around the world

[mrsgrubby]

Originally Posted by eagle12167

zoe08:



mrs grubby:
the last time i was in michigan i was about 10. i went to grand rapids with my step mom. i remember then that the water wasn't very clear and you didn't go swimming in it.that is also the first time i saw a red racer. sorry to hear that the city folks are closing in, and that the hunting is going down. i still remember all the trees there, almost like oregon. have you been across the macinaw bridge? i heard about it from my step mom. she said it was pretty cool, someday i will get to see it.

LOLOLOL I went to college in Grand Rapids. I only live about an hour from the Mackinaw Bridge and have been accross it probably 100 times, and to Mackinaw Island probably over a dozen times.

I hate driving over the bride actually cuz you can see the water through the bridge, (you drive on grates, not a solid surface) It's kinda freaky. Several years ago a windstorm swept a yugo over the bridge and into the water. Now they close the bridge on windy days.

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by linnie

eagle I cracked up laughing when you asked are aborigines treated as second rate citizens.
If you are a white person in australia and commit a crime you go to jail
if you dont send your kids to school you get fined
if you abuse your kids they are taken from you
if you dont work you dont eat
if you dont rent or buy a house you are homeless
if you buy a car on payment and dont pay they take it off you

Now lets look at Aborigines
Cops are to scared to jail them for fear of retribution so they go their merry way doing whatever whenever
They get paid to send thier kids to school
they can beat thier kids no docs for them
the government supports them
pays off their cars
and supplies them with better homes than many of us can afford.

Now to a much nicer subject.. aussie marsupials and wildlife are wonderful.
Koalas are cute to look at but they sure can be mean lol
wombats are wonderful creatures
the quoll is terrifying yet beautiful to watch in full stride.
Australia is an amazing country

Am I racist NOPE
If an aborigine lived next door to me and bought his own home with his own hard earned cash he would be a most welcome neighbour.

I've known white people to get the same benefits Linnie.

My best friend is aborginal and she works her butt off for everything she has, so does her mother, her brothers and sisters, her cousins, her aunts and uncles...
I know that there are people in Australia who get a lot of benefits, but white people take as much advantage of them as anyone else.
Sorry, this is close to my heart....I know how hurt my best friend is when people make comments like that.

Oh and about the jail thing...My cousins white and he gets away with everything no matter how many times he goes to court....and trust me when I say what he's done in the past was bad.

Cass.

[shandoggy1]

I'm from Boston Massachusetts home of the world series winners "FINALLY" The BOSTON REDSOX And they killed the New York Yankees last night our biggest rivals (but that's another story ). We also have some of the best seafood and the world famous New England clam chowder (I mean chowda) and some really tastey lobster rolls (I mean losbsta rolls). LOL! Bostonians don't pronounce their "RRRR"s! This is a great thread!

[Swiftwind]

Shandoggy - I LOVE Boston accents, they're so cool.. I wish I had one!

Eagle - I think Australia's biggest export is either coal or wool. I've seen platypi (plural for platypus) before, they're very fast swimmers. We have the world's fastest growing tree, the Australian Eucalyptus. It can grow up to 10 metres in one year!

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by Swiftwind

Shandoggy - I LOVE Boston accents, they're so cool.. I wish I had one!

Eagle - I think Australia's biggest export is either coal or wool. I've seen platypi (plural for platypus) before, they're very fast swimmers. We have the world's fastest growing tree, the Australian Eucalyptus. It can grow up to 10 metres in one year!

Have you seen a platypus in the wild? I'd use to try and spot them when I went mushroom picking with my stepdad as a kid, we'd hide along the river bank early in the morning and wait for them. Never saw any though. lol
I saw one at the aquarium in sydney a few weeks ago when I took my nephew, it was adorable and (as you say) very fast.

Cass.

[Novel]

What a great thread Eagle.
I'm in Wisconsin, Central part of the state, in Wisconsin Dells, which was known in the 50's as a great vacation spot because of the Dells, natural rock formations on the Wisconsin River, but know it's known more for fudge and candies, water parks, indoor and out, Ducks (the amphibious war vehicles from WWII I believe), the casino, one of the last outdoor theatres is Wisconsin, and a ton of hotels and shops. It's really not a horrid place to live, although I avoid town like the plague during the summer season. In the winter, our population is about 1000, in the summer it's in the 10's of thousands every night. It also has the only bridge across the Wisconsin River for 30 miles either way, and it can get so congested it literally takes hours to go a few blocks, especially as all the kids 'scoop the loop' in their fancy cars.
But, I haven't always lived here, and been in a few other states, and lots more cities in Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin, but would prefer a more northerly, rural area. Less Agricultural land, and more forested.

[Swiftwind]

Originally Posted by Cassiepeia

Have you seen a platypus in the wild?

No, unfortunately not. I think they'd be really good at hiding! I haven't really had the opportunity to see one in the wild as I'm never really out in the country. The only (main) Australian animals I've seen in the wild are koalas, emus, kangaroos, wallabies, and a really big goanna. I also saw a lyrebird (wow those things can run fast! It had long legs), which was amazing to see.

The only real native animals in my neighbourhood are cockatoos (which always squawk when it's about to rain), and lots of lorikeets. Oh yeah, and heaps of spiders, including some of Australia's deadliest! For some reason last weekend we had a whole heap of St Andrew's Cross spiders in our garden! A few months ago I was out walking the dogs with my mum and came across a funnel web spider in the middle of the road! It had it's front legs up, ready to attack.

