Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Journal - A Couple of Things

A couple of weeks ago at work the topic of peacocks came up. An odd subject yes, but when you spend many many hours with the same people a pretty wide variety of discussions can arise. One of my fellow cart-pushers is Lyle and, like me, Lyle grew up on a farm. We had actually been talking about snakes when he mentioned that his folks had kept peacocks and guineas on their farm. This piqued my interest because Grandpa Pete and Grandma Gladys had peacocks on their place when I was a young boy, and while I never thought much about it back then, I have since wondered why they had them. I asked Lyle if peacocks ate snakes and he said he wasn’t sure but he thought that snakes didn’t like the sound peacocks make and thus stayed away.

From there, the conversation turned to other topics but the peacocks have been in the back of my mind ever since and today I finally got around to doing a little reading up on them. Peacocks, or Peafowl, are the largest members of the pheasant and turkey family. They originally came from the middle-east, primarily India where they are the national bird. They were brought to this part of the world and were something of a status symbol for the wealthy but eventually became more commonplace. According to what I read, they do indeed eat snakes as well as many types of bugs and are often kept on farms or ranches for that very purpose. Isn’t it interest that 30 years after the peacocks disappeared I finally found out why Grandma and Grandpa had them. I say “disappeared” because I don’t really remember what happened to them. It seems like after Grandma died in ’82 I just don’t remember them being around anymore. It just goes to show, you learn something every day.

In other news, I finally made an appointment to go to Omaha and get my fake eye. That will be on April 2. I had assumed this would take at least two trips to Omaha, one to get measured or whatever it is they do, and then another to have the finished eye inserted. However, I found out that this guy does it all in one day. I’ll see the doctor in the morning, he’ll make the eye right there that day in about 3 hours, then we’ll go back later on so he can put it in. I’m sure we can find something to do in Omaha for 3 hours while we wait. I keep calling this an eye but, as I may have mentioned before, it’s really no more than a lens or a covering. I have an eye-shaped implant in right now and that will stay. Since my surgery the implant has been covered by a clear lens, something like a very thick and hard contact lens. That lens will be removed, it just pops out like a contact, and will be replaced by a similar lens that will painted to match my good eye. Since the implant is attached to my own muscles, it moves with my good eye and so the prosthesis will move with it giving it what I am told will be a very natural look. Anyway it will be good to finally have that done.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. ESV

Isaiah 25:1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. ESV

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