Pioneers

Today, in Utah is a state holiday called Pioneer Day.  It honors the entrance of the Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.  So I am posting a few new pioneer drawings and some that were posted previously.

My own great great grandfather was here a day two before and was plowing and planting potatoes. (I read this in Amasa Lyman's journal..the transcript is available at the BYU Library Special Collections room.)  By the way, what Brigham Young actually said was, "This is the right place, drive on."  He was leaning up on his elbow in a wagon because he was sick.   Just goes to show that you can do great things even when you do not feel 100%.

Brigham Young Entering the Salt Lake Valley

The handcart groups were mostly pioneers who hand emigrated from Europe to join the saints in Zion...AKA Utah.  Zion is now wherever a Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is located.  A stake is a group of congregations in a specific area.

Handcart Pioneer Family Crossing the Plains

Two companies of handcart pioneers were caught in early winter snows and suffered terribly.  My great great grandmother was in one of those companies.  She lost all of her toes.  But she married her rescuer.   Their names are Lucy Ward Cole and James Barnett Cole.  I think they went on to have like 13 children.  SO...I am here because of them.  I will post theit story sometime.

Handcart Pioneer in the Snow

Pioneer Boy Thomas Dobson dancing the jig

Thomas Dobson was a pioneer boy who came across with a handcart company.  He loved to dance the Irish jig.    They were about to amputate Thomas' feet because they were frozen.  His handcart company had got stuck in the snow on their way to Utah.  Instead, he was given a blessing and was miraculously healed.  They did not have to amputate his feet.  He even was able to dance the jig for other pioneers to cheer them up.  He continued to dance for much of his life.   

Pioneers crossing the Plains and then the Valleys of Wyoming

Most of the pioneers came across the plains in covered wagons.  I think that it is important to remember to honor pioners that went to Oregon, Washington, California, and even places like DeSmet, South Dakota. (One of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder lived...my family loves those books...and my wife is from South Dakota.)  

Moabosaurus

pictures coming shortly.  I am scanning them now....

Moabosaurus utahensis was a Sauropod.  .   . and also a Titanosaur.  It was not by any means the biggest Titanosaur.  It was only about 32 feet (9.75 m) long.  It weighed about as much as an African elephant.  That means that a Moabosaurus weighed about the weight of a T. rex.  This is not small, although there were Sauropods like Argentinosaurus that was 17 times heavier than Moabosaurus.
Do the math, 13,000 lbs x 17 will get you the weight of an Argentinosaurus.

Notice that these illustrations show Moabosaurus with a short trunk.  This is a trait that has been hypothesized for dinosaurs like Moabosaurus and the Brachiosaurs.  These are the Sauropods that had nasal holes in the top section of their head.   The trunk would have been used for feeding like an elephant grabs branches etc. with their trunk.

Moabosaurus Feeding on a Pine Tree

Moabosaurus close up

Argentinosaurus at Nesting Site
This comparison is here to show that Argentinosaurus was a much larger Titanosaur. 

Mountain Lion

As I said in my last post, Cougars are hard to draw.  I was not happy with my last drawing of a cougar so I drew a different drawing of the same cougar...or mountain lion.  It is from a different photo, taken at a different angle.

I decided to mention that my undergraduate university experience was at a university with Cougars as the mascot.  The cougar specifically was and is named Cosmo.  I was even in "Cougar Band!"  I was a percussionist...that means drummer.  So.... Go BYU Cougars.  (Brigham Young University in Provo,Utah)

Anyway, here is the drawing and photo.  I think this drawing is far superior to the original "Cougar" drawing.  .   . from my last post.

Mountain Lion Walking

Photo of Mountain Lion walking (at the Adam's Museum, Deadwood, South Dakota

Cougar

Cougar on a Mountaintop 

The cougar is one of the most athletic of all animals.  They have been known to jump safely from the top of a 30+ foot tree.  They routinely can jump 20 feet while running down a mountainside.  They also can jump 18 feet straight up into a tree.  They are predators and live a solitary life.  They do not hunt or live in packs except perhaps a female with her partly grown young.  A female usually has around 3 or 4 cubs but sometimes they have 6..  They are the largest of the small cats.  The females weigh up to 105 lbs (48 kg) and the males weigh up to 158 lbs (72 kg).  They are up to 5 feet long (1.55 m) and that is just the body.  If you count the tail they are 8 feet (2.44 m) long.

