101 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-12+13-19”

  5. Who, in her right mind, would go out into the snow to take a picture of a bird in the snow?
    We have another snow event forecast for tonight.
    Greensboro has had enough snow already.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Jo, what’s a village program?

    Chas, in the Midwest snow sometimes sticks around for a few days. Just cuz there is snow on the ground doesn’t mean it’s actively snowing. And I don’t remember if it was snowing when I took that photo (though it probably wasn’t). What I do remember is that I could tell from our back window (with my zoom lens) that the back field had two species of birds I’d never photographed. It had snow buntings, and the only time I had seen them was a flock that flew as we drove past, and I looked them up when we got home and found them to be snow buntings, and the field also had a few of this species, a horned lark. (The males have tiny little black “horns” on the sides of their heads, and I did send AJ a photo that shows a male with its horns raised.) I saw birds with lots of white flying around, and I zoomed in expecting to see snow buntings, and found one of these in my lens, so I went out.

    The farmer’s field had grown corn that season, and you can see the crop debris around the bird. This is probably the best photo I got that day. There were only a few birds of each species, even standing at the fence I wasn’t all that close to them, and they were moving among the corn waste and not always easily visible. But for the rest of the winter, any time birds moved in that field, I looked to see if these species were among them, and as far as I could see they never were. So this was so far my one and only chance to photograph either species. (I did get snow bunting as well, but as I recall, no shot that showed the entire bird, or the entire bird other than the feet, like this one. I don’t remember for sure.)

    That was our last winter in that house (and yes, sometimes I do miss that lovely back field). Over the seven winters we were there, it probably isn’t the only time these species came to the field, as they are both birds of fields and I did see snow buntings flying from a field a mile away a few years before. But other times I saw several small birds in the field, I either knew them to be house sparrows or assumed, based on previous experience, that they were. After seeing these, I wondered if I might have missed them before. But I did get to see them once. And they are really lovely, if subtle, little birds.

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  7. But it IS snowing now, and I’m on my way to the pond to see what I can see, whether or not anyone thinks I’m in my right mind to do so. 🙂 I’m more worried about my camera than about myself, but I’ll be careful.

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  8. Cheryl, I know. I was just “pulling your chain” (I know. You young folks don’t know what that means. ) 😉
    I was in West Lafayette for a year in 1972, up near where you live.
    It is just a dreary day in Greensboro. Elvera went to sleep in “the big chair”. Her breathing was so shallow that I was fearful for a minute.

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  10. I would rather have the snow than the dreary. 😦 The thoughts older people have that we don’t have when we are young. Glad it was just a scare, Chas.

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  11. We had a spend the night last night. Maddie slept in her crib until 12. The rest of the night? Well she wasn’t happy. I think she had a tummy ache. She cried and said ma ma ma MA. She is 9 months. Time to sleep through the night. I let my own cry herself back to sleep but I am NOT doing it with this one. Her mother can have that privilege. My job is to love her.
    She and Grandpa are down for their morning nap.
    Work is busy. Yesterday we had no working toilets in the building. When I left I told them I was going back to Alabama where we had indoor plumbing that WORKED!!!!
    I also had another “tantrum” at the office. I found out yesterday that the admin office had lost a commission check and one of my top agents hasn’t been paid. Her closing was 11 days ago. The goal is 24 to 48 hour turn around. NOT acceptable. Now the title company had been contacted and will reissue the check. I am will to hold a check if an agent’s files are incomplete but I will NOT let an agent go unpaid due to our mistake. (Perhaps That should have been on rants and raves?)

    Liked by 8 people

  13. Who, in her right mind, would go out into the snow to take a picture of a bird in the snow?

    Since creativity is controlled by the left side of the brain, then no one uses their “right mind” to get a good photo. 😉

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  14. It looks like we have 6 inches of snow so far, and it’s supposed to keep coming all day. I guess no church tomorrow. On top of that, the forecast is for freezing rain Sunday night. I guess no school on Monday.

