Food for Thought

Two days ago a professor was arrested in Gainesville
Florida for having preserved body parts in his home.
Isn't it strange then that this headline appeared in a newspaper?
"Some pieces of Rock Hudson sold at auction"

Talked to daughter 'Becca today.
At their farm overlooking Torey Creek Valley in the Missouri Ozarks, they employ a biological control called Guinea Fowel.
The task of the guineas is to control the tick population near the house and barn.
There were four, two males and two females, but a hungry fox sneaked up on the blind side of one of the males and now there are three.
The two females are "settin."
One in the garden, the other nearby.
The ever protective male has been very busy lately warding off would be intruders.
Near the garden is an old apple tree.
(I think that tree was there already when Johnny Appleseed traveled the country planting.)
The tree is dropping apples and the deer like apples. As many as five have been observed harvesting at one time!
Mister guinea tries to intimidate the deer but only seems to annoy them.
I wish I could watch him heckleing that big old buck while the buck simply ignores him!
Maybe next year, but ain't God good?

"May you always have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy." Mamselle le Folle

"Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple". Barry Switzer

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." Kurt Vonnegut.

Nematodes are microscopic villains which have invaded the soil in my raised garden areas.
They burrow into the roots of my beans and seminole pumpkins and suck the life-blood from them.
I am told by those who should know that adding organic matter to the soil (sand) will control the invading hoard.
Today I read articles about nematode control by university experts.
They were not encouraging.The controls they mentioned were more in the kill the patient to rid the disease mode. They said adding organic matter has not been scietifically proven to be of great benefit.
Science is often more of a trial and error method than most scientists will admit.
I certanly hope that proves true in this instance since I have been transporting dried horse manure from the stables of a lady who physically can no longer clean the stalls herself.
Hopefully, the benefit will be two-fold.
With temperatures and humidity in the ninetys and my sixty plus year old body no longer attuned to physical labor, it would be a shame if the benefits are minimal.
There about one hundred twenty square feet of raised beds scattered around our little back yard. I have now added so much of the "stuff" that down to a depth of about eight inches the ratio is about fifty percent "stuff" and fifty percent dirt (sand).
In a few weeks the fall garden season will begin.
Here, in Southwest Florida, things are often kind of reversed.
I sincerely hope that my efforts have not been in vain.
Now I only need to push down a well. I'm too cheap to irrigate my gardens with city water, although the chemicals are probably better for the plants than they are for my creaky old body.

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth. Psalms 104:14

Shalom

P. S. I have been taught most of my life that God has a purpose for all creatures.
Is the purpose of nematodes to try my patience?
Perhaps over time and adaptation (not evolution) they have developed characteristics that differ from their indended Purpose?
Oh well !

"An acheaeologist is the best husband a woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her." Agatha Christie

A newspaper headline:

Prosecutor releases probe into undersheriff.

Miners refuse to work after death.

Sometimes, it ain't what we say but how we say it that makes all the difference.

Think about it: Charlie

The scriptural definition of faith:
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Most people don't mind criticism as long as it's about somwone else.

Definitions of faith:
Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation. Elton Trueblood

Faith is not believing that god can, but God will!

Faith is not faith until it's all your'e holding on too.

Faithless is he who quits when the road darkens. J. R. R. Tolkien

Faith makes all things possible. Love makes all things easy. Hope makes all things work.

"Things do not change; we do." Henry David Thoreau

"My wife thinks I'm too nosey. At least that's what she scribbles in her diary." Drake Sather

"In my humble opinion, noncooperationwith evik is as much a duty as is cooperation with good." Mohandas K. Gandhi

Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions. Brendan Francis

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitudes. Judith Knowlton: Writer

The night was hot, humid, still.
The "girls", grandmother and teen age grand daughter were allowing Pretty, the Dalmation to walk them around the block and they demanded that I tag along.
I let them get ahead listened and watched.
Aren is slender and almost as tall as Memaw, and I remember.
I remember when she was soooo small. I carried her in the crook of my arm 'til it seemed the arm would break, but I would not relinquish my hold.
I remember when she could barely talk (or walk) and when the door opened upon our arrival she screamed "POPPY, POPPY.
No one knows where she first heard that word, but all the succeeding grandchildren now use it too.
I remember one winter when there actually was snow!
Enough stayed on the drive that her dad scooped it up in the morning and made a pathetic little snowman. He put it on the hood of the car and as the day warmed, it began to slide off.
By the time we had made the three and a half hour drive to their house it was nearly gone, there on the ground, and she announced "it swipped."
I remember laying on the grass on the riverbank, on our backs, looking at the clouds. She could identify shapes I couldn't even imagine.
I remember saying goodbye on the phone; she said "I love you," and was impatient for me to answer "I love you too, honey."
"Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly go the years, one season following the other....................I don't remember growing older, when did they?"
Three days and gone back home.
How special when they come and visit one at a time!
Have a good school year, Aren
I love you,
Poppy

"Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

"Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills." Mina Antrim

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies...................Proverbs 31:10 (NIV)

They are chatting like schoolgirls. One still is.
They spread out a pattern on the dining room table and plan their attack on the red printed fabric.
I don't belong in their world right now and so I recede to a bedroom and flick on the tube and listen to their chuckles as the cadence of their talk invades (thankfully) the monotony of reports on the evening news.
Grandmother and teenager shareing, bridging the generations, blessing my soul.
Thank you Lord, for both of them.
Good night.

