69 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-30-16”

  2. Good morning AJ. Just got home from my second ‘end of the season’ canning day. Monday, I was in SE NM. We canned about 50 jars of various things. We cleaned out her garden, but she has about another 30 days before a killing freeze. Today, in northern NM, we did about another 50 jars of different things. They have already had light frost, so could have a killing frost any day. It was also grandson’s 8th birthday. I took pickled okra, which he claimed as only his. Now I need to finish up my garden. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Belated happy anniversary to AJ and Cheryl. May you continue to be a blessing to one another.

    Kizzie, have you considered dietary changes to help with Lee’s gout and arthritis? Eliminating or limiting legumes and processed meats will help with gout. Cutting out nightshades, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, will help with arthritis.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Morning all. My, but you all have come to my day a bit early. Is Aj going fishing or taking his bride somewhere??
    I imagine you are all asleep now, so we will wait for Mr. Chas to roll out of the sack in a few hours. 🙂

    Like

  5. What is everyone doing up so early.
    Or late as the case may be.
    IT’S FRIDAY!
    You know what that means? We’re having visitors from Maryland this weekend.
    Do yu realize that September is just about gone??

    Like

  6. And I thought of myself as an early bird up at 5 a.m. You folks put me to shame!

    Jo saw me over on Facebook grumbling to a friend about again losing my health insurance coverage. My friend is retired from Blue Cross/Shield AL. It’s like complaining to the choir about singing the same old hymn for the hundredth time.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. It’s much cooler today. Miss Bosley is all snuggly. She got me up at 5 since her food bowl was sitting on empty. She ate, and then she threw up from gobbling it down so fast. What a brilliant way to start the day.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Janice, you are the early bird. Notice from yesterday that Aj put up the site before racking out. He’s probably still asleep.
    And Jo is about ready to hit it.
    So far this morning, it’s just you and me.
    I’ve already had breakfast and come back to see what is going on.
    Nothing is.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. You are right, Chas! Thank you for giving me credit.

    The cooler weather makes me look forward to cooking more.

    Chas, did Elvera have a favorite cookbook? I don’t think my mother owned a cookbook for many years. She came from living on a farm to the city. I think for years she just cooked meats and vegetables like her family had cooked them at home. She would clip recipes from the newspaper. When I started going over to friend’s homes and enjoying meals with their families, I started asking for “different” foods at home. My mother did expand on what she cooked at that time. And the church ladies prepared a cookbook which my mother got.

    Like

  12. The bird is a cedar waxwing. The “cedar” is because they like cedar berries (and other berries); the “waxwing” because of those red waxlike drips on their wings. Juvenile birds don’t have the “wax,” but they have those lovely yellow tips on their tails. Their feathers have an unusually smooth appearance and they have a soft pastel look except for the wing tips and tail tips. They can live on nothing but berries for months at a time (other birds can’t survive on such a diet–baby cowbirds, for example, don’t thrive if the egg is laid in a waxwing nest!).

    Many birds have some archetypal image that you see most commonly. For the hummingbird, for example, it is hovering in front of a flower. For the oriole, it is sitting on its woven nest. For the waxwing, it would be with a berry in its mouth. But the few times I’d seen the birds, they hadn’t been among berries, so I had no chance at such a shot. The day I saw this bird, two or three waxwings were on this tree, which is of course full of berries. It grows at the edge of the parking lot, starting a trail at our favorite local state park. As we pulled in, the waxwings flew away, out of the tree. So when we were finishing the trail, I ran ahead of my husband and then snuck back to the tree quietly, hoping to see (and photograph) waxwings. Two or three were indeed in the tree, but underneath the tree was a couple trying to photograph a chipmunk. The waxwings flew away, but then they came back, but they were wary, keeping branches between me and themselves. They’d fly to a different spot of the tree if I moved to their side of the tree. Finally I moved quietly to the edge of the tree and stood and eventually I got this one good shot, but it didn’t have a berry in its mouth. I got one of it with a berry (leaning to the left) but its head was in shadow and this one is a better photo. And this one has the benefit of being not the archetypal shot, but an unusual pose that still shows its eye and all of its unique physical features (including the crest, the eye mask, and the pale yellow belly), so it works. I’d still like to get the bird-with-berry shot someday, though.

    Like

  14. Yet another night of little sleep. Could not turn off my brain, though my body was a formal puddle after a hot soaking bubble bath filled with lavender Epsom salts.

    I have a massage scheduled for 9; I’m not sure what that will mean beyond my husband needing to drivie home!

