God morning everyone.
O couldn’t join in on the conversation about pets last night because I lost my pet rock in the move.
I don’t know. I’ve looked everywhere.
Morning! One day your pet rock will show up Chas…when you least expect it š
Oh look at those twins up there. We feed those critters around here. Not intentionally but I did tell my neighbor I have resigned myself to the fact that I just grow deer food in my flower garden…Iām done with trying to keep them out….everything is munched down….they are cute though…
Good morning. My brother should be here soon to deal more with that tree. It is man work that suits him and keeps him cheerful.i feel quite scatter-brained lately with bits and pieces of projects in various stages of completion. I need to send out some cards, sympathy and such, and hope I don’t forget any I need to send. My friend, Florence, has just lost a precious relative. I bought yarn to make an afghan for a church couple having their first baby.
so many projects, Janice. I am working on a newsletter. I have notes to write and I need to do some much needed cleaning. But first I must get ready to go look at and hopefully buy a car or, actually, a suv. It is an hour and a half drive. I called a nearby friend whom I haven’t seen in months and am very excited that she will be taking me. We should have a great time to visit.
So… you can still be first on all of the other of today’s threads.
My SIL who is a commercial fisherman works this time of year as a fish tender. That means he picks up the fish from the salmon boats. He was going to a boat to pick up their fish when he got word the boat sunk! Thankfully, all hands on deck were saved. Thank God for those who do that work! My grandson and another young man is the crew with my SIL. The grandson is nephew to my SIL. This is a sobering reminder of how quickly things can change.
Good morning. I have been out praying for DJ. Lots of wasp nests got sprayed. Eight in the greenhouse and four in the wood shop. There are many more and I may get some of them as well as it is getting toward the aggressive time of year. We have not seen any baldfaced hornets this year and I hope that trend continues. We have seen some mosquitoes, very rare around here. Soon it will be blackberry time and I don’t want to be competing with yellow jackets as they get mighty protective of their food source. And then the grapes.
I would have put a sad face on for you, NancyJill, if I could. Freeloading deer! Humph! My cedars are finally filling out again. Just in time for winter when the deer will be back to those. š¦ They do leave most of my stuff alone, though. Grasshoppers have decimated some plants, but there seems to be less and less of those.
Those fawns were on my regular trail, the day after seeing the two bucks on a different one. No–actually this was a second sighting a couple days later. But that first day, soon after I entered the trail, I saw a man standing at the edge looking into the bushes, and I went somewhat close (socially distanced) and looked to see what he was seeing, and a fawn was gazing back at him. I got a few photos and then it left. Minutes later its mama came to a low spot in the fence (I think she chose that spot because she wanted her fawn to follow, and I could see she wanted to jump over, but I was too close for her to do so, plus not at an angle where I could get a photo, so I backed up several feet and also put my camera on “action mode,” and I got the photo. Then she walked toward me, and I thought, She’s used to getting fed and she wants me to feed her, but I don’t get as close to deer as she was coming to me, so I kept backing up. When I’d backed up several yards and she was still coming, I put my hand up, palm out, and she understood that and stopped. I realized later she may have been backing me away to give space for her fawn to come over. I moved past her and watched from a distance on the other side, hoping to see the fawn join her.
She waited around several minutes, but it was a Saturday morning on the trail (no big gaps between people) and her fawn didn’t come over, and finally she went back over the fence herself.
Half an hour later or so, a woman saw me photographing wildflowers and asked if I’d seen the doe and twin fawns. They were rather hard to see in the field since the grass was tall and they were feeding near some bushes (and it was the other way from where I was facing), but I did end up seeing them. I came back a couple days later and was about in the same spot I’d been the first time, and I looked up to see a doe and a fawn crossing the trail, on my side of the fence. The fawn looked back halfway and I saw its sibling, too. While I was getting the fawns, apparently mama jumped back over the fence, presumably expecting her babies to follow. But she ended up in the field, with them on my side of the fence. They ran along it for a while, as though puzzled by something between them and their mother, but after a while they grew curious about me and walked toward me. The one on the left ended up getting close enough I thought its mama might have a heart attack, and I backed off as I’d done for the other mother deer. Then the fawns went about their lives, feeding and grooming themselves, and I got a bunch of photos. Eventually mama reappeared around the side. (This property is owned by a railroad that used to go through the property, but doesn’t anymore. So it is fenced and technically private property, but I strongly suspect that somewhere in the trees the fence or a gate has fallen down or homeless people have made an opening–some do seem to live in the woods to the left of the fenced area.) A few minutes later I saw one of the fawns inside, so it would seem that she led it around to a better spot. By that time, not wanting to stress the young family needlessly, I was leaving.
I have long wanted good fawn photos, and this was my best chance ever to get them. This isn’t my very favorite of the scene, but I like how it shows both of them.
Oh Kathaleena how scary! Thankful all were saved but it does act as a reminder as to how quickly things can change. We are in the midst of revising our will and making some major changes. We are going slowly and prayerfully. We desire to be responsible and good stewards of what our Lord has given to us and how we disperse our āworldly possessionsā to His glory. Hard decisions being made…
Praying for your day and your exciting trip with your friend Jo…it does sound like an enjoyable day ahead for you!
I am purging more from my closet and storage totes in the basement. What started out as one small box has turned into a carload to take to Goodwill…how does this stuff multiply around here!! (Rhetorical question š)
Another pandemic weekend. This is getting old, it just weighs on you mentally. Probably didn’t help that I read some articles on the efforts to get a vaccine in place before falling asleep. Not altogether encouraging although even if we get something that’s only 50% effective, it’ll be some kind of help? But not the complete re-set back to normal that we’d all hope for.
My editor and I were texting yesterday about how time seems to have just stopped. (My story including something about 2021 with regard to a project going through the port; he said he thought that’s a few years away and then realized, no, just a few months away … )
Things that happened in Jan-Feb, “pre-covid,” seem like another world ago.
The years have bumped into each other, the seasons at times are indistinguishable due to none of the usual social and personal markers that set them apart. Spring just blended right into summer and now summer, remarkably is on its way out. Will fall feel like fall without the start of a (real) school year? With community Christmas events — parades, sledding on trucked-in snow parties, already being canceled?
Sorry, I’m feeling grumpy, I need to get myself out of this mood (I will). It will help when I can get back out to walk the dogs and not have to deal with the off-and-on (still mostly on) knee pain. I just feel so physically “stuck.”
Kathaleena, how scary, glad that turned out OK for SIL. (At first I read SIL as ‘sister’ in law, and I thought, wow, she must be quite a lady, commercial fishing?)
Mumsee, thank you for the prayers. Zap a wasp nest for me. Not that I wish them any harm, but …
Got a text last night from former reporter friend who’s been battling those invasive Aedes mosquitoes we have now. She is now on antibiotics and steroid creams, she texted me a photo of her lower leg which look horrendous, completely read and swollen. My cousin recently said she’s been hit with them also. I’ve had a few bites this summer, but not too many — I’ve taken Vector Control’s advice and am now pretty good about putting some repellant on when I go out to water or if I’m going to be spending anytime outside.
I have a pan of eggs hard-boiling this morning. They’re so handy to keep in the refrigerator these days, a good quick snack or breakfast. I need to get on a scale, I think I’ve been losing weight.
āYesterday I finally got around to doing another little thing that needed to be done after Hubby’s death.
Several months after his death, Nightingale and I went into the bank to see about taking his name off of our (Hubby’s and my) bank accounts. What I learned was that the account was for those over 60 (which Hubby had turned two and a half years before his death) and my name was kind of a secondary name on it. So, since I was not 60 yet, I needed to open my own account. But I was able to keep the first one open until I could make sure any bills that were automatically paid from it were switched to my account.
Well, I have to admit that I dilly dallied on that for quite a while. The last automatic payment on there was for my own life insurance, and I couldn’t figure out how to switch it over to my new account. Somewhere along the line, I received a letter from my insurance company informing me that since my agent had died, a new one was assigned my account. I dilly dallied some more, but eventually sent him an email about changing the paying account, and while I was at it, changing the beneficiary from my now late husband to my daughters.
