111 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-16-19”

  1. Blue skies and birds. Spring is coming.

    Got a call late tonight (it’s almost 9 p.m.) from the senior editor frantically trying to find someone to head out to a refinery fire tonight. I said I couldn’t and felt guilty, but sheesh. I’ve filed two stores today, worked all day long and am winding down.

    I know we have no more people left to do some of these things, but that’s for management to figure out (and senior editor isn’t to blame, he’s caught in middle too).

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  2. Ugh, so why do I feel so guilty? But I’m in the middle of cooking a batch of spaghetti for the weekend and am really just “done” for the week.

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  3. Well, we’ve posted a story by someone whose name I don’t recognize. Pretty preliminary info, I think they were hoping someone could roll out personally to be on the scene.

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  5. Thankfully, there are still the eager-beaver, young wanna-be journalist guys ready to go the distance on a moment’s notice.

    The fire? It’ll be out shortly, most likely, and that’ll be that.

    My spaghetti? Cooked and sealed in containers for the weekend.

    All’s well that ends well.

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  9. Glad to see that you are up and at em, Chas.
    It is certainly dark here at 9pm. I just finished making bee bim bop, with a recipe from a children’s book. Wish that I could get some spinach to put in it, maybe next year when I am home.

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  10. Korean food, Jo? Recipe looks good.
    Good morning. I was up late and up early. Kids are all doing well. Perhaps the weather will be nicer and the heat lamps can go off.

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  12. The photo is one of my first good photos of a Carolina chickadee. They are practically indistinguishable from the black-capped chickadee: a little smaller, coloring a little different (neither of which can be seen by anyone who isn’t an expert–I have to look hard to see differences even in a side-by-side comparison to show what the differences are, let alone a bird flitting around the tree and rarely staying on the same branch for more than half a second), and a different call. I do notice the difference in calls. The black-capped said chick-a-dee-dee-dee, and the Carolina says fee-bee, fee-bee. (I didn’t even know that “experts” write it as “fee-bee”; that’s what I could hear it saying. I initially thought I must be hearing a phoebe, because I think the phoebe it is named for what it says.)

    The main reason I know that this is a Carolina chickadee is where I live. The two species do have places where they co-exist (and interbreed), but northern Indiana had the black-capped chickadee, and southern Indiana has the Carolina chickadee. I didn’t check the bird book for ID when I took a chickadee photo in northern Indiana, and I don’t need to do so here, either.

    I do notice some fairly major behavior differences from the chickadees I saw up north, though, and differences that aren’t mentioned in the bird books. Chickadees are considered flocking birds, yet I had hundreds of chickadee sightings up north and never saw them in groups of more than two. They came to our bird feeders one or two at a time, never in a family group or a flock. I also saw them up and down the street, in the local state parks, etc. One or two, always, whatever the season. Here, when I see or hear the Carolina chickadee, I look around to see how many are present, because it is sometimes just one or two, but commonly I see four or five, and often some other species mixed in. (Tufted titmice and/or a downy woodpecker, most frequently.) They aren’t necessarily all in the same tree, but between a couple of trees. Also, we fed the black-capped chickadees, and they would come into the tree above our head and call to us, especially if the feeders needed to be filled. But even when we saw them in places where we did not feed them, they still seemed less cautious of us than most species of birds are. Chickadees are said to be the easiest bird to hand-tame (getting it to come to you to eat out of your hand). The Carolina chickadee so far seems a lot more wary. A lot of birds on the trail are less wary of people than most members of their species; they get used to seeing people and learn to ignore us. But the Carolina chickadee is harder to approach than black-capped ones I’ve seen in the past. That’s anecdotal experience and may not amount to much, but it’s what I’ve seen so far.

    Whatever the similarities and differences, chickadees are fun little birds I’m happy to have around.

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  13. Glad your house is coming along, Cheryl, having electric lights and working outlets in rooms is always so wonderful after you’ve lived without them for a while.

