Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Nature In Us Newsletter - 10/15/14

  The Nature In Us Newsletter - 10/15/14 
  by Donna L. Watkins  


"When your memories are greater than your dreams,
you are already beginning to die."  Kris Vallotton



Hello Dear Friends!

Sometimes we seem to know everything there is to know about a subject in the Bible (healing, provision, peace, forgiveness) and yet it's only facts we've logged away.  But we think that it's simply "not working."  If it's not been implanted in our hearts, we can't operate from those beliefs.  When we accept Jesus as Lord His spirit is downloaded into our spirit and we have access to everything that Jesus has promised ... BUT! our soul (mind, will and emotions) still have their own agenda/memories. They have to be "renewed" to line up with the spirit.  Romans 10:9-10 mentions the heart in relationship to belief:

View More Photos of Greenville, SC
Donna - Rock Quarry Gardens
Greenville, SC
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession (to profess, to praise, celebrate) is made unto salvation."

This implies there's more to getting saved than just speaking words or facts that we know in our heads.  Some people of the "faith movement" think that simply repeating the Word over and over will make it happen.  It's our belief of those words that make things happen, not simply chanting the words.  Saying it's so, when it isn't so, doesn't make it so.  We have to believe in our hearts.  We have to meditate on the Word and build that connection between God and ourselves so we can get what we "know" into our actual "knower" (heart) that rules our lives.

Remember the father with the epileptic-type son that the disciples couldn't heal? Mark 9:22-24 tells us that "oftentimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him; but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.' And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!'” 

Notice Jesus didn't take responsibility for the healing. Instead He told the father that all things are possible to those who believe.  The father obviously mentally believed there was healing available or he wouldn't have traveled to see Jesus.

If we've suffered with health, relationship or finance issues for many years, it makes it harder to believe.  When we hear the Truth that will set us free, it takes time to renew our minds from what we've been taught.  After all most churches believe God can heal, but He chooses not to do so for some noble reason that should satisfy our thirsty souls to be able to live that life of abundance that Jesus came to give us.  Read more on this topic in my recent article:  The Battle of Belief and Unbelief

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The Good News - Squirrel With Case of Warbles
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On September 19, I took some photos of a squirrel that looked horribly diseased.  I haven't seen it for over a week, so I finally got up the courage to email The Wildlife Center for what I thought would be bad news.  Was I super relieved to find out that it was not cancer.  It was a case of warbles which are a type of bot fly.  They make the squirrel very uncomfortable and they kinda go crazy rolling on the ground or jumping in the air.  There is no threat to humans or pets from the larvae itself or the affected animals.  Most of the time squirrels that have warbles recover fairly quickly in a matter of days after they've departed.

I looked up some info and am passing it along in case you ever see something like this.  Apparently in summer when the fly is laying its eggs, the squirrel comes into contact with them.  Then when it grooms itself, the body heat and moisture causes the eggs to hatch and the larvae then penetrate the squirrel and migrate to a comfortable spot just below the skin where they cut a breathing hole and continue their development.

Once the larvae emerges in the Fall they drop to the ground to pupate until next summer.  The squirrel generally recovers without further incident.  In gray squirrels, the larvae are most abundant in the late summer and early fall.  In the Southeast United States [we're in Virginia], gray squirrels and other rodents, and rabbits, are commonly affected by Bot fly warbles.  Horses and cattle can be affected by them also. 

Speaking of squirrels and rolling around ... I took a short video of a squirrel having a grand old time in the backyard.  After knocking over one of our geese (not real), he was crazy about this one spot in the dirt and was really having a grand old time ... and then suddenly he stops as if he knows somebody is photographing him.  View Crazy Squirrel Video.

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Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker at Feeder
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We have some noisy Red-headed Woodpeckers in our backwoods and at our feeders.  It's the recent batch of fledglings.  They sure do love to chatter.  I guess they're excited about being out and about the world.  They've learned so much so quickly, each day being full of new adventures and life-survival skills.  Do you suppose they are like some teenagers?  Feeling like we know it all and are ready to head into life confident and free.  No more need for parental guidance and advice.  Do I sound a bit too familiar with this type of teenager?  Hmmm ....

Did you know that unlike other woodpeckers, they are good at catching insects in the air and hunt for them on the ground also.  They eat a lot of acorns and beech nuts of which they also cache away some for winter in tree crevices.  They also eat quite a lot of fruit and seeds.  They certainly love our black-oil sunflower seeds as you can tell from the photo.  Sadly, the species has declined sharply in the past 50 years because of habitat loss. 

