The Frog and The Grasshopper

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It was a sunny day and the grasshopper was happily jumping and leaping around in the

tall grass near the pond. He wasn’t paying very much attention when he made a leap

that landed him right in front of a large green frog! The grasshopper quickly

started to beg for his life. He asked the frog to please not eat him. The frog had

just awakened from his nap in the sun and was thinking about having a snack. The

frog asked the grasshopper why should he not eat him?

The grasshopper said he was small and puny and would not be tasty or worth his

time. The frog said let me think for a minute and I will let you know. The

grasshopper panicked and gave the frog a challenge. He asked the frog to let him go

if he leaped farther than the frog. If the frog leaped farther than the grasshopper,

the frog could eat the grasshopper for his snack. The frog agreed to the challenge.

The grasshopper and the frog agreed to leap from the edge of the pond to the tree on

the other side of the pond. The grasshopper jumped first and easily landed behind

the tree. The frog was next. He leaped into the air just over the center of the

pond, when he was suddenly swallowed by a large white crane who had been standing in

the pond watching the whole challenge! The grasshopper was amazed and went on his

merry way!

It is important to look before you leap! I’m sure the frog wished that he had!

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The Story of Two Brothers

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There were two brothers Johnny and Mike. Mike was the youngest and had limits on

where he could play and ride his bike. Johnny could go anywhere. One day Mike

decided to ride his bike outside of the area he was allowed to play and ride. He

rode over a piece of wood with a nail in it and quickly his front tire was flat.

What was he going to do? What would he tell his parents? He quickly walked his bike

home and was about to hide it in the garage when his big brother Johnny walked up

behind him and asked him what was wrong. Johnny looked at the bike and said I can

fix that really fast and have you riding in no time. Mike was relieved and very

happy. Johnny said you must have ridden your bike in the new section of the

neighborhood where they are building houses and picked up a nail. Mike was starting

to get nervous. He pleaded with Johnny not to tell their parents where he had been.

He told Johnny he would pay him back if he would fix the flat and not tell their

parents. Johnny just laughed and said he would fix the flat. He said there was no

way Mike could pay him back.

Two months passed and Mike was playing video games in his room when suddenly Johnny

was at his bedroom door. Johnny looked scared and he asked Mike to help him. Johnny

said he was washing his hands in the sink when his new class ring fell down the

drain. He could see it, but he couldn’t reach it. Mike said sure he would help.

Mike’s hands were much smaller and his fingers were slimmer and longer than

Johnny’s. Mike carefully reached into the drain and pulled out Johnny’s shiny class

ring. Johnny was so happy. Mike reminded Johnny that even the youngest can pay back

a favor.

Actions done with kindness, no matter how small, make a big difference.

The Useless Tree

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One beautiful spring day, Ruby Robin and Rosy Squirrel decided it was time to find a

new home. They took a walk together through the woods, past a field of lovely yellow

flowers to a tree near the creek. Along the way, Ruby and Rosy discussed how they

needed more space now their families had grown and how they needed a place that

would be safe for their babies to play and they wouldn’t have to go far for food.

They also agreed on having a place with a beautiful view.

Ruby and Rosy stopped at a large oak tree near the bank of the creek. It was tall

with large, strong branches and a tree hollow just the right size for a family of

squirrels. The view was beautiful in all directions. Ruby and Rosy stopped and

looked at the tree and said how useless the tree could be.

The oak tree heard them while they were climbing the tree and said it provides

protection to all who live among his mighty branches so far from the ground. The oak

tree also told them that it provides shade from summer’s scorching sun and cover

from the rain. Its hollows provide warmth and protection from fall and winter’s cold

winds and snow. It provides food with its acorns and worms in the ground near its

roots. The tree asked Rosy and Ruby what more can you thankless creatures ask for?

The oak tree was mad by now and it shook its great limbs and almost knocked Ruby and

Rosy from the tree. The oak tree sent them away.

Ruby and Rosy thought about what they said and what the tree told them and they went

back and told the oak tree they were sorry for calling it useless. The oak tree

forgave them and reminded Ruby and Rosy that every living thing has a purpose and is

worth more than gold.

The 2D Dream

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I had a dream that did not seem like a dream. It was really unreal.