When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.
Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. Proverbs 23: 1-3 (NIV)

I just read a lot of messages on a message board about caffiene and lowering colesterol, then I opened my bible.
Seems like I should have been reading God's word, it had the answer thousands of years ago.

Newspaper headline: "Man minus ear waives hearing."
Huh?

What education is required to be a newspaper editor? Do they not require courses in English?

"People are anxious to improve their circumstances but unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound." James Allen

She packed her suitcase, climed into the van, and left behind a vacant room and a hole in my heart.
Goodbye 'til next year, my favorite twelve year old.

Old school pillars are replaced by alumni.
When I read this headline I could just imagine a bunch of old geezers standing in the vestibule, arms above their heads, holding up the roof, crumbled pillars at their feet.

Forgiveness is like the fragrance a flower gives after it's been stepped on.

Forget yourself when with others and others will not forget you.

All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2 (NIV)

Today the ordeal of Kathleen and her sons continue. It didn't get finished Friday as was expected.
We all truly believe that here, with their mother, is where they should be.
Please pray that Kathleen will find favor with God and the judge.
The future of two little boys is at stake!

A man's own folley ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord. Proverbs 19:3 (NIV)

My analysis of the situation with the father of the boys based on his actions and attitudes expressed while I monitered his time with the boys.

After church we had a picnic lunch in a little park, then off to the airport to meet Rhonda and fulfill a promise made to Larissa who is now twelve, long ago.
All the children got to go for a ride in an airplane except Larissa. The appropiate time never happend and perhaps never will.
Today we made it happen. The lady pilot is also a flght instructor.
She did her preflight with Larissa at her side and explained in detail everything as she did it.
When the time to board arrived she put Larissa in the pilot seat, handed her a copy of the preflight list and had her do it all.
She then had L. J. (Larissa) taxi to the runway and complete the check, perform the take off, fly out over the river and follow it to the bay, out over the pass, along the coast and back again.
Most of the time she kept her hands off of everything and simply instructed L. J. until it was time to land.
After Rhonda executed the landing she had L. J. taxi back to the apron (with a short stop to visit some burrowing owels who nest about five feet from the tarmac,) do the post flight and turn off the engine.
A congratulatory dinner at Hopp's followed, then back home to "chill" and settle in for the night.
As if flying an airplane was't enough, L. J. wanted to drive the lawn mower! I started it because the battery had self destructed, and she drove around 'til the afternoon rain began. She took it to the shed, slammed into the door, and couldn't get the machine out of gear. I finally reminded her to USE THE BRAKES!
I'm glad she is a better pilot than driver of lawn mowers.
This was her first time ever in a plane, but not on a lawn mower.
I rather think she will want to fly again.
Will I let her drive again?
Probably.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him. Psalms 127:3 (NIV)
This scripture also applies to grandchildren, believe me.

Shalom, y'all

I worked in the yard yesterday.
The work was hard, the sun was hot, though there was no rain, I got up sot.
Then we took Larissa to visit her younger cousins David and Madisen while their Dad and Mom went to a wedding.
The children and I did the rope swing into the pond thing, and it was FUN.
After a dinner of pizza we enjoyed swinging on the swings. (These swings are about fifteen feet high.)
Four year old David, who is ALWAYS so full of enthusiasm, walked into the path of a moving swing and got the wind knocked out of his sails.
The girls went off riding in the mule, (four wheels, not four legs) and went 'round and 'round in the back of the lot (they were alowed two more circles around the property before going in, so they made small circles in the back which, they reasond, weren't full circles and didn't count.)
THey sang a silly song so loudly I could hear them five acres away. Madisen was raising her hands at the apropriate times and it was magical.
Finally, I walked to them, climbed aboard, drove the long way back and it was time to go in and watch "Tarzan" and settle in for the night.
Ain't God good?

"Ears that hear and eyes that see-the Lord has made them both." Proverbs 20:12 (NIV)

Hear and see the "good stuff". Charlie

The late afternoon is hot and sultry, the streets wet and slippery from a tropical afternoon rain. Overhead the cumulo nimbus clouds rise and threaten to deliver more of the same as I point the car north.
Will she be waiting?
I can visualize her long blonde hair pulled back and bundeled, short wisps escaping to accentuate the beauty of her young face.
Will she still care?
Will I once again hold her gently in my arms and feel her soft, feminine touch as she squeezes against me and whispers I love you?
Two hours of anticipation are coming to an end.
The snarl of rush hour traffic doesn't matter. The rain doesn't matter. Nothing matters except that she WILL be there.
Crowds of people. Young, old, happy, sad all milling about obscuing my view. Yes! I see her! Nothing can seperate us now!
She is rushing to meet me as I open my arms wide and greet her with a hug and a kiss.
"I love you Poppy" she says.
My granddaughter has arrived!
I love you Larissa.

God is not against us because of our sin. He is with us; against our sin.

A wife of noble character is husband's crown,...............Proverbs 12:a (NIV)

Today the fate of two young boys will probably decided by a judge.
Will they be forced to return to South America with an abusive, self serving father or be allowed to stay with their God fearing, hard working mother?
Pray for Kathleen, Dylon and Brandon that they will find favor with the judge.
The effectual fervent of a righteous man (people) availeth much. James 5:16 (KJV)

Shalom

Freedom is not the right to do as you please, but the liberty to do what you ought.

I observe the antics of some of the people at the workplace and the word of God comes into focus.
"For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." Proverbs 5:3-5 (KJV)

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Shalom