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The most terrifying combination of letters are C-H-A-N-G-E. Change ignites feelings of losing control and sparks fears of an unknown future. In your organization, change can kindle concerns over a loss of your job or the opposite: more work on top of what you are already struggling to complete....
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Shown here is a cluster of tiny flowers attached to a limb of an understory bush called the eastern spicebush. These little flowers are one of nature's earliest to bloom in spring. They often appear during cool weather before butterflies and bees begin to fly. These blossoms are easily mistaken for...
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This is a tiny wasp called a sawfly. It cannot sting you. There are many kinds of sawflies in North America. I am not sure, but I think this one is called a black-headed ash sawfly. Sawflies are common even though you might not recognize what one is even if it sits on you. An adult is only about an...
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Psalm 20:4 is a prayer of blessing; "May he (God) grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!" (ESV.) This blessing prayer is from one to another, hoping they will experience a better tomorrow. I've thought a lot about this verse and how it affects me as a husband, a father and a...
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This might look like a domesticated cow to you, but it isn't. It is a young elk I guess to be 1 or 2 years old. Once eradicated from the Missouri landscape, elk have been successfully reestablished here in recent years. Today you can find wild elk in the counties of Shannon, Reynolds and Carter in...
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Are you one of those people that says, "I'm a loner, I am with people all day and I want to get away from everyone. I want my privacy?" I have felt that way many times and I still crave alone time--but not all the time. Until we experience loneliness when we aren't needing it or desiring the state,...
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I have been reading a book about being "indistractable." According to the author, the ability to focus amongst a sea of distractions is the next superpower distinguishing you from your peers. The ability to pay attention is really worth paying attention to...
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The quick answer is: no. It's a growth on a limb of an oak tree called a gall. It is made by a tiny wasp called a gall wasp. I found this gall on a dead limb on Sunday, Feb. 11. There was not an exit hole anywhere on the gall. I knew that the gall should have a small white grub inside, but I...
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The feeder was empty except for some dry seed on the ground, and the weather was crisp but bearable. My morning was brightened by the sight of a bird lingering on the almost empty bird serving tray outside my window. The wren pecked around as he glanced sideways to see if he was going to have to...
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The morning of Sunday, Feb. 4, was pretty cool for a honeybee, with temperatures in the upper 30s. I was surprised to see this bee setting on the cold hood of my truck. It could crawl, but kept falling over and couldn't fly. There was no wind and the air temperature was rising. ...
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I remember walking out of the room of the nursing home with the nagging feeling that I may never see her again. For a moment, I thought I should go back and hug her. Tell her that I love her. But I didn't. The family was leaving, it was getting late, and I was overreacting...
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Many of us are longing for springtime by mid January. We want warmer weather and colorful spring flowers to be here already. The jonquil flower is in agreement. I took this photo Jan. 19, 2023, on a very cold morning after the nighttime temperature had dropped to 4 degrees. It had snowed a few days...
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I had never given too much thought to the word "content", until I participated in a conversation with a friend, recently. We had both lost spouses and had been forced to make adjustments in our lives. We had to decide whether to give up or forge ahead with life. ...
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The bobcat is a native North American animal. It looks like a domestic house cat in many ways, but the most obvious difference is its bobbed tail. Adult bobcats are about 4 feet long from nose to the tip of its tail. Bobcats are not often seen during daylight hours. ...
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In 2019, Strava, a social network for athletes, conducted an extensive research project on New Year's Resolutions, discovering that 80% of those who set new goals quit them by the second Friday in January -- nationaltoday.com/quitters-day/. Designating Jan. 12, 2024, as National Quitters Day...
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This is a representation of a historic old house that stands on Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Puxico. It is in a remote area of the refuge and seldom visited. My internet search for information on this old house turned up nothing. Information I gained from talking to individuals in and near...
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I sat in a chair, leaned back and flung both arms toward the sky. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with air. Inside, excitement framed my whole being as I exhaled and basked in my appreciative mood. That day was one that could be described as a normal day. ...
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I went for a short nature hike on Sunday, Jan. 7, hoping to find something interesting to photograph. After about 30 minutes of searching for something interesting, I sat down under a large white oak tree and enjoyed the scenery. As I was getting up to leave the tree, something red on the ground...
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The letters and emails I write follow the format my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Taylor, taught me. A greeting, a body, a closing, followed by my signature. I had not thought much about how I conclude my correspondence until recently reading the history of the word "sincerely."...
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I decided to start the year with a beautiful photo I took in July. Let it be a reminder that even though our winter days may be quite colorless and often dreary and cold, within about 100 days wildflowers will begin to bloom again. The wildflowers pictured here are a purple coneflower, a black-eyed...
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When I consider your heavens, The work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, Which you have set in place, What is humanity, O God, that you are mindful of us, Human beings that you care for us? Psalm 8:3-4/NIV. Two years ago on Christmas Day 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope...
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Just what are you looking at here? Is it snowing? Are these some kind of special clouds in a night sky? Are they some kind of tiny underwater animal related to jellyfish? Actually, this is frost on my truck window one morning in mid December. I left my truck parked outside for the night. Calm wind,...
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How was your year during 2023? What happened in your life? To many of us, thoughts of the past year were those of good fortune and happiness -- one filled with happy memories. To others it was a year to be forgotten. Are we now looking forward to another new beginning, or, are we already perceiving...
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I took this photo of a cardinal a few years ago. It was cold, and sleet was falling. Sometimes low-light situations can offer satisfactory opportunities if you are able to make manual adjustments to the settings on your camera. I focused my attention on the broken piece of wood and waited to see if...
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One of the perhaps less popular events in the Christmas story is the blessing of Simeon in Luke 2:22-35. Many of us, even if we rarely darken a church and our Bibles are covered in dust, are vaguely familiar with the Christmas story of the shepherds abiding in their fields, the magi coming from the...