Not Hidden – Obliterated

December 5, 2023

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Somewhere in this remote mountainous terrain lie the remains of a tragedy.

There was a plane that went missing back in January of 1950. It was a military Douglas C-54D, number 42-72469, on a route from Alaska to Montana with 44 people on board. Last anyone heard from it was a radio call from near Snag, Yukon. Most likely a progress call-in to update flight status and location. The next call-in was supposed to be when they got over Aishihik, Yukon, southeast of Snag, but that call never came and no one has heard from the flight since. If I remember correctly, the flight crew reported some icing taking place during the Snag report – a piece of the overall puzzle that might have played a big part. Icing is when there’s a build-up of layer of ice, especially on the leading edges of the wings which dramatically interferes with airflow, hence lift, of the wing. There have been numerous crashes of planes over the years due to icing.

Since it was a military plane with military personnel aboard there was an intensive search for it, but the January snow both impeded the search and covered up any crash evidence. At first the weather was horrendous. Some planes involved in the original search crashed while searching in the bad weather, but it seems everyone survived those. The official search gradually tapered off and a couple of years into it, other events of higher priority concerning military aircraft occurred rendering the search for 2469 pretty much terminated, but relatives of the missing and other interested parties continued to search and follow up tips, and they have done so to this day. There was a documentary a few months ago about a revived interest in the search. Seems like the new search is dubbed Operation Mike, after the name of the pilot. That might have been the name of the original search too.

There are blogs out there where people post whatever information they might have, and some swap out stories of eyewitness reports, conspiracy theories, and so forth, so for sure, the search has become a thing once again.  In fact, sometimes it seems the search itself has overtaken the thing being sought.

The implications of finding this aircraft are not to be taken lightly. Thousands of people have been searching for scores of years. There has grown a veritable cult of people from all walks of life, commenting on social media with tips, speculation, mundane technicalities, of typical interactional traits. There are arguments, insults, lots of one-upmanship, and to tell the truth, sometimes it seems that “The Search” and its inherent camaraderie has found a life of its own seemingly divergent from the objective of finding the object sought. Individuals and organizations purporting to be professional searchers seem to have found sustenance in the search for this airplane. Things will change for a lot of people if it is found.

I became interested in the search, (not so much “The Search”) as lots of other folks have, not least because it’s understood by all of us that everybody deserves a proper burial. Being a veteran myself, it’s unsettling to think those guys were in the service just like I was and they’re MIA – still are after all those years. Somewhere up there enduring those long, dark winters in icy cold, lonely mountains, the bones of some boys that were serving their country during peacetime still lie, but it was a time when a horrific war was still fresh in everyone’s memory.  Bones of those boys and those of a lady with a young child who were traveling with them.  There must be relatives of the missing personnel who are still around and who’d like to have closure too.

People are searching using Google Earth. Most of the imagery is blurry up close and when you zoom out far enough to get good resolution it’s usually from too far up to see what you’re looking for. Still, it’s what’s available, and until they come up with some way to achieve better resolution, it’s all we have.  You can get to a point looking at it where you get goofy, but it is possible to make out some things.  The area of wreckage this post discusses is located a scant few hundred yards off a straight-line path between Snag and Aishihik, Yukon. Takes some dedicated searching. You just have to keep telling yourself that those souls are waiting to properly be laid to rest and the wreck is out there somewhere.

Regardless of the possible negative impact it might have on “The Search”, I made the decision to share pictures of the things I’ve found. There’s some interesting stuff in that mountainous area of the imagery in the opening picture of this article. Up close, the stuff in the area of interest looks like it could be wreckage, but it would help if a person was familiar with parts and pieces of a C-54, to make sense of any of it. Besides, if this is wreckage, it would appear that the aircraft smashed into that mountainside pretty violently and there are very few large pieces. A person looking for an intact aircraft carcass would be sure to miss this wreck. You have to zoom in till it gets almost blurry to see things, in fact at first glance without really looking closely, you won’t see much of anything. 

If what this post describes is the wreckage everyone is looking for, it is disappointingly pulverized.  As mentioned, there are few big pieces of a recognizable plane, but wreckage is there, you just have to study what you can see.  But then, that’s the hard part.  It takes determination and tenacity to pore over the imagery at the level required in order to find something.

It seems there are other missing planes in that part of the world, so the possibility, however unlikely, exists that the wreckage found here might be from another crash, but even if is, it’s still wreckage. The picture below illustrates just how difficult it is to make out things from the available imagery.

As you can see, there’s hardly anything discernible. Especially from this far up. To the left of the yellow pins are things that have been identified by zooming in and in many cases editing the lighting, contrast, color saturation, etc., to be able to see the things a little more clearly. The areas with the circles drawn have literally piles of debris in them. In fact, it was the area in the circle on the left that initially drew my attention to this site, but the circle wasn’t there then. Lots of interesting objects. The ever-so-slight color variation in that area is from what might have been a fire from long ago.

All around this site you can find items with symmetry and shapes that do not occur in nature. Circular objects, mangled sheet metal, flat pieces that leave shadowing noticeably different from that of rocks, pieces with perfectly straight lines and right angles, etc., but you have to zoom in, and in most cases edit lighting to be able to see them.

To gain a better understanding of why everything is so hard to discern, consider this: What remains of the craft appears to have undergone an extremely violent collision with the mountainside, leaving little of the craft large enough to recognize and/or identify. The large area of the scattered debris indicates there was probably a big crash. There have been 70+ years of rain, snow, mud, possible avalanches, high winds to blow around lighter pieces, and probably years of high intensity sunlight to bleach coloring. Aluminum, from which the fuselage is predominately constructed, oxidizes and takes off-white, grey, and greenish colors of the proximate environment, making it more difficult to see. There was a devastating 9+ magnitude earthquake back in the 60s not far away in Alaska which would have undoubtedly shaken things around, especially anything that might have been precariously clinging to a steep mountainside. Some of the items appear to be half buried in what may have been mud from rains. On top of all of this, you have to use grainy, pixelated imagery to be able to try and figure out what it is. Don’t really mean to complain so much about the imagery, it’s probably better than psychics and crystal balls.

To illustrate the difference between the original imagery and what things look like after editing, the following pictures from the imagery are shown:

The above picture is from original satellite imagery unedited. Looks like nothing but rocks.

This lower picture is approximately the same image after a bit of editing lighting and color, no object in the image has been altered. It looks to be the front of an engine in the red circle. The yellow lines point to what look like cowl flaps and the blue line could be a propeller blade, bent up (bent to the viewer’s right) in the 10 o’clock part of the circle. If you Google Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp engine, you can find not destroyed engines to compare to this image. The level of detail needed to positively identify this as the P&W engine, unfortunately is just not there.

