Learn about the Tides

The tides, are when the waters of the sea, rise and fall, because of the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun. The tides usually happen twice a day. Gravity is what makes everything stay on the earth, but since water is just a liquid, the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, can actually make the water rise and fall. The moons gravitational pull is just enough to raise the water of the seas, but nothing else.

The moon pulls the sea water up a little bit, that kind of makes a bulge in each side of the earth. This is high tides.

One side of the earths high tides is caused by the moons gravity, and the other side of the earths high tides is caused by the principle of inertia. It is really complicated to explain, but imagine that you are spinning a rope with something fairly heavy on the end of the rope. Imagine that the earth is in the middle of you and the heavy object at the end of the rope. Since you are spinning, you need to lean back to balance out the heavy object at the end of the rope, and your spinning. This is the same with the moon and the rotation of the earth. If the earth is spinning, and the moons gravitational pull is pulling the sea one way, the other side of the earth needs to have the same effect as the moon, but on the completely other side of the earth.

The moon is what mainly causes the tides, but the suns gravitational pull, can very the tides by either making them a little higher than normal, or a little lower than normal. The sun can only affect the tides a little bit, because the sun, is way farther away from the earth than the moon, so the sun can not effect the tides as much as the moon can.

When the sun and the moon are aligned in a straight line, so that they are on-top of each-other, the tides are a little larger than normal, because the suns gravity is helping the moons gravity by pulling the water bulge from the earth, making the tides a little bit bigger than normal. These tides are called spring tides, and they happen on Full, or New moons.

The sun helps the moons gravity enhance the tides just a little bit.

When the sun, and the moon, are at a 90 degree angle from each other, the sun, actually makes the tides a little bit smaller than they would usually be. This is because, the sun, is pulling the earths water towards itself, where the tides would be low usually, but the sun makes the tides smaller where the moons gravity is pulling. This happens on the quarter moons, and this is called neap tides.

The sun, is pulling on the low tide part of the earth, making the moons
effect of high tides, less effective, so the high tides are lower than usual.

The moon rotates around the earth 13 times a year, and this means that every day, the tides will happen twice, once every 12 hours and 25 minutes, (the 25 minutes makes up for the one year added extra to the moons rotation around the earth 13 times a year)


I hope you enjoyed this Learner post, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!


-August 16, Sunday (blog later today)

Learn about Lobsters (Learner Post)

Lobsters, are some of the weirdest animals around! They taste with their legs, and they have teeth inside of their stomach. They also, don't have brains! Since the lobsters stomach, is right behind its eyes, the teeth of a lobster are located inside of its stomach. The lobster has 2 main claws, 8 walking legs, a crusher claw, and a pincher claw. The crusher claw, is made to crush objects, and is big and has more muscles. The pincher claw, is longer than the crusher claw, and is used for holding on to things.  The lobster has 8 swimmerets, located on its abdomen. The swimmerets, are like tiny fins below its body, used to swim.

The tail of a lobster, can curl up to its body, and then un-curl back out to its full length. If the lobster does this really fast, it can swim really fast with its tail.  The female lobsters eggs, are located under its abdomen, in-between its swimmerets.  The female lobsters, are the mean lobsters, and will try to kill other lobsters if they get annoyed.  The walking legs are small legs, that the lobster uses to walk, and on the end of each walking leg, is a tiny claw, used to grab stuff, and for defense.  

Lobsters do have nervs, but, lobsters do not feel pain. This part is very interesting; lobsters do have reflex's to what would be considered pain to them. When someone gets hurt, they instantly have a reflex to the pain, whatever it is, but the actual pain is what comes after the reflex when the pain reaches the brain. Since lobsters have no brains, they only have reflex's to pain, but can not actually feel the pain.

If a lobster looses a certain limb, or claw, the lobsters can regenerate them. It usually takes about 5 years for a lobster to regenerate a claw that had been chopped off, but they can do it. 

Regenerating Claw.

Some cool facts about lobsters:

1. We have found lobsters living up to 100 years!
2. Lobsters can grow as big as 4 ft long and 40-50 Lbs.
3. If lobsters desperately need more food, they can feed off of smaller lobsters
4. Lobster blood is clear, not red like ours
5. Lobsters, can not survive in fresh water
6. 
   

Working Day (i saw a sunfish!)

Yesterday, my Dad, and my Grandma Nancy, arrived to my moms house. We had pizza for dinner yesterday, and then, we watched Big Hero 6.  I slept at my Aunt Pennies, because i had to work today. Today, I had another bagel for breakfast, and then we went on to the boat. I did not bring my Bluetooth speaker today, because i thought that i wouldn't use it today! Today, was suppose to be a long day, and we were going to get done at about 2:30 P.M, but there was not a lot of lobster per trap, so we got through the traps really fast, and we got done before noon!