I woke up one morning and sat up in my bed, but things just didn’t seem right. I

pushed my covers away and got up, walked to the bathroom as I usually do. I noticed

that the doorknob was harder to turn than usual. I thought no big deal and continued

into the bathroom. I turned on the water in the sink and washed my face and started

to brush my teeth and noticed that the toothbrush and toothpaste were flat. I

thought it must be another one of those strange mornings and continued getting ready

for the day. I tried to dress. I noticed that my jeans and shirts were flat like

clothes for a paper doll. There was only a front and a back. There were no sides. I

was trying to see how I would fit into that. I put on the clothes and I noticed that

they fit! I was now flat as a sheet of paper! I no longer had sides! I opened my

bedroom door and looked for my dog Bite. He was his usual shaggy-self waiting for me

in the hall next to the wall. When I went to him to pet his back, I noticed that he

had no sides either! Bite had only a front and a back with a flat tail! I ran to the

kitchen to find my mother who was also flat, cooking flat breakfast in the kitchen

while my flat father was reading the sports section of the newspaper. My family

acted like this was normal and nothing was wrong!

I quickly took Bite outside for a walk like I usually do before I leave for school.

It was a beautiful morning with the sun in the bright blue sky with white puffy

clouds. I walked Bite on his leash down the sidewalk and noticed that the houses

looked the same from the front, but there were no sides to the houses. You could see

the cars in the driveways, but only from the rear. There were no sides. The trees

were in the same places that they always were but they were flat. I hurried my walk

with Bite and returned home. I had a flat breakfast waiting for me. It was hard to

eat and I didn’t feel full. The hardest part about breakfast was drinking liquids.

They were in flat glasses and were hard to pour into your mouth. I grabbed my

backpack and ran to catch my bus. Everything weighed the same and things were still

hard to carry. I had a hard time seeing my bus because it was also flat. Everyone

acted like this was normal.

School looked the same except it was flat. There were no long halls anymore and it

didn’t seem crowded when you entered a classroom or hall. The gym seemed smaller and

unusual which make playing games very different, but no one seemed to notice.

Can you imagine playing flat basketball or flat volleyball? Everything else about

the day seemed normal: the computer, the English, and math assignments. It only

became odd when we went to science class. The science teacher discussed all of the

dimensions that are known to man so far. He acted like we had never experienced the

third dimension. School wasn’t out soon enough for me. I couldn’t wait to get home

and go to bed and wake up from this nightmare! I skipped dinner and didn’t do my

homework. For the first time since I was small, I was in a hurry to get to bed.Just

as I was falling asleep, the alarm went off and I woke up in my bed. It was six A.M.

A regular day in my regular world.

Everything was in 3D as usual. So was it all real or just a nightmare?

Berry Bear and Boo Bunny Travel to Bootes

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Berry Bear and Boo Bunny Travel to Bootes

Berry Bear and Boo Bunny were sitting in Berry’s cave one morning. They were doing their usual thing of eating berries, honey, and carrots when Berry Bear declared that he was bored and wanted to do something different. He told Boo Bunny that he had a spaceship in the field just below his cave and said that they should take a trip. Boo Bunny asked him where would they go? Berry Bear said they should leave earth and go to the nearest star that begins with a B. They should go to Bootes since both of their names begin with B.

Berry Bear had spacesuits that he and Boo Bunny put on and climbed into the spaceship and planned their trip. They took a compass and turned it north because Bootes is north of earth far in space. Three-two-one-lift-off! They were on their way to Bootes! They passed the trees, passed the birds, passed the clouds, they even passed the moon! Yes, the moon! Up, up and up they went, far into space! The sky was now dark with bright globs of lights! It was a beautiful sight! Berry Bear and Boo Bunny were moving so fast that in a snap of your fingers, they were there at Bootes. Boo Bunny told Berry Bear to find a good place to land, so they chose the planet Bot. It was a giant blue planet that circled around Beta Bootis, one of the stars in the Bootes constellation. Bot was not hot or cold and it had bright yellow clouds with a bright red sun in the sky.

