Two mind

Just doing calculations in my head
Feeling smart inside
Watching my hands grab my feet
Movements not mine
but whose? _

Thanksgiving

The turkey stays over the hill
They hide from the farmer's wife
She prepares to whet her knife
Sharpening for making the kill
The turkey finds it hard to hold still
As it fears the end of its life
She nears its hiding spot rife
With guilt for the blood to spill
Then seeing the immobile bird
She thought of her childhood pet
She considered the food she'd make
President's pardon she heard
Returning the knife to set
Tofurkey in oven to bake _

Ants

Ants are everything we want to be! They are smart, strong, social, and very successful. They make elaborate structures and engage in psychological warfare. They can communicate with scent and chemical kisses. They work together.

There are thirty five thousand varieties of ants living all over the world, except Greenland and Antartica. They range in size from too small to see with the naked eye to six centimeters. They are red, yellow, brown, and black. Like all insects, ants have a head, thorax, abdomen, and six legs. They have an exoskeleton made of chitin which supports and protects them. They breathe using spiracles, openings into their thorax.

Ants have senses unlike ours. They taste information about the colony and the queen. They smell the trail left by other foragers. They use their segmented antennae to smell and feel their way. They have hairs that sense vibration and movement in the air. Ants have developed these adaptations to be successful at surviving in groups that take socialism to its zenith.

Ants' reproduction begins with a mating flight. Only the queen and male ants have wings. After fertilizing the queen, the males die. They have no other purpose in life. The queen starts tunneling to build a new nest for her eggs. She lays her eggs and waits. She absorbs her wing muscles and uses the nutriants to feed the her larvae when they hatch. They spin coccoons and emerge as worker females which do everything in the colony. The queen's only job from then on is to lay eggs.

The greatest struggle in life is to eat without being eaten. Ants work together to provide food for the colony in various ways. Some ants collect grain and store it in the nest to be shared. Some bring it back, in a sharing stomach, or crop, partially digested into bread. Some herd aphids, collecting sweet liquid they make, and storing it in the ants that have a container in their abdomen. Some ants eat insects, including other ants. There are ants that eat birds, amphibians, and small mammals; packs of thousands of pirhana-like ants taking hundreds of thousands of tiny bites can tear the flesh from a frog in minutes!

Ants protect themselves similarly to other hymenopterans, such as wasps and bees, by inhabiting underground nests or otherwise enclosed spaces. They will sting, bite, or spray a stinky substance if threatened. Many animals prey on ants including praying mantises, pangolins and aye-ayes. These exceptional species are a few of the mammals, amphibians, birds, and insects that eat ants.

Ants can ruin homes, destroy crops and spoil a picnic. They can produce a venom that cures arthritis. They make up ten percent of the earth's biomass. We may not name a god after them, but they are an important part of our world. _

Tiny

One day Michelle and Josh decided to make their son, Abey very happy. They took him to the dog pound to adopt a dog. At the pound there were all kinds of dogs from pekinese to poodles, and Abey loved them all. Each dog was placed down in a pen so Abey could see them. Abey wanted to end their misery and bring them home to snuggle. His parents would only let him bring one, so he chose a cute, fuzzy puppy. He named the puppy Tiny. Tiny slept with Abey, tucked under the blanket. Abey wanted to play with him all day, but he had to go to school. When Abey arrived home, he called Tiny. Tiny ran toward him, with blood dripping from his chin. He lept at Abey and sunk his teeth into Abey's jugular vein. Abey awoke with Tiny licking his neck. The end. _

Post from Abey Weitzman using Tell us Abey...

I went hiking in John Dillon Park this summer in my walker. It was quiet and pedestrian-friendly, especially for someone who is usually in a wheelchair. I walked to the lake in the evening to see the sunset and listen to the loons. _

Diving up into nothing
Sailing on infinite emptiness
Joining no one on Seti Alpha 5
Wishing for home_

Lemonade

Go to the store. Buy sugar and lemons. Give them to Melissa. Ask for lemonade. Sip and enjoy! Say thank you. _

Post from Abey Weitzman using Tell us Abey...

Chicken Satay 3 tablespoons each peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice 1 teaspoon chili oil 3 boneless chicken breasts sliced thin Marinate the chicken for two hours. Grill and enjoy ! _

Post from Abey Weitzman using Tell us Abey...

Dear Diary, Last weekend we wanted a visit with William that wild, wooly wierdo! What a wacko! We went white water rafting willingly. When creeping along the river we saw a frightened fox fleeing from four fat felines. Friendly flies flew first toward a very vivasius vole. Vying visibly, they veered toward the cats, casting caution carelessly aside, they killed, kereening at their keesters. Our canou capsized as the camera captured the creatures! Crazy! Abey_

Downy Woodpeckers

The downy woodpecker is not endangered; it lives with people nearby finding food and nesting places easily. The baby downy needs a hollowed out tree for shelter and plenty of bugs to eat. Both are as available in Central Park as the forests of North America, the downy's natural habitat.

