Welcome back to Good Gardening! It is my great joy to restart this community and our discussions for the year 2023. After a mild winter, Italy is moving rapidly into an early spring, yet no doubt some of you are already seeding or starting in warmer climes.
For those in America’s northern reaches which proved themselves this winter to be a tundra, perhaps your seed cells, pots, and beds remain empty. But don’t worry, because as they say in Italy, “Forza e coraggio perche dopo Aprile viene Maggio!” (Strength and courage because after April comes May!”
With no reader-submitted content to share, I will open the discussion with one of my favorite gardening influencers, stealing a march on March with a February planting guide.
“More beings than most – Awake but one time a year – and with that are glad,” – Andy Corbley
Topic Week 13: How do you start your season?
Question 1: How do you prepare your garden for the growing season?
Question 2: Do you like to risk planting early or waiting until all fear of frost is gone?
Question 3: When does your growing season start, has it changed over time?
Tell Us Here in The Comments… or, send your questions, tips, and photos to [email protected]. Join our Facebook Good Gardens thread every Friday on the GNN Facebook Page…
Good gardening rules
Green thumbs can help novice greenhorns.
Share your gardening photos and resources.
Garden jargon encouraged!
INVITE Friends to our Gardening Discussion on Social Media–And Share Your Photos and Tips!
Mars circles seen from Reconassaince Orbiter - SWNS
Mars circles seen from Reconassaince Orbiter – SWNS
Scientists are scratching their heads after large gray circles were spotted on Mars by the Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA reported the unusual sand dunes on the Red Planet, which they say are “almost perfectly circular,” and just another of the strange phenomena that NASA has observed over a decade of thoroughly surveying Mars.
The space agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the shapes as it studied how frost thaws at the end of Martian winter.
“Sand dunes of many shapes and sizes are common on Mars. In this example, the dunes are almost perfectly circular, which is unusual,” the agency explains. “They are still slightly asymmetrical, with steep slip faces on the south ends. This indicates that sand generally moves to the south, but the winds may be variable.”
“This is part of a series of images to monitor how frost disappears in the late winter; this observation appears to be free of frost.”
This is the second set of publicized images from the Reconassaince Orbiter of Martian winter sand. In December, the orbiter found a remarkable group of frosty talons thawing out after a long winter.
Taken in December from a height of 251 km, with NASA asking “a Bear on Mars? This feature looks a bit like a bear’s face. What is it really?”
The photo shows a hill with a V-shaped collapse structure (the nose), two craters (the eyes), and a circular fracture pattern (the head). The circular fracture is probably a layer of dust covering the rim of another, larger impact crater.
The Mars Reconassaince Orbiter has been in action since 2006 studying the geology of mars. These are just three of its many and important contributions to science.
SHARE These Bizarre And Wonderful Space Images With Your Friends…
Osteosarcoma on a thigh bone of a 5th Dynasty Egyptian - credit: Wellcome Trust UK, CC 4.0.
Osteosarcoma on a thigh bone of a 5th Dynasty Egyptian – credit: Wellcome Trust UK, CC 4.0.
Treatments for deadly bone cancers that mainly affect children may be on the horizon after experiments identified a protein that promotes cell death in osteosarcomas.
Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University said the discovery could lead to a cure for all types of skeletal tumors.
Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer, but it occurs mainly in children. They are linked with rapid bone growth and tend to develop in boys more often than girls due to average height differences.
Osteosarcoma has a 55% survival rate, which has unfortunately not improved this century, and scientists are keen on developing potential medicines since surgical removal of the osteosarcoma tumors is often impossible.
At Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, researchers have identified a bone matrix protein called secreted phosphoprotein 24 kD (Spp24) that binds to and neutralizes a protein called bone morphogenetic protein 2, which has properties that help the tumors grow and proliferate.
“Cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness were all inhibited by Spp24. Treatment with Spp24 reduced tumor growth,” said Dr. Haijun Tian at Jiao Tong. “These results confirm the potential of Spp24 as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of osteosarcoma and other skeletal tumors.”
“Like many other bone matrix proteins, the more we look into the function of Spp24, the more surprising roles we find even though the primary function of Spp24 remains uncertain,” he added.