The spaceship landed on Bot. Berry Bear and Boo Bunny were greeted by purple three-legged people of all sizes with heads that had a mouth and one large eye. They ran constantly from side to side. The people called themselves Bottoms. They greeted Berry Bear and Boo Bunny by grabbing their paws with their hands and dancing in a circle one time. Some wore a sunglass that covered their eye. They were very friendly and so many. Boo Bunny became so dizzy and fell down after greeting all of the bottoms. All of the buildings on Bot were shaped like pyramids and every Bottom had a pet at their pyramid house. They either had a six-legged dog or a six-legged cat. Some of the pets were plaid, striped or polka-dotted.
The Bottoms decided it was time to eat, so they took Berry Bear and Boo Bunny to their pyramid restaurant to eat. The Bottoms drove three-wheeled cars and trucks. When they reached the restaurant, they had green fizzy sodas and red and yellow vegetables, but they were tasty treats. The Bottoms said that they do not eat meat, but they have great treats to eat! They eat pink, blue and white ice cream with red, yellow and green drizzles on top. The meal was delicious to Berry Bear and Boo Bunny! They were full to the top! They were taken to see some of the animals that live on Bot, like the llama looking animal that they called the boojim. The boojim was silver with lots of curly fur. It ate the pink straw that grew on the blue ground. They also saw birds of all colors flying on their backs through the sky. They saw animals that looked like half furry orange elephants called buppers. They reached a river of yellow water that emptied into a yellow lake with fish that jumped every now and then. There were boats on the river that looked like Hong Kong Junks.

The red sun began to set and the Bottoms all went to their pyramid houses to get ready for bed. One of the Bottom families invited Berry Bear and Boo Bunny into their home to spend the night. Boo Bunny found it very interesting that the Bottoms sleep while hanging upside down from a rod inside the top of their pyramid home and they never fall off the rod. Boo Bunny and Berry Bear slept on the floor of the pyramid home.

When morning came, everyone woke up and started to get ready for the day. The bottoms came down from the rod, showered, brushed their teeth and ate the breakfast that the mother Bottom made. It was brown ham and red eggs. It did not look so great, but it smelled wonderful and tasted really good! Boo Bunny and Berry Bear thanked the Bottom family for inviting them for the night and prepared for their return trip home to earth. They said goodbye to all the Bottoms as they returned to their spaceship and boarded ready for their trip back to earth. All the Bottoms waved good-bye and gave them a present of twenty bottles of green fizzy soda to take with them on their journey home. Soon Berry Bear started the engines and before they knew it, Boo Bunny and Berry Bear were home drinking their green fizzy sodas and talking about the happy memories of their trip to Bot!

The Thumbprint Detective: Where’s the Turkey?

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I just received a phone call from the house at 7777 South Bay Dr.
It’s Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve and someone has stolen the Thanksgiving Turkey!
It looks like another case for the Thumbprint Detective.

Everything looks quiet outside. I’ll just knock on the door and start solving the case.

The dog Chewy:

I was taking a nap on the warm hall floor, and the great smell of that big bird was in the air when all of a sudden, I heard the sound of feet marching and I saw the bird without a head walking out of the kitchen to the pet door. I have never seen anything like that before!

The bird Squawker:

I was in my birdcage on my swing, getting that last set of reps in, when I saw this very small dark red line pass down the hall to the kitchen. The line was moving fast and it didn’t say a thing. The line took the big bird and a whole bunch of things. Thank goodness it didn’t see me on my swing!

The fish Fish and Bowl:

We were taking our usual evening swim when we saw the big bird, the pie, the dressing and the cake that Kelsey just baked walk out the little door near the floor in the kitchen! We have never seen food walk like that!

Niece Kelsey:

Aunt Vivian and I had just finished baking our Thanksgiving meal and had placed them on racks on the counters to cool. When we came back, something or someone had taken all our food and left. That’s when I called you to solve this theft!

Nephew Chris:

I was upstairs watching movies, enjoying the smells of the baking, and beginning to yawn when Kelsey yelled that all the food was gone. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, but the kitchen was empty and so were the goods!

The cat Sox:

I was sitting in the kitchen window, waiting for that big bird to cool. You know I love birds! They make tasty meals, when this moving dark red stomping line came into the kitchen and just took my meal! It stopped at the big bird and then the dressing, pie, and cake. It went right under all of it and took all of the food out of my door and did not hesitate! I got closer to see what was this! There were millions of them carrying the food that was baked!