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  15. oh oh oh, I LOVE that photo. I called my husband over and told him he needed to paint it!!
    Just beautiful.

    We’d never go out if we didn’t go out in the snow. It’s supposed to warm up here a bit today and I need to get out and get some fresh air. I am going to sit in husband’s chair in the living room in the sun streaming in the window today as well. Feeling a bit SAD.

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  16. Well, I went out, and I think I got some good photos. I also got a good workout–my thighs were saying awful things about my life choices and my whole family by the time I returned home. Three miles in snow is not the same as three miles on dry pavement, believe it or not!

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  17. Morning! On the “news” they keep telling that up here we should have about 8-9 inches…but they truly need to come up “here” and see what we have….around a foot of snow and even more if you count the stuff that melted in initially yesterday. We are good with it…and I just may get out there and have a walk. Our temps are 27 degrees with very light wind so it should be rather enjoyable ⛄️

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  18. Re: my 7:07
    I’m thinking like an old man again.
    When you’re young, you go out into the snow. If you fall, you brush yourself off and go about your business. I have done that.
    There comes a time. And it will happen to you.
    When you go out in the snow, and fall. you go to a hospital. .

    Liked by 3 people

  19. Oh I shall wear my micro spikes ! It is snowpacked and not so slippery out on our roads yet…neighbors haven’t driven on the roads yet and it is perfect for a walk. Now when the sun comes out and glazes over the snow to ice…I shall be staying off of that stuff…I do not need to break a hip…or neck!! 🙃

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  20. It’s a beautiful day here with rain forecast for tomorrow. Mr. fit has gone and returned from his run. He’ll head to church soon to fix things.

    I’m sitting on the couch while two Adorables play.

    It was a shock to realize all the grandchildren can read now. They’re growing up! I’m feeling old.

    But then I remembered we have a new crop (2) coming who don’t know how to read, so it will be fun introducing them to books, too.

    Once they leave, I’m going to the gym for a free spin class. Apparently riding a bicycle inside takes special training . . .

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  21. Chas, you may not recall, but I had a fall this last summer on perfectly dry ground that took more than two months even to begin to heal, more than three months to heal (I ended up being allergic to the antibiotic ointment). I’m not “young” enough not to need to think about falls. In my younger years, I fainted a few times (probably low blood pressure, is my hunch now). Falls get more serious with age, but having already been injured by falls a few times, and not being naturally graceful, I do think about them.

    However, walking in fresh snow a few inches deep (not too deep, not too shallow, not shoveled and slushy, and not frozen) is actually pretty safe. Each step is cushioned, snow stops your feet if they do slide a little, and if I did happen to fall, I’d rather fall in snow wearing gloves than on dry sidewalk–the snow provides some padding and so do gloves. The snow plow had been through on the trail (no one had shoveled the walks it took to get to the trail), but I actually walked on the edge of the trail, where there was still a couple of inches of snow, instead of in the shallow slush that remained after plowing. From my years in Chicago, I know the recently plowed/shoveled areas are the slickest. Slip just a little in actual snow–as I did once this morning–and you probably won’t go down, because the snow provides resistance and your foot won’t slip far. But slip on wet, slushy pavement, and you’re likely to fall onto hard, wet pavement. Ice is another story, but 30-degree fluffy snow is at least as safe as dry ground, at least on a flat sidewalk. I was a bit more careful than usual on slopes and crossing streets!

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  22. We had a downpour last night, when it rains so hard you just hear a loud din going on and on. It was wonderful. It’s still raining this morning, lighter but very steady, mud is everywhere. …

    Walking in snow is like walking in beach sand — you’re right, Cheryl, not the same, it can wear you out quickly. Looking forward to the photos, though 🙂

    I think I’ll make a trip to the hardware store to pick up some mats for the kitchen floor as we’re supposed to have rain steady all week. Of course, I’ll not be the only one with that idea today, so I may be hopping around to a few hardware / big box type stores in search of what I need. For today I just put down paper towels in the kitchen. I wanted to pick up mats yesterday but was too busy with work all day.

