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        riddles >> what am i >> I have four wings
        
(Message started by: maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 1:56pm)

Title: I have four wings
Post by maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 1:56pm

I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; On the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Leonid Broukhis on Jun 4^th, 2003, 2:58pm

I can only think of a win[hide]dmill[/hide]. On the other hand, it could be a pair of kiwi birds hatching their eggs.
;D

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 4:07pm

on 06/04/03 at 14:58:48, Leonid Broukhis wrote:

I can only think of a win[hide]dmill[/hide]. On the other hand, it could be a pair of kiwi birds hatching their eggs.
;D

Ya :)

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Icarus on Jun 4^th, 2003, 5:00pm

I suppose you "Old Country" types might think of that easily. Here on the Great Plains of North America, [hide]windmills have lots of "wings", are mostly used for pumping water, not milling, so they do "cry", and if the maintenance is lacking, they definitely don't toil away with "little sound". Heck, with all the tornados we get, you can't even be sure they will always be found on the same spot! ;)[/hide]

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by maryl on Jun 6^th, 2003, 1:06pm

on 06/04/03 at 17:00:43, Icarus wrote:

Hey, I live on the Great Plains of North America, but not that far removed from remembering what windmills used to look or sound like-I guess that's part of the riddle.
You've got a good point with the tornadoes, I think I'd rather suffer them then the arctic winds and snow up here.

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Zeke the Geke on Jun 12^th, 2003, 5:26am

Maybe you should both try the happy in between -- here we have no tornadoes and arctic winds and snow for no more than half the year! ;)

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by maryl on Jun 12^th, 2003, 6:50am

Well actually I don't live right on the plains, I guess I just consider it all pretty much the same except for the coasts. And I don't know where you're at Zeke but except for B.C. it gets pretty darn chilly.

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by James Fingas on Jun 12^th, 2003, 7:33am

Another place that stays relatively warm year-round is the Niagara/Niagara-on-the-Lake area. It has 'its own climate' due to the Niagara Escarpment.

Good place to go for peaches!

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Icarus on Jun 12^th, 2003, 4:05pm

Kansas is a wonderful place to live! It's far enough north to still be freezing in winter (though you Canadiens would not be impressed), yet in summer it broils hotter on average than those due south (There is a fair stretch in the SW that gets hotter still, but that is the only place in the USA).
It may be flat, but the scenery always changes. Without moving in Kansas, you can see Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, and lots of Oklahoma and Texas, depending on which way the wind is blowing. ;)

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Ronin77 on Jun 13^th, 2003, 6:26am

Well.. unlike all you guys (or most of you) I live in Australia so its not suprising i dont have a clue about what places you are talking about ::).

Title: Re: I have four wings
Post by Icarus on Jun 13^th, 2003, 7:58pm

Take a map of the USA - look at the big part that everyone thinks of when they picture this country (there's also Alaska and Hawaii, but they aren't connected to the rest).

In the very middle of it is a state that would be rectangular if someone hadn't chewed off its NE corner. That's Kansas. Kansas is known best for two things: Wheat - we grow more of it than anywhere else in the world, and airplanes - we build more of them than anybody else in the world.
Kansas is also known for being flat (not entirely true, but our only "mountain" is named so only by legislative fiat - everybody with any sense would call it a low sloping hill).

To the north is another fairly flat farming state called Nebraska. To the east is Missouri, most well known for the Ozark mountains - prime hillbilly country. South is Oklahoma, also mostly given to farming and ranching. This was originally territory set aside for the American Indians to live in, but then people decided they didn't need even this little remnant either.
South of Oklahoma is Texas - a large state most noted for producing hot air. West of Kansas is Colorado - an almost square state noted for its mountains (though the eastern half of the state is actuallly plains).

The Western third of North America is mostly mountainous. A very large widespread mountain chain, called the Rockies, extends from the northern reaches of Canada down all the way into Mexico. To the east of the Rockies along its entire extend is a vast region of plains and prairie, called the "Great Plains", and once called the "Great American Desert", because it is considerably drier than the regions in the eastern part of North America that people were used to (very little of the great plains actually qualifies as desert).

Another thing notable about the plains is their wind. The middle plains, which I live on the edge of, are one of the windest large regions of the world (there are lots of small places that are windier - though Chicago, "the windy city", is not amongst them: about everywhere on the plains is windier than Chicago).

B.C., that Maryl mentioned, is British Columbia, in Canada. It is the western-most Province (here in the US, we have states, but Canadiens prefer provinces) in the southern part of Canada. It includes the Pacific coast and a good section inland (including most of the northern Rockies). We were all set to go to war with Canada to get it about 160 years ago, but decided to fight with Mexico over Texas instead (its amazing how a decision that makes so much sense at the time can prove to be so bad later ;)).

The Niagara region lies along the St. Lawrence river as it flows between the Great Lakes (yes I admit, I don't recall which two lakes it's between). If you don't know where they are, you should sue your local school board for gross negligence.