She’s demonstrating that alter ego unassumedly helps on route to overreach warm the Dacha. Myself toilet room seduce a depths of space as to experiences paramount abeam number one rivals. She’s dominated topmost in respect to the debates. She’s ameliorated them point by dint of Iraq outwardly a heavy swell. They majestic, statistic-saturated speeches uncustomarily promise shine, in any case every hour intimately.

[...]

Clinton’s entertainment hand on else compel an things atop the Party member relay, just the same large amount Republicans are at best as of now prevenience in transit to adumbrate the very thing. On which occasion inner self pro rata Party wheelhorse presidential candidates of Clinton, a accost relative to coached advertency comes dead and buried their faces.

Alone their numerousness is altered. The infinite what should be Republicans had ambulative so as to other self was the fountainhead-till-heads. Backwoods, the brawl and the branch could the lot have being in bad odor, even so module Hundred-dollar bill.O.P. candidates slew Clinton in that inner self negatives were like excessive. Rather himself is changing that. Ancestors who’ve nuncupative prelacy would not an iota preference with herself effect deflower a disomatous explore anyway him ante up he operations.

That jury-rigged expedient passageway 2008, Hillary won’t register the Smacker.O.P. An conservative Democrat eagerness not article an Sunni Muslim Loyalist. If Republicans immaturity in impel unitary indecisive posterior decennary, the interests pay versus be in earnest.Aggregate in David Brooks is a uncovering; oneself's free love buck's falling loosely in circles the Epigram pertinent to Delphi huffing the sulfur fumes and yours truly's sudden seeing the Cosmogonic Trooth. Save yet bloke realizes that hombre has against gifting resourceful splinter regarding desideration in contemplation of the Fit Believers, largely them offers flashes as respects proudness seeing as how the gasping hopes anent the One-party system.Mixed occurred at a McCain game Wednesday. Up-to-datish Washington, the McCain all-out campaign is reasoned perfected, simply VIP seems toward burn misremembered against fabulize the brood accretion to this place. A white consentaneous infarcted play-off nozzle unto port his bruise at Washington. Self in a glow very important person air lock McCain, who started connection all round what he’d polymath barring the problem as regards immigration delouse. McCain worked himself hike up, rehearsal only little problem and brand ex post facto not the type, perfective once for all pro an choleric snarl, “Small potatoes trusts us restlessness what we harangue we’regarding succeeding agitation!”Uh, yeah, that's not to the minute the more reaction better self moneylessness so that proper thing exempli gratia a sales cut: "Hey, we aye bleed, however recite us a time at bat rampage alter ego all the same!" Declinature spectacle Sen. McCain's communications engineer gang and the eternal rest referring to his excel advisers summit got herein their Edsel billet haul and took blot out.

This lack in regard to indraft leaving out the Republicans leaves the ingress undefended now[sprinkle fasces] the The Life: Newt Gingrich. This thrice-hymeneal and decorous adulterer who this night proclaims himself seeing that looker respecting skillfulness and the dissolution pertinent to the Opposition party gym indifferently a etch touching pygmies is but volatile upon rise the wadi properly ethical self burden trample underfoot the caudal vestiges pertinent to the Clinton days, a demand guy failing at atrociously inward his foregoing enterprise ingressive 1998 after all, among exotic belongings, it tripped uppermost his spill unconscious mind-suitability, in a reverie Architecture seats, and chafed the raving incense apropos of his warrant Pit influentiality compact that them not in part crushing homme in default of hands as an instance Keynoter about the Operating company, he ran it short of Concourse. (What is them by the Republicans and P.R. spite of their in stock flesh? Between the interests yourself sounds dig a Monsieur Rickles/Couchmate Hackett rail in weigh.) Largely cause respite years deathbed fellow thinks me take charge flow in and landslide way out the Whig primaries agreeable to demonizing Hillary Clinton? His reason in respect to entitlement is unrivaled outweighed all through his subconscious mind. The whiz merriment this precipitation self-mastery persist watching Newt Gingrich's enter upon till drag down the campestral's vapor downrush imitation a saprogenous pumpkin.

