59 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-14-17”

  4. At 6:05, RK has to be first. I’m just rolling out now.
    And it’s only 9:06 p.m. for Jo now. She should still be around.

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  7. Good morning!
    It’s our Spring Break….Becca had a friend from school spend the night last night…Lindsey went to the rodeo…so I was up late waiting for her to get home. But, unfortunately , no matter what time I go to bed, I always awaken by 6:30…..I need more coffee….

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  9. Jo, sorry you were ill! Good you get a break to recover.

    It looks like for photos we get to start with the interloper, the starling. Our “feeder tree” is a sycamore, and that is what this fellow is sitting on. I chase the starlings when they get to the feeders and sometimes I chase them before they land on one. But this fellow was just sitting on the tree, and so I took a few shots before chasing it away. It’s actually a rather pretty and interesting bird–but it’s a feeder hog, it doesn’t belong in America, and it claims other birds’ nesting sites, sometimes killing them in the process–it and the non-native house sparrow being the reason we don’t have as many bluebirds in America as we used to, to note just one species hurt by this bird. But Shakespeare made the mistake of mentioning the starling in a play, and someone wanted us to have all the species mentioned in Shakespeare, and so this creature was brought to the US, and it thrived beyond anyone’s expectations.

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  10. Good Morning Everyone. Last night BG, Mr P, and I watched To Kill A Mockingbird. I always tear up at the end of the movie…I don’t with the book.
    She was up quite a bit yesterday afternoon and last night. Nana had sent home some chicken noodle soup she had made. BG told me that she discovered Nana had chopped up chicken livers and put in the soup. 😉 Her father, her aunt, and I had a good laugh about it. Sneaky, old woman.
    I had a bad experience with the first therapist’s office that was recommended. They can’t see her until the end of May and the receptionist was flat out RUDE. I told her I was referred by another therapist I know. She told me to call them back and get a different referral. No offer to help. No understanding whatsoever. Just un-caring rudeness. I then went and Googled the doctor and read the reviews. It seems I am not the only one to have this experience with the office. They say the therapist is wonderful but not worth the woman in the front office.
    The second therapist that has been recommended is in Mobile. About a 45 minute drive and one I am willing to make if it helps but it sure would have been nice to use the one right here in town. Of course I called their office yesterday and had to leave a message. Why does everything have to be so complicated????

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  11. Kim: good luck finding the right therapist. I urge you to proceed with caution–I went to grad school in Social Work and at least half the people in the program were nuts. A good therapist is wonderful but the wrong one can be disastrous….

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  12. I have two friends who are Christian therapists. I asked them for recommendations. Neither treat what I am looking for. I have another that is more of an acquaintance but am making a judgment call about her. She is very thin herself and I have heard her say she “eats to live” she isn’t really interested in food. Nope.

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  13. Hope you feel better soon, Jo – the stomach flu has been making the rounds here.

    Class is cancelled today, not due to illness; but because the university is shut down due to the snow – it has been snowing for about 24 hours now. In a way, that is good for me. I have three major assignments due next week, and had been feeling swamped. Now I have a little more time to work on them. It is the first time class has been cancelled the whole year.

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  14. Good morning, all. Jo, hope you get to feeling better.

    Ann, I meant to ask you how Lindsey’s recovery has been following her concussion after being thrown from the horse? I can’t remember how long it’s been since that happened. Are there any lingering effects from that?

    Ricky, prayers for your missionary friends and their baby. What you wrote on the prayer thread last night brought back a lot of memories of when the neighbor boy was born at 25 weeks and 4 days — brain bleeds, possibility of blindness. Fortunately, he recovered well and is a healthy seven-year-old now. I’d never thought, though, of how thinking of God’s omnipresence would be such a comfort to parents in that situation. So true.

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  15. Thanks, 6Arrows. I know Sarah appreciates everyone’s prayers. It is interesting to go to her Facebook page. Since death threats forced her to leave Tunisia, Sarah has ministered to international students at major universities in Central Texas. Those students saw her faith during the easier times. They have noticed that her faith does not change during tough times.