[linnie]

a quoll is a native cat rather large one it has a dark brown grey fur with white spots. They are very hard on the farmers chickens
And yes I have seen platypus. We actually have them living in a creek near by, they are rather shy but if you sit long enough quietly you will see them play

[eagle12167]

let me start off by saying thank you and welcome to the thread.

mrsgrubby: that's because a yugo only weights about 1500 lbs. with it's passengers, and yes those bridges are really freaky. as for seeing the water, don't look down??lol

cass: that happens here as well, mostly some little rich kid. when you were in sidney did you get to see the opera house? t've only seen pictures, i think it's a great looking building.

shandoggy:congrats on the redsox, not a fan of baseball but it was still cool. i haven't been to mass yet but i do hope to get there one day. when i get to go i'll find out which resturant (estuant) to eat at fot that clam chowder, i love chowder.

swiftwind: wow that is a fast growing tree. how did you come up with the name swiftwind? i'm not a fan of spiders, i stomp them when i see them. our deadly spiders are the brown recluse and the black widow. just talking about them makes my skin crawl.

novel: i like the sound of fudge and candies. the ducks would be cool to ride, have you rode them yet? i'm with you on the forested areas.

linnie: that's cool, can you see if there's a picture of a quoll so i can see what one looks like? wouldn't mind a picture of a platypus either.

if i have missed someone i'm sorry i did not think this thread would grow so fast.

if you have a favorite dish human or fur please post it as you can tell i can eat, and so can all of my children ( fur and nonfur ), we would love to try them. i was a cook in cal. and here is one of my favorite ways to cook a cheeseburger.

ken's burger
take one to two pounds of hamburger ( or turkey burger )
add i package of ranch dressing mix
add one cup of white chedder cheeze its
add one egg
make into patties and grill to perfection

hope everyone tries it, i love them, my wife hates them when she has to put it together, but she loves to eat then.
maybe i'll share my burrito recipe next time.
well that's all for tonight. eagle

[Dogsareme]

Originally Posted by linnie

eagle I cracked up laughing when you asked are aborigines treated as second rate citizens.
If you are a white person in australia and commit a crime you go to jail
if you dont send your kids to school you get fined
if you abuse your kids they are taken from you
if you dont work you dont eat
if you dont rent or buy a house you are homeless
if you buy a car on payment and dont pay they take it off you

Now lets look at Aborigines
Cops are to scared to jail them for fear of retribution so they go their merry way doing whatever whenever
They get paid to send thier kids to school
they can beat thier kids no docs for them
the government supports them
pays off their cars
and supplies them with better homes than many of us can afford.

Now to a much nicer subject.. aussie marsupials and wildlife are wonderful.
Koalas are cute to look at but they sure can be mean lol
wombats are wonderful creatures
the quoll is terrifying yet beautiful to watch in full stride.
Australia is an amazing country

Am I racist NOPE
If an aborigine lived next door to me and bought his own home with his own hard earned cash he would be a most welcome neighbour.

Wow, sounds just like Canada for the Aborigines.
Plus they live rent free, are paid to take college courses, have a status card which means alot of free stuff, can hunt year round with no fines. Don't have to pay taxes (that includes gas), can have all aborigines sports teams (but don't we dare have an all white team, that would be racist).

It mostly upsets me because they keep asking to be treated equally. Well this is not equal by any means.

And what Cassapiea said ealier, is yes that white people themselves do take advantage of things as well. My step brother is one of those examples. He is sooooooooo lazy. I think the longest he has had a job is for 2 weeks. So he just lives on welfare and sits at home smoking pot! both him and his girl friend. No desire what so ever to do anything.

[Dogsareme]

Now for more on Beautiful British Columbia

I would love to show some pictures. The land scape is unbelievable. It also varys alot. Heading into the south more (at least from my end ) you hit a desert in the Kamloops/Kelowna area. Heading more south to Vancouver you hit more mountains and greenery.
In the north were I live, mountains gallore and greenery. Just georgous. Almost any mountain you hike, you will find a lake at the top of it. Absolutly isolated. Fresh fish. Wilf life. So much of it is still untouched.
There are people who live in the same area as I do and dont' even know half of these lakes or mountains exist. Which is probably how they stay so nice. Most have to be hiked into. You can take logging roads part way (and even then only if you know they are back there) and then hike the rest.
You have to be pretty careful. As there are alot of Cougars, Bears, Grizzleys, Bob Cats, Moose, wolves, porkey pines, coyotes, foxes.. and so much more out there. But amazingly alot of the time you don't run into them. Only on the rare occassion.
Hope to one year see a Kermodei bear. But they are so rare barely anyone has seen one.

[linnie]

eagle you will be proud of me I found a site with their pic and description ( all by myself) I am blonde pc girl lol so heres hopng
it works
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/quoll.htm

[Novel]

Originally Posted by eagle12167

novel: i like the sound of fudge and candies. the ducks would be cool to ride, have you rode them yet? i'm with you on the forested areas.

I've been on the ducks a few different times. They're fun, and you almost always get soaked when you drive into the water. Here's a pic.





Here's a pic of the "Dells" for which we are named. They're the rock formation in the background.



We also have a large native american population. The Ho-Chunk, whom have also been called the Winnebago among other names in the past. They still celebrate their annual Pow-Wow on their ceremonial grounds just outside of town. Beautiful, I've heard, but have never seen them yet.

EDIT: When I went looking for pics of the ceremonial, I found out that the Ho-Chunk will no longer be having it in the Dells... sigh... I wonder why?

And finally, a site about the area.

[Sayuri]

I'm so relieved to hear that the rainy-foggy-English-thing is a myth! I'm going to London in six days, and as excited as I was, I sure was sad that I might not get to see the sun (though seeing as how I live in the Pacific Northwest, it's not like anything would have changed, lol).

Any suggestions for great things to see while I'm there? I'll be studying poetry and Shakespeare, but I'll have LONG weekends to explore with!