B is for . . .bighorn.

.
Image and definition 'sampled' from: 
Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language; copyright 1989.

Tonight's random selection and submission for your (and my) edification...

big-horn, n., pl  -horns, (esp. collectively)  -horn. a wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, of the Rocky Mountains, with large curving horns. Also called Rockey Mountain bighorn, Rocky Mountain sheep.

Lewis and Clark are often credited with the discovery of bighorns. But they had been described before ...as early as 1540 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. They truly must have been an astonishing sight for transplanted Europeans.


More to come . . .and maybe not an animal next time..!!


...tom...

A is for . . .alpaca.

.
It is easy to let a blog lay fallow. With all the distractions of real life and other online activities ...sometimes a blog post is the last item on a long list of 'things to do'.

This serves as the inspiration for a simple, silly posting activity to perhaps get me back here more often.

I have always been fascinated by the small line drawings or 'pictures' found in ink and paper dictionaries. Strange animals, small maps, unfamiliar objects, odd plants ...as a young reader finding these diminutive icons they were most often a glimpse of something new to me.


This series of posts will share random selections of these small pictures 'sampled' from Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language; copyright 1989. A "$79.95 Value" according to a tag on the inside the dustcover's front flap  ...I picked it up recently for $6.99 plus tax at a local Half Price Books outlet. Boy did I hoodwink (v.t. 1. to deceive or trick.) them..!!


Tonight's random selection and submission for your (and my) edification...

al-pac-a  n. 1. a domesticated, South American animal of the genus Lama, having long, soft, silky hair or wool, related to the camels, resembling a llama, and believed to be a variety of the guanaco.

 I know . . .pretty exciting..!!

Stay tuned for my next entry . . .I hope to at least make it through the alphabet once. We shall see.


...tom...