To continue with your favorite hymns–
Isaac Watts’ hymns from the 18th century are still much loved today. By request: O God, Our Help in Ages Past, sung by the Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute Singers. Background sets by God the Father.
When Hamsters Hit the Skids
Apparently hamsters like sliding. I wonder how it compares to running so fast inside an exercise wheel that first your legs and then the rest of you turns into a blur.
The famed Egyptologist Howard Carter, who discovered and opened Tutankhamen’s tomb, has nothing to say about sliding hamsters.
Mr. Nature: The Spiny Anteater
Jambo! Mr. Nature here, and our safari today takes us to Australia and New Guinea in search of the spiny anteater, aka “echidna,” named for a creature in Greek mythology that was half-snake, half-woman.
These are really weird animals. For one thing, they and the duck-billed platypus are the only mammals that lay eggs. For another, they have the second-lowest body temperature among mammals, behind the platypus. And they’ve got a cloaca instead of separate reproductive and excretory organs. It’s sort of odd that they’re considered mammals at all. But they do have hair, and the babies, once hatched, are fed on milk from the mother’s body. Besides which, what else are we to call them?
As you might expect, they eat ants and termites; and aboriginal people sometimes eat them. No accounting for tastes. They look a lot like hedgehogs but aren’t related to them. They don’t look like platypuses, but those are their closest relatives.
God’s stuff–brought to you by a truly versatile Creator.
The Strange Case of Caliban ‘Shorty’ Frantageous
Note: I don’t want to cover the nooze today, on our anniversary. But some stories just can’t be left alone. Like this one.
Bad enough your mother names you “Caliban.” Bad enough you’re hypersensitive about your height and everybody therefor calls you “Shorty,” just to wind you up. But for Caliban “Shorty” Frantageous, the real hardship was not being able to live out his dream.
I have this story from an informed source.
Frantageous’ dream was to be a hot-shot lawyer trying a high-profile criminal case, with the whole world watching–and winning it, hands down. He wound up on a series of loading docks instead; and as his 60th birthday dawned, it came to him that now he was too old to go to law school. His dream had slipped through his fingers forever. He would never be called a real-life Perry Mason.
Ah! Mr. Frantageous is resourceful. What if he were to commit a high-profile, serious–even monstrous–crime, and then insist on his right to conduct his own defense? What if he got himself off?
This is how he came to rob the laundromat at the Sunnydale nudist camp. The gory details of this disgusting crime will not be mentioned by me.
In due course the case came to trial–and Shorty Frantageous was ready. He dazzled the country with his self-taught lawyer’s footwork. His arguments left hostile witnesses speechless. And the climax of the case, when the probably entirely innocent pizza delivery man broke down in court and confessed that he’d done it–well, what was to compare with it? It was a dream come true.
I relate this story purely for your edification and enjoyment.
I’m PO’d at WordPress
I’ve been back and forth with WordPress for two weeks, trying to get my Reblog function restored. At first they kept saying they were working on it. But yesterday came the final word: No. No reblog for you.
Bottom line is, I had Reblog, I made good use of it, and then they took it away and won’t give it back. Why won’t they give it back? Something about a Business plan or whatevvuh: snow the poor user with a lot of computer lingo, he might give up and go away.
I like to share posts with you from other Christian bloggers. And it boosts my readership, too. Why won’t WordPress let me do that anymore? Ooh-ooh, wait, I know! I’ll bet they have a policy! You don’t need to think if you have a policy!
My tech support does not know why I’ve lost my Reblog, nor does she know how I can get it back. And WordPress is making out like I never had it in the first place!
What have I ever done to them? Why don’t they just give me back my Reblog and then I’ll shut up about it?
Well, they’re not the only company that thumbs its nose at its customers, are they?
The Lure of the Prequel
I’ve been chewing over this idea for years now, and a few readers have encouraged me in it. Why not write a Bell Mountain book about things that happened before the events so far related in the series?
The story that pulls me the hardest is that of King Ozias, who lived 2,000 years before Jack and Ellayne et al. Ozias had a thousand enemies, and a thousand narrow escapes. But he trusted in God, he obeyed the directions of the Spirit, and God delivered him out of all his dangers–and promised that his line of descent would continue down the centuries, and never fail. Yes, I think I’d like to write that.
But there’s also the story–well, there must be one–behind Ellayne’s favorite book, The Adventures of Abombalbap. Was there ever such a person as Abombalbap, who was raised and trained in warrior arts by the Seven Hags of Ballamadda? Were his adventures inspired by real events? What was life in Obann like, centuries after the Day of Fire and centuries before King Ryons?
And here’s me, wondering if I should try to write these books. It would mean departing from the story arc that has so far held together 13 books in a series. It strikes me as a rather large risk to take.
Abombalbap would be on it in a heartbeat.
Will We Have Our Anniversary Dinner?
We ordered the crabcakes and they haven’t been delivered. We’re about to go out on another safari in search of filet mignon. Yeah, these are luxury items–but that’s the whole point, isn’t it? You only get one wedding anniversary per year (provided you’ve had only one wedding). You want to celebrate!
But for our anniversary, the gremlins always gather, always try to mess it up. For No. 40 the supermarket had No Lobsters instead of the two I had supposedly reserved two days before. I found that out at 5 p.m. I don’t go to that store anymore.
So we will go all around the county in a little while to see if we can scare up the ingredients for our dinner. Thanks to what liberals gigglingly call The New Normal (tee-hee!), you wouldn’t believe the shortages. Yesterday it was skim milk, rubbing alcohol, latex gloves… and lettuce. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a decent head of lettuce.
With our without our dinner, this is a blessed day for us and we invite you all to share in our joy.
Every good thing is God’s gift.
P.S.–The crabcakes just got here. Huzzah!
‘”Hate America High” Rescinds Flag Ban’
This is the kind of thing we’ve allowed for way too long in our country. We let it happen way too often, and now we’re paying for it. And now we have to put a stop to it–while we still have a country left to save.
Hello! Yoo-hoo! All you people out there who want the kiddies back in school. Are you missing what’s happening on center state? This is public education, sunshine! They “teach” your kids to hate America and despise your values.
In South Carolina, of all places–just imagine what they do in a place like Portland, Oregon–a high school principal takes it upon himself to ban the American flag from his school’s football games. He should have been instantly fired and then forced to leave town, never to return.
Public education in America is the costliest (in more ways than one!) failure in all of human history. It has to go!
‘In the Garden’ (Your Favorite Hymns)
Tell us your favorite hymns, and we’ll put them on the list and post them.
We continue with In the Garden, sung by Alan Jackson.
Cats & Babies: Crescendo of Doom
You’ll have to pardon the headline. I couldn’t resist it.
Some of these babies are pretty rough on the cat, but the cats are careful not to rough the baby. Heck, one of these cats is bigger than the baby. If you wonder about the value of these interactions, judge them by the babies’ laughter.