We have just come upon Mr. Thomas Fuller’s  1732 “Gnomologia; Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British.” There are much-and-many quotes, culled from a zillion sources in this compendium of observations.

Here at ‘Your Inner Rhino’ We have been seeking just such a trove of insights, so don’t say you Readers have not been warned. Today, We refer to Page 26A, which says “Clean hands do not need washing.”

“Pithy”, is what We say. The Rhino Assessment.

Lore may often refer to stories or bits of commom knowledge for our Readers. Rhinos often misplace the source of our knowledge. We know what the mental sum is for Rhinos, but the narrative details get sidetracked with time.

Also, our Lore incorporates many levels of experience, of shifts related to natural developments, possibly crucial, possibly inconsequential. Universal Truths lose their focus. We know what is what, but how it got that way, We don’t always recall.

The upshot is that Rhinos feel rooted, in touch with our species at a profound level. That sensibility is maintained by Good Will, not perfected logic.

Well, We say ‘so long’ to February for this year; The February Finale 2024.

That attended to, We loudly greet March, coming in as a Lion, which you probably noticed. Not too scary, but just enough to make Critterdom snap into gear. It seems to be a Lion’s job, making the public jittery.

Following popular tradition, We will shortly start in on our Farewell Get-up for March. It’s a demanding month, as it turns out. We hope this trend does not inspire all the other Months. An exhaustifying thought to conjure with, for sure and for certain.

Today, February 29, is the extra added day to keep the Gregorian Calendar mostly accurate. Leap Year only comes around every four years, making it extraordinary and unquestionably glamorous.

Rhinos like to take advantage of any special event, whether We grasp what is going on or not. What We lack in scientific curiosity, Rhinos make up for in our skills at shaking ourselves silly and giggling, fizzing, etc. And Leaping.

The Aftermath: it only takes a day or two to recover, as a general rule. Or three.

Speaking of Heraclitus, the idea of infinite, though unpredictable, Change is XL intriguing for Us Rhinos. First, We would need agreement on who or what We are today, or were last week, or 72 eons ago. Then, We might be able to evaluate ourselves this afternoon, or tomorrow, fractions of Tomorrow.

Rhinos are all for Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher who promoted this field of contemplation. He certainly had his finger on a field of conjecture, right?

Rhinos have been playing with this idea, and often spend time imagining where We will end up in Time. (Time= momentarily or Zazillion years from now, whenever that may be.)

The best part of this riddle is that Nobody seems to know what We Rhinos will be like, assuming We’re still around. As shown here, We may be one way or another. OR, one way AND another.

Roughly 3 thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus lived in Ephesus, across the Aegean Sea from Athens. He was perceived as crabby and antisocial, but is known to have written an influential book, detailing his opinions. The book has disappeared, and all We know today is from other philosophers, quoting him.

His most known thought involved Change, as the one constant affecting all of existence. Whatever today has been about, he said that tomorrow would not be the same. He was not saying matters improved, just that matters morphed. Like it or not, that was Heraclitus’ conclusion.

He is remembered for likening the flow of life to a stream; water moved along, so wherever one was wading, that specific water would be long gone when the wader came back. Whatever it looked like meant nothing. New moment, new conditions apply, endlessly. As in, Forever.

Chewing this over, it is hard to argue his conclusion. Heraclitus, not so jolly, but irrefutable.

There are times when a Rhino will be ambling along, just going wherever. No particular purpose in mind. Yet there is a vague sense that this day may involve a surprise, a shift in awareness, some meaningful confrontation.

We do not have an attitude toward this upcoming novelty, barely any curiosity at all. Still, the sense of immediacy lurks at our mental heels. We pay attention to the moment, not entirely sure We will recognize it if it bites Us.

So We trundle on, curious if aimless. Foreshadowing a demi-hindsight.

We Rhinos enjoy seeing ourselves in illustration, the more surprising the technique, the more surprising our artistic eptitude, the merrier. Variety works for Us, not against Us. Art is less rigid, less sober. It expresses many things, all at once. The viewer can juggle the multiple facets of Rhinotude without the urge to get it right.

Rhinos like to be appreciated as We are, Nifty and just about Nifty, as the case may be. On that day and hour. After all, the Viewer can look again tomorrow and evaluate again. It’s a good system. Like looking in the mirror.

Today is the birthday of George Washington, 1732. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

It would be for most critters, but Mr. Washington was a victim of bad timing. For mathematical reasons, he was caught in the mangle when everyone went from the old calendar (the Julian Calendar) to the new system (the Gregorian Calendar). There was some 11 day mixup, when transferring dates, BUT also, February was tossed in the basket and ultimately, George Washington picked his own birthday, many years after the fact. For a while there was no February at all.

You may be relieved to know that many countries had elaborate versions of this chaos.

So this should go to show that counting is a tricksy business, and We Rhinos are right not to do much of it. It is not February’s only eccentricity, but We will deal with that later.

QUINISTAQUILLAS is the name of the most destructive volcano in South America. It lies in the Andes, located in southern Peru. How We know it was so violent is iffy; no Rhino witnesses.

It seems that the Andes are pretty combustible, which We know by hearsay. The reason for the confusion is twofold: 1) Rhinos don’t live in South America to confirm these events, and 2) the last time it burst forth was 424 years ago, depending on where you do your eavesdropping.

There are plenty of volcanos around the world. No witnesses of Quinistaquillas’ explosion are left to testify. We must conclude that Devastation is part of Nature’s arsenal, like it or not.