Mountain lions (another name for cougars) are a tawny color that is somewhat darker on their backs.  Their underside is white.  They often have unique facial markings from panther (another name) to panther.  They have a black spot at the end of their tail.  Their scientific name is Puma concolor. 

Cougars eat deer and elk, but have been known to prey on big horn sheep, coyotes, rabbits, porcupines and raccoons.  A healthy cougar will kill a deer or elk every week to 10 days...but more often if it is a mother raising cubs.

There are many names for the cougar.  Here is a list.  It probably is not comprehensive though:
Cougar, Mountain Lion, Panther, Catamount, Mountain Screamer, Devil Cat, Painter, Sneak Cat, Devil Cat, Deer Cat, Fire Cat , Plain Lion, Grey Lion, Caracajou, Indian Devil, Klandagi, Catawampus, Quinquajou, Long Tail, Swamp Lion, King Cat, Mountain Devil, Red Tiger,
and Silver Lion.  Puma is the Spanish word for cougar, but Puma is commonly used in many areas of the Southwest United States.  Remember that Puma concolor is the scientific name, based on Latin.  So Puma is also the Latin word for cougar.  In some specific places, like Florida, the local subspecies of cougar is called the Florida Panther.  It is actually an endangered species.  Only 50 or so are left in the wild.

I drew the coloring page drawing of a cougar that was mounted (taxidermy) at t South Dakota Museum.  We went there last month.

Troodon

Troodon was a dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era.  Troodon was "gifted" by dinosaur standards.  In biology one measure of intelligence is brain to body ratio...that is, the size of an animal's brain compared to its overall body size.  Troodon wins in that calculation so it is thought to have been a very intelligent dinosaur.  This ration is similar to that found in modern birds.  Don't sell the bird class of animals short.  We say mistakenly "bird brain."  In fact, birds are very intelligent.  For example, hummingbirds can remember the location of every flower they have ever visited.  Troodon  was a raptor dinosaur, probably had feathers, and lived in what were probably forests boarded by open plains.   They were small, about 8 feet (2.5 m) long and maybe 3 feet (.9 m) tall. They probably weighed 110 lbs (50 kg)  Troodons were probably pack hunters, like wolves.  They probably could, working in a hunting pack, bring down larger prey like Hadrosaurs...the duck billed dinosaurs.

Troodon in the Forest

There are two known species of Troodon.  Scientific names have two parts.  Troodon is the Genus name and so to state the full scientific name you say the Genus and species.  You do not capitalize the species name but you DO capitalize the Genus name.  The first species of Troodon was found in 1856 and it was called Troodon formosus and the second found was in 1935 and is called 

Troodon inequalis.  

New Dinosaur Albertavenator curiei

NOTE to those of you who are on line right now... Sorry I took a while to put the printable coloring pages up of Albertavenator and Troodon...I was drawing the Troodon.  Turned out pretty cool...don't ya think?

A new  species of dinosaur has been identified.  It was found in the badlands near the Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, Canada.  It was actually found in 1980 with additional specimens found in 193 and 1996.   New examinations of the skull fragments,(found with the first specimen),  have led to the determination that it was a new species.  At first they thought it was the very gifted (smart) dinosaur called Troodon.  Now the new species is named, Albertavenator curiei.  It was name after the Canadian privince of Alberta and after the famous paleontologist Phillip Curie.  Venator means hunter in Latin.  Albertavenator lived about 71 million years ago.  A bit before T.rex.

