2020 The Year of the Rat

In the animated “Basil the Mouse Detective” Rattigan the Rat got a bad rap, yet “Ratatouille” saw a rat called Rennie as the unlikely hero. While Rats have mostly got out of favor with people, the “Rat” is a symbol of intelligence, hard work and having quick-wit.

The Chinese Horoscope site says that 2020 will be the Year of New Beginnings!

The Year of the Rat 2020 starts on January 25th 2020.

It will be a Metal Rat Year and is going to be a strong, prosperous, and lucky year for almost all Chinese zodiac signs.

https://www.thechinesezodiac.org/horoscope-2020/

You need to follow your goals with confidence and determination. Relationships and health will be favorable. Seize good luck and opportunities as soon as they come knocking at your door. Believe in yourself.

In conclusion, the Year of the Rat 2020 will bring beneficial situations, opportunities, meetings with special people, luck, and also balance situations, dilemmas, and changes that can push us out of our comfort zone.

In Chinese culture, rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus.  If you were born in a Year of the Rat you can look up your year in 2020 at the page below.

https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rat/

The “Chinese New Year” website also gives the timeline of Chinese New Year festivities and other interesting information at:

https://chinesenewyear.net/

And last but not least, if you’re really interested in Chinese Astrology you may be interested in my research and findings, by starting at the post below!

https://facinatingamazinganimals.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/2019-chinese-year-of-the-pig-your-chinese-zodiac/#more-4996

And so this is Christmas

Click  HERE  for a beautiful Christmas Powerpoint show

with Animals and John Lennon’s song

More nice pictures below

 

To work out your Chinese Year of Birth, click

  HERE

Save a Forgotten Equine – Support S.A.F.E.

Palomino Mare and Foal 2007 Wikipedia Creative Commons

Since 2005, Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) in Washington, U.S.A. has been rescuing and rehabilitating horses that have been starved, neglected, abused or are unwanted.   S.A.FE. has formal agreements in place with Animal Control agencies in King, Pierce and Skagit counties to support their fight to protect horses in this region.   Please visit their wonderful website and do what you can to help horses.

Save a Forgotten Equine  click HERE

 

Other must read Posts about S.AF.E.  & Horses are below 

please READ & SHARE

If you love Horses, please support S.A.F.E.

Help Animals

In memory of Grace

Can a Horse feel Guilt ?

Your Power Animal for 2020

Carrie Hart has a page where you can click on the animated Gif of the running water, then you take a breath and ask “What is my Power Animal?”

https://pow33.com/wp/enchanted-forest/

When you’re ready, you click anywhere on the picture, and your Power Animal will appear. Mine is the ELEPHANT.

Info about the elephant at the page below. It’s about Strength, Wisdom & Purpose !!

http://pow33.com/wp/010-main/010-elephant/

DisneyNature, Wings of Life: Butterflies, Bees; & Flowers To Fruit

Photo by TR Davis on Unsplash

Flowering plants are a type of plant that produce flowers in order to reproduce. Flowering plants produce seeds within a fruit. The scientific name for flowering plants is angiosperms.

Flowering plants are usually bisexual, with the flower having a male part and a female part.

The stamens in the middle of a flower, surrounded by the green supporting sepals and by the beautiful coloured petals, are the male part of the flower. Each stamen is made up of a filament or thin structure that is tipped at the top by the anther.

Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes (sperm cells)

The anther connects to the filament with lobes which holds sacs containing pollen.

The female part of the flower, the pistil, consists of a long slender tube, called the style, with the stigma at the top, which leads down to the rounded base which is the ovule-filled ovary, or carpel.

Anjubaba via Wikimedia Commons

Flowering plants rely on wind or winged and other creatures for pollination, i.e. for carrying pollen from the anthers to the stigma of a flower. Having both male and female parts within the same flower makes it handy for a plant — an insect, bird, or moth can easily pick up and deposit pollen on the same flower or a different flower of the same plant, in the same visit.

A Bird-song of Joy

Willie Wagtail

Tweet / Tweet / Tweet / Tweet

I sing a song of pure joy

I am alive, Life is good

The Sun is out, the sky is blue

And there’s nothing I must do

My Happiness knows no bounds

Today complaints have no grounds

For I see the World a place so great

From the heights it’s what we make

What we make of it

As I soar and fly and flit

Is Space and all That I need

As long as there’s no greed

I rejoice in just being Me

On Wings the World is my Oyster

It’s Days like today nothing could be better!

Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation Inc.

From the website:
http://awamo.org.au/about/about-the-awamo/

Throughout history, in war and in peacetime, animals and mankind have worked alongside each other. As beasts of burden, messengers, protectors, mascots, and friends, the war animals have demonstrated true valour and an enduring partnership with humans. The bond is unbreakable, their sacrifice great – we honour the animals of war.

The initial aim of the Australian War Animal Memorial is to promote the establishment of War Animal plaques at Parks, RSLs or local and Federal government sites.

The main aim is to establish a permanent War Animal Monument for all Queenslanders to view in Brisbane city. This will act as a focal point for all Queenslanders to honour the contributions animals have made to our Nation.

It is a volunteer none-profit organization made up of community members from diverse backgrounds that have the like minded aim to recognize the deeds of animals during Australian military service and to educate generations to follow of the sacrifices of four legged diggers have made.

Lest we forget the animals that were roped into “service” during war.

Lost Ragdoll cat survives 5 months

“An exclusively indoor ragdoll cat known more for her placid nature than her hunting skills has defied remarkable odds — surviving five months in the Adelaide Plains after she was reported missing by her distraught Perth owner. “

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/missing-ragdoll-cats-survives-five-months-in-the-adelaide-plains-2639-kilometres-from-home/news-story/22dee8a6fa0a7d6360ee7f76272fd7ff

The picture below is not Luna, the kitty that roamed lost for 5 months, but is a free picture from Pixabay of another beautiful Ragdoll cat.

Image by ZEROXO on Pixabay

You may have heard about the Incredible Journey (2 dogs and a cat return home). Now we have the amazing Ragdoll cat, Luna. Her owners had taken her with them on a road trip and in Melbourne, even though Luna was in a harness attached to a barrier, she managed to break free off and got outside through a small gap in the window.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, when it comes to cats.

Poor Luna ended up starving and dehydrated and ended up in Adelaide, 12 kilometers from where she got out of the car. She was noticed by people at the Dublin Cricket Club in South Australia and someone recognized her as the lost cat, of which “Missing” posters had been put up.

Luna was taken to the Adelaide University’s Companion Animal Health Centre, where she was identified through her microchip.

“I’m very surprised she survived,” said a spokeswoman for the Centre, Diane Whatling.

“Although cats are scavengers, these ragdolls are a very sensitive breed — she may not have even known how to hunt.” Ms Whatling said.

I am so happy that Luna survived and is now reunited with her family, whom I don’t think will be taking her in their car any more. This tale also reminds cat owners to micro-chip their cats, so they can be returned home to be looked after.

Other References:  click on links below to see copyrighted photos of Luna

https://www.qt.com.au/news/missing-ragdoll-cats-survives-five-months-in-the-a/3655598/

https://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/pets/perth-cat-reunited-with-owner-after-five-months-in-the-australian-bush-ng-b881115571z

Yowie Wildlife Super Series

If you live in Australia, you may remember the chocolate Yowies. A wonderful new series is now available in Australia, featuring wild-life. Yowie confectionery is a character-moulded, 28 grms / 1 ounce chocolate inclusion product. The Yowie Group gives more information.

http://www.yowiegroup.com/yowie-brand/yowie-confectionery

http://yowieworld.com/au/

Not only do you get a sweet treat of chocolate but each Yowie includes a plastic container with a character in it. Check out the Wildlife range which comes with leaflets giving conservation and other information about the animals.

Click on the link below

http://yowieworld.com/collect

2019 Chinese Year of the Pig & your Chinese Zodiac

On 5 February 2019, the Chinese New Year begins. It is prefaced by preparations beginning on January 28th, and launches the Spring Festival, which runs until 19 February.

There is also a Lantern Festival which is held on 19 February. For more information, please click on the link below.

https://chinesenewyear.net

I find both Chinese Astrology and Western Astrology fascinating, and have had my full natal (birth) chart according to Western Astrology mapped out (which I paid Lubomir Dimitrov for) which revealed I am a “quadruple Virgo” ( i.e. 4 planets including the Sun were in Virgo when I was born ),

You can find your Chinese Year Animal from entering your day, month and year of birth at the page below, or looking at the chart below.

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/YourSign.htm