    Met a fun man at the cocktail party last night. (No one sat beside me at dinner beside my husband). This guy was born in the same hospital as me, attended Crestwood Elementary, not 7th St, UCLA, studied engineering and married a communications major from UCLA and they have 4 children.

    He also plays the bagpipes!

    While we talked, he pulled out his phone and bought an ebook of The Yuletide Bride right in front of me.

    That has never happened to me before!

    Fun. But I still wish I had slept, sigh . . .

    Well, I can try again tonight? Lol

    Liked by 4 people

  19. Maybe michelle’s insomnia is spreading to Jo …

    I slept soundly, still a lot of dreams but that’s normal for me. So I’m also up a little early, got the trash out and ready for a quick shower. It’s going to be a busy day again, I have a couple stories to write but only one of them, on our favorite coyotes, of course, will involve a lot of time and reporting. But I think I already have most of what I need to pull it together.

    The front part of the living room is now filled with huge boxes for the bathroom overhaul. I think I’m going to go look at windows on Saturday, maybe I can get the rest of all this ordered before Monday. I still need to figure out the bead board order, that’s kind of tricky. I may try to find time to call them today with some of my questions.

    It’s cooling off a little here, at long last, but still much too warm for my taste, especially now that it’s almost October.

    Like

  20. Good Morning Everyone. I did not suffer Michelle’s insomnia. Thankfully! Yesterday was bad enough. Another cool mornings. Moe, the cat, is enjoying that I can leave the back door open for the dogs. She is declawed and has pined for the outdoors most of her life. She is too old to jump high, and our fence is tall enough she can go outside here.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I was watching something on TV last night that showed a lot of rain. I feel almost wistful seeing those scenes, it’s been so long now since we’ve had a normal rainfall year. 😦

    It all looked so glorious, pouring from the gray, sunless sky (I do get tired of the sun), washing everything off … Ahhh.

    Maybe this year.

    Liked by 2 people

  23. I saw the black moon this morning! Well, I saw that I could not see the moon where it has been the past several days. Probably because I would have to look directly at the sun. But I did see Mercury or whatever it is that the moon has been hanging with the past few days.

    Like

  24. Sounds good to me, AJ.

    Especially since I now have a new roof AND new windshield wipers. My yard is so thirsty.

    Come on rain, I’m ready.

    Waiting, waiting …

    Like

  27. RKessler – I was planning on looking into how diet affects them. Thank for the tips. 🙂

    *********************************

    We need rain here, too, as we are in a drought (although not as bad or as long as the one in California). Here it is the last day of September, & hardly any leaves have changed color. 😦

    I’m hoping it is just a delay, & that the leaves don’t all drop without changing. I look forward to that beauty each year.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Here’s one of those good news/bad news things. . .

    The good news is that DCF has wrapped up their investigation, & has determined that Mr X has been physically & emotionally neglectful of his son. That will help, along with the criminal charges, when Nightingale gets around to pursuing sole custody. (Please pray she doesn’t delay. She has a habit of putting off those kinds of things.)

    The bad news is that my sweet grandson has a neglectful (& I believe potentially physically abusive) father. 😦

    I love that little boy so much. It hurts to see what he is going through. We are so grateful to be here for him, to be a part of his daily life.

    Liked by 2 people

  31. Michelle, for the tag, something like this, if it isn’t too long:

    Heart-touching stories filtered through on location meticulous research.

    Hope-filled is good, too, but heart-touching might prove to be more inclusive.

    Also, I think that it is good to know that you do go on location to add extra weight to your research. At one of the most recent writer conferences I attended, one class presenter showed how to use Google Maps for researching locations, at least for contemporary works. It was interesting, but it does not give all the dimensions/sensations of actually being there.

    Finally, I think what you are considering to use for a tag line needs to be more from the perspective of the reader and not just what you hope they will think about your work from your perspective. I don’t know if that even makes sense. I am a bit foggy lately even though I did sleep well last night after getting in some walking with Art.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Yard is done. Check!

    Now to cook.

    Suppose to see son really late today.

    Has anyone else gotten notice that their health insurance plan will no longer be available after December 31, 2016? Got that inthe mail from Aetna yesterday. Just another little something to add to my stress. This is the second time I have lost my plan since ACA came into play.

    Like

  35. Janice, I actually think “hope” is a stronger word than “heart” simply because phrases with “heart” have become overused and thereby cliched.