And then I dilly dallied some more about getting around to closing out Hubby’s account. But yesterday I did that. I think it is the last thing – at least the last somewhat important thing – that needed to be done of all the things I needed to do after Hubby died.
Several months ago, after I had finally cleaned off Hubby’s very messy and cluttered desk, and the top of his dresser, I probably mentioned to you all that it was an emotional thing for me to finish that. I kind of felt that I had erased an important part of him, cleaned him away. Closing out his checking account hasn’t had that bad of an effect on me, but still makes me a little sad, although relieved to have it done. But I did cry some last night because it represents that another reminder that he once walked the earth is gone.
I think I am suffering from Pandemic Depression. I want to go somewhere or do something and there is nowhere to go nor anything to do. I am feeling frustrated.
Also, even with all the medicine my Boy Dog is still coughing. It hurts my heart.
My house is a wreck and I canāt keep up with it.
One evening when Hubby was in the hospital, I gave his coffee thermos, coffee travel mugs, and lunchbox (it was actually a small cooler with a strap) a really good cleaning. As I did so, I had the very sad feeling that I was cleaning them all for the last time. Of course, I told myself that I was being silly and dramatic. But it really was the last time.
What reminded me of this is that for the last few days, I have been using his thermos to keep my coffee hot since my microwave is broken. (I usually make my coffee in a container with the amount of creamer and half-n-half I like, and then microwave my cup of coffee after it has cooled. Nightingale thinks I am weird in doing this. I don’t care. š )
I’m sharing a bit in that this weekend, I think; I was texting a friend that I hadn’t been in a ‘regular’ store in ages, just drug or grocery stores for necessities. I was kind of thinking I’d like to pick up a couple more colorful Mexican planter pots and I’d found them late last year at our local Home Goods store. How long ago it feels since then!
Anyway, I’ll live without them for a while longer. I have about 5 flowering plants still in their original containers that I’d planned to plant in the backyard this summer. I have a bag of gardening soil waiting on the patio. But the process will require some shoveling and soil-prep so with the knee bang-up it has just all had to wait. I keep watering them in the meantime, though, and they’re still doing well (the impatiens actually have been in their pot for 3-4 years now, but I think it’s time to plant them; and I planted a sprig of the Mexican sage from the front yard in another pot earlier this year and that has totally taken off, I really need to trim it back in a major way).
And prayers for you, too, Kizzie. Those things are always so poignant to take care of, but feels better when it’s done.
Donna says: “The years have bumped into each other, the seasons at times are indistinguishable due to none of the usual social and personal markers that set them apart. Spring just blended right into summer and now summer, remarkably is on its way out. ”
And Kim is right behind her. That’s the way it feels to get old and decrepit. It’s just happening to you earlier.
No place to go. Nothing to do. Not even something worth blogging about.
It’s partly due to the pandemic. But not entirely.
I survived both the gym class (whew! Saw friends!) and then had to go to the grocery store. Two terrors in one morning!
We’re going to a social distancing pot luck dinner tonight to meet the potential pastor and family. Through a mix up, I just got my assignment this morning–appetizers.
How do you do that with Mr. COVID monitoring?
I bought plastic containers with snacks. I’ll spread them out on a table and you choose whichever you want.
They look like lunchables–and I hated buying all that plastic, but, well, you know.
I’ll collect the plastic (in a bag so I don’t touch anything) afterward, was and reuse.
Monday is the drop-dead for sure you’re not going to medical school day. And it would only be if someone at UCRiverside decided or couldn’t go–assuming my EMT is at the top of the waitlist.
(I think I mentioned we know two people who got the call two days before med school started).
She’s working through the disappointment, is praying and thinking about what next. She has plenty going for her (!) and is tired of LA.
As her mother, I’m grieving with her, too, but the Lord has taken me through Revelation, Genesis, and now Exodus during this SIP. I’m listening at night to podcasts while I don’t sleep, and I’ve been through 1 Samuel and have just escaped the Bathsheba mire in 2 Samuel.
The Scriptures all remind me that God takes people through unusual and disappointing-at-the-time places before we’re where He has determined we should be.
My EMT has been in the exact right place for LA County EMS–as well as for my husband’s company’s personnel’s needs.
Because of their COVID discussions, my husband’s position has enabled him to enact health policies that have benefitted people worldwide–as has our church and all the other Lutheran Churches in our church circuit. (Because they’re all using LA County EMS protocols via husband and daughter).
I cannot help but think it’s been an Esther situation. She would not have stayed in LA if she had not applied yet another time to medical school.
I’m sure Kizzie and Kare can relate to the pride and amazement that our children– kids we’ve raised, fed, and taught to drive– have saved other people’s lives.
On days when I feel like the least essential worker in my 15-member family (that includes the seven Adorables who are the future), I remember that I have played a role in helping far more people than those around me because of who I’ve taught to drive, who I’ve fed and argued with, and how they all know Jesus.
A curious life. Since you asked, DJ, please pray for her. She’ll be home for another dentist appointment on Wednesday.
I think I have a birthday card from Michelle in my e-mail. But I don’t know because it doesn’t trust me to open it.
I can’t blame it. If you saw me right now, you would back off too.
This whole weird time in which we find ourselves is frustrating on so many levels. Praying for you KIm. Can you get away to the beach? When we āfled to the mountainsā a few weeks ago, it did help my frame of mind a bit. Just getting away with no distractions was wonderful. It always brings me back to the words of our Lord in the book of Mark….Jesus said to them, `Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.’ Praying you can find the time and place to ārestā….
Kizzie I am so sorry for those difficult moments. It is a witness to the love wrought between you two…the fragrance of which is so sweet and everlasting ā¤ļø
I hauled a car load of stuff to Goodwill…and I saw mums out front of Walmart. I had to run in and purchase a ātouch of fallā…it will be fun to watch them blossom as they are in tight buds. I am ready to get this year over with…I put my metal pumpkin and oak leaves on the bench out on the porch š
Michelle: The Bible says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around them that trust Him, and delivers them” (Or something like that.) Anyhow. Let me tell you about an incident:
Years ago, in the early 90’s, my folks were getting old and I decided that I would move them into a house I had in Falls Church. First house I owned. I kept it after I moved for that purpose. I could see it coming. That is, them having no place to live.
We had most of their stuff moved. But I had a Ford van. I took the back seats out of it and filled it with their “Junk” that needed to be moved from Charleston to Falls Church.
I was driving alone with a van packed to the top with household stuff. It was a hot August Saturday afternoon. I was just south of Roanoke Rapids, NC. The temperature was in the high nineties. The speed limit on I-95 is 70 mph and I was doing about that. I was cruising along in the right lane. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, a truck started moving into my lane.
I slammed on the brakes, and pulled over to the side, almost, but not entirely to a stop.
I was shaken up somewhat and drove slowly, maybe 5 mph for about a hundred yards. Then I started to speed up to re-enter the highway.
But, just then, I heard a racket. My car wais mishandling. So I stopped to see what was wrong.
My right rear tire had blown.
I unloaded the car and changed tires. Then I drove to Chick Filet in Roanoke Rapids. Cleaned up and had dinner. Then I had dinner and drove home without event. End of story:
I thought nothing else about it.
One day, after I retired, I was sitting alone in my study, cogitating like a person with nothing else to do.
Suddenly I had this thought. As if someone had reminded me:
Charlie? Suppose you had blown that tire while you were doing 70 mph?
So often we can best see the hand of God when looking back. Your story is a reminder to be thankful even for what seems like a nuisance or a disappointment.
“we can only conclude God is at work.ā — always!
I went over to Lowe’s to see if I could find a nice succulent in a nice pot, something small, for my neighbor (nope) who lost her son; on the way back I picked up a sympathy card. I’ll find a succulent at Home Depot or somewhere else later today or tomorrow.
My knee started hurting again at Lowe’s, so I eventually ran out of patience to find exactly what I was looking for (well, not true, I found something that would “do” but got up to the register only to find it wasn’t marked with a price or bar code. I didn’t like it all that much anyway — and the knee was screaming, so I just decided to leave to try somewhere else.
I have a hard time finding sympathy cards I like. I don’t like a lot of poetic words that go on and on.