Tricia and Ian at their Glendower Hotel wedding / SWNS
Tricia and Ian at their Glendower Hotel wedding / SWNS
A pair of geriatric lovebirds tied the knot in their 80s after they fell for each other on an internet dating site.
The besotted 85-year-old Tricia Shaw admitted she was smitten “at first sight” when she went online and found her “toy boy” 82-year-old Ian.
Ian felt there was “something about her,” and had to accept her offer of meeting up, and Tricia, who’d previously met four potential suitors online, said she was left “wobbly at the knees” when she first tucked into a fish supper with him.
The couple, who now live together, went ahead with their wedding in February after Ian was diagnosed with heart disease and needed a risky bypass operation.
Tricia now believes more octogenarians should embrace online matchmaking after the pair enjoyed a “magical” wedding in front of 115 guests.
“I highly recommend online dating because you tick so many boxes before you even meet,” said Tricia, who worked at times as a private detective. “You can tell you’ve got a lot in common.”
“The wedding was the most magical time of my life. Everything was spot on, and I couldn’t have imagined anything as wonderful.”
Great-grandmother-of-five Tricia, from Lancastershire, England, came across Ian’s profile after going on the dating platform Plenty More Fish seven years ago.
She joined the site after losing her previous husband of 33 years and had met a handful of men before messaging Ian, who had been previously married for 35 years and was originally from Glasgow.
The relationship got off to a rocky start when Ian ignored her first text at the start of his seven-day walking holiday.
But he was intrigued when Tricia asked to get “in touch” and wrote again after completing his hike.
Glasgow-born Ian arrived in a kilt – SWNS
“The message arrived just as I was getting on a train, and I thought, ‘Well this will keep until I get back home,” said Ian. “But later, I got a message from Tricia saying ‘I can’t believe you haven’t been in touch’. And I thought ‘this one has got something about her.'”
“Tricia said it was love at first sight,” he said “She fell for me straight away, and I also liked her from the word go. The wedding meant everything to me.”
The love-struck pair moved in together 14 months later and had made plans to marry sometime in the future.
But when Ian got the news he would need a heart-bypass operation, they decided to press ahead with their wedding, which eventually took place on February 10th this year.
Over a hundred friends and family showed up for the wedding, where Tricia was given away by her son Timothy and grandson Henry.
“I have no family, but Tricia has an enormous family. All of them came and loads of friends. There were 115 eventually.”
SHARE This Story With Anyone Who Needs Reminding It’s Never Too Late For Love…
In an effort to renew alternatives to meat in the wake of collapsing shares and sales of veggie meat and their companies, one man is looking at mycelium—the fibrous root structure of a lifeform much more similar to beef than soy: mushrooms.
In fact, of the 5 classic taste profiles, umami has really only 2 members—meat, and mushrooms, so making the first from the second is only logical.
That’s why Meati is using its nationwide distribution deal with Sprouts grocery store to market mycelium steaks, burgers, and more.
The mycelium is the part of the mushroom we never see, and is composed of thousands of tiny filaments. It’s cultivated in big steel tanks of sugar, water, and heat at the 125,000 square foot “Mega Ranch” in Meati Founder Thomas Huggins’ home state of Montana
“My point of view? We need more diversity in our food system, not less,” Huggins told Fast Company Magazine. “More resilience, more options that resonate with people that are really enjoyable.”
There are a lot of reasons why using fungi as a sustainable food option is much better than soy, corn, or any other meat alternative. These monocrops come from highly genetically-modified seed stock and need to be kept alive with millions of acres of prime farmland, billions of gallons of water, hundreds of thousands of gallons of pesticides and herbicides, and millions of pounds of ammonium-nitrate fertilizers—the epitome of unsustainability.
Grilling Mycelium burgers – Meati
By contrast not one inch of farmland needs to be used to cultivate mycelium, which is typically grown on sawdust and other waste wood products, (though Meati uses other starters like sugar).
Products like Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger are what the Harvard School of Medicine defines as “ultra-processed foods,” meaning an edible product that is many times removed from its natural state. Most veggie meats are actually composed mainly of ultra-processed seed oils and other fillers rather than vegetables in order to keep costs down and improve shelf life.
By contrast mycelium meat would be composed mostly of fiber, provided there aren’t too many additives, while nonetheless containing that umami flavor that makes grilled mushrooms and steak so similar in taste.
