A Lesson for Puppies

I can sympathize with these little puppies and their aversion to tackling stairs for the first time. It reminds me of my first time on a bicycle without training wheels.

No problem, my father was going to hold on to the back and push, all I’d have to do was pedal. I did that, and got going pretty fast. But I still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of steering, and soon a hazard loomed before me: The Ruts. That was just a little bumpy area where the playground met the end of our street, but my mother, for no reason I will ever understand, had told me that The Ruts were too hard even for the big kids. Why in the world did she tell me that?

Anyhow, I was headed straight for The Ruts, so I turned around to tell my father to stop the bike ’cause I didn’t know how, The Ruts are comin’–and he wasn’t there! He’d let go some minutes ago, and was standing some distance away with his hands on his hips, all smiles because his little boy could ride a bike. Only when the little boy discovered that, the little boy went down like a ton of bricks! Fap!

Pups, I feel your pain.

The Ol’ Milestone… Almost

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It looks like I’m going to fall short of 100,000 views for the year by a little less than 2,000. So close!

I believe it was Violet Crepuscular–or was it Voltaire?–who said life is like a Mille Bornes game. You’re rolling along, slapping down those 100-mile cards, sometimes a 200, and suddenly you’ve got a flat tire (“Creve!”), or a red light, or a speed limit (“Limite de Vitesse”) and you’re either stopped or slowed. You need a spare tire (“Roue de Secours”) or a green light, whatever, to get going again. Unless you were holding on to a Puncture-Proof (“Increvable!”) or a Right of Way card: then you can execute a Coup Fourre. But it’s hard to come up with a Coup Fourre in real life. Although not as hard as pulling one off in a game of Monopoly.

I’ve just written my Newswithviews column for the week. I only have to write one of those per week, but it feels like a lot more.

But tomorrow’s New Year’s Day, and we are hoping for a rest. We like to watch The Time Machine on New Year’s Day–that wonderful George Pal production from 1960, starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux. And we’ll have Patty’s pork casserole for supper–heavenly! And since we set up our air purifier and started her on her medicine, Robbie hasn’t coughed much. If she’s coughed today, I missed it. She’s been a very good girl about her medicine.

So again, thanks to all of you who visited this blog throughout the year, and shared your comments–and your prayers–and gave us your fellowship.

Tomorrow we’ll crank it up again.

A Dynamic of History: the Devourer

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Genghis Khan’s piece of the world

The outward appearance of the world is always changing, but the dynamics of history never change.

One of those dynamics is this: there’s always somebody who wants to rule the world, a devourer of nations.

Pyrrhus wanted to conquer all the countries around the Mediterranean. He couldn’t have told you why. A woman killed him with a piece of a millstone: just like what happened to Ahimelech in Judges 9:53.

Alexander the Great conquered nations because he thought he was a god. Julius Caesar and his successors trampled other nations as their way of getting ahead in Roman politics.

Genghis Khan grabbed more of the earth’s surface than anyone; and God alone knows why.

Adolph Hitler tried to engulf Europe. His own ambition killed him.

Today there is no individual, no single nation, that’s out to conquer the world. But the dynamic of history remains. The new devourers of nations are globalists, consortia, an international gaggle of self-anointed big shots. Instead of Roman legions, they’ve got legions of lawyers. Instead of Panzer divisions, they’ve got waves and waves of “migrants.”

But it’s the same old thing, a yen to rule the world. The methodology has changed, but the motivation stays the same. Control everything and be as gods.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall have them in derision… (Psalm 2: 4)

When He stops laughing, then they will learn who is God and who is not.

Absolutely Your Last Chance to Buy My Books!

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Yes–this is indeed your last chance to buy my books in the year 2018! If you wait till tomorrow, it’ll be 2019.

So get onto amazon.com and order a couple of ’em, or click “Books” and then the little shopping cart icon and order direct from the publisher. It’s easy! Even I could do it, and I stink at computers.

The saga begins with Bell Mountain and now consists of ten books, with No. 11, The Temptation, just about ready to come off the press. Thrill to wars, miracles, treachery, conversions, really strange and menacing beasts, weird barbaric customs, love, friendship, faithfulness, barbarian invasions, an avalanche–everything that makes life worth living! It’s all in here.

Buy ’em for your kids, and by the time they reach No. 10, The Silver Trumpet, they’ll be old enough to read ’em all over again.

And I have heard, but cannot confirm, that every time anybody buys one of my books, somewhere in the world, a leftid cries “Ouch!”

‘Erased from History’ (2011)

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Public baths? Municipal swimming pool? We’ll never know.

The end of any year is a time for reflection. Historical reflection is allowed.