I went into the kitchen and walked through the pet door where some of the gravy and sweet crumbs had fallen on the floor. I pulled out my magnifying glass and what did I see in the backyard, but a high rise ant mound with red ants at guard waiting for someone to try to pass.
I asked one of the guards for the head ant in charge and I was sent to General Carpenter, the master ant and officer of them all!

The perpetrator: General Carpenter

This is the time when all ants must prepare for the winter you see. It is not every day that an ant can have access to a picnic so warm and great! So when one of my food scouts smelled the wonderful food with an easy way to join in, he came back and reported the location and we planned how to get in. It was very easy for us to get in and so much was baked, that we decided just to take the rest home to our condo for all of our family to partake! It is going to be a great Thanksgiving picnic for our families to eat!

Well, it looks like the owners will have to call in an order for a catered Thanksgiving meal! I’ll suggest that maybe they should consider totally closing that pet door so that the rest of their meals will not be walking on the floor out of the door. I must be leaving now and my bill will be at the desk by the front door.

This is another mystery solved by the Thumbprint Detective!

Colors

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One blue moon, I had a strange dream.
I was a blue blood princess feeling blue because I talked to my blue ribbon servants about planning my ball until I was blue in the face.
I was so angry that I was seeing red, so I decided to paint the town red!
I got caught red-handed by a photographer who was paid by my enemy, that was green with envy!
I suddenly got a yellow streak and ran!
Later that night, I had a call from my enemy who tried to blackmail me with the pictures that she had of me painting the town.
I sent a letter to my enemy in black and white that I would blacklist her from all of the parties and balls in town if she published the pictures.
When she received the letter, she turned white as a ghost.
She was so angry with herself for being so green. So she raised the white flag and threw away the pictures.
The black and white-tie ball was the next night.
I walked down the red carpet just like a queen in the white driven snow.
I was tickled pink that the ball went off with flying colors!
All of a sudden, the alarm rang and I realized that I had been seeing my dream world through rose-colored glasses and that was a horse of a different color!

The Solar System Dance

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She was dancing her colorful dance with the sun,
When she was outdone by the smallest one, little Mercury closest to the sun.
Then she was circled twice by Venus day and night.
She and her moon are number three with the only visible life forms for all to see.
The fourth is the dance of the red one that is the goal for the next exploration.
Then in comes the rocky donut ring of small planets, rocks, dust and things.
Jupiter, the largest, comes spinning in the dance class full of gas.
Along comes Saturn twisting with her colorful rings!
In comes Uranus on its side with a slow roll.
Whirling rapidly like a big blue top, Neptune takes the solar floor on its outer edge like the rim of a bowl.
On the outer edge is a small piece to be barely seen, is Pluto dancing like in a dream.
Dancing together for billions of years in the Milky Way is the solar system we call home today!

Ernie Bean and His Big Blue Submarine

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One late October night, Ernie Bean had a dream that he had built a big blue submarine and traveled the ocean to new places he had never seen. When he woke up the next morning, he decided to follow his dream and build a big blue submarine! There were a few problems with Ernie’s dream. Ernie lived on a farm far from the ocean and he had never really seen a real submarine. Ernie was determined and would not give up on his dream. He was going to build his big blue submarine. Ernie knew he would need some help building this submarine, so he told his two best friends, Mike and John about his dream and his plan to build his submarine. They thought it was neat and the greatest thing to build and travel in a big submarine! Mike and John agreed to help Ernie build this big blue submarine. Ernie knew he had to get started, and would be starting from scratch, so he went to the only one around who he knew who may have seen a submarine and that was old Admiral Sternrudder. He lived in a small house near the lake and kept a large collection of ships in bottles there. Ernie, Mike, and John decided to pay the Admiral a visit for help building a submarine. The Admiral listened closely and said Ernie had a pipe dream. He explained that they don’t build submarines on land far from the sea. He said it would take a lot of steel and iron, cranes, frames and welders to build that sort of thing. Since Ernie insisted, the Admiral loaned Ernie a book on ship and submarines and wished Ernie, Mike, and John well with chasing their dream.

