Tuesday Tidbits

 

Good morning friends!

Today is starting out blustery and overcast. Southeast Georgia is bracing for a big cold front that's expected to pass through possibly by mid-day. Right now it's giving Alabama what-for. There's been such a brouhaha about the storm that the local Governments shut down all the Schools. Usually these things play out before they reach the Georgia coast. I'm getting tired of all the fuss over weather. It seems like every time the wind blows or it rains or some natural occurring weather event is anticipated, the news tries to ensue wide spread panic. Cheese and crackers people what a big fuss over something we have no control over. Good grief. Well, whatever happens, praying for a hedge of protection around all of us. At least our property is fairly well sheltered. When we were first clearing the acreage in 1993 I had them leave a majority of mature trees. I did it mostly for protection from sun but also from wind. The heavily forested areas encourage wildlife and offer us much welcome shade in the sweltering Summer heat. The temperatures do get brutal here from about July to mid-September. 

My heart is breaking today about losing another friend. Yesterday I learned that I lost a dear internet friend of almost 25 years last Thanksgiving and didn't even know it. I wondered why she hadn't wished me Merry Christmas nor Happy New Year. Like usual, I lost track of the time. Jan and I have been "pen pals" since the early days of internet in the late 90s. Even though we never met face-to-face we were still good friends. Jan was really sweet, intelligent, funny gal (note the T-shirt ... what a hoot!) who loved the Lord. Jan originally hailed from Texas. She was a true Southern Lady in every respect. Thanks to her kindness I learned a lot about website design back when all this computer stuff was still new. I felt so muddled all the time with the strange language these things spawned. 

When we first met Jan lived in Washington State. Sadly, her husband of many years became very ill and passed away in 2010. The winters and other factors became too much for her so she and her family sold everything and moved to a resort town in Barra de Navidad, Mexico. They lived on a sailboat! How exciting, right?! She's so brave. I could never do that as I get really sea sick. I'm a poor sailor. Give me flat, stable land anytime! 

I'll miss our on-line chats about web design, our faith, family and life in general. Jan was so much more clever about these things than I am. At least I know one day soon we'll all be rejoicing at the feet of Jesus together forever and will never have to say Goodbye again.  

Oh, Glorious Day.

Sunday Stealing: My Favorite

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves. Wanna join in? The original post is here.

1. Favorite food?  I think I would have to narrow my huge collection of tasty fav's to Medium-rare Rib Eye steaks pan fried in gobs of butter, sprinkled with Montreal Steak Seasoning. It's so delicious, healthy and fulfilling to eat keto. I get to eat all the made-up "forbidden fruit" of high fat, cholesterol laden, high in sodium goodies. It was a real awakening to learn that all we've been taught about eating is a untrue. The Food Pyramid is another Government lie put out by Big Business and Special Interests to keep everyone fat, sick, medicated and going to Doctors because of the sin of greed. [Jere. 6:13, Jere. 8:10, 1 Timothy 3:8, Luke 12:15] 

Pearls Before Swine

2. Favorite color? That depends. For clothes it depends on the mood and the weather. For the house exterior, we went with a Peach color with Hunter Green trim. Inside it's anybody's guess. 😕 For a motorcycle I think my fav would be a French Racing Blue with White trim. Right now the Honda is shiny black. How dull! Honda is boring now. Well, I can't afford a respray at the moment, but, oh yeah. I can dream, can't I .... 😏

3. Favorite animal?  Dogs. Absolutely. We have three of them at the moment. 

4. Favorite thing to do on a cold day?  Once it was going for a ride. Haven't done much of that this year, so, my fav activity must be sitting and playing on the computer. Hello Old Age, right?!  😉😅 

5. Favorite vacation spot?  Northern Georgia, Western South Carolina in those lovely, twisty foothills in the Fall or Spring and the Texas Hill Country. All these at any time except in the Summer. I still don't tolerate extreme heat well. 

Texas Hill Country Trip (2011)

6. Favorite TV show? That too varies according my mood but I can safely say it's almost anything British, of a "period" nature and doesn't have vulgarity or overt nudity. My favorite genres are history, drama, mystery and psychological thrillers. 

7. Favorite mythical creature? An honest politician. 😂 Ok ok, but seriously, can't think of one but my favorite mythical character is Sherlock Holmes. 🔍

8. Favorite fairy tale?  When I was a teenager I read a lot of Chinese myths and legends. I didn't think they were real or anything but the morals taught were quite good. They do have an interesting culture. It's incredibly ancient. 