Albertavenator curiei

Albertavanator was probably an omnivore, it ate both plants and other animals.  Someone said that it was like a very big chicken.  It was about the size of a full grown human man.  It was covered in feathers and was a close relative to Velociraptor.  By the way, Velociraptor was actually only about 4 feet tall and 6 or so feet long.  Albertavenator is estimate to have been around the same size as Troodon or about 110-120 lbs.  It would have probably been  8 feet long.  Both Troodon and Albertavenator were quite a bit larger than Velociraptor.  Velociraptor lived in Asia while Troodon and Albertavenator lived in North America.

Troodon in the Forest

Velociraptor in the Desert

Velociraptor Fluffed Out for Display

Velociraptor with Young

All of these  3 raptor dinosaurs we have discussed are thought to have had feathers, however, they were non-flying feathers.  There WERE some flying dinosaurs...not Pterosaurs which were flying reptiles.  .   .  but bird-like dinosaurs like Microraptor.  Microraptor had feathers and it could truly fly.  Fairly recent studies on the chemistry of the feather imprints left by Microraptor have shown that it was an iridescent black, like a raven.

   Pteranodon fishing       

This is a Pterosaur, a flying reptile Iit is NOT a flying dinosaur!       

 Microraptor Flying through the Forest

NOTE:  The older drawings I have put on this post are found further up the list on the Free Printable Downloads page....just click the button at the top of my blog.  The most recent drawing, the one of Albertavenator, is found at the bottom of the list.  You click on the title of the drawing and you get a free printable page to print and color.   

On the blog posts page you can click at the bottom on "Older Posts" to see more drawings with information and stories etc.   You scroll down and get the chance to click on "Older Posts" again for even more.  You can do this several times to see all the posts if you are interested.  

T. rex Parent Teaching Young to Hunt

The Corythosaurus does not know what is about to happen to him.  He is about to be the hunting lesson for the adolescent T. rex.  They have found Theropod eggs and X-rays have shown that the young were hatched with tiny teeth but they clearly would have been incapable of self defense in a scary and dangerous Mesozoic world.

T. rex Parent Teaching Young to Hunt

Suzie the Horse

Years ago my niece let me photograph her horse.  I originally drew "Suzie the Horse" as "Suzie the Unicorn."  I posted that drawing, done in pastel chalk, several months ago.   I had just drawn a coloring page version of Suzie the Unicorn.  Tonight I removed the horn and turned the coloring page drawing into a horse...Suzie the Horse.  Thank you goes to my niece Serenity.   

This horse taught me how a large animal can still have deep feelings.  Suzie was not mature enough to be ridden, so when my brother in law and his daughter Serenity went for a ride on their other two horses Suzie was left behind.  Poor Suzie, she rested her chin on my shoulder and cried.  It was like she was saying, "They left me...they left me!"  It helped me see why people can love their horses.  

Original Drawing of Suzie the Unicorn is coming...

Parasaurolophus Feeding Time and some of their Tyrannosaur predators

Note:  To get to the Free Printable Downloads click on the above button.   "Daspeteosaurus on the Prowl"  and the  "Parasaurolophus Feeding Time"  are new drawings.  The older drawings are further up the list.  To read older posts and to preview all the drawings you scroll down and click on the "Older Posts" button at the bottom of the page.  

Parasaurolophus Feeding Time

Parasaurolophus probably cared for her young.  We have found other Hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs with their nest of eggs.  The baby dinosaurs were very small and clearly incapable of caring for themselves.  The baby duck-billed dinosaurs would be called chicks.   So this is a picture of a mother duckbill, a type of Hadrosaur, called Parasaurolophus...who is feeding her chicks.  Notice where the mother dinosaur stripped the leaves off of the tree so she could feed them to her chicks.  There WERE deciduous trees during the Cretaceous Period.  There were not deciduous trees during the Jurassic Period.  The duck-billed dinosaurs lived in the Cretaceous Period.  Their biggest enemy a few million years before T.rex would have been Daspleteosaurus and then Albertosaurus.  Finally the last predator of  Hadrosaurs would have been Tyrannosaurus rex.   All three predatory dinosaurs listed are types of Tyrannosaurs.

