Author: Mark

Uncle Joe

Uncle JoeUncle Joe lives near Indianapolis. So I rarely get to see him, because it’s a couple of hours away. Sometimes it feels like it is twelve!

He is Mom’s older brother. He brought my Great Grandma Bea home for the summer. So Grandma Nana and Uncle Joe came over to see us.

Adrian gets to know Uncle Joe

He works in a church. It seems like he doesn’t get much time with us. He’s going to tease that we don’t come visit either.

Once he rode in a police car and taken to the police department. He has a friend in the police department and he went with him. I am not sure if I want to ride in a police car unless I was a police officer.

He is silly. Here’s the story.Will I make a home run?

We started playing baseball. He was trying to hit my head with the ball. He always missed! The second time I usually hit the ball when he threw it. When it was his turn to bat he got the most hits out of all! Then, whenever its his turn to pitch, it ended up we had a sword fight with our bats! It was fun!Playing with my uncle

Uncle Joe likes Notre Dame and he was wearing a Packers shirt!

His favorite pop is Mountain Dew. When we were coming back from Africa, a long long time ago, Mommy and Daddy were teaching me “Pepsi, Ucky, Mountain Dew, dirty”. Hee Hee Hee! I like Pepsi more than I like Mountain Dew because I never drink it. Mommy and Daddy won’t let me.Being silly

Uncle Joe can not skip, but he can do Sign Language extremely well.

It was fun playing with him.

Hello, My name is Dino…I’m a salamander

Dino the salamanderSalamanders and frogs are amphibians. That means that they live part of their life on land, and part of their life in water.

Audrey’s turn!First a female salamander (or frog) lays eggs in the aqua. When the eggs hatch, they look like tadpoles. A salamander tadpoles have their gills sticking out at the sides of their heads. As they grow, they start growing legs (frogs also start losing their tails). When they are full grown, you probably know what a frog look likes. A salamander looks a lot like a lizard but it does not have scaly skin.Momma held Dino also!

Salamanders breathe and absorb things through their skin. They like to stay wet and moist, so they like to stay on land, hidden under logs. Their homes are circles about the size of a nickel or a dime. They eat bugs and worms. They do not have teeth, so they “shake up their food” and swallow it whole!

The biggest land salamander is the Jefferson salamander. I have no idea why it is named that! I did ask Miss Krista, my Nature Nuts teacher, and she said “I do not know!”. She said that a salamander loses its tail or toe sometimes and regenerates it. That is a long I got to hold a Salamanderword that means growing it back!

A hybrid salamander example is a Blue Spotted Salamander Momma and a Jefferson Salamander Daddy. But doesn’t have to be that way; it could be a Blue Spotted and a Tiger Salamander. They both have to be salamanders though!

I held Dino, a salamander in prison! The Naturalist probably obably obably study him (or her) and I know that they bring him (or her) for children to look aAndrea holding salamandert. Miss Krista thinks that Dino is a girl. Miss Krista told us how to identify if it is a male or a female, but who cares? (Well, a scientist might).

Miss Krista showed us a trap for salamanders. That helps scientists study them when they catch one. They use a trap with liver (I said to use liverwurst so it doesn’t go to waste, it is disgusting!). Salamanders love liver! This time they put bologna in it. They did not like it as much as liverwurst 🙂

After touching an amphibian WASH YOUR HANDS (because Momma says you have to!)

Thank you Miss Krista for teaching me all you know about salamanders.