On the subject of taste, Huggins describes a story of showing up at Sprouts headquarters for a tasting and the investors “were kind of rolling their eyes”.
“’Oh, another plant-based product,’” he said jokingly. “It wasn’t exactly enthusiastic. But then they took their first bites, looked at each other, and grabbed another cut. In an instant, it became: ‘who else are you talking to? Can we be first?'”
Unlike the CEOs of Impossible Foods and Beyond Foods, Huggins is a meat eater who enjoys bow hunting, and his parents run a bison and elk meat company in Montana. He is looking for something to produce that consumers can really sink their teeth into and be satisfied, along with trying to help reduce emissions from the food system.
SHARE This Alternative To Soy Burgers With Your Veggie Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Be a part-time crusader. Save the other half of yourselves for pleasure and adventure.” – Aldous Huxley
Photo by: Victor Rodriguez
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
In Lebanon’s windy northwest governate of Akkar, a literature student taught himself engineering to build a wind turbine on his grandmother’s roof.
With government-supplied electricity more of a nice theory than a daily reality, solar panels have become ubiquitous in the region.
However 25-year-old Mohamad Sabsabi used old water drums, steel beams, and a cart wheel to build a wind turbine to take advantage of the wind when the sun is behind the clouds.
A French literature student, Sabsabi dropped out of university when hyperinflation made it impossible for him to continue paying the fees. He used YouTube videos, books, and scientific articles to build the turbine that is working and producing electricity.
He’s hoping for a north-Lebanon wind industry to crop up in the wake of his invention, which he says he wants to share with his neighbors.
Anyone without solar panels is left without power for all but 1 or 2 hours during the day, and the wind turbines, which can be made from scrap apart from the electrical components, could be an easy solution.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take but I’m optimistic,” Sabsabi told L’Orient Today.
WATCH the Reuters video below… (Note: GNN has no affiliation with any ads displayed)
SHARE This Young Man’s Good Idea with Your Friends…
After a few bees figured out how to get a sweet treat from a locked container, the whole hive eventually learned how by watching and learning.
The research, led by Queen Mary University of London and published in PLOS Biology, provides strong evidence that social learning drives the spread of bumblebee behavior—in this case, precisely how they forage for food.
A variety of experiments were set up to establish this. The researchers designed a two-option puzzle box that could be opened either by pushing a red tab clockwise or a blue tab counter-clockwise to reveal a 50% sucrose solution reward.
‘Demonstrator’ bees were trained to use either the red or blue tabs, with ‘observer’ bees watching. When it was the observers’ turn to tackle the puzzle, they overwhelmingly and repeatedly chose to use the same method that they had seen, even after discovering the alternative option.
This preference for the taught option was maintained by whole colonies of bees, with a mean of 98.6% of box openings made using the taught method.
“Bumblebees and indeed invertebrates in general, aren’t known to show culture-like phenomena in the wild,” said lead author Dr. Alice Bridges. “However, in our experiments, we saw the spread and maintenance of a behavioral ‘trend’ in groups of bumblebees—similar to what has been seen in primates and birds.”
The importance of social learning to the acquisition of puzzle box solutions was also illustrated through the control group, which lacked a demonstrator. In this group, some bees managed to open the puzzle boxes, but did so far fewer times than those who benefitted from seeing another bee do it first.
The median number of boxes opened in a day by the observer bees with a demonstrator was 28 boxes a day, whereas it was only 1 for the control colony.
In an additional experiment, the researchers put both ‘blue’ and ‘red’ demonstrators into the same populations of bees. In the first population, 97.3% of the 263 incidences of box-opening by observers by day 12 used the red method. In the second population, observers preferred the blue method over the red on all days except one.
In both cases, this demonstrated how a behavioral trend might emerge in a population in the first place—for the most part, due to experienced bees retiring from foraging and new learners arising, rather than any bees changing their preferred behavior.
“The behavioral repertoires of social insects like these bumblebees are some of the most intricate on the planet, yet most of this is still thought to be instinctive,” Dr. Bridges added. “Our research suggests that social learning may have had a greater influence on the evolution of this behavior than previously imagined.”
