rhymes for play, for the day, rhymes to send smiles your way

Go collect rocks, place them in a special box



Leaves are the pages of nature's books, be sure and explore



every cranny, every nook.



Greet the sun with your face, you live here in space.



Go outside and play, put the boredom away.



Nine planets, one sun. Explore them, it's really  fun.

Do Fish have Hooves ? Volume 1

  This was Doreen's favorite time, at her favorite place, and she was about to do her favorite thing.
Explore the woods and stream out the back of her house. The window was so big that everyone else in the house could see her, and she felt safe.

 This was such a quiet, lovely, pretty place. The trees were green, and danced on the breeze.  The creek made a nice burbling sound as it ran down over the rocks.  The rocks, have you seen the  rocks?!!  They come in so many colors, and shapes!  Some are smooth and some are rough,  some  are shiny and some are dull, but they all look pretty to Doreen, and often, she picks  up as many as her pockets can hold when she is out collecting them.

Today, there were lots of pretty rocks  to  over turn, and to be collected.  Doreen had been doing this for a  short time , when she stopped to  try and find out where that little bird singing that sweet little song was perched.  She looked down and turned  over a rock, and  she  felt something brush by her eyelash, for just a second.  She guessed  it  was a mosquito and  kept on exploring.

"Well Hello!"....said a friendly voice from behind Doreen.

She turned around and saw the most curious looking creature she had ever seen.  It had the legs, and neck and head of a beautiful chestnut pony, even had a white patch down the middle of his nose, the way some ponies do.  The creature had the body of a colorful fish, the kind you see in those places the grown ups call, what was it?, oh yeah...coral reefs...yeah a fish from the coral reef!

It was an angelhorse?  Nope..too silly

It was an horsefish?  Nope too wierd..

Doreen only knew the odd looking creature was  something that she had never seen before.

"Well.....h...h...hello...to you, (whatever you are?) "...her voice trailed off slightly as she muttered the last three words.

"Oh right, you've  never seen a Pescahoofian before,  have you?", said the Pescahoofian, (or so it called its wierd self)

"Ummm...no I have not! Where are you from"...Doreen asked, feeling curious but safe...

"Oh I live  in anther galaxy called Mixitup about 14 and 3/5th light years from this spot, give or take a few fifth light years"...said, the creature..

"Oh. How did you get here? And my name is Doreen! What's yours?"

"I'm Franklin. I drove my star cruiser here. The anti matter drive crashed.  I can fix it, I have fixed up a way of turning granite into fuel for my ship to go home.  I just have to find some granite, I guess it is in these things you call rocks on earth?  I just have to find the rocks...maybe you know where some rocks are?"

"Franklin, the Pescahoofian, or whatever you are...you are in luck...I am a collector of rocks, and I guess it would be my honor to share my rocks with you, so that you can get home."  Doreen proudly replied.

"That would be most helpful.  I will bring you something for your kindness. When could  you bring the rocks back here?  In how many hours, as you earthlings say?"

" I can have some rocks  for you here tomorrow at this time., I always come out to the river at this time to collect rocks"

Franklin went to hide in the bushes.  Doreen was shaking her head at how odd Frankiln looked, but he was colorful, and awfully nice.  She would want someone to help her get home, so she would be glad to let Franklin have her rocks.  There were always more and more in the creek anyway.

"Doooorrreeennnn.  Time to eatttt!"  Her mom was calling, so after dinner she would figure out how to get as many rocks as she could down here tomorrow for Franklin.  She could hardly wait....

   Hey to everyone reading this.  I hope your kids at home, (both grown or growing)...enjoyed the poem about a grasshopper as much as my children and I enjoyed it....

   This next entry is a timeless tale from Native Americans...It weaves a tale of creation around a fun, and heartwarming story.  There are morals in this story, as in most literature for children!  Featured are teamwork, communication, and appreciation of beauty.  These simple pleasures can be difficult to find as we strive for whatever it is our lives demand.  This story can be a good reminder of the benefits of slowing down to smell the roses, so to speak......


I am sharing this with you today from the website..InformZoo.com......

Long, long ago, when the Earth was new, God looked down on his creation and was very happy. The world was beautiful and the people were happy.

But as time passed, the people began to age and die and this brought sorrow to the world, and so God began to think that there was something missing. And so one day he decided to create something new.

