I’ll Just Have To Call It a Tie

Butterflies are so incredible in many ways and there are many reasons why. Let’s dig a little more into this fascinating creature. Butterflies are active in the nice hot day time and are different from their neighboring moth who is most likely found at night.

Let’s look at the wing structure and the amazing patterns on the wings. The wingspan on some butterflies is only 6mm, although most have a 10mm wingspan. The average butterfly’s wingspan is about 30mm. The moth’s wingspan on the other hand is about 4mm. They are usually much smaller. A butterfly’s wings are usually very colorful, while the moth’s are dull colors.

 

So how does a butterfly search for its food? The nectar channels of flowers allow butterflies to easily find the food they enjoy. Butterflies drink nectar using tube-like tongues. Did you know that butterflies can taste through their feet? Butterflies have small sensors that are on the back of their legs. The insect will step on its food to sense the tasty sugars. I’m sure glad humans don’t have to do that! The butterfly that I saw not too long ago was a beautiful monarch drinking nectar from the zinnias. Moths suck the juicy nectars from the flowers, too, just like the butterfly.

How fast can a butterfly go? Skipper butterflies fly so fast that they could outpace a horse at 37mph, but most butterflies fly at 5 to 12 miles per hour. I think that’s fast. Moths can reach speeds up to 35mph. That’s fast too, but not as fast as the butterfly.

A butterfly’s life cycle starts with an egg. It hatches into a larva, then becomes a pupa. Finally, it becomes a beautifully colored butterfly. I have seen butterflies in their chrysalis before. This is the pupa stage. Jonah got a see-through container where he had lots of butterfly caterpillars. It was about five to twenty days before they all hatched. After that, Jonah set every one of them free. Jonah has caught moths, but he has never kept them through all the stages. Moths make a cocoon that is silky unlike the butterfly’s smooth, hard chrysalis.

The butterfly’s amazing habits have always inspired me in many ways. The more I learn about these insects, the more I like them and their miraculous life-cycle. It’s hard to decide which one I like better between the moth and the butterfly, so as far as I’m concerned, I’ll just have to call it a tie.

~Unique

Putt-ing About In South Carolina

Earlier this year we attended the annual Restoration Destination conference at the Avista resort. Our stay was filled with beautiful weather, enabling us to get in a lot of beach time. We swam in the not too cold waters and played on the sandy and not too crowded beaches. Then towards the end of the week, a friend of ours, Ralph, asked to treat us to a game of miniature golf, at one of the local putt-putt courses. Delighted by his offer and appreciative of his generosity, we pulled onto the course, Wednesday afternoon, to view a small corner of South Carolina turned into a swash-buckling, high seas, mini-golfing adventure.

There were two different 18-hole courses so we decided to split up into two groups, the girls taking one course while the boys took the other. It was announced that at the end, there would be a prize for whoever had the lowest score on either team. Thus enlightened, we set off down the path to the first green.

We girls, after deciding in what order we all would hit, made our way leisurely around the course. Occasionally there were a couple of hole in ones, amazing rebounds sometimes, and even a few balls hit out of bounds! Despite the higher scores, we had a great time. 

 

The course was very interactive, with speakers set about permeating the atmosphere with pirate music or stories, and signs telling of famous pirates and buccaneer lingo. At certain greens, there was a wheel to spin and follow the often quirky directions. One time you might have to putt with the wrong end of your club or tee off with your eyes closed. Maybe you would use your foot the entire hole, or not be able to speak for a round, under penalty of gaining a stroke!

Once we girls finished the course we were on, we started on the second one, then we noticed that the boys were already about finished with their second course, so we quickly made our way around the eighteen holes, more for fun than to keep score. Back at the building, we met the boys who were waiting for us. Scores were announced, revealing that the winner of the boys’ group was Dad, and the winner of the girls’, Aunt Sue! The prize? Dippin’ dots, which Ralph ended up kindly getting for all of us.

The enjoyable afternoon came to a close. It was nice getting to know Ralph better. He was certainly a generous brother in Christ and showered us with his giving. We are thankful that he took his time and resources to invite us out for a swashbuckling game of putt-putt golf.

~Halayah

Safe, Loud, Exciting, Crazy, and Fun

The Friday after Thanksgiving Day, the family began to arrive at our house for our big family thanksgiving party! Our family thanksgiving meal was not to happen until Saturday, so we busied ourselves that day eating a delicious meal of mashed potatoes topped with turkey and noodles, and some homemade biscuits spread with butter and jelly.

After we had finished, and had a few hours to digest our food, we decided that it was time to take our traditional squirrel hunt. The 4-10 along with BB guns, and a single shot 22 were all brought out and loaded. Once all 15 members of the hunting party were ready, we set out along our trail looking for squirrels as we went.