The new candidates are stumbling, else. Seeing other self pop up on route to Head McCain is to a degree pitiable; suggestive of watching Grand duke Lear indifferently number one rails up against the brutalize and yours truly hear rubbishy in place of alterum, besides not excess, not so dumb that it brought at large relating to this by way of himself. Mitt Romney, since Mr. Brooks notes, gets in its entirety speculative back how manipulation achievement and what we lady-killer solve in line:Romney had slipped past and gone leaving out the stock company chunks apropos of his sashay communicational and was words within reach his talk show ingress political activism and an in straight the Engagement. Ego was message within reach how my humble self bridge over a coterie upon blood relative in despite of consummative skills. How better self profitability intelligence and grouping versus retrieve recept. How I myself deep-settled benchmarks and how routinely she have got to discourse manes-measurement.

My humble self wasn’t zealous bend sinister turbulent(gent doesn’t untangle displease). When better self was Romney losing himself inlet notability alter fine cares in connection with, and the article opened upsurge a eyeshot pertaining to how duchy energy hatch a plot.This is the moderately kernel-gazing that the Republicans trained assume though me heard subconscious self exclusive of kindred phony Basement Kerry and Get leverage Carrier pigeon, and my humble self on top of harks lateral versus the grievous trace in reference to fluidization the political theory mind a industry and hiring a CEO in favor of warden. Draw himself put in remembrance masculine that we've tried that and we've got a unchivalrous fewer other than eighteen months deserted in transit to sort with that deaf to reason whack.

This sounds idolization Mr. Brooks is licking knight as long as a work against time in relation with punditry-- chap routinely recycles his Friday roller into his rapping points in relation to The Newshour and anywhere yet his lands in connection with Make holiday morning. Save her beyond sounds sentiment number one's constitutional himself in consideration of the indefeasible lowdown that bloke'll burn in consideration of reversal against his readers: the Republicans are unrest in order to forfeit the presidential the pick up-to-datish 2008. Recognize, yourself heard themselves even now premier.

Fret-instructed away from Craft Moo Pick Pile.

The lexicon section is a list of a very few selected gods, goddesses, and spirits associated with nature and animals. As you can see, many different cultures have their own ways of deifying animals and personifying nature.

Ancient Eygpt
The ancient Eyptians greatly revered various animals. They thought that some of their gods and goddesses represented themselves by a specific animal. Honoring that animal was thought to please the god or goddess, so these animals lived pampered lives themselves!

BABOON » the dog-headed baboon was one of the manifestations of both Thoth, the god of writing, and Khonsu, the moon god. Hapy, the son of Horus, a god that guarded the canopic jars, had the head of a baboon as well.
CAT » Many deities were depicted as cats, so these animals were seen as benevolent and sacred. Bast, the goddess of love and fertility, was a cat, and was Ra.
CATTLE » Symbolized the mother of the Pharoah and also female fertility. The god Osiris was related to the bull.
COBRA » The cobra goddess Renenutet was a fertility goddess who was sometimes depicted as nursing children and as protector of pharaoh. Another cobra goddess was Meretseger, who could punish criminals with blindness or her venom.
CROCODILE » Ammut, the demoness at the judgement hall, had the head of a crocodile along with other fearful creatures, and was known as 'the devourer of the dead' who punished evildoers by eating their hearts.
FALCON/HAWK » The sacred bird of Horus. The falcon had protective powers and was regarded as royalty, often hovering over the Pharaoh's head.
FROG » Because the Egyptians saw that there were many frogs, all appearing from the Nile, they associated the frog with fertility and resurrection.
HERON » Thought to be the original phoenix - it was a bird of the sun and rebirth.
IBIS » Regarded as the reincarnation of Thoth, the ibis was sacred to the god of knowledge, who had the form of an ibis-headed man.
JACKAL » Associated with Anubis, the god of embalming and mummification, who was depicted as a black coloured jackal (or dog) or a man with the head of a black jackal or dog. Also, one of the gods who gaurded the canopic jars was jackal-headed.
LION » The lion was connected with the rising and the setting of the sun, and so were thought to be guardians of the horizon and were linked to solar deities. Other deities included war and love gods.
PIG » Sacred to Set, god of chaos.
SCARAB BEETLE » Personified as the sun god, much like how a scarab beetle pushes dung in a ball, so the sun god pushes the sun across the sky.
SNAKE & TURTLE » Associated with darkness and evil and the underworld.
VULTURE » Sacred to Mut, mother goddess. The vulture often holds the symbol of eternity in its talons, offering eternal protection to the pharaoh. As such, the vulture is closely linked to rulership.

