1- A few days ago I asked you to go outside & log everything you observed that is not man-made. Now let’s throw a twist into that. Go outside at night and observe and log everything not man-made. Take at least 30 mins of observation time. Can you name the bird calls that you hear? What are those other noises and sounds? Did you spot a bat?
2- Check out the night sky. The Moon is in the WAXING Phase. A Waxing Moon is getting larger from our viewpoint. The Waxing will culminate with a Full Moon and then begin the WANING Phase. This happens every lunar month. Note: Looking down from the North Star, the moon orbits the Earth Counterclockwise. And the Earth (and all of the rest of the planets) orbits the Sun counterclockwise.
3- Let me try to explain what is happening. The “Moon” light that we see from Earth, is just reflected light from the Sun. Pretend that you are the star Polaris (the North Star) looking down at the sun, earth, moon system. (draw this if it helps)
Draw a bunch of short arrows at the bottom of a piece of paper pointing to the opposite side of the paper. That is light from the Sun. Draw a circle about the size of a small drink cup in the center of the paper. Label that circle as the Earth. Draw 4 small circles at the 4 points from Earth – 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock. Those circles are the moon. (Yes: we are ignoring that everything is in motion.) Color half of the moon at each position that is AWAY from the Sun Arrows. That is the “dark” side of the moon. The dark side is the side that we can not see from Earth. (It is not really dark all the time) Pretend that you are on Earth looking at the illuminated side of the moon.
Standing at the 12 o’clock position looking up; that is a “Full” Moon. At the 6 o’clock position; that is a “New” moon. At the 3 o’clock position; that is the WAXING Quarter Moon. And at the 9 o’clock position; that is the “WANING” Quarter Moon. So everything from 12 to 6 (the left side of Earth) is Waning. And everything from 6 to 12 (the right side of Earth) is Waxing.
3B- The far side of the moon was first “seen” in 1959 when it was photographed by the Soviet Luna 3 space probe. It was first seen by human eyes (directly) in 1968 by the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. Apollo 8 was the first space mission to take humans out further than low earth orbit where they circled the moon.
A- (Science Teacher) A Box is filled with 1,000 pounds of water. What can you add to make it lighter?
B– (bright Scout) Holes!
4- “Interview” your parents, grandparents, and all of your family that you can (concentrate on the older folks). Put together a scrapbook of their memories. Find out where they lived. Interesting vacations. What kind of work they did. Did they serve in the Military? Did they ever travel overseas? Add some pictures, letters, whatever you can find. This is a good start on your genealogy of your family. What were their nicknames? How did they meet their respective mates?
5- Learn how to tune up the lawnmower, tiller, weed eater. Learn all the safety measures. Learn how a 2 cycle and 4 cycle engine works, advantages & disadvantages, requirements. How to “GAP” the spark plug. Clean the Air Filter. What does a Choke do? How does it generate electricity to make the spark plug spark? (note: this skill alone will save you about/at least 100 $ every spring for the rest of your life and that is a lot of $$$) How does each type of engine get oil to lubricate the guts of the engine? Does it take grease? What is the difference between grease & oil?
6- Learn how to take care of your tools that you used.
C- (Police Officer) What are you doing?
D- (Salesman beside the road) Selling Toilet Paper. Just like the sign says.
C- But that is just a pine log. You can’t call it toilet paper.
D- The sign says “Assembly required”.
7- Good news & bad news: Bad news first. This kind of pandemic incident can happen again. Good news: Keep notes of what you are prepared for and what you are not prepared for. How could you & your family weather this event better? Check out Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge.
8 – How can Ham Radio help in emergency situations?
•A. A radio service using amateur frequencies for emergency management or civil defense communications
•B. A radio service using amateur stations for emergency management or civil defense communications
•C. An emergency service using amateur operators certified by a civil defense organization as being enrolled in that organization
•D. All of these choices are correct
E- What did George Washington say after he crossed the Delaware River?
F- Everybody, out of the boat.
Be thankful,
Gaither
G- What kind of key can never unlock the locked door?
H- A Mon-key.
Campfire Tales: A Collection of Campfire Stories by Thomas Mercaldo