When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ~ Matthew 2:4 Why is this worded like this? King Herod was a Gentile (Not the same Herod who beheaded John the Baptist, nor the one mentioned during Jesus’ execution. That was his son, Antipas.) As a Gentile, he worshiped pagan gods. Apparently, he was not well-versed in Old Testament prophecy, so he called in the Jewish religious leaders for information. Where do you turn for spiritual information? Do you look to Google? Self-help books? Friends? Or do you go to the One Who wrote The Book?
Blaine went out early this morning to bike around the Park. During his time out, he was able to witness a close-up encounter with a red-shouldered hawk and a piliated woodpecker!
Once he returned, I was ready to head out with him and visit the Park’s CCC Museum. We’ve done several posts over the years about this place, so today’s will be the bare minimum. Sorry for those of you who may be new – – or forgetful. The most memorable time for us, was the year they were doing a prescribed burn around the building while we were there. So fun and exciting!
This map shows all the CCC camps. More than 3 million young men (18-25) were employed from 1933-1942. They planted more than three billion trees and constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks.
Have you ever seen or heard of Kevin Costner’s movie “The Guardian”? It about him being a Coast Guard veteran who comes back to Alaska to train a group of new recruits. Ashton Kutcher is one of them. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that as exciting as the movie was, according to an actual Coast Guard veteran we met today, the movie is only about 50% accurate. The main inacuracy being that Kevin was waaay too old. It’s a young man’s game. If you’re pushing 40, you’re too old to do the job. The Coast Guard only takes the top enrollees to the military. For their entrance exam, you must score at least an 85% to even be considered. Just to compare; for the Navy, it’s 50%. There are about 41,000 in the Coast Guard. The combined number of all US active-duty military is about 1.2 million. And just so’s ya know, I only Googled the total number of active military.
So, how do I know all this stuff and even more importantly, why am I telling you?
Blaine located a small, free museum close by called the “Military Sea Services Museum”, so we went to visit. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of the traditions and customs of the U.S. Naval Sea Services which includes the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, both past and present. A Coast Guard Veteran named Eric guided us around the place and fed us more information than I could ever possibly remember. He was really good! And nearly everything in the place was donated.
Did you notice anything different about this flag?
This certainly must be a relatively rare flag. Alaska and Hawaii were both admitted into the Union in 1959. Alaska (which is the 49th star on this flag) was January 3rd, Hawaii August 21st.
I mostly took this picture for the information on the bottom. The three vials of sand were just above this sign on a shelf.Eric shared a great history behind this particular motorcycle as it was passed from person to person and country to country. I thought I took a picture of the picture showing the condition the museum received it in, but I didn’t. You’ll have to zoom in if you want to see it. Everything on the restored bike is original except the seat and saddlebags.One small section of the museum.Neither of us remembered learning about these leaflets. They were dropped by the thousands and anyone bringing with them to surrender was treated humanely.When I asked who made the knots, Eric told us he did them all! Blaine shared he knew some of them from when he was an electrician!This picture shows an aircraft carrier replenishing their rations at sea and also refueling at the same time. The black lines from ship to ship are the fuel lines.We liked this picture! It was taken in New York.
We enjoyed our 1 ½ hours with Eric today!
Today, our youngest grandchild turned 20 months! He loves to help out both his mom and his dad with their projects!
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. ~ Matthew 2:3 Doesn’t this verse seem strange? At a time when the world, especially the Jewish world, should’ve been rejoicing over their log-awaited Messiah, they’re disturbed. Why? In the Lexicon (the place where you can get definitions of words used in specific passages), the word ‘disturbed’ or ‘troubled’ as it’s used here, means “to strike one’s spirit with fear or dread”. Again, I have to ask, “Why?” I can understand King Herod’s reluctance to hear that there may be a usurper of his throne, but why ‘all Jerusalem’? According to commentaries I looked up, their conclusion is that the people enjoyed living with what they knew. And second, Herod, although known for his architectural acumen, was also known to be a ruthless and nasty man having executed many, including at least seven members of his own immediate family before this Magi encounter. The people were afraid of how Herod would react to this potential threat to his reign. How often do we become unnerved when the world around us shifts for some reason? What about when someone – or God – tries to usurp our own claim to be king over our own lives, minds and/or bodies? Are we really any different from the people we read about in scripture?