A Young Daspleteosaurus on the Prowl

Albertosaurus

This drawing was done for Mother's Day. 

Tyrannosaurus rex

Moses and the Burning Bush

Moses at the Burning Bush on Mt. Horeb

About this drawing.  Moses is pictured sitting and kind of leaning on a boulder as he looks towards the burning bush and listens to the voice of the Lord.  Moses had removed his sandles and he had to hike up his shepherd's robe to sit down.  You can see the sandles resting on smaller rocks at the base of the boulder.  The bushes and trees are drawn in much more detail than I usually use.  It sure takes a lot more time to draw every branch and leaf.   Kudos to my eldest daughter Kimberly for inspiring me by her drawing of a tree by a temple.  As far as the 'burning bush," I did not draw any flames on it.  You, the person who colors the "burning bush" will need to add the flames.  

Moses was tending his father in law's sheep when he saw a burning bush on the mountain.  He went to see the bush and addressed by God on.  This was on Mt. Horeb.  Moses was chosen to lead the Children of Israel out of the bondage they were in under Pharaoh in Egypt.  At the burning bush Moses was told to "put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."  Exodus 3:5 in the Bible.

If you read the book of Exodus in the Bible you will notice that the movie The Ten Commandments does not exactly get everything right.  However, the writers of the script knew their Bible stories.  Moses DID defend his father in law's sheep when the man's daughters were trying to water them.   The love story of Moses and the Princess of Egypt is not mentioned in the Bible.  But it seems that it could be possible perhaps... however Moses was no longer a young man, in fact, he was 80 years old.  So if there was an Egyptian queen pining for him, she would have also most likely also been quite elderly.   Also, the rebellious members of the Israelite escapees were swallowed up in the Earth by the Lord.  This happens in the movie when they are having their golden calf worshiping party.  I knew that it does not happen that way in the Bible, but I recently found that another time of Israelite rebellion it DID happen that way.   In fact, one of the leaders of the rebels was Dathan.  That is a leader of rebels in the movie.  In Numbers chapter 16 the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan and the rebels.  I had to admire the knowledge of the script writer(s).  Like I said before, the script writers really DID know their Bible stories.

I still love the movie.  It is one of my favorites.  One of my favorite lines from The Ten Commandments is "Your eyes are as sharp as they are beautiful."  Moses says this to his wife Zipporah.   I also say it to may wife frequently....because Yvonne De Carlo, who played Moses' wife Zipporah, had big beautiful eyes.  My wife also has big beautiful eyes.  And the fact is, bigger eyes really CAN see better.  Ask an owl.

Yvonne De Carlo 1954

Laurel Lyman 1994

I did this drawing from a photo of my wife...the year we were married. Notice that both the actress and Laurel were blessed with big beautiful eyes.   

Dragon Female Flying over a Castle

I don't like to imagine that if dragons were real that they would all be evil.  I think that the way the universe works, any species of sentient beings may well have both good and evil individuals.  In fact, being a believer in divine creation, I believe that God made the universe that way.  Good vs Evil is the way that our known fellow sentient beings (Mankind) exists on our planet.... so why not dragons coming in both good and evil varieties?

Dragon Female Flying over a Castle

So this is a drawing of a GOOD dragon.  I also think that Dragons would come in both sexes, male and female.  After all, most species come with those two varieties, male and female.  There are some species that do not come in two sexes, but most vertebrates (animals with a backbone) come in the male and female variety.  Although, some female vertebrate animals like some sharks, can actually reproduce without the male.  And some invertebrates, like aphids, only exists as females.  The baby aphids are clones of the parents.  So, the Natural World is pretty weird.

So, dragons... if they were real... may have had mates.  Many advanced animals, like most birds of prey, mate for life.  Wolves tend to pair off for life too...if they are the Alpha male and female.
In fact, after I post the drawing of a single dragon, I am going to add to this drawing and give her a mate.

