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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, May 25, 2016
backyard bird watching with harry: by harry Johnson
The grebe
If you’ve been to the Klamath Basin during the spring
and summer, you may have noticed birds walking on the water
or running on top of the water. That was a grebe you just saw.
Cheryl and I first noticed them three years ago while bird
watching the Klamath Basin. We went to one bay on Klamath
Lake to do some bird watching and what we saw was fantastic.
The grebes were in full mating glory. Their courtship display
is one you’ll never forget. There were males showing off to
the females and challenging other males to a drag race (that’s
my word for what they do). The males would bob their heads
up and down and stare at each other and at the pre-arranged
time the flag is dropped and off they go. They’ll race across
the pond for up to 100 ft and when I say “race” I mean they
would paddle the feet so fast and flap their wings to a point
that they will come up and their feet are paddling on top of the
water and it looks like they’re running on the top of the water,
this is known as the “water dance” or “rushing.” At the end of
the race each bird will dive head first into the water and out of
sight. When they come up for air, the first thing they do is look
around to see if she was watching. You know the “Hey, baby
did you see that?” or maybe it was “Was I cool, or what?” Yeah,
they were very cool.
The two most common grebes here in Southern Oregon
are the Western grebe and the Clark’s grebe. They look alike,
with just some small changes. They both have black on the top
of their heads, but the Western has the black extend below its
eyes, while the Clark’s black top ends just above the eye. They
both are around 25 inches long with a wingspan of 24 inches.
The Western is just a little heavier. The Western grebe weighs
3.3 pounds and the Clark’s weighs 3.1 pounds.
Habitat: Breeding: large freshwater lakes with dense
areas of vegetation. Nonbreeding: any large open water body,
fresh or salt. They can be found in the Klamath Basin during
the summer and spring while they’re breeding. They’ve also
have been seen at Lake Selmac during the spring and summer.
During the winter they stay over on the coast of Oregon. Look
for calm water bays and ponds.
Nesting: The pair builds floating nest of wet or decaying
vegetation anchored to submerged plants. They incubate two to
four pale bluish white eggs for about 24 days.
Feeding: They love small fish, invertebrates and other
small aquatic or marine prey. They even eat other small birds
and salamanders.
Unlike ducks, grebes have “lobed” toes, not webbed feet.
A grebe’s foot has three long toes that look like they’ve been
smashed flat with a hammer or stepped on by Bigfoot. That
gives them three paddles on each foot. Grebes are rarely seen
on land. Sometimes they can be hard to find. They have the
ability to squeeze the air out of their feathers and slowly sink
underwater without leaving so much as a ripple in the water.
They can stay just below the surface and swim great distances
to the safety of the weeds.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about these wonderful
birds. Try going to the coast in the winter and look for a pond
or bay with calm water. This spring or early summer go over to
Klamath Lake and/or Lake Selmac and check them out. Watch-
ing them during the “Rush” is something you’ll never forget.
I would love to hear all about the birds in your backyard.
Give me a shout at birdwatching@frontiernet.net and tell me
your stories.
The above is from Harry Johnson in O’Brien and bird-
watchersgeneralstore.com, Whatbird.com, Western Bird Field
Guide and Birds of Oregon Field Guide.
Western grebe
Backyard Bird Watching by Harry Johnson is brought to you by
Young Master Gardeners
To join contact us at kimberlielehman@yahoo.com
Church News
life is positioning: by Glenn Mollette
Good fishing requires
positioning. Baiting your hook and
dropping it in a place where there are
fish is a start to successful fishing.
A salesman needs prospects and
attitude. One shoe salesman was sent
to Africa and called home crying, “Get
me out of here! Nobody wears shoes!”
Another salesman was sent and called
back saying, “Send me every pair of
shoes in the warehouse. I’ve never
seen so many prospects!”
Selling requires having a
product that people either need or
very much want. People don’t need
candy but they want candy so they buy
it. People don’t really want to spend
money on insurance but they need it.
Sell what people want or need and you
will sell.
Obtaining a certain job requires
positioning. Becoming a schoolteacher
requires college, teacher education,
supervision and certification. You have
to work hard and position yourself for
potential opportunities.
A young man wants to be lucky
in dating and maybe marriage. Yet,
he may refuse to change his lifestyle.
He doesn’t want to hold down a job,
refuses to lose twenty pounds and
is rude and inconsiderate. Thus, he
refuses to try to position himself for
potential dating prospects.
Every facet of life requires
positioning. Positioning yourself for
stability, success, or a major change
always requires lots of time, training,
sacrifice and commitment. Nothing
is guaranteed, but with positioning
comes potential.
