COLD DARK ROOM

[Maro2Bear]

Another very bright sunny day here in Maryland. My solar panels are max‘d out, batteries all fully charged. I even have a few lights and a small fan “on” to keep those electrons flowing through the batteries.

It’s going to be about 60 degrees again here today & tomorrow. Lots of birdies active. Spring flowers breaking ground. Snowdrops are up.
No hedgehogs here ?‍

 

[TheLastGreen]

@Maro2Bear those galanthus flowers are beautiful!
Do they grow as weeds there, do you get other flowers like crocus flowers over there as well?

 

[Maro2Bear]

@Maro2Bear those galanthus flowers are beautiful!
Do they grow as weeds there, do you get other flowers like crocus flowers over there as well?

Yes….all the traditional Spring flowering bulbs & trees. Im pretty certain that Galanthus pretty much has to initially be planted as bulbs, but over time they spread & spread. Snowdrops are always the first, then the Crocus followed quickly by the daffodils, tulips & hyacinths.
Our Bluebells will pop up sometime then too. Then the Spring flowering trees & shrubs like fruit trees & the bright yellow forsythia.

 

[Lyn W]

Another very bright sunny day here in Maryland. My solar panels are max‘d out, batteries all fully charged. I even have a few lights and a small fan “on” to keep those electrons flowing through the batteries.

It’s going to be about 60 degrees again here today & tomorrow. Lots of birdies active. Spring flowers breaking ground. Snowdrops are up.
No hedgehogs here ?‍

View attachment 340328

Lovely to see the snowdrops!
Our temps have taken a dive with frost this morning and expected again tomorrow.
It will get slightly warmer on the weekend, but with that comes rain, that's OK, but it would be nice if it could hold off for the rugby.
Our national stadium has a roof that can be closed, but because of covid I think they are leaving it open for all games - very wise with a stadium full of people, even if we're all wearing masks.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Have a good day all! Nice and peaceful today. I'm sitting here beside Sadie, hopefuly your Friday is as relaxing as hers!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

How Tidgy Became.

Number 1.

The universe as we know it began 13.8 billion years ago.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Ogh darn. Two recently released white-tailed eagles found dead under suspicious circumstances ?

Dorset MP Chris Loder doesn’t want Police to investigate suspicious death of white-tailed eagle

Further to yesterday’s news that two reintroduced white-tailed eagles have been found dead in suspicious circumstances on game-shooting estates in southern England and that Dorset Police are …

raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Ogh darn. Two recently released white-tailed eagles found dead under suspicious circumstances ?

Dorset MP Chris Loder doesn’t want Police to investigate suspicious death of white-tailed eagle

Further to yesterday’s news that two reintroduced white-tailed eagles have been found dead in suspicious circumstances on game-shooting estates in southern England and that Dorset Police are …

raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com

OMG, that is so Sad to hear, such majestic creatures to be targeted for doing what comes natural. Really hoping the Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team, get to the bottom of this and hold all people responsible. And . . if MP Loder has any connection, then he needs to be voted out or removed from service....scoundrel's !
And thank you @Maro2Bear for posting this...

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Greeting friends, , ,yesterday here in SF Bay area it was SUNNY and Warm, like 80°+ warm.
Went for a walk down at the Pinole/Hercules waterfront, where the Powder Plant's (dynamite) used to be. Way too warm for February, but I WILL make use of it....
Will probably let my Seymour buddy wander the yard (supervised) for a bit today, to get some fresh air & sunshine and to explore.....
Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

How Tidgy Became.

Number 2.

Our MIlky Way Galaxy began to form 13.6 billion years ago.

 

[Yvonne G]

How Tidgy Became.

Number 1.

The universe as we know it began 13.8 billion years ago.

Oh boy! a continuing saga? I can't wait!! I will be watching with baited and bated breath for the next episode!!!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

How Tidgy Became.

Number 3.

Planet Earth and our solar system occur 4.54 billion years ago.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Number 4.

4.4 billion years ago, the earth had cooled enough that water vapour began to condense and the first oceans formed.

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Number 4.

4.4 billion years ago, the earth had cooled enough that water vapour began to condense and the first oceans formed.

?
?️

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

How Tidgy Became.

Number 5.

3.77 billion years ago we have the first definite signs of life. Reports exist of life up to 4.1 billion years ago, but these are yet to be confirmed for certain, though it is quite likely that there are fossils of this age somewhere.
There are three Domains of life. This first one is the Archaea, microscopic single-celled organisms that still exist today and were once classified as bacteria. But they're not. None of them photosynthesize, the cell walls are completely different and although they have circular chromosomes like bacteria but unlike eukaryotes, the translation and transcription processes are closer to eukaryotes then to bacteria. They are prokaryotes, which means they have no nucleus or any membrane contained organelles They reproduce asexually and have gene transfer between individuals. It's a huge group, containing its own kingdoms with their own phyla,
Tidgy is not directly descended from these, so I won't say any more about them at this time.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Number 6.

The second Domain of life, the Bacteria probably appeared 3.6 to 3.7 billion years ago, but evidence is sketchy. The first confirmed bacteria are represented by stromatolites, layered formations made by countless bacteria and dated to 3.5 billion years ago. These still exist today in one or two places.


The above are from Australia, the one below is my oldest fossil stromatolite from the Mary Ellen Mine in Minnesota and dated to 2.11 billion years old. The red layers are jasper and the black haematite.


These stromatolites and many other floating bacteria began to produce free oxygen as a waste product of metabolism, something new to the world at the time. So we all breath the waste of bacteria (and plants later on). Oxygen is toxic, especielly to the anaerobic life forms of the time, so on a couple of occasions life was almost wiped out by high oxygen levels.
But Tidgy didn't evolve from bacteria either, or not exactly............

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Number 7.

The third Domain, the eukaryotes appeared sometime before 2 billion years ago. They seem to have been symbiotic with bacteria and probably archaea as well, managed gene transfer between the three groups and eventually absorbed some bacteria into themselves to form mitochondria etc. The Eukaryota have cell nuclei and organelles with membranes. The first ones were single celled and Tidgy's ancestors lie somewhere among these. Some becamefungi, possibly 2.2 billion years ago, some algae,about 2.1 billion years ago Acritarchs that cannot be assigned to the other groups appeared 1.65 billion years ago.
Tidgy and I have nuclei and organelles in our cells, so we are eukaryotes.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

About 2 billion years ago, some basal single-celled eukaryotes evolved two flagella to help move them about. Later some of these would evolve into plants, algae and their relatives and several other groups.
1.400 million years ago either another group of basal eukaryotes or some bikonta emerged that only had one flagellum. These used to be known as the unikonta, but have now been renamed the Amorphea as the group also contains creatures without any flagella, such as the amoeba, which are clearly related.
Which one is Tidgy? Unikonta or Amorphea?

 

[Cathie G]

About 2 billion years ago, some basal single-celled eukaryotes evolved two flagella to help move them about. Later some of these would evolve into plants and their relatives and several other groups.
1.400 million years ago either another group of basal eukaryotes or some bikonta emerged that only had one flagellum. These used to be known as the unikonta, but have now been renamed the Amorphea as the group also contains creatures without any flagella, such as the amoeba, which are clearly related.
Which one is Tidgy? Unikonta or Amorphea?

He's probably still a tortoise ??

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

He's probably still a tortoise ??

Tidgy is a girl, the little minx.
She is, and will always be a tortoise, but she still either belongs to the group that has a single flagella or none, or the group that has two.