The first part of the day, i was getting really tired and was loosing all of my energy, and it seemed like i was always working, non, stop, and i didn't even have time to rest for like 10 seconds, but then, Uncle Art said it was snack time, and then i had a banana. Then, after that, i felt really good, and it was sunny out and clear, and i made a process in which i had about a 10 second break each time we hauled a trap.

Every-time uncle art hauled a trap, i would have a bait bag ready with a rockfish on it, ready to bait the trap. Every-time we hauled a trap, i would take the old bait bag out of it, and put a new bait bag inside of the trap. Then, i would quickly move to the lobster place, to band whatever lobsters we had gotten from that trap. By the time i was done banding the lobsters from the trap, the trap was going down into the water, and then, while Uncle Art was driving to the next trap, i would fill another bait bag, and put a rockfish on it to get it ready for the next trap. Then, i would have about a 10 second break between me getting the bait bag ready, and me baiting the next trap.

Today, we didn't have to bring the lobster boat into the dock to get bait, because Uncle Art had already gotten bait the day before, so we just got into the rowboat and got into the lobster boat, without having to come into the docks. I took a picture of the stairs right before we went out on the lobster boat, and then i took a picture of the stairs after we were done lobstering that day, to compare the tide at 5 A.M. to at Noon.

This is a picture of the stairs at 6 A.M.

This is a picture of the stairs around Noon!

As you can see, the tide rises during the day, and i will be doing a "Learn about the Tide" page, tomorrow, and the lobster "Learner Page" later today! The stairs are built so that when the tide comes in, or out, you can still access the floating wooden platforms. The bottom half of the stairs is usually covered with sea-weed, because that part of the stairs, is covered by water, half of the time.


During the last hour of me and Uncle Art being on the boat today, we saw a sunfish. A sunfish is a fat fish that looks like a big fat bullet with fins at the back of it.  This fish lives in tropical and warmer waters around the world. It can weigh between 300-1000 KG. as an adult! It kind of looks like a short, fat shark. I got a picture of it, but i will also show a better picture of it from online,

This is the picture of the Sunfish i got with my Ipod

This is a better picture of a Sunfish from online.

We got done around Noon, then, we got home, and i had a sandwich, and started to read the first 2 chapters of The Scarlet Letter because I need to read it for school, and my Oma is reading it with me at the same time. Then, my mom got here to bring me and Levi to her house, while they went to look at houses. (My mom wants to buy a house out in Maine, so we can use it if we come out to Maine in the future) Levi also got a potato gun, from the toy store with my mom. You basically stick the end of it into a potato, and then, you pull it, and the air, forces the potato piece out of it, and its awesome!

This is the potato gun.

You stick it into the potato, and then it pumps out the potato piece.

When you pull the potato gun grips together, it compresses the air until that air, shoots the potato piece out the end of the gun, and it goes really far! Its cool, because you can use it with crab apples also, and those are everywhere, so you have unlimited ammo! 

-August 15, Saturday

Summary of Last Night, Thursday

Yesterday, for dinner, me, Levi, my mom, Oma, Aunt Pennie, and Uncle Art went to dinner at the "Lobstah Shack" It is spelled funny. The "Lobstah Shack" reasturant, is right across from the wharf, where me and Uncle Art go out on our lobster boat every morning. The Wharf, has an area where the lobster boats can come in on the water, and on the other side of the water, is the "Lobstah Shack" I took pictures of the wharf, and the "Lobstah Shack"

This is the Wharf, where the lobster boats come in to get their bait and supplies.

Right on the other side of the water, is the "Lobstah Shack"

Lobstah Shack

The lobstah shack, is just a small building, made into a reastruant. All of the seating for the reastruant, is outside on picnic tables. There is a tent just in case it rains. The lobster shack has a lot of different foods like lobster, clams, muscles, and i got a cheeseburger. It is right on the edge of the island, so you can see out into the wharf. That is where all of the lobster-men keep all of their boats.

The view from the "Lobstah Shack"

Us at the reastruant

After we ate dinner, we went to this ice-cream place, called Harjula's. It was a big truck, turned into an ice-cream shop, and you order your ice-cream from the back of the truck. They had a lot of different flavors. I got toasted coconut, and strawberry. They were both very good. The strawberry ice-cream, had frozen pieces of strawberries inside of it. We got our ice-cream, and sat at a picnic table. The view was great, because we were sitting on top of a huge hill. We got a picture of us sitting at the table, but only our shadows.

This is where we sat

Our shadows

After we had ice-cream, i went to spend the night at my moms house with my brother Levi, and Oma. I brought my Xbox so that i could play Xbox after Levi went to bed. I was sleeping over there because i didn't have to work the next day!