I like a short, brief message that mentions God and/or prayer. I found one today, but it was the only one in the sea of overly-wordy, sappy cards that, to me, can get overly presumptuous on saying how or what the person “must be” feeling — people who are grieving don’t want to read through all of that, trust me. Keep it simple.
I’ll write a short brief message of my own to go with the card. But I’ll check also with my other neighbor to see if she wants to have it be from both of us, the plant (or other memento) as well.
I read an article recently on the reason southerners can make light and fluffy biscuits and nobody else can . . . it’s because there’s a certain flour sold only in the South.
I know I learned very quickly not to order biscuits at Cracker Barrel. They were way too dense to be good, and that’s coming from someone who has never made a homemade biscuit and who usually likes restaurant biscuits. I wondered when I read the article if Cracker Barrel is using a “southern” recipe but one that really just can’t be exported. Anyway, once I learned to avoid any menu item that included biscuits, it became easier to order from Cracker Barrel.
Jake and Barney alerted me to another large rattler in their dog run and helped keep it at bay until fourteen year old and I could dispatch it. It is that time of year. Harvest is on so let’s all flock on the farmlette.
Local news story here tonight is about a couple who found a 6-foot-long boa constrictor in their toilet this morning. They called a rattler wrangler (yes, there’s a business for everything and he is actually pretty cute, wears a cowboy hat) to remove it.
Wife now says she’ll be sure to always turn the lights on when she goes into the bathroom, will definitely check under the lid carefully, flush twice just to make sure. Then she’ll dare to sit.
I use extra light olive oil and yogurt to make biscuits. The frozen butter and grater trick along with the exactly 15 stirs were new to me. And I don’t roll out my biscuits but pull off a lump of dough and roll it around in my hand until it is a ball and then I flatten it out. I make them quickly. I also have done drop biscuits. Bisquick is good but not as healthy as what I make. Biscuits and honey are a comfort food from my childhood. When Wesley was young I put apple jelly in his biscuits so that is still his favorite, Apple Jelly Biscuits.
My brother found a large snake in one of his chicken nests in the cooper. I asked if it was about 2 inches diameter. He said bigger, about the size of his forearm. Yikes. He did not have ability to go after it with a hoe in the right space so almost unbelievably, he went after it with his pocket knife. It was a dull knife so the snake got away.
Every Sunday morning, about this time, I’m thinking, We should be leaving for church.
Instead, I am drinking coffee and messing around on the computer.
She is watching FoxNews, for whatever good that is.
Nothing at all good about this.
Except it could be lots worse. And It isn’t.
And that’s good. ,
The young couple in our small church isolated for two weeks after being exposed to COVID. So we thought we’d see them today. It turns out, they went to Florida for some reason and now decided to stay home and isolate again in case they were exposed in Florida. And people wonder why COVID outbreaks keep happening.
Janice, I have warned the children that snakes like chicken coops. They do some of the chicken care and egg gathering. I doubt they notice snakes. But fourteen year old did notice both rattlers in the dog run last year so he might but he is not the one who does chicken care. That would be eighteen and twelve.
Chas, I am enjoying church with Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Virginia. Google Immanuel Church Springfield Virginia, then click on their youtube live stream. They are singing hymns and songs right now. The love of God is measureless.
Morning! Reading from the Psalms this morning. I must have read over this a hundred times before but this morning it caught my attention and I thought āhow oddā. āThe birds make their nests and the stork has itās home in the pine treesā….I looked out my window and thought I should be seeing a stork or two! š
Mumsee, seems everyone felt the quake but me.
Chuck, et. al. came over and asked if I felt it.
It didn’t shake me a bit.
I started logging onto Immanual Church when Becky & her crew came in.
(The Beck is oldest GD)
We stayed home from church since we had thunderstorms going through and could not have it outside. We watched on fb. A young woman, who spoke two years ago at our church with her dad, gave the sermon. Her dad passed away from his cancer over a year ago. She did a wonderful job for someone in her early twenties. Our church building is very small and we know some of the people are out and about or refuse to wear masks, so we will not take the chance with our own health issues.
Chas, the services also can be replayed later in the day as a video. I haven’t missed a week of ours. Our church (virtual version) begins in about 30 minutes (today’s sermon is a survey of Romans). I have to say, it’s really been a lifesaver during this long period for me.
A source I know in the community, who attends the mainline Presbyterian church here, told me she’s shunned the “computer” version but feels like she has enough of a background in the faith that it’s not needed.
But I think we always need to hear the gospel preached in that corporate setting, even when it’s online only.
I’d actually signed up, RSVP’d, to attend our earlier in-person service this morning but overslept — we’re in violation of the state & county public health orders by doing that indoors still, but I keep thinking it’s time for me to try to get back. The earlier service is strict, masks and social distancing required, doors and windows open; our 2nd service is a little looser, masks recommended but not required (and apparently many don’t wear them at that service). I don’t think that’s wise (at all), but that’s what they’re – we’re doing.
Anyway, back to my oversleeping so much on weekends — I think it’s the combination of long work weeks plus this knee that is causing me to sleep extra long hours on the weekends right now. So I missed the early in-person service. I’ll try signing up again next week. I even went to bed early last night (which I’m doing more often now, again because the knee pain seems to kick up more at night). Just can’t seem to get enough sleep.
“Virtual” services very definitely aren’t the same, I agree. But they’re better than nothing. And it does keep us somewhat in that weekly pattern of observing the Lord’s Day.
Peter, none taken. I am not so young anymore, anyway. The region where I work had been without active cases for a month, and then two young people went someplace and got infected and brought it back. Although, the middle aged cottagers who think the restrictions in their city do not apply in the country while at the cottage are problematic too.
Still attending the city church online. Sermon today was about Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin – the preacher brought out the fact that Stephen’s summary of the history of Israel was intended to demonstrate that the traditions they held so dear, such as the temple, had not always been in place, even though faithful people had worshipped God since Abraham. In essence, he was challenging them to turn from their traditions to faith. He ended the sermon by asking if we had traditions that were hindering the faith.
We had a lot of folks at church today. We meet on the gravel parking lot out back. There are some who sit on the paved parking area for greater stability. Today I looked and there were twice as many folks on the paved area. It is like our church came home.
Re: Pillsbury biscuits (or the knock off brands) in a can – There is a suspense while pressing the back of the spoon into the seam, and when the can finally “pops”, it is scary!
Peter – Young people may be doing some unwise things, but so far, most of the folks I see making a fuss about wearing masks, and insisting that either they don’t work or that they are unnecessary, are old enough to know better. Some seem more interested in their rights and freedoms than in loving their neighbor. š¦
My church has a registration so that they can keep to the 25% capacity that the state allows, and has free masks, as well as hand sanitizer stations. And free gloves for those who may want them.
I was free to go to church today for the first time since March, but I have had a little occasional cough, along with being inordinately tired, so I thought it best to stay home. I doubt it is anything serious, but also realized that a cough could make some people nervous. Not to mention, what if it turns out I actually have a mild case of Covid?
Speaking of that “what if”, Chickadee was over yesterday, so please pray that if it really is Covid (which I highly doubt), that she did not pick it up from me, and that if she did, she won’t pass it on to the McKs.
We had a prospective pastor and this family today; a lot of people attended the outdoor service at 9–maybe because coffee and donuts were BACK!
I liked this pastor. Last night at our get together, I asked him what his spiritual gift was. The question surprised him, which surprised me.
He came up with joy and then went into the fruits of the spirit.
I asked his wife, who said the same thing.
Last night, lying awake and thinking, it occurred to me that our church–which has a plentiful joyous pastor–could maybe use another one. Our community is so broken, four years of crises have exhausted us, perhaps God is suggesting someone we need rather than the type of pastor we think we want.
Nightingale and I were joking that yesterday was a “2020 day”, with so many things going wrong. (But despite all of that, it ended up being a very nice visit with Chickadee.)
First was Nightingale being refused the info to join the Zoom-type meeting for college that she was supposed to be on. Then she forgot that it was the day to have her sister over, so she got a late start on the things she wanted to prepare, and also picked up Chickadee over an hour later than she had planned. Even so, at sometime after 1:00, Chickadee was still asleep when she arrived to pick her up, having not heard her alarm.