Imagine a real civilization with hundreds of cities, millions of people, international trade, fine architecture… about which we today know virtually nothing: a civilization so totally erased from history that not the name of even a single one of its people has come down to us.

https://leeduigon.com/2011/05/31/erased-from-history/

Think about it. The Indus Valley civilization. The names of its rulers and artists, its cities, its gods–all lost. We cannot read their writing. Surely the Sumerians, with whom they traded, should have written about them; but if they did, we haven’t found it. Not one voice, not even one, speaks to us for the Indus Valley people. One look at their buildings is enough to convince us of their greatness. But buildings don’t talk. Not when you can’t read the inscriptions.

Think about it.

‘All Glory Be to Christ’

It’s New Year’s Eve, and you’re going to hear a lot of Auld Lang Syne. Fine, that’s as it should be, it’s nice. But here we put the tune to the service of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t know about you, but this goes straight to my heart: All Glory Be to Christ by King’s Kaleidoscope, sung by Dustin Kensrue. I’m only going to post it once today–but you can listen as often as you like.

How Critters Cope with Ice

Most of these cats and dogs seem to be enjoying themselves on the ice, except for those who fall through. And also the poor dogs who can’t climb up a slippery hill without sliding back down.

Gee, it’s been a long time since I cavorted around on the ice…

The Man with One Buttock (‘Oy, Rodney’)

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In Chapter CCXLIV, or somewhere, of Violet Crepuscular’s epic romance, Oy, Rodney, Lady Margo Cargo finds herself sitting in the midst of a dense stand of bulrushes. Her upholstered wooden leg is missing. She does not know how she got there. All she can remember is taking a shortcut through the vicar’s back yard on the way to her wedding, suddenly feeling dizzy–and now she’s here, wherever here is. And somewhere in the distance, an unpleasant nasal voice is singing “It Isn’t Monday Anymore,” the same line repeated over and over again.

“I shall be late for my wedding!” she exclaims.

Meanwhile the disappointed groom, Lord Jeremy Coldsore, orders the arrest of the man with only one buttock, whose appearance at the wedding, contrary to the warning by the Wise Woman of the Woods, has brought a curse upon what should have been a festive occasion. The man with one buttock, who hadn’t meant any harm and only stopped by to see what was happening, tries to escape; but with only one buttock it is difficult to get up any speed. Constable Chumley collars him and drags him back to the scene of the unintended crime.

“Yare’s a fritten poor zeedem,” explains the constable.

Taxed beyond his powers of emotional endurance, Lord Jeremy, in his capacity as Scurveyshire’s justice of the peace, is in no mood to be merciful.

“What’s your name, villain?” he growls.

“An’ it please your honor, sir, I’m Sardanapalus Tingleworth, sir–and I didn’t mean no harm!”

“Sophistry won’t save you, rogue! I sentence you to death! Sentence to be carried out immediately!”

“Oh, I say!” interjects the vicar. “That’s a bit harsh, what?”

But here the chapter breaks off. Ms. Crepuscular’s one light bulb, she informs her readers, has unexpectedly given up the ghost. She is already having second thoughts about naming one of her characters Sardanapalus. It is bound to offend the American best man, Willis Twombley, who already has an itchy trigger finger.

‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ (Blackmore’s Night)

How about a little more Christmas spirit–eh? Instead of nooze: my Christmas tree doesn’t like nooze.

Instead, let’s have Blackmore’s Night with Ding Dong Merrily on High, complete with harpsichord and bells. I can’t resist the harpsichord.

Mr. Nature: the Fence Lizard

Jambo, boys ‘n’ girls! Mr. Nature here, with the humble fence lizard. My home state of New Jersey is but poorly endowed with lizards, but we do have the Eastern Fence Lizard, one of my favorites. The lizard in this video is a Western Fence Lizard from California, almost the same thing.

The “push-ups” that these lizards do, mostly the males, is a territorial display. It means “get lost!” Most of the lizards in the iguanid family–dozens and dozens of species–make this display, as well as puffing themselves up, showing the dewlap, etc. There are even some Old World agamid family lizards that do push-ups. This is a mystery to me, that totally unrelated lizards should resort to the same threat display.

I once had fence lizards and one of the females laid eggs. We caught her doing it, and so were able to contact the Staten Island Zoo for instructions as to how to care for the eggs. They were good instructions, and all two dozen eggs hatched into absolutely perfect little lizards.

At night the little ones used to bury themselves in cedar shavings with only their heads left showing. One morning our granddaughter came into the living room and saw them like that–only the tiny heads scattered here and there–and totally freaked out. She was sure some fiend had come in the middle of the might and beheaded the baby lizards. But Mrs. Nature was quickly able to reassure her otherwise.

Fence lizards eat live bugs and can be kept together in an aquarium without your having to worry about them assassinating one another. They tame rather quickly and are altogether nice lizards.