SHARE This Remarkable Insight With Your Hive On Social Beedia…
One of the critical abnormalities found by the AI - SWNS
One of the critical abnormalities found by the AI – SWNS
Artificial intelligence can help spot early signs of cancer in chest x-rays, according to a new study.
Scientists found that a state-of-the-art AI tool can classify normal and abnormal chest X-rays in a clinical setting at least as well as professional radiologists, but as an editorial on the paper pointed out, radiology departments are often understaffed.
An abnormal chest X-ray can be an indication of a range of conditions, including cancer and chronic lung diseases.
Scientists say that an AI tool that can accurately classify normal and abnormal chest X-rays would greatly reduce the heavy workload of radiologists.
“Artificial intelligence has shown great promise, but should always be thoroughly tested before any implementation,” said study co-author Dr. Louis Lind Plesner, a radiologist from the Herlev and Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen.
They used a commercially available AI tool to analyze the chest X-rays of 1,529 patients from four hospitals in Denmark.
Chest X-rays were included from emergency department patients, in-hospital patients, and outpatients. Two board-certified radiologists were used as the reference standard. A third radiologist was used in cases of disagreements.
The AI tool identified abnormal chest X-rays with a 99.1% sensitivity rate, which included those with critical, remarkable, and unremarkable abnormalities. In 10 cases there were false negatives, 9 of which were clinically insignificant. The significant one, a subtle lesion, was also missed by one of the attending radiologists.
“The most surprising finding was just how sensitive this AI tool was for all kinds of chest disease,” said Dr. Plesner. “In fact, we could not find a single chest X-ray in our database where the algorithm made a major mistake.”
“Furthermore, the AI tool had a sensitivity overall better than the clinical board-certified radiologists.”
He also said the AI tool performed particularly well at identifying normal X-rays of the outpatient group at a rate of 11.6%.
Dr. Plesener said the findings, published in the journal Radiology, suggest that the AI model would perform especially well in outpatient settings with a high prevalence of normal chest X-rays.
The editorial on the topic praised the potential to take care of 7.8% of all the normal readings for the radiologists, one of the key findings of the study, but suggests that as a labor-saving device, more research is needed to ensure radiologists aren’t putting patients at risk for a mere 7.8% reduction in workload.
SHARE This Exciting Potential Use Of AI With Your Friends…
A 36-year Boeing employee noticed at a local grocery store in her home of Auburn Washington that the Powerball jackpot had reached $747 million.
In a nod to her place of work, she decided to buy a ticket after the number of Boeing’s premier jumbo passenger jet, the 747.
In another coincidence, the jackpot had reached $747 million the week in which Boeing sold its last 747 ever.
A believer in fate might say it was meant to be, since winner Becky Ball had already spent the weekly allocation she gives herself for buying lottery tickets. But noticing the connection with her job she “had to buy one more ticket” when she saw the number at her local Fred Meyer grocery store.
Becky Ball has released no statements, interviews, or information about herself, but has told reporters privately that she intends to share the money throughout her extended family.
She had planned to retire at the end of June, but will instead advance that date to March following her choice to claim the lottery as a lump sum rather than in increments, which after taxes is around $309 million.
Despite the drastic reduction, she could still afford a Boeing 747 and have money left over to live comfortably until the end of her days.
The Fred Meyer store received a $50,000 gift from the state lottery for being the one who sold the winning ticket, which they plan to donate to feed the homeless and needy, as well as a $10,000 party thrown for the associates of the store.
WATCH the story below…
SHARE This Absolutely Ridiculous Stroke Of Luck With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it.” – Aldous Huxley
Photo by: Anders Nielsen
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Mae Dean Erb completes 1000th consecutive 5K (Credit: Cindy Impson)
Mae Dean Erb completes 1000th consecutive 5K (Credit: Cindy Impson)
A Cherokee woman determined not to let the pandemic get her down began running or walking a 5K every day for 100 days.
Through lockdowns, Alpha, Delta, Omicron, and beyond, Mae Dean Erb kept on running until she completed her 1,000th 5K last Friday, two months short of her 80th birthday.
“I don’t know how she managed to do a 5K walk or run every single day for the last 1,000 days but she did,” Erb’s daughter, Julie Erb-Alvarez, told GNN. “Her milestone was celebrated by a gathering of friends and family – even some virtually. She is our hero.”
