Thanks for reading the July 2025 issue of This Awful Awesome Life. I hope you use the link for the Blueberry, Feta and Honey-Caramelized Onion Naan Pizza recipe in our “Twelve Months of Fruit.” Previous issues of This Awful Awesome Life are available to read on our website. Go to www.thisawfulawesomelife.com and start scrolling or you can enter specific search criteria.
Our August issue celebrates vacations and staycations.
I’m going to write a short story about a vacation or a staycation for the August issue.
Orlando Bartro and I will be back with more interesting articles for you.
Our featured author with an August birthday will be Stieg Larsson, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.
We’re moving some of our regular features around to shake things up a bit and keep you on your toes. I’m also hoping to expand our Artist Page to feature more talented creatives. Some people manage to elevate their work to the level of an artform, and we want to support their efforts.
I’ll have more streaming and reading recommendations. “What’s in a Word?” will be back but we’ll be alternating some of our content. We’ll continue the monthly quizzes to exercise our brains, and we’ll continue reviewing books.
I’ll have another poem for you.
I hope to have some news about a new subscription-based Patreon account featuring short stories and chapter installments of my books as I write them. This will be separated from our online magazine which will always be free and available to everyone. I’m considering the Patreon option because traditional and Indy publishing have changed so drastically in recent years. Hoping I can also provide opportunities for book discussions and narrations of short stories. Be on the lookout after the June issue. I have some other pressing matters to attend to in the next few months.
Stay safe. Stay well. You are important, and you are loved.
All my best,
Fran
Answers to the July 2025 Secrets of the Animal Kingdom Quiz:
Mourning Geckos are all female. They are parthenogenic and can reproduce without males. There are around 70 known species in the world that have this ability including the Komodo dragon.
The Howler Monkey is the loudest land animal. It can be heard three miles (5km) away and produces sounds reaching 140 decibels the equivalent of a jet engine during takeoff.
The jaws of a Nile crocodile can produce 5,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, the strongest bite of any animal in the world. It’s bite is 10 times more powerful than that of a Great White Shark.
The Pistol Shrimp is the loudest animal in the world. It has the ability to snap its claw shut so rapidly that it creates a bubble that collapses to create a sonic blast reaching 230 decibels louder than a gunshot or the sonic boom created by a Concorde airliner.
Only 5% of baby cheetahs survive to adulthood in the wild because of predators and diseases.
Greenland sharks are the longest living vertebrates on Earth. One of them is believed to be over 400 years old.
The Lesula, a species of monkey discovered in 2007 in the Lomami Basin of the Congo, is known for its human-like eyes and distinctive blue bottom.
Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animals. According to the World Health Organization over 750,000 people die each year because of diseases spread by its bite.
The Duck-billed Platypus concentrates milk to its belly and sweats it out to feed its young because it does not have nipples
Colossal squids have eyes as large as basketballs which lets them detect the faint light from a predator over 400 feet away.
The fingerprints of koalas are almost identical to human fingerprints even under microscopic examination.
Polar Bears have white coats, but the skin underneath is black.
Hummingbirds are the only known birds that can fly backwards.
Stonefish are the most venomous fish in the world having 13 fin spines on their backs, each with two venom packs.
The venom of a pufferfish is 1200 times more deadly than cyanide to humans; however, it is only the second most venomous vertebrate. The venom of a golden dart frog is more lethal.
Pangolins have the ability to protect themselves from predators such as lions by rolling themselves up into a spikey ball. Unfortunately, this does not protect them from human predators. They are the most poached and trafficked animal because some people in Asian cultures still erroneously believe their scales and meat have medicinal value.
Each two-toed foot of an ostrich has a sharp claw, and Its powerful kicks can kill a lion or a human.
Pea crabs spend their entire lives inside oysters, clams, and mussels and depend on them for food.
A common garden snail has 14,000 teeth.
Swifts spend most of their lives flying in the air. Alpine swifts can spend over six months in the air without touching down because they eat flying insects.
Corvids are extremely intelligent. They can use tools, solve puzzles, recognize faces, and even understand physics at a higher level than apes.
Their huge lung capacity and small red blood cells make yaks specifically adapted to high altitudes because they are used to low oxygen levels.
The Giant Pacific Octopus has three hearts, nine brains, blue blood, and the ability to change their color and texture to camouflage themselves in an instant.
Tardigrades look like bears and are microscopic animals able to survive in space, tolerate extremes temperatures, withstand pressures more than 6 times as intense as the bottom of the ocean, and go for more than ten years without eating.
Echidnas have a beak, spines, and lays an egg which is then transferred to its kangaroo-like pouch where it develops and hatches.
Electric eels are actually knifefish which are related to catfish. These animals are nocturnal, have poor eyesight, breathe air, and can deliver shocks of up to 860 volts, enough to knock out a horse.