Spring is Sprung

The first day of Spring, usually calendar indicated
was not on either of my two calendars
in April or May,Our weather change may have been
due to our current “Climate Change” as forecast.

Seems an imminent phenomenon that yearly,
Spring is the 21^st day of a given month.

The neighbourhood in which I reside
is usually a good prediction.

Autumn loudly speaks, turning off Walker’s Line
on to a 2-block residential street.
A local street ~ a tunnel of deciduous trees
becomes gloriously painted in reds and golds.
Jack Frost cannot be rivalled for such a beautious scene,
being the city’s most beautiful street.
Whether ‘drive or stroll’ we are mesmerized
by Nature’s paint brush ~ so colourfully artistic.

Mother Nature, without a calendar
turns Spring lilacs into mauves and whites ...
even the mulberry trees are dressed
in creamy-white blossoms tinged with rose
And when injecting fluid into the barren trees,
they soon embellish the neighbourhood
with tiny leaflets of soft pale greens.
What a Surprise!

My local street is now a green arbour
through which we can drive or leisurely walk.
Hurray for Spring!
And praise to Nature Majesty!
Hurrah for Spring!

So, on my calendars, I’ve greenly accepted
that May 23 is this year’s Opening Day of Spring!

The foregoing was written in May a couple years ago.
MBK...Comments most welcome.

ANIMAL LORE, CULTURE and TRADITION

 Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. (Anatole France)

Animals are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions ~ they pass no criticism. (Goerge Elliot)

Kathleen Prasade announced, “I got to pet a soft koala bear while visiting a Wildlife Park in Sydney, Australia. This experience allowed me to reflect on the vital role, animals have in my career.”

DOGS and CATS

Kitten Survives Being Tossed from Vehicle in Grimsby: An adorable girl with piercing eyes, Holly has endured cruelty in her young life. A Grimsby resident, Frank England, travelling along a Grimsby road came across a seemingly lifeless kitten on the side of the road. As he passed by, the little creature lifted her head ~ her only way of letting him know she was still alive. Frank said, “She couldn't walk. Taking her to the Grimsby Animal Hospital, the staff revived her ~ saving the 4-week-old's life. Founder, Pam Houston, said England named the kitten 'Holly' after mixed martial artist, Holly Holmes. “She's a fighter with a rash on her head (likely from being tossed from a moving vehicle)...as well she has bruises...cuts...a sprained leg... an 'out-of-alignment' spine...also brain swelling.

(Reported to Grimsby News by Mike Zettel)

New Study Shows Cats Heavier Now Than in the 90's: A new study involving more than 19 million cats from across Canada and the United States, suggests most of the animals continue to put on weight after they reach adulthood ~ and their heaviest weight is higher now than it was 2 decades ago.

Researchers at the University of Guelph analized 54 million weight measurements between 1981 and mid 2016 to get a sense of the typical weight gain & loss pattern over the course of a cat's life.

Data showed cats' mean weight reached its peak between 6 and 10 years of age for the most common purebred breeds: Siamese...Persian...Himalayan.. and Main Coon; and at 8 for domestic cats.

Many people have begun to keep their cats indoors.

Treats can have a big impact on their animals. Pet owners may want to begin weighing their cats at home. Another solution is using technology, like automatic feeders.

The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat ~ observed by Jules Renard.

Pat Brown idealized: One small cat changes coming home to an empty house ~ to coming home!

Love of Dogs: Charles de Gaulle opined: The better I get to know man, the more I find myself loving dogs. Milan Kundera believed Dogs are our link to Paradise. They don't know jealousy or discomfort.

Police Dog Parker Dies Weeks After Retirement: Rest in Peace, Parker! One of the their recently retired police service dogs has died. We are devastated to share that our universally loved, 'Parker' has passed ~ and our thoughts are with his best friend and handler, Sgt. Tara Vivian,” the tweet said with Parker's picture. We are incredibly fortunate to have had such a loyal member amongst us ~ and had hoped for many years of restful retirement. After K9's last shift on April 21, Sgt. Vivian wrote:

Take my hand ~ and I will go anywhere with you.

(Reported to The Canadian Press by Paola Loriggio)

I agree with Josh Billings who wrote: “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.”

Custom Wood Kennels, Memory Foam Beds: (From The Washington Post, Jura Koncius headlines,

“Welcome to the wildly stylish world of modern pet furniture.”

