Did you know owls could be cute and cuddly? I didn’t! (Then again, some of my best friends have been mice, who are not in the owls’ cheering section.)
Well, these owls are sweet, so let’s enjoy them.
Category: nature
When Your Cat is Glad to See You
Who says cats don’t care? Who says they forget you?
Get a load of this one cat whose daddy has come home after a tour of military duty. Gee, if your country thought as much of you as your cat does, there’d be a lot of happy soldiers.
My cats, Robbie and Peep, were most impressed by the audio portion of this video.
St. Patrick’s Dinosaur
The little drop of Irish in me (by way of my paternal grandmother’s people) urges me to get a jump on St. Patrick’s Day, two days early, to celebrate the first dinosaur skeleton found in Ireland. Actually it was discovered in 2014, but I somehow missed the story at the time. ( http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/fossilised-remains-of-new-dino-species-discovered-in-waterford-263909.html )
This is an exceedingly strange-looking dinosaur! I can’t think of another dinosaur with such long forelimbs in proportion to its total size. You’d almost think it was some kind of mammal, with a build like that–but it’s most unlikely that any paleontologist worth his salt would ever confuse a dinosaur with a mammal.
Most dinosaur finds are nowhere near as well-preserved as this: we know so many dinosaurs from only bits and pieces. Enough of this creature is preserved to confuse scientists. They haven’t been able to decide just what kind of dinosaur it is. But it’s certainly put the city of Waterford on the prehistoric map.
Well, enjoy it–another tantalizing piece of God’s creation.
The Sparrow is OK
Hi, Mr. Nature here.
A couple of hours ago, my wife found a sparrow sitting on the sidewalk, not moving–sick or injured, we reckoned. A foot away we found another one, dead. I thought this might have been the result of a bird-fight: I’ve seen sparrows in action, and they are pugnacious little fellows.
All we could think to do was for me to put on some latex gloves, because wild birds can carry all kinds of germs, gently pick up the bird and put him down where no one would step on him and where the hawk wouldn’t easily see him. On the ground, this bird was just about invisible.
Just now, I went outside to check. The sparrow saw me, got up, hopped around a little–and flew away. That made us quite happy.
They’re little and cute, but I think they sure do love a fight. I’ve seen them gang up on the hawk to chase him away. Seen ’em gang up on each other, too. Oh, well. Not a sparrow falls without the Father. I presume God likes them. Probably a lot.
Jandra’s Nasty Toothed Bird
I have been asked to provide an image that will give readers some idea of that nasty, hissing toothed bird that follows Jandra wherever she goes. Jandra is the toddler prophetess in my Bell Mountain books–just a little girl who from time to time speaks words given to her by God. Words way too complicated for her to understand, or even remember.
The “flying dinosaur” in this video is a pretty close approximation to what Jandra’s toothed bird looks like. Please feel free to totally dismiss the Darwinian fairy tale that accompanies the video.
The dirty little secret is that birds appear in the fossil record simultaneously with the early dinosaurs, providing the dinos little or no opportunity to magically evolve into birds.
The critter that is in my mind when I write about Jandra’s bird is Archeopteryx, long considered “the first bird,” really because it was the first bird discovered living at the same time as dinosaurs. I couldn’t find a satisfactory Archeopteryx video, but this “Microraptor” thingummy will do.
This hideous creature is devoted to Jandra. Well, birds are like that, aren’t they?
The Great Beast from ‘The Thunder King’
As long as I’m reading The Thunder King, I thought I’d treat you to this video clip from Walking With Prehistoric Beasts, featuring the mountain-sized animal that rescued Ryons from the “death dog,” aka hyaenodon.
Don’t mind them calling it “Indricotherium.” They’re always changing the name. I stick with the old name that it had when I was a boy, “Baluchitherium.” Whatever we call it, this baby was the largest land mammal that ever lived–and the one that Ryons met was the biggest of them all.
Marvel at the work of God’s hands, and rejoice in it.
When Irresistible Humbug Meets Immovable Crapola
One more news story for today, and then I’ve got to go wrap my head in duct tape before it explodes.
The National Science Foundation has spent more than $400,000 for a “scientific paper” by a loony professor at the University of Oregon, in which persons who study melting glaciers are exhorted to take “a feminist political ecology and feminist postcolonial approach” to the scientific study of glacial melt ( http://blurbrain.com/400k-study-global-warming-feminism-glaciers/ ).
What does any of that garbage mean?
It means we, the stupid taxpayers, are out the money.
Go ahead, I dare you–tell me “This is science” and try to defend it.
Talking to Statues
So here is yet another report of NOAA, an agency of the U.S. government, finagling temperature readings to prop up the Global Warming scare ( http://realclimatescience.com/2016/03/noaa-radiosonde-data-shows-no-warming-for-58-years/ ).
And I already know that many of the people I talk to won’t take the slightest notice of this information; and that if I bring it to their attention, it’ll have no more effect than bouncing peas off a brick wall.
It’s like talking to statues. It’s frustrating. And it’s not because these are bad or stupid people. It’s because they’re sure they know things, when they don’t.
They don’t know, for instance–and don’t want to know–that there has always been a segment of the scientific community, reaching well back into the 19th century, which, allied to “progressive” political leaders, has always had a burning desire to manage other people’s lives–always in the belief that they, and they alone, know what’s best. If this knowledge is not part of the hearer’s mental landscape, he will simply not believe any evidence you present that the “scientists” and political big shots are incapable of speaking truth.
This is not secret knowledge. This is not conspiracy theory. We know these self-appointed philosopher kings want to rule the world because they have always said so. They give speeches about it. They write books about it. And the nooze media, teachers’ unions, colleges and universities, and a whole corps of celebrities are on their side. Given all that, it’s a marvel that any skepticism remains in play.
And so most people believe as they have been taught all their lives, that Science is the ultimate authority, the Experts really do know best, and that even God’s word itself must be subordinate to that ultimate authority. It truly does not occur to them that in this they might be wrong. As wrong as can be.
As a Christian I must believe that truth will prevail in the end, because God is true. He is the sovereign ruler of all that He has created, and His will shall be done. One way or another.
Sing louder.
Hero Cat Saves Toddler from Dog Attack
Remember this news story from two or three years ago? If you missed it then, prepare to see something incredible.
Cats pay back the love you give them. Don’t believe anyone who says they don’t.
I Sing to the Deer
Well, whistle, actually. Nobody wants to hear me sing.
Here in my home town, where various “progressive” schemes have almost totally erased all vestiges of the natural world, there is still a little-bitty “park” in my neighborhood, up on a hilltop. Calling it a park is a bit much. It’s really some three acres of waste land with a lot of fallen trees.
I went for a walk there yesterday. My elbow is still not healed, and walking is the only form of exercise I can do. I like the steep paths in the little park, so up I went, whistling as I climbed.
Suddenly I saw a deer, watching me. Then I discovered it was four full-grown deer. I was whistling Revive Us Again, and they listened attentively for as long as I kept it up. When I stopped, they melted into the background underbrush as silently as smoke. Now you see them, now you don’t.
I realize that for a lot of you, deer are no big deal, maybe even a daily nuisance. But here in the paved-over heart of New Jersey, I’m always amazed when I see one–let alone four at once. How they eke out a living around here, I can’t imagine: but these looked healthy.
They also knew a fine old hymn when they heard one.