Retiring at 65 most likely
requires sacrifice the 30 years prior.
It doesn’t always require 30 years. A
friend of mine was flat broke at 50. He
rented an old abandoned hamburger
stand with an option to buy. He and his
wife cleaned it up and worked it hard
for sixteen years. They made the best
food in town and averaged pocketing
over $300,000 a year. They were able
to retire. He knew at the age of 50 that
he had to position himself if he had
any chance of truly retiring.
Where do you want to be and
what do you want five or ten years
from now? Start positioning yourself
today and in a few years it just might
work. However, it never comes
with a snap of the finger. A garden
is produced from preparing the soil,
planting, cultivating and tending to the
field. In time, you will reap some kind
of a harvest if you don’t quit.
A lot of counties across America
are hurting economically. People
have left and nobody seems to be
coming back to take over. The future
of depressed areas begins today and
it will probably take years to position
these areas for economic stability. We
all want it now, but we have to start
today with hopes for tomorrow.
America needs to recuperate.
We have debt to pay. We have an
infrastructure to rebuild. There are
millions of jobs that we must recapture
and bring home. We have a military to
strengthen and health care challenges.
We can get to where we need to be.
Getting there will take hard work and
positioning ourselves to be where we
need to be to accomplish what we
want to do.
Good Shepherd lutheran Church
1+1+1=?
The Spirit of God can be a marvelous
power in our lives. And yet, it’s really kind of
surprising how little the Bible tells us about
Him. There are far more passages in Scripture
that deal with the Father and the Son.
By comparison the teaching about God’s
Spirit in the Bible is disappointingly meager,
but it seems that no matter how much the
Bible told us about God’s Spirit, most people
won’t understand much about Him anyway.
Let me read part of last week’s Gospel
lesson from John 14:16-17:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another counselor to be with you
forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot
accept him, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. But you know him, for he lives
with you and will be in you.”
The world can’t accept God’s Spirit
because it fails to see the Spirit so it can’t
know Him. This tells me that perhaps God’s
Spirit may not be the easiest thing for mortals
to comprehend.
In fact, this idea (that the Spirit IS hard
to understand) is best shown in the difficulty
that many people have in accepting that God’s
Spirit as a person. That He is a He and not
an It. Even in theological circles filled with
highly educated religious people there are
often many who have trouble accepting that
God’s Spirit is a person.
So is the Spirit of God a “He” or not?
Well, yes. All you have to do is look at our
passage today: 13 When the Spirit of truth
comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for
he will not speak on his own, but will speak
whatever he hears, and he will declare to you
the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify
me, because he will take what is mine and
declare it to you.
The lesson we read from John 14:17
Sunday tells us: The world cannot accept
HIM, because it neither sees HIM nor knows
HIM. But you know HIM, for HE lives with
you and will be in you.”
Jesus tells us that the Spirit of God that
lives inside of each Christian is a He, not
an IT. Now, there are a lot of people who
have trouble with that. They tend to visual-
ize Him like a variation on “The Force” from
Star Wars. They see Him as impersonal and
inanimate.
But by contrast, Scripture tells us that
God’s Spirit is a living, personal part of God
that lives in us; that He has feelings and
character.
God’s Spirit has a mind. He has feelings.
He’s not some remote, distant power. He is
God inside of us. And what’s more, He’s what
Christians refer to as part of the Trinity
The word “trinity” isn’t found in Scrip-
ture… but the concept is. Trinity comes from
the idea of God being a Tri-unity: One God
– three parts. Colossians 2:9 refers to it as the
Godhead.
We know this is true, because the three
identities of God show up in several passages.
In Matthew 28:19 we’re commanded to “…
go and make disciples of all nations, baptiz-
ing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians
12 uses the same breakdown when it says:
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the
same Spirit. There are different kinds of ser-
vice, but the same Lord. There are different
kinds of working, but the same God works all
of them in all men.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
And then in 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul
prays: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellow-
ship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
The Bible teaches the concept of the
Trinity. But there are some people have
trouble with that idea. After all, how can God
be ONE (God) and still have three separate
personalities? My favorite illustration of the
Trinity can be shown by a common glass of
water. You take part of that water and pour it
Places of Worship
BRIDGEVIEW
COMMUNITY CHURCH
5181 Holland Loop Rd., CJ
541-592-3923
“Come Join the Worship!”
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Sonny Moore
www.kbcc.us
COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH
Pastor Dave Gordon
113 S. Caves Ave., CJ
Office: 541-592-3896
Email: cbccca@gmail.com
Sunday Worship - 10:30 a.m.
