Gypsy, your stone ricochets. I inherited lots of stuff about that from a relative deep into it who used to talk of it for hours. Which Astrology type do you wish to discuss? Hellenic? Jyotish? Chaldean?
That's a shame. I am sure the pastor, his wife and his child were looking forward to your donations to pay for their new car, foreign travel, the kid's college, etc., all necessary for continued fund raising of course. So all donations are used either for direct building (ultra rare), keeping up appearances of the church and it's fund raisers, and of course raising more funds (this includes investments in futures and bonds, c/o the pastor of course).
There is a Pastor who has been building, or collecting money to build, Noah's Ark for about 30 years, in Frostburg, MD. I have been there to see it. It's appearance has changed not one iota in 15 years.
According to the tale, Jesus can't return until the Arc is finished (ah, we knew there was a reason). Should you wish to contribute to the project, you may contact the group at
I agree, for me there was one reason to watch the show. To see Spock. His unemotional seeming approach to every situation, but deep inside, full of emotion. I grew up wishing I was a Vulcan too. Live Long and Prosper Leonard Nimoy
Agreement that some animals detect the 'invisible' IR light which the 'experts' swear is at a wavelength they can't see. More than once I capture only a fast moving blur as something runs by the field of view as fast as it can.
I would swear some of them understand the concept of camera.
In one spot there is a game camera with an IR LED but nearby a second camera with it's IR light deactivated, placed so as to film the first one's field of view. More than once I have recorded deer crawling on their belly so as to evade the lens of the one with the working light. What does this tell us?
It snowed and sleeted here after the cat came in. Many of the visible tracks yesterday seem to be covered. It is still raining but I will go out anyway and see what I see. Dang it.
Should add, when I opened the door to the cat's yowling huddled by the door I noted a very strong musky smell. Whatever it is, it needs a bath.
BTW, I have several NVD items. Both cheap commercial 2nd gen type and also decent one made from PVS 5 goggles. I have been hoping to get (legally) a PVS 14 type, but they still restrict those.
Cat is out. He just had an encounter with something. Bout 3 minutes ago. I heard him yowling and growling at the front door. I opened it and something in the dark crashed away into the brush. Cat all puffed up and staring into the dark. Nothing reflected in my maglite beam. Tried bringing the cat in, but he just took off into the dark after whatever it was. Stupid cat. He thinks it was scared of him. I think whatever it is was scared of me. Nothing to be done but wait and hope the cat survives and comes back. Last thing I need is another broken ankle scrambling over icy, snowy rocks in the woods while wearing flip flops.
I tried re-doing the photos this AM, but as I feared there has been more melting and many more tracks from other animals too. Deer, rabbits, etc.
I suspect these confuse more than help. This is a pack of cigarettes near the track (sorry, there is still no ruler in my pocket).
From the middle of the above.
Another part of the trail
Disregard worry over the cat. He just came back in all wet from snow. He either had a flash of common sense, or he just hates getting wet. Probably the later.
I am thinking if I can get out there early before the sun's heat comes, I may find some better tracks of whatever it was the cat was yowling at. Clearly it hasn't gone far.
Oooby I know about those. A pack of those are what I terminated back in '05.
Conrad. Count the pads and claws. I am looking for 3 per paw, not 5 toed. But for what it is worth, we do have weasels here and they were considered, but the local ones are smaller than the cat, not twice the size. Although the claw shape seems correct.
BC, I think my cameras could run another 20 years without seeing the critter, unless there was bait to bring it to the camera. Yes, I have already considered putting a trapped rabbit or such in a pen in front of a camera, maybe a pan of deer or chicken blood for scent, etc. But like I wrote attracting additional ones from miles away is not my plan.
1-to-1 Bobcat tracks considered and rejected per the link I posted which shows their tracks. Their claws (all felines actually except Cheetah (and yes, I am pretty sure a Cheetah is not roaming VA's woods in the middle of winter) are retractible. This boys aren't.
Noting also that on the Farmer's Almanac page about animal tracks two others in VA have reported 3 pad/3 claw tracks they can't identify.
BTW, I have run multiple automatic game cameras here for decades. (For information and also security purposes.) Never have I imaged it. This being a Eastern Coyote aka Red Wolf (canis rufus) prone area I have no intention of setting out meat baits as I found exterminating such critters here to be a tedious exercise requiring many 11PM - 3am hunts (which both really annoyed the communities sleep, and also carried it's own perils when confronting several at once. Humans don't see well at night). Back in 2005 (a large pack (more than 5) had chased my wife running into the house). It took a solid two weeks of such hunts in the dark before I had eliminated them from the area using venison liver and recorded prey sounds as bait coupled with red flood lights in the target zone. I am therefore not keen on luring anything back into the area. So my cameras will remain unbaited.
Hans - We both wish for clearer tracks, but what I see is what I got.
It was lightly raining the day before I found the mud prints and rain had damaged them.
It had been about 50 for hours before I emerged from my house and snow had melted away entirely in many places. That there was enough detail left to see weird tracks was useful to know something unusual had been there, but the kind of image detail you seek simply wasn't there to photograph. Yes, if the mail truck had been heard earlier, no doubt better detail would have still existed, but sadly the mailman didn't cooperate with us.
Your questions on gait are indeed relevant. Using the definitions provided at
I would describe it as a mix of diagonal and bounding. I suspect normal walking is probably diagonal, but the snow was probably deeper when the prints were made hence the bounding. I did look for a clear hind track but found only the large holes made by bounding with no detail at all.
Yes I would say each paw creates it's own track, but nothing was a clear rear paw print. I know the reference cited doesn't provide for a bounding diagonal, but there it was in the melting snow. Agreed, had I anticipated your question, I would have gone for a shot of the track line.