The next image looks like part of an aircraft tail section in the center red circle. Is it from a C-54?

The next image is what looks like a cargo door in the larger circle. If you look closely, protruding outside the left side of the circle might be the accompanying cargo door (I believe there were two doors together that closed onto each other), but it’s not as discernable. Whatever that is in the smaller circle is unidentified. I call it the bird cage. It is definitely man-made, so what is it doing out here on a mountain top in the middle of nowhere miles and miles from the nearest road? Although size scale is near impossible with the fuzzy imagery and uneven terrain, this object would still be way too big to be something a hunter could have lugged up that mountain. If you have any idea, please leave it in the comments.

The image below is somewhat harder to make out, but it appears to be an engine nacelle still attached to a part of a wing. There are corroded cowl flap plates in the roundish area on the right of the center circle, and on the left side of that object and still in the circle, there is a nice black, symmetrical curve with a greenish coloring inside the arc. That curve looks to be the leading edge of the wing and the greenish part would be the inside of the wing, possibly a fuel tank bulkhead. It’s hard to discern whether the thing is right side up. To the left and overlapping the wing piece is a rather large round piece of crumpled sheet metal. Some of that piece is outside the circle. This whole section of debris is likely to have been some of that which tumbled down from the impact area.

This last picture is of a basket-shaped object lying on its side, maybe it’s something out of the plane’s cargo bay. Maybe it’s a piece of the plane. It’s near the ridgeline at the top of the hill, so whatever it is it must be pretty heavy to not have been blown off the hill for almost 74 years:

We can keep searching, but dare we find it?

The Lonely Tears of Palestine

The anchor is weighed now, we sail thus to spring

The clamor of autumn, of color, takes wing

She’s followed the snow geese, her leaves lie to fade

My heart lies among them, in sadness ‘tis stayed.

A mist lies upon me, I cannot now smile

Because of sad places, at hope’s ending mile

There steeped in bleak sorrow, where dwell hopeless fears

They cry in the darkness, but only God hears.

The man of sin bides there, unknown to the soul

Of innocent travelers, who shan’t now grow old

No more shall they live there in homes they loved well

As evil came sudden, aroaring and fell.

They’re taken in violence, their murderers smile

The man of sin bides there, but only a while

Take heart, all the children in God’s care abide

They’ll witness His judgement on their genocide.

The son of perdition, whose evil is known

Will beg Him for mercy but none will be shown.

With tears of torn mothers forever to weigh

A debt that will take him forever to pay.

The fires of hell ‘wait him, and all who supply

Arrows and swords and consent when they try

To dispel the memory of sin as their hell

Visited peasants and homes where they fell.

The anchor is weighed now, we sail where we will

And autumn’s upon us, we ‘wait winters chill

Come springtime their darkness shall change into light

He’ll welcome His children who fought the good fight.

                                                                                                MK  12/01/23

A New Feast of Autumn

Okay, all of y’all who follow this site gotta know by now what to expect this time of the year, so without further ado, here goes:

Determined as one tends to become on sunlit afternoons of majestic October essence to experience peaceful rejuvenation of soul and spirit, these famished eyes set out today to relish an Ozark feast of dazzling color and give thanks and glory to the Creator for the grace that is undoubtedly bestowed upon our existence in these brooding autumn hills.  His perfection is on display here for all creation to behold, especially during early fall when gum trees emerge from sylvan dressing halls in gaudy scarlet as they join fallow and orange sassafras preparing for their roles in the celebration of this year’s festive autumnal potpourri.  

I shall pause here for a long, deep draught of brilliant, gilded hickory mingled to perfection with silent crimson sumac; assuredly a drink deserving of place in a celestial banquet such as has appeared before me, much to be savored and without brevity.  As I relish this event, a fleeting dark realization captures my thoughts – ere long, alas, villainous icy fingers of winter shall steal into this wondrous realm of color and as required in her annual pilferage, pluck the boughs of oak, hickory, and gum barren of hue, casting spidery shadows where autumnal glory does now abound.  Today’s walk under slow dancing towers of amber and pastel, nevertheless shall remain unencumbered with notions of tomorrow’s boreal malignity and instead ply with soul wholly enraptured this day’s intoxicating halls of splendor that only the skilled hand of the Creator can be imagined to lovingly endow of all these immaculate tints with His delicate brush.

Moss-darkened limestone escarpments gather along silent rims of the ravine to witness a symphony of windblown amber oatgrass whispering an autumn song played in chords known only to the gentle northern breeze.  Fallow shadows find their way down rocky winding creek beds, now long devoid of water and in undoubted reminisce of misty April days when their banks were full.  At this stage of the seasonal march, ochre leaves vie with desiccated limestone and agate rocks for places to rest and watch this autumn spectacle unfold.  Somewhere above – far above – swaying golden boughs, the Savior undoubtedly watches, indeed it is He who is directing to perfection the extravaganza.  

As I appreciatively devour my generous portion of the servings so graciously offered this day, a solitary traveler of honeyed oaken amber in final descent drifts aflutter onto the table before me.  Having selected a suitable resting place, perhaps yesterday, perhaps months ago as he held onto the branch that bore him, he chose this day to let go and lend his mote of sublime texture to what is becoming a lush carpet of autumn hue.  As he descends inexorably onto the earth, he silently waves farewell to the somber giant oak he came to know. Then he rests.

Where the Poor Go to Weep

Pray, beloved child, your prayer in sadness, silence and wonder for He patiently waits in silent and peaceful places where He watches for wholesomeness of heart, even – and especially – on somber mornings of clouded silence.  His gaze is ever upon your humility and compassion, for the blessing he desires to visit upon you is predicated on these.  Keep your own eyes to those fellow travelers endowed flush with righteous purpose and bestowed with wisdom; emulate such as you may be able and as your spirit allows. Surely the Creator will rest His mighty hand on your hope, for shipwrecked ever become ambitions elsewise, although it may seem not so for now.  With purity of heart, keep your sanctuary of solitude in His reach.  For it is but with purity of heart that we may behold Him.

Take shelter there and trust your tears go not unheeded, that your despondent mourn is indeed regarded by the Master, whose abundant presence ever awaits your return to that burning bush in your place of solitude.  Weep then, loudly if at all – fervently cry for mercy and for justice – for assuredly He gives pause to those hopeless, woeful echoes such as fill the heavenly censer.  As surely as the morning star arises from a pale dawn of twilight to beckon your spirit, encouragement such as may be rightfully and fruitfully gained from His compassion and wisdom shall blossom from the very despair you presently endure.  From eternity itself, incomprehensible peace shall indeed reveal to you His presence and the depths of His love.

