The Nocturnal Hunter

Florida Striped Scorpion

It was dark and it was early, right around 4:30 on Wednesday, June 8, 2011. My wife had been up for a little while feeding our youngest in the living room letting me continue to sleep so that I could fight this cold I have and be rested for work. I had been having trouble sleeping because of my stuffy nose, but I appreciated her effort to let me sleep.

I had been mostly asleep when I felt some kind of scratch or pinch on my ankle, my left ankle. It was nothing new, sometimes if I have been stirring the hair on my leg twists and makes it uncomfortable. So I checked my ankle and decided to go find some ibuprofen for a little headache that was developing. I walked past my dear wife and went into the kitchen. I told her I was taking some medicine for my headache, which I did, and then I went back to bed. Not more then ten seconds in bed and my night changed from not the best to stung by a scorpion. I don't remember how I got out of bed, but the blankets and sheet were at the foot of the bed and I was on the side of the bed and there was demon insect crawling across my bed and toward the edge.

My first thought was to take Benadryl in case I had some weird allergic reaction to the sting, but I couldn't find it in the time I had the patience to look for it and there was still a scorpion to deal with before my love and I could go back to sleep. So I grabbed a flashlight, turned on the light in the room and tore apart the bed. I took the mattress of, threw my pillow to the floor, lifted the sheets on the sides but could not find the night demon. Well, I had no choice (I thought) but to change the sheets and hope it had crawled betwixt the sheet and mattress. So I began by removing my wife's pillow and lo and behold there stood the miniature beast, no doubt confused as to how the large pillow which had provided it its fortitude could have been removed so easily. So it ran toward perceived safety stopping at the worst spot it could have, for seconds later it was struck from above by my rather large flashlight, ending the life once solely intended to bring glory to God.

The End
Finis


If this story has helped you to feel sorry for those mentioned in the story which is true, click here and go to Ft Myers / Cape Coral and see if there is a deal the aforementioned persons would enjoy :)

On The Farm

An Update.

The chickens, whom remain unnamed, are doing well. Their tasty, unfertilized, fresh, daily eggs are scrumptious when we eat them. We currently have 2 dozen (and a half) more than we need, so I put another add on Craigslist, which has been answered already. That's nice, but a lot of people have asked about the eggs, and even set up times to buy some and have not shown up.

Yesterday, I forgot to get cat food for our cat that has been forced to live outside because of her fleas. Last night we gave her left over pork, which she loved. But the chickens were out grazing... and it turns out that they love pork. The cat and chickens fought for the yummy pieces, but I had to stop the chickens because the chickens have their own food and the cat does not.  Three or so chickens were put back in their pen with pieces of pork in their beaks.

If you are looking, fixing, aiming to start a mulch pile, or have a mulch pile and want more wonderous nutrients, I have piles of chicken poop ready for your disposal. I have filled huge garbage bags of poop (and pine shavings) in just a little over a month.  So, I have plenty. It's free, just not free of smell. The idea is to leave it in your mulch pile for a year, because it is very acidy (which, evidently, is not a word).

More soon.

Talk With The Animals

Another thought about the Garden of Eden, Eve, the serpent and all the animals.  I commented on Abraham Piper's blog Twenty-two Words about the serpent talking to Eve in the garden,  (Read Here) that it was probably common to speak to the animals before the fall and maybe even up to the flood.  This kind of goes along with another post of mine about animals eating meat even before the fall, so I used the same picture.

There are a couple of reasons that I think that the animals talked.  First, as Abraham pointed out, Eve was not completely shocked by the serpent talking to her.  It is written that the serpent was "crafty" in Genesis 3:1, but crafty as defined by several sources, does not mean that he developed the ability to speak whatever language Adam and Eve were speaking, rather he was sly or cunning.  Maybe Genesis just happens to leave out that Eve was shocked by this but decided to talk to a talking serpent, though none have spoken before.