    Sarah’s parents have four arrows. My wife and I have taught them all. They are an impressive bunch.

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  18. The books worked. Kept the bed steady and no creaking or cracking sounds last night — but I’m still sleeping on the far (stable) side and have reversed position so my head is at the footboard (the front of the bed is where there are more problems.

    Still waiting for Dan the Furniture Repair Man to call so we can arrange for him to come pick the bed up. He’s the one who suggested stacking books under the broken spots until then.

    Jo, that illness sounds miserable.

    Prayers on finding just the right therapist, Kim. Waiting until May for an appointment seems like not a very good scenario, but I suppose the good ones have filled schedules.

    How’s that blizzard, all you in the east? We still have out really dense fog out here — and it still seems too early to get up with this time change.

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  19. Still snowing gently here. Apparently, southwest of here, the sun is shining and it never snowed, but here we got what is called the ‘lake effect’ in the Great Lakes region. Normally, it is Buffalo, NY, which receives the brunt of the lake effect around Lake Ontario, but it’s our turn now.

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  20. Looking at the reports, it looks like Buffalo is still worse off than we are – the difference between being on the west side of the lake vs. the east side.

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  22. Good Morning…it is spring here…heard a hummingbird…so up went the feeders!
    So good to see you back Jo…praying for complete and quick healing for you… ❤
    Morning Ann!!! I with you…needing another cup of coffee…I slept in until 8:15 this morning….not liking the effects of the time change on my brain! But I do like the fact that it is lighter longer in the evenings….I can get home from work before I turn into a pumpkin!!
    Praying for just the right therapist for BG….He knows…He cares…trusting He will lead you to just the right person to help her…. ❤

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  23. When I flew out of Chicago to Toronto on my way home, I vividly remember looking out over the city toward Lake Michigan, and seeing the towering clouds coming in off the lake, looking like the special effects of sandstorms seen in films, only in grey. The sun was setting in the opposite direction, and the city lights were coming on, making the outlines of the roads visible. Planes, seen from their flight lights, were coming out of the cloud bank and circling over the city in layers, as they waited to land or took off. It looked as if the city was under attack by some fantastical force that could conjure up grey mists and an army of fiery dragons.

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  24. Roscuro, I was living in Chicago on 9/11. When buildings were hit by airplanes in an unknown “pattern,” it occurred to me that the Sears Tower might be on the agenda for the day. I felt palpable relief when planes were grounded. A day or two later (before planes were back in the air) I saw a small plane flying and wasn’t happy about it.

    A month or two later, well into the time planes were back in the air, I was driving to work when I saw a plane fly out over Lake Michigan and aim (from my perspective in the car) toward the Hancock Center. I knew it was probably simply going around the buildings before aiming for the runways at O’Hare–I myself had flown out over Lake Michigan on a couple of approaches to the airport. But even “knowing” it was probably the situation, I held my breath until I saw the plane on the other side.

    The day after 9/11, I received my copy of World magazine, when its advertising section was still called the World Trade Center. As I flipped through its pages, one full-page print ad caught my attention and made me gasp. Skyscrapers were pictured, and between them (behind them) was an airplane, in one of the most poorly timed advertising decisions in history. Planes and buildings no longer said “travel to exotic cities”; they said “death.”

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  25. Cheryl, I found the Sears Tower looked surprisingly small to me. I don’t know if it is because Chicago is so flat, so the spread of the city around makes the tower seem insignificant, or what its was. I’ve seen other tall buildings from the air, such as in Toronto and New York, and not had the same impression.

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  26. 6 Arrows, thanks for asking yesterday about the cath schedule. I still haven’t heard from them. I’ll wait a few more days and then start pestering them.

