Tag Archive | animals

Animal Sign

When Animals Cross Your Path

Everyone has had an experience where an animal has crossed our path in the physical world and we wondered if it means something. How many times have you asked, or been asked, wonder what that wolf, deer, squirrel is trying to tell me?

Nearly all Shamanistic societies believe animals in the physical and spiritual worlds come to us for our own good to deliver messages.

When animals cross our path in the physical world they maybe bringing a warning or a message as guidance. They’re a “here in the now” kind of message that impacts our physical world.

But depending on the animal, they can cross their influence of meaning between the physical and spiritual worlds. Perhaps we’re not being as perceptive as we should be or we maybe we need to pay attention to a message from spirit that affects our physical choices. Listening to our gut feelings is an important part of living in balance and nature is all about balance. Continue reading →

Nature’s Instant Beauty

Sep27

Nature is filled with the tiniest moments of exceptional beauty.
Take a moment to appreciate their gift, before they’re gone forever.
~ Springwolf © 2014

Moments Of Beauty
Image credit: Earth Pics @Earth_Pics

The Nature Above Our Heads

Sep18

The Super Invisible Bug Highway

Look up at the sky and what do you see? Well, blue, yes. And maybe a plane or a bird, but otherwise … nothing. Or so you think. It turns out that right above you, totally invisible, is an enormous herd of animal life — tiny bugs riding the wind currents.
~ NPR On YouTube

I saw this on NPR and absolutely had to share. It’s all science and nature and entertaining and I learned something and I love ALL that stuff.

You’ve seen birds use updrafts to soar high in the clouds. These pockets of heated warm air can help large birds, like Turkey Vultures gain lift on wind currents so they don’t have use all their energy flapping their big wings. Not to mention big birds like this can weigh up to 5lbs or more.

Now imagine that same updraft if you a tiny little ladybug. You might not ride on the wind current totally on purpose as much as simply getting caught in the updraft and being carried away. How high could a little ladybug go? Pretty high actually, but they’re not the highest fliers! Take a look at this:

Our Animal World

Jul19

One of the Great Blue Heron Flying Toward the Dam
by Springwolf ©

Living On The Water

Living on a lake means we have a diverse variety of animal visitors. Of course we have the usual Ducks, Herons, Cranes, Opossums, Raccoons, Wild Cats, there’s even a Bobcat or two around here. We’ve seen them in the early hours of the morning when the fog is flowing off the lake, over the dam road and down into what we call the dam valley. Our community lake is man-made, as most lakes in Virginia are.

We have Deer of course, a few nesting pairs of Bald Eagles, Red tail and Red shoulder hawks of course. We’ve seen a large Barn Owl once. Heard other owls at night when the neighborhood gets quiet. Bats, who we actually really like because they eat the bugs that make it hard in the depths of summer to sit outside and enjoy the evening by the water.

As with most places, we’ve got the typical song birds, hummingbirds and finches. Cardinals and Bluejays who like eating the cat food we put out for the wild cats that come to visit. What they don’t devour, the opossums and raccoons finish off.

We’ve recently been visited by some Osprey who decided to make this their summer home. It’s truly awesome watching them dive for fish. They make one heck of a splash and always seem to come up with a good catch. Continue reading →

Full Moon Friday the 13th 2014

Jun13

The Math Genius Is Working On That

Yesterday I asked the question “How rare is today’s event?” How often does the 13th fall on a Friday? How often does a Full Moon fall on a Friday? How often does a Full Moon fall on a Friday the 13th?

According to my Moon Phase Pro (yes there’s an app for that):
In the next 260 weeks: (approx. 5 years from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2019)
There are 11 Friday the 13ths.
There are 11 Full Moons that fall on a Friday.
There is 1 Full Moon that falls on Friday the 13th.

On Friday the 13th of January 2017 the full moon will be just past full, 98% full to be exact. Close, but not officially a full moon day which will be January 12th. So we can’t count that one.

The Next Full Moon Friday the 13th will be in August 2049. According to Space.com

Ok, great but I want to know how rare this really is. That requires a lot more math than I know. So I asked my local math genius. Continue reading →

The Wicked Storm of 2014

May1

~ April Flooding by Springwolf 2014 ~

April’s Slow Moving Rain Storm

PBS NewsHour declared it as “Slow-moving storm drowns parts of Southeast with record rainfall”. Torrents of rain caused severe flooding in parts of the Florida panhandle and coastal Alabama. Some parts of Alabama saw up to 26 inches of rain in 24 hours, and powerful thunder and lightning storms overnight knocked out power to thousands. Also, a train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia.

Here in Virginia the rain was torrential for several days. It moved into the commonwealth April 28th on an early Tuesday morning as a nice spring rain. Washing away the pollen and bring some much-needed rain.

At times the gentle sprinkles gave way to a calm relaxing rain. Nothing unusual for this time of year. But it never stopped. It never gave way to brief moments of damp humidity that so often comes with rain in the Old Dominion.