    I have an overhead light & ceiling fan fixture in the office/den that’s been out for some time (the bulb has simply burned out, fan works fine but wobbles more than I’d like, I was told by installers years ago not to worry) but it’s a high ceiling in that room and the bulb has a full globe covering it that needs to be unscrewed so I’ve postponed replacing it. Awkward, too, because there’s no easy stabilizing “grab” wall nearby, it’s dead center in the room and I don’t like getting up on the top step of the stepladder anymore if I don’t have a wall or low ceiling I can use to make me feel more secure (don’t want to wind up swinging from the ceiling fan). A small, sturdy (taller than a step stool) ladder with side rails I can still hold onto might feel more secure for these jobs. Maybe I’ll look into buying one of those. It can feel like you’re teetering at the top of a step stool, makes me feel insecure.

    But I do have 2 floor lamps and 2 desk lamps in there so overall there’s plenty of light, but it would be nice to get that ceiling light functioning again, too. I can always ask the kid next door I guess. Or ask the guy I hire to fix the bubbling paint on the one side of the house this spring/summer. Or the gardener.

    Which reminds me, I should take one of the flaked-off house paint pieces to Sherwin Williams today, to see if by looking at it they have any idea what may have caused the paint on that side of the house to bubble and peel off in some places. At least it’s not on the front of the house or on the side I normally see coming and going in the driveway.

    Meanwhile, the refinery fire was put out about an hour after I had been asked to go out there so I’m especially glad I didn’t say ‘yes’ to that late-night assignment. There were no injuries, the shelter-in-place order was quickly lifted in the neighborhood and officials probably won’t know for days what actually caused it. To get all that (non-) information I would have spent probably 2-3 hours going out there, coming back, writing it up, yada yada yada.

    We do have a breaking news team that handles those things but one of the reporters left a week ago leaving just a couple guys who live rather far away and are overworked as it is being on call 24/7. They apparently weren’t available last night which was why the senior editor was on the phone calling any and everybody he could to find someone. I probably lost some brownie points with him by saying ‘no,’ but so be it.

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  14. Good afternoon. My brother took me out early to return some shoes I ordered (2 pairs of Vans) that did not not fit Art, Wesley, or my brother. Three out of two that won’t do is really bad odds! Not sure if that made sense. Hmmm . . . three strikes and you get to take two pairs back to the store. For one it was too narrow, for another it was too long and for the last one,the heel was too wide. I found some replacements for the two who were not with me. My brother did not care for the shoes DSW carries. Are we related?His loss. We were right by Sprouts. But we took so long at DSW that I felt we did not have time for Sprouts since my brother needed to get to the office to help Art. We had already been by Publix.

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  15. Such a cute birdie in the header.

    Cheryl, do you plan to pull from your writings on this blog for your bird books? You have so much good content here, and some people do use blog postings to write their books

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  16. 3 different heat lamps. The ones with mamas would probably be ok, but I can’t stand to watch them shiver. We have had around 15 degree temps with strong winds, so did not want to take a chance.

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  18. Janice, I copy my posts onto my computer sometimes, though usually not my nature stuff since that is just stuff I “know.” But occasionally I copy those things as well, especially if I’m writing something I might forget later or I like the way the wording came out. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  20. DJ – Changing that bulb sounds like a dangerous and scary undertaking. Could you ask a neighbor to spot you while you change it? I would always spot Hubby when he changed those ceiling bulbs where there was no wall to help him balance.

    Our kitchen ceiling light is a pain in the neck, and currently does not have the globe on it. To screw in the globe, there is one large and long screw (about 3/8 of an inch in diameter, and several inches long) that goes from the center of the globe up to the part where it screws in close to the ceiling. So you have to try to get the end of that large and long screw into the hole without being able to see what you are doing. It would take Hubby several attempts before it would finally go into the right place.

