I finally have hummingbirds as regular neighbors. Finally! I love these little guys, so much so I have three feeders specifically designed for them hanging in my garden, (by my patio, so I can watch them, of course.) Each feeder has a different type of feeding port. I even went on the internet to find out how to make my own “nectar”. I also make a bit of sticky mess, but it’s well worth the effort.
Then there’s the ants, who also like the nectar, naturally. I talked with my dad about options to keep them at bay: adhesive paper on the pole, insecticide spray, a homemade “ant moat”. Gruesome from the ant’s point of view, but I want to protect the food meant for the hummers. Continue reading “Hummers unite! (or starve, whichever.)”
Okay, I’m finally doing the calorie-counting thing. As age has caught up and metabolism has slowed down, it seems that my days of eating ice cream at will are pretty well gone. My dear mom reminisces about me coming home from school and diving into a bowl of three or four scoops.
Ah, those were the days. And thus, I purchased a kitchen scale, and am using measuring implements consistently for the first time. The calculator sits conspicuously on the kitchen island. Right now, I’m working on just 2000 calories a day. One would think that would not be too difficult…ugh.Continue reading “What’s for breakfast?”
It looks like I may have some resident woodpeckers in my yard. They are certainly welcome here; my house and garage are sided with aluminum, so unless they want a sore beak, they will hopefully stick with the trees.
I really do find them fascinating. I’ve put out one of those hanging cages with the suet they like. It’s positioned on a garden shepherd’s crook in the back yard so I can enjoy observing their feast. This morning, one little guy swooped in for breakfast, but just took his time trying to balance on the shepherd’s crook instead of digging in on the goodies in the cage.Continue reading “Bird-brained, or not?”
One of my bloggin’ buddies, Slim Jim, has started a new series which I call “Post-It Note Theology”, based on the above picture which I have also stolen from his most worthy and informative site. He certainly has longer, more in-depth treatments of Christian apologetics and other scholarly things, but I likewise appreciate these spiritual sound bytes for my brain! To my exceptionally non-techno mind, a sound byte is like a food bite. It’s not enough to fill me up and sustain me indefinitely, but it gives me something to chew on and draw me back for more.
Here’s his most recent tidbit:
As we adore Him, we abhor sin.
As several of us were sitting around his blogging meal and began sampling this morsel, the digital table conversation began. Here is a part, (and their websites are pretty cool also):
Nice. Fill our minds with the things of God, and no room left for the things of Satan. This is a time when limited brain power is quite useful. Space is limited, so no room for the garbage if I put the right stuff in. Good reminder, Brother Jim, thanks.
Good point Wally…I for one have so much useless garbage stored in my brain that I must delete something in order to make room for more…Should I tell another joke before hitting the delete button?
LOL, Patrick, what you said makes perfect sense to me. My storage is limited, so if I use it for God, not as much is left over for the devil. And yes, keep on with the jokes. Your cheesy jokes are a high point of my day usually.
I am reminded of Romans 2:4. It was the quality of God’s character that made me want to give up certain thoughts and actions. They simply didn’t compare well, and they got in the way of what I really wanted. Thank you for the memory prompt.
Interestingly, I was just considering myself how we tend to “fill up on junk food” that may taste good at first (and who doesn’t like a double-scoop cone this time of the summer??) but which is actually pretty bad for you, especially compared to real food.
Real food. Sustaining. Which is what adoration is, actually. A disciplined steady diet of thinking about the love of my life, (well, yes, Bob, that’s you, but I mean….), the One Who gave His life to give me mine back.
And like the future food critic says in this vid, “Umm, ummm! Delicious!”
Earlier this summer I rode my town bike to the nearby feed store to purchase a couple of bags of bulk bird seed, each weighing 50 pounds. The owners know me, but looked a bit incredulous, (or was it mild amusement?), when they noted that I was toting my wares home in the second-hand child carrier attached to my second-hand Schwinn. No matter. Trailing the cumulative 100 pounds was not as significant as unloading it once I arrived home, not wholly unlike the railroad ties from the back of my old Suburban from the year before!
Gratefully, the birdseed is packaged in thick and hearty reinforced bags. Surely they would be safe from unwelcomed intruders. But thanks to my naivety, I later discovered one bag that I had left sitting on the driveway stealthily chewed into with some of the contents spilled onto the ground. Fine. Not to be outdone by some thieving rodent or squirrel, I loaded the bag (with some effort) into the large plastic trash container on top of the other bag already neatly seated in there. Of course it didn’t exactly fit, but that didn’t seem to matter since the container’s top had been missing for a long time anyway, being eaten by the garbage truck several years ago. That should take care of the critters; they wouldn’t go to the trouble of getting at the seed now.
However, ignorance, in this case, was not bliss, but it was messy. My husband duly informed me that, once again, critters had plundered my stock of feed scattering their leftovers on the garage floor. Now it was my move again. Seed sacks repositioned, top removed from some other container down in the basement placed over the seed, hard plastic small (portable) lock-top container fitted into place atop the larger one. Ha! Let them try THAT one!
They did.
Fortunately, this time, all they managed before giving up was to chew off the plastic locks, but apparently then decided to chalk this round up in my favor. They haven’t come back…yet. It wouldn’t take much inattention on my part, however, for the neighborhood squirrels and/or mice to consider my slack as an engraved invitation to another feast.
Our time and energy are so very much like the precious bird seed, and the demands of our lives are reminiscent of these persistently pesky squirrels. Without deliberate boundaries, life’s “demands” take on a marauding quality, depleting what we would otherwise have in reserve, rather than preserving that what we have for those with whom we would choose to share it. The “it” I am referring to is, of course, both our time and our energy. And time and energy are much in short supply for our relationships with family, spouse, friends, as well as time alone with the Lord Himself Who waits patiently for us each and every day.
Or again, my pitifully attacked birdseed is like the indescribably valuable spiritual food that God has graciously provides for us. This expensive and necessary provision must be jealously guarded from the attack of our Enemy, who stands ready at all times to “break in and steal” in the form of busy-ness, or deception, or guilt feelings, or the many other forms of assault in his arsenal, since he is both a thief and a liar. He does his reconnaissance well, knows his options exhaustively, and can be very, very persistent. But his tricks are not new, and we are assured by excellent sources that we have more options at our disposal then he does. Many more.
Both of these potential drains on our resources must be diligently and constantly guarded against. It is only with God’s wisdom that we should mete out our precious resources of time and energy according to His plan. It is through diligent use of our time and energy that we prevent the wasting away of our intimacy with our Heavenly Father. Both can be misused and abused, but only with our consent, whether ignorant or intentional.
Personally, I paid for the birdseed and went to considerable effort to tote it home, so I’d rather use it for my intended purpose.
I finally have hummingbirds as regular neighbors. Finally! I love these little guys, so much so I have three feeders specifically designed for them hanging in my garden, (by my patio, so I can watch them, of course.) Each feeder has a different type of feeding port. I even went on the internet to find out how to make my own “nectar”. I also make a bit of sticky mess, but it’s well worth the effort.
INSPIRATION with an ATTITUDE 