After a happy breakfast of greens, a Rhino will often sit and hum over topics of interest, such as limericks extolling the Wild, or mud, or root systems…
What is remarkable is how cogitation can anesthetize Us Rhinos to the most obvious of Situations. Clues to the left, clues to the right, but “none so deaf as those who will not hear”. Or sniff.
On the other hand, We can’t go without breakfast, right? Tricky, Life in the Wild.
Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier did their first public demo of their Hot Air Balloon, over in France, on this date, but in 1783. It was a successful experiment, all things considered.
When the balloon drifted down in a field, the natives massacred it, for reasons known best to them. (They were French, in case that helps understand their state of mind.)
The little crowd in the picture represents the first critters to ever go up in a balloon, which they did in September. All except the Rhino, which was too heavy. Everybody came down safe and sound.
Soon after, people went up, but YIR can’t cover everything, n’est-ce pas?
John Bauer was a Swedish artist and illustrator. Mr. Bauer’s work speaks to Rhinos everywhere, evoking a world We have never visited in fact, but know all about in our inner recesses.
That is no mean trick.
Today was his birthday, but in 1882. A good day for Us to pay our respects.
Today is National Donut Day.
We assume you were done with this post after Sentence #1, going for the car keys.
Gotta do your Patriotic Duty, right?
You Readers may be surprised to learn that Rhinos were there when Dr. Ben Franklin did his experiment with a kite in Philadelphia. We were camping in the field above which he looked for Lightning. Happy coincidence. (By mutual agreement, he always left Us out of the story; he had the risk, so he got the glory.)
This all happened in June, but neither he nor We were keeping track. It was 1752, We’re pretty certain. That’s what he says. It is June now, FYI.
What Dr. Franklin discovered was relatively tame, but had the experiment gone better, he would have been toasted. That’s what We are told, and how else would We know?
Who wants first-hand experience with Electricity? Really.
As with any group, there are ways of dividing up Rhinodom. Today We are discussing ‘Going Places’.
One sort of Rhino wants what We want and We’d like it right now. We go get it. The Bee-Line approach.
The other sort of Rhino is on the road, but We want to take in the sights while moving ahead. Eventually will work just as well, if not as soon. The Sooner-or-Later approach.
Yup. That’s how We see it here at Your Inner Rhino. Today.
When mulling over a Life Bafflement, any Rhino is unlikely to thank the local chatterbox for dropping in, uninvited, to share droll observations about the weather or the ‘ladybug problem’.
The only meaningful response to these incursions on one’s quietude is, “Huh?”
Like sand dunes, reforming and shifting around, that’s how Rhinos see the moments of our lives. Like a zillion grains of sand.
Until We matured as a species, Rhinos assumed We had some control over those winds. Eventually We woke up, more or less.
Nature is always in charge, at least of everything natural.
No critter is here today who is not indebted to the efforts, both small and grand, mundane and extraordinary, of those who came before. It’s a pretty titanic idea to grasp.
There isn’t much more to say, other than
Thanks.
Phrenology is the practice of Bump Reading of the head or skull or something. For Rhinos it is a secondary course of action, at best. We get our information, current, hot and tidy, through our noses and ears.
Nature provides Rhinos with plenty of lumps, you may believe. We get lots of them accidentally.
Charts seem as though they should be reassuring, but We find them more decorative than meaningful, day to day. We made this one for you Readers, featuring numbers and letters, which make it Official. The more colors, the better, is the Your Inner Rhino approach.
Your Inner Rhino 