It was a biking/walking day in the Park today, where the gators are much more amiable to having their photograph taken and cypress and palm trees abound.
While we here at Highland Hammock, you’re going to be exposed to several pictures of these gorgeous reflections!This is the historic catwalkThat’s a mama gator.There’s some of the babies. We believe there are 6 in all.
No one knows why cypress trees have these growths called ‘knees’. I think it’s good that God still provides us with mysteries we can’t solve. I just decided to take pictures of a few of them.
My funny husband! : )Cute!!No idea. Some kind of salamander?? Whatever it was, it allowed Blaine to pet it. : )Pretty and very few flowers grow around here. At least right now. This is a new fungus we have not seen before.
And that’s all I have to say about today. We’re just enjoying our relaxed pace here. Besides, I think you were due for a short post. I know Blaine, my amazing editor in chief is. 😊
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” ~ Matthew 2:1-2 How many Magi (that’s Greek for ‘wise man’) were there? Did you know that scripture never gives us a number? One day, someone, somewhere just decided there were three, probably because three gifts are mentioned. There are actually several fallacies we all cling to in our Christmas traditions. Here’s another – the Bible never mentions Mary riding on a donkey to Bethlehem. And the wisemen didn’t visit at the stable. So just who are these guys and why did they come looking for the “King of the Jews” in the first place? They were most likely astronomers/astrologers. At that time, these men would’ve most likely been trained in things like interpreting the heavenly bodies, history, religion, and other educational studies. John MacArthur poses an interesting theory that the “star” they saw was actually God’s shekinah glory shining to get their attention and send them on their way. This shekinah glory is what led the Hebrews through the desert during their exodus from Egypt (Exodus 13:21), and it’s what the shepherds saw when the angels announced the birth of Christ (Luke 1:9). Also viewing God’s shekinah glory seems to be limited to those to whom He wants it revealed. I’ve not heard this before, but I like it, especially given the fact that when the Magi started asking around, no one else had any idea what they were talking about. The main point of this passage seems to be that Matthew wants us to know that God sent people from all walks of life to witness His Son’s birth. The birth of the King of Kings.
We’re going to jump from Christmas to East here. 😊
Today is Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent for Catholics and most Protestants. Lent comprises the forty days before Easter. Many people know it as the time when some can’t eat meat on Fridays. Or some know it as a time when people give up “something” for forty days. I uncovered two articles that speak to its sketchy origins. If you’re curious, check out one (or both) of the following articles:
For many, the culmination of Lent lies in the remembrance of what happened in Christ’s final days – Thursday through Saturday before His resurrection that we celebrate as Easter. Thursday – the significance of the Last Supper institution of Communion and His arrest, Friday when He was exposed to a mockery of a trial and then executed in the cruelest of ways; the cross, and Saturday the waiting period between His death and resurrection.
In our families, this time was taken seriously as we reminded ourselves what Jesus endured for our salvation.
On to our day . . . .
The scent of orange blossoms wafted in through the Jeep vents as we drove by huge orange groves on our way to kayak Arbuckle Creek. Some of the groves looked healthy and thriving, but others seemed like no one was taking care of them – dead trees and tall grass, etc.
We kayaked this creek in the past (which is much bigger than what we’d consider a creek) and loved it, and today proved to be just as wonderful.
There were plenty of things to see – all types of birds, turtles, surface-bug-eating fish (means they would flop around all the time, sometimes right beside us!), cows (yes, cows!) and of course, no paddle would be complete without sightings of Florida gators. But the weird thing today was that the gators didn’t want us to see them. Without exception, they dove into the water well before we got anywhere near them.
As you can see from the first picture, that t-shirt didn’t last long. : )We only came across a few other people today.That’s a stork!The only gator that wasn’t afraid of us.And adult (white) and older juvenile (it’s quickly turning white) Ibis.
And there was also the ‘air show’ going on during most of our paddle. Kinda exciting, but they really messed with the quiet ambiance we should’ve had today.
An air force base is nearby and today, they were practicing flying four MC-22 Osprey. Of course, I didn’t know that! But Blaine knew they were Osprey. 😊 I grabbed the following from military.com:
Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. It was fielded to replace the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and has been deployed to support troops in combat since 2007.