    Last time, it was Nightingale changing the bulbs, and she grew frustrated with trying to get that stupid screw into the hole, so left off the globe. 😀

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  21. Please forward a few of those degrees our way.

    It’s been below average most of the time since January with lots of ice, and most of the few days it’s gone above freezing all it’s done is turn the ice to messy slush only to have it freeze again.

    We had one day this past week in the 60s, which finally got rid of the ice, but it came with thunderstorms and a damaging tornado two counties away from here. Now it’s sunk back down into the 30s.

    I’m beginning to understand better why people move south in retirement.

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  22. Janice – It seems strange to me that some people can have others buy their shoes for them, or buy them online. I have to try them on to make sure they fit and are comfortable. Maybe it’s because my feet are wide, and I have a high instep.

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  23. Kevin – In the last few winters of his life, Hubby would grumble about wanting to move south. He was getting fed up with New England winters, especially since he had to be out in that weather while he worked.

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  24. DJ- What a relief!

    Kizzie- Me too on the feet. I wear my shoes till they are in shreds due the difficulty in finding comfortable ones.

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  25. Repent of Lent: 
How Spiritual Disciplines Can Be Bad for Your Soul http://thefederalist.com/2014/03/05/repent-of-lent-%e2%80%a8how-spiritual-disciplines-can-be-bad-for-your-soul/

    “The problem with even the evangelical, self-imposed fast is that it creates a little law for us to obey, a rule that is within our reach. It is, not surprisingly, a law of our own making, for the law of God — love God and neighbor with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength — is impossible to obey, even for a moment. If we fulfill our personal law, we have confirmed ourselves in the conceit that we aren’t so badly off after all.”

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  26. DO NOT climb upon ladders or any such if you’re the only one in the house.
    It isn’t dangerous, but I don’t even go into the attic unless there’s someone else around.
    You don’t want to get into an accident, no matter how improbable, unless someone else is around to respond. .

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  28. I looked again at the ceiling light and it’s actually lower than I realized, but it does have a globe that needs to be unscrewed. Good Idea to at least have someone with me when I do it, though. I think a full ladder would be/feel much more secure and will look into buying one in another month or two.

    I also am careful to have my cell phone with me when I’m out in the yard and especially when I’m out walking the dogs. You never know.

    No one seems to move north for retirement, do they? Although that’s probably what I’d do 🙂

    We’ll be going back into the low 60s in a couple days again with rain possible on Wednesday. But today is warm, I have the ceiling fan in the living room running for the first time in a long while. One good thing: My crazy-high gas bill will be going down again now that spring and summer are approaching.

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  29. ~ … I’m a 29-year-old minister who has seen the dangers of domesticating worship. Our low view of the Sunday gathering as pastors has resulted in the church being an optional assembly. If people can get their church experience at home on the couch, there’s no reason for them to drive anywhere. When we strip worship of its weird beauty (the beauty of the Sacraments, preaching, liturgy, mystery), we’re left with a spectacle which we’ve organized to attract consumers, and they move on as quickly as they arrive. … ~

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  31. DJ, Kamiah is loaded with retirees from California. There are not many jobs as the forest was shut down, though those are opening up, so it is more a retirement community.

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  32. rkessler, do they have a shelter? Mine don’t seem to mind the cold as long as they have the loafing shed to get under in case of rain or snow or sunshine in summer. Most of the time they sleep out of it. The sheep don’t seem to mind the snow but stay out of the rain. They also have a shed to be under with three sides to block the wind.

    It was quite amusing watching a lamb running along the crusted snow yesterday while its mom walked along the sheep path telling it to come back over before it got into trouble.

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  33. There is a community in liturgical worship. I don’t feel I have to participate in Lent to be a better Christian or to be closer to God. I do it as part of the catholic (lower case) church.
    In church history a convert had to spend a year preparing to join the church. They took the 40 days before Easter to fast and pray before being baptized and gaining full membership of the church. We do that in remembrance and tradition.
    Or at least that is what I learned in confirmation class and the 6 weeks I was in class to join my current church.