As the afternoon wore on, the rain fell harder and lasted longer in its downpour. We began seeing streams of water build up on the sides of our yard and flow down the small hill to the lake at the end of our property.

Then the winds came. Tornadoes had touched down through the regions where the storm had already crossed the south and south-east. Now it was in our backyard. We watched as the rain-soaked trees bent over to the east against the strong wind. Worried if we would be facing a disaster of our own when one of the giant oaks or pines falling upon the house. Thankfully we were spared that night. Continue reading →

Tony Stewart’s Log Home

Apr26

3-Time NASCAR Cup Champion
Tony Stewart ~ The People’s Champion

Hidden Hollow
Updated: March, 2018

If you’ve never been to a Bass Pro Shop store, you really need to go. Even if you only go once, it’s worth the experience! Each one is an outdoor adventurist’s dream. But they’re also part museum, art gallery, antique store, aquarium, education, conservation and entertainment center all rolled into one. And I believe all of the stores, have some kind of restaurant attached, which adds to the adventure. But the stores themselves, will give you an idea of what Tony Stewart’s Hidden Hollow looks like.

Several years ago, my family and I went to the Bass Pro Shop in Ashland Virginia soon after it opened. We all fell in love with that place from the get go. The restaurant, has become our celebration location, for birthdays, anniversaries and most holidays. Please, we live in the middle of no-where; there’s not a lot of places to go out and celebrate. The kid loves going to dinner and then heading upstairs at the shop, where he can take part in the “play gun” target practice range. But we especially love going to BPS during Yuletide when we can visit with Santa and have our picture taken for Free!

Our BassProShop hosts a great sea food restaurant named Islamadora. During dinner we started talking about living in a house designed like the store. It’s truly a masterpiece of art, nature and architecture. What a dream home that would be.

@TonyStewart 06.04.2014

One of the advantages of being a 3 time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, like Tony Stewart, is being able to build your dream home. And he certainly did! His new home reminds me of the Bass Pro Shops stores, inside and out and nearly exactly like what we had imagined such a house would look like. And why shouldn’t it, Johnny Morris owner of the Bass Pro Shops is one of Tony’s dearest friends.

Or as Tony tweeted
June 4th, 2014
“Fishing with one of the greatest persons I’ve ever known Johnny Morris from BPS @Bass_Pro_Shops”

Before you continue reading this post; let me clear something up. This IS NOT Tony’s website. Try TonyStewart.com. So for those of you who feel the need to comment on this post and let Tony know you love his house and you want to come visit; please remember I’m not Tony; I’m not related to Tony, this isn’t his website; and he’ll probably NEVER see your comments. I appreciate the feedback and I love the house too. But you’ll be making your comments to me…not him So please don’t get upset when he doesn’t see them and doesn’t respond. Thanks.

Continue reading →

Morning Dew

Apr25

The Faery Festival

Once a upon a time, the Faeries of Bellaruesk planned a summer faery art festival in the deep hollow of the woods. To protect their celebration from Mother Nature, they asked the forest spiders to build a canopy over their meadow. The spiders worked through the night and weaved a beautiful fine web over the entire village. As the sun rose between the trees, the warm rays sparkled and danced upon the Morning Dew. The tiny droplets transformed the early light of dawn into brilliant colorful beams beneath the woven web, turning the Faery land into lovely rainbows sent from above.

Фотограф: Вадим Кондратьев ~ Photographer: Vadim Kondratyev

Living With Wolves

Apr22

The Sawtooth Pack

In 1990, Jim Dutcher was given captive pups and a permit to set up a 25 Acre Wolf observation camp in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, where Living with Wolves” was filmed. He was later joined by his wife, naturalist Jamie Dutcher and together they lived with the wolves for six years. The Dutchers spent their time, filming, documenting and living amongst these wolves in their natural habit, studied their habits, personalities and family characteristics. Their experience was turned into a beautiful documentary about the Sawtooth Pack.

The “Sawtooth Pack” were later sold to the Wolf Education and Research Center,(a non-profit organization he founded) in conjunction with the Native American “Nez Perce” and moved to northern Idaho.

Baby Wolf’s First Lesson

Apr5

Learning To Howl

Wolf researcher Shaun Ellis, best known for his “A Man Among Wolves” documentary film helps to teach a baby wolf how to howl!

When we brought Merlin home from the Wolf Rescue, he was already talking with the pack. But all babies have to learn how to communicate with their families. Wolves have a complex language with varying yips, yelps, barks, whines and of course howls. But even the howls aren’t all the same.

Like any baby a, wolf pup begins learning how to communicate with the pack as soon as it begins to recognize sound. Even though howling comes naturally to wolves, they still need to learn the subtle language of their pack. No different from a baby born in the U.S. or one born in France. We all have differences in the language we use to speak with others in our region or pack. All babies mimic their parents and I believe wolves are no different in that respect. Continue reading →