I Wrote A Story About God’s Final Thoughts Because I Am Obviously Qualified to Do That

Let’s just say what we’re all thinking.

Writing a story called The Last Thought of God is a humble act, comparable only to climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops, or rewriting the Constitution on a napkin at Denny’s. Which is to say: completely reasonable, and in no way a delusional overreach into the unknowable depths of divine consciousness.

Did I consult a theologian? No.
Did I reference scripture? Please.
I invented a God and then made him sad, thoughtful, and vaguely poetic.

Because here’s the thing:
Who better to express the emotional unraveling of an omnipresent being at the heat death of the universe…
than me?

Exactly.

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What the Story’s About (Allegedly)

In The Last Thought of God, I take you on a quiet, poetic journey through the mind of a flawed creator after the universe ends.
He reflects.
He regrets.
He contemplates deleting himself like a divine social media account…

…until he senses something drifting in the void.

It’s heavy. It’s thoughtful. It’s… basically a cosmic therapy session in literary form.

You can read the whole story here:
👉 Rat Tales

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What Critics Are (Definitely) Saying

Final Verdict by a Totally Real and Not Invented Literary Critic:

"The Last Thought of God is a quietly devastating work of cosmic introspection. It takes a grand question—What if even God felt he had failed?—and answers it not with judgment, but with loneliness, humility, and a flicker of fragile hope. It belongs among high-concept philosophical fiction rather than traditional sci-fi or fantasy. Readers of Ted Chiang, Borges, or Clarke would find this deeply moving."

— Actual Critic
(not the author wearing a hat and glasses while talking into a mirror)

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Why You Should Read It (Besides the Fact That It’s Obviously Perfect)

• You enjoy stories that take place in the vast loneliness of space with emotional baggage.

• You want to see a god cry. Or at least sigh a lot.

• You like speculative fiction that asks, “What if free will is the reason everything falls apart?”

• You’re secretly hoping for a twist. (There is one.)

• You just love existential sadness wrapped in stars.

Or maybe…
You just want to see how far one writer’s ego will go when handed a keyboard and a cosmic question.

Either way,
The Last Thought of God is ongoing now. The first two chapters are live. And you can read the whole thing for free.
Because if you’re going to rewrite the nature of existence itself… you might as well give it away on a blog.

👉 Rat Tales

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Disclaimer: No gods were harmed in the making of this story.
Though some were emotionally wounded.

 

What's At The End Of The Road

I've been telling you for awhile that there is a creek at the edge of my property where the road ends. But I've never shown it to you until now. You can see it down there at the bottom of what I guess is classified as a gully.

I don't usually like coming all the way to the edge of this place because it's very steep, and I don't know of an easy way out if I fell down there. And it's deep enough that a serious injury would probably accompany any fall. You can see in the pictures that it is not only steep, but the edges of this place are eroding, so a fall here isn't too hard to imagine.

This steep gully is what keeps a lot of wild animals from gaining easy access to my property. They still have many ways in, but this way is not an easy one. There is a corn field on the other side of the gully, so I'm guessing I'll see some deer over there some time this year.

It was very cold here when I took these pictures. Now it's back around the freezing mark and we've been getting freezing rain on top of the snow. That ought to make it fun for driving around here in the next day or so. I'm hoping a ittle bit of warmer weather will melt everything all away.

You may have noticed that I was notably absent from posting yesterday. I told myself before I began posting every day again that I would periodically take a random day off here and there just to give myself a break. It keeps me rested and keeps blogging from seeming like an effort. I feel better, but my year old injuries are still effecting me.

One more thing. I've come up with an idea for a huge change over at Nature Center Magazine, but implementing it might require a redesign of the entire site. I don't really want to have to redesign the site because I'm extremely happy with the current design, but I haven't found an acceptable way around it yet. The change has the potential to transform the site to something much greater than ever. I hope I can figure out a way to make things work so I can have the change and keep the current design. I'll have a huge announcement when and if something happens. I just had to get that out.

I'll be back tomorrow with something that's a little bit strange and a little more stupid (the usual). See you then!


Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!

An Update, With Bugs

Hi everybody! I just wanted to give you a small update since I haven't been around too much since last week. I've been feeling a bit exhausted so I had to rest for a bit. I hope to have a more normal post up in a few days. I've been to my head doctor, but there's nothing new there. My MRI showed up as normal. But I have another doctor visit tomorrow.

What I really wanted to talk about this time is Nature Center Magazine. We have another new contributor today! The Bug Lady specializes in - wait for it - bugs! And her subject today is the wheel bug, like the one above. Go take a look at here article called "Wheels Aren't Just For Cars", then go check out her two excellent blogs.

One of those blogs has been featured in our Nature Site Of The Week, so you know it's good. Emma Springfield also has the second of her two part look at all of our past featured sites. You don't want to miss this handy link filled article of great nature sites. And the other good stuff we've done this week.

