The things that you know… or may not know… can change at any moment …..

Seashell fossils have been found high in the Himalayan mountains.  This fact suggests that the land was once underwater.  I sell seashells by the seashore…. and the mountain top.

The sailfish (the fastest swimming fish, which has been clocked at 68 mph) is faster than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, clocked at 62 mph).  Put your money on the fish.

The urine of patients with diabetes tastes sweet because the extra sugar in a diabetic’s bloodstream overwhelms the kidney’s ability to reabsorb it.  I do not know this from actual experience.  I am not sure who did the tasting.

It’s not widely publicized, but Mr. Clean has a first name: “Veritably.”   I love Mr. Clean.  Every dang thing about him.

While many think Hydrox cookies were an Oreo knock-off, those good ol’ Hydrox cookies actually came first. They were first made in 1908, four years before the Oreo. Dip that twice in your milk.

Black-eyed peas aren’t peas, but beans. And coffee beans aren’t beans, but seeds.  Cashews are not nuts.  They too are seeds.  Who the hell is naming this stuff?

Albert Einstein never learned how to drive. He knew that an object in motion, tends to stay in motion.  Relatively speaking.

And that is the way of the world.  It may surprise you.  It may not.  And all of that…. is subject to change.

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. – Bertolt Brecht

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have. – Margaret Mead

Sometimes… I see things in nature, and wonder who was here before me. A crippled plant turning to dust.  An ancient tree.   I’ll pick up a rock, and wonder how many people through out all of time, may have come upon that little stone, by hand or by foot.

Today, I read a little excerpt, from an old newspaper article, which was attached with a friend’s genealogy collection.  Basically, it retold the story of how two of those noble ancestors were massacred by savage Indians.

Most people read that and don’t think twice.

I like to think twice.

Ohio got its name from the Iroquois word, “O-Y-O,” meaning “great river.” The Iroquois Indians had begun to settle between the Ohio River and Great Lakes by 1650.  Now… they could have named this place anything.  But Ohio, really, is a cool name.

But the Iroquois were not the first here. Not even close.

Ohio’s original settlers were tribes of American Indians, who first arrived in the Ohio, area during the Paleoindian Period.  Now for anyone who cares…. that rounds out to be 13,000 BC to 7,000 BC.   That, is a LONG dang time ago.  A long dang time.

As these tribes grew, their population became more concentrated in smaller areas.

Ohio had some very amazing Indians.  Groups such as the Adena and Hopewell began to create earthworks for burial or religious ceremonies. If you have not visited the enormous snake-shaped mound in Adams County… well… you are missing quite a site.

By the time the white people in boats got here, the native tribes were living in a network of highly developed communities.

But wouldn’t you know it.  The White People in boats… who were fleeing religious persecution…. decided that this new land belonged to them.  So…..tensions flared as the Europeans began to settle in Ohio, most notably during the French and Indian War during the 1750s.

It wasn’t just a little mishap either.  The two groups clashed over land throughout the next 60 years.  One man in particular…. the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh…. strove to unite the tribes in resistance to the new settlers.

The struggle ended with Tecumseh’s death during the War of 1812. History writers say that the last Indian tribe left Ohio in 1843.  I guess they did leave.  But not by choice.

I think if someone tried to come in and take my  home… I might try to defend it too.

But that is just me… thinking twice.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I know a lot of good people.

It seems like these good people are always trying to figure out a way to help other people.  They seek out ways to make this world a better place.  In big ways.  In little ways.

I am so very fortunate that many of these people are my friends.  I get the opportunity to share life with them.

And to learn from them… how to be a better person.

You know, I think there are a bunch of things that go wrong in this world.  A big bunch.

At the same time, I think there are a lot of wonderful things going on too.  So.  Better to be around the good things that are going on, yes?  If we all started trying to be around the good things that are happening… we might be able to take up more space… and squeeze out any room for bad things.

You know how the song goes… “There were 10 in the bed, and the little one said…’Roll Over.  Roll Over.’  So they all rolled over and the one fell out.  There were 9 in the bed, and the little one said… ‘Roll Over. Roll Over.’  So they all…. ”

Yep.  I know a lot of good people.

“The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things”- Michel de Montaigne

Someone asked me today if I do any mushroom hunting.

Now, what do they take me for?  Some kind of sap?  Is that anything like Snipe Hunting or Cow Tipping?

Mushroom Hunting!  Anyone knows, if you were to shoot one of those things… you would certainly blow it to smithereens.   And besides that, I am not much of a hunter.

In fact… I’m not a hunter at all.

