Icelandic Ramblings

For the last, um, almost 2 weeks I have been researching Iceland for a research paper that is due tomorrow. My paper is done (let us pray that the teachers like it!!) but I wanted to share some interesting facts that I learned. So here we go, enjoy:

• Iceland is the western most European country, 650 miles west of Norway, 200 miles east of Greenland and 1100 miles northeast of the UK.
• Iceland was settled by people from Norway, Scotland, Ireland and England during the late 9th and early 10th centuries.
• The official name of Iceland in Icelandic is Lydveldid Island (Republic of Iceland)
• Iceland boasts the worlds oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930.
• Iceland was an independent country until 1262, when Norway gained control. Denmark ruled Iceland from 1380 on. Iceland did not gain her independence until 1944.
• Reykjavik is the capital and largest city. Folklore warns that if Reykjavik and its two neighbors ever physically joined, an earthquake would follow. Icelanders take their folklore seriously and will likely preserve the physical distinction between the towns.
• Iceland is slightly smaller than the state of Kentucky.
• Iceland is sometimes called the Land of Fire and Ice because of the close relation of glaciers, hot springs, geysers and volcanoes.
• Another name for Iceland is the Land of the Midnight Sun because it is light for almost 24 hours at a time in June and dark for that same time in December.
• Fishing is the main industry in Iceland
• Most goods, cars, appliances, grain, have to be imported, and because of this the cost of living is high.
• Iceland was named by an early explorer who was mad at seeing coastal waters choked by ice after a long and cold winter.
• Most Icelanders live in coastal towns and make their living from the sea.
• Almost all Icelandic exports are fish or fish products.
• Iceland is a republic, the people elect the president and Althing members.
• Most Icelanders speck Icelandic, although there is no official language.
• Icelanders use a patronymic or matronymic naming system by law, which means adding -son or -dottir to your fathers, or occasionally your mothers, last name. So if your father's name was John then you would be Liam Johnson or Leah Johndottir.
• Women do not change their last name when they get married.
• Because so many people have the same names, telephone books also list a person's occupation to help you find who you are looking for.
• Icelanders eat more lamb and fish than any other people. Hot dogs are even made of lamb meat.
• Iceland's education system is different than America's, but I won't go into all the details right now.
• There is very little land that can be used for growing crops in Iceland. 0.07% to be exact.
• Icelanders enjoy many outdoor activities. Snowboarding, skiing, snowmobiling, horseback riding, white river rafting, dog sledding, hiking, rock climbing, fishing, just to name a few.

Well, there you go, some random facts about Iceland and her people. I hope you enjoyed reading and learned something that you did not know before.

'becca

My Busy Weekend, Take 2

Well, sorry about the delay in posting. But I have a lot to post about, so let's get right to it.

My busy weekend started on Friday. After school, I went down to the shop and worked on my secretary. Earlier this week I had finished stripping the paint off and was on to washing it. First, you put on a light coat of stripper, let it set and then scrub it off. Any places were there is still paint, you scrap until the paint is all gone. Once all the paint is off, you wash it off with lacquer thinner and then wipe it dry. I got about half of the cabinet done, so I am quite happy with the way it is turning out. After that, I had a physical therapy appointment. And then after that, I went to my friend Ruth's house to help her prepare an Irish meal for her youth group. I got to her house about 3:30 and was cooking until 6:30. The food was delicious, if I do say so myself! Then we sang all the Irish songs that we could find in the hymn book, plus some others. We had dessert (Irish brownies and mint chip ice cream!), did some more singing and then it was time to go home. Ruth's sister took me to her house, which was closer for my mom to pick me up. But my mom heard the address wrong and spent 20 minutes driving around until she found the right place. I was sure I gave her the right address, but she found me, so that's good.