    Meanwhile, I am getting a scratchy throat. I’ll be honest, it wouldn’t make me unhappy to fall sick by Monday so I could skip some of that initial “out in the (rainy) field” coverage of the picket lines which I’m told will be forming by 7 a.m.

    I need to find boots, last I remember I had packed them away under the bed in a storage bag (I think).

    Oh, here comes the din of rain again …

    At least my roof doesn’t leak 🙂 But oh, the gas bill that came in the mail last night. I am going to have rely more on sweatshirts in the house going forward for the rest of winter.

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  23. We’ve had two church ladies in the past week who fell and suffered breaks without snow involved. The church secretary feel in the parking lot and broke her arm or shoulder,and a young mom, wife of a church plant pastor feel with her baby in a carrier and fortunately did not hurt the baby but banged up her leg badly. I think people live in such a rush and forget to be as careful as they should be.

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  24. It’s gotten up to the 40s now,but with windchill it feels like 34. Art took me out early for grocery shopping and a stop at the bank. All was complete by 9:08. Not having a car is clearly an efficiency motivator. I told Art I would get my morning exercise by running through Publix.

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  28. I’m especially careful walking the dogs at night — we have many buckled sidewalks here, thanks to the huge ficus and other trees planted early on in the 1900s. The city didn’t realize then how the roots in these things would damage the infrastructure of streets and sidewalks. I have two of those huge trees in my backyard and there’s one in front of the neighbor’s house near the street — former owner, Real Estate Guy who was turning the house around for sale with a couple partners at the time — paid to have someone come in and tap off the roots and fix the sidewalk which had buckled in a major way. Many said just take the tree out, but it’s such a grand icon on our particular street (which has many of the old trees).

    At any rate, I do watch my feet as I’m walking the dogs walking at night! Even a small crack in a sidewalk, if you’re not picking your feet up sufficiently, can send you into a hard spill.

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  29. Peter – (re: your comment to me last night) Two Facebook friends (and former WMB regulars – “Cameron” and Kyle Ambrose) also know Trevor Johnson. Cameron and TJ know him online, and met him in person once when he was home on furlough. Kyle knows him personally, having lived and worked in the same area at one time. (Kyle is currently a teacher/missionary in Indonesia.)

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  30. Interesting piece from World — much of the new “social gospel” also (I believe, in more left-leaning circles anyway) revolves around sexual identity issues.

    https://world.wng.org/content/history_repeats_itself
    ________________________________

    Today’s social justice debate in the evangelical church feels eerily similar to the debate that led to division in the Protestant church in the early 20th century. Then, the debate didn’t center on social justice but the social gospel.

    The social gospel debate 100 years ago

    Advocates of the social gospel believed the church should be engaged in the culture, fighting against injustice and working to uplift the impoverished and downtrodden—all admirable goals. The problem was they unwittingly allowed secular assumptions to inform their theology of cultural engagement. Their profoundly un-Biblical mindset is nicely captured in this quote from social gospel advocate, journalist Horace Greeley:

    “The heart of man is not depraved … his passions do not prompt to wrong doing, and do not therefore by their actions, produce evil. Evil flows only from social [inequality]. Give [people] full scope, free play, a perfect and complete development, and universal happiness must be the result. … Create a new form of Society in which this shall be possible … then you will have the perfect Society; then you will have the Kingdom of Heaven.”

    In response, the fundamentalist movement rose up to defend the gospel and orthodox Biblical teaching. The fundamentalists rightly called out social gospel advocates for their compromised, heretical teaching. But in doing so, they threw the baby out with the bathwater. Any talk of social and cultural transformation was now suspect. Fighting for justice was a distraction from preaching the gospel. The church should withdraw from secular culture and focus exclusively on personal holiness and evangelism.

