"Mary Had a Little Lamb ..."

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow

Everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go

It followed her to school one day
School one day, school one day
It followed her to school one day
Which was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play,
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school

And so the teacher turned it out,
Turned it out, turned it out,
And so the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near

And waited patiently about,
Patiently about, patiently about,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear

"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
Love Mary so? Love Mary so?
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry

"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
Loves the lamb, you know, loves the lamb, you know
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
The teacher did reply

According to Wikipedia, the nursery rhyme was
first published (as opposed to written) as an original poem by
Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident.

When The Wind Blows

Wind, as defined by Wikipedia, is "the flow of air or other gases that compose an atmosphere." It plays a very important part in our existence. Without it, we'd all fry from the heat of the sun as it makes up the bulk of movement of the air. Adversely, too much wind is equally dangerous with surging tides engulfing whole towns and cities. Weather vanes show the direction of the wind. The word "vane" comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "fane" meaning "flag". In my post of 7/2/09, I raised the question of whether wind turbines are slowing down or not as there has been an increase in the number of low or no wind days in the Midwest and wind measurements show wind speeds falling along parts of the Northern Plains.

Is climate change affecting wind, a source of power? Wind energy seems to be dying down across the United States. and the cause may be global warming. Sandra Pryor, an atmospheric scientist at Indiana University asserts that there's been a jump in the number of low or no wind days in the Midwest and wind measurements show wind speeds falling along/east of the Mississippi River. Texas and parts of the Northern Plains don' t show as much slowing. Northern Maine, western Montana, Michigan and Georgia show some of the biggest drops in wind speed. One of the things Pryor said that can slow wind speeds are changing conditions such as growing trees or buildings being erected near the wind gauges. These can skew data. Several other experts agree that there are signs of decreasing wind speeds and that global warming is probably the cause.

People have watched and tested wind changes for centuries as it is important to know for both work and play. Occasionally, you'll see a person stick their wet finger in the air as a cost effect weather vane. My grandfather used to do that. I remember going to visit my grandparents on their farm. It was a typical one with the red paint chipping off the barn, the pig pen (they were really prickly to touch), the cows and other animals. I loved to watch their weather vane turn. I don't remember if it had a design, but knowing them, it was probably more utilitarian than decorative.

Buying A New Car?

As a single woman, I'm always interested in web sites that can help me make important decisions. Other than buying a home, purchasing an automobile is one of the most important purchases in a person's life. Safety and dependability are two of the main things I look for and research before buying a vehicle. Transportation has to be reasonably priced and have basic options before I consider them. I found and excellent web site: TheCarConnection.com.

One of the best values I found was a Chevrolet Malibu. It's a strong performing car with good fuel economy, is an excellent ride with comfortable seats and has high crash test results. For 2010, there were very minor changes. The six-speed automatic transmission is now standard on all but the base model which helps improve fuel economy. At TheCarConnection.com, I was able to find out the pros and cars on this specific model with reviews and other valuable info.

While at this site I looked for information on other makes and models and found interesting facts and information about Mercedes Benz cl-class. One of the side facts I learned was that an open-top, dark blue Mercedes-Benz owned by Adolph Hitler was sold to an anonymous Russian billionaire for several million dollars. It was on display for awhile at a Las Vegas car museum.

The Suzuki sx4 is another automobile with many features and options and has received raves about it's interior. After looking at a few different cars and their options and reviews, I decided to look up the history of automobiles in Wikipedia and found out the background of many cars. Wiki cars was interesting reading and noted that Ferdinand Verbiest, a Jesuit in China, built the first steam powered vehicle around 1672. Reading the history of the automobile industry was fascinating.

A-tisket A-tasket

A-tisket a-tasket
A green-and-yellow basket
I bought a basket for my mommie
On the way I dropped it

I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, on the way I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market

Recently, I was looking to possibly buy a picnic basket as I wanted to do something different and picnics are one of the things I haven't done in years. The song, "A-tisket A-tasket" popped into my mind and it was hard to get it out. Written and sung by Ella Fitzgerald in 1938, it was and still is a popular school bus children's song. It is any easy song to learn due to the pattern of the words. It's a song about a green and yellow basket. I tried to look up the words tisket and tasket but couldn't find them anywhere. Even Wikipedia was no help and they can usually find an answer to virtually any query. This time I struck out.

What really surprised me is the fabulous selection of picnic baskets that are out there. I'm still in the dark ages of thinking picnic baskets are made of basic straw with no frills that you place your plastic containers in (usually of the used Cool Whip type). Boy, was I wrong! The times have certainly changed. You can buy baskets for certain types of food. Baskets for wines or wine and cheese together are available and I learned that if you're eating a hard cheese, red wine should be the choice of what to drink. Soft cheeses call for white wine. I never knew that wines are based on the type of cheese eaten. I had only heard of wines associated with meat and fish.

A gourmet picnic basket or traditional basket is available to fit every one's taste and budget. Basic backpack picnic baskets are all the rage as are children's baskets. Baskets are designed to meet people's needs not only for form but for function also. Made from hand-woven willow and polyester canvas, today's picnic baskets will last for years. The food compartments are insulated, with melamine or ceramic dishes as well as cotton linens, stainless steel silverware and cutting boards all add to the user's enjoyment. Not only are today's picnic baskets convenient, they are made of high quality. I guess it's time for me to "get with the program" when it comes to having a picnic.