April Fooling Easter Halloween and More

This year's hoppening day was the convergence of April Fool's Day and Easter Sunday, very rare. How rare? From "Easter falls on April Fools Day in 2018: How often does that happen? …":

For the first time since 1956, Easter Sunday falls on April 1 - or April Fool's Day. Since 1900, Easter has fallen on April Fool's Day only four times - 1923, 1934, 1945 and 1956. It won't happen again until 2029. … Easter generally falls between March 22 and April 25 each year. … egg hunts, family gatherings and visits from the Easter Bunny, who leaves treats in children's Easter baskets.

Were-Rabbit for April Fool's Day/Easter Sunday and Halloween

A weirdly appropriate item to use this year was the Burger King Curse of the Were-Rabbit basket, which came out around Halloween 2005. This basket promoted "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)".

From "Clay Time: Wallace & Gromit's U.S. Romp" (publish date October 2, 2005):

Wallace and Gromit are asked to protect a small town from night-raiding rabbits who chomp people's prized vegetables…. Prepare for Halloween buckets, ….

Thoughts back in 2005 about the were-rabbit might not have extended to 2018 and Easter. Think rabbits and Easter baskets. And having Easter and April Fool's Day made that Sunday even more cutesy, imho. The basket did double duty this year. (I gave a friend my basket so her grandchild could tote it for this year's Easter/April Fool's Day and Halloween. If I'd only had the foresight to stash away some 2017 Halloween candy, …)

What Else Hoppened?

During a walk in the neighborhood last week, I spotted symbols of differing occasions at one house. Christmas-themed, to be sure, but a rabbit (Easter symbol) and winged dragon (Halloween symbol) are unusual. If the homeowner also laid out some hearts, shamrocks, and American flags, the display could cover six holiday seasons.

Speaking of shamrocks, during yesterday evening's walk, I spotted a snowman balloon that made me think of St. Patrick's Day. The hatband has a sprig of hollies and berries, but could probably look appropriate with a shamrock or leprechaun around March 17 in cold areas.

Circling back to an offbeat symbol, how about a fangy snowman, or two? Spotted them during yesterday's walk. Imho, their faces look more Halloweeny scary than Frosty friendly.

Heck, why not just have Halloween inflatables and lights up starting in September? F'rinstance, "Christmas Disney Inflatable 5.5 Santa Jack Skellington The Nightmare Before Christmas Airblown Decoration" is available at Amazon. Another inflatable, fangy like my finds, is "Gemmy Bumble Christmas Inflatable Fabric 1 Multicolored".

April Fool's Day and Sunday, no Hoppening Easter Bunny)

My tshirt's design shows a footrace for April 1, 1990. That day was a Sunday ("Sunday 1 April 1990"). It was not, however, Easter Sunday. "When Was Easter Sunday in 1990?" shows that date was April 15. This site provides dates for Easter Sundays that you can click for links up through 2047 and also use the calculator for an unlisted year.

Want another calendar source? Astronomical Society of South Australia's "Calculate the Date of Easter Sunday" includes links to Easter Sunday dates that span six centuries (18th through 23rd). Speaking of astronomy, the following is my 2018 April Fool's story, which I sent out to a select audience March 31.

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March Madness Under a Full Moon (Awoooo!)
 
The March astronomy meeting triggered a melee during a speaker's Raspberry Pi Astrophotography: LinGuider presentation. A precocious youth blew a raspberry during the discussion about the Raspberry Pi, then exclaimed, "Where's the pie!" The youth's father, embarrassed and angry at his son's outburst, went full Homer and started to throttle the boy's throat, growling, "Why you little …!"
 
Another audience member, shocked at the physical interaction, threw his pocket pen protector (PPP) at the dueling pair. The plastic envelope started to float harmlessly towards earth, but somehow picked up an air pocket, then veered and jabbed someone nearer the PPP thrower. The unintended target, enraged at the jab, shaped a hardcopy celestial-events handout into a paper plane, then hurled it toward the PPP thrower. It missed, and instead pricked yet another audience member.
 
Within minutes, handouts, spectacles, smartphones, laptops, and soda cans ranging in fluid capacity from empty to full flew everywhere. Police were summoned. Dozens were arrested and escorted into a paddy wagon under the full-moon evening, presumably arraigned and released in time to attend the next month's meeting.

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APRIL FOOL'S DAY! Actually, the speaker's March 1 presentation was very well-received. Lots of questions, answers, comments, suggestions.

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This article brings me to the end of 2018, having hopped from and to a few special occasions this year. Happy Holidays!

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For more articles about Halloween, enter "Halloween" in the search box at the upper left of this window. Or find and click "Halloween" link at Partial Index of Keywords section (just below Popular Posts section).

Chuckwalla Lizard Part 2 of 2 (with Walla Segue)

Initially, I intended to have one article that described a chuckwalla in context of a wildlife rescue facility, general info about this species of lizard, and other "walla" items. I wound up with so much content that I decided to split the topic into two. The previous part, "Chuckwalla Lizard, Part 1 of 2 (at Lindsay Wildlife Experience)" focuses on the common chuckwalla at the rescue facility. This part pertains to general chuckwalla lizard info with segue into "walla".