    I looked up the doctor my cardiologist told me would be doing the procedure. She specializes in cath interventions related to congenital heart defects and has a lot of experience. So I feel I’m in good hands, medically speaking. It makes me glad to live within driving distance of Cleveland Clinic.

    Most of southeastern Michigan got 2-4 inches of snow yesterday, but our area got 6. I was not expecting that after our mild snowless February! I guess we got off easy though compared to our northeastern friends!

    My son’s getting his first flying lesson today. He is excited!

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  27. Rocuro, one thing that surprised me about Chicago was how many miles of skyscrapers there were. Any single building didn’t look so tall when even everyday office buildings and apartments were 20 or 30 stories tall. Growing up in Phoenix, we occasionally went downtown, and then it was “Look there are the skyscrapers,” and we pretty much had to look quickly or we missed them. When I moved away from Phoenix, it was the ninth largest city in the country; within a handful of years it had moved up to number six. But skyscrapers haven’t caught on in Phoenix, perhaps largely because heat rises. To me it was a bit like California’s redwoods–when we went when I was a child, I was underawed because I’d been amazed at the height of the pine trees as we got to the region. Because of their context, the super-tall pine trees, I was less impressed by the world-famous ones than if they had stood among normal pines. Likewise, the Sears tower is now one among thousands, many of them only a few stories shorter. But the view from inside it is pretty cool–I only went up in it once, but went up in the Hancock several times.

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  28. Do you really want to know what it’s like here?

    Roaring fighter jets, bird sing, waterfalls, deep blue ocean, balmy 78 degrees.

    We’re going to wander down Waikiki in search of breakfast, climb Diamond Head, watch my daughter turn into Medusa at the Pali Lookout and spend the day at one of our favorite spots in the world: Bellows Beach.

    Yesterday was full of spiritual reflections with old friends, including a couple who knew my daughter during her dark period and prayed.

    Ten years ago I could only dream my daughter and I would be so companionable.

    All I can say is, God is good.

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  30. So, what do you think of the yellow, black, and white bird? What species is it, and what sex? (Yes, I know the answers.)

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  31. It looks like that little starling is looking up at that huge goldfinch in the header. 😉

    Cheryl, we had problems with starlings for a while. They’d monopolize the bird feeders, coming in flocks of about two dozen. The other birds could hardly get in when they were around. Some weeks later, I think (don’t remember how long exactly), I read that starlings are attracted to corn, and I had been making homemade suet that had cornmeal in it. I changed the recipe and took out the cornmeal, and not much after that, the starlings disappeared, and I have not seen them since. That was years ago. It’s possible they would have moved on, anyway, but I think it did help deter them when I quit using cornmeal.

    Not sure what else they’re attracted to, or what causes them to stay in an area, or move on from the area. I’m just glad they moved on from my backyard. 😉

    Kevin, that sounds exciting for your son. Flying lessons — wow — I’ve never been up in any aircraft of any sort, much less flown it. 🙂

    Ricky, that sounds neat, about Sarah ministering to international students at universities in your area. I read a book from our church library a number of years ago — wish I could remember the title — that was about finding opportunities to witness Christ to immigrants / international students / and similar groups right in one’s own vicinity. Great that she has taken that opportunity to minister here after leaving Tunisia. And what a testimony, continuing to live out her faith through the challenging times she’s facing now with Daniel.

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  35. 6 Arrows, they seem mostly to come to the suet (which we only put out in winter), and we buy it so I’m not sure what all is in it. We deal with them by chasing them away, and if that doesn’t work (if they start coming in large numbers), then we take down all the feeders for a few days, and we usually don’t have a problem when we put them back up. Right now the blackbirds are flocking in their late-winter flocks (in this area, that means red-winged blackbirds and a few starlings, grackles, and cowbirds mixed in–the starlings mostly flock with other starlings, but they do mix in with the others, too), and I think that once they establish nesting terrorities the nuisance will largely be over.