Go then, to your fortress of solitude, that simple haven chosen by you among strewn leaves beneath oaken boughs where your tears as rivulet testimonials entreat His presence into your spirit to lift, to promise of eternal hope, eternal life, eternal love.  Consider always your burden as a blessing, through all awaiting sorrow and trepidation to which you must return from this sanctuary of tranquility ere you suffer the beastly conflict once more and with such steadfastness as you are gifted. You need not face it alone. Reap and gather courage here, then embrace it as you return to that life of need and poverty.  With passion, regard such destitution as His grace to you, for the wealthy ever deny themselves purity of faith.  Consider the patch on your garment as witness of travail you’ve endured in humble determination to remain faithful in the tempest. The wealthy cannot fathom a need of fortress against those merciless winds blowing covetousness and impurity upon the dark, endless paths they travel.  Such need is never regarded as they dwell within ornate decadence of realms unknown to you, but trust that unfamiliarity is for your benefit. They have no place to pray.  They have no place to weep.

Few souls among the multitudes of the uncompassionate whose hearts are laden with envy and desires of the flesh – sadly so few – shall ever come to know the blessing to be had spending time and tears of despondence in His presence.  Burdened with such pursuits of vanity as they carry, they deny themselves the incredible grace that awaits their presence in those humble silent places where Jesus Christ seeks to meet them!  To mend them. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Walk upright, holding the hem of His garment through each emerging shadow and understand that misfortune befalls every soul, therefore find that sacred place and avail yourself of an instance to pray.  And as need demands, to spend tears.

If the Almighty awaits our fellowship beneath forest boughs in a misty wood or within a secluded glen among rocks on a mountainside – a meeting place where thoughts and tears are spilled before Him, there go I.  If we must shun the allure of worldly lust and desire so that we may be comforted in such places where it is meet to tearfully implore the mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ, there go I.  If I might find that place where God abides awaiting the piteous cries of the needy and destitute so that there I too may be blessed – blessed indeed to be one with fellow sojourners in poverty and tears in the sanctity of His Holy Spirit – there, in poverty and purity of heart and by any means, go I.

Turning Seventy – Looking To the End

Eternity is a long, long time. It’s so long in fact, that any concept of time itself is meaningless – and all the words we use that relate to time, words like “before”, and “after”, and “until” – become meaningless as well. There is a YouTube documentary out there, superbly narrated by astrophysicist Doctor David Kipping, the end of which, in my opinion, is the best possible elucidation of eternal darkness (the outer darkness in scripture) one could ever imagine. The link is A Journey to the End of the Universe – – Video Search Results (yahoo.com). In the narrative, he postulates a theoretical trip on an imaginary manned spacecraft to what becomes the literal end of the universe. As expected from a proper scientist, he does not mention God, but nevertheless exhibits a near spiritual vision of what awaits his travelers, who I take the liberty to consider analogous to unbelievers. Indeed, the situation in which they find themselves at the end has definite spiritual ramifications. If you watch it with that in mind, it should be a definite wake-up call. Somewhere deep inside, one cannot help but believe Dr Kipping has (unintentionally?) encountered the profound realm of spirituality as may be ascertained from the conceptual, near poetic language with which he relates his story. What a powerful messenger for God he could be!

Today I’ve been 70 for two days. With the notable, yet unsurprising exception of humans continuing to determinedly expunge decency from the world, nothing overtly dramatic has happened since my birthday the day before yesterday. I’ve received Happy Birthday messages from people I love, and that means a lot and I thank all of you. This post is about some of the things I’ve learned during all those trips around the sun, as my dear niece so succinctly put the notion.

If you as a reader have paid attention to my ramblings on this site, you’ll have realized that I believe a healthy relationship with the Lord is of utmost importance in this phase of our existence, both for you and me. I’ve learned that growing in the knowledge (maybe familiarity is a better word) of Jesus is, as it should be, the consummate purpose of our lives whether or not we regard it as being so. So far, I’ve had seventy trips around that big ball of fusion to try and get that notion through my thick head. Sure, I think cognitive processions of life, scientific lore, world events, and history are important within their respective priority levels, but at the end of the day, having a clear conscience and coming to realize we have a friend, king, savior of unimaginable power, grace and love is by far more important to our existence than learning about the dedication with which Colonel Chamberlain defended Little Round Top or whatever level of strength our planet’s magnetic field has left.

We are each given a span of time here during which we have ample opportunity to seek our Savior. In the maternity ward when the nurses turn their backs, just imagine that an angel hangs an invisible tag our toe with a number on it. That figure is the precise number of heartbeats that particular body will attain, and it’s absolute. (I don’t remember if that concept is something I’ve heard before or if it’s just another thought that has rolled like soggy driftwood through this muddy old river between my ears, so I apologize if I’m plagiarizing someone else’s analogy). The only possible exception to this preset number of which I’ve ever heard was when King Hezekiah was informed of his impending demise and he prayed that God would extend his life for a while because evidently, he wasn’t quite ready to surrender, and God granted him more time to feed mosquitoes and remain captive to gravity. But even with God’s bountiful grace, I wouldn’t count on that deferment – He knows when it’s time for us to go. In short, and just as the flowers in the field, we have a set time to spend here, and we desperately need to get in touch with Jesus and learn of Him while we have opportunity.

As you know quite well, the world has become a massive tangle of confusion and it’s getting progressively harder to negotiate. (Try it at seventy). Most people have consciously chosen to proceed with their lives in purposeful ignorance of (and too often in contravention to) God’s ways. Especially with all of the distractions purposefully set out there. Life is comparable these days to a giant soap opera. It’s much more entertaining to keep up with nonsense like the financial adventures of the president’s relatives than to read up on prophecy or instructions on living a Godly life. Kids’ brains are progressively being turned into jelly from all the time they spend on Redditt or Instagram – and don’t even get me started on video games. We’re swamped with pornography and immorality of every imaginable sort. The days of Noah are indeed upon us.

War is raging in Europe with thousands of people dying weekly. France is burning; Africa is looking to come apart at the seams. Israelis are protesting by the tens of thousands. Germany is going broke. We continue to tiptoe on the edge of the nuclear razor. Kids watch half-naked girls dancing seductively to electronic music while their parents endlessly message each other with all the bizarre garbage that passes for information nowadays. Trust me, if ignorance is truly bliss then we are at the apex of paradise here in the USA! The whole world has gone absolutely insane! I gotta be missing something!