Secondly, God told Noah to bring animals into the ark in Genesis 6 and 7, and Noah did just as he was commanded.  Perhaps God drew the animals into the ark, but He did command Noah to do it.  Genesis 7:8-9 says that the animals "came to the ark" but also says "as God commanded Noah".  Seems strange to do something that you command someone else to do.  Like me telling you to go to the store and bring the checkbook and I get into the car with you and the checkbook is with me.  Why would I bother telling you to bring the checkbook if it was my intention to bring it with me all along?  Then again, God does command people to repent and believe which we can not do without God giving us the ability.  So, I could be wrong.

The passage in Genesis 11:1-2 I had to search different translations, but since I can not read Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic, I can do that.  The Message translation (which I don't normally use) says that "the whole earth spoke the same language".  Perhaps that means animals as well.  Again, it would be easier for the people in that day to achieve many things if they could order an animal in their own tongue.  Then God confused their language (Genesis 11:7).  Perhaps that is when animals began barking and stuff.

Just a thought.

In Other News:
We are celebrating the birth of our first born John V this Saturday.  His birthday is February 9th, 2008.  Born at 3:03 in the morning, weighing 7 pounds at the length of 20-3/4 inches.  He has grown up so much since then.  He is learning to count to five, sing several songs (thanks to our nightly devotions, Sunday School and the radio) and other things daily.  He enjoys sliding down slides, going for walks 'on the road', riding in his wagon and throwing some horseshoes.  

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Raising Chickens

Certainly by now you have heard about the tragedy on our "farm" over the weekend.  Two chickens have been killed and eight are missing and are presumed dead.  My brother has done multiple searches in the neighboring fields and yards and thinks he hears chickens but can not locate them.  If they are hiding under bushes and things they will become real quiet when something walks by, making it extra difficult to locate them.  Tonight I hope to search the fields again and look under bushes and things.  Perhaps if I bring Scratch with me they will be more likely to come out.

The next few weeks we will be mending fences, so to say, and adding an electric fence.  It is unclear what got to the chickens but if it was anything other than some kind of bird, the electric fence will no doubt keep it from doing it again.  I've read on the Backyard Chickens forum that if your chickens run away and don't come back they aren't yours.  I see it a little differently.  The chickens were never mine.  As it is written:
 ²¹And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (Job 1:21, King James Version)  Though not easy, I have to remember to hold onto what the LORD gives me with an open hand.  That doesn't mean that I don't take care of the things given and when lost say that the Lord has taken away, but to remember that it isn't ours and it is the Lords to give and take.

Therefore, this next time around we will do our best to ensure the chickens are better cared for.  Never knew we had a raccoon problem until we had a raccoon problem.  We thought we were prepared and from this we are smarter.

In Other News:
It is also good to remember that man makes plans but God directs his paths.  Actually very comforting because we also know that God works all things out for the good of those who are called.  So when we have trials, we can still do our best to not worry because (not only does worrying not add another hair to our head) we can remember that God know's what He is doing and will complete all of His goals.

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They're Here

Just some photos.

The red ones are Rhode Island Reds, we have no idea if they are male or female.

The black one is a Sexlink and Bethany loves and is definitely female.

Even more pictures at my Picassa and Bethany's Facebook.



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In Other News

So,  we are planning on getting our chickens Saturday!  I'm excited, that's why I'm talking about it again.  We want six Rhode Island Reds which are available from this guy who has some kind of land in North Ft Myers with horses and chickens and stuff.

Also, my 2003 Buell Blast is for sale!  Yes, I am switching back to four wheels... at least for now.  The idea is that we can add miles to a car that already has lots of miles on it (driving to work and church and on the weekends) and save mileage on the van.  We are looking for a 4 door small car (I like manual transmissions) that is good on gas (not as good as the motorcycle - 70 mpg) and that has air condition.  Know anybody that has that vehicle for $2k plus or minus?

Back to the chickens.  Chickens are supposed to lay one egg a day.  We want six chickens.  That should be about 6 eggs a day.  That means by the weekend, we should have almost four dozen eggs.  We will probably go through one dozen a week... so that's 3 dozen eggs for sale.  We are not planning on getting rich on eggs and will not ask for much, just enough.