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  34. The piece on Lent was a helpful perspective. Somehow the author and I connected on Twitter early on, he grew up in our area and was very familiar with the paper.

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  35. Kim, an older tradition than that is immediate baptism–see the Ethiopian eunuch and Paul and Silas’s jailer. Scripture doesn’t tell us either way, whether to catechize first or afterward, but there is a biblical case for early baptism.

    Taking part in (extrabiblical) tradition does nothing to make us “more” part of the church, and it may actually distract from what we do as family (worship together, eat together, bear one another’s burdens, etc.). Let’s put it this way: If many in my church decide to participate in Lent, and I do not, am I a bit “outside” the family, being at least a little standoffish or rebellious? And does the church have the authority to put someone at the edge of the circle for extrabiblical traditions?

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  36. Just got in from watering. My grass is so tall and green (gardener comes Monday and he’ll mow). Charlie Brown is still looking well.

    The hanging front porch flower baskets need pretty regular watering, I have been taking them down and setting them on the front steps out from under the porch overhang whenever it rains and that’s actually been enough most of the time, I only have to supplement the watering every so often — we’ve had such regular rains. But I noticed today they were feeling pretty dry and light-weight, so I gave them a good soak.

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  37. The new photo is the red-shouldered hawk again, one of my favorite of the shots I’ve gotten so far. I like its pose, I like the scenery (the blue sky in the background gives a nice additional hue), and I like that you can see its yellow feet and the yellow and dark on its beak to match its yellow feet and dark wings. These hawks aren’t very large (I read something saying they’re crow-sized, but I haven’t double-checked the measurements), but I think they are really gorgeous. And the pair has gotten used to me and ignores me. I am careful not to get too close, but they pretty much ignore me, and I’ve gotten some nice views and some nice shots.

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  40. It’s (gray) whale migration season off our coastline — whales that gave birth in Mexico are are now heading north to Alaska with their babies. This was one of the more spectacular photos posted by a local resort.

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  41. Original post source which somehow vanished from the photo above:

    Terranea Resort

    Earlier this week, volunteers at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center counted 112 gray whales swimming by, making it the most counted in one day since 1987.

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  42. Eleven year old and I planted things today. No, not out in the snow. In the house. Tomatoes, peppers, more tomatoes, sage, more tomatoes. Eleven year old likes tomatoes.

    By the way, I am reading a book by Rick Warren and enjoying it.

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  43. I prefer to get people (the guys in my family) to shop with me when I want to buy them something, but the situation has not been good for that in awhile. Art can’t shop because of his back pain. I knew the shoes purchased online could be taken to the local store and exchanged if necessary. I think Art will like the ones I got today which are wider. I had thought Wesley would be here to go with me to the store, but he is away visiting with friends until it will bealmost time for his flight back. As usualI have a vague plan that does not work out. All’s well that ends well though. The guys will all get new shoes. Well, maybe not my brother.

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  44. Cheryl we shall agree/ disagree. Participating in Lent doesn’t make me a better Christian but I like doing it and it makes me feel like a better person. It is t a hill I am will to die on and it isn’t something I will argue with anyone.
    We are all God’s children and some of us sing low and some of us sing higher.

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  45. Mumsee, are you reading The Purpose Driven Life or The Purpose Driven Church? Years ago I was in a small group study of The Purpose Driven Life. Back then it seemed to me to be a good book. It was very sad about his son committing suicide because he suffered from some mental health problems. I think that must be doubly hard on a family which is so much in the public eye.

