Fruitbearers

Last week at Pogy’s Subs, on our table there was a laminated card that had this saying : Dear God, So far today I’ve done all right.  I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t lied or cheated.  I haven’t been greedy, or grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.  I’m very thankful for that, but, in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed.  And from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help.  Amen. We all smiled after we finished reading it…except my 6 year old son.  He had a serious look on his face while he claimed, "That’s not true!"  We asked, "What do you mean?"  He explained, "This person said she hasn’t done anything bad so far but that’s not true.  She has been boasting."  Wow…my son had a deep thought!  It is often easy for us to think that we are doing all right or that we are doing better than that person or those people.  We need to be very careful not to let pride creep in our heart and mind.  Pr

On Sept. 14th, we took the kids to the Oregon Zoo.  A baby Asian elephant has been the main attraction lately.  We waited in line for about an hour and a half to get a peek at this cutie.  He was born on August 23rd.  "Samudra" is his name (nicknames: Sam, Sammy); it’s a Sanskrit word meaning ocean (the calf apparently likes his bath time).  He weighed 336 pounds (as of Sunday when we were there), up from 286 pounds at birth.  His mom, "Rose" kept close eyes on him . Other animals that we visited included black bears, bobcats, mountain goats, beavers, bald eagles, Steller sea lions, sea otters, polar bear, penguins, lorikeets, tigers, leopard, babirusa, chimpanzee, mandrill, gibbons, African birds, rhino, hippos, zebras, pygmy goats, giraffe, crocodiles, duikers, Nile monitor, fruit bats, and python.  We also saw the Frog traveling exhibition featuring frogs from around the world, including the endangered Oregon spotted frog.  We had fun and got lo

My 9 year old son told me today that Barred Owl and White-Winged Dove say, "Who cooks for you?"  and California Quail’s location call is "Chicago."  Inca Dove should become a spokeperson …a spokesbird for "Whirlpool" (they continually repeat "werl-pool").  Yellow Warbler certainly doesn’t have any problem with self-esteem; its song sounds like "sweet sweet sweet I’m so sweet."

On Labor Day (Sept. 1st), we purchased 2 female goats to graze our land.  They are sweet and friendly.  Our kids enjoy spending time with them.   This is Nubi (1 1/2 yr old Nubian).   This is Vicki (3 yr old LaMancha).   Our boys like hanging out with our goats and our neighbor’s sheep, Midnight. We have seen 3 deer in our pasture.  We enjoy the visits by a variety of birds.  So far…we have seen mourning dove, scrub jay, steller’s jay, woodpecker, American goldfinch, house finch, house sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, red-breasted nuthatch, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, cedar waxwing, robin, hawk, and hummingbird.  My 9 year old son has turned into an ornithologist!  We love trees, especially fruit trees .  We have 3 hazelnut trees, 2 pear trees, grapes, and blackberries on our property.  We have wonderful neighbors (only 3 other homes besides ours sit on our road).  They have already brought us apples, green beans, cucumbers, canned salmon, and berry cak

  Today my beloved and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary.  I never stop thanking the Lord for blessing me with the best husband/friend in the world.  He has always been and will always be the love of my life.  He gave me this beautiful amethyst heart-shaped pendant and necklace (he already gave me in the past anniversaries an amethyst heart-shaped ring and amethyst heart-shaped earrings).  He is very sweet, loving, and thougthful as usual.  He knows I love heart-shaped stuff .