There are six species of Rails found in North America. Probably the most common is the Clapper Rail. It is also known as the marsh clapper and marsh hen. This 15 inch long bird can be found in the tidal flats from Maine to Florida, and westward to San Francisco bay. The bird can be found in salt meadows and brackish creeks anywhere in this area. The bird's coloration provides for great concealment. The plumage of its back and shoulders, ashy gray streaked with brown, and that of its breast, russet paling into grayish on its flanks, are nearly identical with its surroundings of marshes littered with faded reeds. A rail is seldom seen unless it moves. Even with movement its colors and patterns quickly blend into its surroundings.

Protective coloration alone is not enough for the safety of the rail. The rail can generally evade capture by its pursuer by scampering through the dense rushes. Though it wings are week it has powerful legs and a skinny, wedge shaped body. It can slip between close growing rushes. It also has long spreading toes that enable it to travel quickly across quaking bogs.

The rail is also a very able swimmer. Like many water birds they are also good divers. Occasionally when attacked a clapper rail will plunge and avoid surfacing by allowing only the tip of its bill to protrude from the water. By gripping the base of a reed the rail can remain submerged and remain practically invisible until peril disappears.

Source: The Handy Science Answer Book = Visible Ink

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

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Actual Questions to Park Rangers

These are questions that people actually asked of Park Rangers around the country. Excerpted from Outside Magazine, May 1995, pp. 120-121.

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Grand Canyon National Park

Was this man-made?
Do you light it up at night?
I bought tickets for the elevator to the bottom -- where is it?
Is the mule train air conditioned?
So where are the faces of the presidents?

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Everglades National Park

Are the alligators real?
Are the baby alligators for sale?
Where are all the rides?
What time does the two o'clock bus leave?

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Denali National Park (Alaska)

What time do you feed the bears?
Can you show me where the yeti lives?
How often do you mow the tundra?
How much does Mount McKinley weigh?

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Mesa Verde National Park

Did people build this, or did Indians?
Why did they build the ruins so close to the road?
What did they worship in the kivas -- their own made-up religion?
Do you know of any undiscovered ruins?
Why did the Indians decide to live in Colorado?

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

How much of the cave is underground?
So what's in the unexplored part of the cave?
Does it ever rain in here?
How many Ping-Pong balls would it take to fill this up?
So what is this -- just a hole in the ground?

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Yosemite National Park

Where are the cages for the animals?
What time do you turn on Yosemite Falls?
Can I get my picture taken with the carving of President Clinton?

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Yellowstone National Park

Does Old Faithful erupt at night?
How do you turn it on?
When does the guy who turns it on get to sleep?
We had no trouble finding the park entrances, but where are the exits?"

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CAN YOU FIND 30 BOOKS OF THE BIBLE IN THE FOLLOWING    PARAGRAPH?     

My friend Matt, he was always fooling around.  I never can  get him to act serious for a minute.  In class the teacher  put Jon ahead of him and even though she could hear the sound of paper wrappers she couldn't tell who's eating the candy.  I told him to be careful -- he's already in a jam especially since he skipped school yesterday.  Today I was appointed captain of the boy's spelling Bee.  Joe lost, so I put him at the bottom of the list, but Dan I elevated to the top. I came in number six.  Joe was sore, he forgot about  putting "i before e" and missed a few words, and I wondered: is "a i ahead of an e" always the rule?   Jo Bob, a fast kid,  brought a St. Bernard to school for "show & tell", but worried it was too  big. The teacher had to reassure him, "Yes, there's enough room for him." John brought a weasel-like animal to class, it was an "ermine". This was his second pet ermine, his first pet ermine died.  His sister Lulu kept feeding it too much and then said the cat killed it, but there wasn't a mark on it.  Another boy,  Jude, brought a blue humming bird, and I have never seen a humming bird as big as it was.  A kid named Gene also brought a blue humming bird, but they are easy to tell  apart, Genes is the small humming bird. Well, after school my Dad picked me up on his way to the E-Z  Radiator repair shop.  When he saw Matt coming with me, he whispered, "who  is this creep?" "He's," I answered "just a class mate." At the radiator shop the man said we need a new radiator and my  Dad said, "OK". He had to admit it uses a lot of water.  The repairman was a real character, he was drinking some beer he   said he brews himself & eating a ham sandwich he call a "Ham   a-la-chives" as he watched the horse races on TV.  He was complaining because his horse was losing as we watched and saw some old hag gaining on his sorry horse.  I was thinking to myself, "Well isn't that just too bad," I, a horse lover,  could have told that seeing his horse.  Then he even told us how he hated radiator repair work because he felt like he  was just in a rut here at the shop.  Then he asked me, "What  would it be if I just upped and quit this place one day?"    "A big Co. loss", I answered.  I knew that's what he wanted  to hear.  Well, I must say the whole thing was a most  interesting revelation.

 

Answer tomorrow

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A computer programmer and an engineer were sitting next to each other on an airplane.   The programmer leans over to the engineer and asks if he wants to play a fun game.   The engineer just wants to sleep, so he politely declines, turns  away and tries to sleep.  The programmer persists and explains that it is a really easy game.   He says, "I ask a        question and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5.  Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer,   I'll pay you $5."  Again, the engineer politely declines and tried to sleep.
    
The programmer, now somewhat agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I pay you $50!"
    
Now, that got the engineer's attention, so he agrees to the game.  The programmer asks the first question.  "What's the
distance from the earth to the moon?"  The engineer doesn't say a word, but reaches for his wallet instead and hands the programmer $5.
    
Now it is the engineer's turn.  He asks the programmer, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down on  four?"  The programmer looks at him with a puzzled expression, takes out his notebook computer, looks through all his references, and after about half an hour, wakes the engineer and hands the engineer $50.  The engineer politely
takes the $50, turns away, and tries to return to sleep.
    
The programmer, a little miffed, asks, "Well, what's the answer to the question?"  Without a word, the engineer reaches into his wallet and hands the programmer $5.       

       

         

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Future generations will be born free, equal in debt.

Daily Miscellany Comics

Phillip Bower

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