I walked outside this morning to a sultry August sunrise and spent some time watching beautiful little goldfinches leisurely feeding on my daughter’s sunflowers. There is a misty veil slowly drifting through a verdant Ozark calamity of woodland brush and vines. The silence is only superficially injured by birdsong; an indescribable fortune of Providence of which we here in the Ozarks are blessed to be part! I can but feel pity that so many souls with whom we share this planet are not so fortunate as to exist among, nor indeed to participate in, the grace of creation which we here in the country are daily blessed to enjoy. As I reflect with genuine sorrow on the horror of war, famine and other misfortune befalling so many people in this world, people just like you and me with wants and needs just like our own, but so unfortunate as to be in piteous situations not of their choosing, I thank God our neck of the woods is not visited with such horror – yet. I also harbor no doubt that it’s coming – how could He allow this iteration of Sodom and the sacrilegious behavior that today is so unabashedly propagated in our country to go unchallenged; unpunished? Do you think it is an accident that the very symbol of God’s promise – the rainbow – has become so perverted as to represent such indescribable abominations as it has today? Alas! And yet the little birds sing on…

Most all of our problems are the result of Satan’s taking advantage of human greed, lust – and pride. As the scriptures tell us, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life do not come from God, but they are of this world, and those things are diametrically opposed to the way our Father expects us to think and behave. There are people in this world right now who spend all their time working (not real work, just in the scheming, greed-driven sense) to put more zeroes on the numbers in their bank accounts; the poor and hungry of the world be damned. These same people do their master’s bidding by promoting obnoxiously decadent and deviant behavior, smug in the knowledge that they have yachts and personal airplanes and “own” vulgar amounts of property – for now. Their execrable lifestyles will surely testify against them on the inevitable day of retribution, but for now they either simply ignore their fate, or they act as though they believe their dedication to Satan will carry the day. When the time comes, he will surely turn on them and even now tosses them their beloved lucre while laughing at their naivety.

For the rest of us – well stand fast in your faith in Jesus Christ with full confidence that He will return to this world bringing justice – and reward – for our patience and our love for Him and for each other. He even admonishes us to love those with whom we don’t agree. We don’t have to love their sinful behavior though. Do not lose hope; He said He would be back to claim His own, and He absolutely and forever will do as He says. And as for our journey among the current ills of the world – what a wonderful alternative we have the capacity to choose – peace of mind in the assurance of everlasting joy and comfort, and above all the incomprehensible and unwavering love that is the Lord in His blessed, glorious and mighty presence, forever!

Amen.

Hang in there, y’all.

Something Green is Peeking Through the Woods

My daughter Mel said she heard a whippoorwill a couple of nights ago.  Seems like it’s a bit early, but we’ve had a pretty warm spring, so maybe they think it’s already summer.  I sure do like to hear those little guys – gotta be one of the most beautiful of all bird songs.  At least I think so, and it just puts you in mind of a nice warm summer night.  I write songs for a hobby and I try to come up with lines about whippoorwills and jasmine.  In fact, I think I already have some of that, probably in more than one song, but in this day and age with all the electronic noise that passes for music, I doubt if a night bird song would interest many of us.  And the poor bird is bad ugly if you ever see one.  It sort of looks like it’s part toad – big gaping mouth. I always wondered how a creature that ugly could make a sound so sweet.  But I suppose that lady whippoorwill to whom he’s singing doesn’t look ugly to him. Oh yeah, and if you hear a whippoorwill during the daytime, it’s not a whippoorwill, it’s a mockingbird. And the mockingbird has the song down – you can’t tell the difference.

The pond frogs are out in force.  That’s another nice relaxing night sound here in the south.  And crickets and cicadas.  It seems like the woodland smells also come alive at night.  Even though it’s technically the south, we’re still too far north to have wild yellow jasmine, and I sore miss having it around because that little frail vine with fragile little yellow trumpet flowers it the sweetest smell you’ll ever enjoy wafting through the silence on a summer evening.  If you are in the deep south and live near the woods, it would be well worth the effort to go out and find one.  They are definitely odiferous – (is that even a word?)!  And try not to feed the ticks while you’re out foraging for jasmine.  Our ticks in the Ozarks are especially voracious and come at you hungry – seriously, they bring a bottle of bar-b-que sauce and wear a bib.  I have a special place in my heart for ticks.  I got one of those tick-borne diseases and it was a miserable two years plus – extreme pain.  Never mind – just wear insect repellent. 

And enjoy the red buds, too.

On some late evenings, we are treated to acappella gigs by coyotes – those little fellows know how to take the stage, too.  I get game cam pictures of coyotes pretty often.  But we can’t boast too much about our coyotes, because from what I see and read about, those little canids make their selves at home just about anywhere, so everybody has probably seen them in the wild – or maybe in the not so wild.  Being a big-time dog lover, I really like coyotes, and wolves too, but wolves are really scarce in this country anymore.  Ranchers didn’t want to compete with them, so they got slaughtered.  I think it’s a shame – it’s one of those things that if it had got a little higher priority, we could have figured out a way to allow them to survive.  I’ve heard them in the woods at night before and their song is beautifully eerie, and when you think about how few of them are left, the song is also kind of sad. Coexistence seems to be such tree-hugger tendency, and I guess I’ve grown in that direction as I’ve aged – no one takes the time anymore to pay attention to the needs of our fellow creatures and we continue to lose them and we’re going to miss them terribly.

Did I just hear a chicken?

It’s a rainy April morning, a little bit cool but not uncomfortably so, and the birds are singing the “Our yard needs to be mowed” song.  The day before yesterday I noticed the first of the bummingbirds scouting around where I normally have their feeders hanging, so I filled them and they are starting to show up in scant numbers, but that will increase soon.  Those little fellows can get vicious too!  Once in a while they slam into each other – on purpose – and you can actually hear the thump.  One or more of them will eat their fill, but not leave.  They light on a nearby wire or branch and watch the feeders and when another bird approaches, the watchman will attack the poor unsuspecting hungry bird. Thump! That’s why I call them assassin birds. Sure, they’re cute and all, but everything’s not always what it seems.

We have a few what we call wet-weather creeks on the farm.  I guess they are called that due to the fact that they never have water in them unless it’s raining.  Some of us like to go rock hunting in them when it dries up.  So, we get to feed ticks and find interesting rocks at the same time.