-August 14, Friday (this blog is a summary of Thursday night)

-"Learner" post on Lobsters later today

Working day - (day off tomarrow)

Today, was just a normal day. I had a bagel again for breakfast. We hauled only single traps today, with rockfish. I brought my speaker on the boat again, but this time i brought a charger for it, so it would not die. We got a little less lobster than normal, and there was less lobster per trap today than all of the other days, but we still almost filled the lobster bin.

I learned that the lobster hears, with its legs, and it tastes with its antennae, and the teeth of a lobster are inside of his stomach, (in between the center and the mouth of the lobster) The skeleton of the lobster is also on the outside of its body, that's why lobsters legs, and arms are hard, because that is their skeleton.

Lobsters, grow a lot because they come from really tiny eggs from the mama lobsters.

Here is a picture of a really small lobster!

I will be posting a post about lobsters on the main page of my blog later today.

We got done at about 12:15 P.M. When i got home, i ate a sandwich and it was yummy! My mom and Levi and Oma were at the house, and they went to the toy store while i stayed home!

-August 13, Thursday

Foggy Day (i got sea-sick again O_o)

Today, I got up at 5 A.M. again, and had a bagel for breakfast. It was really foggy. Literally, i looked out side, and i could not see the grass on the yard. Then, I got some chips, water, and gum, inside of a plastic bag, so that I could take it onto the boat. I took my ipod, and Bluetooth speaker onto the boat today, so that me and Uncle Art, could have some more music. The battery on the Bluetooth speaker, apparently, does not last that long, because the battery died after 2 hours.

My Bluetooth speaker!

We were starting to haul single traps today, but later we got into double traps. It was really foggy still. When we started to haul the double traps, i started to feel sea-sick again. It wasn't a good experience because i was loosing all of my energy to work, and it was hard for me to keep up with everything on the boat. I went back into the wharf, and Aunt Pennie, picked me up and took me home.

Later, i went to my moms house with Aunt Pennie, and oma. We hung-out at that house for a while, and then, Aunt Pennie, and Oma, went to see Uncle Arts father, while me and Levi, played at the playground next to where they were. We played on that spinney thing again! It was really fun!

When Aunt Pennie, and Oma were done, they said that they were going to go to the store, and my Oma, gave me and Levi 10 $ for us to go to Dairy Queen, just down the street!

When me and Levi decided to go down to Dairy Queen, we both got Jurassic Smash Blizzards. They were really good! It was like a blizzard with vanilla, and cookie dough, and recees peanut-butter cups! Later we got back to the house, and we had dinner. We had tacos! They were very good. I had cheese, salsa, and cilantro on mine. After dinner, i got back to Aunt Pennies house to spend the night!

I got a picture of my dog, Moxie, sleeping in the cats bed at Omas house in Lansing. 

I also, got some pictures of the cows in Maine, because they are different than the cows that we have back where i live! The cows here are called Belted Galloways. It looks like the cows have a belt around them and i think that is why they are called that.

-August 12, Wednesday

Easy Day (only 100 traps today)

 Today, was a pretty easy day. I got up at 5 A.M. just like any other day. I had a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast today! After i ate, me and Uncle Art, went down to the wharf, with some traps on the back of his truck to set out today. Today, i brought my Bluetooth speaker and my ipod so that me and Uncle Art, could have some music. Uncle Arts music player on his boat, does not work, so i just brought my speaker.

We were only hauling about 100 traps today. We got done before Noon, and we filled the lobster bin all the way to the top, which is pretty good, considering that we only hauled 100 traps. We used rockfish today, just like any other day. After we got home, i had a sandwich for lunch with smoked turkey, cheese, mustard, and mayonnaise. After i had a sandwich, i took a shower. Then, my mom and Levi came to take me to their house. Aunt Pennie, and my Oma, were going to get here today, and we wanted to be at the house to greet them.


We got to the house where Levi, and my mom were staying, and about 15 minutes after we got there, Aunt Pennie, and my oma got there. They had a lot of  luggage, so i helped them carry it in. Aunt pennie went back to her house soon after we saw her, because she needed to take a nap. Oma stayed with my mom, and they went out to find some coffee and just take a drive.

Me and my Oma! 

It was raining really hard when oma and my mom went out to take a drive! Before they left, me and Levi went to put some change on the railroad tracks so that the train would run over the coins, and it would flatten the change. We got like 11 pieces of coins, that were run over by the train. They looked really cool! 

Coins, run over by a train!

It was really rainy, and luckily, me and Uncle Art, got back, before it started to rain!

I brought my Xbox to mamas house so that me and Levi could play it when we were not doing anything else. I hooked it up to the TV, and to my laptop and i have the whole thing set up. When mama and Oma get back, we are going to eat dinner. I will do a "Learner" post soon!

-August 11, Tuesday