A member of the Cherokee Nation, Erb lives with her husband of 56 years, Jim Erb, in a rural town called Blackgum, near her hometown of Vain, Oklahoma.
She has by no means stopped doing these continuous 5Ks, and in fact at the time of publishing she would be on her 1,006th, noting that good habits are as hard to break as bad habits.
“I don’t hurt anywhere. I have knee issues every once in a while, with, I guess age, but it’s really wonderful thing (walk/run) to do,” she told the Cherokee Phoenix.
Mae Dean Erb completes 1000th consecutive 5K (Credit: Cindy Impson)
“It’s just something you should do for yourself and your family, and when you have a 4-year-old grandson, you want to stay young enough to pick him up and run with him and catch him if he’s going in the wrong direction.”
She often runs and walks with her friends who note that going out for a walk doesn’t even feel like a walk anymore unless it’s 5K.
Julie notes that Mae has become an inspiration to the whole community, not least to herself, who wants to be just like her mom when she reaches her golden years.
SHARE This Special Woman’s Special Accomplishment With Your Friends…
When the full extent of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria became apparent, rescuers came from around the world and across political boundaries to aid in the lifesaving efforts; and they brought their dogs too.
Trained rescue dogs and their handlers came from the US, Israel, El Salvador, Mexico, Qatar, South Korea, China, India, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and 17 EU countries to lend their leashes and noses to help pull survivors out from under the rubble of buildings.
More than 140 dogs have so far arrived from outside Turkey and Syria to help, from a wide variety of breeds, though all require “boundless energy… to go until they drop,” one rescuer told Al Jazeera.
Now on their journey back to their homes, the national carrier Turkish Airlines has given each and every pooch a first-class seat to honor their heroism.
A spokesperson for the airline told The Independent that it was “the least we could do to show our appreciation for these heroic dogs’ sincere and heroic efforts.”
“When people can’t cry for help anymore, dogs are one of the last chances for people to be found,” explained Linda Hornisberger in an interview with BBC. Hornisberger is a Senior Search Expert at the Swiss Disaster Dog Association (REDOG). “Dogs can cover a large area quickly and with their nose, they can detect the scent of the people under the rubble.”
Rescue Dog from China and its handlers – Turkish Airlines
The author of this story at GNN has flown Turkish Airlines only a few times, but considers it a superior flying experience to all other carriers by an immeasurable margin, and as such is not surprised in the least to see reports of their contributions to relief and rescue efforts.
These efforts have included reserving cargo holds on its flights for urgently needed supplies and medicine, tents, and other hygiene equipment, and providing free flights for evacuees.
In total over 238,000 rescue personnel have been transported over 1,300 aid flights, and the company has donated 2 billion Turkish Lira ($105 million) to rescue efforts.
Turkish Airlines chairman of the board and executive committee, Dr. Ahmet Bolat, also donated his March salary for “immediate aid efforts”.
A United Nations appeal has been put out for relief efforts that’s currently only 10% completed. All readers can use this link to join in and donate as Dr. Bolat did.
SHARE This Awesome Corporate Aid Effort With Your Friends…
Chelsey Brown likes to trawl flea markets and thrift shops for interesting items, but not for decorations or collections.
As an amateur genealogist, she enjoys tracking down the owners or the descendants of the owners and reuniting them with their lost heirlooms.
The Manhattan interior designer claims to have returned more than 500 objects to their owners, and she does it all for free.
“I love the thrill of the chase; I love to close out the mysteries,” says Brown. “It’s insane the things I have found. All of the Holocaust items I have been able to return have been special.”
After finding a telling clue on an object, she seeks out demographic information in city census records and other sources. This usually brings up a marriage certificate or another distinguishing legal document.
She is then usually able to track down the owner and contact them about whatever it is she’s trying to return, though she admits most people think it’s a scam.
Brown says that many of the same emotional dramas that can cause disruptions in relationships and households today were just as prevalent 100, sometimes 200 years ago.
Chelsey has found hundreds of interesting items—including love letters from decades ago, which show all the hallmarks of love struggles today, such as clinginess and ghosting.