9. Favorite thing to draw?  Don't draw or paint much anymore. I did do some very basic looking landscapes with mountains and a pond in the foreground. Sometimes I would sketch a crude outline of a Quarter Horse. I'm sure if Annie in NJ could see my lame attempts at art she'd have to restrain from giggling. (That's OK. I giggle too.) They're really amateurish compared to a real artist. 

10. Favorite scent? Baked apple or baked pumpkin. Yum. Since I don't eat sugary desserts anymore I use these scents in our Scentsy wax burners. 

11. Favorite mode of transportation? Um, anything with 2 wheels!? Duh, right?! 😁😎 

12. Favorite vegetable? Brussel Sprouts, split open, then pan fried with bacon grease, butter, and other flavors. Oh my gosh that's slap 'yo mama good. 

13. Favorite candy? Almost anything from the Russell Stover Sugar-free collection. My go to for a sweet tooth is the Sugar Free Mint Patties. Careful there, though, they can cause a mild case of flatulence if one overindulgences. Not Moi!  😂😂

14. Favorite sport? MotoGP and American Superbike. 

15. Favorite weather?  Not really that picky. I try to thank God every day for whatever the weather is. HE is in charge of all things. Can't control any of it. No point in complainin'. Amen?!

It's been a quiet week, thus the no blog posts for a couple of days. No news is good news. But, speaking of that, our Church did hear some good news. Our Pastor's family has been enduring a horrible trial for over 3 years that we have all been praying reverently about. The Pastor's son, daughter-in-law, grandson and grandson's girlfriend where in a devasting auto accident on Thanksgiving 3 years ago. A drunk driver deliberately crashed into them head on. He said he wanted to die and take someone out with him. The crash killed the daughter-in-law outright and put the grandson into a coma. The one's that weren't injured were the one's wearing their seatbelts. (Don't make me get out my soapbox on this subject y'all.) Anyway, grandson has been in a coma on life-support via Hospice for this entire time hovering between life and death. Recently, grandson began to show slight signs of "waking up"! So, this week grandson was transported to Savannah for lots of additional testing to see if Insurance will qualify him for better care which could lead to improving his chances for a normal life. (Hope I said that correctly.) After the test they received good news that he is improving! Praise God! There's still more tests for grandson to be put through but we all feel that this is a step in the right direction. God answers prayer according to His will! 💓 He is so awesome. 💓 Jesus not only heals hearts, minds, finances, etc. but He also heals lives. Wow. It's wonderful to watch a miracle as it's unfolding. Such good news most certainly lightens our hearts and also those of our fellow Saints in Christ, I'm sure.

Thanks for putting the kickstand down. Ride safe folks. 💕😎🏍

Miscellaneous Thoughts

 

😁 It's currently 65* with the humidity at 85%. The walls in the carport are drenched in moisture. It actually appears to be body sweat. This is what happens when it warms up in the Southeast. My hair is super fine and naturally curly and if I don't plaster it down, this is what I look like! 😅 I want a straight, combed, neat coiffure.

My hair:

Also, Steve's back is aching from the temperature change. We were planning on driving around the tri-county area in search of homes For Sale to assist Steve's little sister and her family in their move. Their plans are to quit southern Florida sometime in the "near future" to be near us. I think instead of looking for any specific house or land we'll only check out the areas they have expressed interest in to make sure it would be pleasing to them [like nothing noisy next door, etc.]. Even though I want to put them in a specific spot I've got to remember this is their dream, not ours. It will be up to them to make the ultimate decisions concerning the move. They believe in Jesus too and know to pray, ask God, go with His guidance, not ours. When it's right it'll happen. Nothing will stop it. We may want them in a specific place at a specific time but we need to all trust Jesus to show them and us the way. 

But I am still super excited!! I have to resist every temptation to take control of it all! 😂 I enjoy looking at property and land. I'm also learning a lot about this place we've been living in for over 30 years. It's just fun.

I hope everyone is having a less fuzzy day with loving friends and family all around. 

Bits And Pieces

 

Sunset On New Year's Day

New Year's Day the weather was gorgeous. The sunset was stunning too, even though the photo doesn't really do it justice. I was sitting on the back deck enjoying the moment when suddenly the woods behind the tall Slash Pines became back lit by the sun's rays. It literally looked like the woods were golden. So lovely. 

I learned a new word today: perihelion.

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

per·i·he·li·on

/ˌperəˈhēlyən/

noun

ASTRONOMY

1. the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun.

