BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Exotic Pets Why Poppy is Flower of Remembrance

Lieutenant General Sir Brian Horrocks sounded like a wonderful, decent and caring individual. Our service people deserve the very best that is available, and every commander should make sure they have it.

Let's check out the small world department...my brother was an officer in Vietnam-David Jones. After Vietnam he was in Germany and Saudi Arabia. He was mid-west readiness officer out of Ft. Riley, Kansas. Perhaps you may have ran into each other. He would of been pretty young in Vietnam he had just graduated from UCS and went there as a second lieutenant. I believe he is 66 now. He has been retired for quite some time.

I think I have learned more about the Queen of England in the last couple of days than I had in a lifetime. You bring something up, I look it up, then find all kinds of interesting information to learn and research.

Lestie, thanks for the compliments. I teach Internet ocurses for several colleges and universities, and my main affiliation now is with Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, NJ. Thomas Edison is an adult-learning based college has has a significant Internet component. They have a very supportive and effective staff and are professionals at delivering Internet distance-learning courses (unlike many other colleges/universities). My teaching areas are in criminology, criminal justice, ethics, and forensic science. There are 14 species of hedgehogs around the world, and their range is from the British Isles, across Europe and Asia to China, and from the Baltic states in the north to South Africa. They were also brought to New Zealand by British settlers, and so today they thrive there because their major enemy, the automobile, is not as prevalent as in other places. The only two species that cannot hibernate are the species that were sent to the USA into the pet market, the Algerian hedgehog (atelerix algirus) and the Central African hedgehog (atelerix albiventris). Of the 14 species, the only endangered species is the South African hedgehog (atelerix frontalis). South African hedgehogs have very striking contrasting markings and a photo of one may be seen on www.hedgehogcentral.com. Once on the hedgehog Central site, click on "about hedgehogs" in the left column, and then scroll down to and click on "hedgehogs of the world." A photo of a South African baby hedgehog is there, which was taken in 1999 when I visited there on a lecture tour. He was an orphan and was being cared for by a biologist in Stellenbosch until he got big enough to be released into a game preserve. Considerable research has been done on the South African hedgehog at the Mammal Research Injstitute at the University of Pretoria. Best wishes, Z. G. Standing Bear at the Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue in Divide, Colorado USA

Lestie, I remember memorizing that poem as well. It may have been fifth or sixth grade.

Let me know when you are ready with your poppy article I would love to read it. I would have loved to have written one, slightly off topic for me, no matter how I tried to knit the yarn.

Please let us know the status of hedgehogs in SA. I am very curious. I think that is one of the most difficult challenges dealing with exotic pets is the legal status. It is different from country to country, state to state, province to province, county, city, local ordinance, housing associations, its crazy. I have always enjoyed moving about, have moved across the US many times. The moving companies have always taken a toll on our budget so I guess I am staying put for at least 9 years. Trying to buy my new spine has taken the possibility of exploring a new state away from me forever. Moving animals has always been a challenge.

Francine, it looks like Germany knows how to protect a protected species. Perhaps they could give a few other countries a lesson or two before the tiger is gone forever?

The poppies sound beautiful, a sight perfect to remind us to remember but we must still move forward. Otherwise all that pain and death was for nothing. I am not quite sure why the human species can't evolve past war and hate. I think if we took politicians out of the equation, the people would be just fine. With the computer, we live in a world with no boundaries or borders.

Tot faciendum parum factum! So much to do so little done.

Like McCarthur I will be back armed with information, but for now tell that I am taking a bit of leave (only a week) so while I have some spare time the rest has been pre-allocated on a very tight and testing schedule for doing ONLY holiday things like:

* staring aimlessly into the middle distance
* contemplating empty circles
* going to the movies
* reading Asterix and the Romans again
* Making some jam and then some pickles maybe
* hammocking
* Arbing (arbitralily hanging)

..you know, stressful busy things like that.

Cheers for the nonce.

Francine, staying at Schloss Vollrads was a delight, and at the time I was there, Graf Matuschka was the President of VDNV. He was a very quiet, thoughtful, and genuinely friendly man and was quite different from the Countess (a countess in her own right) who was very outgoing, had a booming voice and a great sense of humor, and stood about 6 or 7 inches taller than the Count. His son Erwein took after his mother in appearance and personality. At the time I was there, Erwein was driving race cars around Europe. I am aware of the foreclosure of the property and certainly wished that Erwein had managed to save it, after all, it was in the family for nearly 800 years. I stayed in the Cavalier House, which, after Graf Richard passed on, was turned into a restaurant. When I returned to visit in 1984, Graf Erwein was not there and all of the folks I knew when I lived there were gone, including the office manager, Frau Klebolte, who was by then in a nursing home. After his retirement, General Horrocks was appointed as The Black Rod in Parliament, a post which goes back many centuries, which I've always viewed as a sort of very high class bouncer for the monarch. Given his habit of always being at the front where the action was, he was seriously wounded and almost never made it out of North Africa. Do you happen to know where I can find an authoritative source for the history of the hedgehogs predicting the weather in Europe? All I have is anecdotal information and there are several folks who claim that this was not a European tradition. Best wishes, Z. G. Standing Bear at the Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue in sdivide, Colorado USA

Sounds like a worthy schedule to me. I might try it. So far, we took our daily pilgrimage to Woonsocket to see if the cygnets have hatched. I believe a couple have. I will take the pictures and see if I can peek under her wings.

Now for the rock garden, all they neighbors think I have been trying to grow rocks for two years. I guess it is time to put the plants in. Enjoy yourself!

Francine, I think, here in the states, that every decision now made, the only motivation is to be reelected or to be elected. NOT one of our representatives is doing what is good for the general population. Same thing with the budget, nothing but election/reelection is driving the idiotic decisions.

As we grow closer to people with different cultures I think we, as the people, need to take a firm standing against taking arms. We went into Iraq for no other reason than oil. The structure that has been built is not temporary structures but massive and to endure for many years. We went in there for only one reason, correction, the US and its allies.

Perhaps, we have outgrown our current political situation and some changes need to be made.