Hmm, cultural problem. The objects next to the tracks are very common in America. Most Americans would instantly know them. Many would/do have at least one of the objects themselves.
The pen is a Uni-ball Roller (one of the better disposable ink pens sold here in office supply stores). Although the case colors and design slightly changed in the past two decades, they are all still 5.5 inches long with a cap length of 2 3/8 inches.
The object you suspect may be a beverage can or a battery, is a (very, very common here) Bic disposable lighter of standard size (i.e., not the miniature one). Not only do many Americans have one (often in their pocket or purse), but also here in America almost every goods store sells them. All of them virtually identical except for exterior color or markings (which broadly vary). Fairly cheap they are all of the same size. 3 1/8 inches.
Yes, I agree when fetching the day's mail every person should also bring a ruler or a tape measure. Mea Culpa, I never do. In my arrogance I presumed all of humanity would recognize those items due to their prevalence here in the USA. I did not anticipate a country where those items would be unknown. I thought the embargo to our goods there had been lifted decades ago. The Gods Must Be Crazy. Ironic it is the same place and our staple items are still unrecognized.
Claws are extended which combined with the gait and the fact that only 3 leave marks adds to my confusion. The only good thing about yesterday's observation is I have eliminated Gray Fox and the canines as their feet have 4 or 5 pads (depending on wheter we look at Ursus or Lupus species). For the same reason Bear is eliminated. Likewise I know of nothing with 3 claws.
Well the quarry of the first critter was a full grown deer and the hunt was a success. This calendar year, yesterday's critter seemed to have latched onto the trail of my large house cat as a possible quarry. Incidently, the regular spacing of my cat's paw prints gives no reason to believe he either heard or saw anything disturbing. In the crunchy snow something walking behind him would have been heard I think, so it was following the scent trail sometime after the cat had already gone inside.
This morning the prints are further melted. Indeed I did consider yesterday making a cast, but I have no idea how to do so in snow. Wet plaster doesn't work because the moisture destroys the print.
There are about a half dozen here with multiple profiles. That's in addition to the obvious fakes who write us and send contact me @ yahoo emails. Surely you noticed that some photos appear with different names in various countries? Have you not google searched the words in a profile and found 3 people using the same 'about me' in more than one country here? Sometimes with both male and female names? Did you not notice a 'slip up' by one of our more prolific bloggers here a month or so ago when for a few days he (she?) accidentally used a photo that had been previously used by one of 'his' alter ego profiles a year or so ago? So the single profile of the boy who likes pretending to be female and uses a movie star's image is really kind of mild compared to some of the fakes around here.
Life is change. I began adult life with very little. Sometime in my 40s though I had everything material I could want. My emotional needs were met too. I had achieved all of the young man goals. Multiple residences and homes in different states. A different car for every day of the week, etc. Perhaps 15 years of bliss before economic loss and death swept my world. So now everything is downsized and only one residence and just one vehicle. Alone again. What is the saying? It is true. 'It don't mean anything.'
And if they are truly friends, they don't call the police every time they hear an argument unless it is warranted. The kind of neighbors who don't know either of you, but call every time they hear raised voices because they believe a simple argument over the toilet seat being up again is a fight are a pain.
I basically agree. The emotional stability potentially resulting from a belief system, the ability to recognize there are always larger forces behind the immediate pressures of life, the creation of a framework for a society, those are the positive side of religion. In this respect, they are equal and worthy of respect.
Not unusual. Because they are larger than babies an adult with advanced Alzheimers can sometimes be a challenge emotionally. Add to this moments of lucidity where suddenly the former persona is back again then vanishes a few moments later and every day becomes an emotional roller coaster and the emotions we feel at the end include simple relief it is over.
I think someone who won't greet a neighbor is both a rude person and also someone the neighborhood is probably better off if they move away. Maybe a midnight fire will help.
One of my jobs a few years ago involved 3 to 4 hour drives each way. It was a very good job, but really the loss of so much of every day (with no salary coming in for the hours behind the wheel while gas & toll many drained) eventually forced me to give it up. Truly the thing to do is just get out of the impatient driver's way (you may pass him/her wrecked or sitting in a ditch a few miles up the road, more than once I have) and sigh at the crazy ones who got their license mail order.
LoL The other night it was 6 Fahr outside with a 40 MPH bringi.g it down to -30 Fahr. Good night for a walk to the store a mile away for milk. Insulated bag oof course so it wouldn't freeze. Bracing. :)
5 inches snow today here so far. Not enough to think of shoveling yet. 28 faahrenheit outside now. 76 F inside the house. May venture out later to check the mailbox and dust off the satellite dish. Maybe not. Direct TV is working fine sofar.
The article is BS and self serving BS authored by a group seeking funding. Reality is many of those claiming PTSD turned out to have never even been in theater with many never even being in the military. Many turned out to have been Draft or 4F (unfi t for the military) capitilizing yeaon sors later on societies privacy laws preventing their identification as frauds wwhen they sought the benefits and honor due true veterans. In reality less than 500 true cases of Vietnam era PTSD cases were found.
Many Movies dealing with WW 2 era vets having difficulty readjusting? More BS. Name 3. Reality is 'Monkey On My Back' is the only one Hollywood turned out.
Reality is most of tbe true PTSD victims had simlar backgrounds. Sheltered and raised to believe bad things don't happen to good poeople and i is evil, the reality of military conflict clashed with false beliefs. Psych damage resulted. Macht Nix. The numbers so damaged were small.
Ken_19 Blog Comments (3,903)
RE: reading your stars....
Gypsy, your stone ricochets. I inherited lots of stuff about that from a relative deep into it who used to talk of it for hours. Which Astrology type do you wish to discuss?Hellenic?
Jyotish?
Chaldean?