General Chuckwalla Lizard Info

WikiVividly entry for chuckwalla provides good overall chuckwalla info. The Chuckwalla Sauromalus table, headed by pix of male and female common chuckwallas, has a nice feature of expanding scientific terms by hovering over them. The webpage also has abbreviated sections with pictures for related chuckwallas. Etymological info breaks down the genus name.

The generic name, Sauromalus, is a combination of two Ancient Greek words: … (sauros) meaning "lizard" and … (omalus) meaning "flat".[2] The common name "chuckwalla" derives from the Shoshone word tcaxxwal or Cahuilla caxwal, transcribed by Spaniards as chacahuala.

"Northern Chuckwalla" provides a good introduction of the common chuckwalla. The site describes physical characteristics, habitat, life cycle, reproduction, and role as predator/prey.

"Chuckwallas [Sauromalus ater]" provides a short overview; the textual contrast between the male and female are helpful.

In the common chuckwalla, depending upon the population, male coloration may include black head, forelegs and upper trunk, and reddish-yellow toward the rear or a showy bright red body. Females are usually a much less showy gray or brown with little pattern.

"COMMON CHUCKWALLA Sauromalus ater" is an Arizona-centric website. It describes distribution and habitat to be primarily westernish Arizona, accompanied by a "Known Range" map. It has overview descriptions of the animal and includes specimen pictures.

A large (up to 229 mm or 9" from snout to vent) flat and wide lizard with loose folds of skin on the neck and sides of the body. The head, shoulders, and limbs of males are black. ... Females are gray-brown with faint mottling or crossbars and often have faint gray bands on the tail.

"Common Chuckwalla - Sauromalus ater" is short on content but plentiful for visual items. Its map shows the range as a big splotch that, besides westernish Arizona, also includes parts of southeastern California, southern Nevada, and parts of Mexico adjoining the Gulf of California. Somewhat amusing is that all the still images are chuckwallas in Arizona.

The common chuckwalla is related to the spiny lizard, which I wrote about in "Texas Spiny Lizard and Some Kin". The higher level of reptiles is "squamates" (amphibians, snakes, lizards) > lizards. (Click Taxonomy tab at "Lizards (Suborder Sauria)" to view hierarchy info.)

• Lizards Suborder Sauria > Iguanas and Chuckwallas (Family Iguanidae)—the common chuckwalla is at Iguanas and Chuckwallas (Family Iguanidae) > Chuckwallas (Genus Sauromalus) > Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater).
• Lizards Suborder Sauria > Phrynosomatid Lizards (Family Phrynosomatidae)—the Texas spiny lizard is at Phrynosomatid Lizards (Family Phrynosomatidae) > Subfamily Phrynosomatinae > Subfamily Sceloporinae > Spiny Lizards (Genus Sceloporus) > Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus).

Additional Walla Items

"Chuckwalla" made me think of "walla" text, which shows up in diverse places but seem to have little commonality for meaning.

"Odwalla, Inc. History" states the product and origin of the company name.

today one of the country's leading brands of fresh juice … The company's name came from a character in an Art Ensemble of Chicago song-poem called 'Illistrum.' Odwalla delivered the 'people of the sun' from the 'gray haze.'

"Walla Walla… Then & Now" provides basic information about Walla Walla.

Walla Walla is a First Nations name meaning "many waters." In 1805, when Lewis and Clark traveled by the mouth of a small river flowing into the Columbia River, they met a group of Indians who told them their name for the small river was "Wallah Wallah."

"Walla Walla – People of Many Waters" provides extensive history of the tribe, area, and current geographical area.

A Shahaptian tribe who lived for centuries on the Columbia River Plateau in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington, their name is translated several ways but, most often, as “many waters.” … The tribe included many groups and bands that were often referred to by their village names, such as Wallulapum and Chomnapum.

"Word of the Day / Walla: What, Really? Walla!" is a different look at walla, but feasible because of pronunciation.

comes from the Arabic word that means “by Allah!” or “I swear to God!” It is made up of the word “Allah” and the “w” sound that can be used in Arabic to represent an oath.

An entertaining use of walla walla comes from the very old novelty song "Witch Doctor - Ooh Eeh Ooh Ah Aah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing".

Remember "Tie Me Kangaroo Down"? View "Rolf Harris - Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport [Bandstand 1960]". The first animal mentioned is "wallaby", "walla" appended with additional syllable. At Wiktionary's "wallaby":

From wolaba, an Australian Aboriginal word from New South Wales.… Any of several species of marsupial; usually smaller and stockier than kangaroos

Well, I now know a lot more about chuckwalla lizards than I did a week ago!

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Lizard articles:

• Chuckwalla Lizard Part 2 of 2 (with Walla Segue)
  
• Chuckwalla Lizard Part 1 of 2 (at Lindsay Wildlife Experience)
• Texas Spiny Lizard and Some Kin