Ernie, Mike, and John read the book from cover to cover, soaking everything up like a sponge, and finally hatched a plan to build a submarine right here on land! Ernie, Mike, and John were known to march to a different drummer and could not be stopped when the started something new. Ernie drew up the plans. Mike added the measurements and John gathered the materials needed to build the submarine. They decided to visit Scrappy’s JunkYard to find most of what they needed. They told Scrappy what they were building and Scrappy asked if they were in over their heads? He said he knew a man who ran marine scrap yard far away on the coast, but it would take a while for the parts to make it to town. Ernie, Mike, and John said that would be great! See what happens when they put their heads together! The boys decided that the submarine would have to be motorized so that it could make it to the shore. John found the right thing-three old tractors could do the job! Scrappy had a couple of old cranes that he was willing to trade. Ernie had collected quite a few spare parts from his neighbors’ farms and traded them with Scrappy for the parts they needed.

They visited Root and Trunks Lumber Yard for as much spare wood as they could get for the frame. When the told Limb Root and Leaf Trunks about their plan, they told the boys they had rocks in their heads but would help them with the plan. Limb and Leaf showed them the section of the lumber yard with the surplus wood and told them they could have as much wood as they wanted. The last stop they made was at Hit The Nail On The Head Hardware Store for the blue paint. Mike calculated that they would need 1,000 gallons of Marine Blue paint to cover the submarine. The boys placed their collection of material and tools outside of Ernie’s barn. Ernie, Mike, and John rolled up their sleeves and worked on building the submarine day and night. The word got around to the neighbors in town and they started to come to Ernie’s to see the building of the submarine. Some said the boys were out of their heads, some said their idea was crazy and so was their dream, some called the submarine a white elephant, and some said it was queer as a three dollar bill. Only one little girl said she supported their dream. Ernie, Mike, and John did not seem to care. They gave them a deaf ear and just kept building the submarine. One day before they knew it, they had completed the thing. It was one giant blue submarine. They cranked it up and checked it out! Everything worked as planned. The boys packed their bags and climbed into the tractor and began their journey to the coast. The neighbors gathered down the streets of town as the big blue submarine passed down the main streets to the highway that ends at the coast. The neighbors gawked and some even cheered. Others did not have a clue. Some were so happy that they didn’t know what to do! The boys got lots of looks and were asked by many for pictures as they kept trucking down the highway headed toward the sea.

Ernie, Mike, John finally reached the ramp, christened the submarine with a bottle of apple cider and launched it into the water. They climbed into the sub and began to live their dream. The boys learned early that if you stick to your goals and follow your dreams, you can do anything! Ernie, Mike, and John were now sailing the world in their big blue submarine!

What Do You Hear?

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We seem to ignore and take for granted our five senses until we start to lose them.
We seldom give them a second of our time to think about them. One of our most simple
sense that we rely on the most, yet abuse, is hearing.

When do you stop hearing the sounds around you?
When do you stop hearing the sounds of the birds when you wake up in the morning?
When do you stop hearing the bees buzzing as they start their day early taking the nectar from the flowers that have just opened to face the morning sun?
When do you stop hearing the dog barking in the yard next door to greet you good morning as you pass by on your daily trip to the bus stop?

When do you start hearing the voices of other boys and girls?
What do you hear when your mother or father tell you to do your chores for the fifth time today?
Is it the muffled sound of ducks quacking?
Is it total silence?
Or does their request fall on deaf ears?

As you get older you will be forced to play life by ear because you turned a deaf ear to the instructions you received when you were younger.
The walls have ears and if they could talk!
You will stop listening to your friends’ advice because it will sound like they had nothing between their ears and you were hearing things!

You will then become all ears to people who are more seasoned than you and keep one ear to the ground for further directions.
Everything the seniors have been saying all along will become new like you just put on a fresh set of ears!
I heard that!
Did you?

If you’re lucky, you will end up grinning from ear to ear because you think you have figured life out!
This will be music to your ears and you will probably lend an ear to one of your friends who is still playing life by ear.
By this time you will have children of your own who will play their strange music so loud that you can’t hear yourself think!
Silence will be music to your ears!
And you will remember why your grandmother used to yell that children should be seen and not heard!
Don’t throw them out on their ears!
They will still be wet behind their ears.
Maybe by then, you will know when to turn a deaf ear.
You will hear it again for the first time because you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!