Go Ask Your Father: Hermit Crabs, Gas, McDonalds, and Clouds

As you know by now, Crash has been playing baseball all summer. Mosquito is what his level is called here. I’m used to calling it little league. Anyway, from his very first game on July 3rd he’s been wanting to pitch. So several times week, sometimes all seven days, I would practice with him in the backyard. I’d measure 44 feet, set down a Frizbee for homeplate and we’d walk through the steps on how to do it. Then he’d start throwing. In the beginning it was rough going. There were more pass balls than caught balls. Not because I can’t catch, either. His pitches would sail over my head. They would sail to the far right and to the far left like he was doing the “dizzy bat” before throwing.

Over the weeks we kept practicing. His pitches started becoming more catchable. We watched a few “how to” videos on YouTube and after a couple more week of practicing he started throwing an equal number of strikes and balls. Mind you, we were using a shovel stuck in the ground for a batter.

Fast forward to the last game of the season last Tursday and he has yet to pitch in a game. Then there were two outs and runner on third in the final inning and his coach makes a switch! Needless to say he was excited. Really excited. He was the personification of happy.

The first batter he faced, he walked. The second batter he faced, he walked. He now had bases loaded and two outs. Can you guess what happened? He struck the third batter out! His teammates were great in supporting him and congratulating him. He was on top of the world.

So were his parents. You can watch him throw to his last batter here.

1. What do hermit crabs look like without their shell?

DW asked this one one day at the beach. The beach we like to visit is touted as having the warmest water in Nova Scotia. There are hermit crabs scurrying all over. We, the boys included, like to dive for them. Our marine hermits can live up to 30 years if they are fortunate enough to remain in their watery habitat and not become supper for a hungry predator. However, in captivity, they usually only survive a few months. They breathe through gills, too. Their shell is to protect their soft, vulnarable abdomen and will sometimes fight to steal another hermit’s shell. If you’re looking for a good book about a hermit crab’s shell, Eric Carle has one called, A House for Hermit Crab.

Do lawnmowers use car gas?

On our way to pick up DW from work, I stopped to fill up a gas can for the lawnmower. Nosey-hole Bang wondered why I was putting it in the can and not in the truck like I usually do. So I told him it was for the lawnmower. Hence the question. Before the mower even uses gas, you need to start it by getting the flywheel spinning (the pull cord). The flywheel has magnets on it that create a magnetic field once it’s spinning. This magnetic field creates electricity that sent to the spark plug. Most mowers have four strokes which is about a gazillion fewer than my golf game. The first stroke is the intake stroke. Here is where the gas is used as this stroke pulls in gas and air (I only emit gas). The second stroke is the compression stroke which is where the piston compresses said gas and air, like when I squeeze my cheeks to keep the gas in. Then the spark plug ignites and the air and gas mixture combusts creating the power stroke (I’ve never ignited my gas) (yet). The exhaust stroke releases the combustion gasses. Exactly how my exhausts exists (sometimes silent but deadly).

Can we go to McDonalds?

Sometimes when you’re having a bad day a simple indulgence can make it all right again. This was the case with Bang yesterday. His day overall was good. But just before supper he slipped on a slide and hurt himself. He was okay, but it hurt and there were tears. I told him to get in the truck, we were going to get supper. He didn’t even need to put shoes on (that in itself started to make his hurt go away). Afterward, he was the personification of happy…

How do the clouds move so fast?

Because I was a fourth grade teacher, I know all about clouds. Mostly. Everything from stratus to nimbus and cumulonimbus (basically, they’re classed by elevation). Even to how they form. Ever make a cloud in a bottle? Just put some warm water in a clear bottle then drop a lit match into it and screw the top on real tight real quick. Squeeze the bottle good and tight. This creates high pressure inside the bottle. When you release it the pressure inside drops and a cloud is formed. The match was create smoke particles for the water to cling to. Naturally, that cloud ain’t goin’ nowhere. But the ones in the sky move by the force of the wind. The jetstream is 5-7 miles high and rushes along at speeds up to 150-200 mph. Some of that energy is transferred to various elevations and the clouds will either rocket along like a boy on his bike down hill or mosey along like DW’s driving.