“Pet furniture has come a long way from teal carpeted cat towers and lumpy plaid dog beds. For discerning pet owners who treat their cats and dogs like family ~ designers are creating stylish, even glamourous furniture. Witness the new $5,000 (US) Crystal Clear Lotus Cat Tower by the Refined Feline, with 3 platforms for lounging and a hideaway cubby at the bottom lined in faux fur...scaled with similar nailhead trim and turned legs. Add decor: co-ordinating paint colours...add art and wall hangings...incorporate rugs in each room...a sofa complete with throw pillars...even lamps and toys.

I have studied many philosophies of cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely super, stated Hippolyte Taine.

Arctic Fox Walks More than 4,000 Kilometres from Norway to Canada: Norwegian researchers confirmed this fox's achievement. This young female fox left her birth place on Norway's Scalbard Archipelago on March 1, 2018 ~ and reached Canada's Ellesmere Island by way of Greenland on July in 2018. This distance was among the most ever recorded for an Arctic fox seeking a place to settle down and breed. ~ the institute said in a research article titled One Female's long run across sea ice.

During the walk to Canada, the roughly 2-year-old fox moved at an average rate of 46.3 kilometres per day, the Norwegians scientists said.

If travelled in a straight line, her distance was 1,789 kilometres. The sea ice allows Norway's arctic foxes to reach Greenland and then North America in search of places to breed. With thick fur to survive, they subsist on fish....marine birds.. and lemmings.

The photo of her and a researcher states her walking distance was 4,415 kilometres.

(Reported from Copenhagen to The Canadian Press)

Why Every Garden Needs a Woodpecker: When Adrian Higgins came to Washington, he noticed woodpeckers seemed to be as common as pigeons ~ being reliable visitors to trees, gardens and parks. Impressive to him was the extraordinary coloured plumage. Trees appear to be simple columns of wood ~ but they are whole worlds to the woodpecker: a place of shelter...safety...and food...teeming with insects on and beneath the bark layer. With stiffened tail feathers to act as a brace, they can hammer away with countless skills: agility around the trees ~ and their capacity to turn their beaks, skulls and neck into rapid-fire chisels. In the natural world's symphony orchestra, woodpeckers are the percussionists. In Washington's urban forest, we see woodpeckers frequently because most of the tree canopy has dead trees or branches ~ and it is in the deadwood that woodpeckers excavate a hole to nest.

The cavities that woodpeckers create and later abandon, provide living space for other creatures ~ birds such as titmice, nuthatches and wrens...also for flying squirrels.

The prettiest species is the red-hooded woodpecker ~when I saw one, I thought I had been transported to the tropics: a bird with white body... inky blue wings splashed white.. and an entire red head.

Raccoon Trapped in Vending Machine: Police say a raccoon trapped in a vending machine at a Florida High School, is now free. A deputy stationed at Pine Ridge High School was notified of the trapped raccoon and called Animal Control who rolled the vending machine to an open area of the yard ~ and after about two hours, the raccoon was set free.

Shark Takes Bite Out of Teen's Surf-Board: In Honolulu, a teen surfing off the island of Oahu escaped a shark encounter uninjured ~ but his board didn't. Local media reports 16-year-old Max Kellikipi was waiting for a wave Sunday evening near Makaha Beach when he spotted what he thought was a turtle fin...but it wasn't. The teen says the shark chomped down on the front of his board, just inches from his foot ~ taking off a chunk bigger than his head.

News gathered by MBK...written August 16, 2019

Mysteries of Trees

 

I had a marvelosity in nature last autumn and my teacher was a ginko tree, wrote David from Ancaster.

Ginko trees are actually living fossils and they are what botanists call 'dioecious'. That is to say, they come as either 'male or female' trees. So, imagine my surprise when my supposedly male tree started producing seeds last fall just like a female tree. I was a little annoyed because the seeds of the female tree can be very messy and smelly when they fall to the ground ~ and for that reason, nurseries only sell male trees.

Returning to the nursery, I mentioned to the owner that he had sold me a 'female tree' by mistake. His first question to me was, “How many ginko trees do you have on your property?”

Telling him that I had four in total, he stated: “I sold you a 'male tree' but ginko trees can change their sex depending on the population density of the sex of those around them. Your male tree just decided that it had to become a female. They can do that!”