    What was lost in this tragic episode was the historic Biblical theology of justice and cultural engagement—the kind championed by Amy Carmichael, William Wilberforce, and William Carey, an approach to ministry that seamlessly links gospel proclamation and discipleship to social and cultural impact. …

    The social justice debate today

    Today, evangelical advocates of social justice similarly want to fight against injustice and engage in the culture. But like the earlier social gospel advocates, they too have unwittingly allowed their theology of justice to be contaminated, this time by un-Biblical postmodern and neo-Marxist ideas, leading a group of evangelicals to come together in opposition to this view.

    The conflict has been simmering for some time but is now out in the open with the release of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel supported by John MacArthur, Douglas Wilson, Voddie Baucham, and others. …

    … Evangelical social justice champions include, among others, Ken Wytsma, founder of the Justice Conference, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which gave platform to an advocate of #BlackLivesMatter at its flagship Urbana student missions conference in 2015. The movement also receives support from key leaders of The Gospel Coalition, such as Thabiti Anyabwile, and well-known pastors such as Matt Chandler and David Platt. …

    Here’s what I appreciate about the evangelical social justice champions. They care about social issues, such as poverty, racism, and the plight of the refugee. They want to see communities flourish. Their theology isn’t marred by an un-Biblical sacred-secular dualism.

    Here’s where I have concerns: They’ve uncritically absorbed many of the assumptions and much of the language of the social justice movement—assumptions that veer sharply from a Biblical worldview. As a result, they find themselves unwittingly syncretized to a false religion, one that works against the very thing they purport to champion—genuine justice. …
    _________________________________

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  32. I’ve fallen on ice (didn’t know it was there), but I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in snow. If I did, I didn’t get hurt, since I have no memorable falls in snow.

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  33. I wanted to make a snow angel in our last snow, which was greater than a foot, but was afraid I could not get up with all my gear on. (insulated coveralls and snow boots)

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  35. I walked to school yesterday and the roads were full of large, loose gravel. I went very carefully as the way is down a steep hill. Last night friends came by to visit and bring me dinner. Well, they had also rented and delivered the singles van to me so that I would have transportation until my car is fixed by autoshop. God is good.

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  37. Christmas decorations are finally all down–Don’t judge. It’s been a whirlwind of a January so far.
    Grandpa is down for his afternoon nap. I have to give him accolades. He mostly stayed up with a fussy baby and let me sleep. We discussed that her parents need to let her cry it out. He and the Mommy discussed it when we dropped her off. I told them they could do it January 20 through 22 and February 15-20 when I will be out of town.
    Don’t look at me. I did it. I have told you often of my ex-mother in law AKA Nana. When BG was 6 months old I spent the night with Nana and Pop because I had volunteered to work Mardi Gras Day before I knew that daycare was closed that day. BG still nursed a couple of times a night. I stumbled into the kitchen the next morning and Nana handed me a cup of coffee and said, “It’s no wonder you look like a plucked chicken! You have got to make that baby sleep through the night”. Because I knew no better, I have always done what she told me so we started working on it that very night. She cried. I cried. Her Da (same word for her Daddy or our dog at the time) both thought it was inhumane and I think both of them walked in circles and whined.
    Nana has always said exactly what she means and doesn’t sugar coat anything! 😉

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  38. Kim, I did that for our daughter. I let her cry and cry and when she finally stopped, I went in to check on her – she was fast asleep with both her legs stuck through the crib bars. I felt so horrible, but she slept through the night after that 🙂

    Our son slept through the night on the first night home from the hospital and every night after. God knew I couldn’t handle getting up for him 🙂 (and by through the night, I mean at least 8 hours!!

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  40. My doctor told me to let my first born cry when she wouldn’t go to sleep. It was difficult, but she did become a good sleeper.

    Kim, if it makes you feel good, I see lots of Christmas decorations still up around the towns we drive around in. You are not alone.

