A Little Red, White & Blue Trivia

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Now that we’ve all recovered from the July 4th celebrations, I thought it might be fun to see how much we really know about our country’s birthday.

See how you do on this “Red, White and Blue” Trivia Test.

1. What is the first word of the Declaration of Independence?

  • a. A
  • 2. When
  • 3. These

2. How many people lived in the US  in 1776?

  • a. 250,000
  • b. 2.5 Million
  • c. 3 Billion
  • d. 50 Million

3. Who was the oldest person to sign the Declaration of Independence?

  • a. John Hancock
  • b. John Adams
  • c. Benjamin Franklin
  • d. George Washington

4. Which President was born in Independence Day?

  • a. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • b. Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • c. Calvin Coolidge
  • d. Abraham Lincoln

5. How Many American Flags are flown at the Washington Monument?

  • a. 9
  • b. 4
  • c. 50
  • d. 13

6. How many stars are on the American Flag.

  • a. 48
  • b. 52
  • c. 50
  • d. 49

7. Who was the first president to reside in the White House.

  • a.  John Adams
  • b. George Washington
  • c. Benjamin Franklin
  • d. Thomas Jefferson

8. How many U.S. town names contain the word Eagle?

  • a. 9
  • b. 35
  • c. 4
  • d. 12

9.  Which of the following is another term used to describe the White House.

  • a. Presidential Quarters
  • b. Executive Mansion
  • c. Oval Office
  • c. Commander and Chief’s estate

10. In what publication was the Pledge of Allegiance first published?

  • a. The Washington Post
  • b. The Youth’s Companion
  • c. The Bill Of Rights
  • d. The Constitution

11. What bird did Benjamin Franklin want to be the symbol of the United States?

  • a. Turkey
  • b. Red-tailed Hawk
  • c. Dove
  • d. Bald Eagle

12. Which President mandated that the “Star Spangled Banner” be played publically?

  • a. Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • b. Harry S. Truman
  • c. Woodrow Wilson
  • d. Herbert Hoover

13. Which country is known as being the birthplace of fireworks?

  • a. China
  • b. United States
  • c. Australia
  • d. France

14.  Uncle Sam is based on a real person..True or False?

15. The Words “Under God” were part of the original Pledge of Allegiance…True or False?

Answers:

1. b

2.B

3. c

4. c

5.c

6. c

7. a

8. b

9. b

10. b

11. a

12. c

13. a

14. True

15.  False

Trivia questions and answers from Xfinity News.

Happy 4th Of July!

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The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
 

Those words were written by John Adams  to his wife Abigail. He can be forgiven for missing the date by 2 days because July 2nd was the day the Continental Congress passed the resolution of independence. The Declaration of Independence was the document written to explain the decision. The terms and wording of the Declaration were debated and revised for 2 days before finally being ratified on July 4, 1776.

                   Happy Birthday America!

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Editor in Chief

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Good morning

Editor in Chief Rocky here to give you an update on today’s post. It will be delayed. In fact postponed might be a better way of describing it. Dusty is working on a post about the Cape Cod National Seashore but she’s been working on it for ages and she still hasn’t got it ready. With her work schedule she just hasn’t been able to prepare anything for today.

I have given her a deadline so maybe she will have a post ready for Monday. Now that gets a bit complicated because Monday is the 4th of July, Independence day and she is working!

In fact the next week looks very rough. Scout might have something in the works but I’m not sure. He ran off to visit with his distant relatives at the Franklin Park Zoo. So we’ll have to ask him when he gets back.

Wednesday Dusty’s car is back in the shop. Vapor line this time and Thursday Dusty will be back to work at the job that actually pays the bills around here. So it looks like the only day for rounding up interesting tidbits will be Tuesday. I think you can see that we may not make our publishing deadlines this week.

I do want to assure you that the whole staff, Dusty, Scout and of course, Me your Editor are dedicated to keeping a regular schedule of posts so we will persevere and hopefully won’t be too unreliable this week. Your patience is appreciated.

Thank you

Rocky

Editor in Chief

Franklin Park Zoo the finale

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When we left our heroine, she was..oh sorry wrong story.

I believe I had just recognized the other entrance as the one that I had taken the first time I explored the Franklin Park Zoo. Since I had arrived from the right side I followed the path to the left to circle back around to the start at the Zebra entrance. This took me by the hyenas enclosure but I didn’t see any. It was getting very warm and a little humid so maybe they were sleeping. I moved on.

Next up was a Baird’s tapir. This was larger than I expected. I guess since they are related I was expecting something more along the size of the little javalina’s like I saw in Arizona back in ’08. This was much bigger than that! It was just patrolling the perimeter fence.

At the top of the hill was another snack bar area but it was closed. Seems to me it was closed when I last visited too.

Turning the corner I passed the camels in the same place I remembered them from before.