The can of real crab meat for the Seafood Bruschetta was bad. The DVD movie I was expecting from Netflix for us to watch hadn’t come yet (which turned out to be okay because we really didn’t have time for it before Boy was back from being with his dad since we were running late on our plans). And Nightingale accidentally knocked over and broke a wine glass.
I think that was it. But we rolled with the punches, and took it all in good humor (well, except for Nightingale’s tearful frustration about that morning meeting). As I said, it was a very nice visit with Chickadee, and Nightingale still managed to pull off a great menu.
Early in our visit, she put out a delicious cheese board of cheddar cheese cubes, prosciutto, baked brie in a puff pastry, some nuts, and chocolate pieces. A little later, we had the Seafood Bruschetta, and for dinner, she made a delicious dish of angel hair pasta with spinach in a light sauce. Dessert was lemon squares. Oh, so very delicious!
And I won a game of War, a card game I have not played since I was a child. š
For younger people, it’s more just benign carelessness I think — they’re young, it’s summer, time for the beach, time to party, time to hang with friends.
Our hospitalization rates in LA County seem to be stabilizing again, thankfully. So maybe we’ve (again) turned a corner. Let’s see if we can hold the line a little better this time around. We failed miserably before.
We do have the rather extensive county public health guidelines posted on our website and (presumably) posted at the door of the church, as required.
No communal coffee or donut table for us yet. Communion is served in individual packages which is also why they need people to RSVP in advance (as well as to control numbers).
To clarify what I wrote at 3:14 with the phrase “old enough to know better”. I understand that there are legitimate arguments about the efficacy of wearing masks. But for now, it is a “rule” we need to follow, whether we agree or not. Tammy does not think they are necessary, but she wears one when in public in the spirit of loving her neighbors, even if in her mind it merely puts them at ease.
It is the ones who outright refuse to wear them, and insist that people who do are acting out of fear, who should “know better”.
It has been a lazy afternoon of watching old movies…I am watching Pride of the Yankees now for the bazillionith time….one of my favorites. It is nearly 90 degrees outside!
I wear a mask in public indoors facilities…we are mandated to do so. I do not wear them outside. When it exit from a store I rip that thing off! I am careful not to be near others. I do get a bit weary worn of the āif you donāt wear a mask then you show you really donāt love your neighborā….I do love my neighbor and I am capable of not getting too close to others outdoors when I do not wear a mask. I realize there are some who recklessly forgo distancing themselves from others but at times with overreaching mandates adults are treated as though they cannot make wise decisions…just some pondering of mine on the subject š
I continue to do the Facebook Live church service. It is partly because when Karen watches it she likes to know I am watching it with her. She reads the friendly chat comments and enjoys that. When the parking lot service is attended we are suppose to use the car radio to tune in. We had a good sermon on a few verses in Romans which we are slowly going through.
Good uses for canned biscuits:
1) fried apple pies(my mother made);
2) fill crescent roll with a chicken mixture which might include chicken mixed with cream cheese, chives, and chopped nuts, rolled up in a crescent shape, baked, and a covered with sauce from cheddar cheese soup (I made this a long time back);
3) great dumplings for chicken and dumplings (my MIL made that).
I remember enjoying the pop when opening the canned biscuits.
All weekend I have been readying our oldest car for someone who may buy it. But now, I can not find the car title. This will be worse than Hunt for Red October! It was not where I knew it was. Oh, my. Prayers needed on this. It will be in the last place I look no doubt. Wishing that could be the next place I look.
I did unearth from under one seat a pair of reading glasses unseen for years. I need them now. I also found a cd that must be one of Wesley’s. So many forgotten little treasures of very little value can be found when deep cleaning an automobile.
We’re mandated to wear them everywhere in public, though I agree with nancyjill (and the experts) that social distancing the best strategy.
When I start walking my dogs again (!!! hopeful, but not there yet), I won’t wear a mask as we go out just after dark and hardly ever see anyone. If we do, crossing the street is the easiest way to avoid that. But i guess you should at least “have” a mask with you at all times, just in case.
I lost my press pass (on a lanyard) several years ago and had to order a new one. I found the old one eventually in between the car seats. I’d really searched all over the car, not sure how I missed it.
The masks are definitely uncomfortable, we have to wear them at physical therapy, of course but when they have you doing a lot of exercises it can get steamy. But one of the guys showed me where there’s a ceiling A/C vent you can do you exercises under if no one else has grabbed that spot.
This has, so far, been a very good day for the knee, but then again I haven’t done a lot of physical activity. I’m about to head out to catch up on watering so we’ll see how that goes.
We’re still doing the livestream for church, though they have been meeting in person for some time now. Next week Sunday school restarts. Tonight was the first time they had the Lord’s supper since this all began; they decided to go with the prepackaged elements. And one of the pastors called us during the week and asked did we want him and an elder to come by with the elements after the service to include us (after we watched the service livestream)? My husband was very moved when he said yes, we would like that very much. They did a mini service here, a couple of prayers, some Scripture reading, and a devotional, and then we all four partook together.
I never thought I would be a “shut-in” in my early fifties, but of course it is not for my sake but my husband’s. But it is a blessing to be able to be included as much as we are–to watch the livestream, to hear ourselves prayed for periodically, to have church members doing our shopping, to have people call sometimes. We yearn for the day we can go back fully, but this season has its own blessings.
NancyJill – In my own use of “loving our neighbors”, I am referring to what you described – wearing one when needed, and maintaining social distance. It’s not the people who have legitimate arguments against them, for medical or constitutional reasons, that I was referring to as those who should know better, but those who are refusing to wear masks in a rebellious manner, and/or putting down those who choose to wear masks as fearful sheep.
It really isn’t necessary to put on a mask if you’re just passing someone on a trail, but being near someone for 15 or more minutes does require the mask or 6 ft. distance.
The Colorado guidelines said to wear a mask when passing someone.
Yes and sorta to getting a car. I bought one, but it hadn’t been cleaned, so they are delivering it tomorrow. I don’t think they have any idea that it is a 1 1/2 hour drive over here. My friend who took me only likes to drive back roads so it took us a long time to go there and back.
I turned down everything they offered that cost more. Including, according to them, if you want the freedom to back out of the sale in California for the first two days, it will cost you $250.
Jo, did they mean you have to pay $250 up front, or that if you returned the car they would keep $250 of what you’d paid? The second makes sense (maybe–I don’t know the legality of that), but the first doesn’t, They don’t give or rescind your legal right to do that; you have it.
Wandering Views 
God morning everyone.
O couldn’t join in on the conversation about pets last night because I lost my pet rock in the move.
I don’t know. I’ve looked everywhere.
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Morning! One day your pet rock will show up Chas…when you least expect it š
Oh look at those twins up there. We feed those critters around here. Not intentionally but I did tell my neighbor I have resigned myself to the fact that I just grow deer food in my flower garden…Iām done with trying to keep them out….everything is munched down….they are cute though…
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Good morning. My brother should be here soon to deal more with that tree. It is man work that suits him and keeps him cheerful.i feel quite scatter-brained lately with bits and pieces of projects in various stages of completion. I need to send out some cards, sympathy and such, and hope I don’t forget any I need to send. My friend, Florence, has just lost a precious relative. I bought yarn to make an afghan for a church couple having their first baby.
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so many projects, Janice. I am working on a newsletter. I have notes to write and I need to do some much needed cleaning. But first I must get ready to go look at and hopefully buy a car or, actually, a suv. It is an hour and a half drive. I called a nearby friend whom I haven’t seen in months and am very excited that she will be taking me. We should have a great time to visit.
So… you can still be first on all of the other of today’s threads.
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Iām off to the gym (outdoors) this morning for the first time since March 9.
I hope I can fit into my workout clothes!
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My SIL who is a commercial fisherman works this time of year as a fish tender. That means he picks up the fish from the salmon boats. He was going to a boat to pick up their fish when he got word the boat sunk! Thankfully, all hands on deck were saved. Thank God for those who do that work! My grandson and another young man is the crew with my SIL. The grandson is nephew to my SIL. This is a sobering reminder of how quickly things can change.
