Wordless Wednesday

Holiday Music Favorite

My World/Winter Solstice

Be sure to visit My World to see more of our world
or to participate yourself!


To celebrate the shortest day of the year and
moving into light,
here are a few doors decorated for the season
in my neighborhood.







I love the swing with the red pillows.

This wreath smells like cinnamon.

Love the red ribbons.

Snowmen -- one of my favorite holiday *things*!

A giant Candy Cane

Happy Yule!

Omens

One morning last week, as Mr. Dragon and I were preparing to sit down to breakfast, I started to raise the blinds on the doors leading into Musashi's garden. We normally feed the birds before we feed ourselves, but the birds had been quiet lately. Not much action in the yard. We found out why. There, no more than twenty feet away, on the fence, sat a red tailed hawk. By the time we both had a chance to see him, he was off to check out the buffet someplace else.

(From Mile Wide Nursery)

I pulled out my copy of The Druid Animal Oracle and found the hawk card with his key words of nobility, recollection and cleansing. It was the last line in the four page spread that got my attention: "It is considered lucky to see a hawk first thing in the morning". We are grabbing the good omens where ever we can find them and thank our feathered friend for his visit.

***

Mr. Dragon finished his first week of treatment and so far so good. Five more weeks to go and then a break and then surgery. Keep those good vibes, juju, thoughts, prayers coming. We really do appreciate them.

***

A little fun for you! I found the link for Refrigerator Soup several weeks ago and WOWOWOW. Those of you who love to cook must visit this site. I can't keep up with all the great sounding recipes I want to try or visiting all the blogs! There's something here for everyone. Enjoy!

Camera Critters

Misty brings us Camera Critters every Saturday.
Be sure to stop by and visit.


One of my favorite animals at the Houston Zoo
is the Wart Hog.
They are so funny and shy.

Neither graceful nor beautiful, warthogs are nonetheless remarkable animals. They are found in most of Africa south of the Sahara and are widely distributed in East Africa. They are the only pigs able to live in areas without water for several months of the year. By tolerating a higher-than-normal body temperature, the warthog is perhaps able to conserve moisture inside its body that might otherwise be used for cooling. (Camels and desert gazelles have developed a similar mechanism for survival in hot, arid environments.)

The warthog is a tough, sturdy animal. Males weigh 20 to 50 pounds more than females, but both are distinguished by disproportionately large heads and “warts”—thick protective pads that appear on both sides of the head. The warthog's large tusks are unusual: The two upper ones emerge from the sides of the snout to form a semicircle; the lower tusks at the base of the uppers are worn to a sharp cutting edge. Sparse bristles cover the warthog's body, although longer bristles form a mane from the top of the head down the spine to the middle of the back. The long tail ends with a tuft of bristles. The warthog characteristically carries its tail upright when it runs, the tuft waving like a tiny flag.

Diet
The warthog is mainly a grazer and has adapted an interesting practice of kneeling on its calloused, hairy, padded knees to eat short grass. Using its snout and tusks, it also digs for bulbs, tubers and roots during the dry season. They may eat earthworms and other small invertebrates during the wet season.

Predators and Threats
Outside of protected areas, the warthog’s range is declining. They are killed for raiding wheat, rice, bean or groundnut fields. People in some agricultural areas also eliminate warthogs as they can carry African swine fever.

(Wart Hog information from awf.org)