When it comes to eating meat and such… I sure do.  But I prefer to find it at my local grocery store.  In the Meat Department.  (Shout out to Marsh Supermarket!  Woooo Hoooooo.)  I’m not much for looking through the cross hairs at Bambi, or Thumper, Nemo … or even Elsie.

It is much the same with produce.  Those fine Grocers have a bunch of that at their stores too.  (And it is so much easier than all the digging and  weeding and such that comes with gardening.)

So there you have it.  I am neither a gardener or a hunter.

Let’s consider this fact for a moment.

Way back in history, there were different phases of evolution of the early people.  The Paleoindian Period refers to the time period when people were nomadic Hunter-Gatherers.

We’ve established that I am definitely not a hunter.  Therefore…. I think I evolved from the gatherers. You see….. when I need food…. I just drive to the grocery and gather the things I need.  That is how my people rolled.   So now… that is how I roll.  We gather.  I gather.

The Gardeners didn’t come around until the Woodland Period.

At any rate…. back to the mushroom hunting thing.   I decided to give it a go tonight.

So, I grabbed my camera…. went out… and shot this one.

And that…. is ALL I can gather about any of this.

“Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.”- Winnie the Pooh

Ah.  The Old Family Photo.

Have you ever found one, and thought…. Holy Crap. Holy Cow. Holy Heck.  Holy Genetics … …. these people look like the parents of The Children of the Corn.

I only knew a couple of these folks.   Really.  My Grandma and my Grandpa.

And they look scary enough.

But the rest of them?  Holy Smokes.

Now… the guy on the far left.  I think…quite possibly… he looks to be the most menacing of all.  His name was Bernard.  He turned out to be a pretty decent farmer.  He made good money at it and ended up owning a lot of land. And dairy cows.   He was born on a Friday, June 18th.  Way back in 1858.

Now… that would make him a Gemini.  And we all know about Geminis.  Imaginative, creative, flighty, superficial, spontaneous, wishy-washy.

Yes.  Although Bernard looks very stern and serious on the outside…. on the INSIDE he was charming, witty, funny, clever, talkative and creative.  At family parties… and such… he would be the one with the lamp shade on is head… doing a jig on the kitchen table.

He loved limburger and bleu cheeses.  He’d make an assortment of cheese sandwiches, homemade pickle relish, and lemon tarts… and take them around on a party tray. Old Bernie Boy sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star… all the time.  What a happy-go-lucky-guy.

Then.. in 1935… his appendix burst. Maybe from too much cheese and relish. He died that night, at the hospital in Celina.

And that is what I know about the guy on the far left.

I also can tell you…..  that I am here because of him… partially.  He is my Great Grandfather.

And now… I know where I get my love limburger and bleu cheeses.  And all my dang facial hair.

Now…. the lady third from the right.  They called her The Black Widow of Auglaize County.  But that is an ENTIRELY different story.

“I don’t think anyone has a normal family.” – Edward Furlong

Who doesn’t love a pine cone.  Some would argue they are not nearly as good as ice cream cones….  but I think I would rather have a pine cone.  To really look at a Pine Cone… oh… what a wonder they are.  So beautiful, to me.  Little Miracles.

All pine cones are not alike.  No way.  No how.  When it comes to size, the smallest cone measures approximately an inch.  THAT, my friends, is a tiny cone.   And it comes from the Canadian hemlock.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Canadian Hemlock.  I’ve seen a Canadian Hockey Player in a Headlock  … but not a Hemlock.

The longest pine cone in the world comes from the Sugar Pine. Its cones can grow up to two feet long!

And then there’s the Big Fatty of them all.  That would be….. the Coulter pine cone. They’re named for Irish botanist Thomas Coulter. They can weigh up to 10 pounds! These big boys are found in southern California, mostly.

Keep reading.  This part is good.  There are BOY pine cones, and GIRL pine cones.  They mate.  Yeppers.  But get this.  The male cones are soft and small. They produce and release pollen, and then die.

Then… a good breeze comes along and carries the pollen to the soft, green, sticky female pine cones. There is a lot more to the whole process, but to me it sounds like a long distance relationship.  Or… phone sex.

But on to other things.

Some critters think the pine cone is a good thing to eat.   Red and gray squirrels, woodpeckers and crossbills all strip and snack on pine cones.   I am not crazy about them myself…. as a food source.  Although, with a little mustard, not so bad.    Although, a lot of people eat the seeds…  Pine Nuts.

To me, they sound like the thing that happens to evergreens… when they go crazy.  Pine Nuts.

