Related post: Philosophy Lessons from the Movie Groundhog Day

We live in Florida where we get plenty of alligators, but I have never seen anything like this. This video was taken July 10, 2010 at Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo, Ga. of Okefenokee Swamp gators participating in a rare feeding ritual.

Alligators at Stephen C. Foster State Park (Video length: 0:58)

From The Clinch County News:

Ray Cason was expecting an ordinary day fishing when he dipped his boat into the black water at Stephen C. Foster State Park last Saturday at sunrise. But the next few minutes proved to be anything but ordinary. What Cason, of Homerville, witnessed, and caught on video and film, is a rare phenomenon that some call cooperative feeding, or cooperative fishing. In this case, hundreds of alligators congregated in the boat basin at Stephen C. Foster State Park, near Fargo, and the canal from the boat basin to Billy’s Lake, and engaged in what Cason called “a feeding frenzy.”

Anyone up for a swim?

I am getting a lot of visitors today looking for the ugly dog picture from a previous post. Welcome! Please click on this link for the post with the picture of the World’s Ugliest Dog. (Update: Aah, I see where all the traffic is coming from. Sunday was the 15th Annual Ugly Dog contest in San Diego, and the first image that comes up on Bing’s image search for an ugly dog is the picture from my previous post.)

… the iguanas start falling out of the trees.

Update: We actually found some iguanas lying around like statues on the church property yesterday. As soon as it gets warm, many of them will be up and running again. Apparently the larger ones have a better chance for survival than the smaller ones. I also heard about a man who put a bunch of frozen iguanas in his truck. Of course he had the heat on which revived the iguanas and he soon found them crawling all over the place while he was trying to drive. Weird stuff!

Click here for more pictures of animal moms and their babies.

This picture from last week …

reminded me of this post from last fall:

Forty-five years ago a terrorist bomb ripped through the walls of a church in Birmingham, AL, killing four young blacks girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) just getting out of Sunday School. This bomb not only ripped through the church, but it also ripped through the heart of America. It tore a wound in the fabric of our country that has been a long time healing … Someone has said that the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. God’s redemptive purposes sometimes ripen slowly in our estimation, but they do ripen nonetheless. You see, with the election of Barack Obama, we will soon see two little black girls, Malia and Sasha Obama, running the hallways and playing on the lawn of the White House. Hearts that were broken with the tragic murder of little black girls in a house of worship will be somewhat mended by the playful laughter of two beautiful young black girls in the White House. (Anthony Carter)

This is neat. The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has live webcams (Pacific Time) of eagles in their natural habitat. They were pretty active when I tuned in, but this is wild and this is live, so you may have to be patient.

The mission of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation is to promote the conservation of wildlife and its habitats through science, education, and stewardship. You can view more wildlife web cams here.

HT: Don Surber

Well, I posted on pastors earlier this week and then on the pastor’s wife, so I thought it was time for the pastor’s dog. I love this old cartoon from Leadership Journal.

Remember, Beauregard, you’re the pastor’s dog; all the other dogs will be watching you.

                  (Rob Suggs; Leadership, Spring 1987, Vol. 8, no. 2, p. 75.)

Related posts:
    • You Might Be a Pastor If …
    • You Might Be a Pastor’s Wife If …
    • Parable of the Prodigal Puppy

The Big Picture celebrates World Animal Day (October 4, 2008) with stunning pictures of animals from all around the world. Here are my two favorites. (You can click on the pictures for larger versions.)

        Polar Bear and Cub | Stuttgart Zoo

        Common Kingfisher | Bird of the Year 2009

Started in Florence Italy in 1931 at a convention of ecologists, World Animal Day has since expanded its focus from its original intent, which was to bring attention to endangered or threatened species. The day is now set aside as a time to reflect on all of the animals we share this world with, and our involvement with them – and to spur action to commemorate that respectful relationship.

As a backyard bird watcher I really enjoyed these photos of bird feathers closeup over at Quazen.com. The above photo is from a female mallard.

Related post: Birds and Their Color Palettes

You never know what might follow your dog through the doggie door. The owners of this beagle came home to find their dog’s new friend all curled up on the couch.

From the Deep Creek (Maryland) Times; Photo of the Month for July

Update: Look what followed the cat through the pet door!
(Video length: 0:26)

HT: Neatorama

E. B. White writes about living in the country. “Just to live in the country is a full-time job. You don’t have to do anything. The idle pursuit of making a living is pushed to one side, where it belongs, in favor of living itself, a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace.”

Jim Martin has been blogging about what he has learned at 30 years of marriage. “During those years of being a family and being a married person, I probably tended to think that marriage was primarily about personal happiness. In particular, I wanted to make sure my spouse was happy. It would be many years before I realized that God was using our marriage to shape us into a certain kind of people.”

Scott Nehring gives a great tip on discerning a movie’s message. “All movies give the audience a message. This message can be, ‘crime never pays, ‘war is hell’, [etc.] … The way a film delivers this message is by posing a question at its opening and answering it at its very end. Within the first 3-7 minutes you will find a question, a conflict, is established – will the boy get the girl, will the treasure be found, will the hero learn to love, etc. At the end of the film, the last 3-7 minutes, you will find that question is answered.”

Sinclair Ferguson believes that the church is God’s greatest evangelistic tool to reach the lost. “That is perhaps the single greatest need we have as a community of God’s people. That there might be something about the very atmosphere of our fellowship together in the unity of the bonds of the Holy Spirit that makes people ask the question ‘Where on earth, or in heaven, did that come from?’ And if they’re not compelled to ask that question about our church, it’s an almost certain sign that there’s very little that’s heavenly about our community.”

J. C. Ryle asks the all important question, Do you pray? “It is essential to your soul’s health to make praying a part of the business of every twenty-four hours in your life. Just as you allot time to eating, sleeping, and business, so also allot time to prayer. Choose your own hours and seasons. At the very least, speak with God in the morning, before you speak with the world: and speak with God at night, after you have done with the world. But settle it in your minds, that prayer is one of the great things of every day. Do not drive it into a corner. Do not give it the scraps and parings of your duty. Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.”

Got an itchy back? Grab the nearest tree. This so reminds me of Baloo the Bear from the movie The Jungle Book. (Video length: 1:44)