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Sunday, February 05, 2006

armadillo

Our main study word for today is “Armadillo”. The word in Spanish means “one that is armed” – or so the book says. An armadillo is a mammal with armor plates of bone covering its back – kind of like a possum on the half-shell. This little dude (or dudette) is what they call an omnivorous feeder – in other words, it will eat almost anything. Reminds me of some people I know – no names, mind you.

Its diet includes even animals that have assumed ambient temperature (dead things); even if those things have been dead for a long time. The nine-banded armadillo is the one found in several Southern states – fortunately for you Northerners it doesn’t like frost.

The female nine-banded armadillo almost always has four babies, all identical (they all look like baby armadillos). A cornered armadillo will fight with its claws or dig to get away, but is most likely to run.

Man and a few larger predators eat armadillos but their main enemy seems to be the automobile. They have a peculiar habit of jumping straight up in the air if they are startled. So even if the tires of a car miss them and they are under the car, they jump up, collide with something under the car and basically commit armadillo-cide – similar to suicide in humans.

It would be bad enough to be flattened by Goodyear radials, but what a disgrace to be killed by a hot muffler and go to your grave with “Midas” branded on your little armor plates.

Our auxiliary study word is a new one “pre-disturbed” – I know this is a new word because I made it up myself. This word describes the condition we are in before we became disturbed. Then “post-disturbed” would describe our condition after our disturbed condition is over. To take this even farther we could even have the condition of post-predisturbed, but then the post and pre would cancel each other out but we would still be disturbed.

Being disturbed is a problem we can take care of by making Philippians 4:6-7 a part of our lives and then we can have peace once again. ec

11 Comments:

Blogger mreddie said...

This is the third posting for this one - hopefully it will not disappear like the others. ec

2/05/2006 02:43:00 PM  
Blogger Merle said...

Mr Eddie ~~ You are on the air this time and I have learned all about Armadillos, more than I needed to know actually.
So you even make up words now ~~
pre-disturbed is good and I hope
most of us are in the post-disturbed state, if we were ever
disturbed. I guess most of us have been there, Pity we weren't
warned by pre-disturbed.
Thanks for your visits & comments.

2/05/2006 08:18:00 PM  
Blogger Bonita said...

Your posts are experiencing birth and rebirth, after sudden death and dying. Underneath it all, a reincarnation of hope and good will. I'll look again, and again, if need be. We know that Blogger is being tempermental.

2/05/2006 10:32:00 PM  
Blogger mreddie said...

merle - Hope it stays up this time. It does seem that pre-disturbed would warn us a bit - but it remains to be seen how it would do it. :)

bonita - A rebirth of hope and good will is a very good thing, but with rebirth as with birth comes a certain amount of pain and effort. Our prayers directed toward that can be the effort that brings it to pass. ec

2/05/2006 11:49:00 PM  
Blogger Annie said...

Armadillos are definitely funny little creatures!
I remember one time when I ran over a bird! I actually turned around and drove back to see if I had actually killed it. I had! That was my first official "road kill". :(

I love Philippians 4:6-7. It is so wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father is right there with us and hears us whenever and wherever we might call out to Him. Philippians 4:8 is also a great verse. My pastor's wife Nancy says that this verse is the "Biblical perscription for good mental health." :)

2/06/2006 12:06:00 AM  
Blogger JunieRose2005 said...

We have a lot of Armadillos in Florida!

Some say they are born "dead in the road! " :) I have never seen one EXCEPT dead in the road!

The only road kill I experienced was many years ago... A bird flew into my car! :( I was so sorry and shook up over that...

OH,well, there are the" Love-Bugs" in May and Sept. here too, which seem to delight in commiting suicide on car wind shields...

June

2/06/2006 10:39:00 AM  
Blogger Madcap said...

Pre-disturbed. Yes, I can relate to that, I'm in a constant state of pre-disturbment. I can rest assured that at any given moment of the day, my kids are likely to have knocked something over, started a fistfight, or taken their rooms apart. Perpetual predisturbment, that's me.

2/06/2006 12:15:00 PM  
Blogger Using up the words.... said...

Ohhhhh... Mr Eddie, you do just make me laugh!

It feels so good.

Sorry you're having such problems posting these days. I know the weekend was rough with good ol'blogger.
When you first started the post, and were talking about the armadillos armour, I actually started thinking about the armour of God that we have been given. It was a reminder for me that I need to make better use of all I've been given, and blessed with.

Soooo... off I go to find the sword of the spirit as I face the day ahead.

Be blessed.

2/06/2006 03:53:00 PM  
Blogger mreddie said...

adannells - You are right about verse 8, if you keep your mind on these things, you will definitely stay straight.

junierose - I've had a few birds hit the windshield as well, it is always startling. And those "love bugs", how in the world do you get them off the car?

MCM - Most parents are into that condition to one degree or another - just going from one degree of emergency to another.

UUTW - Thanks much. So true that if we use the armor God has given us our life will be much smoother. ec

2/07/2006 04:15:00 PM  
Blogger grannyfiddler said...

my granddaughter's 'pet of the week' (as her mum calls it)is an armadillo. we've been through snakes, bats, birds, frogs, dogs, fish, and many more. she doesn't actually have the pets, she just obsesses on them for a week or two, and pours her whole soul into convincing mummy that they have to have one. with the maturity that a 5th birthday brings, she now waxes eloquent on the practicality of the pet-of-the-week. in the armadillo's case, it would be very useful in the garden, 'cuz the armadillo is a very good digger, mummy! and he could dig up his own supper!'

2/07/2006 06:00:00 PM  
Blogger mreddie said...

grannyfiddler - Those young ones can be very convincing when they want to be and can change from moment to moment. ec

2/08/2006 04:26:00 PM  

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