The Osprey is unique in that it uses two engines positioned on fixed wing tips housed in nacelles that rotate to allow the MV-22 to land and take off vertically, but achieve much faster flight than a helicopter by tilting the nacelles forward while in flight in a configuration similar to a fixed-wing aircraft.
With the speed and range of a turboprop, the maneuverability of a helicopter and the ability to carry 24 Marine combat troops twice as fast and five times farther than previous helicopters, the Osprey enhances Marine assault operations. The Osprey’s impact was felt immediately upon its arrival in Iraq. Commenting on its advanced expeditionary capabilities and staggering operational reach, a top Marine commander went as far as to say it turned his battle space “from the size of Texas into the size of Rhode Island.”
The MV-22 also provides transport for White House staff as part of the HMX-1 presidential squadron based in Quantico, Va.
Back to our day . . . .
Lunchtime and an opportunity to stand!On the other side of the bridge lies a good-sized lake and our final destination.Last time we were here, that was in fairly good shape and men were standing on it scouting for gators for the upcoming hunting season.We didn’t stay on the lake long. It was pretty breezy out there and we found ourselves being blown around if we didn’t paddle.
The current was fairly strong on the way up, so on the way back, we often took turns paddling. You know what that means, don’t you? We’re getting older. 😊
A flock of Ibis we startled awayWhat is that on the water?It’s a huge group of whirligig bugs! We’ve seen them before when we paddle, but never this large of a grouping! Below you’ll find some information about them.
A very large “school” may contain as many as a dozen different species of whirligigs. They’ve been clocked at speeds up to 1 meter per second (that’s just over three feet for those of us not familiar with the metric system 😊). They have the ability to secrete a smelly substance that deters predators, and a shiny, black finish. Whirligig beetles’ eyes are split; half of each eye lies below the horizon and half rises above it, so they can view two worlds at once—pretty handy for a predator. When on the surface, they absorb air from the atmosphere, but they tuck an air bubble under their wings when they dive. They row with their flattened and fringed middle and hind pairs of legs, and they hold their front pair of legs forward, ready to grasp their prey. Impressive on the water’s surface, they are good swimmers underwater (they may dive when alarmed), and they migrate from pond to pond by flying.
For an insect-size animal, the top layer of water molecules has a tough film. Whirligigs and water striders skate on top of it; snails and leeches glide belly up on its under-surface. Other insects get stuck on it when they fly too close. For some below the surface, it can be a prison that they aren’t strong enough to break through. Whirligig beetles find their food stuck in that film. The last two segments of their antennae are used to detect the tiny waves made by insects struggling on the surface film, and they also scavenge on floating dead material. In A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America, Voshell surmises that “the waves that the adult whirligig beetles generate when swimming may function for the echolocation of food, like sonar used by ships at sea.” Wowsers!
Ms. Whirligig lays her eggs underwater, on plants. Like their parents, the immatures are “engulfer-predators. Climbers/swimmers, the larvae eat water mites, snails, worms, and other small aquatic insects (especially mosquitoes), and their brethren. They pick up dissolved oxygen from the water by means of external gills located on the sides of their abdomens. When the larvae are ready to pupate, they build a case of mud, sand, or leaf pieces on a damp shoreline. Dineutes adds to the degree of difficulty by doing this upside down, suspended over its building material from vegetation by its posterior hooks (think Houdini in a strait-jacket), stretching down to grab one mouthful at a time to construct a pupal case (NO, the BugLady is NOT making this up!).
Two other interesting whirligig-facts. Ann Haven Morgan reports in Field Book of Ponds and Streams that a researcher who fed freshly-killed larvae to captive adult Dineutes observed a piranha-like feeding frenzy. “As many as could would seize the insect, crowd around it, grasping it, whirling around it in wild curves and sometimes diving beneath the surface, but always holding on to their prey and tearing out mouthfuls of insect tissue.” The charming (second) fact that males can squeak isn’t quite enough to banish that mental picture. ~ University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee.
The author calls herself ‘The Bug Lady’ 😊. And that, my friends, is your entomology lesson for today!
The plan after our four-hour paddle, was to head home, change clothes and head into town for pizza. And that’s exactly what we did.