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Good morning. I have been out praying for DJ. Lots of wasp nests got sprayed. Eight in the greenhouse and four in the wood shop. There are many more and I may get some of them as well as it is getting toward the aggressive time of year. We have not seen any baldfaced hornets this year and I hope that trend continues. We have seen some mosquitoes, very rare around here. Soon it will be blackberry time and I don’t want to be competing with yellow jackets as they get mighty protective of their food source. And then the grapes.
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Wow, mumsee. That is a lot of nests!
Fun photo of those fawns.
I would have put a sad face on for you, NancyJill, if I could. Freeloading deer! Humph! My cedars are finally filling out again. Just in time for winter when the deer will be back to those. š¦ They do leave most of my stuff alone, though. Grasshoppers have decimated some plants, but there seems to be less and less of those.
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Those fawns were on my regular trail, the day after seeing the two bucks on a different one. No–actually this was a second sighting a couple days later. But that first day, soon after I entered the trail, I saw a man standing at the edge looking into the bushes, and I went somewhat close (socially distanced) and looked to see what he was seeing, and a fawn was gazing back at him. I got a few photos and then it left. Minutes later its mama came to a low spot in the fence (I think she chose that spot because she wanted her fawn to follow, and I could see she wanted to jump over, but I was too close for her to do so, plus not at an angle where I could get a photo, so I backed up several feet and also put my camera on “action mode,” and I got the photo. Then she walked toward me, and I thought, She’s used to getting fed and she wants me to feed her, but I don’t get as close to deer as she was coming to me, so I kept backing up. When I’d backed up several yards and she was still coming, I put my hand up, palm out, and she understood that and stopped. I realized later she may have been backing me away to give space for her fawn to come over. I moved past her and watched from a distance on the other side, hoping to see the fawn join her.
She waited around several minutes, but it was a Saturday morning on the trail (no big gaps between people) and her fawn didn’t come over, and finally she went back over the fence herself.
Half an hour later or so, a woman saw me photographing wildflowers and asked if I’d seen the doe and twin fawns. They were rather hard to see in the field since the grass was tall and they were feeding near some bushes (and it was the other way from where I was facing), but I did end up seeing them. I came back a couple days later and was about in the same spot I’d been the first time, and I looked up to see a doe and a fawn crossing the trail, on my side of the fence. The fawn looked back halfway and I saw its sibling, too. While I was getting the fawns, apparently mama jumped back over the fence, presumably expecting her babies to follow. But she ended up in the field, with them on my side of the fence. They ran along it for a while, as though puzzled by something between them and their mother, but after a while they grew curious about me and walked toward me. The one on the left ended up getting close enough I thought its mama might have a heart attack, and I backed off as I’d done for the other mother deer. Then the fawns went about their lives, feeding and grooming themselves, and I got a bunch of photos. Eventually mama reappeared around the side. (This property is owned by a railroad that used to go through the property, but doesn’t anymore. So it is fenced and technically private property, but I strongly suspect that somewhere in the trees the fence or a gate has fallen down or homeless people have made an opening–some do seem to live in the woods to the left of the fenced area.) A few minutes later I saw one of the fawns inside, so it would seem that she led it around to a better spot. By that time, not wanting to stress the young family needlessly, I was leaving.
I have long wanted good fawn photos, and this was my best chance ever to get them. This isn’t my very favorite of the scene, but I like how it shows both of them.
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Oh Kathaleena how scary! Thankful all were saved but it does act as a reminder as to how quickly things can change. We are in the midst of revising our will and making some major changes. We are going slowly and prayerfully. We desire to be responsible and good stewards of what our Lord has given to us and how we disperse our āworldly possessionsā to His glory. Hard decisions being made…
Praying for your day and your exciting trip with your friend Jo…it does sound like an enjoyable day ahead for you!
I am purging more from my closet and storage totes in the basement. What started out as one small box has turned into a carload to take to Goodwill…how does this stuff multiply around here!! (Rhetorical question š)
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Another pandemic weekend. This is getting old, it just weighs on you mentally. Probably didn’t help that I read some articles on the efforts to get a vaccine in place before falling asleep. Not altogether encouraging although even if we get something that’s only 50% effective, it’ll be some kind of help? But not the complete re-set back to normal that we’d all hope for.
My editor and I were texting yesterday about how time seems to have just stopped. (My story including something about 2021 with regard to a project going through the port; he said he thought that’s a few years away and then realized, no, just a few months away … )
Things that happened in Jan-Feb, “pre-covid,” seem like another world ago.
The years have bumped into each other, the seasons at times are indistinguishable due to none of the usual social and personal markers that set them apart. Spring just blended right into summer and now summer, remarkably is on its way out. Will fall feel like fall without the start of a (real) school year? With community Christmas events — parades, sledding on trucked-in snow parties, already being canceled?
Sorry, I’m feeling grumpy, I need to get myself out of this mood (I will). It will help when I can get back out to walk the dogs and not have to deal with the off-and-on (still mostly on) knee pain. I just feel so physically “stuck.”
Kathaleena, how scary, glad that turned out OK for SIL. (At first I read SIL as ‘sister’ in law, and I thought, wow, she must be quite a lady, commercial fishing?)
Mumsee, thank you for the prayers. Zap a wasp nest for me. Not that I wish them any harm, but …
Got a text last night from former reporter friend who’s been battling those invasive Aedes mosquitoes we have now. She is now on antibiotics and steroid creams, she texted me a photo of her lower leg which look horrendous, completely read and swollen. My cousin recently said she’s been hit with them also. I’ve had a few bites this summer, but not too many — I’ve taken Vector Control’s advice and am now pretty good about putting some repellant on when I go out to water or if I’m going to be spending anytime outside.
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*red
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I have a pan of eggs hard-boiling this morning. They’re so handy to keep in the refrigerator these days, a good quick snack or breakfast. I need to get on a scale, I think I’ve been losing weight.
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āYesterday I finally got around to doing another little thing that needed to be done after Hubby’s death.
Several months after his death, Nightingale and I went into the bank to see about taking his name off of our (Hubby’s and my) bank accounts. What I learned was that the account was for those over 60 (which Hubby had turned two and a half years before his death) and my name was kind of a secondary name on it. So, since I was not 60 yet, I needed to open my own account. But I was able to keep the first one open until I could make sure any bills that were automatically paid from it were switched to my account.
Well, I have to admit that I dilly dallied on that for quite a while. The last automatic payment on there was for my own life insurance, and I couldn’t figure out how to switch it over to my new account. Somewhere along the line, I received a letter from my insurance company informing me that since my agent had died, a new one was assigned my account. I dilly dallied some more, but eventually sent him an email about changing the paying account, and while I was at it, changing the beneficiary from my now late husband to my daughters.
And then I dilly dallied some more about getting around to closing out Hubby’s account. But yesterday I did that. I think it is the last thing – at least the last somewhat important thing – that needed to be done of all the things I needed to do after Hubby died.
Several months ago, after I had finally cleaned off Hubby’s very messy and cluttered desk, and the top of his dresser, I probably mentioned to you all that it was an emotional thing for me to finish that. I kind of felt that I had erased an important part of him, cleaned him away. Closing out his checking account hasn’t had that bad of an effect on me, but still makes me a little sad, although relieved to have it done. But I did cry some last night because it represents that another reminder that he once walked the earth is gone.
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Michelle, what’s the update on your EMT?
Med school or?
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DJ – You and I just posted at the same time. š
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I think I am suffering from Pandemic Depression. I want to go somewhere or do something and there is nowhere to go nor anything to do. I am feeling frustrated.
Also, even with all the medicine my Boy Dog is still coughing. It hurts my heart.
My house is a wreck and I canāt keep up with it.
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One evening when Hubby was in the hospital, I gave his coffee thermos, coffee travel mugs, and lunchbox (it was actually a small cooler with a strap) a really good cleaning. As I did so, I had the very sad feeling that I was cleaning them all for the last time. Of course, I told myself that I was being silly and dramatic. But it really was the last time.
What reminded me of this is that for the last few days, I have been using his thermos to keep my coffee hot since my microwave is broken. (I usually make my coffee in a container with the amount of creamer and half-n-half I like, and then microwave my cup of coffee after it has cooled. Nightingale thinks I am weird in doing this. I don’t care. š )
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Technology is not my friend.
