Monday Musings & Another Birthday

Good morning folks! What a weekend huh? 

First of all I want to thank everyone who prayed for me concerning my sour attitude. Things feel a whole lot brighter. I know it's because y'all are Prayer Warriors plus Church was really fulfilling yesterday. I felt lighter inside after the uplifting service. God answers prayer and I'm super blessed that there are others who pray too with loving hearts. God bless you!  

Now on to the sad news, there was an assignation attempt on President Donald J. Trump Saturday the 13th. Those of us who are keenly attuned to what is right and wrong according to God's Holy Word have been expecting an attempt what with all the hateful rants that spew from the hellish Leftist media and our Government. We're all aware that the ranting, raving, lies and threats was meant to enrage some looney tune to make such an attempt. Sadly, one innocent bystander was murdered, others wounded and many traumatized. Their lives are forever changed because of the evil hearts of those in 'power' and in the propaganda machine. But we know that God is bigger than all our silly doings. The Left mean it for evil but HE who is our God and King means it for good. [Genesis 5:20] I'm sure we're all praying for the victims families, for President Trump and his staff and family. My question is, how did the shooter get within 130 yards of our President on a rooftop and in plain view? Some in attendance even pointed the shooter out to authorities before the terrible event! Hmmm ... This kind of reminds me of how the CIA murdered President John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and the men who did the dirty deed. I hope someone will follow the money trail on this one. 

On to something more pleasant.

Today, our two Jack Russell Terriers brothers, Sam (left) and Jack, are 11 years old.  Where did the time go? I remember those first few weeks after bringing them home. As puppies they were so rambunctious and destructive! I thought I was going to go completely crackers before they finally calmed down. I even threatened to take them back to the breeder at some point. Glad I didn't now. Now that we're feeding them "real" food from the table (cooked eggs, chicken gizzards, etc.) and not the store bought kind in a bag, their health has improved greatly. That's saving us major bucks too. It's so much cheaper to be healthy. 

Why does the font suddenly change here on Blogger like that? Strange ... 🤔

This week will be busy. There are the usual errands of groceries and the like but one very important errand will be Steve taking our friend Tommy to his first eye appointment on Wednesday to start the ball rolling on the cataracts removal. Poor man is nearly blind now but good news is his life is improving as each month progresses. Things are looking up for him and that makes us all so happy! Thanking the Lord for answered prayer. And thank YOU for praying for him. Maybe soon Tommy can return to work too. He's really excited about that, I can tell. 

Thank you for stopping by, your prayers, and kindly words. Remember you are prayed for too. I hope the rest of your day is happy and bright. Keep looking up! Jesus may be taking us out of the way of what is to come very soon. God bless.

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~ Sparky ~

Currently

Currently ~ ~

The Weather ~ It is hotter than a Georgia Firecracker right now but that's normal for July. Any outside work is done very early, or at least we try to.

Yesterday a dead or dying Oak fell against the back fence which needed to be dealt with. Why do these things always seem to happen when it's miserable out? The chainsaw wouldn't start, so, I fetched the giant clippers and Hubby used the gas powered pole saw. By the time we were finished we felt rode hard and put away wet. We could hardly move out of our comfy recliners. It's rough getting old. I thanked the Lord anyway that it did get done, put on the firepit for later and we survived. 

Watching ~ Back to back MST3K on YouTube. Some of the quips an one-liners are so hilarious I can't even drink my ice tea. We don't watch any major network news anymore. Makes life a lot sweeter staying away from the propaganda machines. It's all lies anyway no matter what channel one watches. Can I get an Amen? 😉

Feeling ~ A bit deflated lately. This started right after the May 8th event (Dislocated Finger) and daily now it seems to hang on in ever increasing volumes. This traumatic event seems to have knocked the ever lovin' stuffing outta me. Or maybe it's because I need to give up riding which was going to happen anyway? Who knows?! But lately small things are getting on my nerves. I feel like I was 'short' with someone at the Rehab Center! Bad girl! This is very unusual. I'm usually so upbeat, calm and friendly. Really, I'm quite joyful (because of Jesus). I love people and helping. I'm just not happy for some reason. Gotta shake this off! I do hope these feelings are only temporary. I don't like acting sad or being grumpy.

