Blessings of Rain.

 Blessings of Rain.

 

Only about a quarter of an inch of rain in the gauge out in the east lot, but every drop is thoroughly appreciated! It is not hot outside, and with doors open on both east and west sides, the house is not hot inside either! Being able to open the house up also lets in the sounds from all the wild birds. A cardinal who has declared this his territory has loudly proclaimed his delight for this rain. The doves, well, they just make their usual noises and fly out of the hen houses with whatever they can steal. Miserable grey critters! But since the rain came down and got in some of the chicken feed, it did not bother me to tap the bottom of the feeder and drop the wet stuff on a tin holder under the nests. A little sparrow looked up at me as if it had no idea what to expect. It looked resigned, to tell the truth. But sparrows don’t bother me. They don’t eat a ton of feed and mess up the water bowls. Doves are another mess all by themselves. Thompson watched them bathing out in the low place in front of the Bradford pear in front of the house. They knew they were being watched, but it did not bother them.

 

Moved one more nesting box into the middle coop. Tomorrow two more may go in there. Danged snake! Last year we had plenty of rats and mice for snakes to eat. Never could tell that having snakes around helped even one iota! But one freaking egg today! Unless the girls have found a place to hide their eggs, the snake is either getting the eggs or the girls have simply stopped laying—or both. Really don’t think these hens hide their nests.

 

Thompson has not been eating today. He is truly slowing down and worries me just a wee bit. Love the old man. Even though his toe hurts, can’t see why that would cause him to refuse to eat. He has not even asked for a treat today. Offered him one and he just put his head to the side. If he thinks that Sylvia might get it, he might decide to eat it. Ah, so finally he ate it.

 

A mockingbird is sitting in the trumpet vine in front of the living room windows. It looks as if he is eating something, but have not seen any worms on those vines. Hmm. Yesterday both an oriole and a robin visited the same area of the vine. Maybe it just makes a good perch.

 

Other than cleaning up the little bathroom today and washing up a handful of dishes, nothing has really been accomplished around here. Looking at all the beautiful yards and flowers on FB can be a job all by itself maybe. Drooling over the beauty of places that are not so miserably hot and that get rain might be depressing, but some of us just keep wishing, hoping, dreaming of having a pretty yard. Jennifer said that she could not get her flowers that she bought this year to live despite giving them water every day. It has to be this heat that kills everything! But this year is still not as bad—so far—as 1980 when it was 110 to 120 nearly every day for quite a while. Dear Hearts, Texas does not mess around with heat waves!

 

Went over and got the trash bin beside Jerry’s house and brought it up for the truck to dump. Just realized that the old woman forgot to put it back in front of the house where it should go. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day. Jerry used to take mine across the road to be dumped or bring it back over after the big truck left. Don’t suppose a good neighbor like that will happen again, but if they just are not the kind of folks to get really noisy or block the road, maybe that is all a person could ask.

 

Ah! A pair of the prettiest robins are out getting a drink under the pear tree. Their breast feathers are so very bright! Maybe the rain gave them a chance to clean their feathers of dust.

 

Not particularly interested in anything today as far as news goes. Saw the comments about someone warning the Amtrak company about the railroad crossing where the dump truck was hit. It is one of those places where they need those poles and flashing lights. How expensive could that possibly be compared to the damages to life, limb, and equipment in that horrible wreck. Dumb and dumber! At least the community where all those people were taken was good to help those folks in every way they could. A train derailing is still not as bad as a plane crashing—in my estimation. Most of these folks were able to walk away.

 

Guess we can pray for those unfortunate folks who are trying to get into the U.S. in trucks or other conveyances. Obviously, whoever is hauling them does not care about their lives. If a person had a choice, staying in their own country seems more of a wise decision, but we don’t know their circumstances. We cannot but feel pity for those who think that heading north will bring them out of poverty and violence. While it might be true for some, for many it is worse than staying where they were. May God give us the understanding that we need to appreciate their lives and struggles. And may God bless this nation and others with peace and safety.

 

Let us pray for peace. God alone can change the nature of mankind and give us the love we need for others. Satan is raging in this world right now. We have to stand up and refuse to be his instruments of hate.

 

Let us rest tonight and look forward to a day in which we can see and hear His love. Sleep well, my friends.