Hellbenders

What the Heck Is a Hellbender—And How Can We Make More of Them?
Why the Saint Louis Zoo decided to invest in this slimy, surprisingly adorable amphibian



http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giving-them-hellbenders-at-saint-louis-zoo-180963417/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170601-daily-responsive&spMailingID=29232096&spUserID=NDQ0NTE0NTI4NDQ2S0&spJobID=1060159914&spReportId=MTA2MDE1OTkxNAS2

Jeff Briggler is leaning face-down in a freezing Missouri stream. Breathing through a snorkel and soaked up to his wetsuit-clad armpits, the Missouri resource scientist peers under rocks and probes into dark, underwater crevices. This is how you look for the rare, elusive survivors of the Carboniferous period, commonly known as hellbenders.

When he emerges, Briggler is holding a wriggling, pebbled and frankly adorable creature the size of a man's forearm. This slimy serpent is actually an endangered Ozark hellbender—though that modifier may be changing. The animal that Briggler drops into a blue mesh bag was born in captivity and has thrived in the wild against all odds, thanks to a series of conservation experiments by the Saint Louis Zoo.
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Dutchman's Puzzle Quilt

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Dutchman's Puzzle Quilt
74" x 92" 4 blocks x 5 blocks

1 Pack of 10" Squares (42x) Print
1 Pack of 10" Squares (42x) Solid
1/4 yds. of Cornerstones - 2 1/2" squares
2 yds. of Sashing - 2 1/2" strips
1 1/4 yds. of Border - 4" wide

Use method of 10" squares. Layer a print square and solid square together.
Draw diagonal lines from corner to corner in X form. Sew 1/4" seams on either side of these lines.
Cut the sewn squares from the middle of each side to the middle of the opposite side. Do this to make 4 squares.
Then cut on the drawn diagonal lines.
Iron open to make 8 half square blocks.

Sew 2 same color half square blocks to make 'a geese' block. Same color on the top of the direction for each pair.

Repeat this with a different color print.

Pair two of these different prints to make a '2 geese combination' blocks.

Arrange 4 of these '2 geese combination' blocks into one large block so center makes a pinwheel center.

Sew lattice along one side of each larger square.
Sew these 2 larger squares together at lattice sides to form row.

Repeat.

Sew lattice with cornerstone squares to join the 2 larger block rows.

Repeat.