Looking Forward To ~ Having thick cut Rib Eyes tonight. I know this may sound odd but we pan fry ours with lots of salted Amish butter or rendered tallow (beef fat) and yummy spices. The Rib Eyes are so good cooked this way. Never dry or overcooked. 

Thinking ~ How I need to stroll down in the blazing heat and biting bugs to the mailbox. Being debt free we seldom receive mail anymore but have some today. I only know there's mail because we're using that USPS Informed Delivery. That feature rocks!

Making Me Laugh ~ 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope y'all have beautiful remainder of the day. Keep looking up because the stench of what's going on worldwide has to be reaching His nose. I really do think Jesus will be taking us outta the way soon. May we all keep being kind, loving others, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ until we're rejoicing at His feet forever.

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~ Sparky ~

Monday Musings: All Is Well

 

Greetings folks! 

🏍️ It was nice taking a couple of weeks off from blogging. I may do that more frequently. Actually, we have been quite busy with "busy work", as we used to say, but I did need a break from another obligation. The "busy work" was the day-to-day dealings of life. Nothing bad. Everything is fine. Still attending Church. Still conducting the Wednesday ministry at the Waycross Rehab. 

🏍️ My Dislocated Finger has good days and bad days but the good days are beginning to out number the bad. Thank you Lord for that. The bills are starting to roll in, which is fine. I've been expecting them. I'll be thankful to be done with all that. 

🏍️ We're still trying to sell our motorbikes. Not even a nibble. I guess the economy is simply too poor right now. Gas, food, medicine, previous obligations must come first. I get that. Might come up with another plan. 

🏍️ Rain has returned to our little dry neck of the woods which is an extra blessing from God. It's supposed to rain today, in fact. I can hear the thunder now. 

🏍️ Here in America this our 248th 4th of July. This is when we celebrate our Independence from British tyranny. Well, it didn't last long did it. Our Country started the downhill spiral about 1850, slid even faster since the Gilded Age in 1892, and from there it hasn't stopped, in fact, it's escalated. Anyway, we continue on. It will be a short week for many. Every day I try to pray for our Country as all who read this blog and others must do as well. We all pray that the criminals running the Government will be removed and good Christian people put in their place that we will no longer suffer from their oppression and loss of human rights. May we turn our hearts back to Jesus Christ our Saviour, pray for forgiveness, stop glorifying sin, stop harming children and each other, and then may God shower His gentle mercy on us.

🏍️ Oh, I also did want to share something I think is kinda neat. Our home is located about 150 feet from the road where our mail box is. It's often hard to tell if or when the mail is delivered. Recently I learned about something called Informed Delivery by USPS. I signed up and it works fairly well.  If there's expected deliveries that day, the site will either e-mail or text the homeowner. Click the link and at the Dashboard the homeowner can see what is expected to be delivered, if it wasn't delivered USPS can be notified, and that it was indeed delivered. This includes packages sent through them. Super cool, right?! It lags a little behind but I like having this feature. Just thought I'd share that nifty feature.  

🏍️ That's all I've got. Thanks for stopping by. I hope y'all have a wonderful remainder of the day. God bless you all and keep looking up. 

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Monday Musings: In A Relationship With An Air Conditioner

Who can relate? 🙋🏼😆

Gosh, it's been hot. 🌞 And it's dry as powdered toast. We need rain badly! The weekend was going along swimmingly, we were chillin' inside after Church, then late in the afternoon our big, beautiful, expensive Trane central air conditioning unit decided that 3 years was long enough to behave and it quit cooling. "WHAT??!!!"  😒 was my first reaction. Not cool (literally). Ok. DON'T PANIC (I did). 🤦🏼 To keep me from whining Steve retrieved the 8,000 btu window unit from storage. Panic subsiding. We keep this one on hand ever since the last time the A/C quit. It doesn't cool like the big unit but it does alright.

Note to those living in Southern climes or other areas were heat is brutal: keep one of these bad boys on hand for just these kind of occasions. We can't afford one of our usual local A/C repair people anymore since they upped their call outs to $300, so, we've hired a fella from Church for repairs. This will be our first time using him. I pray he's a good one. 

