Heavenly Worldliness: Animals

Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts

10 Australian animals

Koala
Kangaroo
Wallaby
Wombat
Dingo
Tasmanian Devil
Echidna
Emu
Quokka
Duck billed platypus

(We've enjoyed seeing nearly all of these at Symbio Zoo recently)

It's not a great picture and the creatures are behind mesh, which does not help, but I was amazed the other day to see this little cat and this fox looking at each other. The fox was not malicious and the cat was not afraid, as far as I could see.

Jesus and Zoology in the latest Banner Mag

You may be interested to know that amongst many other good things in the latest Banner Mag is an article I have written with the intriguing title, Jesus and zoology.

Garden Frog

We spot frogs in the garden from time to time. My son snapped this one last week.

10 Animals Mentioned By Jesus

1. Matthew 6:25, 26 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

2. Matthew 8:20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

3. Matthew 10:16a I am sending you out like sheep

4. Matthew 10:16b among wolves.

5. Matthew 10:16c Therefore be as shrewd as snakes

6. Matthew 10:16d and as innocent as doves.

7. Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

8. Matthew 19:24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

9. Matthew 24:28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

10. Matthew 25: 32, 33 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

10 Common Pests

Ants (The commonest species that invades houses is the Black Garden Ant, which is actually very dark brown)
Bed bugs (This common pest once associated with unhygienic surroundings is prevalent due to a number of reasons, including increased travel, the use of second-hand furniture, and suspected tolerance to some pesticides. These bugs still occur with regularity, particularly in multi-occupancy buildings with rapid resident turnover, for example, hostels, hotels, holiday camps and blocks of flats.)
Cockroaches (Cockroaches are distinguished by their very long whip-like antennae, flat oval bodies and rapid, jerky walk.)
Deathwatch Beetle (A wood-boring beetle whose grubs eat old hardwood structural timbers. Practically common in stately homes in which the beetle family has probably lived since they were built.)
Fleas (The most common species of Flea is the Cat Flea, known for readily biting humans. The Bird Flea is next in importance, followed by the rare Dog Flea, although other species may become temporarily attached to dogs. Finally, there are Human Fleas which are extremely rare.)
Lice (Small, flat, wingless, grey parasites about 2mm long with strong claw legs and which feed on human blood. There are two distinct forms of this sort of louse - the head louse and the body louse, but they are similar in appearance.)
Mice (Hear the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps behind the skirting. Dos your cat bring mice in from the garden? Mice are a part of British wildlife - but when they take up residence with you, they can be a cause for concern.
Rats (There are two species of rat in Britain, Rattus Norvegicus which is commonly known as the Brown Rat or Common Rat. The Rattus Rattus, referred to as the Black Rat or Ship Rat is now rarely found in the UK.)
Ticks (Closely related to the mites, but much larger and reliant on vertebrate blood. They are occasionally brought into the house on domestic animals and can be picked up by humans after walking through long grass in an infested area. Ticks are implicated in the transmission of Lyme disease, and medical advice should be sought if a rash appears at the site of a bite. Remove them with a twist to avoid leaving the mouthparts in the skin.)
Wasps (Wasps are classified under the order Hymenoptera, which means membraneous wings. All the stinging insects belong to this group. Some Wasps live in Wasps nests in the UK.)

Elephant and Mountain

Fernando Anuang'a, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

There was almost no time for sightseeing while in Kenya but the above picture in Amboseli National Park of an elephant with Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance is the sort of thing to be seen there.

10 Rhyming Animal Names

1. Cat, bat, rat and gnat

2. Whale, snail and quail

3. Dog, frog and hog

4. Bear, hare and mare

5. Eel, seal and cockatiel

6. Cougar and Beluga

7. Moose and goose

8. Elk and whelk

9. Baboon and raccoon

10. Mink and skink

(Also fox and ox, mole and vole, hen and wren)

10 Bute Park Animal Sculptures

Click to enlarge

One of the features of Cardiff City Centre is a series of animal sculptures on the wall of Bute Park. There are 15 altogether (a lioness, two lions, raccoons and baboons are the others). It now stands to the west of the entrance to Cardiff Castle, having been moved from its original position in front of the castle in 1922 when the road was widened. The design for the wall was conceived by William Burges, architect to the third Marquess of Bute, during Burges's reconstruction of the castle in the 1860s, but it was not executed until the late 1880s/early 1890s. This work, which included the original nine animal sculptures, all undertaken by Burges's favourite sculptor, Thomas Nicholls, was carried out under the direction of William Frame, who had previously assisted Burges at both Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch. When the wall was moved, the fourth Marquess commissioned Alexander Carrick to carve a further six sculptures to sit on the extended wall which now fronted Bute Park in 1931. The Animal Wall is a Grade I listed structure. Above the top five are by Nicholls, the bottom five by Carrick. The animals were originally painted in naturalistic colours, although this paintwork deteriorated rapidly, and was subsequently removed.

