Fifty Degrees!

 Fifty Degrees!

 

Looking outside to see if any snow is left. Nope, just drops of water coming off the roof where some might still be melting. It was lovely to see the silent white feathers drift down last night, but it was also nice to know that it was not going to get any deeper or stay around very long. The hens are very happily scratching around for any living critters that are coming up for air out there in the dirt. And the sparrows have found the piece of Dave’s Killer Bread and slices of an orange put out for them earlier. Deep sigh and thinking about tamales that should be hot enough to eat now.

 

Cleaned out the area in the coop where the hen and her three little chicks are making their home. Had really intended to put in some more straw, but the little water bottle got knocked over into their feed, so everything had to be scraped out of the coop onto the floor. The other hens were more than happy to clean up the mess. Fresh water, fresh feed, and even some scratch for momma have made their appearance inside next to the flat heater. They will probably have to stay in this pen until the colder weather passes. We still have some freezing nights on the weather app.

 

Looking in the deep freeze today and found some Philly Steak and Cheese Hotpockets. Bleah. The crust was so tough that even the dogs had trouble with it. And the filling might have consisted of two tablespoons of cheese, tiny bits of pepper, and a bit of beef. So, tamales are cooked now. Probably have to have some picante sauce on them since frozen tamales are pretty dry. Oh well. Pace Picante can’t be beat. Wish Rodriguez had not closed down their tamale shop. Best tamales ever! But they were getting older and had no one interested in keeping the business going maybe. Who knows. Life changes.

 

Jennifer reminded me today that a wedge pillow is among those she got for me for the surgery last year. That means the dogs can go to bed when they think it is time for the old woman to go to the bedroom, but someone can still sit up and read until the book is finished or the notion strikes to go to sleep. Good to have someone around to remind me of what is in this house. Not forgetful or anything like that. Ahem.

 

Saw a thing on FB today. Governor Abbott said that he could kick a football as good as the Cowboy kicker! It was a joke by a politician, but still pretty funny if you understand he is in a wheelchair. Then watched a news brief where our governor explained how TXDOT (Tx department of transportation) has joined with the military bases in TX to complete the work on all military installations for transportation and engineering work so that the costs will not be entirely on either the state or the federal government, and the time to get things done will be cut considerably because the military will be using the engineers who are already on staff to get things planned. Cost effective, we hope. Our state has more military installations than any other state from all the branches of service. It makes a big difference to the communities where the bases are located, too. The wives have a place to work; the kids have good schools; and the community benefits from the economic input. Common sense.

 

Wish that orange, plastic building fencing were as cheap as hay. Would love to let my hens eat all the grass in the front yard. Can see the dogs now looking at me and laughing about staying in the yard. Sigh

 

Have another book started and several more downloaded. Going to be busy for a bit just reading. My Bible hasn’t completely gone dusty, but it suffers from coffee rings sometimes. The book currently opened on my Kindle is a semi-religious book that makes me think about some of the books my mother used to have in her library. Sometimes they were a little heavy on the preachin’ and not too strong on the loving, but they were meant to be redeeming in the portrayal of what Christians should be like. Trying to remember the name of the one writer who was both a doctor and a pastor, but it escapes me. Mom had Taylor Caldwell’s Dear and Glorious Physician, but have no idea where all of her books went. We both enjoyed Gene Stratton-Porter’s books, too. Sometimes the older things would not strike a chord with younger people, but some of the ideas are just as important today as they were then. Conservation did not begin with Rachel Carson.

 

Well, one person’s opinions are not always interesting to others, so will hush for today. The world has so much to offer us among the idealists and inventors because God gave man such amazing talents and creativity. Let us appreciate those blessings.

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.