Thus, I sit waiting for help to arrive. It's all good though. God is still in control and whatever happens may it bring Him glory. It's His Royal Way. Amen?!

To cheer me up, my dear blogging buddy at MadSnapper sent some pretty cool (there's that word again) graphics of the swirl she made on her blog recently. Mad is so talented! I tried to figure it out on my own with Corel PaintShop Pro but this is above my pay grade. Which one is best? I like 'em all. Thanks MadSnapper! 

We've had a couple of nibbles on selling the motorbikes. Thank you everyone for the prayers. There's nothing concrete yet, though. I think the economy may be suffering too much to sell anything other than necessities like food, medicine or gas right now. We can wait. I know everyone is trying to survive. All in God's time. 

Well, I'd better go. That laundry isn't going to finish itself. 

Thanks for stopping by. I pray your day is wonderful, joyful, healthy and very cool! 😁

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My 16th Blogoversary And A Birthday

 

🎉 June 15th, 2008, I made my first blog post. 🎉 What a greenhorn I was! I had no clue as to what to write about or who would care. I had no audience or contacts yet. Off I went blissfully ignorant of all these things and more, dipping my toes into the warm writing pool along with everyone else hoping someone would notice. Eventually others did (thank you!) and it went from there. Back in those days Blogger had a "Next Blog" button on the upper right hand side where we could proceed from wherever we were to the next blog of like minds. Remember that? I miss that feature because I made lots of contacts who became friends that way. It was fun to go exploring other blogs. Most of the time lately it's been a "friends of friends" type of contact where I'll leave a comment somewhere and some kind person will click my link to see what's up and maybe 'follow'. That's fine too. I've done that lots of times. As long as we get to talk to one another, share ideas, opinions, recipes, photos, life events or simply polish our writing skills, it's all good. Writing keeps me sharp that's for sure. Sadly, some of my original blogging friends have passed into Glory, others have fallen by the wayside or moved on for whatever reason, but I appreciate you all 🙌 whether an old friend or a new one and the time we all spend together. I do miss the ones that have passed or are no longer blogging. Lord willin' I hope to keep blogging for many more years unless the Rapture happens or God calls me Home some other way.

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Also, today, is what we believe to be our Maggie's 5th birthday. 🥳🎈 When we rescued her as a puppy, it was her, her brother and one other possible sibling that got away. That was almost five years ago when we found them abandoned, starving, and obviously living in neglect, on our nearby country road that cold October morning. I had no idea how much our lives would change for the better that day. We were heading for a Day Trip but immediately canceled that plan after the puppies were in the truck. Took the poor little mites home, named them, bathed them, pampered them, took them to the Vet for a check-up and shots the next day and eventually bought personalized collars for the new crew. The Vet estimated that June 15th, 2019, was their day of birth. I had every intention of keeping them both, but, after awhile the Boys (our Jack Russell Terriers Jack and Sam) did not like the male. They liked Maggie just fine. What to do? I owed the Boys first, of course, thus we sold Sport to a local fella so his mother, who had just lost her dog of many years, would not be lonely. I think about her brother Sport from time to time. The guy who bought Sport kindly sent photos of him after being groomed and his new home with that fellas mother. I'll bet he's matured into a good dog too. 

As y'all can see Maggie is my little buddy. She even 'helps' me with everything even blogging. I call her Brat but she really is a sweetie. She's the smartest, friendliest, most fun dog we've ever owned. God knew what I needed even before I knew I needed her! He's always looking out for us, isn't He!? 💗 

Let me end with a heartfelt thanks for joining me in this journey of virtual journaling. I know y'all are praying too but please keep petitioning the Lord concerning our Country. I know God hears and answers all prayers according to His will and may His will be done but the criminals running this Country really need to be gone. 😟 So many people are hurting terribly especially children. Thanks. 

Love to you all. Have a wonderful day!❤️‍🔥

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Monday Musings

This past week and weekend has been quiet for us. It's only been running errands, buying groceries, housework, and so forth. The Wednesday ministry at the Rehab Center went well. There's still quite a few residents showing up. It's lots of fun and I'm making new friends with some there. After the service and before leaving all the Church members try to walk through the group to pray and chat. I highly recommend this type of ministry for anyone looking for some way to share the Gospel and help others. This edifies me too. So I'm sitting here in my nice air conditioned home, counting my blessings that things could be a whole lot different and not for the better. Thank you Lord for these blessings and more. 