So, that's what Nature had to teach me about diversity.

Now, about all those seeds on the ground ~ I still love my tree, even if 'he' is a 'she'!

Lots of trees are hermaphroditic ~ their flowers contain both male and female reproductive parts.

Other species, also may have male trees and female trees which you can tell apart by looking at their flowers. The male reproductive parts are the pollen-laden stamen; the female parts, their egg-holding pistils. Tree species are monoecious ~ saying they have 'female and male flowers' on the same plant.

Birch, oak, pine, horn beam, and fig trees all fall into this category. To have perfect flowers, they have both male and female parts in a single bloom ~ also common in hazelnut and apple trees.

A Place of Enchantment

In a pond of quiet waters, surrounded by dense green woodland, stands a lonely tree on a tiny isle.~ ever so proud of its existence. This scene I frequently view on screen ~ speaking to me of 'serenity'.

Or, perhaps this tree on a lonely woodland isle believes “Trees are Earth's Endless Effort to speak to the listening heaven,” suggested by Rabindranath Tagore...in an image of evergreen treetops with an erect rainbow stretching from forest to the heavens.

Mrs. Shapiro briefly described the 'Power of a Tree'

Towering high above us
Roots take up water
Evergreens stay green all year
Every day they keep us alive!

Perhaps you'll enjoy what Ulena Mohoney prosed:

If chestnuts came from walnut trees
And almonds came from almond trees,
Then how come acorns come from oaks?
Can anyone explain this?

A redwood tree is not really red
And pine trees are green ~ not red.
So, why is the white birch aptly named?
And why's the white pine green instead?

Now, ash trees don't grow ashes. Right?
And beach trees aren't on beaches. Right?
And fir trees don't have furry trunks:
Although, that would be quite a sight!

These trees! These Trees!
I wish it would be less confusing in the word!
If trees had better chosen names ~
They might be better understood!

“The clearest way into the Universe,” stated John Muir, “is through a forest wilderness.”

Philosophies About Tree Mysteries

“Trees are sanctuaries.
Whoever knows how to speak to them ~
knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.
They do not preach learning and concepts ~
they preach, undeterred by particulars:
the Ancient Law of Life.”
(Unknown Author)

Mokokoma's Philosophy

Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die,
than produce lemons ~ whereas, instead of dying, the average person would rather be someone, they are not.

Written by MBK...July 9, 2019
Your views, I appreciate

Impact of Arthritis

 

Arthritis is Canada’s most common chronic health condition ~ and there is no cure..6 million Canadians (1 in 5) live with arthritis. Without serious attention to this disease and its impacts, there will be a 50 % increase in the number of people affected by arthritis within 20 years ~ increasing to 1 in 4 Canadians.

Yearly the Arthritis Society forwards me a delightful yearly calendar. Its vision and purpose is to embrace and empower the resilient spirit of people, who with arthritis, tirelessly pursue a future without it. Monthly the calendar features exceptionally beautiful Canadian scenes. Addressing the photo is a dynamic philosophy for our daily lives.

January introduces us to a beautiful photo of Banff National Park’s majestic forest of evergreens. Below the snowy peak, stands this forest. In the sky, Andrea Bain affirms: Pay attention to yourself. Build on who you are. Become a whole person. Enjoy life.

Against a dark blue midnight sky, stands Fairmont Le Chateau in Quebec City.

February advises: BE ACTIVE.
Frederic M. Perrin stated: May your footsteps leave only friends behind.
Everything we do and every movement we make, involves our joints.
Taking care of our joints and getting them moving properly is the top priority
of any arthritis treatment plan. Visit Arthritis.ca/staying active.

March advises: Visit guidelines and arthritis.ca/flourish for healthy recipes. Empower yourself to get moving this month! Against a sunset sky at early morn, Rosemary Brown states We must open the doors and we must see to it that they remain open, so that others can pass through.

Purple lupines and white ones too line the shoreline of a wavy lake. You never know when a moment and few sincere words can have an impact on a life. (Zig Ziglar) as stated in April.

After ensuring your loved ones are taken care of, you can choose among one million Canadians who have included a charity among the beneficiaries in their will. Ralph Waldo Emerson states, Patience and fortitude conquer all things...illustrated by Barry Head Sea in Newfoundland.

