Thanksgiving Day science

As Thanksgiving is fast approaching, I thought you would like to do some Thanksgiving science. What do you think? Are you up for it? J   I bet you are………..so, here goes:

                       WISHBONES               

I collect chicken and turkey wishbones. 

Why? Well, because I can break them with someone and we can both make and send someone a lovely wish……..

But, as exciting for me, I collect them because there’s a great deal of scientific interest in chicken and turkey wishbones.

Did you know that?

The V shaped bone that we call the wishbone is named the FURCULA bone by the scientists who dig for dinosaur fossils. It turns out that bird-like dinosaurs (called theropods) had the same shape bone, and is, thus, a major link to the modern bird!!

Can you imagine that? Chickens and turkeys - and all birds, in fact - are descendants of dinosaurs? Amazing, isn’t it?

I clean the wish bone and dip it in a small saucer of hydrogen peroxide. When it’s bleached a shiny white, I take it out of the saucer, dry it and put it into a pocket museum!!

Why don’t you do it?

OK, that’s it, your Thanksgiving science! Enjoy

Another Lakota Sioux story.....

Long Ago, when the world was young, an old Lakota Spiritual Leader was on a high mountain and had a vision. In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider.

Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language that only the spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand.

As he spoke, Iktomi (the spider), took the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it and began to spin a web.

He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life... and how we began our lives as infants, how we moved on to childhood, and then to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cylce.

But... Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web "In each time of life there are many forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction."

He continued... "There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature, and also with the great spirit and all of his wonderful teachings."
All the while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web starting from the outside and working towards the center.

When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota Elder the web and said... "See, the web is a perfect circle but there is one hole in the center of the circle."

He said "use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of your people's ideas, dreams, and visions.

"If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good ideas - and the bad ones will go through the hole."

The Lakota Elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the "Web of thier life." It is hung above their beds or in thier home to sift thier dreams and visions.
The good in their dreams are captured in the "Web of thier life" and carried with them... but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them.

They believe that the Dream Catcher holds the destiny of their future..

The Cottonwood star

I'm lucky - I have a beautiful cottonwood tree in my garden..........which is now 
shedding its leaves.

Each day I fill a large sack full of leaves and twigs

and I wonder..........how many leaves does the tree have?? :)

But, as I rake and bag the leaves, I pick up the dried out twigs and think back to my time at Wounded Knee, many, many years ago, when I first heard the story of the cottonwood star.........and here it is, taken from my journal...

In 1969, I lived and worked on the Oglalla Sioux Reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota, as part of a project created by 
David Hawkins, he of Manhattan Bomb Project and, later, ESS, fame. 

Pat Pumpkin Seed, one of the tribal elders, shared this story with me

during a walk he and I took in The Badlands:

The Secret of the Star…..

My people believe all things

come from Mother Earth.

 We believe that stars form in the earth and, when ready,

 search for the roots of the magical cottonwood trees.

They finally come to rest in the small twigs

at the end of the cottonwood branches.

Here, they wait.................until they are needed.

When the Spirit of the Night Sky decides that she needs more twinkling, beautiful stars, she calls on

the Wind Spirit to shake all the cottonwood trees.

The Wind Spirit blows and blows, and, 
as the cottonwood twigs 
break off, 
the twinkling stars are released

and race up to a special place in the Night Sky.

If YOU want to add a new star to the night sky,

find some cottonwood twigs, wait for a clear night,

and hold up your twigs to the sky –

and SNAP!  

Then, look up into the night sky again.

Can you see YOUR star twinkling?

Imagine…….

You have added a beautiful new star 
to the kingdom of the night sky......

This is a story that I tell every new class/group of students/young scientists I work with - I hand out twigs, we break them, we release the tiny stars to the heavens above................

Franktown Cemetery