One day a friend of mine was doing some gardening and a foot long mullet fell out of the sky with a thud, missing him by mere feet. Apparently the neighborhood osprey had butter fingers. You don’t expect fish to fall out of the sky. It sort of challenges your sense of reality.
Coyotes have been seen in Central Park in New York City. Kind of makes you not want to walk your Yorkie without a body guard. Speaking of which, when I lived in South Florida, a neighbor told me that she was walking her little dog and a bobcat jumped out of the bushes and carried it off, never to be seen again.
And another friend was sitting at a red light in stormy weather when all of a sudden all the lights in the area went out, and a tornado crossed through the intersection right in front of her. She said it was as if a car were crossing through. A big, loud, scary, dangerous, windy car. But my friend’s vehicle wasn’t moved at all.
And I’ve already told you about my strange encounter with a dolphin that does bird calls.
About a decade ago, a hurricane picked up thousands of frog eggs from the tropics and gently deposited them all on a gentleman’s front porch in Connecticut. None of them landed anywhere else.
A couple years ago scientists were studying a dust cloud in outer space and discovered it contained the same chemical that gives raspberries their flavor. I don’t know why, but that makes me happy.
Back in November, 2012 I read a National Geographic article which stated that scientists have tested the microbial contents of the human belly button, and discovered some strange stuff. One guy had bacteria that had previously been found only in soil in Japan, but he’d never been to Japan. Another guy had some bacteria that usually only thrives in ice caps and thermal vents.
And in a book by my favorite author, Bill Bryson, called A Short History of Nearly Everything, he discusses, among other fascinating things, a slug that turns into a plant. This is not a fictional book. I’ve been unable to forget that fun fact.
We like to think we are privy to the laws of nature, but I’m beginning to think there are none.
(Image credit: nypost.com)
The View from a Drawbridge 