The Birds & The Bees & The Dogs

I didn’t feel much like writing Thursday so I spent most of the day outside doing yard work.

I saw a species of bird which I’ve never noticed before. It was apparently building a nest in a hanging basket in our fig tree so I assume I’ll be seeing more of it in the future. I’ll dig out the bird books and identify it next time I see it. For now, I’d classify it as what ornithologists call an LGB.

That’s scientist jargon for a bird they can’t identify; it means Little General Bird.

In reading blogs yesterday I ran across the funniest cartoon at Moogie’s World:
This broke me up big time!

I suppose one reason this cartoon rang my bell is that recently Ginny has joined the ranks of millions and millions of other women who find me conspicuously resistible.

But, we won’t go there.

Except I’m perplexed as to how a Christian guy ought to handle this… Maybe I should try a new aftershave? Or maybe I should just shave, period.

Anyhow, speaking of dogs, today the library where our daughter is manager institutes a new program: Read To A Dog.

Yes, in this program kids who have trouble learning to read get to read a story book to a dog inside the library. The dogs in the program are service animals specially trained for this ministry.

The dog’s handler spreads a mat on the library floor where the kid and the dog sit for 15 minutes. The dog will not leave that mat. It will pay rapt attention to the kid reading to it. The dog never criticizes or complains; it acts delighted over the kid’s reading. So the kid’s self esteem and confidence grow quickly. The kid has an audience which approves and appreciates being read to --- And other kids drool with envy.

So far Jacksonville has only five of these dogs registered in the program but others are in training.

Our daughter’s branch is the first in the system to offer this program and Jacksonville’s mayor will be there today to launch the first session.