Fly View Productions/ iStock
Not often, but occasionally I see an article that I believe is worth sharing with those who may have similar likes as me. The following is reproduced from a Nice News (nicenews.com) subscription for non-commercial information purposes. Imho empathy is as essential to human life as the air we breath and hope you will find it as positive as I do…
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Flying U Ranch
It was intended only as a quick educational trip to 108 ranch resort 300 miles from Vancouver B.C. Block Bros. Realty a well known Vancouver real estate firm beginning in 1960’s Vancouver, had sponsored, and financed this recreation retreat. In spite of considerable investment and promotion it never succeeded as hoped for several reasons. For more information on this project go here: http://108 Ranch Resort by Block Bros. Realty
Despite the reasons for its eventual failure, including driving distance from Vancouver, Henry Block * had developed notable features, 18-hole PGA golf course, clubhouse, swimming pool, restaurant and lounge, and a 20-room lodge, which were completed by 1972, to encourage investors.
* “The Grand Scheme“
I was very intrigued by it as a youthful Realtor in Vancouver. So sometime after acquiring my pilot’s license, and airplane, I decided to take a quick trip from my Victoria base to take a look at it.
I left rather late in one afternoon and flew directly from Victoria airport over Georgia Straight and coastal mountains to the 108 airstrip. It was (is?) an excellent paved strip capable of handling larger airplanes as intended. However as the sun set I was amazed at the total absence of anyone in the vicinity, including a nearby store and golf course!? In fact even while I spent the night under the stars in a sleeping bag right on the golf course, yet I never saw a single person! To this day that is puzzling.
In any case the next day, perhaps because of some disappointment at the 108, I decided to fly South before returning home. As I did I noticed a small airstrip next to Green Lake and decided to land and have a look. It was a very dry dusty landing, but just across the road there was a ‘dude ranch’* where a family from the lower mainland was vacationing that welcomed me! Somewhat overwhelmed by their hospitality, I ended up joining an evening around open camp fire, but not before a trail ride that was an experience of a lifetime in the afternoon! See this great video on the Flying U Ranch!: * * * Flying U dude ranch
With very limited ‘horse sense’, I was invited to join the family galloping (and I do mean full speed) through a forested area you could hardly call a trail! I hung on for dear life as small trees and bush brushed my legs and threatened to rip me off my steed, it really was the experience of a lifetime!
Afterward we drank some beers around a large and hospitable camp fire under a starry night. I could not believe how fortunate I was, and only wish I had my own family with me there. Once again I slept in my sleeping bag out in the open under an awesome Caribou sky as can only be fully seen far away from city lights.
The next morning I took off early in a huge cloud of fine dust from the short dirt airstrip, and after doing a low pass or two over the ranch, headed South to Vernon. At an airstrip shop there I found partners who had sold me a Mooney airplane previously. As fellow pilots, typically, they gave me the keys to a vehicle in order to briefly spend a few sunny moments on a lakeside beach! However, it was past time to head home and I did so that afternoon.
Only less than a two day experience, but as memorable as ever can be for me!
I was only a beginner, home on annual two week leave from the RCN. My older brother was an instructor and partner in a scuba shop on Kingsway in Vancouver. With his basic instruction in a large tank there, I soon dove with a group of experienced divers at Horse Shoe bay, a fair distance away from the ferry terminal there.
In those days divers wore basic lead belts to obtain neutral buoyancy at about 30′ depth. Following divers down in the cold clear water with comforting wet suit on, I spotted a large cod fish and tried to sneak up on it. It appeared to be sitting on a rock unconcerned, but sensed me about 10′ away, so before I could even load my spear gun it took off like a rocket, as only fish can.
Below me I observed a pair of our experienced divers squirting some kind of powder material into what appeared to be a small cavern on the bottom. To my amazement they were soon able to pull a fairly large octopus out! They had located its liar by the tidy pile of empty shells outside it. I don’t know what they used, but it apparently numbed the the hapless creature to relax and let go of its protection.
However I suddenly realized that my fascination with their activity had allowed me to descend below neutral buoyancy. Reaching a lower than equilibrium depth meant I was beginning to sink rapidly!
I didn’t even think about dropping my weight belt, which would have been the right course if I couldn’t manage to swim upward. However I began pumping my flippers as hard as I could to return to the surface from about 90′ depth.
