Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 53

It’s Not Nice to Mess With Mother Nature

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted any stories about the shenanigans perpetrated by my neighbors, Belinda and Clothilde. But the shenanigans do continue. Oh my, do they ever.

As an example, let’s take a look at my garden path,in my back yard. The fence denotes Belinda’s back yard. The path, at this time of year, is usually green and verdant, as is the rest of the garden. But!

The first picture is what it looked like two weeks ago. The second picture was taken just four days later.

Grass should not be brown and sere in mid-May in Illinois, is what I’m saying. Not with the rain we’ve been having.

So I took pictures, and I wrote a letter. And yesterday, a very nice, attentive, concerned gentleman from the Agriculture Department came out and took soil samples and photographs, and his lab will be testing for illegal pesticide use. I’m figuring Belinda took things just a wee bit too far and sprayed RoundUp over her fence onto my garden.

My garden. Where I grow things to feed myself and my family.

Not cool, Belinda. Not cool.

Today I Learned …

One species of beaded lacewing (an insect whose larvae prey on termites) has a particularly ingenious way of stunning and killing its prey: it farts on them. The larva raises its tail toward the termite’s head and releases a chemical which paralyses the termite and kills it. This chemical does not affect any other species of insect, including the lacewing itself, so this species of lacewing has evolved to produce a very specific chemical fart perfectly designed for its larval life inside the nest of its prey, one of the very few fatal farts known to science. (From Does It Fart? The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence, by Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti)

Today I Learned …

Pilates came about because of World War I. After the war broke out, circus performer Joseph Hubertus Pilates was detained for being a German national. He used the time to perfect an exercise routine he’d developed.

Today I Learned …

The piggy bank is an important fixture of any child’s room — and in some grown-up’s rooms too. Why choose a pig to keep your stash safe? In the 13th to 15th centuries, one of the most common places for people to store their money was in jars of orange-colored clay called “pygg”. This eventually evolved into “pig” or “piggy”. Around the 19th century, manufacturers began molding banks into the shape of pigs.

Lights Out: Edinburgh Manor

Edinburgh Manor, in Scotch Grove, Iowa, is an abandoned mental asylum known for its paranormal activity. Join me, Supernatural Investigation Crew, and US Paranormal Research as we investigate this beautiful old building. https://youtu.be/tnUz_ZPMbDk

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Today I Learned …

In 2010, beekeepers in Brooklyn opened their hives and discovered them to be filled with honey that looked … a little odd: it was bright red. And it tasted like sickly-sweet cough syrup. Much later, the mystery was solved. It turned out that the bees in that hive had been ignoring the flowers on their route, preferring to visit a local maraschino cherry factory instead. Cheaters.

Today I Learned …

Donnie Dunagan joined the Marines when he was 18, did three tours of duty in Vietnam, won a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, and finally returned as a major. Yet in his 20-plus year military career, he never told anyone about his connection to one of Hollywood’s quintessential tearjerkers. When he was six years old, Dunagan was the voice of Disney’s young Bambi. (from theguardian.com)

Big News!

So you know how I’ve been teasing you guys for the past several weeks with pictures of word counts-in-progress? Well, I’m happy to say there’s a reason for that.

Fractured Souls: More Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital, is finished! And it’s great! Just like Fractured Spirits, it will have links to fun audio and video evidence. And there’s more: Fractured Souls includes a tour of the hilltop, so you can drive around (or walk, it’s small enough) and see where these haunted buildings are, or where they used to be back in the day.

I don’t yet have a release date, but as soon as I do, I’ll let you all know. And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, I promise! There’s another book about the spirits of the Peoria State Hospital, coming soon!

Today I Learned …

There’s a reason paper cuts are so freaking painful. A knife makes a straight cut, but at a microscopic level, paper is quite rough. It acts like a saw blade, doing more damage to nerve endings. Also, paper leaves behind tiny fibers and chemical residues, which just irritate the cut even more.

Today I Learned …

In 1907, an ad campaign for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes offered a free box of cereal to any woman who would wink at her grocer. (from Mental Floss)