I’ve always had a fascination with sea horses…though, to me, they look far more like dragons than horses…

What amazing little creatures!

Found in both tropical and temperate waters all across the globe, seahorses are arguably one of the most distinctive and charismatic marine wildlife species in existence. Ranging in length from more than a foot to under one inch, there are more than 40 known species of these ‘horses of the sea’ recorded by scientists to date. From odd dieting tendencies to adorably romantic relationship rituals, there’s much more to seahorses’ majestic intrigue than their trademark elongated mouths and curly tails. Here are just a few wildly fun facts you may not have known about this charming species.

Seahorse couples are essentially serial monogamists, sticking with one partner for long periods of time. Remaining committed to a single partner enables seahorses to pass through multiple reproduction cycles during each mating season, heightening the likelihood of successful, continuous procreation over time.

Seahorse ladies need not fret when it comes to gestation and childbirth. Perhaps one of their most distinctive traits, the Syngnathidae family stands remarkably unique in that it’s the males that carry the burden of pregnancy, not the females.

Seahorses aren’t just different from other fish in their external appearance, either: they’re also ridiculously poor swimmers. They are the slowest-moving of all fish species because of an impeccably tiny fin in the middle of their backs being the only way to propel themselves.  However, while they aren’t all that durable, seahorses are quite unique in that they can not only move forward, but also up, down and backward. 

While they do struggle when it comes to speed, that doesn’t mean this species isn’t athletic! Their tails are quite flexible for a reason, enabling them to anchor themselves to coral or seaweed when they’re in need of a rest.

Since they don’t have teeth or even a stomach at all like other marine species do, the structure of a seahorse digestive system is also markedly unique. This makeup results in a digestive process that functions with extraordinary rapidity, requiring the animals to feast constantly on a carnivorous diet of tiny fish and planktonic copepods. Don’t let their small size fool you: seahorses can consume up to 3,000 crustaceans like brine shrimp in a single day, sucking them up through their trumpet-like snouts from as much as three centimeters away.

Sadly, as with most of our ocean life, sea horses are in trouble.  Mankind seriously needs to stop using our oceans as trash cans.

I look around me
and I see all of the beauty that is in this world….

From the tiniest of butterflies,
flitting from flower to flower…
to the incredible, mighty Sequoia,
ever-towering…

From the amazing little hummingbird,
bee-like as it zooms in to a Honeysuckle blossom for a quick snack…
to the ocean,
with all of it’s incomprehensible vastness…

From the tallest mountain ranges,
to the deepest canyons…
From the earth below our feet…
to the sun and the moon and the stars…

And man.

All things God-given and created…
We have honored Him for two thousand years.
Why must we, now, be forced to remove Him from our very existence?
For is He not responsible for our very existence?

When you remove the Creator,
do you not, then, begin to destroy the created?

Sure looks like an empty Madeleine pan to me…

The Sunrise Calls To Me

Before my day gets started

before work can interfere

I sit out on the front porch

and wait for the sun to appear

Quietly I sit there

with my morning cup

anxiously awaiting

the sun’s coming up

There is silence all around me

everything is still

no birds, no breeze, no sound at all

just the quiet, if you will

As it creeps up o’er the river

how pink the sky becomes

causing a spectrum of color

before the rising’s done

It makes the dewdrops speak to me

as they glisten on the grass

and I am filled with deep contentment

an equanimity, at last

This miracle of nature

this gift from God’s own hand

this morning sun shall warm the earth

as it shines down upon the land

Before my day gets started

before work can interfere

I am thankful for this miracle

and this time I hold so dear…

Have a great day!

Copyright© 2023 Suzi Q’ute Inc. All rights reserved. This posting is the intellectual property of the author and her heirs and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the author’s written consent.

Hope your day is a good one!

I can hear those fleas and ticks multiplying out in the yard as I write this…[I also anticipate a blizzard in April]…

February is Skunk breeding season. Before you let your dogs out make a little noise and give skunks time to move out of your yard.

If you come face to face with a skunk, stay calm and talk softly to let them know you’re there, skunks have poor eyesight. Skunks are very sweet natured animals and don’t want to spray you. Go about your business and avoid startling them.

Skunks will give you several warnings if they are scared:

1. They will stomp their front feet

2. They turn their backs to you

3. They will do a handstand

4. They will spray

If a skunk DOES spray your dog etc. here is our favorite technique and recipe:

Firstly catch dog ( person etc) as quickly as possible – don’t let them roll or rub on anything.

If you have rubber gloves wear them. BLOT the spray off with paper towels.

Mix a paste from Dawn dish soap, peroxide, and baking soda and spread it on the area. Let it sit for ten minutes then rinse off and repeat.

If this happens to be on a human or hairless animal leave out the baking soda. The baking soda is sort of like an exfoliant and is really abrasive to bare skin. ( I know this from being sprayed in the face by a skunk I was trying to rescue lol- the baking soda made me look like I had chemical burns)…

Another note: PLEASE WASH YOUR RECYCLING AND PLEASE DON’T LITTER. Every year I rescue skunks with cans, yoghurt cups, domed lid fast food drink cups, etc stuck on their heads. If you come across a skunk with something stuck on its head, throw a towel over it and just pull the object off. Don’t touch wild animals with bare hands as some can have parasites or disease.

1. “As you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” – Norman Wisdom

2. “People say money is not the key to happiness, but I have always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” Joan Rivers

3. “I’m sick of following my dreams, man. I’m just going to ask where they’re going and hook up with ’em later.”- Mitch Hedberg

4. “Truth hurts. Maybe not as much as jumping on a bicycle with a seat missing, but it hurts.”- Lt. Frank Drebin

5. “Accept who you are. Unless you’re a serial killer.” – Ellen DeGeneres

6. “When life shuts a door … open it again. It’s a door. That’s how they work.”

7. “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” – Phyllis Diller

8. “When your mother asks, ‘Do you want a piece of advice?’ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.” – Erma Bombeck

9. “Better days are coming. They are called: Saturday and Sunday.”

10. “An apple a day keeps anyone away if you throw it hard enough.”

Bonus #1

“Haters are just confused admirers because they can’t figure out the reason why everyone loves you.”– Jeffree Star

Bonus #2

“Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it.”– Cullen Hightower

This Land That I Love

This place where I, as a child, played

On the shore, with shells and things

Where I wiled away those youthful days

And dared to dream my dreams

Where my reality was a fiddler crab

and pebbles on the beach

Where the things that I dreamed about the most

were never beyond my reach

If ever there was a happy time

in these many days of my life

It was here, beside my river

Where all the world was right

The peace, the quiet, the serenity

this river brings to me

This place that stole my heart away

it is my reality

I will miss this rolling river

by this land that I dearly love

and all the nature that abounds

these gifts from up above

…but, I’ll take with me my memories

Of all these years gone by

And leave behind my heart…my tears

As I, sadly, say goodbye

And maybe, in my future

another river I shall find

that waits for me, that calls to me

and brings me peace of mind

So, out with the old, in with the new

I hope they love it, too

and find, in it, their heart and soul

a place where dreams come true…

And, so, with that, I say, Auf Wiedersehen…

Kann der tanz des flusses immer,und freude zu denen zu holen, die es lieben…

SCW 5/07

Translation…May the river always dance, and bring joy to those who love it…