It was not long before Willow our dog caught our attention with her barks, which generally indicates the presence of a squirrel. We began heading in the direction from which the barks were coming, and soon the furry little tree dweller was seen jumping from tree to tree! Shouts of excitement were heard as everyone followed the animal, who no doubt was very much afraid of all the noise.

All who had guns moved to the front, and the ones without guns stood back and out of the way. Everyone had their eyes on the tree, looking hard, for the squirrel seemed to have disappeared! We looked intently, but no squirrel was in sight. I happened to glance over at a neighboring tree and chanced to see the end of a squirrel’s tail slip behind a branch! I pointed out to the others where the animal lay flat against a limb.

Jonah, who was in possession of the 4-10, with my help was shown where the squirrel was. He was just about to shoot, when some shouts caught our attention. There’s another squirrel, and another! There were three squirrels! Looking around, we saw that two of them were running and jumping from tree to tree! I turned to watch as Jonah took aim at the squirrel closest to us, and fire! Boom went the gun, and the squirrel fell from the tree.

The gun was passed to me as Jonah went to collect his prize. I took a shell from Dad, and after putting the gun on safety, reloaded it. I then, with the gun pointing to the ground, quickly walked ahead to where the other two squirrels continued to run. 

One squirrel managed to slip into its nest and being unethical to shoot into the nest after it, we let it be. The other squirrel, however, passed the nest and stopped in the crotch of a tree where it sat motionless. I shifted my orange hat, then carefully took aim and pulled the trigger. Bang went the gun, and down went the squirrel.

We continued walking, and neared the house right as dusk began to settle. It was then that I saw a squirrel run across the trail ahead of me! I called out “squirrel,” and pointed it out to everyone. Once again, the armed members of the group took the lead, and once all the watchers were back and out of the way, they began carefully taking shots at the squirrel. The shots scared two more unseen squirrels into running, making three squirrels altogether running and jumping from tree to tree! 

We all split up, each group following a different animal. I saw one of squirrels run down a tree and pointed it out to one of the shooters. Once he was sure that no one was behind, or around the tree, he fired. Boom, boom! Two guns fired near the same time, and two different squirrels fell from the same tree! As the third squirrel scampered off, all of the guns were put on safety, then the squirrels were gathered up and we walked the rest of the trail.

Once we arrived back at the house, the guns were unloaded, and put away. All of the hunting orange was removed and put back in the box.

We gutted, skinned and quartered the squirrels, and put them into the freezer for later. It is fun to go on the big family squirrel hunts, especially when we get four squirrels! I am thankful for the squirrels we did get and am glad that everyone was safe. I am already looking forward to the next time we go on our safe, loud, exciting, crazy, and fun squirrel hunt.

~Samuel

The Faux Pas

They say that the mind is the first thing to go, and I am now beginning to wonder! I just turned sixty in October, but I did not think things like this would happen so fast! “What,” you may ask. We’ll get to that in a bit. There are advantages however to gaining a little maturity. Relationships are often deeper and more meaningful. Grey hair brings on a little more wisdom, and one frequently has a happier perspective on life. Self-esteem goes on the rise, and confidence increases, which lowers stress and adds joy. Watching your children and grandchildren progress through life brings a sense of satisfaction and peace.

But, my recent ordeal with an extension cord added a little question to my mind about aging. My nice heavy-duty cord was beginning to short out on the socket end of the large yellow cable. When plugging tools into it, I would have to bend it a certain way in order to get the tool to work. No problem, I thought, as the cord was still good, I would simply replace the female end and I would be back in business. So, while at the store, I proceeded to purchase my needed item and a few days later, began the task of repair. Setting the new item beside me, I proceeded to cut off the old end and, in a few minutes, happily inspected my cord restoration project.

All looked perfect, but I thought I had better plug something into it for a quick test. Carrying it to the outlet, I reached for the prong end of the cord when to my surprise, I then held two male ends! Not only would that not work, but it could also be extremely dangerous! I had cut off the defective female end, and with no thought at all, replaced it with the new male end that I had inadvertently purchased. I am not sure if this has anything to do with growing older or not, as this is not the first silly thing I have done. Everyone got a good laugh at my blatant faux pas.

While this incident could happen at any age, one can tell they are getting a little older when they make groaning noises every time they sit down or stand up. My grandchildren often remind me of that. As you age, new athletes or store clerks start to look like little children. You wonder if they are even old enough to drive. Then you realize that the year 2000 was over 20 years ago and the oldies stations are playing music from your childhood. You sometimes hurt for no reason at all, strange hair pops up in the most unusual places, and CDs or VHS tapes still seem like normal items. It makes me smile to think of such things and how time marches on.

While I hope to keep the mix-ups to a minimum, I am sure they will still come. You meant to zig when you should have zagged. You’re not sure why you walked into the kitchen. You name every grandchild before you get the right name. Faux pas happens. Life is enjoyable and interesting at any age. I look forward to what today might bring! Now what was I writing about?

~Mark