Katney's Kaboodle

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Headbanger's Theme--Feathers

from Wikipedia
Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector. The two ailerons are typically interconnected so that one goes down when the other goes up: the down-going aileron increases the lift on its wing while the up-going aileron reduces the lift on its wing, producing a rolling moment about the aircraft's longitudinal axis. Ailerons are usually situated near the wing tip, but may sometimes be situated nearer the wing root. The terms "outboard aileron" and "inboard aileron" are used to describe these positions respectively. The word aileron is French for "little wing".

So why do I introduce my headbangers presentation for the theme of "feathers" which Gail has given us this week? The other day on a science program on the radio they were discussing the function and history of feathers, and particularly wing feathers. And wing feathers serve individually as ailerons on a wing which also serves as an aileron. The bird has muscle control of each feather, able to turn each one as needed to sustain flight.

shed wing feather

Feathers serve another purpose, according to the presentation. Why are male birds so showy while the females of the species are generally pretty drab? Well, the females are pretty picky about choosing a mate, so the males have to show off by extravagant displays of color. The peacock is a prime example. These feathers certainly are not practical in providing an assist to flight. They only serve the purpose of attracting that lady. What a show-off!

"Look sweetie! Over here! Aren't I beautiful?"

But why can't the girls be gorgeous as well? Sheer practicality! While the males are off strutting their stuff, the female is generally left to sit on the nest and keep those babies warm. Their feather coat is designed to blend in to the environment where they are nesting so that they don't attract predators.

(My British friends please forgive me as I can't help thinking of the American Revolution where the local militia wore drab homespun garments whild the British soldiers made targets of themselves in bright red uniform coats.)

So once again I have to make a choice for my header: Will it be the the practical?

or the showy?

This week marks Gail's swan song with the Headbangers as she leaves us because of time constraints from other activities.

mute swans

That leaves an opening for another budding photographer to join us. Headbangers are linked on my sidebar. Visit them this week to see what they did with last week's Through a Window, and starting Wednesday, "Feathers!" Contact one of us if you would like to play along.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Sunday's Psalm--23rd Sunday of Ordinary time

Praise the Lord, my soul!

The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,

secures justice for the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets captives free.

Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD gives sight to the blind;

the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.

The LORD loves the just;

the LORD protects strangers.

Praise the Lord, my soul!

The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,

but the way of the wicked he thwarts.

The LORD shall reign forever;

your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

Praise the Lord, my soul!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Headbangers are at it again, and again a dilemna

Richard's first selection for a theme is "Through the Window" and if I recall his suggestion is that we take a picture this week through a window if possible, but also could comb our files for a good one.

I am torn.

I have a great selection of window photos from far and wide to choose from in the files, and here are some in no particular order.

Seen while traveling in India

Through a visitor center window at Arches National Park

Another visitor center window view--this one at Mt. Rainier

So which Edinburgh Castle window? This one?

Or this?

Off to Ullapool, Scotland

How about old glass at Lincoln Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral seen broken in sections in the window opposite

A Scotty's Castle window view, reflected, in Death Valley

a Kremlin window view.

The other day my husband came home from town and called out as he opened the door, "Come bring your camera. See what came home with me." He thought it was a strange creature, but it is the right season for preying mantises to crop up anywhere and I have preying mantis shots from years before. So I popped inside the car to take the picture through the window. A different view to be sure. Definitely not the best of my window shots, but I like the fact that it was through the window RIGHT NOW, and so will use it for my header. I'm a renegade.

Now let me tell you a couple of preying mantis stories from my days teaching first grade. We usually had a pet preying mantis in a tank in the classroom. The kids would go out with a butterfly net during recess to catch grasshoppers to feed them. The kids knew the drill, and they loved having the strange little guys as part of the family.

Adults had some strange encounters with our pets, though. For one, they are misunderstood critters, so, not realizing that in captivity they are cannibalistic, it happened more than once that a well-meaning member of staff gave our pet a friend during the weekend or while cleaning the classroom, only to stare in horror when they mentioned it to me and I had to tell them that our dear pet had eaten the new roommate. (Or vice versa--never quite sure.)

The best story, though, was parent open house. The kids had gathered a great jar of grasshoppers during the day. The parents had sat through the boring meeting in the gym and were now in the classrooms where we were to tell them about curriculum, class rules and all that stuff. Just before the group arrived in my classroom, I dropped half a dozen grasshoppers into the tank. As the parents were gathered to hear a bit about what first grade was about, one who was near the tank let out a cry. I don't recall the exact words--it has been years--but the result was all the parents in the room gathered around the take to watch the preying mantis, with one grasshopper under each arm, munching first one grasshopper head then the other.

They were mesmerized. And I didn't have to give a boring speech about curriculum.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

So what was the surprise?

We found these greedy youngsters on our hike along Hadrian's Wall in Yorkshire two years ago. It wasn't till last week when I was looking for another sheep picture for headbangers that I noticed....

Do you know what I noticed?

Scroll across to the right of here for what I saw. Mom's feet are lifted off the ground.

The headbangers have a challenge each week to see who can best display the theme in their header. Check out the other headbanger members in my sidebar and see what they have done for a surprise.

That was a surprise!

Tom suggested the theme of "That was a surprise!" for our headbangers adventure this week. I am properly prepared with a photo that I came upon while gathering files for the "Exhibition" last week. When I took another look at it--two years after taking it--I discovered something I had never noticed before.

I will put the picture up tomorrow, and will you notice what I noticed?

In the meantime, here is a repost of a surprise that happened a few years ago during Spring Break:

You see, it was during spring break several years ago when two boys rang my doorbell and told me that their ball went into my yard and could they go get it.

And I said Yes, go around through the gate over here.

And they said but he went in over there.

Now, bilingual kids (and adults) often have a problem getting their pronouns straight, so I didn't think too seriously about their calling their ball a "he."

So, pretty soon this is what I saw:

Okay, not a problem with pronouns, just a little accent on the vowel sounds there.

The boys tried to get the bull to go home with them, but he thought our grass was greener, I guess. So they said they would be right back, and pretty soon they came back with their dad.

...who was leading a cow.

Who led the bull out of the yard...

and down the road toward home.

So that's my surprise story--that's all it is--and I'm sticking with it.

So I guess I do live in the Wild West.