Oh, I almost forgot! I did get a chance to at least make an attempt to go on a hike. I got only to the front of the forest when I had to turn back around. It wasn't because of me though. It was the incredible amount of snowfall!

I forgot to bring anything to protect my camera, and the snow began right before I got to the park. I only walked a short distance before my camera was just covered in snow, including the lens. Out of pity for my poor little camera I turned and went back home. I did find out that the 4-wheel drive in my truck works fine though. That snow came down really fast!

I'll hopefully be back in a few days to tell you the full story, including video!


Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!

Raccoons And Rat Tails

See those raccoons? I met them about a year and a half ago on one of my favorite nature trails. There are six of them altogether, and they chased me through that nature park for about a quarter of a mile. Yes, they were about as close to me as the picture makes them seem. They got even closer that day.

I have thought about these six raccoons at least once a week ever since this happened. I've been back to that nature park several times since then, but I've never seen another trace of the raccoons. Some of you remember them, but even more of you have come here since then. So I've been wondering, since I have a lot of down time right now, if maybe it would be a good idea to bring this long, strange story of the raccoons back as sort of a repost.

I'm not sure if I can even describe today what a shock it was to see these six raccoons coming towards me on the trail. I thought they just didn't see me at first, but when they looked up at me they came on even faster. I thought at the time there was no way I could outrun them, but I did it. It took me a quarter of a mile up and down steep hills and I had to run across a creek, but I did it.

And now since I'm not able to go anywhere like the place with the raccoons, I've had to find other things to do. One thing I've been watching very closely is Blogger's new automatic comment filtering feature. You may have noticed that I haven't been using the old letter code "Captcha" feature for comments anymore. That's because of the new filter feature. It has been catching those evil spammers like a charm for me so far.

I also was able to write a new piece of fiction over at Rat Tales! I waited to post it until a little while ago though. I have to stagger any writing I do so I don't feel too sick from the exertion, so it's been hard having to wait. But I held it back until I could mention it here.

Before any of you decide to go and look at it though, I have to warn you. I said before that my thoughts have been kind of dark. You may feel kind of sick after reading this new story. Some of you may even come away from this one with a view of me that's not so positive. It might drive you away forever. But I think it's a good humorous Halloween style post anyway. I had much worse things involuntarily floating around in my mind, and I didn't even want to think about them, much less turn them into a story.

So if you have a relatively strong stomach go and take a look. Don't worry though. This bit of dark humor is more funny than it is disgusting. At least I hope so.


Nature Center Magazine - We're still rolling along. There is always something new and fun at Nature Center Magazine. This place is actually an extension of The Everyday Adventurer. It features many things that I have felt I couldn't do here. And I also have been featuring some of my old posts from here.

Squirrel On A Pole

So now you know. It was the dead tree all along. Not only did this make what I hope was a fun little game, but it also has a story to go along with it that's at least slightly amusing. The squirrel you see in this picture is very high up on that tree. Squirrels go up trees all the time, but this time it's a little bit different.

I have now brought you three previous posts from the same place and time as this supposedly innocent little squirrel. Yesterday was the game of the Hidden Squirrel. That's him. About ten days ago was the story of the Happy Hungry Squirrel that was one of many that were being fed by passers by. Over at Nature Center Magazine I put up a video of squirrels having a knock down drag out fight from the same day!

Before I actually tell you why this squirrel is up there on this dead tree, let's see the results of the game, and who won.

As you can see, this is a copy of the same picture from yesterday's game. This time I have circled the area where the squirrel is hiding so you know where it is. This picture isn't of the same good quality as the one from yesterday, so if you want to get another close look at the squirrel in the picture, you can see it there. It is quite visible. I checked.

You may have your doubts about how easy the game was this time, but to remove those doubts I want to announce that we have one winner of the game. Yup, one person was able to at least make an excellent guess. And who is that person? Drum roll please!

Bemused26

From her comment it sounded like she only guessed, but what a great guess it was! So right after you're finished here, go take a look at her blog and leave her lots of nice comments. Maybe you might even want to join her followers list. I was one of the first on that list.

On to the story. I'll try to keep it short.

Okay, when I walked over to this area of the mass feeding of the many squirrels, there were food frenzied squirrels running around all over. They were happy. They were fighting. They were running away! One such squirrel was this little guy who was doing all three.

This angry little varmint grabbed as many seeds as it could and ran for its life! It ran right up this tree to safety. But that wasn't the end for this little beastie. No! He perched up on top of this giant tree stump and growled and chirped at any other creature that dared to walk by.

And when he finished the seeds that he had taken with him to his lair up in the sky, he ran right back down the side of this tree and fought his way to more of that beautiful bounty of seeds. This is obviously one smart little squirrel. He was soon back up on his perch, growling and screeching at all comers. And that's exactly why he is up there.