A bit farther on was the lion enclosure.

 I searched around that exhibit for quite a while before I finally spotted “Christopher”, the African Lion. He was stretched out in the shade in a corner of his enclosure. I wanted to get a picture but the only angle was through the glass window and there were loads of other Zoo Visitors in the way. I commented that he was alone and one of the other visitors said that a couple of years ago they introduced a female lion and he killed it. Then they had another male lion in there for a while. No one seemed to know what happened with that but Christopher was back being alone and that’s the way he seems to like it.

Around the corner from the Lion’s Den was the tiger enclosure. These big cats were also hiding in the shady areas out of camera range. I spotted 2, one was a white tiger and the other was an orange cat. The only reason I saw the white tiger was because his huge tail kept flipping up and back down almost like it was in rhythm. The rest of him was hidden in the underbrush.

And then I was back at the Carousel with the giraffe on my right and the Serengeti Crossing on my left. Somehow I missed the gorillas, the lemurs and the new  Giant Anteater Exhibit. The zoo was closing at 5pm and rush hour was well underway so I felt that it was more prudent to wrap up for the day than to go looking for the missed exhibits. After all, I can always come back for another visit.

I had a great time anyway. I really loved the Aussie Aviary with the Budgies aka parakeets. I could spend my whole day there.

Lions and Tigers and Budgies?

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Leaving my little prairie dog friends I returned to my quest to get back to the first exhibit. I made a slight detour to see what was in a large barn like building. This is the “Little Critters” exhibit. It includes a Boa Constrictor, green tree frog, a sugar glider and a tortoise.

At first I thought the Amur leopard exhibit was closed because it said it was under construction but apparently they are building a new enclosure because as I passed the new one I came upon a lush, shaded enclosure and there was the leopard. It was a truly beautiful animal even if it was just waking from a nap.

I passed a fake termite mound and the Red Panda enclosure but I didn’t see the panda and then I was back on the main path. Coming right at me was the “little engine that could” or at least a little red train. The train was headed to the other side of the zoo with a load of parents and kids. It looked like fun but I wasn’t ready to start riding around yet.

I was headed to the Serengeti Crossing. In this large exhibit you will find Plains Zebra, Ostrich and Wildebeest.

The wildebeest also had a baby. The enclosure had 2 observation decks. For the size of this enclosure I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could see all of the animals listed. The ostrich was front and center drinking from a mud puddle.

 A small group of wildebeest including the baby were relaxing in the shade of some trees and the zebra was patrolling the fence at the rear of the enclosure.

Now that I was back on track I moved on to the Giraffe Savannah. Sure enough, front and center were two marvelous giraffe.

It’s amazing how such gangly animals can move so smoothly and gracefully. The giraffes share their enclosure with another kind of zebra, the Grevy’s zebra.

 I spotted just one enjoying some shade right across from the carousel.

Just past the carousel and the zebra was another enclosure named Butterfly Landing.

Like  Magic Wings in Deerfield, this enclosure was home to butterflies and moths. There were Painted Ladies and Monarch Butterflies to name just two.

There weren’t as many as at Magic Wings. The attendant said they try to keep the numbers down because some people “freak out”. I mentioned that I remembered seeing loads of Painted Ladies gathering on the mud of puddles after a summer shower when I was growing up.

The attendant said yes, that is how they absorb minerals they need from the dirt. Unlike Magic Wings which is open year round, this display is seasonal only.

Leaving the Butterflies to their dirt, I passed the playground with its bungee jumps and the Things Wild Gift Shop to enter the Aussie Outback. I passed the emus, and red Kangaroo and in a separate enclosure, a tree Kangaroo.

 That was a treat because they were very active actually climbing the tree and then coming back down and hopping around their enclosure.

Back outside I saw 2 black swans outside the Aussie Aviary.

 I paid $2.00 for a feeding stick and headed into see the Budgies. This was fun! First of all I knew these birds as parakeets when I was growing up and just like my pet parakeet, they came flying when they thought there was food!

 I finally passed my seed stick to some of the kids so I could free up my hands to take pictures. It was win-win for us all. I spent quite a bit of time here. I think this was my favorite exhibit.

I moved on to Bird World which was a bit of a let down after the aviary and walked through the Flight Cage of the Andean Condor. If there was one, I didn’t see it. The Flamingos were having a party in their enclosure.

Seriously, no sedate standing around for this bunch. They were splashing water, making hooting noises and calls and flapping their huge wings.  They smell! But according to the signs that’s not dirt, it’s just their odor and since they like to be in groups the scent is multiplied by so many bird bodies…kind of like a locker room after a big game.

I had reached the Giraffe Entrance and now it looked familiar. There was a statue outside the gates. There didn’t seem to be as many people over here. It was time to make the swing back.

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