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Kim – Of course my “like” of your comment wasn’t that I liked it, but that I am praying for you.
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Prayers, Kim.
I’m sharing a bit in that this weekend, I think; I was texting a friend that I hadn’t been in a ‘regular’ store in ages, just drug or grocery stores for necessities. I was kind of thinking I’d like to pick up a couple more colorful Mexican planter pots and I’d found them late last year at our local Home Goods store. How long ago it feels since then!
Anyway, I’ll live without them for a while longer. I have about 5 flowering plants still in their original containers that I’d planned to plant in the backyard this summer. I have a bag of gardening soil waiting on the patio. But the process will require some shoveling and soil-prep so with the knee bang-up it has just all had to wait. I keep watering them in the meantime, though, and they’re still doing well (the impatiens actually have been in their pot for 3-4 years now, but I think it’s time to plant them; and I planted a sprig of the Mexican sage from the front yard in another pot earlier this year and that has totally taken off, I really need to trim it back in a major way).
And prayers for you, too, Kizzie. Those things are always so poignant to take care of, but feels better when it’s done.
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Lots of sorrow to bring to the Man of Sorrows. And joy in the morning.
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Donna says: “The years have bumped into each other, the seasons at times are indistinguishable due to none of the usual social and personal markers that set them apart. Spring just blended right into summer and now summer, remarkably is on its way out. ”
And Kim is right behind her. That’s the way it feels to get old and decrepit. It’s just happening to you earlier.
No place to go. Nothing to do. Not even something worth blogging about.
It’s partly due to the pandemic. But not entirely.
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I survived both the gym class (whew! Saw friends!) and then had to go to the grocery store. Two terrors in one morning!
We’re going to a social distancing pot luck dinner tonight to meet the potential pastor and family. Through a mix up, I just got my assignment this morning–appetizers.
How do you do that with Mr. COVID monitoring?
I bought plastic containers with snacks. I’ll spread them out on a table and you choose whichever you want.
They look like lunchables–and I hated buying all that plastic, but, well, you know.
I’ll collect the plastic (in a bag so I don’t touch anything) afterward, was and reuse.
She said.
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Ah, my EMT . . .
Monday is the drop-dead for sure you’re not going to medical school day. And it would only be if someone at UCRiverside decided or couldn’t go–assuming my EMT is at the top of the waitlist.
(I think I mentioned we know two people who got the call two days before med school started).
She’s working through the disappointment, is praying and thinking about what next. She has plenty going for her (!) and is tired of LA.
As her mother, I’m grieving with her, too, but the Lord has taken me through Revelation, Genesis, and now Exodus during this SIP. I’m listening at night to podcasts while I don’t sleep, and I’ve been through 1 Samuel and have just escaped the Bathsheba mire in 2 Samuel.
The Scriptures all remind me that God takes people through unusual and disappointing-at-the-time places before we’re where He has determined we should be.
My EMT has been in the exact right place for LA County EMS–as well as for my husband’s company’s personnel’s needs.
Because of their COVID discussions, my husband’s position has enabled him to enact health policies that have benefitted people worldwide–as has our church and all the other Lutheran Churches in our church circuit. (Because they’re all using LA County EMS protocols via husband and daughter).
I cannot help but think it’s been an Esther situation. She would not have stayed in LA if she had not applied yet another time to medical school.
I’m sure Kizzie and Kare can relate to the pride and amazement that our children– kids we’ve raised, fed, and taught to drive– have saved other people’s lives.
On days when I feel like the least essential worker in my 15-member family (that includes the seven Adorables who are the future), I remember that I have played a role in helping far more people than those around me because of who I’ve taught to drive, who I’ve fed and argued with, and how they all know Jesus.
A curious life. Since you asked, DJ, please pray for her. She’ll be home for another dentist appointment on Wednesday.
Or not? š
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Which reminds me of something a friend said the other day about a freak accident.
“It was so odd, the timing so peculiar, and the result so unusual, we can only conclude God is at work.”
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I think I have a birthday card from Michelle in my e-mail. But I don’t know because it doesn’t trust me to open it.
I can’t blame it. If you saw me right now, you would back off too.
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This whole weird time in which we find ourselves is frustrating on so many levels. Praying for you KIm. Can you get away to the beach? When we āfled to the mountainsā a few weeks ago, it did help my frame of mind a bit. Just getting away with no distractions was wonderful. It always brings me back to the words of our Lord in the book of Mark….Jesus said to them, `Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.’ Praying you can find the time and place to ārestā….
Kizzie I am so sorry for those difficult moments. It is a witness to the love wrought between you two…the fragrance of which is so sweet and everlasting ā¤ļø
I hauled a car load of stuff to Goodwill…and I saw mums out front of Walmart. I had to run in and purchase a ātouch of fallā…it will be fun to watch them blossom as they are in tight buds. I am ready to get this year over with…I put my metal pumpkin and oak leaves on the bench out on the porch š
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Michelle: The Bible says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around them that trust Him, and delivers them” (Or something like that.) Anyhow. Let me tell you about an incident:
Years ago, in the early 90’s, my folks were getting old and I decided that I would move them into a house I had in Falls Church. First house I owned. I kept it after I moved for that purpose. I could see it coming. That is, them having no place to live.
We had most of their stuff moved. But I had a Ford van. I took the back seats out of it and filled it with their “Junk” that needed to be moved from Charleston to Falls Church.
I was driving alone with a van packed to the top with household stuff. It was a hot August Saturday afternoon. I was just south of Roanoke Rapids, NC. The temperature was in the high nineties. The speed limit on I-95 is 70 mph and I was doing about that. I was cruising along in the right lane. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, a truck started moving into my lane.
I slammed on the brakes, and pulled over to the side, almost, but not entirely to a stop.
I was shaken up somewhat and drove slowly, maybe 5 mph for about a hundred yards. Then I started to speed up to re-enter the highway.
But, just then, I heard a racket. My car wais mishandling. So I stopped to see what was wrong.
My right rear tire had blown.
I unloaded the car and changed tires. Then I drove to Chick Filet in Roanoke Rapids. Cleaned up and had dinner. Then I had dinner and drove home without event. End of story:
I thought nothing else about it.
One day, after I retired, I was sitting alone in my study, cogitating like a person with nothing else to do.
Suddenly I had this thought. As if someone had reminded me:
Charlie? Suppose you had blown that tire while you were doing 70 mph?
Then I thought of that verse.
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For those who make biscuits, this sounds delicious.
https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/buttermilk-biscuits
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Yikes, Chas!
Did I send you a card? I don’t think I did . . . who knows what the computers are up to these days? LOL Just delete.
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So often we can best see the hand of God when looking back. Your story is a reminder to be thankful even for what seems like a nuisance or a disappointment.
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“we can only conclude God is at work.ā — always!
I went over to Lowe’s to see if I could find a nice succulent in a nice pot, something small, for my neighbor (nope) who lost her son; on the way back I picked up a sympathy card. I’ll find a succulent at Home Depot or somewhere else later today or tomorrow.
My knee started hurting again at Lowe’s, so I eventually ran out of patience to find exactly what I was looking for (well, not true, I found something that would “do” but got up to the register only to find it wasn’t marked with a price or bar code. I didn’t like it all that much anyway — and the knee was screaming, so I just decided to leave to try somewhere else.
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I have a hard time finding sympathy cards I like. I don’t like a lot of poetic words that go on and on.
I like a short, brief message that mentions God and/or prayer. I found one today, but it was the only one in the sea of overly-wordy, sappy cards that, to me, can get overly presumptuous on saying how or what the person “must be” feeling — people who are grieving don’t want to read through all of that, trust me. Keep it simple.
I’ll write a short brief message of my own to go with the card. But I’ll check also with my other neighbor to see if she wants to have it be from both of us, the plant (or other memento) as well.
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To my shame I do not know how to make biscuits. š¢
One of my agents lost her 30 year old son. We only found out yesterday.
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I can make them using the recipe off the Bisquick package. Does that count? š
Party time.
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Biscuits are easier to make than bisquick.
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I read an article recently on the reason southerners can make light and fluffy biscuits and nobody else can . . . it’s because there’s a certain flour sold only in the South.
