I wish I thought of this earlier......

Welcome Kymoni (sorry if I spelled it wrong), Niko, Sarah, Drew, Loren, and Nicholas. You guys were great! Loren, thanks for the big help opening those doors. To help you quickly find some of the things I talked about, I am including this list.

sugar cookie recipe - activities
grizzly bear video with the cubs fighting - wildlife/science videos
The DNA song - video links
Actually, there are some other really good videos under video links that I didn't mention if you have the time.

Have fun!

I posted the recipe for the sugar cookies that I have kids decorate using grizzly bear track stencils. You can find it listed under Activities.

A friend sent me this link to a black bear article in Yankee magazine. The picture with the three little bear cubs is adorable.

I will be hosting "Busy Grizzly Night" at First Congregational Church in Vernon CT on Wed. March 26th at 6:45PM. The night will be jam-packed with all kinds of exciting grizzly bear activities.

Here's something I haven't shared with very many people. In 2003, after writing for only a year, I earned a letter of merit for a manuscript about the food pyramid. Since I was familiar with the issue, when the USDA was looking for input from the general public, I sent a letter which I drafted in about 10 minutes. Here are select pieces of that letter - click on it for a larger view. My efforts to find out which letters influenced the final design and slogan were to no avail.

Now, take a look at the finished pyramid and slogan.

I just returned from the butcher. Apparently, this is the week for weird requests. The woman behind the counter mentioned this past week a man came in asking for a pancreas. She asked what he needed it for. He told her his vet said if his dog didn't eat one, it would die. She was laughing and didn't believe that story and thought he might have been a teacher. Anyhow, upon finding clean machines in the back, the butcher was nice enough to slice open a prime rib and collect the blood for me. Thankfully, there was only one elderly gentleman in the store who now thinks I am a very weird.

If life is a word document, then I'd like to backspace and delete the last 1.5 weeks. If cooking is any indicator, yesterday I made macaroni and cheese and forgot the cheese. What a dork. I added tuna so I could squeeze out the fish oil (ok it was tuna in water) so a bunch of preschoolers can enjoy the fresh aroma of a scent used by scientists to attract grizzly bears. Tomorrow I am going to the butcher and asking for a 1/2 pound of blood. I suppose I'll have to buy something so it doesn't look like that's the only reason I'm in there (even though it is).