That Strange Soup!

 

Ok, the 15-bean soup turned out pretty decent. The recipe called for sausage to be cut up and included along with onion stirred up with a clove of garlic in a frying pan, grease drained off, and then dumped into the pot to simmer a bit. Did not want to go outside in the wind and uproot a piece of garlic, so just used garlic powder, but otherwise pretty well went with the recipe—except, my sausage was turkey and had no grease in it. Turkey sausage is easy on my stomach, so there’s that. Otherwise, the soup is a teeny bit spicey. Still, not bad for a terribly windy, coolish day.

 

Took Rudy into the vet achingly early this morning. May not have bothered him to get out that early, but my body did not appreciate the wind or the temperature. Anyway, we got a good report on his blood sugar, and he is getting around almost as good as he has ever done. He did have a series of ooops around Patty’s house last night, but the old woman did not even offer to help clean up the messes. Guess that was not very considerate of me, but my dogs wake me up when they need to go out unless they are ill. Which he may have been. Anyway, she got the messes cleaned up and disposed of them in the bin. Not any worse than changing some diapers except for the location.

 

Talked to Sterling and listened to his and Jacqui’s latest problem. Seems one of the family has two German Shepards that are not restrained, fenced, or otherwise kept at home. Those two dogs scared the hey out of Jacqui by killing a cat in her yard. She was afraid to open the door and go out there to try to stop them since her dog thinks it is a Great Dane—about as big as Roxie or less. This is not the first time the dogs have tried to attack Sterling’s dog, so you can almost bet it will be the last time. He hates getting into messes with the family, but those dogs could just as well have knocked Jacqui over if she had gone outside—nevermind their little dog. Folks need to take care of their critters like family—love them and care for them and consider others when they are around. My dogs LIVE here, so no apologies are made for dog hair, but they are kept in the other room if someone like Shona comes over and is afraid of them. They would not hurt her as long as she is not screaming or otherwise making crazy gestures. Have warned her grandson not to act like he is trying to hit anyone because that is their signal to take care of things. Have also told the littlest one not to put her fingers in the fence. Just don’t want the kids hurt or my dogs in trouble.

 

Can’t totally avoid the news out of Israel right now. Moving over a million people here in the U.S. during a hurricane or floods is an absolute nightmare, but when folks are shooting at others at the same time, the scenario is simply unimaginable. If the country of Jordan would allow the Palestinians to cross over into their territory, it would be a simple matter of bulldozing the hiding places and replacing homes, hospitals, or other structures and then allowing the population to return as they are cleared as non-Hamas supporters. Even Egypt could open their border to Gaza for the same purpose. God will allow Israel to continue to do what they are doing no matter how many lives are lost. All we can do is pray that the innocent can be spared. A time is coming when Israel will be overtaken by the Anti-Christ much the same as when Antiochus exercised his hatred for the Jews—allowed by God “by reason of transgression.” Lehman Straus puts it this way: “because of the national transgression of Israel. The remnant returned to the land, but they did not turn back to God, a fact not to be denied as to Israel’s past and also as to her present status in the land today.” Our job is to trust God’s way of handling things and ask Him to forgive His people—including the Gentiles of America. My understanding is far from perfect, but just as Daniel trusted in God to fulfill the prophecies he was shown, those words still have meaning to us today! Let us return to God in all our ways!

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.