My old girl Dusty likes to help me and usually tries to get between me and the particular rocks I’m trying to look among.  She’s pretty good at it, too, and if there are any water puddles, she goes swimming and then always gets close enough to me before she shakes the water off to share it with me.  She’s a very thoughtful little old gal. She has a flea and tick collar, and those things work well. I need one for me.

Don’t even ask – no telling what you’re liable to find in these spring woods.

The dogwoods are in bloom right now, and they are spectacularly beautiful!  A couple of years ago we were treated to what I believe was the prettiest dogwood show I’ve ever seen.  This year they are nice, but not as showy as they were then. I think dogwood blooms like that only happen once or twice in a lifetime. What a treat it is to see!

I found an acorn that had a tiny oak tree being born out of it.  I guess it’s the first time I’ve ever seen (or at least paid attention to) one at that stage.

Just think, someday this little guy is going to be a mighty oak tree looking down at us walking in its shade with a spring breeze stirring in its boughs.  The shell it came from is lying there discarded like a pair of boots someone has outgrown.  In case I forgot to mention it, I’m not a photographer so just ignore that shadow in the picture.

There are lots of little wildflowers growing everywhere.  I couldn’t start to name them all, but if my late brother Paul was still around, he’d probably be able to tell me what they are. Before you get all excited, I do recognize the dandelion.

Some of the oak trees start out with colors that almost look like fall when they first start to bud out.

There’s a whole nuther world outside your door. Get out there and see it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little walk in the woods as much as I have.

The Last War

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How much longer do you think this can continue?  You see the headlines every day, and every day something worse happens than the day before.  Human beings are dying at the hand of other human beings on a scale unheard of, or at least only heard of in wartime.  People are dying in the Ukraine by the tens of thousands every month.  It’s hard to get a read on just how many, but great numbers of people are dying at the hand of other people in Sudan. 

There’s turmoil in the Middle East – Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon have all been burning for some time now.  People are on the streets by the tens of thousands in Israel, France, Germany, and other European countries because they don’t agree with their governments’ untenable positions on many pressing issues.  Terrible earthquakes continue to ravage diverse places in the world, killing tens of thousands. All the while, fingers edge closer to the big red button…

The big cities in the US are not safe, nor have they been for some time, what with all the homeless people trying to survive on the streets, and rampant crime.  We have serious drug problems, and they aren’t going to magically go away – there’s too much money to be made.  People need help and no one is offering it.  Our government itself has been taken over by criminal elements – the very servants of Satan are in control of the US, and to be fair, they’re also in control of most other governments.  Here in the US, we have armed militias waiting in the wings for a spark to ignite a conflagration which would consume the whole country.  The world anxiously watches for this to begin.  Unless we get a different kind of conflagration like a nuclear exchange, rebellion will likely happen.

I write from a mostly uninformed part of the country here in the US, namely in the Missouri Ozarks, but thanks to alternative news sources, we even get word here of all the troubles.  I spend a lot of time outdoors trying to enjoy the beautiful spring unfolding here and praying a lot.  I cannot for the life of me understand how people can ignore the appalling events and go on with their lives expecting things to work themselves out, when it’s pretty obvious that’s not going to happen.

The Bible warns us of these times – they were predicted hundreds, even thousands of years ago and sure enough, they are rapidly coming upon us.  We are also admonished not to fear what is happening.  That’s why I’m writing this post.  We live in a time of unparalleled threats to ourselves and our fellow human beings, and it has to happen for the intended plan to unfold.  To most people, myself included, it doesn’t make sense, but we can only see events from a human perspective.  The correct perspective is one of spiritual discernment.  The naysayers speak of the God-fearing among us as if we are fools, and maybe in a sense we are, but then so was Noah, and look who survived the flood.  It was even more catastrophic than what we’ve seen so far, but things are in process that will make the casualties of Noah’s day seem unremarkable.  And this time, it’s not about physical survival.  The physical world will not survive intact this time.

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Our warnings include the prophecy that an event will occur in which one-third of all humans will be killed.  There are somewhere north of 8 billion people in this world and one third of that number will be a lot of people.  Several scenarios could possibly account for deaths on that scale, but the way it looks, we’re going to suffer a massive nuclear war.  I’ve written stories like this and this about some of the probable savagery of what life might be like for anyone who survives such a cataclysm – to try and get people to turn to God, as He is the only path for survival.  Spiritual survival.  Otherwise known as salvation.  There’s much hope there, for Jesus Christ stands ready to save as many of us as will turn to Him.  He’s the ONLY way out of this mess for us.

If you think about it, say you happen to be at ground zero of a nuclear blast, you’ll feel nothing.  You won’t know it’s coming and it’ll be over for you in a millisecond.  Not even enough time for your brain to register that you’ve been killed.  The people who get eliminated like this will be the fortunate ones, at least as far as this life is concerned.  The ones who do survive, and there probably won’t be many, will be the ones to suffer an existence of horror never before experienced by humanity, and the longer you live, the more suffering you will endure.

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If you do a little research in the scriptures, you’ll find that we’re warned that Satan is rampaging in the world and creating madness and chaos, like a “roaring lion” because he knows his time is short.  Now, for real, how hard is it to see that very thing happening in the world right now?  Leaders of the nations, all in subservience to Satan, are absolutely mad, and are trying their best to spread their madness to the people over whom they have control.  Sadly, through the use of their media which Satan has given them, they are having a great degree of success.  There are precious few who are able to resist believing what the media is telling them.  Alternative places that offer truth are being stamped out, so fewer places are out there for people to find out what’s really going on, but for the vast majority, that’s ok – they don’t want to know the truth – it upsets their world view.  As long as they can get their bread and circus, they won’t seek the truth, which necessarily would require turning to the Almighty for guidance.  I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but things like the Satanic rituals of the CERN and Gotthard Tunnel opening ceremonies, and the devil-worshipping Brazilian parades are simply open affronts to everything Godly – people and the demons who control them are absolutely daring the Almighty to destroy them.  And He will – you can bet on it.

These people will be the worst affected when it all comes tumbling down – they will not have prepared, physically or spiritually.  It will be a completely unexpected shock to their systems, if they survive.  They won’t be able to turn on CNN, FOX, or MSNBC to get whatever government narrative is being served up – those entities won’t exist anymore.  If they survive the cataclysm, the people who do not fear God of whom I write will be completely lost, sick and starving with no help coming.  The conditions mentioned here are described in biblical prophecy – a time of desperation never before experienced by humankind. However, as long as they are still alive, it won’t be too late to turn to God, but by waiting until such an appalling time to do so, they will have allowed themselves to be overcome by horrific world events to the degree that things will be a lot tougher. 

