Leilene

Archive for January, 2010

There is always something adorable to me about a new born fawn, or a freshly-hatched duckling, or a new born calf, or, in fact, a new born animal of any kind, including human new borns. They shine, there is a lustre about them, a shimmering statement of the freshness they bring to life. To me, the fact that new born human infants and new born animal babies of all kinds glow with this ineffable sweetness testifies to our common source. They are born as we are—fresh from the lap of God, wanting to express their qualities in the service of the divine spark within them. They are born, as we are, thirsting for life. They are born, as we are, wanting to be all they are, and become all they can become.
They want to play their part in the universe, live the lives they were born to live. In many ways they remain like babies as they age, even if they grow as big as an elephant, for their lives are always intense with immediacy, rich with emotional and sensory experience.
Animals are part of our world, part of our existence. They give us reasons to celebrate life. They are pan of us.
Sometimes they bring us challenges, sometimes they bring us the opportunity to help them, sometimes they bring us companionship. Often, they bring us play, beauty, and laughter, as they go about their business of being themselves. What we would miss if they were not here!
“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand, how men would believe and adore!”
So said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Can you imagine how we would feel if such were the fate of animals?

While you may not have living parents, kids, or a spouse, for that matter, you probably have close friends or family who do. Besides, for our purposes, you constitute a family on your own, especially since you’re probably surrounded by siblings or peers with children, as well as older relatives, friends, or even surrogate parents. So even the one about dealing with money as a couple—you’ll find nuggets of information that apply to single people. Throughout this book we’ll also address additional considerations for the growing number of nontraditional family structures—such as single parents and same-sex couples. No matter what your family looks like, taking control of your finances means talking about them.

If the only time you’ve seen an elephant is in a zoo, you’ve only seen the most devastated and abused specimens of this grand species. But even captive elephants are capable of sophisticated reasoning. One five- ton lady elephant, known as Bertha, was kept for years in the Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. She used to wake up her handler, Jenda Smaha, when it was time for a show by brushing her eyelashes against his cheek! Also, she had a clever way of getting at the sweets Jenda used in the show, but kept stored between times in a cabinet in Bertha’s house. Of course, Bertha was an enormously powerful animal, and could easily have smashed the cabinet to smithereens, and nabbed the goodies. But that, evidently, would have been too gross a strategy for a being of her subtlety. Instead, when a stranger would wander into the elephant house, Bertha would grab his arm with her trunk. You can imagine how this would startle just about anybody, so Bertha, sensitive as she was to others’ feelings, was just as gentle about it as she could be. But if her captive tried to pull away, she’d tighten her grip enough to let him know who was boss. Thus ensnared, the stranger would be guided to the cabinet where the sweets were stored. Then Bertha would place the person’s hand on the handle, and hope the human had enough intelligence to deduce what was wanted of him.
On one occasion, however, the cabinet was unexpectedly locked, and the poor woman in Bertha’s grasp didn’t know what to do. When Bertha let go of her, she made a beeline for the door, trying to get out of there as fast as possible, but trying at the same time not to move so quickly as to panic the “dumb beast.” Just before she could reach the door, however, there came a tap on her shoulder. Astonished, she turned around, and found herself staring at the great elephant. In her trunk, the elephant held the key to the cabinet, which she dropped carefully into the woman’s hand.49
Almost always, what is taken for rank stupidity on the part of animals turns out to be, instead, a lack of understanding on our human part. Ostriches, for example, are famed for stupidly sticking their heads in the sand when they want not to be seen. The truth of the matte; though, is that ostriches do not put their heads in the sand at all. When they sit on their massive eggs, their long necks and prominent heads make them a conspicuous and vulnerable target, visible to their enemies for miles. And so they have developed an ingenious and effective method of camouflaging themselves when they sense danger, but must remain on their eggs. By stretching their necks down and along the sand, they not only become less conspicuous, but also, from a distance, look very much like a small hill of sand.

