Life’s Brief Gossamer Wings


Up here on the mountain – down in the ‘holler’ – over the ‘crick’ we experienced a large Mayfly hatch last evening. They clung to our windows and literally covered portions of our deck . . . but that’s Good News😁 . . . mayflies require clean water to breed, and large hatches indicate a healthy aquatic environment.

After spending up to two years underwater mayfly nymphs shed their exoskeletons; take flight on delicate gossamer wings as adults; and . . .  Bad News😟 . . . die within 3 days after mating to give rise to a new generation. Reminds me of a sign I recently saw in Hobby Lobby . . .

Don’t Grow. It’s a Trap!😊

When we left for church this morning our windows were clear of clinging mayflies, but the deck was littered with their wings . . . without bodies??? This afternoon I spied a bird perched on a branch with a wingless mayfly body in its beak . . . ‘Body Snatcher Mystery’ solved!

Carl Sagan, brilliant astronomer, author of the most sold science book Cosmos, and agnostic once said,

Compared to a star, we are all like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out the course of their life in a single day.”

In the scope of eternity, we’re all on ‘mayfly time’. Compared to Carl Sagan, my intellectual prowess is Pre-K, but my faith is specific, not agnostic, in asking . . .

Teach me to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

. . . the wisdom of the One that created the incomprehensibly immense cosmos and named its every star in it; designed the gossamer wings of every mayfly; and formed me . . . loved me . . . and saved me from the brevity of life and the permanence of death . . . Forever!

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

National Dragonfly Day


Bad News . . .  It’s not quite summer, but the hungry mosquitoes have already arrived

Good News . . . The dragonflies have also arrived, and they’re hungrier! These efficient exterminators can devour hundreds of mosquitoes a day and have a 95% kill rate.

In appreciation, I’m proposing a resolution to declare this National Dragonfly Day. No offense taken if you decide to ‘Buzz Off’ 😊

SMILE! . . . “A cheerful heart is good medicine” – Proverbs 17:22

Spider Stats


Garden Spider

With over a million different kinds, insects represent the most numerous of all life forms on earth. I grateful the Creator gave them exoskeletons to lug around and considerably limit their size. Had they endoskeletons like us, we’d be impossibly outnumbered, tripping over ants, swatting mosquitoes with baseball bats, and Orkin exterminators would be packing, wearing Kevlar vests.

I’m appreciate all insect predators . . . colorful birds, furry anteaters, slimy frogs, even spooky bats to assist keeping the ever-burgeoning insect population in check . . . but wonder why God saw fit add scary spiders to help keep insects from ‘bugging’ us 😊

This morning, a Garden Spider gained a modicum of my respect. The intricate, geometrically designed web this little 8-legged architect had constructed altered my perspective of these creepy creatures. Patiently waiting to ambush and chow down on some savory insect, I realized this tiny guy (girl?) is actually my ally, possibly sparing me a future mosquito bite 😍

Sooooo . . . with that renewed mindset, here’s a ½ dozen Spider Stats to lend a favorable ‘spin’ for any arachnophobes out there, with one caveat . . . spiders still can bite Ya’ 😫

  1. Webs of Steel – for size, the silk strands of a spider’s web are far stronger than steel!
  2. Custom Designing – Most spiders have 3 spinnerets that extrude silk which dries when exposed to the air as they build their webs. Some have up to 8 spinnerets for different thread sizes. The spider controls the thread’s thickness, texture, and adhesiveness as it’s drawn from the spinnerets depending on the thread’s intended purpose.
  3. Web Recycling – each night the spider eats most of its web, leaving the primary frame to re-weave a new circular web each morning. It’s believed spiders eat their webs to recycle nutrients and consume small food particles . . . Yummy! 🤪
  4. Here’s Looking at You – most spiders have eight eyes. However, some species have six, four, two, or even no eyes. Even within a single species, the number of eyes may vary, but it’s always an even number.
  5. Cautious Courtship – at breeding time the male carefully ventures into the female’s nest, and then plucks the strands of her web to entice her. Before mating, he drops a safety web so that he can escape should he ‘strike a wrong note’, and she decides to cannibalize him 😲
  6. Venomous, but not Dangerous – like most spiders, Garden Spiders have venom to incapacitate their prey. However, their venom is not harmful humans.

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.”

Cecil Frances Alexander