Hello citizens of the world. We are the Soil Badgers and we are about to tell you something about the Pinus ponderosa and the Pseudotsuga menziensii, more commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine and the Douglas Fir. These are conifers found at the summit of Mount Lemmon. We found Western Dwarf Mistletoe on Ponderosa Pines during our hike, and noticed that the mistletoe was not growing on the Douglas fir. We learned that the mistletoe is not only to kiss under, but it is a parasite of trees. We learned that the mistletoe shoots its seeds up to 100 feet. These seeds are sticky and stick on trees to infect them. We also learned that soil is not ever to be called D$%* because that would mean that is has no life in it, and that is almost never going to happen because of MICROBES!
We also got to see Saturn, Mars, and Venus through the 24′ Phillips Telescope and the Sun through the solar telescope, which we have never done before. We learned that Venus has phases like the moon, and so does Mercury because they orbit between the Earth and the Sun.
We suggest coming to Sky School to get a workout. We hiked more than 6 miles in one day! All for Science!
Peace Out World – Shout out to Tucson
Sincerely,
Soil Badgers: Kangaroo, Swift, The Joker and Mesquite.