SOME WORDS AND A PHRASE

KICK THE BUCKETAs most people know, this phrase means "to die."  It already meant that all the way back in 1785, when it was published in the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.  Nobody really knows where the phrase came from, but of course that doesn't keep people from making up theories.  So here are some of those theories:Theory #1:  People "kick the bucket" out from under themselves if they are committing suicide by hanging....

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A CIVIL WAR SPY DOG

During the Civil War, there was a woman named Emeline Pigott, and she lived in North Carolina.  Right before the war started, she and her parents moved to a farm at Crab Point, on the North Carolina coast.  At that time, Ms. Pigott was 25 years old.Right across the creek from the farm were the soldiers of the 26th North Carolina, and it was their job to guard the coast and make sure the Yankees didn't come there.  Ms. Pigott decided...

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ART UNLEASHED 2012

On Friday night Mom went to Art Unleashed, which I have told you about before because it happens every single year.  It's a big fundraiser deal for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, and Mom likes to go there and buy artwork that we don't really have room for on our walls.  Aunt LaDene usually goes there, too, because she likes to look at all the artwork, but she doesn't ever buy anything.  I can't explain this, but I guess...

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XIMENA, MOM'S NEW SPONSORED CHILD

Mom actually has two new sponsored children, but she has been so busy with the conventions and stuff that she hasn't had time to write to them or learn anything much about them.  But now Mom's first Big Project after the convention is to write letters to all her sponsored kids.Anyway, today I am going to tell you about Ximena, who is 11 years old.  She lives in Bolivia in the Altiplano, which means "high plain" in Spanish.  The Altiplano...

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ME! ME! ME! by Jason, the cat

The world is full of so much fascinating feline subject matter, and yet for some reason, Piper continues not to put it in her blog.  I just don't know what she could be thinking!  Anyway, in an effort to get a little more equal representation, I have taken over the writing of today's entry.  Of course, I first had to decide which feline topic would be the most interesting to write about, and after giving it a bit of thought, I realized...

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YORKIES

The real name for Yorkies is Yorkshire Terriers, but most people just call them "Yorkies."  I think this is probably because "Yorkshire Terrier" is way too long a name for such a little dog.  In 2011, Yorkies were the 5th most popular dog breed in the U.S., according to the AKC.  This is likely because (1) they are really cute, and (2) they are so small that you can just stick one in your purse and take it along wherever you go.Before...

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BAD NEWS FOR PETS AND VETS!

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) just did a great big survey of 50,000 American households to find out what's new in the world of pet ownership.  The results of this survey turned out to be rather shocking, because they show that pet ownership is DOWN for the first time in 20 years!  The AVMA does this study every 4 or 5 years because they want to know if anybody will still be bringing their animals to the vet clinic and...

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MOM'S CONVENTION, Part 3

I am happy to tell you that this is the last blog entry about that convention thing Mom went to last week.    After this, I will be able to write about dogs and extinct animals and weird words and all the kinds of stuff I usually like to write about.So anyway, on Thursday night at the convention, there was this event called "Authors' Night," and a bunch of people who wrote books were there trying to sell them.  Also there were some...

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