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Domestic pets are a source of pleasure and fun. Most boys and girls love to keep pets. Pets help an individual to achieve a healthy state of mind and playing with our pets makes most of us happy.

Though dogs are the most preferred pets because of their faithfulness and honesty, but still there are thousands of cat lovers in the world.

The cat is a beautiful small animal resembling the likes of a tiger. It lives on the streets as well as in our houses and is one of our favourite pet animals. The cat’s body is covered with soft, silky hair and has four short legs and sharp claws hidden in the fleshy pads.

Scientific name: Pavo cristatus.

Introduction: The peacock is one of the moist beautiful birds of this earth. It is the national bird of India. It has received this recognition because of its long association with Indian life, culture and civilization and its beauty and usefulness.

From time immemorial it has found a place in our literature, sculpture, painting and engravings. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan fashioned his famous throne in the form of a peacock.

Types: There are two varieties of peacock, viz. the Indian and the Burmese. The main difference between the two types is that the Indian peacock has a tuft of short feathers on its head to form a half-moon shaped crest, while the Burmese bird has a pointed crest.

Habitat: Peacock is a hardly bird. It has unique adaptability to extreme climatic conditions. Thus, it can live in the hot, dry desert region of Rajasthan as well as it can adjust nicely with colder climates of Europe and America. Generally, peacock likes to live in the bushes or jungles near a permanent water source. At night it sleeps quietly on the lower branches of tall trees.

Habit and nature: Peacocks are timid and shy creature. In nature they live in groups. Usually in a flock, five to six peahens, one peacock and several chicks are found. They cannot fly much but can run fast on their strong legs. Their wings are not strong enough for flying. So they prefer walking to flying.

The call of the peacock is harsh and shrill. It is generally very alert and intelligent in nature. So, at the sight of any danger they crow loudly in a shrill voice to alert other birds. One can hear peacock calling in the morning and evening, especially on a cloudy day.

During a cloudy and rainy day, peacocks unfold their decorative plumes and dance joyfully, which is a most delightful and rare sight.

The peahen (female) compared to the peacock is dull looking and smaller in size; peahen has no plume. The peahen lays 3-5 eggs at a time in a hole of the trunk of a tree or in a bush. They sometimes dig small holes in the soil with their legs to lay eggs. The color of the egg is white. It takes twenty six to twenty eight days to hatch.

The average longevity of a peacock is 20-25 years.

Physical characteristics and features: A peacock can be easily identified by the following characteristics:

It looks like a chicken, but much larger than a chicken.
It has a small head with a crest on the top of the head.
It has a long neck which is bright indigo in color.
It has about 200 long, beautiful, decorative plumes, each containing an oval-shaped eye-spot with copper color centre.
Importance: Peacock’s beautiful feathers and plumes are used for decoration and in many cottage industries for various fancy items. The healing quality of peacock’s feather has been mentioned in ancient Indian and Sri Lankan medical literature.

Flowers are the most beautiful creation of the Earth. Their sight is a joy forever. They are a subject of poetry and no Natural description is complete without reference to flowers. Their beauty is sung by some of the best poets of the world.

They are of various colours and hues. Even the same species of flowers exist in several forms and tinges. They look picturesque and are a thing of beauty. One is lost in the sight of flowers and thinks of that invincible Power which has created them.

The sweet smell of flowers makes the air pleasant to breathe. The scent of flowers is extracted and preserved as perfume. People apply it on their clothes to make them sweet smelling. Water of certain flowers is sprinkled in gatherings.

Flowers are used in making sweet smelling hair oil. They are strung into garlands and with certain people it is a fashion to wear sweet smelling garlands in the evening. Flowers are offered to gods and goddesses. Some rich people spread them near about their bed at night.

A lover offers flowers to his beloved as a token of his sweet and pure love for her. Women love to hang them in their coiffeurs to look more attractive. Some gentlemen hung them in the button-holes of their coats.

The late Pt. Nehru always hung a red rose in the button­hole of his Achkin. The bee extracts honey from flowers. Honey is a tonic and a great purifier of blood. A bridegroom garlands his bride and she also does so in return at the time of their first meeting just before the actual marriage ceremony.

We shower petals of flowers upon our revered leaders when they happen to visit our city. When a great man dies, his dead body is laden with wreaths of flowers. People shower flowers upon his bier as it is carried through the bazars and streets as a mark of their love and respect for him.

Flowers are given to the sick as their very sight, touch and smell have miraculous healing properties. When any foreign dignitary visits our country, we offer him bouquets as a sign of our good-will towards the country he represents.

