A Curious Question   
     Part 3 of 3

      Will pythons be the only beneficiaries of a $10 billion reclamation project in the Everglades? 

   Various jurisdictions rule the glades, the federal government, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Seminole and Miccosukee Indian tribes and a state water management district, which hires hunters.

   Since 2017, contract hunters have removed more than 2,000 pythons - two and a half miles worth. It takes a hunter about 19 hours on average to find a python. Snake-hunting dogs can find them twice as fast, but are hampered by heat and the environment. One snake was found 15 miles off shore. 

    A woman named Donna has caught 140 pythons. Snakes are difficult to see among the grass, but she learned to look for the shine. 

   The Everglades has been undergoing a $10 billion, 35-year reclamation project. When it is finished, if pythons have eaten all the birds and mammals - which they almost have - it will be a disaster, said an observer. 

   During a cold spell in 2010, under 40 degrees, many pythons and other non-native reptiles died. 

   Ah ha! There we go. Just wait for the next cold snap in subtropical South Florida and block the snakes access to warmer tortoise burrows. Problem solved. Nice knowing ya Elvis, and thanks for your help. 
 

Feature in Smithsonian magazine

       Jimmy 

Coming up

Three men formerly in hate groups

Hide and Seek   
      Part 2 of 3

   The Everglades is a subtropical wetland, 100 miles north to south, and 50 miles east to west. Water flows to the sea through saw grass, pine trees, limestone islands, cypress swamps and mangrove forests. 

   There are state and federal lands, private developers' land, Indian lands and farms, all requiring diplomacy for snake hunters. 

   Bird hunters, developers and farmers have done their share of damage to the glades. Pythons are just the latest environmental nightmare. It's not their fault, but they must be contained. 

   By following sentinel males, like Elvis, agents find breeding females and remove them (up to 100 eggs per snake). Other sentinels include Severus, Shrek, Quatro, Stan Lee, Harriet (a female), Luther and Ender. 

   A scientist told a Smithsonian reporter about the time they found a "breeding ball." He said, "We were catching snakes so fast, each of us had one in each hand, and I was standing on others so they couldn't get away." 

   At a conservatory, a veterinarian euthanizes a snake with a drug approved by the American Veterinary Assn. The snake goes into a freezer for future study, and later is incinerated so that no animal ingests the chemicals. 

   Some 12,500 pounds of pythons have ended up there over six years, all caught within 55 square miles of Naples. They calculate that these snakes had dined on 12-1/2 tons of animals and birds. 

   The total ecosystem is about 5,000 square miles. Do the math. 

   Scientists have seen pythons so fat that they wobble along the ground. Then again, they can go a year without eating. (No Nutrisystem necessary.) 

   Undigested "food" includes alligator claws, bird feathers, snails, bobcat claws, deer hooves and other snakes. 
 

Tomorrow: Woman catches 140 pythons

       Jimmy

   
   

It's True    
Elvis Is Alive      
     Part 1 of 3

   Not that Elvis. This Elvis is a sentinel snake, bearing a transmitter that leads hunters to other pythons in the Everglades.

   While agents try to contain and control the invasive serpents, eradication is out of the question. Elvis has led them to 17 other pythons since 2013, and has had his transmitter battery replaced several times. He never learns.

   Over three days, we invite you to read what scientists are learning about Elvis and associates, even if you're squeamish about snakes. We promise not to include photos, and half-promise not to blog about pythons ever again. 

   Roadkill used to be common in the vast Everglades - rabbits, opossums and other small animals. No more. Burmese pythons have eliminated them. 

   Pet trade dealers imported snakes by the "tens of thousands," it is said, until the state outlawed the practice, way too late. Owners, and maybe dealers, released snakes into the wild when they became too large. Pythons went forth and multiplied.

   My Uncle Bill was the first park naturalist at the Everglades, beginning in 1947. He died in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, his last national park, in 1999, but I don't doubt that he knew about the pythons and was disgusted. Not that he hated snakes. 

   God created pythons with many advantages. He had his reasons. (?)

Tomorrow: Catch me if you can 

        Jimmy  



   

   

   We Will Rise    

   

  Today's moral sickness is nothing new.  