“Heartbreak, affairs, and family drama were all still happening then,” says Brown. “I think it comforts people to know if they don’t get any contact with someone after going on a date that the exact same happened to some in 1850—but with letters.”
Her specialization is typically letters, such as a romantic series during World War II, or a diary of two teenage lovers who drifted apart.
“I found this amazing one written by a woman who was in a long-distance relationship. It was full of love letters and poems,” she said. “They decided to end the relationship but then I found out they got back together years later and are married with six kids. It’s really exciting returning them to the families.”
All this digging through the past has given her the idea to write a time capsule book.
SHARE This Obtuse Occupation With Your Friends On Social Media…
Artists impression of the Terran 1 launch - courtesy of Relativity Space
Artists impression of the Terran 1 launch – courtesy of Relativity Space
A private space tech firm will become the first entity to launch a 3D-printed rocket, which is technically the largest 3D-printed object as well.
Totally reusable, the Terran 1 will launch today from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral at 1:00 PM US Eastern Time, and will be streamed live on this YouTube channel.
Built by Relativity Space, the company has huge ambitions for lowering the cost and emissions of spacefaring. This real-world test of Terran 1 features a rocket made with only 85% printed material, but future rockets will reach 95% and will include additive-manufactured boosters as well.
It’s a small payload rocket meant to economize small deliveries into space with all the wonderful cost reductions that come from reusability and 3D-printing.
A liquid oxygen propellant will act as the fuel, which would make it the first rocket ever to leave the atmosphere on natural gas fuels, and prove a key part of the company’s future missions to Mars which it hopes to power with methane.
Currently the rocket stands 110 feet tall and can carry 2,756 pounds (1,250 kilograms) into space, while the Terran R, a future project, will be much larger.
Relativity Space was started by former SpaceX and Blue Origin employees.
WATCH the live launch feed which kicks off noon EST…
Quote of the Day: “We should feel excited about the problems we confront. Solving them is one of the highest of all our brain functions.” – Robert Anton Wilson
Photo by: Priscilla Du Preez
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
From Beijing, to Bognor Regis, to Buenos Aires, Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby are sending a message to elderly around the world that goes, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
The 80-year-olds are going around the world in 80 days, like Phillias Fogg and Passepartout, to have advanced fun at their advanced age.
Hazelip and Hamby met in Zambia two decades ago during work in on the continent. Hazelip is a physician and Hamby a documentary photographer.
A friendship was bound to blossom, and they had already had several trips together before they got the idea to see all seven continents and all seven wonders of the world on a mission to celebrate their 80th birthdays by going around the world in 80 days.
“We don’t travel first class. And so when we have other ladies, especially who say, ‘Oh, I would love to travel with you two,’ the first thing I always do is look at their hands. If they are well-manicured, they do not want to travel with us,” Hazelip told CBS news.
Highlights from their trip so far include seeing the world from a plane above Mount Everest, and putting their foot down on Antarctica.
Their total itinerary is 18 countries, and they’ve already enjoyed a sled ride pulled by a dog team, seeing the Eternal City, the northern lights above Lapland, and a trek to see emperor penguins, despite the fact that they’ve both had total knee replacements.
“My daughter is not too concerned,” Hamby said. “She just says ‘Well, if Mom falls out of a hot air balloon in Egypt or off of the mountain… That’s fine. She’s living the life she wanted to live, and I’m happy for her.'”
Their motto is to always smile; never get upset, and they hope their trip will inspire other silver hairs to have a swan song trip like them rather than waste away in a char.
Keen to quit his day job, a West Virginian has built a quaint, beautifully furnished treehouse for Airbnb.
It will pair with his other, rather unorthodox listing, a cabin made out of a converted school bus.
A treehouse is without question one of the most fairy tale places to sleep, as an adult or certainly as a child. Will Sutherland always wanted to build one on his four-acre property in between two beautiful trees he found growing near the ledge of a large boulder subsumed by the landscape.
It took him six months, but with the promise of a hospitality-fueled mini-retirement, he managed it all by himself.
“I carried up every piece of wood, every piece of floor, the roof trusses, the floor trusses, and the big quad beam. I also sourced a bunch of cedar logs from a friend who was having a house built. I have a sawmill at my house so that I could mill all the cedar for the siding,” Sutherland told Business Insider.