Dragon Mates flying over a Castle

By the way, I draw in meetings, during Church, and at other times. For people like me with ADHD, this can be a great way to focus better on the meeting etc. I sometimes feel bad that as a teacher I did not let kids draw more when I was teaching. Yes in CAN be a distraction, but for some of us we really do focus better on a lesson, meeting, etc. IF we are drawing. If my health ever returns so I can go back to teaching I am going to remember that and let kids draw during my lessons. 

How Pipes the Cat got his name

Pipes has an unusual name for a cat.  He was not named for his voice.  The cat was named after an event of his "kittenhood."

Pipes the Kitten going into the pipes

When Pipes was tiny he was playing out in the yard.  His human "daddy" was and is named Kurt.  Kurt saw his tiny and then unnamed kitten crawl into an open pipe.  Kurt tried to stop what was happening but he got there too late.  Pipes dropped way down into the pipe and got trapped.  He started to meow as loud as a tiny kitten can.  Kurt could not reach down the pipe and get a hold of his kitten.

Pipes being dug out by Kurt

Kurt has just been released from the hospital, so he was not yet 100%, but still, he could not let that kitten die down in the sprinkling system pipe.   Kurt just felt that even though he was kind of weak, he had to dig his kitten out.  Kurt had to dig 3 feet down to get to the pipes that held the kitten.  He had to separate the pipes and get out his kitten.  Naturally the kitten was named, "Pipes."

Kurt just sent me this photo of:
  Pipes the kitten after rescue from the pipes

Pipes the adult cat

That was a year ago.  Pipes is now a friendly and beautiful gray young adult cat.   He has beautiful soft fur and piercing yellow eyes.  He loves to be petted and to cuddle.  Maybe he is so friendly because of what he went through as a kitten...and somewhere deep in his memory he remembers how his human daddy saved him from the pipes.

Photo of Pipes today

All content in today's post is Copyright 2017 by Robin Andrew Lyman
All blog content is Copyright 2017 or Earlier by Robin Andrew Lyman

Jesus Creator of the Universe

Jesus Calls his Apostles by the Sea of Galilee

What does Jesus look like.  If you are a Christian you would say this in a present tense.  That is because those of us who believe that Jesus was the Son of God believe that yes he was killed, but he was resurrected and is now alive.  I think Jesus has large kind eyes, long wavy hair, a somewhat triangular face with a full beard.  This drawing is of Jesus calling some of his Apostles...the ones that were fishermen.  He told them that he would make them fishers of men.  This drawing is of Jesus' time on Earth living like a mortal.  But He was the creator of the Earth.  He really had to step down to come to Earth and live as a mortal.  But, he had to get a body too, just like us.  We often read the Bible and think of ordinary things like the scenes of Jesus calling his Apostles, but consider that He was an all powerful god.  He existed before the Earth was made and He created the Earth.  He is our Spirit brother and I am sure we were so happy in our pre-mortal life when we heard that the Earth was being created for us to live on as mortals.  Our Heavenly Parents sent us here to be tested.

Jesus Creates the Earth and fills the Seas with Comets

Since He created the Earth, Jesus was and is the greatest scientists.  His Father, who is our Father in Heaven would also be the greatest scientist.  Jesus created the Earth under His direction.  One theory on how the Earth was created has accumulation of meteors hitting the Earth to increase the mass.  Another theory is that comets hit the Earth to provide the water for the oceans.  Comets are basically dirty snowballs or dirty ice-balls.  I am a scientists who believes in Heavenly Father and Jesus so I can picture Jesus creating the Earth.  Of course my drawing could not possibly do justice to the event.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We believe that because Jesus allowed the Romans to kill him and He died for our sins and then was resurrected, we will all one day be resurrected.  We believe that when we are alive our spirit is inside our bodies.  When we die our spirit or our essence including our memories and developed personality continues in our spirit form. Resurrection means that one day we will get our bodies back even though we had died.  We believe that when we die our spirit or soul goes to a place called the Spirit World.  The Spirit World exists here on Earth but in a different dimension or in a different kind of matter.