Understanding the link between your mind and body is an important step in developing
strategies that will help you live your best life. Rosemary Brown states” We must open the doors and we must see to it they remain open so that others can pass through.
Pictured by a sunset at Niagara-on-the-lake.

May features Berry Head Sea Arch in Newfoundland. ~ so called due to gigantic boulders with a gap-view to ocean waters.

Ralph Waldo Emerson advises: PATIENCE and FORTITUDE conquer all things.

GET INVOLVED: The Arthritis Society offers many opportunities to help the 6 million Canadians living with arthritis. From community fundraising events to volunteering , there are lots of ways you can help give Canadians who live with arthritis a brighter future.

Above the best photo of Niagara Falls I’ve ever seem, Aristotle writes in the sky:
In all things of nature. .there is something of the marvellous.

Turning the page, a dramatic night photo of fireworks: “Celebration of Lights in English Bay, Vancouver , British Columbia. “ Living with arthritis, often means living with chronic pain. The Arthritis Society’s ’pain management resources provide helpful strategies and tips to help you minimize your pain symptoms and find relief.

Beside a firework’s burst, Alice Munro advises:
The constant happiness is curiosity.

Titled : Back to School, the photo is a Gravel Road & Fields, Regina, Saskatchewan. The Society provides a free, specially designed ergonomic backpack to children under 10 who have been recently diagnosed with arthritis. The backpacks are filled with information and tools families can use to help children with arthritis lead healthier lives.

Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination, advised Drake,

Wow! It’s a coastal view of a lighthouse attached to a brown frame house on a hill with other hillside habitats. The towering red lighthouse overlooks the sea to its horizon.: Pointe-à-la-Renommée Lighthouse is located at Gaspe, Quebec.

Eleanor Roosevelt declares: ”To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.

Repetitive motions or staying in one position long, can take a toll on joints Take regular breaks at work or school to rest, stretch...or get moving.

Viewing the massive moss-covered rock in the valley stream, Mother Teresa stated, Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Did you know? The Arthritis Society is Canada’s largest charitable funder-of-arthritis research, investing more than $200 million dollars in research projects since our founding that have led to breakthroughs in the diagnosis treatment and care of people with arthritis.

Submitted by Harriet Tubman, in her dramatic photo of “Sunset over Yukon River near Dawson City, Yukon Territory cites “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world, as stated by Harriet Tubman.

December features a shipyard at Inner Harbour, Victoria, British Columbia. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give, stated by Winston Churchill.

Assembled by MBK: March 2021
Comments always welcome.

Geological Discoveries

 

Earth is ancient now, but all knowledge is stored up in her. She keeps a record of everything that has happened since time began. Of tune before time, she says little ~ and in a language that no one has yet understood.

Through time, her secret codes have gradually been broken. Her mud and lava is a message from the past.

Fossils Record Day Dinosaurs Died

The following are excerpts from a writing by Ben Guarino, published in The Washington Post.

Scientists Find Clues to Extinction Event in Remains of Fish: “Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into a shallow sea near Mexico. The impact carved out a 145-kilometre-wide crater and flung mountains of earth into space. Earthbound debris fell to the planet in droplets of molten rock and glass. Ancient fish caught glass blobs in their gills as they swam, gape-mouthed, beneath the strange rain. Large sloshing waves threw animals onto dry land ~ then more waves buried them in silt.

Scientists working in North Dakota recently dug up fossils of these fish: They died within the first minutes or hours after the asteroid hit (according to a paper published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), hence a discovery that has sparked tremendous excitement among paleontologists.

You're going back to the day that the dinosaurs died,” said Timothy Bralower, a Pennsylvania State University paleonceanographer who is studying the impact crater and was not involved with this work. That's what this is! This is the day the dinosaurs died!

Roughly 3 or 4 species perished. The killer asteroid most famously claimed the dinosaurs. But T.rex and Triceratops were joined by hoards of other living things.

Fresh water and marine creatures were victims, as were plants and micro-organisms, including 93 per cent of plankton. A lone branch of dinosaurs, the birds, lives on.

In the late 1970's, Luis and Walter Alvarez, a father and son scientist duo at California's Berkeley's University examined an unusual geologic layer between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. The boundary was full of the element iridium, which is rare in Earth's crust ~ but not in asteroids. Together with other paleontologists, they have found heaps of fossilized sturgeon and paddle-fish with glass spheres still in their gills. They found squid-like animals, shark teeth and the remains of predatory aquatic lizards called mosasaurs. They found dead mammals, insects, trees and a Triceratops. They found foot-long fossil feathers, dinosaur tracks and prehistoric mammal burrows. They found fossilized tree gunk called amber that had captured the glass spheres too.

