"T-Rex Week" (Episode 3)

Today's Tyrannosaurus Rex artwork was produced by son #3 when he was about 9 and 1/2. He's the one who'll say he wasn't that great at drawing, but I think this picture proves him wrong!

I hope you're enjoying "T-Rex Week" so far! These creatures, along with all of their many dinosaur friends, played such a huge role in this house for so many years. We have countless books about them, and as you can see, the boys spent countless hours drawing them. I miss good old T-Rex! We have saved our enormous collection of dinosaur toys, so if any of the grandchildren become interested in these prehistoric animals, they're going to love to play at Papa and Grammy's house.

When the first dinosaur remains were uncovered, it was thought that dinosaurs were cold-blooded, slow-moving creatures, like reptiles. Since then, scientists have determined that T-Rex appeared to be a very fast runner who led an active lifestyle, and therefore may have actually been warm-blooded. Through analyzing T-Rex fossils and comparing them with existing fossil remains, they believe T-Rex had about a 30-year lifespan.

No one has a clue why T-Rex's arms were so short and useless-looking. (Really, what is up with those arms? In every other way, T-Rex is so fearsome to behold, but its arms are faintly ridiculous.) Maybe they were used to clasp its prey close to its chest? That's as good a guess as any, I suppose. I think that's more plausible than the theory of some evolutionists, who believe the arms would have eventually disappeared altogether if T-Rex hadn't become extinct first.

The female T-Rex was larger than her male counterpart, outweighing him by as much as a few thousand pounds. After all, she had to produce and lay all those T-Rex-sized eggs. But a few thousand pounds--no fair! The female T-Rex was probably always asking her mate, "Do I look fat in this outfit?" And he was probably afraid to say yes, or she might eat him.

I think I better quit while I'm ahead here, because this began with some nice, official, scientific facts and has devolved into silliness. But stayed tuned: there are still two more episodes to go!