Thankfully being in good physical condition in those days I gradually ascended, I was now below the two divers that had pulled the dazed octopus out of its den. As they ascended above me I could see the limp creature held between them. It appeared to lazily wrap its multi legs around those two divers, a very memorable view, but my focus was on simply returning to the surface as a priority!
Evidently an octopus cannot survive for very long out of its watery element, having no physical bone structure etc, so its virtually anathema to be removed to our human environment. Sorry to say this was the outcome that day. How sad is that?
Amazing Divers BC octupus encounter on utube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayQK0OT_R1c
There is no doubt the Taliban, now taken control in Afghanistan, are even more convinced that God is on their side! How very typical this is of humans throughout all of history, no matter how great or small the ruling empire may have been, or how many people they ruled over, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Romans, British or American, just to name a few, all share this one religious thought; ‘God is on my side!’
Of course this is not the exclusive concept of governments alone. How many times have huberistic individuals or groups e.g. ‘religions‘ made similar claims?!
Well I’ve got news for all forms of independent human nationalism* the one and only true God and father of mankind Himself declares he is ‘not on your side‘! Not yesterday, not today, not ever!
Of course its true God guided and protected the nation of Israel as long as they remained obedient to His laws and principles. It’s also true in ancient times he directed military conquests, primarily to punish nations’. But that said, by no means can it be claimed that He has been ‘on-side’ with imperfect human government agenda’s.
Note the clear distinction here is being ‘on-side’ with God, not the other way around!
How can I be so sure? Of course the historical failures of virtually all human governments confirms this fact, but please read on;
First; consider the universally admitted fact that ‘we’ (namely all mankind) ‘are imperfect.’ If anyone doubts this basic truth please raise your hand!?
Second; similarly, why would God, our heavenly Father, support continuous changes of imperfect human governments, much less never ending wars and conflicts between them?
Third; as mentioned, if God actually supported a particular human government, why have not one of them successfully brought lasting ‘peace and security’ to its subjects , much less fair and equitable distribution of material benefits to its subjects, no matter how long it lasted!?
No ‘the jury is not out’. The plain fact is God has an agenda for establishing ‘His’ government! A government that will rule the entire earth and bring true peace and security for all who adopt it. Those who refuse to subject themselves to that just and righteous government will simply be no more, that is his true purpose, as it was specifically described by his son, Jesus.
* Nationalism, on my opinion, is nothing more than an idealistic rationalization for militarism and aggression. (Albert Einstein)
Please visit my post: Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained!
For more in depth scriptural information visit: JW.org
What’s it like to view the earth from outside the space station? After 9 spacewalks NASA astronaut Mike Fincke puts it this way;”…seeing the whole cosmos of creation….it’s just awe-inspiring”.*
However, the focus since mankind has achieved ability to circle the earth in orbit, has arguably become the exploration of other planets, including the moon. So my question is ‘why’? Hasn’t it become abundantly obvious to all thinking people, the earth, often called ‘mother earth’* is the very special, very specific, home of mankind?
Just how much scientific, factual. evidence is needed to verify this very basic, very obvious, truth?!
Exploration is apparently a natural trait of humans. However as has often been said; we actually know less about what’s in deep ocean waters than we do about near space! Doesn’t that suggest the great emphasis on space exploration is a strange, even ‘unnatural’ bias for major exploration efforts?
(quotation) “Maybe the most amazing fact about Earth is that it’s the only planet we know that supports life at all. A lot of things had to go right for this to be possible. For one, our planet is perfectly distanced from the sun in what scientists call “the Goldilocks zone,” because it’s not too hot and not too cold. The Earth is also protected from solar radiation thanks to its magnetic field, and kept warm by an insulating blanket we call the atmosphere. And most important, it has the right building blocks for life — mainly water and carbon.”
Take note of this quote by ethnobotanist and anthropologist Wade Davis:
“The fact that carbon dioxide combines with water, sparked by photons of light, to give us the food we eat and air we breathe – That’s the formula of life“ (i.e. learning how the Kreb’s cycle converts the sugars assembled by photosynthesis into cellular energy through aerobic respiration, ‘was a mracle to me!)
If we are truly curious to learn more about life, why not focus our attention on life on our wondrous, beautiful, even mysterious planet, instead of making haste to explore other planets, planets so far proven to be completely lacking in the countless features of our earth, not to mention any form of life.? * And all such efforts creating serious, if not dangerous, competition between nations no less!
If you had a house needing repairs, but it was still fundamentally sound, would you simply ignore it to pursue some other far less attractive place in a hostile neighborhood?
