My Destop Photo 57: Lesser Yellowlegs

Photo by Andrew Stark
(click on photo for larger view)

My birding friend Judy said this about the lesser yellowlegs in a post at my old blog:

It’s a shore bird but enjoys making a lot of noise while teetering at the top of trees. It is one of the prime food sources for the peregine falcon which, after a thrilling come-back, are somewhat on the decline. One theory [on the decline of the peregine falcon] is that the yellowlegs are being poisoned by insecticides from farmers clearing coffee fields in Central America.

The old post linked above includes a picture of a lesser yellowlegs doing a bit of tree-top teetering. If you want the whole lesser yellowlegs experience, look at the lesser yellowlegs in the tree-top photo while listening to the lesser yellowlegs call.

And while we’re talking about her, let me tell you a little about Judy’s latest adventures. Right now, she’s in South Africa, where she is doing some volunteering for the same organization my daughter volunteered with a little over a year ago. She’s a retired teacher and she’ll be working in an elementary school, doing a little training of the school staff and working with the children as well. She will, of course, fit a little birding into her schedule, too, and hopes to see many wonderful South African birds.

On the Sunday before she left, Judy told me that not only did the idea for this trip come from my blog, but also the means to do it. She sold an original painting she bought for $35.00 through the gallery I linked to in the post on Canadian artist Jim Logan and made enough to finance her entire trip.

The Door

Or what I’ve been up to.

I’ve been spiffing up the kitchen. Yesterday I put two coats of paint on the walls and today I’ve been putting everything back where it belongs. I’m not done yet because I have a couple of things to hang on the wall that will require two people.

The project on the right was done by my sons. When we moved into this house, there was a solid door between the kitchen and the back entry. I hated it—hated not being able to see the back door from the kitchen without opening the door—so we took it off and stored it in a back corner of the basement.

Recently, oldest son replaced some doors for a client at work. The old doors had lovely wood framed and grilled glass inserts which my son salvaged and inserted in my old kitchen door. Youngest son painted the whole thing. I lost count of how many coats it took to cover the dark brown paint of the old door, but when he was done and the door was hung, this is what we had.

As you can probably see, I still have to paint the baseboards and trim in the kitchen before the project is all done.

The bag hanging on the door knob is one of Carla’s tote bags. It is promoting one of my favorite causes, the Save the Hymnal campaign.

I’m thinking of putting the other glass insert in my office door so I can see but not hear what’s going on in the rest of the house.

Round the Sphere Again

A wear-your-thinking-cap edition.

No, They Don’t Wear Loin Cloths
During the old days when I frequented the Baptist Board, I got to know a few Primitive Baptists. Some of them were hard-shells, which means they believed in what they called “the absolute predestination of all things.” The Primitive Baptists were some of the nicest people on the Baptist Board, partly, I suppose, because they didn’t believe in debating over doctrine. They’d explain what they believed, but wouldn’t defend those beliefs. John of While We Sojourn has an interesting post explaining some of the beliefs of Primitive Baptist “Absoluters”. It helped me understand some of the reasoning behind the hard-shells’ aversion to debating doctrine.

Pot Calling Kettle?
Neotheists accuse traditional Christian theologians of special pleading when they understand certain texts of scripture as anthropomorphisms. Steve Hays explains why it’s the Neotheists who might be guilty of this fallacy. (Neotheism is another name for open theism. Not an apt name, I’d think, since it’s not a new thing.)

Theological Shorthand
Martin Downes of Against Heresies on the usefulness of prooftexts.

Defining the Faith
David Heddle shares more of his Sunday School lessons, this one on the development of creeds in the early church as a way of responding to heresies.