    Hope filled, research based. ? I’m not particularly good at slogans, but do think shorter is better.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. Janice, I got such a notice a few years ago, and we switched me to one of those Christian sharing plans, along with one of our daughters (the other two family members were on other insurance, and couldn’t be switched because of pre-exisiting conditions). Insurance has really gotten complicated.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Good points on the tag line, Cheryl. I was looking at it from my reader’s point of view as a book reviewer. I was thinking that most Christian books tug at the heart, and we want to see happy endings, but that is not always an honest possibility this side of heaven. A sad ending as well as a happy ending both touch the reader’s heart.

    Hope is my word for this year so I do really like that word. I guess I do feel the word hope is a bit ambiguous because does it mean the hope of heaven or hope for a better life here on earth or what? That is my problem with using the word hope. Maybe I am analyzing it too much?

    Like

  41. I think a tag line should be short and catchy– From the Bay to the Beach; and all points in between.
    Bell a tor (where I work) bellator is Latin for warrior. Our tag line is “Let’s Join Forces”. The CEO is a Marine. (side note Bellatrix the fem. version was a character in Harry Potter.
    I agree with Cheryl. HOPE is a stronger word and is more descriptive of Michelle’s writing. It’s the “meticulous research” that is giving me problems and I can’t explain why. In-depth Research? I don’t know…maybe in-depth has lost it meaning.
    Perhaps….”With a heart for research, hope filled stories”

    Liked by 2 people

  42. Everyone’s a theologian — some interesting results

    “What do Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible? Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research partnered to find out. These are the fundamental convictions that shape our society.”

    http://thestateoftheology.com/

    Like

  45. I am not good at all with wording of things, so I will refrain from trying to help 🙂

    Son and DIL-to-be are arriving tonight and tomorrow we will be going horseback riding – looking forward to their visit.

    Oh, and my dress for the wedding came – I love it!!

    Liked by 5 people

  46. Mr. P went to check out the Miata to see if he was comfortable in it. His head touched the roof and he was cramped into the driver’s seat so that decision is made. Part of the point of getting something else besides the Xterra having 10 HARD years on it is to get something besides his truck that he can comfortably be in.
    I am a little relieved. Like I told you yesterday I am used to being up on the road.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Fun reading the tagline/logo suggestions here. I’d participate if my brain weren’t mush right now. 🙂 End of the week does that to me.

    Rain and drought: we’ve had too much of the former lately, and there have been rain-related fatalities in our region this month, including a mud slide in the wee hours of the night that killed a man as he slept in his home.

    We are grateful for mostly sunny skies and beautiful temperatures this week, similar to what Peter describes.

    Michelle’s insomnia came my way last night. If I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, it almost invariably leads to insomnia. Not sure why that is. Third Arrow prepared a wonderful dinner last night — including a new recipe with hamburger, GF pasta, cottage cheese, sour cream, tomato sauce (and a little pizza sauce to supplement), cheddar cheese, and some seasonings and maybe other things I’m forgetting. Delicious! And so good with a glass of Pacific Redwood organic merlot from Northern CA.

    I hadn’t consumed any wine or other alcoholic beverage in the last few months or so, so it was a real treat, pairing it with last night’s particular meal. The resultant insomnia was worth it after such a satisfying meal. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  48. 6 Arrows. I had red wine Wednesday night at a work party for a coworker getting married. Over 3 hours I had two glasses of wine. I awoke at 2 am yesterday and didn’t sleep again until 10:30 last night. I don’t know why…perhaps I should google?

    Like

  49. I am a day early, but let me just throw out some huge raves today. 🙂

    🙂 Sister and family from the East Coast are coming to visit next month for my mom’s 76th birthday. It’s always wonderful when they can get to the Midwest, where the rest of us are.

    🙂 Fourth Arrow, for whom I have requested prayer many times in the last three months, finally seems to be on the road to restored health! Praise God, and thank you so much for your prayers. It was a pretty scary time for us, when there seemed to be few answers and nothing that was working. My husband had gone through a time many years ago like that, and ultimately, massage therapy was the thing that halted the chronic pain. It appears that’s what did the trick with our daughter now, too, as she had two massage therapy sessions last week, and started benefiting after the second one. She has another one scheduled for early next week with the person she saw the second time, and we are praying our daughter’s good progress away from chronic head pain will continue and be fully resolved. Thank you for joining us in prayers and praises to our gracious Lord for healing for our daughter.