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  41. My children were older when they finally gave up the ghost and slept through the night.

    Our daughter was about 18 months, we had finally gotten settled in Hawai’i after three chaotic months. We decided to let her cry it out.

    But in Hawai’i housing, the jalousie window were always open and the room she shared was on the street.

    Unbeknownst to me, her crying bothered the neighbors.

    One called the neighbor two doors down and asked them to go check on the baby, “because you know them better.”

    Glen walked down and stood at the end of the driveway. He heard me go in–one of my few moments of calm motherhood sanity–and say, “You’re okay. You just need to go to sleep. Lie down.”

    He went home, called the neighbor and said, “she’s learning cry herself to sleep.”

    Everyone felt better about letting her scream.

    When I heard this story the next morning, I reminded myself that Navy housing is a fishbowl. I needed to be calm, loving and soft-spoken–for four years.

    After four years, I was much improved.

    And everyone in the neighborhood slept through the night! 🙂

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  42. Another screaming baby story from Navy housing, Monterey.

    The mom was beside herself, walking the baby, nursing the baby, playing with the baby, and he wouldn’t stop crying.

    At four o’clock, the doorbell rang.

    It was two police officers. “Ma’am, we’ve had a report of a crying baby.”

    She thrust him at them, “Take him!”

    “Uh, ma’am, we can’t take the baby. We’re going to have to ask you to put him in the car and take him for a ride until he falls asleep.”

    Which she did.

    The next morning, the neighbor came over to apologize. “I’m so sorry. I was out to sea when my children were this age. I had no idea a baby could cry that long and that loud.”

    Fishbowl.

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  43. Michelle, today that would be fodder for some horrific speculation on social media.

    Our Next Door group (I’m a “looker” not so much a participant except on some occasions) is mostly in an uproar lately about the burn vs. no-burn crowd (fireplaces that is). Someone today finally told the one person (who’s always posting when the county has declared a NO-BURN DAY) to get off her soap box already. 🙂

    One resident today actually posted today is (gasp) a ‘burn’ day, it’s OK to use your wood fireplace! Kind of refreshing.

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  44. I survived the cycle class.

    It’s important to know one of my relatives cycles so much that he actually rode in front of the Tour de France one year with friends. His description of the switchbacks through the French Alps is inspiring–or insane, depending on who you are.

    Here in Sonoma County, I have in-laws who routinely bike 100 miles before lunch. Maybe even before breakfast.

    And I have female outlaws who are professional cyclists.

    I don’t like to exercise my quads anymore than I have to . . .

    But, it was a free class, so off I went.

    When I “chose” my bike, a man about my size (I’m 5’9′ and sturdy–not willowy thing) took the bike beside me.

    A stationary bike is a machine. You’re familiar with my machine issues.

    He kindly helped me adjust it properly, as our excellent instructor explained to us.

    The point of this class is to introduce you to cycling–which is why I took it.

    And then we were off.

    Of course, putting me beside a man about my age and size meant I had to hold up my pride and try to keep up with him.

    Swell.

    Of course, for him, having a middle-aged woman beside him meant he had to stay ahead of me.

    We were neck-and-neck, though he spent more time in the purple zone–far more–than I did.

    When all was said and done, and I practically fell off the bike in relief–I’d ridden 8.9 kms, or about 6 miles, in half an hour.

    Nothing compared to my relatives, but much faster than my usual brisk walk.

    I’m happy to report I feel great, no muscle soreness at all. It must have been the stretching.