The foreigner, too, on his visit to our country places wreaths at Mahatma Gandhi's or Pt. Nehru's Smadhi by way of homage to the great souls of India. In short, no ceremony is complete without the use of flowers in one form or the other.

They are our companions in life as well as in death. They are a sign and symbol of love, sacrifice, regard, reverence, beauty and goodwill. Flowers adorn and enhance the beauty of our gardens, parks, temples, schools, offices, bunglows and rest houses. No human habitation is complete without flowers. Plants and trees full of variegated flowers are a sight to see. Poets are never tired of singing praises of flowers. Says Wordsworth in his famous poem, "Daffodils"-

"For oft when on my couch I lie,

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye,

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

A man, with a heart as sensitive to beauty as that of a poet, begins to dance with joy at the sight of flowers dancing in the breeze. He never forgets the sight. When he is in a sad or pensive mood, he recalls the scene to his mind and derives from it heavenly joy and bliss that are indescribable.

Flowers satisfy our sense of touch, sense of sight and sense of smell. They are a rare gift of Nature. Some flowers are used as a diet. Flowers like the rose are used for medicinal purposes. Some flowers are health-giving and are prescribed "as a tonic by physicians.

They have many moral lessons to teach us. They teach us to live for the pleasure of others. They teach us that a small life well. Lived is far better than a long life badly-lived. A little lily that lives for a day is far better than a huge oak that lives for three hundred years and at last falls sere and lifeless. They teach us to scatter mirth and beauty wherever we go.

Arrangement of their petals and leaflets in a systematic way teaches us to lead a systematic and disciplined life. Their smiles even in thorny surroundings bring home to us the art of living. The sweet fragrance which they impart to everybody irrespective of caste and creed teaches broad-mindedness and persuades us to break the narrow domestic walls. The resistance to strong gales and the hot sun urges us to have courage and not to lose heart even in the days of adversity.

The Major Arcana cards are the most recognizable and impactful cards in a Tarot deck. These 22 cards represent situations we all face in the grand scheme of life, with each carrying specific messages of perspective and guidance to help you in times of need. While the Minor Arcana cards focus on the everyday actions and decisions you must face, these Major Arcana cards reveal messages about the bigger picture of your life and its long-term direction.

And I have not made up my mind.

The leaf is the main photosynthetic organ in dicotyledons. It has a thin lamina, a midrib and a network of veins. It may also have a leaf stalk (petiole).

To perform its function the leaf must:

Contain chlorophyll and other photosynthetic pigments arranged in such a way that they can absorb light.
Absorb carbon dioxide and dispose of the waste product oxygen
Have a water supply and be able to export manufactured carbohydrate to the rest of the plant
The large surface area of the lamina makes it easier to absorb light, and its thinness minimizes the diffusion pathway for gaseous exchange. The arrangement of leaves on the plant (the leave mosaic) helps the plant to absorb as much light as possible.
A waxy transparent cuticle, which is secreted by epidermal cells, provides the watertight layer.

Chrysalis Form.

Rocks belonging to the Ordovician System are exposed along Interstate 75 between Cleveland and Chattanooga in a road cut in White Oak Mtn or sometimes called Green Gap. These rocks show the upper portion of the Middle Ordovician Catheys Formation and all of the Upper Ordovician Sequatchie Formation including the Fernvale Member.The road cut exposes a section of rock that was measured at two hundred and seventy-five feet. This stratigraphic section was examined in detail to determine the paleodepositional environment in which these sections of rock were deposited. There are a total of five units that have been identified and the lithography studied in detail. These five units will be split up and described separately to clarify the content of each unit more easily.Unit 1 Unit one represents the Catheys Formation. This unit grades upward and has a scoured bottom. This unit consists of mostly calcirudite and shale layers with occasional siltstone overlying the calcirudite. There are nine cycles present in this unit. There are skeletal debris as well as burrows present in these layers. These rocks are carbonate-rich as well. The siltstone suggests a low energy environment of deposition, but the burrows tell of slightly more energetic conditions. Unit 2Unit two represents the Sequatchie Formation. There are thin beds of calcareous siltstone that range in thickness from 1 to 1 . There are fossil remnants here as well. The siltstone is rippled and cross-beds are present. Some red shales are present, which may hint to us a beach was present at that particular time of deposition. This will account for the green as well as the red rocks and also the thin-bedded ripples present.Unit 3Unit three represents the Sequatchie Formation as well. The rocks present in this unit are mostly of green color, which leads us to believe they were oxidized. This unit shows evidence of a tidal flat or tidal complex. This idea stems from the oxidization and reduction of the...