The life of the downy woodpecker is driven by the seasons. In spring they find their mates. Even though they mate for life, they must get acquainted each year. They search together for the nesting tree but the female chooses. They work together in alternating fifteen minute shifts to dig out the nest. The female lays 4 to 5 eggs over 4 to 6 days.

The eggs incubate for twelve days. The baby downies hatch with no feathers. Both parents feed them but only the male stays in the nest at night. In fifteen days the babies leave the nest but the parents continue to feed them for the rest of the summer.

In the fall the families split up. Downy woodpeckers live alone in fall and winter to make sure that their territory has enough insects, sap and berries to keep them alive until spring. The adult downy is six inches long weighing about one ounce. They have white bellies and striped black and white wings, which help camoflage them from hawks. If the downy woodpecker has enough food and isn't eaten by a hawk, it will live for 8 to 9 years in the Catskills or the Bronx. _

Shape

Here an open octagon
Searches for perfection
Will never be the moon_

Frogs

Frogs are found all over the world. They are diverse in size, color, and habitat. Every frog has one thing in common - metamorphosis. They have a unique life cycle which involves changing their appearance, diet, and how they breathe. What makes them different and similar makes them interesting.

There were 2600 known species of frogs and toads in 1985. In 2007 there were 3400. As of February 2012, there are 6112 known species living on every continent except Antartica. Most frogs live in warm, moist environments where they have bodies of water to breed in. Some species have adapted to live in temperate zones or desert biomes. Even in the harshest habitats frogs reproduce in water.

The frog’s life starts when the female lays unfertilized eggs in a pond. The male leave spawn and the eggs are fertilized. The eggs divide and develop into tadpoles with gills and tails. Tadpoles get oxygen from the water and eat algae. After 21 days they start to change.

Tadpoles grow legs and lungs and lose their gills and tails. Their mouths get larger for their transformation to carnivores. The frogs leave pond life for land coming back to eat and breed.

Frogs have many enemies. Predators include snakes, birds and even other frogs! Frogs camoflage themselves using skin colors like green and brown to hide. Some have red or blue skin to warn that they are poisonous. They have eyes on top of their heads so they can see while they swim unseen.

Frogs are endangered by invasive species, pollution, and the chytrid fungus. The fungus has decimated frog populations in warmer climates. Subtropical and tropical species have been hardest hit. Mountain species in cooler climates have been untouched. Scientists are looking for a cure.

Frogs are indicators of ecological health. We must protect them! _

Bison

The bison is the largest land animal in North America. An adults they weigh 900 to 2000 pounds, depending on their gender. They are six to six and a half feet tall at the shoulder. They should not be confused with buffalo that are found only in Asia and Africa.

In the eighteenth century between twenty and thirty million bison roamed the North American plains and woods. By the late nineteenth century there were about one thousand bison left. This reduction in population caused a genetic bottleneck. This means that the bison were at risk for inbreeding because of a lack of diversity.

Bison start their life, after 285 days of gestation, living in a group of about twenty females and calves. They nurse for seven months. They start out with light brown fur that turns chocolate brown as they mature. When males turn three they leave and live alone or with other male adults.

The bison live in conservation herds and on ranches where they are bred with cattle for eating. Cross breeding dilutes the bison genes. The herd that lives in Yellowstone National Park is genetically pure. Staying in Yellowstone is a problem in the winter when the bison do not find enough grasses, berries and sedges to eat. That leads to their enemy, the Montana rancher.

Ranchers have an irrational fear that bison give their cattle brucellosis even though none of the herd has the disease. When the bison would try to leave to graze on public land in Montana, the ranchers would haze them back or kill them! Last year, for the first time, the bison were allowed to graze in Montana under the Interagency Bison Management Plan as part of a joint effort between the Federal government and the State of Montana. The future remains uncertain for the bison. _

Pandas

Pandas are born blind, bald, and helpless. They weigh four ounces and live alone with their mother. They live on their mother's milk until they can leave the den and eat bamboo.

In China, where all wild pandas live in the mountains, there are forests with hundreds of varieties of bamboo. There are twenty varieties eaten by pandas. Each panda only eats four or five of the twenty. If the bamboo they eat isn't available they will starve to death.

Pandas are cute and cuddly looking. They have black and white fur on black and pink skin. They grow to five feet tall and two hundred pounds. They have related DNA with bears. Pandas have thumb-like bones called radial sesamoids to help them hold bamboo.

The diet that makes pandas unique, also makes them vulnerable. The government of China has established large preserves to protect pandas from their greatest enemy - loss of habitat. Pandas are endangered; we must prevent their extinction. _