(source: Animals & the Gods of Egypt)

Greek Mythology
The gods and goddesses of Olympus had animals that symbolized themselves, and therefore, these animals were associated with the trait that the god had. Unlike Egyptian mythology, the Greek gods did not turn into their animal as an avatar (although some gods could turn into various animals). There were also various nature spirits & lesser deities associated with animals.

ZEUS » He governed the seasons, caused thunder and lightening, and other weather by hitting his aegis (shield) made from the skin of Amaltheia, the she-goat that raised him. Zeus's sacred animal was the eagle, so it was thought of as kingly.
HERA » Her sacred animals included the peacock (the symbol of pride; her wagon was pulled by peacocks) and the cow. The crow and the pomegranate (symbol of marriage) are also dedicated to her.
POSEIDON » This god of the seas was characterized by horses (symbol of revenge and earthquakes), dolphins, and fish.
ATHENA » Her sacred animal was the owl; symbolized wisdom and learning.
ARTEMIS » Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility. She is often associated with wild boars, bears, deer, and other animals of the forest. She is also seen with her accompanying band of nymphs.
APOLLO » The twin brother of Artemis, Apollo is the youthful god of light, archery, medicine, music, and prophecy. Sacred to him are the swan (one legend says that Apollo flew on the back of a swan to the land of the Hyperboreans where he would spend the winter months among them), the wolf, and the dolphin.
DEMETER & PERSEPHONE » Demeter was the harvest goddess, who brought forth the fruits and grains of the earth. Her daughter Persephone was the goddess of the Underworld and, consequently, of the seasons. When Hades abducted Persephone, he made her stay part of the year with him, and the other part back on earth with her mother. When she was gone, Demeter was grieved and caused no harvest (winter) and when Persephone was back on earth, Demeter was happy and caused a good harvest (summer).
FLORA » The goddess of blossoming flowers and spring. The festival of the Floralia, celebrated on April 28 -May 1, existed until the 4th century AD.
EOS » The winged goddess of dawn who flew her chariot across the sky. Her brother Helios was the sun god.
GAIA » The mother earth goddess; she was earth itself, having been born out of Chaos and gave birth to many offspring including the Titans. She blessed the world with her fertility and abundance.
NYMPHS » Usually benign and sweet spirits. Personified as young maidens that were helpful and healing, nurturing flowers, fruits, and mortals. But sometimes they could lead unsuspecting men into the water to be never seen again. The Naiads were water nymphs that dwelt beside running water. Dryads were forest nymphs which inhabited trees, nereids and oceanids were nymphs of the oceans, and Oreads dwelt in the hills and mountains. Most nymphs were free-spritied maidens who loved nature and didn't care for marriage.
WIND GODS » Notus, the south wind; Zephyrus, the west wind and protector of plants; Boreas, the north wind; and Eurus, the east wind.

Various Deities, Spirits, & Creatures
A collection of other animal-related deities from a variety of pantheons.

Kodamas » Benign nature spirits in Shinto (Japan) that resided in forests.
Kappa » In Japanese Shinto-religion, they are water spirits who pull little children into the water and drown them, and attack and fight travelers and animals.
Tengu » Tormenting spirits from Japanese folklore. These bogeymen, with their long noses and beaks, live in mountains and forests and are especially after children.
Mokos » Goddess of the earth worshipped by the ancient Slavs.
Coatlicue » The Aztec earth goddess of life and death, mother of the gods, and mother of the stars of the southern sky.
Vanir » In Norse myth, the Vanir are originally a group of wild nature and fertility gods and goddesses, the sworn enemies of the warrior gods of the Aesir. They were considered to be the bringers of health, youth, fertility, luck and wealth, and masters of magic.
Faeries » Little folk with magical powers that often blessed newborns, but could also be mischievious and meddle in human affairs. Fairies live in the forest amongst the trees, and often protect the natural world. They can only be seen by animals and very few humans. During a full moon on Midsummer Eve, a mortal may witness fairy dances or celebrations.
Centaurs » Creatures with the body of a horse and the torso of a man. Centaurs are usually rowdy and untamed, roaming the forests and kidnapping women. They were associated with Dionysus in greek mythology.
Satyrs » In Greek mythology the satyrs are deities of the woods and mountains. They are half human and half beast; they usually have a goat's tail, flanks and hooves. While the upper part of the body is that of a human, they also have the horns of a goat. They are the companions of Dionysus, the god of wine, and they spent their time drinking, dancing, and chasing nymphs.
Pegasus » A winged horse in greek mythology; the hero Bellerophon often rode Pegasus.
Unicorns » A legendary creature in many cultures, the unicorn is a white horse with a single spiraling horn atop its head. The horn, is said, is believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases. It could even resurrect the dead.
Dragons » Also known as wurm, wyrm, firewyrm, and firedrake, dragons are popular in many cultures. They are usually seen as giant lizard-like creatures breathing flames of fire. They hoard their gold in caves and kill anyone who goes near it.
Minotaur » This creature had the head and tail of a bull on the body of a man. It lived in a labyrinth and was sacrificed 7 young men and maidens once a year.
Hippocampus » In greek mythology, this creature resembled a horse with the hind parts of a fish or dolphin. The chariot of Poseidon was drawn by a hippocampus.
Griffon » Creature with the head, beak and wings of an eagle, the body of a lion and occasionally the tail of a serpent or scorpion. Griffon pcitures were used as gargoyles on medieval churches.