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  48. Kim, we’ve had the pro-Lent comments on here for several years, and I thought it would be good to include a different perspective, when I stumbled on those posts. For me personally, I hated elementary school rituals that girls did that left me on the “outside” and it would bother me doubly if extrabiblical religious traditions did. I wouldn’t want to attend a school where a lot of students observed Ash Wednesday, for instance–it was bad enough to be pinched on St Patrick’s Day every year because my mom saw that as a Catholic holiday and didn’t allow me to wear green that day (even though practically my whole wardrobe was green and I wore green on plenty of other days!). If my classmates were wearing ashes as some sort of religious “mark,” I think I’d rather stay home that day. (Wearing green on St Patrick’s Day was innocent, just a silly cultural thing, and I wouldn’t have minded doing so. Wearing the ashes is something different, and I wouldn’t do that.)

    I’m likewise bothered by my mother-in-law thinking that her Christmas decorations are somehow a form of worship, that she will disappoint Jesus somehow if she doesn’t get them up. It isn’t just Catholics who add to what God says in order to feel better about themselves or gain religious merit. It’s the human tendency, I think.

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  49. BTW, I don’t have any opinion on someone praying to God in front of his fireplace and prostrating himself, and ending up with ash on his forehead or anything like that. It’s the idea of going out in public with ash on one’s forehead as though that somehow “marks” a person as a Christian. Baptism marks us as a Christian; with circumcision done away with, we don’t need (nor has God given) a visible sign beyond that one-time one. I don’t know if anyone other than RCs does that; I was using it as an example of how a Christian might be visibly “outside” for not doing something that we are never told in Scripture to do, and how unhelpful it is to add hoops that people have to jump through to get “inside.”

    I have no problem with spending time leading up to Easter focusing on the Resurrection, but with human traditions that add social pressure to Christ’s free work, I do.

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  50. All the difficult lights in our house have been replaced with LED bulbs. They last “forever” (25,000 hours) and use a lot less electricity than incandescent or CFLs – 9 watts for the same light as an old 60W bulb.

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  51. To Lent or not to Lent – one of those grey areas over which one should not get dogmatic. If you feel you need to, do so. But if it’s not of faith, then it would be better not to.

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  54. I did not come maturity in a tradition that participated in Lent and frankly, my life is tough enough right now. But I am tired of articles against this practice or for that practice where the Bible is silent. I would like to tell all the preachers and Bible teacher who make their sermons and Bible lessons about what not to do or what to do all the time a little secret that Pastor A demonstrated in his sermons: Preach about the finished work of Christ and the character of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, and your hearers will learn to think for themselves what they should and should not be doing. What not to do lists and to do articles are both pablum; the mature believer can make their own decisions (Hebrew 5:12-14).

    Tim Challies just linked to an article by Ligonier on St. Patrick which, after explaining that Patrick wasn’t really a Catholic, suggested that good Protestants should wear orange on St. Patricks day, as green is worn by Catholics. I never wear either colour and possess no articles of clothing so hued, but it was utterly foolish advice. I have already told about the violent conflicts that took place in Ontario between Orangemen and Catholics historically. To wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day would be deliberately giving offence, contrary to scripture: “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (I Corinthians 10:32).

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  55. Roscuro, I don’t understand why it would be outside a pastor’s realm to write about whether a would-be religious practice has biblical grounding, especially if he believes that it does not but he sees it catching on. What if parents start circumcising their children for religious reasons, or keeping the Old Testament food laws as a holier way to eat–should a pastor not say “Scripture has already addressed this issue”?

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  56. Morning! Sun is shining and the birds are singing! Janice I had a dream about your birthday tree…I was hiking around our forest trying to find one of our own. I found one in my dream and took a photo of it to send to you….I must be hankering for Spring to show up!! 💐
    I will wear green today. ☘️

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  57. A beautiful day in the neighborhood here as well. Birds are doing their morning calls, below freezing, clear skies in places….

    Janice, you are right on the name of the book.

    Lent: we are not called to analyze other believers’ choices as long as they do not detract from the Truth. We all do things because we believe they are right in our interpretation of the Word. It is no different with Lent for the true believer. One who is trusting in God’s salvation through Jesus is not using those as a means of salvation but rather as a means of keeping themselves accountable, keeping the focus on Jesus Christ and what He has done.Trying to understand a bit better. I am not a Lent follower though I can see the value of it.