Christian Academy
Pre-K to 12th grade
Awana - Wednesdays - 6 p.m.
* * *
7th DAY ADVENTIST
265 S. Old Stage Rd., CJ
Sabbath School - 9:30 a.m.
Saturday Worship 11 a.m.
Pastor Christian Martin
Church (541) 592-3218
Madrone Adventist School
541-592-3330
* * *
ST. PATRICK OF THE FOREST
CATHOLIC CHURCH
407 W. River St., CJ
541-592-3658
Fr. William Holtzinger, Pastor
Mass - Sunday 11 a.m..
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Sunday - 10:30 a.m.
Holy Days TBA
* * *
IMMANUEL UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
200 Watkins St., CJ
Phone 541-592-3876
Pastor Charles Chase
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship - 9:15 a.m.
Child-care for small children
* * *
TAKILMA BIBLE CHURCH
10343 Takilma Road, Takilma
Pastor Dan Robinson
Bible Study / Prayer Time
9:30 a.m.
Morning Worship 11 a.m
Wednesday Bible Study
7 p.m
* * *
Illinois Valley Praise Center
28569 Redwood Hwy. CJ
Non-denominational
Bible-believing Church
Sunday school – 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Service – 10:30 a.m.
Thursday Seekers
Meeting – 7 p.m.
Youth Group Thursday – 7 p.m.
www.ivpraisecenter.com
* * *
First Baptist Church of Selma
18285 Redwood Hwy., Selma
541-597-4169
Pastor Monty Pope
Sunday School - 9:45 a.m.
Worship - 11 a.m.
GOOD SHEPHERD
LUTHERAN CHURCH
East River Street
& Lewis Court, CJ
Annemarie Richardson
Lay Pastor.
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship - 10 a.m.
Church Phone: 541-592-2290
www.goodshepherdlutheraniv.net
* * *
VALLEY EVANGELICAL
FREE CHURCH
498 Laurel Road, CJ
P.O. Box 1248
Pastor Marvin Porter
Sunday School - 9:45 a.m.
Worship Service - 11 a.m.
evfree@frontiernet.net
541-592-6160
* * *
FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
ASSEMBLY OF GOD
451 S. Junction Ave., CJ
541-592-3956
Pastor Mark McLean
Morning Worship
9:30 & 11 a.m.
Wednesday - 7 p.m.
Adult Bible Study
* * *
ST. MATTHIAS EPISCOPAL
CHURCH
25904 Redwood Hwy., CJ
541-592-2006
Rev. Bryant Bechtold
Sunday Worship
Service 10:30 a.m.
THE CHURCH OF JESUS
CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY
SAINTS
209 S. Junction Ave., CJ
Sacrament Meet - 10 a.m.
Sunday School - 11:20 a.m.
Priesthood, Relief Soc. -
12:10 p.m.
Bishop
Larry Hammersmith
541-592-3919
* * *
Illinois Valley Baptist Church
541-592-6149
102 South Redwood Hwy
(in the County Building)
Pastor Steve Root
Sunday Worship 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Study, Prayer
& Youth Program 7:00 PM
Friday Ladies Bible Study
11:00 AM
into an ice cube tray, and what does it be-
come? (ice) You take another part and pour it
in a pan, place it on a stove and turn the heat
on high. What does it become? Steam. Thus,
from one glass of water you have a liquid, a
solid and a vapor.
Now there are theologians that quibble
that these illustrations aren’t perfect. That’s
OK. They don’t need to be. All I care about
is that this simple illustration can help me
wrap my mind around a concept of the Trinity
that I know is taught in Scripture. It doesn’t
have to be perfect. It just has to be helpful in
knowing more about God.
When God wanted to give His children
a comforter to be with them, He didn’t send a
substitute. He didn’t give them an impersonal
presence. He sent a part of Himself: His Holy
Spirit. God’s Spirit is there to comfort us. To
be with us; to never leave or forsake us; and
to carry us along when life gets too harsh for
us to handle.
We are incredibly blessed because in
God we get a ‘three-fer’; a three in one. We
get God the Father, Jesus the Savior, and the
Spirit the Comforter all rolled into one pack-
age because in God’s world, according to His
celestial math, one plus one plus one equals...
ONE!
B ingo for A ll A ges
WednesdAys
eArly Bird 6 - 6:30PM
17 gAMes 6:30 - 9:30PM
Hamburgers for sale
520 e. river street, CJ
iv senior Center
open to tHe public