Jesus in the Spirit World

In fact, Jesus visited the Spirit World to start the preaching of His Gospel to the Spirits there.  The wicked spirits who had been bad when they were mortals, live in a part of the Spirit World called Spirit Prison.  Jesus visited the righteous Spirits and organized the preaching of the Gospel to those who did not hear it when they were on Earth as mortals.  After three days in the Spirit World Jesus was resurrected.  His Spirit returned to His body.  Because Jesus broke the bands of death we one day all will be resurrected.  Our resurrected bodies will not have flaws.  (Jesus kept the wounds from his crucifixion as a sign for those who would see Him.)  We will not have physical or health problems, which is a great source of hope for me, because I have multiple problems including some from a severe birth defect.  For example, for me, it will be nice to no longer have a tracheotomy.

Resurrection of Jesus

Together Forever in the Celestial Kingdom

We will not be subject to pain or illness ever again as resurrected beings.  We will get to live for eternity with our elder brother Jesus, our Heavenly Parents, and our Eternal Companion (husband or wife) and all of our loved ones.  Of course we have to pass Heavenly Father's mortality test here on Earth to get that privilege.

The following is not doctrine but I am an amateur astronomer so I wanted to mention something I have thought about.  When we look through telescopes at galaxies we see that they rotate at a speed that should not be possible if they are only made of the known matter of stars, planets, nebulae etc.
The universe is expanding at an increased rate too. This indicates the presence of what they call dark energy.  Dark matter and dark energy are called dark because our knowledge of them is dark.  They are not made of protons, neutrons, electrons etc. that makes up known matter.  They are made up of WIMPS or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.  It is estimated that only about 5% of matter is the known matter and the rest is dark matter or dark energy.   So, I have wondered if some of or all of the dark matter and  or dark energy might be Spirit Matter.  We believe that Spirit Matter is finer and more pure than ordinary matter.



Some of the above drawings were posted previously.  You can find all of the drawings by hitting the Free Printable Downloads button at the top of the page.  The most recent drawings are at the bottom of the list of drawings.  By scrolling way down on the blog page you can see the button for previous posts.

All drawings and content Copyright 2017 or earlier by Robin Andrew Lyman

Star Spangled Banner

Click on above button to get free printable coloring pages.   

Click on button at the bottom of pages to see older posts and lots 

of different coloring pages.  

All drawings and text are Copyright 2017 Robin Andrew Lyman  or earlier. 

To celebrate the anniversary of the U.S.A. this week I drew a drawing of the inspirational moment when Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that would become the U.S. National Anthem.

On September 13, 1914 the British started a bombardment of Fort McHenry outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  On board the British vessel was an American Lawyer who had been discussing prisoner exchange with the British.  The British admiral had agreed to letting an American doctor go and to do prisoner exchanges, however, the attack on Fort McHenry was about to start so Dr. Beans and Key were required to stay on Key's ship, under guard, for the duration of the battle.

The battle went on all night.  Key let the prisoners know about the battle.  Some reports say that they were praying for the flag over the fort to not be lowered.  Lowering the flag means surrender.  The artillery battle was rather one sided because the American cannons had less range than the British cannons and rockets.

The British tried to get some boats full of soldiers up the river but an alert American sentry set a haystack on fire and the boats had to turn around.  By the way, there were days before that included land battles.  The British did not get an all out victory in any of these land battles and had to eventually withdraw.

Francis Scott Key stayed up all night and was very happy to see the American Flag still flying in the morning...  (by the dawn's early light).  He wrote a poem called:  The Defense of Fort McHenry.  The local paper printed it up and copies of the poem were given to all the brave defenders of the fort.  The drawing is from when Francis Scott Key first saw the American Flag.  The fort had an extra large flag that General Armistead, the fort commander, previously had ordered made.  It was put out in the morning.  It sent a signal to the British Navy that the fort had not and would not surrender.  The British Navy withdrew and neither the fort nor Baltimore were taken by the British.

Key put the poem to the tune called To Anacreon In Heaven.   The new title for the song was The Star Spangled Banner.  For years the U.S. military used the song and in 1931 the U. S. Congress made it the National Anthem.