I know I learned very quickly not to order biscuits at Cracker Barrel. They were way too dense to be good, and that’s coming from someone who has never made a homemade biscuit and who usually likes restaurant biscuits. I wondered when I read the article if Cracker Barrel is using a “southern” recipe but one that really just can’t be exported. Anyway, once I learned to avoid any menu item that included biscuits, it became easier to order from Cracker Barrel.
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Jake and Barney alerted me to another large rattler in their dog run and helped keep it at bay until fourteen year old and I could dispatch it. It is that time of year. Harvest is on so let’s all flock on the farmlette.
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I wonder if Boise has rattlers.
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Just crack that Pillsbury tube, stick them on a pan.
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Local news story here tonight is about a couple who found a 6-foot-long boa constrictor in their toilet this morning. They called a rattler wrangler (yes, there’s a business for everything and he is actually pretty cute, wears a cowboy hat) to remove it.
Wife now says she’ll be sure to always turn the lights on when she goes into the bathroom, will definitely check under the lid carefully, flush twice just to make sure. Then she’ll dare to sit.
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I use extra light olive oil and yogurt to make biscuits. The frozen butter and grater trick along with the exactly 15 stirs were new to me. And I don’t roll out my biscuits but pull off a lump of dough and roll it around in my hand until it is a ball and then I flatten it out. I make them quickly. I also have done drop biscuits. Bisquick is good but not as healthy as what I make. Biscuits and honey are a comfort food from my childhood. When Wesley was young I put apple jelly in his biscuits so that is still his favorite, Apple Jelly Biscuits.
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My brother found a large snake in one of his chicken nests in the cooper. I asked if it was about 2 inches diameter. He said bigger, about the size of his forearm. Yikes. He did not have ability to go after it with a hoe in the right space so almost unbelievably, he went after it with his pocket knife. It was a dull knife so the snake got away.
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I typed in coop and looked to make sure that was what I typed. So why did it get changed to cooper?
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Every Sunday morning, about this time, I’m thinking, We should be leaving for church.
Instead, I am drinking coffee and messing around on the computer.
She is watching FoxNews, for whatever good that is.
Nothing at all good about this.
Except it could be lots worse. And It isn’t.
And that’s good. ,
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Young people. (No offense to Roscuro.)
The young couple in our small church isolated for two weeks after being exposed to COVID. So we thought we’d see them today. It turns out, they went to Florida for some reason and now decided to stay home and isolate again in case they were exposed in Florida. And people wonder why COVID outbreaks keep happening.
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Janice, I have warned the children that snakes like chicken coops. They do some of the chicken care and egg gathering. I doubt they notice snakes. But fourteen year old did notice both rattlers in the dog run last year so he might but he is not the one who does chicken care. That would be eighteen and twelve.
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Chas, I am enjoying church with Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Virginia. Google Immanuel Church Springfield Virginia, then click on their youtube live stream. They are singing hymns and songs right now. The love of God is measureless.
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Morning! Reading from the Psalms this morning. I must have read over this a hundred times before but this morning it caught my attention and I thought āhow oddā. āThe birds make their nests and the stork has itās home in the pine treesā….I looked out my window and thought I should be seeing a stork or two! š
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Oh, the eerie ragged cry of coyotes at 7:11 on a Sundaymorning!
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Pretty cool isn’t it, Michelle?
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You folks back east and down south getting all shook up?
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Mumsee, seems everyone felt the quake but me.
Chuck, et. al. came over and asked if I felt it.
It didn’t shake me a bit.
I started logging onto Immanual Church when Becky & her crew came in.
(The Beck is oldest GD)
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Chas, they leave it up so you can go back and follow along later. Good message on Jesus being our righteousness and us finding courage in that.
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And you can pause it at any time.
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My daughter in TN just made buttermilk biscuits recently and pronounced them the best. I like Cracker Barrel biscuits myself. I did not care as much for the ones at Lovelace CafƩ near Nashville. Those are famous for there biscuits. Biscuits, like a lot of other foods, are a matter of personal opinion. I have never made the buttermilk ones myself. The package ones are wonderful for when you are in a hurry or a busy mom. My, we are blessed!
We stayed home from church since we had thunderstorms going through and could not have it outside. We watched on fb. A young woman, who spoke two years ago at our church with her dad, gave the sermon. Her dad passed away from his cancer over a year ago. She did a wonderful job for someone in her early twenties. Our church building is very small and we know some of the people are out and about or refuse to wear masks, so we will not take the chance with our own health issues.
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Chas, the services also can be replayed later in the day as a video. I haven’t missed a week of ours. Our church (virtual version) begins in about 30 minutes (today’s sermon is a survey of Romans). I have to say, it’s really been a lifesaver during this long period for me.
A source I know in the community, who attends the mainline Presbyterian church here, told me she’s shunned the “computer” version but feels like she has enough of a background in the faith that it’s not needed.
But I think we always need to hear the gospel preached in that corporate setting, even when it’s online only.
I’d actually signed up, RSVP’d, to attend our earlier in-person service this morning but overslept — we’re in violation of the state & county public health orders by doing that indoors still, but I keep thinking it’s time for me to try to get back. The earlier service is strict, masks and social distancing required, doors and windows open; our 2nd service is a little looser, masks recommended but not required (and apparently many don’t wear them at that service). I don’t think that’s wise (at all), but that’s what they’re – we’re doing.
Anyway, back to my oversleeping so much on weekends — I think it’s the combination of long work weeks plus this knee that is causing me to sleep extra long hours on the weekends right now. So I missed the early in-person service. I’ll try signing up again next week. I even went to bed early last night (which I’m doing more often now, again because the knee pain seems to kick up more at night). Just can’t seem to get enough sleep.
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“Virtual” services very definitely aren’t the same, I agree. But they’re better than nothing. And it does keep us somewhat in that weekly pattern of observing the Lord’s Day.
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Peter, none taken. I am not so young anymore, anyway. The region where I work had been without active cases for a month, and then two young people went someplace and got infected and brought it back. Although, the middle aged cottagers who think the restrictions in their city do not apply in the country while at the cottage are problematic too.
Still attending the city church online. Sermon today was about Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin – the preacher brought out the fact that Stephen’s summary of the history of Israel was intended to demonstrate that the traditions they held so dear, such as the temple, had not always been in place, even though faithful people had worshipped God since Abraham. In essence, he was challenging them to turn from their traditions to faith. He ended the sermon by asking if we had traditions that were hindering the faith.
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We had a lot of folks at church today. We meet on the gravel parking lot out back. There are some who sit on the paved parking area for greater stability. Today I looked and there were twice as many folks on the paved area. It is like our church came home.
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Re: Pillsbury biscuits (or the knock off brands) in a can – There is a suspense while pressing the back of the spoon into the seam, and when the can finally “pops”, it is scary!
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Peter – Young people may be doing some unwise things, but so far, most of the folks I see making a fuss about wearing masks, and insisting that either they don’t work or that they are unnecessary, are old enough to know better. Some seem more interested in their rights and freedoms than in loving their neighbor. š¦
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My church has a registration so that they can keep to the 25% capacity that the state allows, and has free masks, as well as hand sanitizer stations. And free gloves for those who may want them.
I was free to go to church today for the first time since March, but I have had a little occasional cough, along with being inordinately tired, so I thought it best to stay home. I doubt it is anything serious, but also realized that a cough could make some people nervous. Not to mention, what if it turns out I actually have a mild case of Covid?
Speaking of that “what if”, Chickadee was over yesterday, so please pray that if it really is Covid (which I highly doubt), that she did not pick it up from me, and that if she did, she won’t pass it on to the McKs.
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We had a prospective pastor and this family today; a lot of people attended the outdoor service at 9–maybe because coffee and donuts were BACK!
I liked this pastor. Last night at our get together, I asked him what his spiritual gift was. The question surprised him, which surprised me.
He came up with joy and then went into the fruits of the spirit.
I asked his wife, who said the same thing.
Last night, lying awake and thinking, it occurred to me that our church–which has a plentiful joyous pastor–could maybe use another one. Our community is so broken, four years of crises have exhausted us, perhaps God is suggesting someone we need rather than the type of pastor we think we want.
Food for thought.