There are so many instances in which animals have demonstrated profound intelligence that, frankly, I wonder sometimes about the intelligence of the people who insist that animals are dumb. Everyone has heard tales of dogs traveling great distances across unknown terrain to rejoin their people. What you might not know, however, is that many of these stories are documented, verified, and, incredible as they seem, literally true.
For example, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Martin moved from Des Moines to Denver. But their German shepherd, Max, evidently preferred Des Moines, because he went back on his own, a distance of 750 snow covered miles.
Another German shepherd, living in Italy, missed his human companion, who had recently moved from Brindisi to Milan and left the animal behind. It took the dog four months to cover the 745 miles, but he managed to do it and found his person to boot.
Even more remarkable is a shorter journey of “only” 200 miles, described by Sheila Burnford in her book The Incredible Journey. Three animals—an old English bull terrier, a young Labrador retriever, and believe it or not, a Siamese cat—stayed together, took care of each other, and found their way across 200 miles of rugged Canathan wilderness in Northwestern Ontario.4’
I would never have thought a cat capable of such a feat. But I was wrong. There are actually many documented and verified accounts of cats traveling great distances to be with their people. The longest I know of is also one of the best authenticated. It concerns a New York veterinarian who moved to a new job and house in California, and had to leave his cat behind, expecting to send for him later. But the cat disappeared prematurely, so the doctor understandably assumed he had seen the last of his cat. Five months later, however, the cat “calmly walked into the (new) house, and jumped onto its favorite armchair.” As you might imagine, the vet was startled. For a moment, he was so shocked he just stood there, gaping. Was this his cat? Then he remembered that his cat had once been in a bad fight, in which its tail had been bitten. The injury had left a distinct growth on the fourth vertebra of the cat’s tail. Remembering this, the vet walked over to the cat, and felt it’s tail. Sure enough, there, on the fourth vertebra, was the telltale growth!
We may surely be justified in considering the possibility that animals have access to a kind of intelligence beyond our comprehension. It is hard to attribute such accomplishments to mere instinct.

“Now we need to relate all this specifically to tire selection,” Spiegel says, continuing our conversation.
Tire upgrades are one of the most common changes a truck owner makes. But plenty of hunters and fishermen complain about poor performance after they install larger tires. Here again, gear ratios make an impact.
“As your deer-hunting friend learned the hard way, tire size can actually decrease the performance of the vehicleT Spiegel says. “A larger tire looks good, and it certainly has more flotation area and a greater gripping surface. Going to a wider tire isn’t a problem, but if you change the diameter of the tire, you are, in effect, altering the final drive ratio.You’ll need to change the gear in direct proportion to the tire size change. If the tire size goes up 10 percent, then you need to change the gear ratio by 10 percent.This way, you’ll maintain the same power of the vehicle. “So moving up to larger tires really does require a change in gears?” I ask.
“Absolutely. Going to a large tire is like trying to pull a boat up the ramp while in high gear. Putting on those large tires essentially has taken away low gear.”
Spiegel pauses, hoping no doubt to catch some small indication that I’ve grasped the basics of what he’s talking about.
“So, my buddy’s truck probably was geared too high for the kind of offmad driving he was doing,” I say. “And going to larger tires only made the problem worse. It’s like a double whammy.”
Spiegel beams. “Exactly”
“But the problem is also money, isn’t it? Gear changes aren’t cheap, and they really aren’t do-it-yourself jobs.”
“No on both counts;’ he says.
In fact, depending on exactly what is done, expect to pay between $1,000 to $2,000 for a gear change.That may be one reason why so many of us run for cover when we’re told the truck needs a gear change.
And, truth be told, we’re probably also prey to the Steak and Sizzle Paradox.We gladly pay for sizzle (macho tires), which can be seen by everyone, but foolishly draw the line at steak (the gears), which are tucked away out of sight.
Well, Spiegel showed me the liglmYou, too, If you want maximum performance out of your 4×4, pay for the steak as well as the sizzle.