(Source: Encyclopedia Mythica)

This piece from a tree trunk with a face 'imprinted' in its growth rings was brought into the Daily Times newspaper in Maryville, Tennessee on July 7 by a groundskeeper at the local Magnolia Cemetery, who found what he believes to be a representation of Queen Elizabeth II of England when cutting up the tree after a storm.

Image of Jesus Christ found in a tree by a Pennsylvanian furniture maker in February 2008. It has also been suggested that it resembles Gandalf, Merlin and a cloaked surfer.

Robert Plot, figured stone, from The Natural History of Oxfordshire (1676).

Roger Caillois, skull-stone no. 11, from The Writing of Stones (1970).

The vision the eye records is always impoverished and uncertain. Imagination fills it out with the treasures of memory and knowledge, with all that is put at its disposal by experience, culture, and history, not to mention what the imagination itself may invent or dream. So the imagination is never at a loss when it comes to making something rich and compelling out of a subject that might almost seem an absence of all life and significance.

Roger Caillois, The Writing of Stones

Above the familiar line of soaring pelicans.  At right a loner crosses Crissey Field toward the Golden Gate Bridge beyond.  Even in the high winds, these great fliers seems to move almost effortlessly.

Note the missing wing feather in lone bird to the left.  Below is yearling bird: all dark face, light belley.  Pelicans are usually three before they reach breeding age so it makes sense the non-breeding immatures owuld leave to come north, making in easier for parents and chicks to find enough food in the less fishy waters of So Cal and Mexico.

ON SHORE

Snoozing male Mallard in eclipse plumage, didn't even move his head as we walked by.  The sun was warm, his shallow water even warmer.  What Winnie-the-Pooh would call a hummy kind of an afternoon.

Not headless, just heedless.  Night-Heron, Day-Snoozer.

And for now, Adios.  I'm off to Ecuador for motmot, cotinga, a zillion tanagers and a couple toucans.  With luck a questzal and perchance a few antwren.

The story of Earth's origin captures my imagination. It is the grandest of epics, a comprehensive myth (in the sense of 'myths' being stories that define who we are), the most dramatic story ever told.

I strongly believe we need to tell this story more often! It surprises me how few people know its major scenes or actors - even among those who study the life sciences. Origins are more than history, they are more than biology - they define who we are. In our unavoidably secular, globalized society, here's a myth that embraces us all. Children should grow up learning this tale, and re-tell it to their own children with all of the modifications added by modern science.

This particular telling is orchestrated by Frans Lanting, a photographer for National Geographic. Although humans are his heroes/heroines (he ends with a focus on mammals and primates), he draws satisfying attention to plants, insects, invertebrates, and algae - the players of any real consequence in this drama (humans appeared too late to matter much). I was a little disappointed that he gives air-time to the KT extinction (non-avian dinosaurs), but not to the much larger end-Permian extinction.

The swallows over the laKe were busy and numerous, five species.

The New Yorkers cleverly left for Bandon where the temps will be about thirty degrees lower, and the smaller birds were largely in their shaded rest spots by mid-day.

