DAILY CALENDAR CHALLENGE #94 – APRIL 4

#1 THE ORIGAMI CALENDAR CHALLENGE – CHINA BOATFolding this one wasn’t hard, but turning it inside out sure was.

Not really my best work, but I did get it completed.

#2 THE MENSA PUZZLE CALENDAR – PUTTING THE STATES TOGETHER

California, Louisiana Arizona and Rhode Island  will yield the first word. It’s a favorite Italian dish.

Georgia, New York, Maine and Delaware  will give you the myth and astronomy answer.

I also did the rest, but I’m going to make you work them out.

#3 THE PAGE-A-DAY PUZZLE CALENDAR – FILM CUTS

Careful, they’re trying to trick you with this one.

ANSWERS

PUTTING THE STATES TOGETHER – CA LA MA RI – ME MO RI AL – MA ND AR IN – CO AL  MI NE – GA NY ME DE

FILM CUTS –  THE DE-  PARTED  …  told you they were trying to trick you with that hyphen.

PICK PIC OF THE WEEK … DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?

It took a number of years, but my father and I managed to convert the back lawn from crab grass and other undesirable woody grass blends to a nice turf of zoysia grass that stands up to the heat and dry periods of Saint Louis summer. It stays green all summer, doesn’t need a lot of cutting during the dog days and probably could stand up to a football team playing on it everyday. I don’t have a football team, but I do have Mlle. Renee and the grass stands up to all of her daily yard racing all summer long. The vet tells me that among her multiple breed ancestries, she pick up a gene or two from an African ridgeback hound. Not a bad breed of dog, just one that was born to run. Something I know well from when she likes to pick up the pace on our daily walks.

There is one problem with zoysia grass. In mid-west winters it goes dormant and takes on the looks and texture of a stiff scrub brush. This is something that has not gone unnoticed by Mlle. Renee. And in the spring of the year her life is enlivened with the pleasures or running, jumping and rolling on her back on the stiff zoysia thatch.

So every day, after she wears herself out playing in the back yard, this is the image that greets me when I go out on the back deck.  I don’t even have to say anything before she gives me her “Did I do something wrong?” look. She might look all Ms. Innocent, but I know she’s waiting for me to get the brush out and give her a good brushing. It’s not easy to get all of the thatch out of her coat. But then, it’s totally impossible to vacuum up any of the dried grass that gets into the house. The lawn will start turning green in a month or so, but until then I have a part ridgeback hound disguised as a porcupine.