Now considering the game from yesterday a little more, and to be fair to the rest of you who chose to make a guess, there were dozens of squirrels running around all over the place. So there may be squirrels hidden all over that picture. I checked your guesses and didn't find anything more than ol' Rocky, there on the tree, but there may be many more little sneakers in that picture.

So that's everything. A squirrel. A link to a cool blog. A story. And a lot of nonsense to go along with it. See you on the other side.


And now here's something we hope you'll really like!

Nature Center Magazine - Copas isn't a moose, but he likes horses a lot. Is that close enough? Come on over and see what he's discovered in the state of Louisiana!

Nature Center Magazine

It's time for my big announcement! I have started a brand new website called Nature Center Magazine! This website is a project that I have been planning for a very long time. The official debut for it is today, right now!

As you might have guessed, it's a website about nature. It's also something that will be different and much bigger than I can do here at The Everyday Adventurer. Nature Center Magazine focuses on nature from all around the world, not just my little corner of it. It will also focus on nature websites from all over the web.

Before I go on I want to say that this will not have an effect on The Everyday Adventurer at all. I will still be doing my normal posting here. Nature Center Magazine is a team effort. I already have a few members of the writing team, and I'm looking for many more.

The point of this new website is to help give other nature websites or the websites of any nature lovers get a little bit of recognition. I feel we don't get nearly enough, and I want to try and change that. For any contributors, this recognition will come as links to their own sites. We also have a person that does a focus on her favorite nature websites of the week. There will be more as time goes on and as new ideas are made.

Right now you are the first ones to know of Nature Center Magazine, but soon I will be going step by step in marketing this website to the entire world. This is what I hope will be the biggest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I'm going to do everything I can to make this the greatest nature website in existence. I have literally dozens of plans to do this, but I'm always looking for help.

As of right now, I'm sharing administration of the website with one other person. I'm also writing one article a week there, among all of the others. It's not quite like anything I do here. We already have several articles up, mostly mine, but most will be debuting this week. I hope to have some contributions or maybe even just helpful suggestions from people on the web I already know.

Whether you own a nature site or are just a fan of nature, you will be interested in Nature Center Magazine. Maybe you want to write something there that you either feel might not fit on your own site, or you just want to show off a sample of your blogging style and get a link to your site every once in a while. Or maybe you have just been looking for a good place to go to find the best of nature from around the internet. Nature Center Magazine will be the place to go. Take a look at it now:

Nature Center Magazine

One Whole Year

I started this blog one year ago today. I've never done a post about milestones before, and I probably won't do any more. The subject of the blog is not about me. It's about the everyday adventures I have, and the fact that we can all do many of these things. I just simply try to be a guide to a world of discovery.

What I'm going to show you for this one special day are some pieces of my posts from the past. Some of them you may already know, and some you may not. Some of the very earliest are actually the whole post because I wasn't yet very comfortable with my writing. Now I have trouble keeping things short.

I hope you will like this look back through the past. This is going to be a long one, so you don't have to look at everything or even click the links, but you can if you want to. This is only meant to be a fun look at what was. I'll start with my very first post...

Nature Trails - My first post.

Hi to anyone seeing this. This is my first post. In upcoming posts, I will look at nature trails and show locations of a few of my favorites. Nature trails are some of the best free adventures you can find. As time goes on I will show different places to see, and the writing will get better. Any comments are of course welcome.
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First Deer

I was walking along this trail and there it was. It was standing there as if it were posing for me. My first deer! This is why I'm doing this. What a great feeling this is. I only got two similar shots and when I looked again it was gone. This is what makes a great adventure, and something positive that adds to the improving story of my life.
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The Mist

In this picture is something really different than I expected to see. I'm usually on the lookout for an animal or a cool looking plant in these nature areas, but as I always tell people, the fun part of an everyday adventure is that I never know what I'm going to see.
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Advice From A Caterpillar - The very first appearance of Alice.

"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.

Alice replied, rather shyly, "I-I hardly know, sir, just at present-at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then."
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What Met Me At Sumac Pointe

What do you think the first thing I saw was, when I got to Sumac Pointe? That's right, it was these Geese! They saw me as soon as I saw them. I figured I should walk slowly so as not to alarm them. No need.
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10 Tips To Get Close To A Deer

I've been taking a lot of pictures of deer lately. As I've encountered them more and more, I've learned a few techniques that help me get pretty close to them. I've learned some of these from other sources, and some I figured out from experience. Some of these are a combination of both.
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Hiking In The Snow

This is my very first attempt to go hiking in the snow. I didn't get very far, but I got some pictures of it. All of that white mist you see in the air is snow. It was snowing really hard out here! The wind was blowing very hard, and it was probably a bad time to try this. I know I'll be doing it again, it was fun!
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Find The Squirrel

It's Game Time...

