Thursday Thirteen – Pity Party

7 reasons for a pity party + 6 reasons to be cheerful = 13

1. My head hurts
2. My ear hurts
3. My neck hurts
4. I am soooo tired
5. My nose is sniffy
6. My throat is beginning to be sore
7. My hubby is away

But …

8. I am not seriously ill – it’s just a cold!
9. I can still look after myself and my children
10. I have a warm comfy place to snuggle in when I feel rough
11. I have painkillers to take
12. I have a kettle and water to make hot drinks
13. I’ll be better soon!

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Thursday Thirteen – Chimps

I won last week’s TT theme!! I was very surprised to discover that this morning! Thank you!

This week I’m thinking about Chimps, following on from my Wordless Wednesday yesterday of Susie the chimp and her family. I adopted Susie at Monkey World. I’ve been watching Monkey Life (five, UK, weekdays at 6:30pm) and I find it fascinating how similar chimps and other primates are to humans. So my Thursday Thirteen this week is all about chimps.

13 interesting things about Chimpanzees …

1. Chimps live in large social groups with males, females, young and old
2. Chimps communicate with eachother in many ways – by calling, by displays, by facial expressions
3. Chimps show their love for eachother with hugs and kisses and enjoy tickling!
4. Chimps groom eachother to cement bonds and show affection, as well as to calm nervous situations. They are incredibly gentle with eachother.
5. Chimps have a long childhood like humans and stay with their mothers for many years
6. Chimps learn from their mothers and other family members – if they are orphaned or taken from their families they miss out on alot of learning and can become disturbed, and don’t know how to act like a chimp.
7. Young chimps are very much like human children – they enjoy playing together, they are curious, they learn from observation, and they need affection, reassurance and comfort
8. Chimps can make and use tools, for example using twigs to poke into holes and get insects out, or using a stone to crack a nut.
9. In the wild, chimps make a nest of leafy branches to sleep in each night.
10. Chimps live for approximately 50 years
11. Chimps can suffer with the same illnesses as humans – from minor colds through to cancer
12. There are probably only 30,000 chimps left in the wild today
13. Chimps can be mentally scarred by poor treatment

[The gorgeous photos of chimps in this post were taken by Steve Bloom and were found on his website here: http://www.stevebloom.com/]

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Thursday Thirteen – Gross

The theme for this week’s Thursday Thirteen is Gross – that’s because it’s T13#144 and 144 is apparently a gross. I didn’t know that!

Gross seems to have many meanings so my Thursday Thirteen is the many meanings of gross!

1. Twelve dozen (i.e. 144)
2. “The amount before any deductions” e.g. gross income as opposed to net income which is the amount you actually end up with!
3. “Megascopic” – which means visible to the naked eye and is used mainly in reference to rocks and anatomical features. I guess this is the opposite of microscopic.
4. “Lacking fine distinctions or detail” – so maybe you could take this to mean “a bit vague”?
5. “Repellently fat” – hmm not very nice that one
6. “Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible” e.g gross ineptitude, gross injustice, gross negligence
7. “Conspicuously and tastelessly indecent” – e.g. gross-out TV shows
8. A television show aired on childrens channel Discovery Channel (apparently … but I can’t find any info about it – there is however a programme on there called “Grossology“)
9. In Golf: “the actual number of strokes a player has taken before his handicap is deducted”
10. “The weight of the goods including packing, wrappers, or containers, both internal and external. The total weight as shipped.” – I remember seeing this use of gross when my Dad used to work for a haulage company years ago.
11. A slang term meaning “disgusting” or “grotesque”
12. A village in Nebraska – apparently a very tiny village – only 5 people lived there in 2000 according to the census – see info in wikipedia
13. I can’t find a thirteenth definition!!!

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Thursday Thirteen – Spring

Thirteen things I love about Spring

1. Warmer days
2. Fresh new green leaves bursting out of buds
3. Flowers springing up everywhere
4. Sunshine
5. Birds busy nesting & Swallows coming back from far away
6. Feelings of new hope, positivity, rebirth …
7. More opportunity to enjoy being outdoors
8. Lighter evenings
9. Beautiful blossom-filled trees
10. Baby lambs in the fields
11. Daisy chains
12. Hearing childrens laughter as they run around outside
13. Butterflies

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