No, the logic of space exploration, as stimulating as that may be for some, simply does not meet the litmus test of sanity! But then what grandiose human activity ever has? E.g. consider the ongoing environmental damage caused by the industrial revolution with all its now known attendant detrimental consequences to the environment! And we don’t even want to think about the ‘nuclear age’, or as yet untold damage resulting from the computer age! E.g. consider this…
In 1946 the United States chose the South Pacific Bikini Atoll as a test site to detonate 23 nuclear bombs, obviously that caused the destruction of three of the islands and left a radioactivity that even today makes it impossible to live there.
Isn’t that clear evidence governments’ are complicit in destroying planet Earth? Yet there is a genuine hope for the future, not by the hands of mankind, rather in spite of mankind!
Indeed the Creator of this beautiful ‘blue marble’ well knows how to restore his perfect creation, to remove those who are exploiting and causing shameful environmental damage! * *
Notes: “…his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship,..” (Romans 1:20)
* Indeed the expression ‘mother earth’ may be quite apropos’ given all components of the human body are most likely only found on earth – including 60% water.
* “…Mars is effectively one big desert.” (the words of Professor Rabinovich, Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey)
In His (God’s) own reliable prophetic words: * “….look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be called to mind….“ (Isaiah 65:17) …“and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) Thanks for viewing,
The Book of life…
Earth is a book, our Mother indeed,
chapters are seasons, timely to read.
Plans for all life, real pages to turn.
Cover to cover, lessons to learn.
Noble blue marble, a world in decline,
soon to be fixed by He who designed!
please see my other posts:” Our Creators’ Art! and “Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained!“
Paul Gauguin; ‘paradise’
Worldwide nearly 800,000 people have committed suicide dring the past year, (2020. That’s one person every 40 seconds! Many of those being youths. How incredibly sad is that!? Indeed the prospects for youths and even adults has been severely affected by the Covid-19 virus and variants. But that is only one cause for giving up on life itself. My point in addressing this tragic issue is somewhat related to John Milton’s epic poems; ‘from paradise lost to paradise regained’ * but not entirely…please read on;
No doubt the absence of hope is the root cause of most suicides. Clearly then, what is needed is real hope for the future based on solid facts!
Where can we find such real hope in a world that consistently engenders economic greed; government corruption; destruction of the environment; crime and violence; and the list goes on!?
The promise of ‘a return to paradise’ is a main theme of scripture. And scripture has been proven to be just as reliable as the rising of the sun. How can this be said? To begin with most scripture is recorded history of God’s dealings with man. That being the case, it’s possible to compare the biblical record with the known facts of history. Does it meet that litmus test, indeed it does! In fact many times the previously doubted Bible record has been proven correct when new archaeological and/or other factual historical evidence comes to light.
Indeed scriptures have shamed critics and proven to be accurate beyond any contradiction time and again, including references to known science; for example the Psalmist said ‘his makeup was written down in a book before he was born’! a clear reference to only recently known DNA! And again, the scriptures refer to the ‘circle of the earth hanging on nothing’! These words were written thousands of years before science confirmed them. Obviously the Bible was ‘inspired’ by the one who created these wonders we have only begun to appreciate!
The answer my friends is ‘written on the wind’, in a manor of speaking. The rotten conditions that exist on our beautiful planet are not in keeping with its purpose at all. ** Little wonder so many people feel hopeless. We naturally and rightly wish for a better world, a united world of mankind living in peace and security with plenty for all! And that is exactly what is promised for those who exercise faith in our Creator’s promise to regain paradise lost!
‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away,’…. ‘And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away’…. ‘And the One seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new.’….’Also he says: “Write, for these words are faithful and true.'(Revelation 21:1-5 excerpts)
For more information on John Milton’s poems:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost
Please also visit post: Our Creators’ Art!
Einstein is famously quoted as saying ‘imagination is greater than intelligence!’ So what really is ‘imagination’ we may ask? A good definition is: ‘the faculty of forming new ideas, images or concepts not present to the senses’. Space-time was ‘imagined’ by Einstein in ways most of us may not. However should the concept of imagination be considered?
For example, how difficult is it to imagine life on earth is the creation of a vastly superior, although unseen, entity?
(Romans 1:20) puts it this way: “…his invisible qualities are clearly seen’ from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.”
The context shows that those unable or unwilling to recognize by simple observation a Creator of all things are truly ‘inexcusable’, in other words lacking imagination!