    🙂 And this is a real biggie: after what I now recognize as a year’s-long foray through the valley of depression (probably 5 years now, as 2011 seemed to be the year it started, with the deaths of six significant people in my life in an 8-month time span), the Lord has lifted me from those depths! Three weeks ago was my birthday, and that seemed to be the turning point. Early September had been extremely difficult — there was some horrible spiritual warfare going on around that time, I feel almost certain — almost to the point of despair for me. And then my birthday came, and the sun came out. I don’t have adequate words to describe the experience, but everything was different. Peace, joy I felt I’d lost a long time before, and so many other things — positive emotions? I’m really at a loss for words — washed over me. God be praised for His miracles, and, yes, I do believe this is a miracle. I am in awe. The Lord is so good. Hallelujah!

    Liked by 4 people

  53. Good article, and the links within, some of which I read, also proved interesting.

    I never heard of tart cherries being a good preparation for quality sleep?! Learn something new every day. 🙂

    I’d heard before that, ounce for ounce, women are affected more by alcohol than men, but what I didn’t know until I read one of those links was that, even adjusting for weight differences between men and women, men will still be less affected by a certain percentage of alcohol for their body weight because their bodies have more water than women’s.

    Always interesting to learn of the differences between men’s and women’s bodies.

    And now am I getting too political? 🙂

    Like

  54. I am itching to share some probable good news, but we won’t know for sure for maybe another week or two, so I will refrain. To be continued… 😉

    Liked by 3 people

  56. OK, sorry. 😉 Yes indeed, friends you are.

    Some promising job-related news with 1st Arrow, who interviewed a while back for a good job in his field. I’d requested prayer for him at the time of the first interview (by Skype). Later I reported that that had gone well, and a face-to-face interview was next. The day after that interview, they contacted him that if he wanted the job, and upon successful completion of mounds of paperwork and a background check (working in a sensitive area), the job would be his. 🙂

    Yes, he really does want the job! and he submitted everything this week, ahead of the deadline. So while we don’t know for sure, we are pretty optimistic that he will get this job.

    An exciting time for him, as he has been searching for work in his degree area since graduating last year.

    And thank you once again for your faithful prayers, friends. I’ll let you know when there is official news on that front. 🙂

    Liked by 7 people

  59. Have to be careful around here. Chas has the time zones figured out and knows when I stay up late reading. It is Saturday so I could sleep in.
    Loved Michelle’s blog and that she acknowledged us without giving us away. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  61. Kare, that sounds like a good time with your son and future DIL tomorrow. Enjoy!

    Fun blog, Michelle. 🙂

    Chas, your memory is better than mine — I can never remember how many hour’s difference between Jo and me. I know it changes based on whether the states are on Daylight Savings Time or Daylight Wasting Time 😉 but beyond that, I forget the difference.

    There were a couple recent reminders in my face-to-face world about my Wandering Views people. I was sitting in the waiting room at one of my daughter’s massage therapy appointments, and in a local magazine I was reading about winners in a survey of various products, services, business establishments, favorite recreational areas etc.

    They listed the top three vote-getters in each of dozens of categories of local interest.

    One category announced the top 3 area dog parks. 🙂 I had no idea we had any! I guess we in the Midwest are just as hip as LA. 😀

    And in other news, the friend with whom I’ll be performing duets next weekend is out of town this weekend with her husband. She is going to a Midwestern meet-up of friends her husband knows from an online chat room. 🙂

    Really cool to know people in my face-to-face world who also do the blog-meetup thing like so many here. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  64. I dreamed about a blog meet up, but it was not exactly the very same as my friends on here, but similar people…maybe since I have not met anyone in person that my dream filter changed everyone a bit. It was at a restaurant and some were late because of the distance they had to drive from. I remember trying to line up for a group photo and there were more people trying to fit in than we have here on the blog. It was an enjoyable dream, but a bit concerning because of being worried about the late ones.

    Like

  65. We had a nice rain last night. As I finished my walk nd it was getting dark, I stayed outside to see if it was rain headed across the valley. Someone else stopped by and said that they were sure it was just smoke. A while later we got a good rain shower. It will help the very dusty roads and wash off my car as well as water the earth.

    Liked by 5 people

  66. 6 arrows- I wonder if the dog parks in our neck of the woods are as cold as the ones in LA. We don’t have the sea breeze, but they don’t get those Arctic blasts from the North. (I’d say Canada, but I don’t want Roscuro or Kare to think I blame them for our winter weather.)

    Liked by 2 people

  67. I came here this morning and saw a new picture. but the caption said “IT”S FRDAy”
    It ain;t Friday no more.
    It ain’t even September!

    Like

  68. Yup, we moved on to October. One of my favorite months. Are trees changing color wherever you are?
    Aj posted so early yesterday, I think he wants us to wait for today.

    Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.