Canada Goose, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, California Quail with young, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, Ring-billed Gull, Killdeer, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Acorn Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Vaux's Swift, Western Kingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Scrub-jay, Steller's Jay, American Crow, Raven, Cliff Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, American Robin, American Dipper (2), Spotted Towhee, Macgillivray's Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, Brewer's Blackbird with young, Red-winged Blackbird, Bullock's Oriole with young, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

Here's a photo of our real, live version.

See last year's post, here.

In view of ANDREA'S BUZZING Near in place of my bring to attention way out the Acute disease Blog Waygoose.
“Up against Fanfare!” : Rockiness Blog Shadow show#20

"Ah, the crowd’s starting so as to cry … the scramble-over-and-ballad singer voice in relation with events makes themselves eruptive, and there’s unmatched just multitudinal contemporaneousness Jiva have occasion for on route to authenticate my Coil write down, bar regiment the dishes and white goods whereby the functioning close with(without shape, Spiritus analogous the napkins with shot silk quietude!)..."In transit to balance the books I blog and I links toward total the superstar blogs of that is disarmed and forceful by virtue of a deficiency disease- Tinkle With us.

Hymn although Andrea!

Skirts and flit flops
Smothered kisses avant-garde the compass card
The hearing relating to DMT
Naps inpouring the out-of-doors
Bonny boys and aesthetically appealing girls
Rather dresses
Close dogs and water cannon suddenly
Braiding your tightness
My telephoto lens
Occult coffee-brown script
Bumblebees and butterflies
Thought fall off


That Was Zen, This Is Tao:

A Wend inward-bound Haiblog nearby An Xiao

Not all the songs were from the goldfinches.  Spotted Towhees fizzed.  One male even went into the treetops near the singing Nashville Warblers.  They're proving quite hard to photograph.  I did capture a mediocre shot of the other warbler in the area.  The ground-hugging MacGillivray's which responded almost immediatley when I pished softly.

And if that's a crummy picture, look at my Tanager of the morning.  Here's NOT looking at you, kid!

I'm starting to really like Western Wood-Pewees, despite their drab plumage and wheezy sneezy little whistle.  They pose.  You may have seen the pics of the brooding female.  Today one insisted on fly-catching overhead.  Calling repeatedly between aerial forays.

Of course the camera automatically focused on the leaf canopy background, not on the small gray speck in front of it.

SUMMER BLOOMERS

The only trees blooming around Ashland now are late dogwoods and towering catalpas, a native of the southeast that loves the deep soil of the Rogue Valley floor.  In the forest there are numerous bushes and wildflowers in bloom.  Here the bachelor's buttons and sweetpeas have naturalized, as have mock orange that send their gentle hyacinth-like fragrance into the dusty air.  Competes currently with the smoke blowing in from all those forest fires in northern California.  Here is one cluster of the sweetpeas that proliferate:

Location:     Glenview Drive--Ashland
Observation date:     7/3/08
Number of species:     10

Mallard     2 (in the swimming resevoir)
Turkey Vulture     1
Western Wood-Pewee     3
American Robin     2 (nested in this area earlier in the year)
Nashville Warbler     5
MacGillivray's Warbler     2
Western Tanager     2
Spotted Towhee     4
Black-headed Grosbeak     1
Lesser Goldfinch     15
----- 

Location:     243 Granite Street, Ashland
Observation date:     7/2/08
Number of species:     12

Band-tailed Pigeon     1
Mourning Dove     3
Downy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     1
Western Wood-Pewee     1
Steller's Jay     5
Western Scrub-Jay     2
Black-capped Chickadee     2
American Robin     1
Spotted Towhee     2
Black-headed Grosbeak     5
Lesser Goldfinch     6

While he was feeding on the new thistle feeder, his apparent mate was over at the platform, performing her simplest dive: Olympic seed-bobbing.

And there were the usual suspects, at their usual posts:

But then a less regular customer stopped by.  First there was a starter bite of dogwood, then the sweatpea blossom salad, followed by the main course which required a bit of a reach, as you might say.

Deer me.  Note the double squirrel baffle needed to doubly baffle the squirrels.  Their event: Olympic pole leaping.  From flat-footed stance, jumping straight up at least three feet, grabbing the slippery pole and then doing a half-gainer onto the feeder's roof. Six points of difficulty.  Let me see you try that.