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Nightingale and I were joking that yesterday was a “2020 day”, with so many things going wrong. (But despite all of that, it ended up being a very nice visit with Chickadee.)
First was Nightingale being refused the info to join the Zoom-type meeting for college that she was supposed to be on. Then she forgot that it was the day to have her sister over, so she got a late start on the things she wanted to prepare, and also picked up Chickadee over an hour later than she had planned. Even so, at sometime after 1:00, Chickadee was still asleep when she arrived to pick her up, having not heard her alarm.
The can of real crab meat for the Seafood Bruschetta was bad. The DVD movie I was expecting from Netflix for us to watch hadn’t come yet (which turned out to be okay because we really didn’t have time for it before Boy was back from being with his dad since we were running late on our plans). And Nightingale accidentally knocked over and broke a wine glass.
I think that was it. But we rolled with the punches, and took it all in good humor (well, except for Nightingale’s tearful frustration about that morning meeting). As I said, it was a very nice visit with Chickadee, and Nightingale still managed to pull off a great menu.
Early in our visit, she put out a delicious cheese board of cheddar cheese cubes, prosciutto, baked brie in a puff pastry, some nuts, and chocolate pieces. A little later, we had the Seafood Bruschetta, and for dinner, she made a delicious dish of angel hair pasta with spinach in a light sauce. Dessert was lemon squares. Oh, so very delicious!
And I won a game of War, a card game I have not played since I was a child. š
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For younger people, it’s more just benign carelessness I think — they’re young, it’s summer, time for the beach, time to party, time to hang with friends.
Our hospitalization rates in LA County seem to be stabilizing again, thankfully. So maybe we’ve (again) turned a corner. Let’s see if we can hold the line a little better this time around. We failed miserably before.
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I wonder if “2020” (to designate sheer disaster) will enter our popular dictionary.
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We do have the rather extensive county public health guidelines posted on our website and (presumably) posted at the door of the church, as required.
No communal coffee or donut table for us yet. Communion is served in individual packages which is also why they need people to RSVP in advance (as well as to control numbers).
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LA Co is pretty strict right now.
But our church is planning a bring-your-own picnic lunch at the beach in a couple weeks.
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To clarify what I wrote at 3:14 with the phrase “old enough to know better”. I understand that there are legitimate arguments about the efficacy of wearing masks. But for now, it is a “rule” we need to follow, whether we agree or not. Tammy does not think they are necessary, but she wears one when in public in the spirit of loving her neighbors, even if in her mind it merely puts them at ease.
It is the ones who outright refuse to wear them, and insist that people who do are acting out of fear, who should “know better”.
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I forgot to add that we had salmon with the pasta. š
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It has been a lazy afternoon of watching old movies…I am watching Pride of the Yankees now for the bazillionith time….one of my favorites. It is nearly 90 degrees outside!
I wear a mask in public indoors facilities…we are mandated to do so. I do not wear them outside. When it exit from a store I rip that thing off! I am careful not to be near others. I do get a bit weary worn of the āif you donāt wear a mask then you show you really donāt love your neighborā….I do love my neighbor and I am capable of not getting too close to others outdoors when I do not wear a mask. I realize there are some who recklessly forgo distancing themselves from others but at times with overreaching mandates adults are treated as though they cannot make wise decisions…just some pondering of mine on the subject š
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I continue to do the Facebook Live church service. It is partly because when Karen watches it she likes to know I am watching it with her. She reads the friendly chat comments and enjoys that. When the parking lot service is attended we are suppose to use the car radio to tune in. We had a good sermon on a few verses in Romans which we are slowly going through.
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It used to be 20/20 vision was a good thing. For our eyes, yes, it still is. But for the year, not so much.
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Hey, that was 75! I guess I forgot to look at the count when I got on here.
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Good uses for canned biscuits:
1) fried apple pies(my mother made);
2) fill crescent roll with a chicken mixture which might include chicken mixed with cream cheese, chives, and chopped nuts, rolled up in a crescent shape, baked, and a covered with sauce from cheddar cheese soup (I made this a long time back);
3) great dumplings for chicken and dumplings (my MIL made that).
I remember enjoying the pop when opening the canned biscuits.
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All weekend I have been readying our oldest car for someone who may buy it. But now, I can not find the car title. This will be worse than Hunt for Red October! It was not where I knew it was. Oh, my. Prayers needed on this. It will be in the last place I look no doubt. Wishing that could be the next place I look.
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I did unearth from under one seat a pair of reading glasses unseen for years. I need them now. I also found a cd that must be one of Wesley’s. So many forgotten little treasures of very little value can be found when deep cleaning an automobile.
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in Colorado we wore masks at the trailheads and then whenever we passed someone on the trail.
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Did you get a car, Jo?
We’re mandated to wear them everywhere in public, though I agree with nancyjill (and the experts) that social distancing the best strategy.
When I start walking my dogs again (!!! hopeful, but not there yet), I won’t wear a mask as we go out just after dark and hardly ever see anyone. If we do, crossing the street is the easiest way to avoid that. But i guess you should at least “have” a mask with you at all times, just in case.
I lost my press pass (on a lanyard) several years ago and had to order a new one. I found the old one eventually in between the car seats. I’d really searched all over the car, not sure how I missed it.
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The masks are definitely uncomfortable, we have to wear them at physical therapy, of course but when they have you doing a lot of exercises it can get steamy. But one of the guys showed me where there’s a ceiling A/C vent you can do you exercises under if no one else has grabbed that spot.
This has, so far, been a very good day for the knee, but then again I haven’t done a lot of physical activity. I’m about to head out to catch up on watering so we’ll see how that goes.
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We’re still doing the livestream for church, though they have been meeting in person for some time now. Next week Sunday school restarts. Tonight was the first time they had the Lord’s supper since this all began; they decided to go with the prepackaged elements. And one of the pastors called us during the week and asked did we want him and an elder to come by with the elements after the service to include us (after we watched the service livestream)? My husband was very moved when he said yes, we would like that very much. They did a mini service here, a couple of prayers, some Scripture reading, and a devotional, and then we all four partook together.
I never thought I would be a “shut-in” in my early fifties, but of course it is not for my sake but my husband’s. But it is a blessing to be able to be included as much as we are–to watch the livestream, to hear ourselves prayed for periodically, to have church members doing our shopping, to have people call sometimes. We yearn for the day we can go back fully, but this season has its own blessings.
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NancyJill – In my own use of “loving our neighbors”, I am referring to what you described – wearing one when needed, and maintaining social distance. It’s not the people who have legitimate arguments against them, for medical or constitutional reasons, that I was referring to as those who should know better, but those who are refusing to wear masks in a rebellious manner, and/or putting down those who choose to wear masks as fearful sheep.
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It really isn’t necessary to put on a mask if you’re just passing someone on a trail, but being near someone for 15 or more minutes does require the mask or 6 ft. distance.
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The Colorado guidelines said to wear a mask when passing someone.
Yes and sorta to getting a car. I bought one, but it hadn’t been cleaned, so they are delivering it tomorrow. I don’t think they have any idea that it is a 1 1/2 hour drive over here. My friend who took me only likes to drive back roads so it took us a long time to go there and back.
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I turned down everything they offered that cost more. Including, according to them, if you want the freedom to back out of the sale in California for the first two days, it will cost you $250.
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88 on the 8-8 thread (though it is now 8-9)!
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I apparently havenāt had enough sleep this weekend so Iām off to bed at 8:20 ?
Iāll read for a while first, lights out at maybe 9 pm
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John, that $250 must cover cost of all the employee’s time for all the paperwork processing. That part can take some hours.
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Not John! Jo ā”
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Iāll be booted out of the night owl club for sure now ā blame it on 2020 and the meniscus
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This night owl is going to get some sleep.
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Jo, did they mean you have to pay $250 up front, or that if you returned the car they would keep $250 of what you’d paid? The second makes sense (maybe–I don’t know the legality of that), but the first doesn’t, They don’t give or rescind your legal right to do that; you have it.
Did you get the car checked out by a third party?
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Missouri has a “Lemon Law”- If you have second thoughts, you have 72 hours to return the car for a full refund.
Oh, and it’s already past AJ’s normal new thread time, so FIRST!
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