative Dutch), the public powers-that-be are already (you guessed it) collecting … uhm … pee.
But, WHY?
Amsterdam’s utility company, Waternet, launched the Green Urine initiative (yes, really) in order to fertilize public gardens and vegetated rooftops around the city.
“It turns out that urine is packed with nitrogen and phosphorus, the two main elements of fertilizer,” explains Justin Gammill of Earth911.com. “So much so, that when wastewater is treated, the nitrogen and phosphorus are purposefully removed because it would cause insane algae growth when the treated water was added back to a standing water source, such as a lake or river.”
Waternet set up multiple urinals in the city that were designed to process the urine in such a way that “struvite” (magnesium ammonium phosphate) is extracted and dried to a powder that can be used to help plants grow.
Photo by alan_adriana via Inhabitat.com
I guess women aren’t yet … contributing … to the effort. But should I ever visit, I could use my female camper’s GO GIRL! FUD (female urinary device) that allows me to stand when, I, uhm, take aim. Along with maybe a portable privacy curtain?????? Good heavens.
Andri Antoniades of TakePart.com writes, “Waternet is just the latest group to jump on the pee-cycling bandwagon. In 2007, researchers in Finland actually did go door-to-door collecting urine from locals. That untreated wastewater was used to successfully fertilize small crops of vegetables such as cucumbers and cabbage—all of which the researchers reported tasting delicious.”
Mmmm … had enough?
Just one more thought—Antoniades also argues, “In addition to making agricultural methods more sustainable, urine-based fertilizer could help boost food production and heighten sanitation in developing countries, particularly in small communities where wastewater treatment simply isn’t available.”
Are you seeing the potential here? (Emphasis on the letter “p”).
Go ahead, let your thoughts flow. Me? I’m going with the flow should the occasion (or peecycling urinal with a DOOR) ever present itself. Now I could stand for that.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits 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 and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
