Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Youth Picnic

This past Saturday we had a picnic in the park with our youth group. It was so much fun! The park we went to is call Ferguson Park. It is very nice. I tried my hand at tennis for the first time in like eight years. Needless to say I was horrible, but I am sure I burned off 5 million calories just standing the the 105 degree heat. The very brave among us played a wild game of softball. I would have played, except I did not want to commit to standing the the 105 degree heat, so I just took pics. Later on in the day when it was too hot to take pictures, I sat with Celeste under an old oak tree. (OK I don't know what kind of tree it was, but that sounds nice and picnic-ie) It was there that my life was forever changed. Celeste taught me how to make a grass whistle. It is one of the coolest and most annoying sounds I have ever heard. It is hard to believe how hard it is to make a grass whistle, but it is totally worth the trouble. So for the rest of the afternoon I spent all of my free time (about 20mins) trying to make a piece of grass squeak.

FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT: How to make a grass whistle

Blowing over a blade of grass stretched between your thumbs makes a high-pitched squealing noise that often attracts predators. Done long enough, it can lure animals such as mountain lions, coyotes and lynx close. It can also keep bored kids busy in the back yard for quite a while.

[edit] Steps
Select a blade of grass. Thin blades of grass work best, but they need to be flat, not round. Very wide blades of grass that have a crease don't work as well either. In other words, bermuda grass works great, but be sure to use the blades, not the stems.
Hold one end of the blade of grass between the tips of your thumbs. With your thumbs slightly bent, press the bases of both thumbs together, catching the other end of the grass between them.
Carefully straighten your thumbs out to pull the blade of grass taut. If you pull it too taut, it will snap and you'll have to start over.
Purse your lips slightly, put them right up against your thumbs and blow so that the air goes between your thumbs and over the blade of grass. It should make a high-pitched whistle sound.

3 comments:

Katie Booker said...

That has got to be THE most annoying sound ever. All the dogs in the neighborhood were howling, I had frogs coming out of the grass, hummingbirds beating their heads against my window..and all kinds of other weird animals making their way around my house.
AMAZING! lol

Anonymous said...

See, it's informative, enlightening posts like this that keep me coming back for more.

I remember when I learned to whistle using my fingers years ago at the Fontana camp - I whistled the entire camp and drove everyone crazy. Good times!

Anonymous said...

Katie, those weird animals were just Logan & Trystan... no need to worry. :-p