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  36. Duluth, MN had lake effect snow in part of the city. One area had over a foot, while a mile or so in other areas, there was an inch or so. Across the harbor in Superior was also a whole lot of snow. Over the hill, which is a short jaunt, there was no new snow. Lake effect is very interesting.

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  37. In Chicago I once saw a lake-effect thunder-snow-storm. Very heavy snow, with thunder and lightning mixed in. Fascinating, but not something I’d want to see every day!

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  38. I signed up to be the one to take cookies to church Sunday. Usually when I do that I make one batch of chocolate chip and one of something else. Our younger daughter likes to make things, too, but sometimes her schedule gets busy and she tends to wait to the last minute to bake (or not bake) anything. So I make chocolate chip cookies several days in advance (setting out some to be eaten by family and then freezing the rest for church) and wait to see if on Saturday she still plans to make anything, and if not I end up scrambling to think of something to make, and making it.

    Last time I signed up to make something, I got sick and she didn’t have time to make anything, so we sent store-bought cookies. So I re-signed up for this coming week, and then I made three batches of cookies right away, and today I made the fourth batch: I’m making four different varieties of chocolate chip cookies. If anyone doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies, this isn’t their week. 🙂 I’ll have Toll house with chocolate chunks, too house with chocolate chips and pecans, chocolate chip cookies made with molasses and browned butter (my husband’s favorite), and double chocolate (my favorite). The double chocolate ones are dangerously rich, safe only for true chocoholics.

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  44. No “peeecans”??!!! My favorite would be shortbread cookies with “peeecans”!!
    Temps are in the 60’s today….Spring cleaning for me today! 🙂

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  45. Are there any cookies left?

    Cheryl, I think there are some brands of suet that contain corn, IIRC. I use my old suet trays from store-bought brands to put my homemade suet into. Some trays are flimsier than others, and have to eventually be thrown away because the sides rip after several uses, but it’s nice being able to reuse them for my own suet, which is cheaper than buying the commercial suet. I only buy it now when I need new trays.

    My recipe, if you’re interested in making your own, is to melt 3 lbs. shortening on the stove, then stir in 2 cups peanut butter. After that’s melted, gradually stir in 5 lbs. of white flour. I don’t know if it’s the healthiest thing for birds (I know white flour isn’t great for humans, but birds, well, I don’t worry too much about them). 😉 But I find it an inexpensive way to attract some lovely birds to our backyard, in the winter, anyway. That recipe makes about 10 trays of suet.

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  46. 6 Arrows, I have recipes for it, and I may make it at some point . . . but we’ve stocked up on Black Friday sales (3/$1.00) and we only set it out in the winter, so it isn’t that expensive for us. I imagine that at some point I’ll try making it, though.

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  47. I’d make it with lard, and I don’t know offhand where to buy that, nor whether it would actually be any cheaper than buying it inexpensively. They recommend not making it with vegetable shortening–it doesn’t give the birds the fat they need. (I once saw a Q & A with someone who was a vegan asking if it was OK to make it that way, and she was told quite strongly that it isn’t good for the birds, so she needed to either make it with animal fat or not do it at all.)

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  48. Portrait #3 is a shy song sparrow. They haven’t been around here this winter until yesterday. I don’t know if it is just one song sparrow or a couple of them, but it/they have been frequent visitors since the snow came yesterday.

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  52. 3/$1.00?! Wow. I’ve never seen suet anywhere near that low a price at any time.

    I guess I’ll have to quit with the vegetable shortening, if it’s that bad. I didn’t actually put out any suet this winter, though. Even making it cheaply was a cost I couldn’t justify this year. 😦

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  58. 6Arrows: just got caught up on yesterday’s thread. Thanks for asking about Lindsey. She has no residual effects from the concussion–at least none that are apparent. Fortunately, she’s managed to stay on the horse since then. She will graduate next December….it’s hard to believe. We’ve been looking at colleges…. and I’ve been reminiscing about her childhood. I still remember so vividly when I learned I was pregnant with her…I simply cannot believe her time at home is almost over.

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