Now!  Saturday (if we get chickens), you should expect to see pictures of John boy and the chickens.  I am half expecting John to be excited and playing with them, and I half expect him to be a little afraid of them.  He seems to like friendly cats, but not nosy dogs.  Maybe the chickens will be nosy but friendly.  We'll see.

Other than that.  No other news I want to type.

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2010 Chickens & Misc.

This month we will hopefully get fresh eggs from our very own chickens.  Now that we are done vacationing (for a few months) and we'll be home and our spending can be limited again, we just need to purchase a few things to make sure the chickens survive and then it's fresh eggs in the morning.

Barn & Coop

I have a good feeling that John (boy) V will enjoy the chickens and as soon as he can reach into the egg door for eggs, he will have something to do during the day.  These chickens (and therefore the eggs) will be chemical, and other bad stuff, free and according to my research, will be healthier, tastier and all around better.  It should be easier to make Poached Eggs.  The yoke should be a dark yellow.  The white whiter and not as runny.  It should be a grand ol' time.

We are planning 4 to 6 chickens to start with.  That number may increase or decrease by 1 or 2 depending on how well it all works out.  That means we should have 4 to 6 eggs every day!  And that means we will have extra eggs... ($ $ $)  More information on how you can get our savory eggs later when we actually have them.


In other news, we did have an awesome time in the several states we drove through.  There are pictures all over the internet on Bethany's Facebook and Kerry's Facebook.  Please enjoy the pictures like we enjoyed being there.

Today is my first day back to work after being gone for long while.  It is going good.  I thought I would be more tired, but thankfully I slept real good last night.  Actually hit the snooze button the first time (it was set for one minute for some reason), then hit it again (a half hour) and then turned the alarm off and slept a little longer than I would have liked.  But I needed the rest and am thankful now that I am not all that tired at work.

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Animals Cursed?

I was thinking just the other day, what happened to all the animals after Genesis 3?  Were there carnivores?  Did the lions eat the lambs?  Did snakes bite bison in the ankles and the bison die?  All of these questions stem from the idea that the Bible really does not let us in the Garden of Eden to see the animals before the fall or how they interacted with each other while in the Garden.

Adam, in Genesis 2:17, was told that if he ate of the tree in the garden, known as the the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would certainly die.  So, that leads me to think that Adam must know what death is.  How could Why would God tell Adam that the consequence of his disobedience would result in something that Adam has never heard of or seen before?  I can imagine that as God finished telling Adam that he will absolutely die, a Bald Eagle flew over, swooped down and picked up a little bunny.  Then Adam gulped as he thought that he to would end up like that bunny if he would just disobey his Creator and eat a piece of fruit that he no doubt was looking at while God was speaking to him.

Look at what happened to Noah.  When originally thinking about this, I thought that God told Noah he would bring rain to the earth and flood it and that Noah had never seen rain before, but look at Genesis 6.  First God told Noah that he would destroy the earth.  Noah certainly knew what that meant.  He had heard of the destroyed family of Adam and Eve.  He has seen people destroy other peoples homes and carts and jars.  Then God said that He was going to bring floodwaters on the earth and destroy all life under Heaven.  So, God never told Noah anything that he would not understand, now that I look at it.  Could we say the same about Adam?

Then again, Adam was very new to the things going on in the Garden.  He had never seen anything that he saw before.  However, would God not explain to His child, His creation, what death is?  God knew what was going to happen in the third chapter of Genesis, certainly He would explain death at least once, making sure that Adam knew the consequences and what better way of explaining than the death of an animal?  Did death not exist before the fall at all?

All that leads to the over arching question: did animals suffer because of the fall of man?  We know that the serpent was cursed.  We also know that Genesis says that the serpent would be the most cursed of all animals.  Perhaps that is saying that all animals would be cursed and that the serpent would be the most cursed.  But couldn't it also mean that only the serpent was cursed?  I don't know, but I do know that as of November 3rd, 2009, I think that there were carnivores and vegetarian animals in the garden.