We had a lamb die this afternoon. I'm not sure what the cause of death was. Sheep can die for a thousand different reasons, some usual, some so implausible as to defy description. His body was in the barnyard. It was raining when I got down there in the truck to carry him off up the hill to the spot we use as a graveyard. When I picked him up, there was a patch of dry ground underneath, lighter in color than the wet barrnyard, in the shape of a lamb. It looked half like a crime scene outline, half like some ancient petroglyph line drawing saying, here we once had sheep.

Tolle Blogge links to another rural blog, View from an Iowa Homestead, the online journal of John VanDyk, entomologist and Christian back-to-the-lander. I had a great-grandfather who was a doctor in the mining town of Lucas, Iowa, which about exhausts my knowledge of the state. When a friend of mine headed off for grad work in drama at the University of Iowa, I remember telling her, "Debbie, why Iowa? Iowa is just like Kansas, except no one from Iowa ever got to the Emerald City . . ." I'm willing to learn better, and will try reading a while.

Francis Mooney at Xavier+ has some kind words to say about my Bill Mallonee post. His latest post is a link to a site where you can view online Action Comics #1, the original episode of Superman. Watch, as the man of steel takes on domestic violence. If only it were that easy!

Archbishop Rowan Williams of Wales has been named the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Fr. Nectarios at Orthopraxis has links to the announcement on BBC news. I posted some thoughts about this earlier, which can be found in the archives here.