I’ve brought this subject up and have received comments from those who claim to be unbelievers accusing folks like me of fearmongering.  There are those who seem to take pride in proclaiming their unbelief in our God, they must think they sound brave to their fellow unbelievers.  Imagine those same kinds of people clinging to logs and other flotsam as they watched the ark sailing off into the distance with Noah and his family high and dry inside.  They most likely had been the ones to loudly proclaim their unbelief and mock old Noah as he pleaded with them to turn from their wickedness.  With this in mind, it would behoove everyone to repent of their worldliness and wickedness and seek Jesus now while He can still be found.  For what it’s worth, I implore you to do so – the clouds are gathering and the storm is going to be horrible.

There’s still some good news.  God has people in strategic places in this world even as the threat of annihilation descends upon us.  There are Christian preachers hard at work trying to help save as many people as possible.  But as prophesied, there is a great falling away from the faith going on too.  These are people who didn’t have their hearts in it to serve God.  It’s not that hard to do, but the one thing that threatens people is their dreaded loss of money and status in the world.  When the world comes tumbling down, believe me, money is going to be the last thing on people’s minds.  How many millions of dollars would a starving person be willing to pay for a can of beans? 

This will indeed be our last war. You have to be willing to fight in order to win. Find a preacher or other Christian to help show you the way to the Lord.  Open up your bible. Be willing to repent for your sins and turn your life over to Jesus to lead you to the Life He has promised.  He’s waiting for you, but He isn’t going to wait forever – this thing is in motion, Noah is closing the hatches right now, and before long the rain is about to come down – HARD!  Don’t wait until it’s too late.  

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Silent Anchorage – a Lonely Shipwreck

Forlorn she lies– alone but for bedraggled spirit of helmsman eternally clutching fast to rotting wheel, and ghosts of able-bodied crewmen drifting unseen across ancient deck planks now claimed by urchin and prawn. Upon her bed of ancient sand in silent darkness hence besieged by clutching barnacles and starfish with bonds of rueful memory bears she of daunting breaker, of ravaging gale, yea of merciless night without moon dared she ply an angry ocean darking and fearsome.  Sails became naught but billows of trepidation lashed onto masts of terror broken by courage abandoned in blackness of merciless winds come screaming on a night of terror and loss.  A sorrowful midnight of lightning did shew once a hellscape painted with black mountains of brine sent to rest her here, now rests she. 

No more laden of goods bound for ports afar, nor resourced with wherewithal to challenge that dark foe aweather, nor rests upon her further need.  The darkness and serenity concerns not with cargo for a distant port sought.  Merchants in harbors of yesterday grieved their loss.  Mothers that time ago grieved lost sons, bones forever bound in bucklers and lanyards, no more to carry smiles and embraces proudly down the fresh painted gangplank, alas, no more lamp lit nights spent in breathless stories of adventure in mysterious lands abroad.

Deep is the sand where feathers of rust claim fittings of iron in endless dark, silent the pulleys that once sang comforting melody to captain and crew.  Sea birds no longer watch from rail and crossarm for minnow or scrap of doughcake, nor do soar through unblemished marine sky with endless song of cheerful seabreeze and sunlight, no, forsooth; her fate became to languish henceforth and evermore among melancholy recollections and brooding creatures of profound darkness. Whether the sun smiles upon the world above or a fresh tempest sweeps new breakers across the sea, she no longer gives thought.  Her mission is never to be fulfilled, unless it be that of accompaniment to other hapless vessels laden with lost cargo and unfortunate souls who have in their turn found the briny path to that oblivion where resides a mysterious existence of odd fish and quiet damnation.

A Time of Unimaginable Sorrow (Part II)

(Note:  The following post is not by a preacher, just a regular person who reads the bible and tries to apply prophecy to what is going on in the world and share it.  There is a tremendous blessing in store for those who turn away from this world of evil – and come to God.  Anyone who has their eyes open can see some pretty awful times ahead, and there’s only one Way to be prepared for what’s coming.)

Try and imagine, put together in your mind, all of the confusion and chaos in the world right now.  At this writing, there are serious riots going on in France – those have graduated to fires and violence.  The French have for a long time served as a barometer of the level of tolerance of free people, or people who would be free, in the world.  Now the nation of Israel is seeing streets filled with people who have had enough of their government.  Germany seems to be following suit.  There’s little more that can be said for the open rebellion against God that is going on with the parades that celebrate abominable behavior, madness in the form of gender lunacy, and in-your-face Satanic performances like the opening ceremonies of the Cern collider and Gotthard Tunnel.

Man-made affronts to God are not the only things to consider as the earth reels toward destruction.  The earth’s magnetic poles are wandering away from the positions where we’ve always known them to be toward what appears to be a complete reversal of the earth’s polarity, and as it happens, the whole magnetic field is growing weaker.  There are charts out there that show the decreasing strength of the field over time, and it’s getting much weaker now.  That field is our protection from solar and cosmic radiation, and just over the last few days the earth has endured a significant solar storm, the severity of which cannot be explained from recent solar flares, because those flares were relatively insignificant.  The only explanation that seems to account for the magnitude of the disturbance (auroras were seen in Florida!) is the weakness of the earth’s magnetic field.  There are several science outlets who are saying the same things, one of which is an especially knowledgeable scientist at the YouTube channel, Suspicious0bservers – Earthquakes | Space Weather | Cosmology – Your Mind is Your Weapon who does a much better job of describing what is happening than I can, but I’m sure it’s another serious wake-up call from God for us to get prepared for some bad times.  This is a very intelligent scientist who I’m sure is able to connect the dots all the way to God, in spite of his “scientific” background.  He seems to have a growing understanding of God’s hand in things that are occurring, if I’m reading him correctly.  He also observes that inexplicable psychological aberrations are becoming a major issue due to the effects on our minds being bombarded with radiation – look at the craziness in the world, especially among our leaders!

The earth is experiencing storms, floods, earthquakes, landslides, and other natural disasters of inexplicable ferocity and frequency in the last several years, and these are only the beginning of sorrows.  For crying out loud, the Mississippi, Euphrates, Colorado, Danube, Nile, and other major rivers of the world are going dry!  It’s obvious for anyone who has open eyes, that our God is not pleased with our conduct.  There have been many times in the past when God brought devastation upon humans of this earth when their behavior became so egregious as to bring His wrath down upon them.  The slaughter of the Israelites who worshipped the golden calf (think Wall Street bull), Sodom and Gomorrah, the flood of Noah, the earthquake at Christ’s crucifixion, and other instances when people who suffered the wrath of God who were supposed to acknowledge God’s preeminence and His commandments – all happened.  We are at such a time now!