God came to the Earth and began to gather the colors of his creation into a sack. From the sky he took some blue; from the trees he took some green; from the Sun he took some yellow; from the sunset he took red, orange and purple; from the little children he took the white of their smiles and the brown of their eyes. All these colors he gathered into his sack.

Then as an afterthought he took the songs from the birds and put them in the sack as well. And he shook the sack to mix all these things well. Then he came to the people to give them his new creation.

And so it was that the people gathered around God to see this new creation. Then God opened the sack and released thousands of butterflies into the air. And the people were pleased, and the children danced and sang with the butterflies dancing and singing around them. And happiness returned to the world.

But not all of creation was happy. The birds came to God to ask him why he had taken their song. "Great God," the birds' spokesman said, "our song was what set us apart from all of creation. It is not right that you should take this from us for the butterflies”. God pondered his words and decided that he was right.

God put forth his hand once more and retrieved the songs of the birds from the butterflies. So butterflies are the most beautiful creatures God has created, yet they are silent.

This is our retelling of a Native American folktale

IN MY HAIR

There's a grasshopper in my hair

Lani put it there

It's starting to cause a scare

It's walking everywhere

How did it get there?

Will it eat my hair?

I know what I fear

I think it will bite my ear

I know those things can fly

So stay away from my eye

To get walked on, by, a bug!

Does it think my hair is a rug?

HEY! BUG! Go another place!

Please ..Please..Get off of my face

It's stuck to me like paste

I'm sure it has a horrible taste

Whew! It flew away...

That's the last one to get me today...

How will I make sure of that?

I will put on a hat!

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Good Morning Andrew and Alaina:
     Here is it Sunday Morning.  I expect it to be warm and sunny in a few hours here..  The mornings are always cold, but it gets a lot warmer here when the sun comes out. It is not weird to have it be a LOT colder when the sun is away than when it is here.  Deserts and areas higher up from sea level, seem to be that way.
     Speaking of weather, I am glad to see that the bad weather that hit the area you are missed you.  I am quite happy about that.
     I am probably going to walk to the Unitarian church this morning in my neighborhood.  It is like the one we used to go to where we would see Alia, Teresa, and Todd at.  I am going to this one for the first time today, but I hope it is nice.  I like these churches, because you can talk to or pray to ANY god you want, or , if you don't believe the same things as everyone there, it's okay.  You can go there and just think about being good to other people, you don't even NEED to pray.
     Andrew, I know you have had some health probs in the past year. While it is hard for me to imagine you slowing down, I am glad to hear they have some good nice doctors and therapists for you.  I also have told you before, and will say it twice; I am glad you are studying music again, you will find it to help you quite a bit.  I am still wrapping my head around the fact that you are going to be in high school this fall...it simply is awesome....you were always one of the kindest, smartest, and funniest kids I ever met( and I DO NOT say that simply because I am your Dad, it is true).....I find no reason why you won't grow into an adult with all the same wonderful qualities.


  I LOVE BOTH YOU GUYS AS MUCH AS THE AIR SOIL AND WATER WE NEED TO LIVE...

Video call tonight,  DAD

March 3rd, 2012

     Hello, Alaina and Andrew.

Your Mom and I thought it might be a good idea to have me start a blog about some of the hikes that I go on and things that I do.  I live in  a place called Pueblo, CO    http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS458US458&q=pueblo,+co+google+maps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8713a2f3071bb165:0xa82d6ba368c7b82e,Pueblo,+CO&gl=us&ei=CmJST6vWI9C2twf9nYCqBQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCEQ8gEwAA .  If you click that it will show you a map of the city and you can zoom in or out to see where it is in the US.  Google can also tell you how far it is from where you are to where I am.

The picture above is of a place called the Cuchara River Canyon.  Cuchara is a Spanish word for spoon.  I do not know why they call this river, that name.   maybe this page can tell you better.http://www.sangres.com/mountains/spanpks/index.htm  ..it is a link to a site that tells the natural history of the Huerfano County area(where this picture was taken).. Huerfano is Spanish for orphan, and that is what the first Spanish invaders called a single lava cone butte, sticking up several hundred feet from the floor of the surrounding plains.  The mound is also several hundred feet around, and sort of reminds me of Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  The area by the butte is home to large tarantulas, and snakes also...in addition to rodents and insects.

 I want to start off by saying that all work on this site, photography, writings, any intellectual content, is the sole, and singular proprety of James W Dunnigan, unless otherwise indicated..