In the geologic layer just above the fossil deposit, ferns now dominate the signs of a recovering ecosystem.

In the early 1990's researchers located the scar left by the asteroid ~ a crater in the Yucatan Peninsula.

About 3200 kilometres away, is Hell Creek where a hail of glass beads called tektites rained there within 15 minutes of the impact (stated by study author, Jan Smit, a paleontologist at Vrije University in Amsterdam), who also was an early discoverer of iridium.

“The fish, pressed in the mud like flowers in a diary, are remarkably well preserved. It's the equivalent of finding people in life positions, buried by ash after Pompeii,” Bralower said.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in his expose 'The Arctic House in the Vedas) states, “The geologist takes up the history of the earth at the point where the archaeologist leaves it ~ and carries it further back into remote antiquity.”

Devon Island: Nunavut's Mars

Published in The Canadian Press, Hina Alam reports from Vancouver:

“One of the most Mars-like environments on Earth, Devon Island in the Canadian High Arctic, is now on the map and can be explored on Google Street View.

“This largest uninhabited island on Earth is a rocky polar desert that has a surface and conditions similar to the red planet,” said Pascal Lee, chair of the Mars Institute and director of the Haughton -Mars Project , a field research project on Devon Island that's funded by NASA.

“There are not many places like this,” Lee said of the island roughly the size of Nova Scotia in Baffin Bay, Nunavut. “It's the biggest stretch of terrain that is barren...rocky...cold...and dry. So, right there, it's a big piece of real estate that has similar climate to Mars.

“Since 1997, the remote land mass has been the site of field deployments by scientists and astronauts looking to learn more about the moon and Mars. Last summer, Lee and a team of researchers set out to generate a panorama of some sites most frequented by scientists. They used Go Pro cameras to get 360-degree 'photo spheres' and smart phones to capture video footage.

“Published by Google Street View, puts the team 'on the map and shares their experience with the rest of the world,” Lee said. “The unbelievable thing is that pretty much every step you take, as soon as you are away from our camp ~ you're probably the first person to ever walk there,” he said.

“There is something amazing that still, to be able to do that ~ to see views and landscapes that from your particular perspective, no one has seen before. Nobody! The place is seeing effects of climate change,” he said.

“In the quarter of a century that Lee has been visiting the area, he's seen places that previously were covered in ice but are now barren.”

Accompanying this article is an aerial view showing the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMPRS) on Devon Island, Nunavut.

* * * * * *

John McPhee ~ in his writing of Annals of the Former World, wrote, When the climbers of 1953 planted their flags on the highest mountain, they set them in snow on skeletons of creatures that had lived in the clear, warm ocean that India, moving north, blanked out.

Possibly as much as 20,000 feet below the sea floor, the skeletal remains had turned into rock. If by some fiat I had to restrict all the writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: “The summit of Mt. Everest is marine life free!”

Author: MBK...written April 1, 2019
Comments appreciated

Trivia Significance

 

In a recent document sent from Tom, titled Trivia, I’ve retained it, enlightening our minds of lifestyles in days of yore. This is very prominent stuff!

In the 1400’s, a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence, we have ‘the rule of thumb.

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled: Gentlemen only...Ladies forbidden..and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Every day, more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work is Alaska.

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%.
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: is 38%.

The cost of raising a medium-sized dog to the age of 11: $16.400.

The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour is 61,000.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

Each King in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades: King David
Hearts: Charlemagne
Clubs: Alexander the Great
Diamonds: Julius Caesar.

For your manifestation, 111,111,111 X 111,111,111 = 12345, 678, 987,654,321.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse, has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died because of wounds received in battle.

If the horse has all four legs on the ground...the person died of natural causes.

Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
Their birthplace.

Most boat owners name boats. What is the most popular name?
Obsession.

If you were to spell out the numbers, how far would you have to go until you reached the letter A?
One thousand!

What do Bulletproof vests ...fire escapes...windshield wipers...and laser printers have in common?
All were invented by women.

What is the only food that doesn’t spoil?
Honey.

Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
Father’s Day.

In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.
When you pulled on the ropes, the mattresses tightened
making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase: Good Night!