Back to our own insane determination to bring destruction on ourselves, there is a discussion going on about Russia sending nuclear weapons to Belarus in response to the recent threat of UK sending depleted uranium ammunition to the Ukraine.  This is significant!  The nuclear genie is slowly but surely being squeezed out of the bottle, and it won’t go back in.  According to an increasingly accepted interpretation of Revelation 18, and as I wrote in A Time of Unimaginable Sorrow is Upon Us – Folk Potpourri the United States (the modern Babylon?) will be utterly destroyed in a horrible and devastating fire event.  A nuclear bombardment fits the description, although there are other things which might also cause the destruction described, such as an asteroid hit, or solar ejecta from a massive coronal mass ejection, which would get to earth essentially as a type of devastating meteor shower, but the way things are shaping up, and because of the mention of kings of the earth standing at a distance for fear of her torment, which I believe is referring to radiation, I think it will be a nuclear strike.  (author’s note: kings of the earth standing at a distance for fear of her torment might also mean leaders of other nations putting distance between their policies and Babylon’s fearing their own destruction by the same enemy).  Either way, whatever remains of Babylon, she will be utterly alone.

The world that was described in the above mentioned post probably wasn’t accurate though, because the bible speaks of such total devastation of Babylon that there will be no survivors at all.  For those of us who live here and face annihilation, the way to survive is the same – we must repent of our evil ways and ask for forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  It’s the only way through this terrible time that’s surely coming upon us!  Think about the days of Noah – he had been forewarned, so he absolutely knew what was coming and tried to tell those people to change their ways, and they laughed at him until it was too late. It’s sad to imagine those hapless souls finally coming to their senses and wading out through the deepening water only to find the doors of the ark were closed. Jesus told us the world will be the same just prior to our own destruction.  Will people at last come to their senses only when they see the huge mushroom clouds?

There is a serious war going on in the Ukraine in which hundreds of thousands have been killed and injured.  Only a precious few people actually know what that is really all about, but from the way all of the western leaders are prostrating themselves, it is obvious they have been given their orders from the real leaders who themselves serve Satan and operate behind the curtain.  The whole of them are beasts with no concern for human life.  More on them later.

Think about it.  There have been train wrecks, contaminating vast areas of the country but largely ignored by our leaders and their equally conspiratorial media.  At this writing, the state of Mississippi has just endured massive tornado damage with dozens of people killed.  Hundreds of thousands of American citizens are living on the streets of major cities in drug-addicted squalor.  And our “president” is only interested in whatever more he can authorize to send to the most corrupt government in the world in Ukraine. What is sent there is solely intended to increase the death and destruction.  Does that make any sense at all to you?

All you hear from our congress is also whatever more can be done to support the murderous regime in Ukraine, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons, and our citizens continue to look the other way, waiting for suspicious balloons or the latest Hollywood sex scandal.  Maybe we should be in the streets like the French, the Germans, and the Israelis.  Frankly, I’m starting to believe we deserve what we have coming, and that isn’t going to be pretty.

The earlier post mentioned above attempted to get people’s attention to what is actually going on in our world, and what it is leading up to for some of us.  It was posted on other websites and it actually was viewed by readers in many countries, so at least it got out there, but I’m afraid the message might have fallen short of what the post was trying to get across.  The word “unimaginable” was not in that title for no reason.  This world is careening toward the edge of an abyss never before experienced by humankind!  How do we know this?  It’s in the bible!  That sacred text so many of us claim to believe, to honor; now listen with your heart to what it says, (Rev6:8), “So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.  And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

With the sword:  The sword mentioned in the verse obviously includes all of the ways humans will be killed by the ravages of war, especially nuclear war. With hunger: The aforementioned post attempted to provide imagery of how horrible the rampant starvation will be in a post-apocalyptic world, but I fear it doesn’t come close to describing the actual horror, both of suffering devastating hunger oneself, and watching fellow citizens, family members, pets, etc., starve literally to death!  With death: How, you ask, does an entity kill with death?  Ever heard of typhus?  Look it up.  I’m not a doctor, but I’d wager there are plenty of other risks associated with being around, and drinking water contaminated by, a lot of rotting flesh, of which, with some portion of a fourth of humanity already dead, there will be plenty. With the beasts of the earth:  It’s arguable here that John is speaking here of murder by human beasts. In chaotic times of anarchy with no law and order. Murder, which is already rampant, will undoubtedly be commonplace.  Human life, scarcely valued now, will become totally worthless to these beasts.  Second and third-tier nations whose hostilities were held in check by threats from “superpowers” (who by then will all have suffered some degree of devastation), will also be free to settle scores with now unprotected enemies. There will be mass death and murder on a scale never before experienced. We already hear of many people being killed so their organs can be harvested to keep such beasts alive.  One fourth of the people of the earth today is around two billion souls!

Forewarning of macabre days of unimaginable sorrow is handed to us in the bible and will be a time of unprecedented tribulation.  In all of our lives we endure some degree of hardship, so we have an idea of what the word means, but “unimaginable” means we cannot conceive of the terror and despair of the great tribulation that is about to be visited upon us. (Matthew 24:21), “For there will be a tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

This was spoken by Jesus Christ himself, so its veracity and the weight cannot be questioned, nor indeed fathomed by us mere humans, who have never had occasion to envision the horror of existence that this world will suffer during such a time.  A time of incredible darkness, despair, not knowing where the next bite of food will come from, or if there will even be a next bite of food.  At that point, people won’t even know if there will be a next breath!  Overwhelming stench of death and sickness, poisoned water – people dying of thirst will know that to take a drink of it will be to die an agonizing death – will be rampant.  Once beautiful forests dying, along with all of their creatures, everywhere eyes of the dead staring vacantly into that next world.  It will indeed be sorrow on an unimaginable scale…

When the angels start pouring their bowls of affliction and sounding their trumpets, things are going to degenerate into horror of which humanity has never witnessed.  But if one refuses to give in to fear and despair, there’s hope:

Revelation 14:14,15:  Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like a Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

There is one body of believers who believe and hope that Jesus will return to collect His people in what is scripturally described as the Rapture, and that body believes it will happen prior to the great tribulation.  Many others share in that hope, but aren’t all in agreement of the timing.  Exactly when the rapture will occur in relation to the tribulation is one of the scriptural issues that has been debated seemingly forever.  The one thing we can be certain of is that “The Rapture” will occur; He will harvest His people from this place of despair and trouble for that next life, the real life – of wonder, peace, and joy, which will itself be unimaginable.  Scripture says so, (1 Corinthians 2:9) “For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 

If it has never entered into the heart of man, that means it has never been imagined.  If it has never been imagined by all of the billions of people that have existed since it was written, that suggests that it’s truly unimaginable.  Nevertheless, it will be a joyous time for those who have decided to trust Jesus!