Five Good Books Recently Read

One tries to keep reading. Here are five I've recently got through and enjoyed. First, Nick Needham's superb fifth volume on church history. This time we are in the wonderful eighteenth century. Much of it I knew but a great deal I did not. I particularly enjoyed the section on Bengel the commentator. I don't recall seeing the bald statement that Wesley was happy about women preachers anywhere else. I bought Footnotes on spec when I saw going cheap in a local bookshop. A great bargain, it travels various parts of Britain in the company of Dickens, Blyton and others in a partly random series of trips. Its chief strength is that it is very well written. Most engaging. I got the book on animals in the same manner as the Fiennes' book. I thought it was part of another series but it is not. I would think it is fairly easy to write such a book but very enjoyable to read (if you ignore the evolutionary stuff).

When my father-in-law demobbed his vast library most of it went to Newcastle but I did get hold of the five volume Vos Systematic Theology. Recently I thought I had better start reading it and so took up Volume 1. It is hard going in parts but mostly just keeps going. There is no prolegomena so the first volume covers Scripture, God and his decree. I have already started on Volume 2. I actually paid full price for the McCall short stories in a different booksop (I'm not a complete skinflint - though rather impulsive). I've not read any Smith for ages and enjoyed these spy stories immensely, although the final story which touches on theology had a very disappointing section attempting to explain what orthodox catholic Christians believe about the Holy Spirit. It is unnerving when you see what a hash he makes of it, having been so impressed with everythhing else. I might hunt down some more McCall Smith; there's loads of it. I thought this was an interesting quote from one of the stories

Sides are often arbitrary - the result of historical accident: friendship can be much more important than allegiance and membership, and can, sometimes, outrank other, lesser loyalties. Where you are born, and the flag that flies over your birthplace, may turn out to be far less important than the promptings of the heart within.

Yet More Pareidolia

A proof that God exists? A hint at least. I saw this out walking today.

(May be the fact that I'm reading Moby Dick at the moment made a difference).

Holiday Painting 1

One fun thing this holiday was putting paint to canvas. Designed to provoke a smile.

Lord's Day February 6 2022

We had a full and in some ways eventful day last Lord's Day. At about 10 am my wife reminded me that there was communion in less than half an hour's time. I was able to me a good recovery, I hope. We had a good number in the morning when I preached from Luke 9:17-22. I felt the sermon manuscript lacked illustrations but it preached well, I felt. We then had lunch with one of the deacons and his family. That was nice. In the evening I preached on Amos 5. People seemed to be distracted during one of the readings.

Wild Horses

See here

10 Zoos in the UK

Emőke Dénes, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

1. London Zoo, Regents Park

2. Whipsnade Zoo

3. Bristol Zoo

4. Chester Zoo

5. Dudley Zoo

6. Borth Wild Animal Kingdom

7. Penscynor Wildlife Park

8. Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo

9. Twycross Zoo

10. Edinburgh Zoo

Bear Leap

A female bear shows an impressive leap as she pounces to catch salmon in the Ozernaya river, on the Kamchatka peninsula, in Russia’s far east ROIE GALITZ/SOLENT NEWS (As seen in my newspaper today) more here

Day off Week 34 2019

Unusually last week I had my day off on a Saturday - not ideal in some ways. I had one duty to perform and then something else came up too but these took up a very small part of the day. One of my sons and his wife have been visiting for a few days. We loved having them here and on Saturday we spent the lovely hot day in Richmond Park with them. It took us about an hour to get there but once there we settled in some shade and had a lovely picnic. We enjoyed both the parakeets, which are all over London, and the deer, which are the park speciality. It is amazing how close you can get to both. We also had some nice games of badminton and were treated to a nice ice cream before leaving. The journey back seemed to be much quicker.

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