Rhinos are all talented tiptoers. It comes with the package. Each of our feet has three toes, but We mainly use the middle toes, which is slightly larger than the others. The two outside toes are good for balance and standing, but when We go into Action, that middle toe takes Charge.
Thus you see that although We are mighty and largish, when it comes to grace and precision, We Rhinos are on our toes.
Marvelous.
For more Toe Talk, see Oct. 23, 2014.
Sometimes a thing seems mighty tempting, like it would be great to take it home and adore it. But Rhinos must face it: We don’t own anything. No marina, no semaphore flags, no hornpipe recordings. And We can’t eat it!
We find it easier to Appreciate these wonders at a distance, but to then proceed unencumbered by Stuff.
On our merry way.
Despite our obvious dynamism, Rhinos are a remarkably sentimental group. We have a marked sweet spot for days of yore. We rest assured on our long history, but still, We mostly focus on the last few hundred years when Nostalgia is the topic.
Though Rhinos focus on Today and its call to action, We can nonetheless peek back on many memories and associations which warm them little cockles of the heart. The fact that many of those memories are demi-fictiontal does not impact them in any way.
Why wait for Valentine’s day?
That’s right: Rhinos don’t sweat. Our body heat moderation is dealt with in other ways, the easiest to spot being Us in the mud. (See: 6-28-15) Mud not only protects our hides, but discourages insects and their kin. And mud cools Us off. Ditto rolling in dust.
The picture, though charming, is entirely fanciful; it has nothing to do with Facts. Why would We ever disguise our odor? The way We smell is what informs all our ranks of just what’s up with Us. That singular whiff is a major achievement for each and every Rhino. It is 77% of what qualifies Us as Masterpieces.
Downwind is where everybody wants to be. Ask anybody.
Each of Us must play the cards We get, making the best of the Great Predicament, namely that none of Us understands the rules of the game. A fistful of cards, yet no comforting idea of what to do with them.
You don’t have to be a Rhino to feel adrift. It’s the same for each and every everybody else.
Each critter just has to deal with it.
Rhinos frequently have the need to Get Going. And with that impulse, off We go. We often change course along the way anyway, so why confuse matters with questions about Going Where? We pick up, We pack out, and discover the day as We proceed.
And We greet that day as seems appropriate at that time. What’s the rational alternative?
A RIDDLE for our Readers:
Q: What’s the difference between a tube of toothpaste and a Rhinoceros?
A: If you squeeze a toothpaste tube long enough, there’s nothing left inside. But you can squeeze and squeeze and squeeze a Rhinoceros, and there will still be plenty of Rhinoceros inside.
Yet another YIR Revelation!
As inept as Rhinos are with counting, We are just as poor with days of the week. This is partly because weeks make no sense to Us. There are seven days in each one, so We immediately lose interest; too many days. Months are past any conception of ours.
Rhinos were very fond of Tuesday for a long time. But it turns out that We had that wrong too. We thought it was a new spelling, or an olde spelling, of Today. Today We can grasp. Today reverberates in our consciousness. It’s where We are right now.
We usually recall Yesterday, and have an inkling of what’s involved in Tomorrow. Three days, and We’re all counted out. That leaves us Soon and Then, and they have little practical application for Us.
Our approach works for Us. We recommend it.
Back in Africa, We are the Black Rhinos. What We lack in size (We are about half the size of White Rhinos: 11-28-15), We make up in Pizzazz. All Rhinos have the same amount of RhinoHeart, so imagine it informing every cell in a Black Rhino; That’s right, there is a compression factor because We are smaller, so it makes Us that much more Dynamic! Whatever you can be full of, Black Rhinos are twice as full of it!
Shown is part of our secret formula. This is Us eating an Acacia bush. Note all the thorns? Right! We gobble these up, sorting them with our agile lips. Oh yes, our lips are specially tricky, shaped like a hook for selecting prime bits and pieces.We roam, nibbling as We go. Occasionally some grass, but mostly shrubbage. This diet makes Us feisty.
Who could ever get too much Feisty, right?
In the Wild, We Rhinos have to take care of ourselves when We feel poorly. We medicate, invariably with either diet or hydration, more or less. The Inner Rhino Medical Department knows what to do. So We just follow IRMD orders, and things usually realign themselves. Please recall: We don’t have other options.
Our system is not 100% foolproof, but then, what system is?
One thing that does recommend it is 50 million years of road testing.
Your Inner Rhino 