So as you can tell… this is another part of the planet, filled with diversity and interest.  We simply need to look.  Or better yet… simply…. to see.

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” – C.S. Lewis

Tonight, I went to a softball game.  A lot of things happen at a game of ball.  Players playing.  People batting, throwing, catching and running, and such.  Umpires umpiring.  Spectators spectating.

But in the midst of all of it, in the wrapped-up-ed-ness of the things that are happening in that one little place…… in that moment, on the earth.  There we are.

Each of us in our own thoughts, and our own happiness, or worries, or joys.

I sat there tonight, thinking about all those people, all together, and yet singular.  But still all together. Alone.

Janie is hoping for a base hit.  “Ohhhh please… let me get a hit.”  Carrie wonders if those shorts make her butt look big.  Tonya is worrying about her car payment, and rent.  Missy’s dog is sick, at home, and she wonders if little Buttons is doing okay.  And on. And on.

Sometimes in this world, it seems to us that our world is the only one.  Yet, the truth of the matter is, what happens to each one of us, in each of our days, in our months, in our years… is a very small part of the bigger scheme of things.  Our little world seems like it might be the ONLY one ….. yet everything we do has a rippling effect.  Yes.  Our world affects the world of others, whether we mean to or not.

I glanced up at the sky, and saw a plane flying high, high, high overhead.  And on that plane were about 200 people, coming from somewhere, and going someplace else.  And each one of them, in their own space and time…. all together on that piece of tin flying through the sky.  Each, with their own world of existence.

And it all continues. It intersects and connects … and then disconnects again.  Over and over again.

Today, I am hoping that somehow, my little world… my intersection….  will make someone else’s little world…. just a little bit better.  Somehow.  Over and over again.

And a story…

A man is walking down a street.  There is much poverty, and despair.  Hungry children, and starving dogs…. everywhere.  The man sees a young boy giving half of his bread to one of the starving dogs.  The man says to him… “Why child?  Why do you give your food to this starving dog, when there are so many starving dogs everywhere?  This will never make a difference in the world.”

And the little boy looks back at the man and says …  “Sir.  To this dog, it makes ALL the difference in the world.”

One Year.

What that means, in human time….. is that the big ball we are ALL standing on… circles the sun…. ONCE.

Yep.  We go all the way around the sun… one time per year.  All of us.

If we are lucky.

I enjoy traveling around the sun with everybody.  I do.

And I am thankful for all the people in my life… the ones that are near and dear to me…. who let me dwell especially close to them.  And share days.

Oh, days.  Days.  Did I mention this ball were on…….  is spinning around?  One rotation per day.

And that is how the ball bounces.  And time passes.

Thanks friends, for a happy birthday.  And.  For being a good part of every day.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.” – Thomas Hardy

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust

I went to a Dog Show Today.

Have I ever mentioned that I love dogs?

Well.   There were dogs THERE, of course.  Lots of dogs.
All shapes and sizes.  Some looked nervous.  Others seemed confident.  A few looked bored.  Some just seemed happy to be there.  Yep.  So many different breeds.

Lots of owners and handlers there too… of all shapes and sizes.  It is a completely different world, this dog show thing.  Those folks are quite serious about their dogs.  And well they should be. You see.  There is a lot riding on these contests.   The dogs were ALL ABOUT IT too.

I mean, the Grand Prize was $250,000.  (Okay.  Not really.  But the dogs were getting a boat-load of treats.  And the people…. were getting ribbons.)

Someone asked me if I could have any breed of dog I wanted, what would it be?

I thought long and hard on that one.  Since my life has been so blessed with rescue dogs… I would have to say that the next breed I want would be another dog…. of the wayward type.  Like Max.  Or France.  Or Oll.  I can’t image that there would be anything better.

However, if a Norwich Terrier showed up on my front door step… I wouldn’t turn her away.  No way.  No how.

Yes.  Those Show Dogs…. AND ALL our animal friends are big champions one and all.  Perhaps because their greatest talent is the ability to love us… unconditionally.

We could all learn a little something from our dogs.

“It is by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends.” – Unknown

A bird and a cow are sitting in a barn yard.

The cow, turns to the bird and says…. “Why do you keep stealing pieces of hay from my food bin?”
The bird, turns back to the cow and says….”Why do YOU keep stealing big chomps of hay from my nest building supplies?”

The cow looks back at the bird….”Egg Layer.”
And the bird returns…. “Cheeseburger.”

And that my friends, is how the Epic Barnyard War of 1984 began.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” – Friedrich Nietzsche