   "today Mercury is at perihelion"

Today marks this event with the sun and the earth being closest. I do find astronomy interesting. The stars, the sun and the moon and their movements don't effect us or determine our personalities (that's astrology which is strictly forbidden), but these elements do reflect God's nature since He is the Creator. This past year  at Christmas we watched the film "The Star of Bethlehem". I enjoyed it so much that I bought it on DVD to watch anytime. The film does glorify God as it shows how great and big and wise He truly is. All that's happened and will happen has been planned from the very beginning. He is awesome.

Not much going on at Red Bird Acres this week. Our days are somewhat askew thanks to all the holiday's. They're fun but it's nice when they're all over and things go back to normal. I did put all the Christmas decorations away on Jan. 1st. Now it's the normal routines of grocery shopping, buying supplies and the like. Rain is expected for the weekend. Again. One good thing about rain is it keeps the 4 wheelers off our narrow dirt road. Those machines are a pest here in the country! I pray for all those that whiz by because I'm worried that those underaged drivers will end up in a ditch. It has killed a lot of young folks these past few years. I guess their parents don't care. I don't get that. 

Anyway, off we go to our Adventures In Grocery Shopping. 😁 I'll be glad when it warms up so we can go for a ride again. Cold weather makes my joints ache. That's so uncomfortable. It's been too long since I've felt that delta breeze on my knees.

I pray y'all will have a safe and enjoyable day. Stay warm and Ride safe. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Word Of The Year And Happy New Year

 

Another day, another dollar, I used to quip while still working. It's nice being retired. Every day, except Sunday, is pretty much the same as the last. I can live with that. 

I hope everyone had an enjoyable evening. I haven't checked the local news yet to see how many fatalities occurred. It was quiet out our way. Well, we live down a narrow, dirt, country road. It seems most of the silliness is confined to towns and cities for which I am very thankful.

Yesterday, since most of our small congregation is out of town or dealing with serious health issues we had all decided to skip Sunday School this one time. Steve is Sunday School teacher, so, it was kinda nice to take a short break anyway. Supposedly Steve's little sister and her family are going to be moving out of south Florida to our area very soon. They're just done with the hurricanes and being so far away. I'm happy that they are already getting rid of furniture and other unwanted items. This makes the move seem more real. Because of the distance, they have asked us to start looking around at any areas that they might find desirable. Steve was looking on Zillow and he found an affordable home on the Brantley/Ware county line that he wanted to look at. We drove down there yesterday morning to check it out before doing a turn and burn to head to Church. I think it might be a desirable area for them. I had no idea there were so many homes down that road! The house that's For Sale needs a little love but I think it's doable for them. It's up to them, of course, this is their dream. Little Sister's health is not good and her husband is in his 70s. I believe they will require a place that's mostly move in ready. That's their goal, anyway. We are all praying for an easy transition for them.

After much prayer I think my word for the year is BOLDNESS.

That's the thought that keeps weighing on my heart. Please pray with me that I will go and say and do what HE wants me to do. I want to be more bold in sharing His Good News of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Time to move on from 2023 by taking down all the Christmas decorations. Hopefully it shouldn't take too long as I didn't put so many up this time.  

Have a blessed day folks. Ride Safe. 

Sunday Stealing: 2023

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves. Original post here. 

1. What did you do this year that you had not done before?  Nothing really springs to mind. When motorcycling was still in vogue here in America Steve and I used to travel around to different towns to test drive new models. It's hard to find any motorcycle related businesses anymore. Sad, that.  

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions/goals for the year and will you make/set more for next year?  What are they? What are your new ones?  I don't make New Year's Resolutions or set goals. 

3. Did anyone you know give birth? Or get pregnant? I'm old. Most all my friends are old. There are no Sarai's (Abraham's Sarah) amoungst us. So, that's a "No". 

4. Did anyone you know die? Or have a serious illness?  It seems we've lost a lot of friends this year. There was one that succumbed to the devasting illness of pancreatic cancer last January. His passing still hurts. I think of his kindness often. I'll miss his phone calls about photography, birding, traveling and of the world events in general. He was a great guy. A true friend.

5. What places did you visit?  Mostly grocery shopping, doctors, Church events, and other miscellaneous errands these days. There's no extra funds for anything else of consequence at the moment. Some of the homebody contentment is age related, I'm sure. There's a sereneness about not being on the "go" all the time. We generally hang around the house performing necessary chores, reading and enjoying each other's company.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year (doesn't have to be a physical thing)?  A real President and a real Vice President would be nice. I'm praying the next one will defund all these illegal alphabet agencies as well. We are being governed by unelected citizens. Thugs running the Government is no laughing matter folks.