For now, we live in a world where a time of great sorrow is indeed upon us.  We are moments in cosmic time away from the abyss of nuclear catastrophe designed by the enemy of God and mankind, to throw all of God’s creation into a morbid chaos of death and despair.  A time is coming of unparalleled fear not experienced by human beings in all of history.  Nothing can be done to stop it, it’s infallible scriptural prophecy – and Satan is in charge of all the people in place who could prevent it.  Their minds are taken, and anyone with eyes can see their total insanity.  They are drunk from the cup of madness. (Isaiah 29:9), “Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.” (Jeremiah 51:7) Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, That made all the earth drunk.  The nations drank her wine: therefore the nations are deranged.

The good news is that there is a way to get through it!  Though we often stumble as if we walk in darkness, not seeing the things over which we trip, we have a precious Helper.  In this world of darkness, there are many clever obstacles laid in our paths that we cannot see without a Guiding Light to reveal such things for what they are.  Situations constantly arise in our lives in which we do not realize at first will lead us to distraction from God, but Jesus is always there to show the right Way to His beloved.

In the 14th chapter of Matthew there is the story of Jesus walking on the water out to the boat where the disciples were, and Peter, astonished at what he was seeing, asked Jesus if he could walk on the water and come to Him.  Jesus permitted him and as he began, he was able to walk on the water toward Jesus, but at some point, Peter lost his concentration on the Lord and began to sink into troubled waters and fear.  Jesus then reached out His blessed hand, in an act which should take a preeminent place in the mind and heart of every Christian, to take Peter into His care, preventing him from falling from His grace, in the passage represented by sinking into the dark water of the sea.  That’s what He does – that’s why He’s Jesus – Yeshua, our blessed and beloved savior!  When we lose our concentration on Him because of all of the turmoil and despair of the terrible events taking place in the world, He reaches out His hand to take and hold us in His care and protection.  He loves us with an UNIMAGINABLE love!  We must focus on Him through whatever of these hard times we have to endure, and we will be just fine!  It’s also important to remember that Peter only started slipping into the sea after his faith weakened.  Why that happened is not made clear, but if Peter could have kept his focus on Jesus, it’s doubtful he would have gotten into trouble.  Another lesson for us to hold onto and cherish!

As we anticipate terrible things coming our way, and terrible times are coming, you can count on it! It’s imperative that we find Jesus Christ and hold fast to Him to lead us through the perils we face.  There’s no reason to fear – though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil – we shall get through it with Him.

Squatters Out By the Wet-Weather Creek

Today is a mixed bag of weather here in the Ozark woods.  A few years ago, my grandson Matthew and I built this really cool little cabin up on stilts out here on a wooded hillside and it has a nice roof so if the rain starts, Dusty, my faithful old border collie mix girl, and I should be able to stay dry if we get the forecasted cloudburst today.  I went all out and ran electrical circuits so I can plug the building into a small portable generator and have a porch light, interior light, and receptacles for temporary low power loads like this laptop I’m writing this post on, and the music box. 

I started out with this thing as if I was just going to make some sort of lean-to for a deer stand, but my daughter Casie, Matthew’s mom, got wind of what I was doing and decided to apply her engineering background; she started by making “helpful” suggestions, and the next thing you know Matthew and I are up here hanging plywood sheets way up in the air using the backhoe bucket as a crane, eventually building a Marriot Hotel.  We put these neat little windows complete with screens in the walls, double walled and insulated it, and as mentioned, ran wiring and installed lights and receptacles.  It’s a wonderful place to retreat and get away from the house and noise.

Retreat in the Woods

During construction as I was putting up the interior walls and before installing the door, a little mama wren found herself a nice cozy spot inside what was to become an insulated space between the interior and exterior walls.  Of course, once I realized she was interloping on my cabin and had brazenly claimed my wall for her nest, I had to halt that part of my construction, and before you knew it, there was a lot of raspy screeching going on in the nest, and that poor little girl worked as only a loving mama can, fetching grubs and grasshoppers for them, and somehow, she managed.  I had other areas of work to do, so I got used to hearing them and watching as she, at first kind of apprehensively, darted in and out to feed them and take out the trash.

Mama checking on the little ones

I managed to peek in the nest once, and thought there were three gaping little mouths, but I tried to stay away as much as I could.  Mama got to where she didn’t mind me being in here at all.  This all went on for a couple of weeks, and then one day she flew in, and it was a bit odd that she used a different entrance than she had been using.  She didn’t go to the nest but stood on the very top of the wallboard in the opening under the roof and chirped until the little ones came out of their nest one at a time.  She flitted outside to a nearby tree and continued to chirp and call for them until there were four (I didn’t see all of them when I peeked in earlier) little fledglings in a row on the wallboard trying to work up enough nerve to make the jump out into the unknown.  One by one they clumsily jumped out and flitted and fluttered into the tree from where she had called, banging into the trunk, but somehow hanging on.  Before long, she was flying ahead of them as they all found their tiny wings and within just a few minutes they mastered the art of flight! 

Mama, with babies in tow headed down toward the wet-weather creek, and that’s where they were when I heard the last of her chirps and flight training instructions.  I never saw them again, at least that I know of.  I came back inside and started to remove their lodgings, but not knowing much about wild birds, I decided to leave the nest in case they needed to come back, maybe to sleep in the night, but they never did.  They were gone for good. When I started removing their little nest, I found myself thinking and wondering if they might have memories of their infancy there and resent having their childhood home torn down, but I realized that wild critters don’t necessarily have attachments to things like us people do.  At any rate, I quickly found that I really missed their fussing and mama coming and going – I didn’t realize how attached to them I had become until they were gone, but my consolation was that they were out in the wild as nature intended, chasing their own grasshoppers, and finally I could finish that wall!

Empty and quiet after the squatters left

I’ve been posting about spring lately, but I just can’t get enough of this nice warm weather and green shoots are just beginning to show up on most of the trees.  I get just as excited when the fall colors burst onto the scene, but for now we get to anticipate springtime and it looks like there’s going to be quite the dogwood show, maybe as beautiful as we had in 2021.  Maybe that little mama wren will find another cozy spot nearby to raise more babies.

Enjoy the spring ya’ll!