Three Things Learned Over Two Cups of Coffee: Part 5

Why the Barn Owl Became American, Flavoured Manila Envelopes and Google Easter Eggs

“Is that you?”

“What?”
“Is that you or a bird outside?”

This is a common question in our household. I’m known to fall into the wonderful rabbit hole of Cornell Lab’s All About Birds site.

“It’s me!” And then I barrage Kim with owl info like Alexa. “Snowy Owls make low, powerful, slightly rasping hoots two at a time but may do six hoots in a row. Get this—they can be heard for up to seven miles on the tundra!”

American Barn Owl vs. The Canada Goose

I was originally investigating what a Barn Owl call sounded like. Kim and I did hear one when we were glamping in Port Dover a few summers ago but I wanted a reminder.

My search suggested the American Barn Owl as a match. American? When did the barn owl become American? I briefly wondered if Trump was taking ownership of our birds. Hold strong, Canada goose!

A Western Barn Owl couple we spotted along the Tsiribihina River in Madagascar.

Apparently, in 2024, ornithologists decided to geographically identify and slightly rename the generic barn owl. It’s found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica—Kim and I have actually seen them in the Galapagos Islands and Madagascar.

The new (but old) three Barn Owl species now include the American Barn Owl (restricted to the territory of the Americas), Eastern Barn Owl (a range that covers South Asia to Australia) and the Western Barn Owl (residing in Europe, Africa and western Asia).

We’ve yet to see an American Barn Owl around these parts despite the dozens of time-worn timber-frame barns that dot our peninsula.

However, last week Kim and I were warmed to see the return of the Snowy Owls in our area. Sightings were scarce over the past two winters causing great concern for the population and the northern breeding range. Brown lemmings are a primary food source for the owls and melting permafrost not only interferes with the lemming count but also the precious nesting habitat of the owls. We’ve seen two Snowy Owls so far which comes as a relief. We’ve certainly seen more in the past but the abundance of snow that has fallen on our heads and rooflines this winter has decreased our range too. I was okay subjecting myself to frost nip as I barehanded a stream of shots of the owl patiently posing above my head on an old hydro pole.

Oh—and if you’re wondering what an American Barn Owl sounds like—it ranks up there with a howler monkey and hyrax on the spooky, creepy level. As the All About Birds page says, “American Barn Owls don’t hoot the way most owls do; instead, they make a long, harsh scream that lasts about 2 seconds.” Lean in for a listen here. Keep the lights on!

Buffalo Wing Flavoured Manila Envelopes?

I jokingly said to Kim, “we can bring back Manila envelopes from Manila as souvenirs. I had NO idea that Manila envelopes originated in, duh, Manila, Philippines. The envelopes are made with manila hemp (also known as abaca), a plantain species found in the Philippines.

This led me to thinking about foolscap, I had to investigate. Was it some unusual, endemic hemp from Cabo Verde? Is there a city called Foolscap?

It was my favourite moment in elementary school. Yes! A full blank sheet of foolscap to let loose on. The rest of the class groaned as another creative writing assignment was issued. Naturally, I was that brownie that politely raised my hand asking for another sheet of foolscap because I’d run out of room.

Back to foolscap and its etymology: In the 1630s, it was a "type of cap worn by a jester.” After 1700, it referred to a specific type of writing paper as it was watermarked with a jester's cap. Now, foolscap folio (which sounds so 1700s compared to a Google doc or Apple’s Notes app, is a 13 × 8” legal-sized piece of paper. Which will need to be folded to fit inside a standard 9 x 12” Manila envelope.

Something to think about: If the often bitter, sometimes sweet, often offensive envelope adhesive could be customized to your licking palate, what flavour would you choose? Vanilla Manila? Cream cheese carrot cake frosting? Root beer? Buffalo wings? And who knew the Wild Wings franchise has 101 flavours of Canadian chicken wings to choose from?

This is when things go askew

Kim was waiting for the PWHL Toronto Sceptres vs. Montreal Victoire game to start and was calling out answers to a celebrity edition of Hollywood Squares. I was rewriting an Arctic small ship expedition itinerary for work when she said, “type in askew on your laptop.”

“What?”

“Askew. Type it in and see what happens. It’s not your eyes!

One of the smarty celebs knew if you typed “askew” into your Google search bar that it resulted in your screen titling! This little trick is known as a Google Easter egg and there are more! I’m a bit grandma when it comes to things like this but TikTok-ing millennials aren’t really my audience anyway. So—get this! If you type in “do a barrel roll” your screen will do a 360° spin!

If you Google “Paddington in Peru” a little sandwich icon appears at the bottom of your screen. Click it!

These Easter eggs have been around since 1979 and were originally used as tricks in gaming, animation and film. They are tiny sugar-free surprises.

Type in Total Eclipse 2024. Whoa.

Back to me. That’s what happens over two cups of coffee. Things go askew.

You can read another post from my punchy Two Cups of Coffee series here! And if you really want to up your patriotic game (hello proud Canadian readers!), Kicking Horse Coffee is encouraging Americano drinkers to go rogue and request Canadianos! Participating coffee shops will receive a sign indicating “Proudly Serving Canadianos” to display in their windows to indicate their support in the movement.

Image credit: Thoma Bastin. Thank you for sharing your cool cup of coffee all the way from Roast8ery in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand!

Just a reminder that while you enjoy this (and your coffee, Canadiano or Americano), Kim and I are busy looking for Easter eggs on Palawan Island, Philippines. We’ll be back March 24th but I will still be proactively posting as per usual on Saturday mornings because I’m dedicated that way! I won’t be replying to comments until our return because, well, I’ll be looking for Chocolate Boobok and Eastern Grass Owl (which looks like our American Barn Owl’s kissing cousin!). HOWEVER, do leave a comment and tell me about your Easter egg hunt or owls that you’ve seen! Or, what flavour of envelope you’d like to lick!