Have y'all noticed that as we age we mark our days by medical events? These type of medical things seem to happen with more frequency with each passing birthday. 

Last Friday the silliest thing happened. I was walking across the yard, on level ground mind you, and felt my right ankle go *snap*, then there was this burning pain. Ouch! Seems I sprained my ankle simply walking!? What?! It's not super bad, only annoying. I'm resting it, elevating the ankle, putting ice on it, then wrapping it gently so I can walk a little. I feel confused. Don't know how this happened. At any rate at least my Dislocated Finger is improving every day. I can almost bend it like before. I've been using a small soft stress ball to exercise the whole hand. That works wonders.

The motorbikes are now officially on the market [Craigslist].Craigslist now charges $5 to sell a vehicle. Guess they had to because of the rampant inflation. Anyway, please pray that the bikes will sell? Thanks my friends. This is so hard for us to do but it's time. Just can't take the chance of a catastrophic fall, you know? *sigh* It hurts though. I'll get over it. I always do. Oh, and I am going to keep all my gear, you know, "just in case" I can ever get back into it. One can hope!  😁

Hang on Brothers and Sisters in Christ! We're getting ever so much closer to that glorious day! 

Thanks for stopping by. I pray everyone has a wonderful, courageous in Christ, prosperous week. 

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Monday Musings

 

Our weekend was really quiet. Now that my Dislocated Finger is almost completely healed, except for some lingering stiffness, I can get some planned projects done. It's been unseasonably cool this June in Southeast Georgia which is really nice. That should help with me getting a little more yardwork completed before it gets blazing hot if I can get up out of this chair. 😉

We received a little unsettling news Sunday. Our Pastor's wife is not doing well at all. Ms. Jackie is such a wonderful person. She was released from the Rehab Center last week. It breaks our hearts that she's struggling so much physically. Anyway, Bro. Bob is having to chose between caregiving for his dear wife or continuing on with our small congregation (there were only 17 or so of us this Sunday). There are going to have to be some hard decisions made concerning his time with us, like, should we find another Pastor or perhaps try to hire a part-time one or perhaps shutter the Church or ... well, who knows. 😟 Seems the Wednesday Rehab ministry may come to a close as well. I know this saddens him greatly. Such a fine man and he loves the Lord Jesus. We're all praying for guidance. I know I don't want to be Church shopping again. I love everyone in this congregation. I don't want us all split up and cast to the winds. 🥺 So, there's that. 

Also, because of our ages and other factors we've decided to sell our motorbikes. I know, right?!! Sparky without wheels!!?? 🏍️ One 'sad news' on top of another. Well, there comes a time to move on. We were talking about riding risks last week and even I can see that I don't want any more injuries. Funny thing, I've been riding since knee high to a grasshopper, SCUBA diving, racing on 4 wheels, doing other risky hobbies, and never been badly hurt. The only injuries I've ever received were when walking around. But if I, or he, were to go down in a highspeed ride at our ages, it could be devastating. It might be time to move on to another less risky hobby. It was a tough decision but this weekend Steve put both motorbikes For Sale in the local shopper. When they're gone it's gonna feel like I've lost an arm or something. (I know, Drama Queen. 😏) I love motorbiking! It's my life. I'm really having to give this to God and pray for His peace and guidance. Thanks for joining me in this prayer. 💓

Ok, good news, awhile back I mention that one of our Jack Russell Terriers, Jack, was ailing. His digestive tract has always been dodgy. The other two are healthy no matter what they eat, it seems. Well, Steve decided to start feeding all three dogs more home cooked plain meals (chicken gizzards, cheap hamburger, eggs, etc.). We've been doing just that for a few weeks now and Jack's health has improved! Praise the Lord. The little guy no longer has tummy pains, he's lost weight (he was continuously bloated), his breath smells better, and he's more energetic. Also, home cooked is much cheaper than any store bought dog food. Win-win!

That's it. Time to get out of the recliner and actually get some work done. I hope everyone has a lovely day. Thanks for praying for me. I know you do because I pray for you too. Y'all are the best.

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