The prophet Micah writes in chapter 7:

  

What misery is mine! 

The godly have been swept from the land.

All men lie in wait to shed blood.

Both hands are skilled in doing evil;

the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes,

the powerful dictate what they desire - 

they all conspire together.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,

I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!

Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Because I have sinned against him,

I will bear the Lord's wrath...until he establishes my right.

He will bring me out into the light;

I will see his righteousness. 

Jesus

   Commentary: God calls believers in Christ to live "without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars." Philippians 2:15

   Evil may increase and society disintegrate, but we can offer God's gift of salvation to all who will listen...until the day when He will set things right.

   See Micah 7:15-20. 

There Are Mounds    
Then There are Mounds    

   We remember reading in school about Indian mounds. These are burial sites of uncounted natives from earlier times. Not much else remains from that former civilization, except for empty cave dwellings and arrowheads.

   Then there are mounds we are making while we live. In our county, there's a mound about 100 feet high and we don't know how long and wide. 

   White plastic held in place with hundreds of old tires covers our trash, with more mounds sure to follow. We'll just leave these mounds for future generations of kids to see.

Somebody Said...
   People want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center of attention.

   While we pile up trash (see above), Americans enjoy generally good health, sanitation, antibiotics, safe water, general peace and low unemployment. For some reason, more young people are committing suicide or dying of drug overdose. Is it a spiritual issue? 

   "The love of God and the love of the world are two affections not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity." - Thomas Chalmers

   "The brief (life) on this stage should be focused on victory, should engage all the mind, and should make the most of what we've got and not lament what we ain't got." - Andree Seu Peterson 

   "Marriage is the bringing together of two very selfish people who have to learn a lot about giving, and if you put Jesus at the center of that process He will help you." - Jim Ryun, world-record mile runner, upon his 40th anniversary. 

     Jimmy

Baby, you dead!   
Overcoming Homelessness      
   
   A woman named Detroit doesn't think many "experts" really speak for people like her. They usually think homelessness is a matter of the housing crisis.

   It's true that some people have a hard time staying housed. But, Detroit says lack of affordable housing in Los Angeles didn't make her homeless.

   "People fall into homelessness," she says, "when they lack something in one or two or all of these three things: spiritual, mental or physical health. Homelessness and housing are two separate issues." 

   For her, homelessness began with mental and spiritual issues. As a teenager she suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. At 18, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital, which closed when funding was cut.

   "It's not true that most of us don't have anywhere to go," Detroit said. 

"It's just that we don't know where to go in our mind, 

where to go that's safe - safe from ourselves." 

   She had tried psychiatric hospitals, every drug she could get, and family members. "But I didn't try God." 

   Detroit remained in physical impoverishment for many years, until 12 years ago when, feeling her only hope was supernatural help, she cried to God." 

   Living on a sidewalk during a storm, she thought, "This is something for the spirit. My spirit is dead and my flesh is weak." That was the step she needed to overcome homelessness. 
 

"The spirit is like your heart," Detroit says, 

"and if your heart's not beating - baby, you dead!" 

WORLD magazine

      Jimmy

   [Pretty good thinking for someone supposedly with mental problems.] 


  

   

Smile for the Camera      
   
   Not in the old days. Ah...why not?  
  
   Unlike formal, painted portraits in old-old days, 
early subjects of camera shots had to be still only 
for a few seconds. The curator of photographs at 
the National Portrait Gallery believes photography 
was so expensive and rare that people chose to 
look thoughtful rather than informal. 

   When George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, introduced hand-held cameras in 1888, photography became more common and casual. By the turn of the 20th century, there were a lot more smiles. 

   Today, there's a selfie every few seconds. Wow! Human progress!  

Pay More, Hire Less   

   Emeryville, California raised the minimum wage to $16.30 an hour. 
Now, everyone is well off and no one needs food stamps? 

   No. Employers are resorting to more kiosks etc. and fewer employees, in order to stay profitable. 

   The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill raising the national minimum wage to $15 by 2021. (The senate is not following.)  

   The Congressional Budget Office determined that $15 would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty...and...result in 1.3 million lost jobs.

       Jimmy