Hey, Birders!

Birds are wonderful to watch no matter what the season! However, in cooler parts of the country like we have here in the northwestern town of Boyd, Wisconsin, the birds are especially colorful—featuring heavily bright crimson cardinals and vernal sky blue jays in this part of the state. With such fewer birds around, these two really take center stage and steal the show.

Today is Feed the Birds Day—created for just these kinds of birds: the winter warriors that don’t fly south. Mid and late winter are especially hard on all outdoor animals. This date was chosen for Feed the Birds Day to remind people that this time of year, the animals in our backyard need help the most.

A couple of passionate birdwatchers, Bob and Debbie Matthews of Rochester, New York, moved to create Feed the Birds Day back in 2016 and it’s been catching on ever since.

You can imagine that this time of year in the dead of winter, sources for food get harder and harder to come by for all the wild birds that have stayed for the season. Any food that is available can get buried deep under the snow. Squirrels and rabbits can dig through the snow, but birds aren’t quite so well-equipped for digging.

You can help the birds in your backyard to survive the tail end of a long, cold winter and also reap the benefits of an entertaining show outside your window when you decide to participate in Bob and Debbie’s holiday.

Here’s what you do…

Get yourself a birdfeeder—they’re affordable in stores and also easy to make your own with items around the house. You may think bread would be a fun treat for birds, however, seeds are an energy-rich food—just what those birdies need this time of year. Another option is a suet cake (bars of raw fat which are extremely high in energy).

Heck! My parents used to simply pour the fat from a fry pan into a tin can, let it cool, and set in on the ground outside.

Anyway, when you have your feeder, whatever type you decide to go with, put it in a spot where you can watch it from a window. Be sure to keep the seeds or fat replenished; when birds discover your feeder, they will come back for more and more as a newfound source of food. They’ll assume they can rely on you. And you don’t want to disappoint them!

Pass the word about this special holiday. Bring it up to your teacher at school to participate in educating everyone about birds and birdfeeding and get everyone to join in on the fun. Happy Feed the Birds Day, Everybody. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Happy Kazoo Day, Everybody!

Anyone can play the kazoo. About as easy to play as the tambourine, the kazoo is the one wind instrument that doesn’t require much musical skill. But where did it come from? Strap in for a buzzing good time; we’re about to dive deep into the history of the kazoo. Before we get into the history, however, let’s take a good look at the anatomy of a kazoo so we can better understand this instrument’s origin.

Typically made of plastic, kazoos can be fashioned from metal as well. These instruments are small tubes, open on both ends (one end flatter and smaller than the other). Not quite halfway down the body of a kazoo, there is yet another hole which creates a small chamber where a waxy film is kept in place, but with enough free space to vibrate and shake when a kazoo player produces an air current.

Kazoos of the Current Day
I wrote about the history of kazoos a number of years back, but that post focused chiefly on American kazoos from the 1800s forward. On today’s post, however, we’re going to peel back the layers of time to see how trunks were used hundreds and hundreds of years ago. I’m talking ancient!

Euro-Kazoo
While it is a wind instrument, the waxy, vibrating film of a kazoo sets it apart from the conventional brass and woodwind instruments and places it in the ‘mirliton’ club. Mirlitons are any instruments that involve that vibrating film for their voice. The first European mirlitons came around the 1700s, called the eunuk-flute. These were made of wood and, also referred to as an Onion Flute because onion skin would be used in place of the waxy film of a kazoo.

Ancient African Kazoos
The 1700s may seem like a long time ago (and it is), but the history goes back even further than that. Historians believe that the closest relative to the kazoo is the ancient African horn-mirliton. Of course it was built using very primitive resources. The tube was made from a cow horn and instead of waxy film, they used egg-shells from spiders. Yet, it produced a similar sound to the eunuk-flute and kazoo.

You can make your own mirliton by simply holding a piece of paper tight alongside the teeth of the comb. Then just put your puckered lips to the comb and hum or “doo-doo” or whatever you like. You may have to play around with your positioning before you get it to really resonate like a kazoo, but trust me—it works! Check these guys out! Happy Kazoo Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Squirrel Lovers!

