Hello Children,
Most of you I'm sure have pets at home. While some of you would like the cute and cuddly cats and dogs others may prefer to rear rather unusuel pets like rabbits, birds and even snakes! Well, whatever type of pets you may have, you can have a lot of fun and learn a lot about them if you're interested. Apart from playing with them and enjoying their company, you can observe the things they do and read about your favourite pets from books. Having a pet is not only fun, it helps you to learn about the habitats of other living creatures and understand , love and respect them for what they are.
Until next week
Aunty Sunshine
Water is found almost everywhere on our planet and it is found in many different forms: from the depth of the oceans to the limits of the sky. It is in the air we breathe in the form of water vapour. It floats across the sky as clouds and falls to the earth as rain, snow and hail. It is found in the soil. It forms colossal glaciers and it collects up in rivers, lakes and the sea. It is even found in our bodies and without water there would be no life on this planet. The water you use in your homes is pumped from rivers and reservoirs. The more water you use, the more likely it is that yet another beautiful valley will be flooded to form a reservoir, or one more river will begin to run dry, thus killing all the wildife in and around the river. Also, more dirty water is sent down the drain and this taxes the sewage works. Overflows of untreated water can seriously damage the environment. It is difficult to imagine how much water is used everday, but here is a rough estimate:
litres
1 flush of the toilet 10
1 bath 80
1 shower 30
1 washing machine load 100
1dishwasher load 50
This is an awful lot of water. That is why it is so important to conserve water and it is also why turning off that dripping tap really will help to protect the environment.
One major way in which farming can pollute the environment is through the use of pesticides and fertilizers. If either of these are in excess, rain water washes the excess into rivers where they cause terrible damage by upsetting the delicate balance of underwater life. Factories can also cause a lot of damage to the environment by not disposing of their waste carefully. Ordinary households cause just as much damage, too.
Bleach and other chemicals poured to clean the toilet are pollutants. Some washing powders are also considered as pollutants because of the harmful substances that they contain. Most pollution of this type affects rivers thus killing wildlife, destroying the habitats of organisms and making the water stagnant and unsuitable for human use.
Eventually, all rivers run to the sea taking with them all the pollutants that had polluted them earlier. During the summer of 1989, pollution was so great that rivers created huge mountains of green slimy green algae in the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Yugoslavia. The slime which looked like something from a science fiction movie, washed up onto beaches, much to the suprise of holidaymakers.
But this is not the only way in which the seas and oceans are being polluted. They also suffer from the dumping of dangerous chemicals, raw human sewage and radioactive waste from the nuclear industry, as well as from huge oil spills which devastate the seas.
In 1989, the oil tanker EXXON VALDEZ ran aground in the beautiful William Sound; Alaska. Millions of gallons of crude oil was released into the ocean. The slick spread into a 2400 km stretch of death. Wales, seals, otters, polar bears, penguins and other such seabirds suffered and died. So did the fish who were the livelihood of the natives and also the source of a great industry. It will take years to clean up this mess and the cost will be astronomical.
The oil pollution devastated wildlife in Alaska.
And so such a list could go on forever, reminding man of all the great damage he has done to the most essential part of life... water.
"If you don't use electricity carefully the whole country will be in darkness". This was a familiar statement during last year's powercut. People had to face unexpected problems and difficulties. Factories stopped, houses were in darkness, refrigerators smelt because of the spoilage of stored foods and the current news through electrical communication system broke down. It was a valuable experience to all of us. That situation revealed that electricity played a major role in the modern world.
Electricity is a versatile and economical power. Even though it is easy to control sometimes it can cause great damages. It can be distributed quickly over long distances. It doesn't contribute to environmental pollution like other fuels.
Electricity can be produced in many ways such as using coal, fuel oil ,nuclear power, wind power or water power from dams. In Sri Lanka the production of hydro-electricity is the most popular and economical way as there are several mountains and powerful waterfalls.
Electricity is a real friend of man in the modern world.
The books I like reading the best are those that are related to life. Books that relate to the struggles and triumphs of life move me for they talk of certain things that everyone can relate to. Little Women, by Louisa Alcott, is a moving story about four young sisters and their life at the time of war. The sisters' characters are so different, but we see how they try to get along and make the best of what they have: fanciful Meg, who knows what it is like to be rich; tomboy Jo, who wants to join the army; shy Beth who lives to make others happy; vain Amy, who feels life is most unfair to her. Together they overcome the obstacles of growing up, with the help of their wise and kind-hearted mother, while their father is away at the war front.
The diary of Anne Frank is a moving story of a young girl who, just because she is a Jewish, is forced to go into hiding. The most powerful thing about this story is how Anne keeps smiling through all her troubles, and keeps waiting for the day she will be free again, even though it wasn't to come. We see how Anne blossoms from a little girl into a young woman, with a strong will and the capacity to endure more than most mortals can. Anne is not a fictional character; she is as real as the Holocaust that took place in her time.
One other book I have enjoyed is Anne of Green Gables, which is the story of an eleven-year-old chatterbox orphan with an imagination that frequently runs wild, and a nature that makes everyone she meets feel young again. Anne's purity and goodness makes the reader feel happy to be alive, and be thankful for what they have.
Growing up is the most difficult part of life, but also the best, and reading about others helps a lot. You not only relate to what they go through, but in future the character can make you reminisce about the past. Well... if you want to know more, you'll just have to read the book.
The future looked grim when they waddled into the vet clinic
Special diets are giving new life to fat cats and portly pooches- including Australia's first Pet Slimmer of the year
It's not just humans who need to fight flab - Australia's fat cats and
dogs are enrolling in slimming clinics in droves. 
Scruffy,
a maltese terriercross is a top dog, now. But not so long ago, he wobbled,
he panted and he was so fat that his knees were starting to crumble.
Today, Scruffy is Australia's first Pet Slimmer of the year.
A recent survey found that up to 40 per cent of Australia's dogs and 10 to 15 per cent of their cats were so fat that their health was at risk.
In Scruffy's case, the future looked grim when he waddled in to the Thirlmere Veterinary Clinic, in country NSW, last year. Instead of an ideal 6kg, he weighed in at 16kg.
His vet, Dr Katelyn Armstrong, recalls, "His knee joints were starting to disintegrate and he couldn't step up even one stair."
Scruffy was caught in a familiar vicious cycle. Once he was too fat he became lethargic, did less exercise and, consequently, got fatter. "He was depressed," says Katelyn.
She put Scruffy on a specially formulated food plan and enrolled him
in her clinic's slimming club. 
Today,
at 8kg lighter, he's new dog. So much so that Katelyn entered him in the
Pet Slimmer of the year competition, run by Hill's Pet Nutrition , a US
company which makes prescription pet foods for ailing animals other entrants
included Shane, a pets-as-therapy retriver from a nursing home in Bowral,
NSW, and Venice, a tabby cat. They are two more 'losers' whose lives have
been transformed.
When Shane first went to Bowral Veterinary Hospitial , he weighted 47.8kg and was going lame, due to obesity. Today , he's a happy, lively 31.6kg.
Venice, a short hair from Sydney is still plump at 7.kg, but nearly a kilo lighter than she was - luckily.
Her owner sought advice when Venice could no longer fit through the cat flap in the door!
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