    Mandated by the church, not so good. Offered by the church, fine. We all need tools in our lives. Some people actually use devotional books to help them keep on track, or music. There is a long list of tools available to us and we need to be discerning on which we use, making certain we are not replacing.

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  59. Kim @ 8:51
    The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized and sent on his way.
    (Someone might have said that, I haven’t read past Kim’s yet today.)

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  60. I don’t observe lent nor St. Patrick’s day.
    But I think others who believe they should, should.
    I don’t drink wine or beer. But I know Christians who do.
    What I’m saying is that I believe spiritual exercises and observances are good. Whatever, if observed in faith in Christ.
    We can easily get caught up in the essentials of this busy world. It’s good to have spiritual exercises we observe to pull us back to our “real” life before we get too engrossed with necessary trivia of existence..

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  62. I was given lunch by an elderly saint today, who has lived and will die unknown, by all but a few even within the church we both attend. I know several elders like her, who from circumstances outside their control now live alone with no family. I wish I had the resources to ensure that when they can no longer take care of themselves, they will not lie forgotten in some nursing home. I suppose it is something I have to just leave with the Lord, in whose care they are.

    Since it is St. Patrick’s Day, here is the hymn we sang and I played on the organ this morning (only we sang it in English):

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  63. Regarding how long the tradition of Lent has existed, a time of fasting for preparation for baptism has existed since at least the mid-100s A.D., as Justin Martyr, circa 150 A.D., wrote in his appeal to the Emperor Antoninus Pius:
    ‘I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.’ (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library/The_First_Apology_of_Justin_Martyr)

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  64. Justin does not say when baptism generally took place, but Tertullian, writing a few decades after Justin in the early 200s, cautioned in his On Baptism that baptism should not be rushed and noted that the Passover (meaning Easter, since the early church vigorously eschewed Judaic practices) was the best time to be baptized, and after that, Pentecost:

    ‘The Passover affords a more than usually solemn day for baptism; when, withal, the Lord’s passion, in which we are baptized, was completed. Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover, He said to the disciples who were sent to make preparation, “Ye will meet a man bearing water.” He points out the place for celebrating the Passover by the sign of water. After that, Pentecost is a most joyous space for conferring baptisms; wherein, too, the resurrection of the Lord was repeatedly proved among the disciples, and the hope of the advent of the Lord indirectly pointed to, in that, at that time, when He had been received back into the heavens, the angels told the apostles that “He would so come, as He had withal ascended into the heavens;” at Pentecost, of course. But, moreover, when Jeremiah says, “And I will gather them together from the extremities of the land in the feast-day,” he signifies the day of the Passover and of Pentecost, which is properly a “feast-day.” However, every day is the Lord’s; every hour, every time, is apt for baptism: if there is a difference in the solemnity, distinction there is none in the grace.’

    Tertullian goes on to recommend a period of fasting:
    ‘They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through, and with the confession of all by- gone sins, that they may express the meaning even of the baptism of John: “They were baptized,” saith (the Scripture), “confessing their own sins.” To us it is matter for thankfulness if we do now publicly confess our iniquities or our turpitudes: for we do at the same time both make satisfaction for our former sins, by mortification of our flesh and spirit, and lay beforehand the foundation of defences against the temptations which will closely follow. “Watch and pray,” saith (the Lord), “lest ye fall into temptation.” And the reason, I believe, why they were tempted was, that they fell asleep; so that they deserted the Lord when apprehended, and he who continued to stand by Him, and used the sword, even denied Him thrice: for withal the word had gone before, that “no one untempted should attain the celestial kingdoms.” The Lord Himself forthwith after baptism temptations surrounded, when in forty days He had kept fast.’
    (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Ethical/On_Baptism)

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  65. The perspective offered in Cheryl’s Lenten link, I think, is helpful in that it cautions us about the dangers of presuming our own righteousness in the practice. For those who observe it, I think our own fallibility on that point is good to be aware of and keep in mind.