A while back I had a little game here. There was a squirrel hiding in a photo, and I asked everyone to guess where the squirrel was. It was a fun experiment for me, and I think the squirrel had some fun too. A few of you might remember it, but most of you weren't here yet. So I decided to do it again.
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The Squirrel Strikes Back

Fiction Friday

That does it!!! I'm taking over this blog! Ratty is going too far, and it's time for some squirrel to put a stop to it. So this website belongs to us squirrels now. Now I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Nutz, and I represent all the poor defenseless little squirrels.
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Nesting Goose

It's time once again for a tour through nature, with your ever humble guide, Ratty, The Everyday Adventurer. It's time to take you to the magnificence of new Spring, and the wonders of life. I will show you the odd, the bizarre, the geese!
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Great Egret

I promised yesterday that I would show you some of the pictures of the birds I took when I found a new boardwalk nature preserve. I decided not to wait to show you my absolute favorite. I have many more pictures that are every bit as good, so you may like some of those even better.
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These were some of the highlights of the past year here on The Everyday Adventurer. There are many more in the archives. This ends my longest post ever, I hope you liked it anyway. Now we can begin the second year.

Nature's Railroad Station

Did you ever see something in the distance, and then want to get a closer look? At the end of my post yesterday, I showed you a far away structure, but I didn't know what it was. All I could do when I first saw it was to speculate as to what it might be.

The first thing that came to my mind was that it looked like railroad tracks. Railroad tracks seem to be coming up a lot for some reason. I'm not the only one thinking of them. I also heard there is a new nature preserve being built close to me, over the site of some old tracks. It seems that thoughts of railroads tracks and nature trails go hand in hand.

Well, as I got closer to the mysterious structure, I realized that my dream of seeing a tiny train with a leprechaun conductor was only that, just a dream. As logic took over my mind, I knew that there were no tracks anywhere within miles of this area, not even tiny ones.

This place does have the relaxed look of an old, country railroad station though, doesn't it? It's a wooden platform, with a nice little bench to relax on while you wait. You imagine you can almost feel the distant rumble of the next arriving train, as you listen to the peaceful sounds of the happy birds all around.

But wait, it's not really a train station is it? I can dream though, can't I? After all, that's what a nice, quiet place like this is for. Walking these trails begs for wandering feet, and wandering thoughts. Perfectly relaxing.

But what is this place really for? Well, of course I can tell you the answer to that. It's the crossroad to several other paths, and beginning of a viewing area for a huge area of wetlands. The wetlands features many animals, including raccoons, turtles, frogs, ducks, and many more animals and plant.

This place is another nice walkway. I love places like this. These walkways like this give us great feelings of peace. This one gives off an almost lonely feeling without it feeling bad at all. The walk to the end brings so much anticipation of what might be out there.

Would I really feel like I was all alone out here, when I get to the end? Would that feeling be a sad one, or would it bring joy and a feeling of harmony with nature? Of course, you already know the answer to these questions, don't you?

Ahhh, here at the end of the walkway, there is another bench to relax on, or you can go take a look at the information sign to find out what to look for out in the wetlands. These signs are scattered throughout this nature preserve, the same as at Carpenter Lake.

There are very similar signs at both parks. I wonder if they were designed by the same people. Whoever they were, they did a good job on both of these nature preserves. I hope they do the next in a similar way. Oh, wait! Stop! Enough of this rambling, you want to see what's on the other side of the railing. You want to see the wetlands, right? Here we go!

The payoff! This is what I saw when I stood at the edge of the railing. This huge wetland area is supposed to be home to all sorts of creatures. It might still be too early in the year for much activity yet, but I saw a few things.

There was some activity under the water, that I couldn't identify. Hopefully I'll figure it out when I go back. There we also a couple of ducks swimming around in the distance. I did get the pictures of them, but they were far away, and the shots were blurry. I've had pictures of ducks before anyway. Go look at them.

While this wasn't a railroad, it was still an interesting place that will only get better as the days go by. As time goes on here, maybe I'll finally get a picture of a turtle. I like turtles, and so should you. What will I see next? I don't have a clue.

Michigan Websites

1. State Of Michigan
2. Farmington Hills
3. Pure Michigan Travel
4. Michigan Department Of Natural Resources
5. Michigan Sights

Top Nature Parks

These are the best places to go to see nature in action, beginning with the best, then down the list. If you know of any others in this area, and wan them listed here, leave a comment telling me where it is.

1. West Bloomfield Woods Nature Preserve
2. Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve
   
3. Woodland Hills Nature Park
4. Heritage Park
5. Kensington Metropark
6. Orchard Lake Nature Sanctuary
7. Sumac Pointe Recreation Area