7. What date from this year will remain etched in your memory and why?  November 25th stands out. I was walking the perimenter of the property, praying in the Spirit about many troubling matters, especially what many innocent children are having to endure, when this happened ... 

Looks ordinary in a photo, doesn't it? It wasn't at the moment! That mid-morning I had been looking down, watching my step, deep in prayer like I said, then suddenly I felt compelled to look up because I felt Someone near. First I was struck by the beauty of the moment. I quit moving. Well, I couldn't move. It was like my knees were buggling. Then I heard inside me the Lord speaking gently through His Spirit, "Be of good cheer, I'm coming back soon." Then, the moment passed but I could still feel His presence. I snapped this photo to remember the moment of encouragment. It's my memorial stone. [kinda like in Joshua 4] I do feel encouraged! So, apparently my marching orders are to keep sharing His Gospel (the Good News) in the effort to reach as many as possible that will heed His Word. I don't want to fail in this task. For us Saints it's clear we are to not give up hope, keep sharing, witnessing, helping others and praying because when the time is right He will be removing us from the Big Trouble that's coming soon. For the lost this bespokes to get saved now because you do NOT want to be left behind! The window is rapidly closing on this Age of Grace [read a letter from Rev. Billy Graham]. Like our Pastor once said in a sermon, there won't be any nice people left behind after the Rapture. It's going to be really, really, REALLY awful here. I won't put into words what's going to happen.  Besides, eternity is but a breath away. Don't leave Earth without Him.  

8. What was your biggest achievement this year? Really, nothing earth shattering comes to mind. Oh, wait, check that, I did learn of a stretching exercise I could do at home to ease the neck/shoulder pain I've had for years that was caused by Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. There's a link to it here on YouTube. The exercises really worked for me. The pain, the constant crackling, the discomfort seems to be all gone. [knock on wood] I sleep better and can now work painfree. To God be the glory! 🙏💖🙏 

9. Did you get sick or injured? Anyone you know? No, I seldom get sick anymore since giving up sugar/carb's. I no longer suffer from the non-ending bi-annual infections (UTI's, Vaginitis, sore throats, etc.). I also don't seem to be suspectible to head colds, coronaviruses, etc. because I've been exposed often from friends and from shopping and, so far, no illness. Must be related? Steve is enjoying the same benefits since going Keto. Even the Plantar fasciitis is healed. I'm glad of that. I do love to walk. 

10. What was the best thing you bought?  Can't think of anything specifically. 

11. Where did most of your disposable income go (money leftover after you pay for food, transporation and shelter)?  Disposable? What's that, right?! Bidenomics (really Nazism because our Government is actually Big Business running everything behind the scenes) is killin' the Poor and Middle Class so they can control us, which, of course, is their goal. I never knew the film The Matrix was actually a warning about Big Government.

12.  What song will always remind you of this year?  I don't know about "always" but this one seems fitting for our current situation: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. 

Like everyone else that is trusting in the blood of Jesus for salvation, I'm also hanging onto the hem of His garment! I think we'd all go crackers if it wasn't for Him. Jesus is our only Hope. 💞

13.  What do you wish you could have done more of?  Travel on my motorbike, of course. 🏍 I miss being able to travel long distances. Steve and I have had a lot of interesting journey's on two wheels. 

14. What do you wish you would have done less of?  Sitting. Because of arthritis in my hands and wrist (can't seem to shake that affirmity) I've had to give up a lot of treasured crafts. My heart yearns to go back to painting, sewing, weaving, making plastic canvas items and so forth. It hurts too much which lead to me surfing the 'net also which caused a medical condition called "Tailor''s Bottom". (Yeah, I giggled too.) It's a type of hip burstis. Well, my new Doc ordered a hyrdocordisone shot. It worked! That pain is now eased. Thank you Lord. If it returns, he recommended another one. Surgery is too dangerous in that area.

15. What was your favorite new TV program? Movie? Album/Songs? Or if you didn't pick up any new ones, what are you still watching/listening to? Not much has changed except we've been buying a lot of DVD's of old films. We stream everything else. I'm really into movies that center around India during the Victorian Age. India does have a fascinating history. It's really ancient. It's a shame they're so trapped in the worship of demons. They're also killin' Christians when they should be heeding their warnings and follow Jesus. Their lives would be so much better.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day! Ride safe.