What a Day!!!!

Yesterday started out like most other winter days.  We have coffee, have our usual sessions on the computers catching up with news, email, weather, blogs, etc.  Of course, Jeep is talking with his Ham Radio buddies, too.  He loves to multitask!  Then we eat breakfast about 8:30.

We see a few birds coming to the feeders for their daily bread.  This Pine Warbler is a favorite of mine!

The Mockingbird comes for bread crumbs and to peck at his reflection in the dining room window.

Big Red, the Cardinal, is after Sunflower seed, but he watches very carefully for any movement that might threaten him.

The 'Snowbird', or Dark-eyed Junco, perches here before flying down to the feeder.

It's very frosty this morning and Mr. Squirrel is out looking for food.

Not a good shot, but the Crows come and eat anything they can find.  Usually it's seed dropped on the ground.

Since they cut the timber out back, we can see the Squirrels much better.  This was made with the 300 lens and cropped.

Almost hidden in the camouflage of the cut-over trees, a spike Deer makes his way across to the trees that were not cut.

Close up of the hungry Mockingbird.

Cardinal peeling his seed.

Mockingbird posing for a shot.  It was about Eleven A.M. when Jeep said, "How would you like to go over to Columbus and have lunch at Proffitt's Porch and look for the Eagles?"  I told you it was always going to be something good when he says, "How would you like...."  He has a plan in mind and it never fails to be good!

We took a short cut through some country roads.

We are about to cross the Tenn-Tom waterway.

Crossing the bridge, we are looking North on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Along the road we saw lots of Hawks and tried to get some shots.

Jeep made this one just as the Hawk flew from a utility pole.

Here is the sign where we turn in to have lunch.  Jeep had Red Beans and Rice, which is their specialty, and I had a small bowl of Taco soup.  Both of us had their wonderful garlic-cheese bread and we shared a piece of homemade Cheesecake for dessert.  

Next, it was off the the Eagle nest, which is not far behind the restaurant.  It's in the top of this tall pine tree.

Underneath the tree, there is a bench, a picnic table and a fire place, that the owners and friends use.  Mr. Proffitt said he would he happy to share this place with us. 

It was quite cold and we bundled up in all the warm things that I brought.   To my surprise, Jeep didn't resist the warm scarf I wrapped around his head!   We looked funny as we made this picture with the iPhone.  Aren't we a hoot!!  Two old people sitting out in the cold, hoping to glimpse an Eagle!!!!!

We actually saw a couple of Eagles but not close enough to get a picture.  On the drive home we saw these ducks, geese or whatever, I can't tell, but I'm sure Jeep knows what they are.

The sky was beautiful and changed  many times on the way home.  Too many pictures to share all of them!

We stopped by Oktibbeha County Lake to see if we could get a sunset picture over the water and this is what we saw!  It was just breath-taking!

We watched until the sun sank and darkness crept in.

It's days like this that seem like a mini-vacation to me.  I feel like we have really LIVED!

I take a few minutes to stop, be still, and thank God for all of His blessings.

My wish for you is that you will have health and happiness in the new year!

God and the Geese

This is a little long, but please take time to read it.  I sent this illustration, which Jeep has used in a sermon, to a few e-mail friends, and it got such a response that I shared it on Facebook and another blog I have on SparkPeople.com.   It's a great illustration of why God came to us in human form.  If you have already commented on this, please don't feel that you have to comment again.  You know who you are;-)

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.

One snowy Eve, his wife, was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived.  They were to talk about Jesus’ birth. She asked him to come, but he refused.  “That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man?  That’s ridiculous!”  So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump.

Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet.  When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window.  In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought.It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.  So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize that it could mean for them.

The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away.  He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.  Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

“Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed.  “Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?”  He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.  He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese-blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come.  Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

“Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”

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I Choose JOY!

I get up every morning thanking God from the bottom of my heart for all the many blessings He has given us!  I choose to be Joyful!  It's a choice I make every day.   He had given me a new day, a new chance to do my best, another chance to try to get it right.  The Christmas season is filled with JOY!  It's easy to be joyful when every store and home is decorated so pretty, songs of good cheer fill the air, and everyone is exchanging gifts and good wishes!!!  The real test of your joy happens later, maybe on an ordinary Tuesday, in a drab month of the year when no flowers are blooming and there's nothing special to celebrate.   If you can get up on a bleak winter day like that, and find thankfulness in your  heart for all that you have been given and eagerness to face a new day, you have chosen JOY!  May your Christmas and all of your days ahead be filled with JOY!

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside." -- Melba Colgrove 

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls." -- Mother Teresa 

"Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow." -- Helen Keller 

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." -- Henri Nouwen 

Happiness is......

My new iPhone in a hot pink Otter Box!

A little fudge I made today!  

The first Pine Warbler I've seen this winter!

Class of '54 (Golden Girls) Christmas Party at the Grill!

Enjoying our many Christmas cards!

Wishing you all the Blessings of the Christmas season.

May your New Year be filled with Love, Joy, Peace and Hope!

Crock Pot Candy

The thing that I liked about this recipe was that you just put the ingredients in layers, turn on low for 3 hours and let it heat, then come back and stir and drop it!  It would make nice Happy gifts!  Check out the link to Rhoda's blog below.

Visit Rhoda's blog:  http://southernhospitalityblog.com/sweet-treats-crockpot-chocolate-candy/

for this tempting looking, delicious sounding recipe!

Hanging by My Toes

I'm just a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in search of a tasty morsel on a cold December day.

I've found this strange ball growing on this tree and I'm hanging by my toes, stretching to check it out.

Yum, yum! This ball has something red and juicy inside!!

I've twisted and turned and pecked until I'm getting to the good part now!

Whew!  All this upside down pecking really wears me out!!!

I think I'll just hang here, close my eyes and rest a while!  Wake me up when it's Christmas!