    But, maybe I should find a younger guy to race next time? 🙂

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  46. I probably fell in snow as a kid on purpose a lot 🙂 But as an adult I have fallen on ice. Ouch. There’s also a slick muddy patch that oozes out onto the sidewalk at the end of my block here — one has to beware of that spot as it’s not always visible at night. But if it’s been wet or the people have watered, you’ll go a-slippin’ an’ slidin’

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  51. When I was about 15 I got to know a lady at church who was my dad’s age (50 years older than I) but who became in effect the grandmother I never have, and a dear friend. (I don’t think she ever really cared about our age difference, and I didn’t care very much about it. When years later a friend insisted that the 19 years between her and me meant we couldn’t “really” be friends, I thought about the fact that I have siblings up to 14 years older than me, and a close friend 50 years older, and wanted to roll my eyes. Nineteen years is “nothing” to me!)

    I first got to know Esther because of a family who attended (the parents didn’t, just the children), several siblings from a family of eight siblings that ranged from an infant into women in their mid-twenties, one of them married. Several of them were mentally retarded, and none of them very bright. One of the oldest loved her baby brother and was good with him, but she wasn’t very intelligent.

    One evening service my family sat near the back, and from the nursery we could hear constant wailing of an infant. Mom finally leaned over and told me “Go to the nursery and help out.” I loved babies, but our family didn’t put babies in nurseries, nor did we generally help in the nursery. But I quickly went to the nursery, to find a very tired Esther walking endlessly with a baby who would not quiet. We handed him back and forth for the next hour as he screamed, and we talked as best we could in spite of him. Some time after the service ended, his sister came with no fanfare and took him from us. He quieted instantly. And I wondered did she not hear him for the last hour? Did no one tell her, “The baby is crying and won’t stop”?

    I soon joined the choir and got to know Esther better because she sang in it, too, but that evening of screaming was our first contact.

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  53. Well, I survived the first day of the placement in which I will assist babies to come into the world and cry. It was a bit insane, as there was a serious sewage leak which wrecked an important room. The leak caused the alarms to go off, and they kept going off for several hours.

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  55. I probably wasn’t going to church anyway, but I just fell asleep and had a two hour nap. Guess I missed church. This evening is a special concert. But I will tend to sing quietly in my throat as I listen, so don’t think I should go.

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  56. A lady on Facebook shared a post that said “I know that good men still exist because I am lucky enough to have one.”

    Her husband (who happens to be my cousin) commented, “Better not let me find him.” 😀

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  58. That should say number. Umber is something else. All I know is Crayola used to have burnt umber as a color no one used. It was the sharpest crayon in the box.

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  60. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY
    🎂BIRTHDAY, KIZZIE🎂
    May you be full of the joy
    of the Lord today and
    throughout the year ahead.
    May goodness and mercy
    be yours in overflowing
    abundance to share with
    those in need. May the next
    year bring salvation in the
    Lord to your beloved ones
    May the losses of the past
    give less occasion for grief
    and more occasion for sweet
    remembrances that refill your
    heart with eternal love.
    Have a beautiful birthday
    my dear wander friend, Kizzie.
    🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂

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  61. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN
    It isn’t snowing. But it is raining, 34 degrees.
    SS is cancelled. We aren’t going out today.

    When we lived in our house trailer, we could hear the rain pattering on the roof. I liked the sound.
    When we moved out, the sound disappeared.
    However, this house has metal vents to the bathroom. We can hear the rain on them. Not loud and I don’t mind. Just brings memories. .

    Liked by 6 people

  62. The new photo isn’t good enough or sharp enough to be enlarged to that header size, but it shows the “horns” and yellow throat of the horned lark. My Field Guide to Birds of Arizona (which, unfortunately, is full of birds I’ve never seen, since I haven’t even been able to visit since my mom’s funeral 15 years ago, and when I lived there I didn’t have a bird camera or binoculars) says this of the horned lark: “A true ‘birder’s bird,’ the natty horned lark is rarely noticed by casual sightseers, but the practiced eye finds this quintessential open-country species everywhere in grasslands, agricultural landscapes, and the bleakest of deserts; often flushed from rural roads, where low, swooping flight and black tail contrasting with a sandy back are distinctive once learned. Wintering flocks include hundreds or even thousands of individuals” (p. 207).