When at first he pitched the idea of a treehouse Airbnb, his wife Sabrina said that as long as Will built a second bathroom, she was all in on the idea.
With his previous Airbnb, the “skoolie,” visitors had to enter the house to use their bathroom since there was none on the bus.
“Sabrina helped me with some of the details, like the floor finishing and trimming some boards. She was by my side every day when she got home from working as an arboretum specialist at the Virginia State Arboretum,” Will said.
The popularity of the school bus rental rose so fast that he increased the price to reflect the demand four separate times, going from just $39.00 a night to as much as $120.00. The treehouse is much the same, and Sutherland hauls in around $50,000 a year between the two.
Will and Sabrina basically live in a small community back in the woods, since the two places are booked almost year-round. Whenever Will has a spare moment he quickly mows the lawn and runs the sawmill that he relied on to build the treehouse to cut wood for himself and the guests.
The luxury outhouse which the guests of both rentals use has been rated a 5-star crapper, and the lack of flushing toilets and running showers right next to their bedroom has been a welcome change for the happily married couple who now have much more time to spend together now that Will has quit his day job.
SHARE This Awesome Elbow Grease Effort To Craft Fairy Tale Airbnb Homes…
A new corridor measuring about 30 feet was discovered recently in the biggest of the three Giza Pyramids, the Pyramid of Khufu.
Images and videos were released to the public after the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities investigated the tunnel using an endoscopic camera.
Despite the nearly unlimited intrigue and mystery surrounding Ancient Egypt’s most remarkable engineering accomplishments, the tunnel has been quickly labeled as a method to disperse the weight of the sandstone blocks above.
One of the most iconic tourist attractions in the world, it seems mad to think there are still 30 feet or 9 meters of hidden passageway that were to be found inside, but it’s actually the second recently-discovered hidden passageway in Khufu’s pyramid, with an even longer 98-feet-long corridor being discovered in 2017.
Part of the reason why we’re enjoying these new insights is the work of an international team of researchers at the ScanPyramids project, which uses non-damaging, non-invasive thermography and cosmic-ray muon radiography to scan the pyramids for hidden secrets.
Near to the main entrance used by tourists today, the corridor’s whole purpose is not entirely known, in part because it seems to be unfinished.
“We’re going to continue our scanning so we will see what we can do… to figure out what we can find out beneath it, or just by the end of this corridor,” Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities told reporters after a press conference in front of the pyramid.
Built in the year 2,560 BCE, the pyramids were long thought to be tombs. Additional research mostly by archaeologists and archaeo-astronomers that tend to be unfavored by Egyptian authorities, suggests there would have been a much broader array of purposes, including as a measuring stick for Earth’s mass and a calculatory instrument for the movement of the stars and planets.
The latter theory is dismissed as sensational, but the pyramids are nothing if not sensational, and a lot of the geometry of Khufu’s pyramid corresponds to astronomical phenomena important to the Ancient Egyptians, who in any case made tombs in several other styles far more often than pyramidal.
Scan Pyramids has announced they are going to continue their work on the new passage as well as trying to find other ones.
WATCH the ScanPyramid presentation below…
SHARE This Story With Your Friends Who Love Ancient History…
Blossom the lovesick goose – credit CBS News, retrieved from YouTube.
A cemetery manager played Valentine’s Day matchmaker to a lonely widowed goose whose mate passed away.
Blossom and Bud lived together for years in the pond at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown Iowa, but after Bud died last August, it seemed Blossom would spend the best years of her life alone.
General manager Dorie Tammen noticed that Blossom would spend hours staring at herself in the shiny reflections of model tombstones by the cemetery office, and she realized her goose needed company.
Tammen posted a personal ad on Facebook for a “lovely widowed goose” that was “youthful, adventurous, and lively,” looking for “a life partner for companionship and occasional shenanigans.”
The ad, mostly a joke, worked like a charm, and Tammen received a surprising email from Deb and Randy Hoyt who had a widower goose named Frankie who was in the same sort of heartbroken rut.
The Hoyts told CBS news that when they saw the ad for Blossom they thought “well that’d be great.”
The three humans set up a Valentine’s Day date for the two geese, and soon enough they were swimming around the pond at Riverside, seemingly content to be together forever.
