What period are we in?

The Paleozoic Era was 544 - 245 million years ago (mya) and within this era there are several periods. The Cambrian, Ordovician, Sulurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permain. Prehistoric life was underwater at this time until the Devonian Period. It was then that oxygen became plentiful and plants started growing. Due to this evolution life changed and animals came out of the oceans. At this time insects appeared. At the end of the Permian Period (286-245 mya) a great extinction took place, snuffing out 90-95% of marine life and 70% of land animals.

The next era was the Mesozoic 245 - 65 years ago. Life was bigger in these three periods. The first, Triassic new life was forming on the super continent located near the equator, Pangaea. Next came the Jurassic. In this period the dinosaurs grew up but contrary to what we see in the movies, the large dinosaurs such as T-Rex, Triceratops, Velociraptor and others did not evolve until the Cretaceous Period. Something killed them at the end of this period.

Following the Mesozoic Era is the Cenozoic Era. It was the beginning of the mammals and insects we know today. The pesky fly evolved during this time.

We touch on this subject just a little bit in our fifth grade science class. I find it all very interesting but you're probably wondering where I'm going with all of this. Well it has to do with my dog Cody.

You see Cody has figured out how to open the sliding door screen leading out to the fenced in backyard. Unfortunately he doesn't close it behind him. Yesterday we had three gigantic flies in the house thanks to him. I swear they some how survived extinctions throughout time. They were HUGE. The ginormous flies ended up banging into the inside of our front window. To Cody's credit he was snapping at them trying to get them without success. The lethal weapon we call the Terminator (a great flyswatter we have) was put into action and these flies were once again extinct. Phew.

I hope that's all that comes in through the open door this summer.

Oh and if you've read this post to the end, we live in the Quaternary Period 1.8 mya to present.

Gross eh?