It was the accepted practice in Babylon, 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey-beer...and because their calendar was lunar-based, this period was called the honey month which we know today as The Honeymoon!

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in Old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them: Mind your pints and quarts and settle down! It’s where we get the phrase: Mind Your P’s and Q’s!

At least 75% of people who read this: will try to lick their elbow.

Compiled by MBK...January 5, 2021
Comments always welcome.

Vigilance of Nature's World

 Turtle Patrol Finds 2-Headed Hatchling

Reported from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, “A group that monitors sea turtles has found a two-headed Loggerhead hatchling. The hatching was found alive and released into the ocean.

The animal, named Crush and Squirt couldn't really swim as the heads controlled separate flippers and weren't working together.”

The Beauty of Insects ~ and How to Help Them Survive

Reported to The Washington Post by Adrian Higgins: “I remember when people casually referred to all striped invertebrates as bees, when all insects were bugs and any such thing that buzzed in their vicinity required hosing with lethal poison.

Today, I suspect the mass consciousness has shifted to a kinder feeling toward these creatures ~ and with it an understanding that most insects enrich the gardening experience.

“You will find fewer than 100 types of frogs in North America...fewer than1,000 bird species...but more than 90,000 specific insects. People today speak of wildflower gardens for the pollinators ~ attracting monarchs and honeybees...even long-flowering perennials.

There are insects none of us want: mosquitoes, biting flies and those that want to snack on our beloved plants.

As a class of organisms, insects are obviously successful ~ they were flying, crawling and swimming around this planet long before we showed up. But for years, reports have argued that many species are disappearing ~ and more recently there has been much talk of a dire collapse of the insect world.

A 2017 study in Germany recorded a a 75 percent reduction in the collection of insects by weight, in 63 nature preserves in less than 3 decades.

This year, a review of 73 scientific papers spoke of a decline so rapid that if it went unabated, insects would suffer a mass extinction.

A conservation figure is 5.5 million.

In North America, 28% of the bumble species are considered 'threatened', and 19% of butterfly species are at 'risk of extinction.' Climate change...habitat loss...and pollution are harming animals and plants ~ and it is logical to assume that the mostly uncharted world of insects, is imperilled too ~ when you consider that pesticide use on the planet has never been higher.

Matthew Forister, an ecologist at the University of Nevada stated:

It is in the power of virtually everyone to help them and the results are almost immediate. Plant a zinnia in a balcony container ~ and a butterfly will show up. Convert part of your lawn into perennial beds and pollinators will appear. Your garden will be more interesting and beautiful.

We're not saying 'we don't need more science' ~ we have enough to make decisions and take action.

A Night at the Movies with 72 Goats

In a colour photo, a goat stands on a set of stairs next to Geoffrey Crow inside a Quonset hut for a 'screening of Uncle Buck'...starring John Candy at Triple C Farm.

Katrina Clarke reported to The Hamilton Spectator, “My cheeks are hurting because we're smiling so much,” when attending this movie at an Ancaster event.

“What's better than baby goats? said movie-goer Christine Jones. The cuteness factor is off the charts.

They're cute and they know how to get attention. Goats of all sizes swarmed people of all ages, rubbing furry bodies against legs...chewing sleeves ...and head-butting purses. “No, that's not my finger. Don't bite my finger, another woman scolded a goat.

Adam and Eve's Pets ~ A Bible Story

Adam and Eve said, Lord, when we were in the garden, You walked with us every day. Now, we do not see You anymore. We're lonesome here ~ and it is difficult for us to remember how much You love us.”

And God said, “I will create a companion for you that will be with you ~ and will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me when you cannot see me. Regardless how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are ~ and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves.”

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.

And it was a good animal ~ and God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and wagged his tail.

And Adam said, “Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom, and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.

And God replied, “I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you: his name will be a reflection of my own name ~ and you will call him DOG.

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve ~ and was a companion to them and loved them.

And they were comforted. And God was pleased.

And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After awhile, it came to pass that an angel come to the Lord and said, “Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well.”

And God said, “I will create for them a companion who will be with them ~ and see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration. And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.

And Adam and Eve learned humility.
And they were greatly improved.
And God was pleased.
And Dog was happy.
And the Cat...

Couldn't care less one way or the other!

Writer: MBK...August 31, 2019
Comments welcome