Today’s Squirrel Appreciation Day. There are plenty of squirrel lovers in the world—and why wouldn’t there be? There’s a lot to love about these unique, furry creatures. Just a little shy of 300 species of squirrels, they come in all kinds of colors, sizes, locations, and character! There’s a lot to learn about them too! For instance, they never stop growing their teeth! Without the constant growth of their teeth, they’d wear those suckers out with all their chomping! And without all their chomping, their teeth would grow from here to Timbuktu.   

This time of year, squirrels flex their sense of smell to locate all the nuts they buried a few months back.

Some Sniffer!
Squirrels follow their nose to the burial sites of all their snacks which means being able to smell nuts that may be a foot below the wintry surface! In order to do so, squirrels need an olfactory sense comparable to dogs (or even better in the case of some breeds).

Sorting for Snack-Time
Depending on the surroundings and good of a year it is, squirrels will gather anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 nuts each fall and sort them into categories of their favorite kind, how well they can sniff them out, how big they are, etc.. This way they can recall what kind of nuts are buried where and retrieve the kind they want with ease come the winter.

Squirrel Burglars
Squirrels are notorious thieves. Each season, a squirrel is estimated to lose about a quarter of the nuts they buried in the fall. Studies have actually found that squirrels will dig holes only to pretend to bury nuts—just in case any other squirrels are watching!

Take some time to appreciate squirrels today. It probably won’t be hard to find some in your own backyard or local park. An organization called Project Squirrel asks citizen scientists to observe and record the number of squirrels they see in their backyards, parks, or anywhere else. You can make your own report when you click right here. Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John 

Hey, Hatters!

From functionality to status symbol to simple style, everyone’s worn a hat at some point in their lives whether it be for one reason or another. We wear them to shield our eyes from sunlight as well as sweat or to protect ourselves against the cold. They’re a part of many people’s uniforms. And some just look good sitting on your head! Today is National Hat Day.

People have been wearing hats for thousands of years—five thousand to be specific. They’ve been around a long time and there’s a lot to discover about them. This isn’t the first time we’ve acknowledged National Hat Day here on the Everything Summer Camp Blog. Check out this previous post to brush up on your hat history.

It’s the middle of January, so if you’re in a colder climate like we are here at Everything Summer Camp in Northwestern Wisconsin, chances are the only hats you’re wearing lately are nice, warm winter beanies and stocking hats. We offer some on our online store along with all our other baseball caps. Select your camp when you click here to see if your camp offers any hats through our store.

Our camp hats actually contribute a new purpose to hat-wearing since they sport the name of the summer camp front and center. This way you can literally wear your camp pride! Let everyone know where your home-away-from-home is when you order one of your camp baseball caps, stocking hat, or beanie.

It only makes sense to celebrate National Hat Day by wearing your favorite hat! If you don’t have a favorite hat in your home, order your summer camp hat here at Everything Summer Camp so you can be prepared for next year! Happy Hat Day, Everybody. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John   

Hey, Camp Folks!

Nowadays we can communicate with folks across the state, the country, and even the world. We can do it in a variety of different methods and we don’t think twice about it. But there was a time before immediate long-distance communication wasn’t possible. Let’s turn back the clock before the advent of the Internet and before the invention of the telephone.

More than 30 years prior to the telephone in the 1830’s, Samuel Morse was coming up with a way to communicate rapidly over long distances. He was developing a binary code that consisted of dots and dashes. Such a simple code could travel across telegraph wires. They ran a telegraph line from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland.

Today is Write Your Name in Morse Code Day!

While the US Navy and Coast Guard still use signal lamps for communication by Morse Code as well as individuals who aren’t able to communicate due to stroke, paralysis, or many other reasons, Morse Code has mostly been forgotten by the modern world. The world of summer camp, however, is one that always harkens back to a more primitive time.

Today was made Write Your Name in Morse Code Day to generate some interest in this dying code. Don’t let it totally disappear and share Morse Code with your friends. It can certainly be a valuable means of communication when you want to keep things secret!

And remember—Morse Code was made for audio communication, but it can be used for written communication as well or even visual communication such as the US Navy and Coast Guard signal lamps. You could do something similar with a flashlight, clicking it on and off in short bursts for dots and longer ones for dashes!

I’ve included a Morse Code key with today’s post so that you all can spell your own names in dashes and dots. For example, here’s Everything Summer Camp spelled out in this code:

. ...- . .-. -.-- - .... .. -. --. / ... ..- -- -- . .-. / -.-. .- -- .--.

Have fun with it, folks! And, as always, thanks for reading! 

- John