Comparative Comforts.

 Comparative Comforts.

 

Let’s face it; some of us would prefer ten below to one hundred ten degrees. Yes, we would still have to use extra energy and wrap up the water pipes and keep the livestock in their enclosures to prevent frozen meat on the hoof or claw, but dang! Getting cooled off is not much easier than keeping things from freezing. On top of all that business of trying to keep either from burning to a crisp or freezing into ice cubes, no rain means that all the vegetation will die. Makes some of us glad not to have succumbed to the desire to plant pots of flowers and veggies out there in the wide outdoors!

 

Yesterday morning early, a toad was sitting in the hens’ water bowl next to the deck. He looked very comfortable and really was not all that happy with me when he had to hop out so the water could be cleaned and the bowl refilled. My guess is that digging down in the dirt under the deck did very little to make a comfortable bed for him. At least he was too big for the hens to try to eat. They kill sparrows that get in the feed pans, and very few bugs—with the disgusting exception of love bugs—manage to live in the area they patrol. Normally the toads would eat those bugs, but this toad was not the least bit skinny, so he must have found some that the hens had not discovered.

 

Texting my son who has that stupid virus. [No, we can’t name it since FB tends to tell me that my opinions are somewhat worthless and illogical!] Anyway, he still has congestion and said he was taking—get this—“music Ex.” Sat here and laughed until Thompson gave me his “look.” That look can be interpreted in various ways, but usually it says something about his opinion of my ability to be logical. Predictive text is SO much fun! Somehow the video of the hens eating cantaloupe had text applied. It said, “I love my hands!” The word hands and hens don’t sound the same to me, but maybe my enunciation could use some improvement.

 

Read a post by Stilton Jarlsberg this morning. He has an attitude that sounds a bit depressed and fatalistic, but under the circumstances, what can a person expect? It is just mighty hard at times to say anything even vaguely humorous or less snide than political pugnaciousness. And right now, too many of us are hurting either physically, emotionally, or (especially) financially! Lance (my son) said something about me being Mrs. Money Bags since affording cantaloupe seems high falutin’ to the extreme. Yes, they are expensive. But they also serve a couple of purposes—breakfast for me and a good snack for the girls. Same thing goes for the “dog food” that is often made around here. It feeds two dogs and one old woman generally speaking. Rice and canned meat with veggies are good foods for all three of us. Sometimes the ground turkey is on sale. It’s not my favorite meat, but cheap is good any day.

 

Got out the little electric oven thing that was purchased about eight years ago. Hardly ever use it, but it is perfect in the summer to keep from having to use the oven. Not sure it would do for baking brownies or a cake, but it keeps from having to heat up the kitchen when fish sticks or something of that nature is cooked. That was brunch this morning. Cod cakes in the little oven joined on a plate later with asparagus cooked in the microwave. Kitchen was not heated up at all. The heat does not keep me from eating, but it is not conducive to laying eggs according to the number being found in the nests each day. Maybe the girls just need a shower and a fan in there!

 

While the faucet to the kitchen sink has not quite given up the ghost, it has some problems. May have to watch some YouTube videos and figure out how to change out a faucet with a sprayer hose on it. The filter on the faucet had the stream down to a drizzle, and the sprayer dribbles, so both need to be replaced. It would be great if the filters were the part that would come undone so it would be easy, but Dear Hearts, those things are on there to stay. Guess eventually a trip to Sutherlands is going to have to take place. Deep, dog-tired sigh. More expense.

 

With everything that happens—whether in the kitchen, the laundry, the yard, or just in the family—we still know that we are so totally blessed. Generally speaking, no one is shooting at us or trying to take over our country by armed attack (well, except for the drug dealers coming up from the South), and we haven’t all starved to death yet. The rains we need are a constant source of concern, but we can still get some water to drink in most places. We just have to be grateful for what we DO have rather than what we think we desperately need. And you know where blessings originate, so let’s look up and see what He has in store for us next.

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.