    I really have no idea how widespread it is, or whether it has ever really hung out near where I have lived. In northern Indiana our house was on an acre of land, and it was fenced by a split-rail fence with wire across it, with shrubbery at the corner. Seeing any birds in that field (from that distance, with obstacles in the way), or at least any birds smaller than turkeys, took a practiced eye, and a zoom lens of some sort (binoculars or a camera) to even begin to identify them. And the particular birds that were out there the day I did see the horned lark where definitely not a flock or hundreds or thousands. I scanned the whole field from the back fence, and only saw a half-dozen birds, in a small mixed flock of snow buntings and horned larks. (I did once see a flock of 30 or so snow buntings take off from a different field as we drove past, and I read that the two species often feed together. But a sight of hundreds or thousands of these birds would be interesting, and one I haven’t had.)

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  63. Re babies sleeping through the night: Years ago my sister told me of a high-profile divorce case somewhere in New England where she lived. The couple had twins and one of the examples the husband gave of his wife being a bad mother was that the first time they slept through the night, when she got up and they were still sleeping, she said, “They may be dead but I’m going to have a cup of coffee before I go in and check.”

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  64. Oh, my. What a guy! Sounds like she may have been better off without him. I couldn’t imagine saying that, though, even with my colicky babies. However, I did think some not nice things. Hours with crying babies are extremely difficult.

    Happy birthday, Kizzie!!

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  65. Morning and Happy Birthday Kizzie!! 🎂 I do wish you could see this magnificent sunrise in this forest this morning…snowy pine branches catching the orange glow of the sun…amazing!

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  67. I love the sound of rain. The house I grew up in had some kind of a plastic roof panel over the patio (built by prior residents and later revealed to be illegal according to code when I went to sell the house). The bedrooms were in the back of the house so you could always hear the rain on that — when it was windy, though, the panel would buck up and crash down, every annoying — not sure why or how we never could fix that, though my mom talked about someday replacing it with something more substantial. That may have been done later, I don’t remember now.

    You know there’s an app with rain sounds? It’s apparently a very soothing sound for many of us. And for us rain-deprived Californians, it’s become especially precious. 🙂

    No rain today but it’ll be back sometime tomorrow and last for days. One good point is that it looks like it won’t be raining early Monday morning when I have to go out to interview teachers on the picket lines.

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  69. One commenter said rain was soothing for our ancestors because it meant fewer predators would be active as rain obscures our scent. Interesting thought.

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  70. Peter – I was 57 last year, so I’m 58 this year.

    ************
    Thank you all for the birthday greetings.

    This is my second birthday without Hubby. I’m sure that someday these things will no longer hurt or matter, but for now, they still do. (But no, I’m not dwelling on that and letting it spoil my day.)

    Even so, I have so much to be grateful to God for. I truly am grateful to Him, even in the midst of the grief. My faith and trust in Him have grown even deeper. I thought I had a deep faith and trust in Him before, but this is deeper still. There is more of a sense of His presence with me throughout each day.

    Liked by 5 people

  72. You people can come up with the weirdest things.
    I can’t even bring over a picture I took when Chuck was a toddler.
    A picture of him giving something to Elvera. I was going to comment on it.

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  73. Yes, it is “all the same” but I guess that’s the point since it’s marketed as a sleep sound aid. If they added in sudden cracking and booming thunder here and there, you’d never go to (or stay) asleep. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  87. Grandson report: Kim, you know his mom as you took a flight with her and then a drive and spent a week here. He arrived after a very brief but intense labor. Six pounds six ounces, nineteen and a half inches.

    Bio daughter (Remember the three day deliveries?) did not think it fair that this daughter would inherit my maternal genes for quick delivery, until I reminded her that the daughter did not have all the complications the bio mom was telling her that she had had. Diabetes, total bed rest, premature babies….It is all good.