    Carry on.

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  66. Good sermon today by our newest ruling elder. When he first came to our church as a staff member, maybe 2 years ago, and preached for the first time I remember thinking ‘Now he’s too young to have much life experience to share.”

    He proceeded to tell his story of the onset of kidney failure as a teen, going through two transplants, being very close to death on a few occasions. He and his wife have 4 young children.

    OK, I was wrong. 🙂

    He just recently went through a biopsy; all is well, but it was no picnic, obviously.

    He preached again today on a topic that hit home for me, chief of grumblers — on how we handle difficult times and too often look to other comforts and advice in the world rather than Christ. And always remembering that he is sovereign, that whatever your rough road may be, it is one uniquely set out for you for your good and for your spiritual growth.

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  67. Thank you Roscuro.

    Cheryl, what I am about to say to you is the internal conversation I often have with myself so please take it that way. You are an adult now. You don’t have to be around people who don’t like you and you don’t like them.
    Life is short. Be happy
    When I reach this peace I will let you know.

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  68. This seems like satire but I’m thinking it’s not 🙂

    “Hall said his idea is rooted in history. In the 1600s, Monks would fast during Lent on what was called a “Bock Beer Diet.”

    “That would be their liquid bread – that’s what they called it. Basically, it would sustain them through 46 days of Lent,” Hall said.

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  69. Beer is very high in carbohydrates and is a major factor in weight gain, which is why the heavy drinker’s protruding abdomen is often called a beer belly. Then factor in the brewing yeasts, which are high in vitamins, and it would be entirely possible to live for forty days on beer. It is also entirely believable that monks had a beer diet at Lent. Having to observe all the fasting periods (Lent, Advent, every Friday, etc.) that exist on the liturgical calendar year after year must have gotten a little old, and by the end of the winter, beer would be about the only consumable that wasn’t half spoiled.

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  71. I have never fasted but have thought it might be a useful thing. If it were to take my mind off of myself and lead me to think of God more. But, as I do not drink beer…..

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  72. Anonymous, 3:54 (Kim?), I actually can’t think of anyone in my town (thus, anyone I would be “around”) whom I dislike. But yeah, that’s pretty much the same conclusion I came to decades ago–that everyone is a little weird in some ways, everyone feels a bit insecure in some settings, and not everyone is going to like everyone else equally well–human relationships this side of the Fall are going to be tricky.

    Also, that we aren’t going to agree on everything–even my husband and I have subtly different beliefs on some things, and places where he “cares” about something more than I do (or vice versa). But it’s good to be able to discuss things and to continue to love one another.

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  77. rkessler, I was unable to see it as I don’t do facebook. Something about cars?

    Well, I have been to NM and you certainly do have wind, much like southern Idaho or Wyoming. We have wind almost all of the time, and I love it. Our wind is perhaps not so strong or so cold.

    Our weak kid is starting to look like a trip to the vet. It seems to have a bad leg. I had thought a birthing injury or a hit by a goat. It seems to be getting better and then it doesn’t.

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  79. Remember the I’m Okay, You’re Okay movement? Some of today’s comments remind me of that if you add But We Are All A Little Bit Weird!
    I feel myself to be a bit or maybe a lot grumpy lately. I think I could sing the One Month Left ‘Til Tax Deadline Blues. Also, Wesley is flying back right now. He has the best friends. I got to see him for about an hour today. Miss Bosley loves him so much. Both Art and Wesley seemed to like the shoes I chose for them, and most important, these fit.

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  80. It got up to 81 here today, warm and dry. Rain in the forecast for Wednesday, Saturday and a week from Monday but we’ll see.