On Saturday, I had to babysit(at 6:20 a.m.) Then, when I got home, I went outside to help my dad. We were moving junk so that we could cut down our cedar trees. They cause cedar apple rust, so they have to go. Once we had the junk moved, we went and had lunch. Then it was time to cut down some trees! Rachel, Jonathan, and I got cameras so that we would have photographic evidence. We have 9 cedar trees, but we only cut down 5 to start. Dad did the cutting, and Grandpa had the tractor to help the trees fall in the right direction. After that, Rachel and I started cleaning the barn. We got the rabbit/horse side done, but still have to finish the 2 storage rooms.

Starting to fall

Really falling!

A stump

Another stump

On Sunday, after church, Dad wanted to get some of the branches cut off the trunk, in case it rained on Monday, so we could burn them. We are planning to burn the branches and are going to use the ash on our garden. First, Rachel, Jonathan and I loaded apple branches onto the trailer while Dad cut them up. After two loads of apple branches, we moved to cedar branches. We started by just dragging the branches to the pile, but since we still had the trailer, we decided that hauling them in that would be much easier! We hauled branches for 3 hours and then we were done!

There you go, my busy weekend. Enjoy reading! I have some other things to post about soon, so be watching for those!

'becca

I HAVE TO DO WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nice title, right? For those of you who are complete city kids, you might not want to read the rest of this post. Just warning ya!!!!!

Yesterday, my family's supervising teacher came out for a home visit. And guess what we were doing?? DISSECTING WORMS!! Yes, I am not making this up. We had to dissect a worm. So I was ok with this. Not something I really want to do everyday or anything, but once, that's fine. Rachel, well, let us just say that she was not thrilled. So our teacher tells us all about worms, what they do (live so you can attach them to a fishing hook!! Just kidding, that's not their real purpose.), and what we would be looking for once we cut our worm open. Then we got our worm and pinned it(another thing I learned, one worm is both girl and boy) to the dissecting tray. Then we had to cut it open. Rachel would not, so I did. You start about an inch behind the clitellum, the smooth part behind the worms head and work toward the head. Alot of fun. I know you are wishing that you could be doing this with me! So once I had cut the worm open, we had to pin it down. My mom said that Rachel had to help, but she did not want to. But mom made her, so Rachel put on some gloves and, very carefully, not touching the worm, she helped me pin it down. Once it was all pinned down, we could now see the inside of our worm. Great fun, I know!!! We found the hearts, a worm has five, the brains, two of these, the dorsal blood vessel, the ventral nerve cord, pharynx, crop and gizzard, the ventral blood vessel and the intestine. After we had found all these wonderful body parts, I decided to cut it down the rest of the way. All you find is the intestine, ventral nerve cord, the dorsal blood vessel, and the ventral blood vessel which all run the length of the worm. So, to Rachel's great relief, we were done!! Now, a short essay on the purposes God gave the worm. God created the worm to reproduce, because the more worms there are, the better our soil is. Worms create castings(waste) which gives the soil added nutrients. One other purpose God gave the worm is tunneling. A worms tunneling loosens the soil so plants can grow better. There is my account of worm dissection. I know, you probably enjoy some of my other posts better, but I thought this would be an interesting post. I want to know what you think, so please leave a comment, if you would be so kind. Enjoy the pictures, if you can.

'becca

Sorry everyone

Hey everybody sorry I have not posted in so long. So this post is not anything exciting, just the results of my polls. So here they are:


What would you most like to read about?

My day by day life: 11 votes (61%)

Chores: 0 votes (0%)

School and what I am learning: 0 votes (0%)

Trials that I face: 2 votes (11%)

My Animals: 3 votes (16%)

What I am reading: 2 votes (11%)



So I looks like I am posting about the right stuff!! That's good.


Do you enjoying reading my blog?


Yes: 9 votes (90%)

No: 0 votes (0%)

Maybe: 1 vote (10%)


The maybe was my sister Rachel. :)


So there you go. I will have a better post soon. I was asked what the theme of my book that I am writing is, so I think I will do a post and reading.



'becca