In the ancient Aztec culture, the Gods of Sun and War were called the "Hummingbird Wizards". These were the patron gods of the Aztecs. The Aztec warriors believed when they were killed in battle, they would return as hummingbirds. Aztec royalty and religious leaders were the only ones allowed to wear hummingbird feathers. Many native American Indians like the Hopi and Zuni often paint hummingbirds on their water jar pottery. They believe hummingbirds intervened with the Gods to bring rain to humans long ago. Read other stories at: http://thehummingbirdsite.com/

The hummingbird has been known as the Chupaflor (Flower-sucker), Picaflor (Flower-nibbler), and Joyas Volardores (Flying jewels) in Spanish and the Beija-flor (Flower-kisser) in Portuguese. These birds are so called because their wings often make a humming sound when they fly. Among their species, the Giant hummingbird is the largest and is 8¼" or 7oz, while the Bee hummingbird, which is considered the smallest is 2 ¼" or .07 oz. Hummingbirds belong to the Trochilidae family.
Here are facts about hummingbirds, those little creatures that glow:
The male hummingbird is more colorful than the female.
Hummingbirds spread color, this color is created by a pigment which absorbs some color while rejecting others.
Hummingbirds can dive 60 mph and their speed can average 25-30 mph.
To maintain their energy levels, hummingbirds eat every 15 to 20 minutes and may visit around 1,000 flowers per day. When they are unable to feed due to the weather, they go into a condition in which their metabolic rate comes down to only one-fifteenth of normal sleep.
A hummingbird eats spiders and gnats for protein. Sometimes it even pulls the spider out of its web in an attempt to catch an insect that is entangled there.
Hummingbirds, with 343 species, are the second largest family of birds in the Western Hemisphere.
The brain size of a hummingbird is 4.2% of its total body weight.
The normal resting heartbeat of a hummingbird is 480 beats per minute, this number can go up to 1,260 per minute when it is excited. These little birds breathe 250 times per minute.
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, forwards, up, down, sideways or even sit in empty space.
30% of a hummingbird's total weight is made up of flight muscles.
No other bird has as many feathers as a hummingbird has, per square inch.
The life span of a hummingbird is usually 5 to 10 years.
See other hummingbird facts at:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-the-hummingbirds.html

Arts and literature from Buzzle.com:
http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/arts-and-literature.asp

The 250 million year-old Capitan Reef Complex that sits astride the New Mexico-Texas border is one of the best-preserved Permian age fossil reefs exposed anywhere in the world. Its limestone and dolomitic rocks not only formed the Guadalupe Mountains, but also at least 300 caves. Now more than 400,000 people a year visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which preserves at least 113 separate limestone caves, including Lechuguilla Cave (the third-longest cave in the U.S. and the deepest cave in North America). http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/10/travelers-checklist-carlsbad-caverns-national-park7074

Examples of roots
ann, enni "year" anniversary, annual biennial, perennial
Examples of prefixes
e- "out of, from" elect (choose out of), eject (throw out)
Examples of suffixes
-sis "act, state, condition of" analysis
http://www.betterendings.org/homeschool/Words/Root%20Words.htm

Arches National Park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the greatest concentration in the country. Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/arches-national-park/

Feedback from muse reader: I have a correction for your newsletter. If a family with the last name of Smith lives in a house, it would be the Smiths' house, not the Smith's house. The apostrophe goes after the s because the s indicates there are multiple Smiths. So their sign would say The Smiths'.

The Declaration of Independence, part one
The clearest call for independence up to the summer of 1776 came in Philadelphia on June 7. On that date in session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), the Continental Congress heard Richard Henry Lee of Virginia read his resolution beginning: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
The Lee Resolution was an expression of what was already beginning to happen throughout the colonies. When the Second Continental Congress, which was essentially the government of the United States from 1775 to 1788, first met in May 1775, King George III had not replied to the petition for redress of grievances that he had been sent by the First Continental Congress. The Congress gradually took on the responsibilities of a national government. In June 1775 the Congress established the Continental Army as well as a continental currency. By the end of July of that year, it created a post office for the "United Colonies."
One by one, the Continental Congress continued to cut the colonies' ties to Britain. The Privateering Resolution, passed in March 1776, allowed the colonists "to fit out armed vessels to cruize [sic] on the enemies of these United Colonies." On April 6, 1776, American ports were opened to commerce with other nations, an action that severed the economic ties fostered by the Navigation Acts. A "Resolution for the Formation of Local Governments" was passed on May 10, 1776. At the same time, more of the colonists themselves were becoming convinced of the inevitability of independence. Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published in January 1776, was sold by the thousands. By the middle of May 1776, eight colonies had decided that they would support independence. On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution that "the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states." It was in keeping with these instructions that Richard Henry Lee, on June 7, 1776, presented his resolution. There were still some delegates, however, including those bound by earlier instructions, who wished to pursue the path of reconciliation with Britain. On June 11 consideration of the Lee Resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. Congress then recessed for 3 weeks. The tone of the debate indicated that at the end of that time the Lee Resolution would be adopted. Before Congress recessed, therefore, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. The committee consisted of two New England men, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York; and one southerner, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. to be continued
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription