Tag Archives: tongue

Thursday Theater: With a Thankful Heart

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Good morning my dear Chicklettes! This Thanksgiving I am grateful for so many things! And, in addition to my wonderful heart, I am especially grateful for the amazing and wonderful gift of my whole mind and my entire body:

  • Feet that step and skip and dance,
  • Legs that have carried me towards my loved ones and all that I dream,
  • Knees that flex under the load I sometimes have to carry, and kneel in awe of the beauty of this world,
  • Thighs that make a lap for holding warm, squirmy, squiggly children and a resting place for the chin of my fabulous dog, Max,
  • Hips that sway and shimmy and shake to the beat of the beautiful old earth, and make a place to rest my hands when arms akimbo, I face the dangers and toils of this world,
  • A round, soft bottom that cushions me when I fall,
  • A warm, generous tummy that creates the energy I need to live and love and shakes merrily when I giggle and gufflaw at the delicious absurdity of life,
  • A broad back that allows me to bend down to help others and help shoulder their load,
  • An expansive chest that swells when I breathe the rich and wonderful air, that powers my speech and my song, that gives me a place to cradle that which is beloved,
  • A powerful neck that allows me to turn my head and see not only that which is right in front of my eyes, but all of the wonder that surrounds me,
  • Lips to kiss,
  • Tongue to taste,
  • Teeth to bite when the need arises,
  • Eyes that convey the beauty of the universe to my mind and allow others to see into my soul,
  • Ears that record the music of the earth from the soft shushing of the surf to the boom of a storm to the whisper of a lover sharing a secret,
  • And a heart and mind capable of recognizing the incomprehensible nature of the gift which I have received.

Here’s hoping that Thanksgiving is full of all that makes you happy and joyfully devoid of the stuff that tempts you to choose to relinquish your peace.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: Blue Whale Tongue

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I’m sure you could guess that a whale weighs more than me.  I mean whales are BIG.  I mean REALLY big.  But what you might not know is that the whale is the big mouth of the sea.  Seriously.  Whales need big mouths to eat their very big dinners.  During the high feeding season, a whale will consume 4-6 tons of teeny tiny krill per day.  In order to do so, their throats expand to take in as much as 50 tons of water in one gulp!

The blue whale is also the loudest creature on earth.  Blue whale song can reach 188 decibels.  For comparison’s sake, a jet engine on takeoff is about 140 decibels and the human pain threshold is 120 decibels.   Luckily the whale’s song doesn’t hurt the ears of other underwater animals who have ears that can tolerate such high amplitude. The song of a blue whale can be heard up to 500 miles away.

And then we have the blue whale’s tongue.  This thing is massive y’all.  Here’s the stats:

Estimated length: 19 ft.

Estimated area: Large enough for 50 people to stand upon it.

Estimated Weight: About 4 tons

Conclusion: A whale’s tongue weighs more than me.