Science is defined as ‘truth’, so what does factual science teach us? Indeed real science confirms that all life on earth is unique. That’s not speculation, or theory!
Clearly anyone failing to acknowledge all life on earth, and the earth itself, as a very special creation, must be described as ‘inexcusable’. Especially so as more and more universal discoveries of stars and galaxies via new space telescopes are now being made every day!
However there are, sad to say, those who will stubbornly deny that human, plant, and animal observation is, of itself, sufficient evidence of creation In reality imagination is lacking in such ones. Ironically those self same persons will describe themselves as informed or enlightened, they are failing to acknowledge the obvious wisdom, and creative power in plain view.
Make no mistake, God himself describes such ones as ‘inexcusable’, because of willful blindness to acknowledge observable truth. Indeed all life has a message for us, from flora and fauna, birds to whales, ants to elephants, and earth’s amazing environmental cycles, to name just a few things;; all teach us about the love and wisdom of a far, far, superior intelligence and unfathomable power of our creator; if we simply exercise humble imagination!
Thanks for visiting; please also see my post: Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained!
This is about life, not war, not disease, just plain life, not only human life but observed nature. It’s important to acknowledge the adaptability of literally ‘all’ life on earth. Yes I do mean adaptability, not evolution, which is a totally unnatural concept.
Adaptability is, rather, a well proven and observable characteristic of perhaps all living things, plants and animals. Yes, ability to adapt to changing, even very challenging environmental conditions, good or bad, is not exclusive to humans.
The simple truth is, our earth is the only place in the physical universe known to support life, period. What adaptability implies is that life on earth is well exclusively designed, for earth’s environs! Nowhere else in the cosmos, has it been shown that humans, animals, or ‘any’ life could adapt and survive in very difficult conditions, as often happens on our planet!
That said, exceptional ability to adapt to change has nearly reached a tipping point owing to long-term damage done to earth’s environment. In other words there are now foreseeable ‘red lines’ as to how much further we can adapt to centuries of negative impacts on earth’s environment. Concerns about potential ‘extinction events’ are already becoming a mute point!
Living on the moon or mars is now well known to be a completely foreign concept, very far from practical for ‘any’ of earth’s life forms. Knowledge gained about those environments is more and more evidence that all life as we know ie designed exclusively for earth alone! The well known expression ‘mother earth’ is therefore not without substance. Isn’t it time to humbly acknowledge this basic truth?
Such honest acknowledgment is an essential ‘beginning’ to appreciate an all wise and loving Creator who has generously granted all life on earth even with great ability to live and adapt to change… within limits!
please visit Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained for truly encouraging information.
Its even difficult to imagine now but as two very young teen runaways from home, we left our high school behind. After careful planning, we entered the USA surreptitiously from White Rock, BC., many decades ago. We were only 14 years old.
It was a long, stormy wet night, walking along a railroad track, narrowly diving for cover as the headlight of a passing train swept by, then hitching a ride with a sympathetic driver to Bellingham Washington. The local YMCA clerk asked no questions. We only partly dried out our soaking clothes on a hot water radiator overnight. Our Vancouver army and navy clothing bags were not as we had thought waterproof.
The next day, we traveled by Greyhound bus all the way to San Francisco California. My intention was to find employment there. I Applied to an advertised industrial site, but was met thin a reality checzL; I (innocently) lacked required US citizenship documentation, in other words a social security number.
Therefore, since my partner had other intentions, namely to re-unite with his mother and family in Windsor Ontario, we traveled across the US mainly by Greyhound bus all the way to Detroit Michigan. There we trusted a helpful taxi driver to take us to a clean low-end hotel.
Believing, mistakenly, that because we had entered the US illegally, we could only return to Canada similarly. The following day we walked for hours in order to reach the Detroit river, directly across from our destination, Windsor Ontario, Canada.
As night fell we ‘borrowed’ a row boat, and quietly paddled in a dark and moonless night under the Belle Isle park foot bridge connected to Detroit.
By some small miracle, with very calm weather, and who know what river currents, we somehow made it across. Arriving back on a Canadian shore somewhere on the outskirts of Windsor. Then we merely walked without incident into the city of Windsor, Ontario.
Through a telephone contact (phone book) we located my friends’ mother and half-brother, staying the night with them. How fortunate was all that!?
Please note: by no means do I encourage any similar juvenile action, my experience was ill advised and in today’s world would be extremely dangerous from the get go!
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