Migration patterns are shifting for some birds and the Rufous Hummingbird is one of them.  Nesting in the Northwest, from Wyoming to southern Alaska, Rufous Hummingbirds have traditionally spent the winter in Mexico.  A few had always wandered east in Fall, but recent decades, they wouldn't have survived the winter there.  Now, gardeners all over the Gulf Coast and beyond have established Winter havens for hummingbirds, with flowers that bloom through the season and plenty of sugar-water feeders.

From east Texas to Florida and north at least to the Carolinas, hundreds of Rufous Hummingbirds now spend the entire Winter and some individuals may come back to the same gardens year after year.  Barn swallows were always known for flying to South America for Winter but always nesting in North America.  Now they are nesting down in South America also.  [Source:  Birds and Blooms Oct/Nov 2014]

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Juvenile Cardinal
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We've had some late Cardinal fledglings squealing around the property.  They sound like a squeaky wheel and go on and on all day long, increasing the volume when mom or pop fly into the bush they're hidden in with some food.

Since we had such a long Winter that had us using heat in June, many of the birds nested late here in Central Virginia this year ... and there were some who stayed on schedule but had a risky success rate.  I know the pair of wrens that were on the front porch had two babies that died.  I assume it was from the cold since they looked like normal babies and were snuggled together. 

I found a Bird Song Quiz online at Birds and Blooms YouTube site.  Couldn't resist taking it since it was only 2 minutes long.  I answered correctly on 3 of the 5 birds of the quiz.  Three of the birds have not been seen here.  While you're there here's a 1/2 minute video of a Titmouse on an Opossum's back pecking at something. 

Don't forget to clean out those birdhouses.  The birds can use them in winter as a warm place to stay ...especially if you put in some clean straw, hay or pine straw.  We use essential oils to disinfect them from any lice, etc.  If you have 100% pure essential oils almost any one of them would do the job since they are so hugely anti-microbial.  We sometimes get a special treat when we clean the birdhouses ... that of seeing a flying squirrel taking his daytime sleep since they are night animals.  Those big black eyes are so very cool!

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Flying Squirrel in Birdhouse
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Flying squirrels make their nests in tree cavities and rely on acorns and nuts as their main food sources (thank goodness we have tons of acorns this year - last year was none here in the Eastern area of the U.S.). When acorns and other foods are plentiful, flying squirrels will cache them in locations throughout their home range for later eating in the winter. The down side .... occasionally, flying squirrels will prey upon insects, bird eggs and carrion.

Be sure to check out the post, Begin Your Wildlife Habitat This Fall.  You can make your backyard a haven for birds, bats, butterflies and more with some easy ideas.  Do one or do them all over time ... it's a beautiful thing to build a wildlife habitat.  We find we no longer need any other entertainment.  It's much more satisfying "chaising it" on the screened porch (lying back in the chaise and watching the show) or taking a stroll in the garden to find amazing things.  What a great way to de-stress after work or school.

Dr. Jauhar, author of the book, Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician, was recently described as "a compelling writer and an astute critic of the wasteful, mercenary, cronyistic and often corrupt practice of medicine today."

Look Inside the Book
The New York Times book reviewer notes say, "He is brutally honest, not just about his own shortcomings, but about those of colleagues, bosses and institutions. There is the cardiologist who pressures him to perform expensive, unneeded diagnostic tests; the hospital, which wants him to see patients for ever-shorter sessions; the pharmaceutical company that pays him on the side to give 'lectures' but will let him use only its slides and data."

Indeed, such complaints have been well documented before. Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections—mounting evidence suggests that Americans are basically being over-treated to death. 

There are many reasons for this, including the fact that doctors' hands are tied by insurance companies when it comes to treatment decisions. Maybe the root of the problem goes back to the fact that doctors enter the field wanting to truly help people get well, but find that the system works against disease resolution at every turn.

Most all fail to appreciate the massive collusion between multinational corporations, peer reviewed journals, professional advisory committees, and federal regulatory agencies that decimate any hope of objective honest recommendations. Medicine has become a for-profit business, and this automatically promotes waste and less-than-optimal treatment options.


Donna
Shenandoah Caverns
Quicksburg, VA
Enjoy the outdoors while you still can ... it's a glorious time to glorify the Lord in a forest, on an empty beach, from a mountain top, or in your backyard.  He loves to talk with you in those still moments and He delights in having time with you!

Love, Hugs, and Many Blessings,

Donna


P.S. Anything in here that might help somebody you know?

Here's a link to the online version of this newsletter:  
http://www.thenatureinus.com/2014/10/the-nature-in-us-newsletter-101514.html

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