    Liked by 3 people

  90. Congratulations mumsee

    I’m trying to corral the rest of the Christmas stuff that’s been shifted to the patio into boxes in the garage. I also need to mop the kitchen floor so I can lay down the indoor-outdoor mats I picked up at the hardware store yesterday before the four-day rains beginning Monday. Otherwise, it’ll be muddy paw prints everywhere.

    Small load of laundry was done yesterday, dishwasher is running today, I’ve been wiping down the kitchen countertops and scrubbing the grout — but I sure could also use a nap. An article in Tabletalk this weekend pointed out that we hardly know how to rest anymore, our weekends look just like the weekdays. The author pointedly told the reader to “take a nap” this weekend. Remember on whom you are completely dependent.

    Church was good, sermon was Christ in Exodus this morning. In speaking of Pharaoh, our pastor reminded us not to put our trust and hope in our secular political leaders because those sands will shift — and shift again and again. But we also were reminded that the ‘king’s’ (or president’s or pharaoh’s) heart is always in the hands of the Lord — who writes and ordains all that will come to pass in history.

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  92. Well, so much for the nap. I spent several hours doing all of that and now have another load of laundry going.

    But the Christmas stuff is in the garage, the floor is mopped and covered with mats laid one against another in a long pathway.

    And tomorrow it’s up early to hit the picket lines at 7 a.m. with my notebook to interview teachers in the rain. Fun. All the politicians are getting in on it for photo ‘opps’ picketing with teachers, which also is annoying but it’s what they do. Getting texts from their aides today saying where they’ll all be tomorrow. Teachers also seem to be pulling kids into it this time, I’m seeing posed photos on social media sites with kids holding up signs. Not sure I remember that from the strike 30 years ago, seems like it was a no-no to drag students in the middle of all the adult bickering.

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  93. My dear Nightingale can seem kind of tough and terse at times, but she really does have a sweet side to her. As you may remember me mentioning a couple or so days ago, my family birthday celebration won’t be until next Saturday, with pizza from one of the better pizza places around here, and a homemade cake from talented baker Nightingale. But although we often have our family celebrations on a different day than the actual birthday, we also do a little something on the actual day.

    So after work today, Nightingale stopped at the Aldi near where she works, and picked up a couple of their take-and-bake pizzas. But that’s not all. She also made it a little more festive by also picking up some chicken wings and another kind of appetizer-type thing. AND one of their delicious Triple Chocolate Creme cakes AND French Vanilla ice cream. We had a little feast at dinner tonight, and it was all delicious! (And I will have leftover pizza for tomorrow, too. Yummy!)

    Liked by 2 people

  94. Yeah, dragging students into it really seems low.

    I remember one day arriving to my grade school / middle school, in sixth or seventh grade, and finding a bunch of teachers out front holding signs and threatening a strike. Nothing came of it (they didn’t strike; I don’t know if they “got anything” for threatening), but I lost a bit of respect for my English teacher (whom I adored) in seeing her out there. It felt unseemly for them to be bringing their disputes with others into the place where they taught us.

    Liked by 2 people

  95. After dinner, poor Nightingale kind of crashed, and said she had to go take a shower and get to bed. She worked 2nd shift last night and 1st shift today, meaning she got very little sleep last night. Tomorrow she works another double shift. (She worked a double on Friday, too.)

    So I cleaned up the table and the kitchen on my own, but didn’t mind because I knew how very tired she was, and I was grateful for her making my birthday dinner special. Later, she texted me and apologized for leaving the table so suddenly, explaining that her energy had just plummeted at that point. But I understood that, and told her so.

    Liked by 2 people

  96. I am so blessed to know Nightengale truly wanted to make YOUR day special and it sounds as though she did. Happy Birthday again Kizzie…and if you watch the thread for a few more comments you just might get 100 on your day!! ❤️ 🎂

    Liked by 1 person

  97. The usual “race to 100” folks must be busy with other activities like new grandchildren and such, since this was at 95 for a few hours.

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