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  83. Nightingale took us out for dinner late this afternoon, to a local spot downtown that we’d never been to before. (Btw, our “downtown” is only one street long, and it’s not even that long of a street. 🙂 )

    I had their “famous” Fish Tacos, which were delicious, along with onion rings, and a glass of Moscato wine. (I’m not a big wine drinker, but Nightingale told me it was one of the sweeter wines, which I would like. And I did.) I was glad to see the Fish Tacos were made with soft tortillas rather than the crunchy ones.

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  84. Now she’s making a cake for dessert, using up the leftover frosting she had from a cake she made yesterday for a lady at work who is leaving.

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  85. I finally got back to church today. I was thankful for my ride who gets to park in a handicapped space. With the new church, Decatur City Church (one of Andy Stanley’s) on one side of our buildings it means that a number of able bodied people have to park across the street at the Presbyterian (USA) parking lot.

    When I attended Art’s Methodist church, I participated in Ash Wednesday when I was available to do so. I never had the feeling that it was legalistic or a way of saying some Christians were more religious than others. It was to me a choice of one way of observing Easter, like my Baptist church has sometimes done a church wide Passover Seder. It is not required of members and not expected of other Christians, but believers in the community are welcome to participate. I did wear a sweater which had a little green in it today. But that was in no way a necessity. Wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day to me is like wearing red for Valentine’s Day. At the Methodist church I was the one who had to dress the cross outside the church during Lent with the white, black, and purple cloths to symbolize the passing of time and what Jesus went through during the Holy season. I also had to change out the colors at the altar, pulpit, and the pastor’s Bible bookmark. And I had to monthly prepare the linens that covered the sacraments for communion. Getting wax and grape juice out of white linen was part of my job.

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  87. Michelle bought a very sweet potted heart-shaped ivy plant in a wooden planter box, very cute & it’s on my front porch. I probably need to find a spring-like wreath for the front door to replace the evergreen one from winter.

    I sat outside on the porch and went through the sermon notes again w/my journal.

    My mom would dress me in green for St. Patrick’s Day when I was young, but she’d always pin a small piece of orange cloth on my dress as well 🙂 It was a family heritage thing.

    A friend responded to my St. Patrick’s Day e-card (starring some dancing Irish sheep & a border collie) with “Happy St. Gertrude’s Day to you!”

    She was/is apparently the patron saint of pets. Who knew?

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  88. Our downtown area is nice as well, and quaint, still a lot of the old buildings intact and a 1930s movie palace.

    I saw on social media today that there was a man “brandishing gardening shears” on one of the street corners in downtown today, though.

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  94. I have several windows open to get the breeze coming in — it wasn’t uncomfortably hot today, but suddenly very warm compared to what we’ve been used to now for several months of colder-than-normal weather.

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  96. I have some ground turkey breast to cook. That is what you get when you can’t read package labels. I wanted plain turkey to make spaghetti. Now to put on my thinking cap to figure what I want to cook.

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  100. DJ – I shared something on Facebook that said that St. Gertrude is the patron saint of cats in particular. My own Aunt Gert (Gertrude) loved cats.

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  102. So the link was to the 24 railroad cars that were blown off the track up by Logan, NM. Lots of semis blown over that were parked also. Just a little taste of what our wind likes to do.

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  105. Rk I saw a photo of that train blown off the tracks….scary! Those winds were unreal we had last week.
    Kizzie your time at the restaurant sounds lovely….what a special time (I enjoy a glass of Moscato when dining out too!)
    Dj loved the dancing sheep…and the ever so faithful border collie keeping them all in line! 😃 and surprise visits from a fellow wanderer? What a blessing!
    Bible study leader wife had a Pampered Chef online party. Since I was invited I felt compelled to purchase some things but I will refuse to have a party in my home…just cannot go that far. I purchased a mini bundt pan, large serving spatula, small mixing pitcher with lid and some sort of gadget that seals small sandwiches…we shall see if I like any of these things I ordered! 🙃

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