- Hashtag "#ペット" returned 18 results.
For a while my 3 chickens were only producing 2 eggs a day. One of them wasn`t pulling its weight (= not working hard). However, now I`m finally getting one egg per chicken everyday - that`s 3 eggs a day, or 21 a week.
That`s a nice ROI (Return on Investment, 投資利益率).
Vocabulary:
- a/per = 対して, に就いて
- 'a' is more common than 'per', but 'per' is usual for people e.g. '$5 per person'
After deciding to get pet chickens, first I made a chicken house, then I made a fence. Finally* I bought 3 chickens. I gave them food every day & they got bigger. Finally**, after two and a half months, one of them laid an egg. My kids were pretty excited (egg-cited?).
Vocabulary:
* 最後に
** やっと, 到頭, 遂に
I made this chicken coop. I only have 3 hens, so it`s big enough, but I hope it is strong enough to keep out predators (捕食者) such as cats & weasels (鼬). Unfortunately I only had enough sheet metal to cover one side. The other sides are just wood. If I have enough time, I will try to strengthen the other walls.
Grammar:
- OK: ...enough + 名詞, ...形容詞 + enough
- WRONG: ...名詞 + enough, ...enough + 形容詞
I bought 3 hens. A hen is a female (雌) chicken. A male (雄) chicken is a rooster. Roosters are not good pets because they are noisy; hens aren`t. In a few months I hope to get eggs from these hens, but now they are too young.
A student told me where to buy them. Thanks, Junko!
Vocabulary:
- 'chook' is Australian & NZ slang, = chicken
Last weekend there was a free display of large dinosaur models in Yanagase in Gifu. I took my kids to see it. They really enjoyed it, though my younger son was a little scared. There were about 10 dinosaurs. The biggest one was Tyrannosaurus rex. It was pretty scary, especially when it opened its mouth. Some kids cried.
Vocabulary:
- I wasn`t scarED. My son felt scarED. Were you scarED?
- It was scarY. The dinosaurs looked scarY. I saw a scarY poster.
There are lots of ways to study a language. Sometimes I read Crayon Shinchan comics - the pictures help me understand, & they`re funny. When I saw these dogs at a highway service area, I was reminded (思い出させた) of a Crayon Shinchan story...
I guess their owner is an attention-seeker (目立ちたがりな人).
Vocabulary:
The word `remind` is very useful:
- If someone asks you to do something, but you`re busy, you can say: "Please remind me later/tomorrow/etc."
- If somebody says something that makes you remember something: "Oh! That reminds me - I got an email from... etc."
- If somebody mentions something that you want to forget: "Don`t drink too much at the halloween party - remember last year?" "Aah... don`t remind me!"
In the waterways near my house, there are heaps of (= lots of) American crayfish [ザリガニ]. Sometimes I catch them with my sons. If we spend long enough, we can catch loads of (= lots of) them, like in this photo. It`s tons of (= lots of) fun!
Japanese people don`t usually eat them, but Americans do, especially in the southern state of Louisiana. Have you ever eaten crayfish? I haven`t.
Another name for crayfish is crawfish, but in Australia we use the name `yabby`.
Vocabulary:
- `many`, ` a lot of` & `lots of` are standard English, but native English speakers also use casual terms like `heaps of`, `loads of`, `tons of`, `stacks of` & `piles of`.
Do you like turtles? I caught this baby one in a stream (= small river) near my house. My sons were excited. They like turtles but, to be honest, I don`t really like them.
Have you ever eaten turtle? There`s a soft-shelled turtle (スッポン) restaurant near the roundabout (= rotary) in front of Ichinomiya Station. I`ve been there a couple of times with friends but I don`t really like turtle dishes.
I don`t like turtles & I don`t like turtle either.
How about you?
Grammar:
- ...like turtles/chickens/kangaroos = 亀/鶏/カンガルー が好き
- ...like turtle/chicken/kangaroo = 亀肉/鶏肉/カンガルー肉 が好き
At the end of summer last year I put a caterpillar in a box. I fed it until it got big, then it turned into a cocoon (繭). I wasn`t sure if it would survive (= not die) the winter, because it gets pretty cold in Japan, & I kept the cocoon outside, not inside my house. Finally the weather turned warm, & I noticed that a butterfly had emerged (=come out) from the cocoon. After its wings had dried, it flew away.
I was pleased (= happy) that the caterpillar finally managed to become a butterfly.
It`s a Common Yellow Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) (アゲハ蝶)
Grammar:
There are a few ways to say なります in English:
1. get + adjective形容詞 e.g. get big, get sick, get fat
2. become + adjective形容詞/noun名詞 e.g. become confused/become a mother
3. turn + adjective形容詞 e.g. turn 21 (years old), turn red
4. turn into + noun名詞 e.g. turn into a butterfly, turn into a typhoon
5. go + adjective形容詞 e.g. go crazy, go quiet
On the way up the (many!) steps to Henro temple number 71, there is a small restaurant. We stopped there for lunch. Kagawa Prefecture is famous for `udon` style noodles, so we ordered udon. It was okay, but nothing special. I was a little disappointed.
The restaurant is in the middle of a forest. While we were eating, a forest animal came into the restaurant. What do you think it was? Challenge!
I`ll tell you the answer in 2 weeks.
UPDATE:
The answer is in comments!
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PSPINC JP 
TERAGOYA おとな 
mokomoko 
内倉憲一 
birdy 
yukio 
エメラルド 
bokushi 
KUMA 
田仲なお美