Fruitbearers

Today is Noah Webster’s birthday.  He was born on this date 250 years ago; however, his legacy lives on.  He was one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers.  He was a famous lexicographer, best known for his dictionary: An American Dictionary of the English Language .  I posted a " report" on Noah Webster written by my daughter on my other HSB blog .  The following are some of Noah Webster’s quotes:-  "The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.” "All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.” "No truth is more ev...

The Lord blessed us with fabulous weather today as we celebrated our boys’ birthday (one turned 10 yesterday and the other turned 7 today).  It was wonderful to visit with our relatives and friends.  The kids and teens had fun doing a nature hunt, flying disc croquet (using wire hangers and small frisbees), and hot present.  After that, the boys opened their presents.  We gave our 10 yo son Boyhood and Beyond (by Bob Schultz), The New Encyclopedia of American Birds (this son is a birdlover), an international flags shirt, and basketball cards.  We gave our 7 yo son the Cranium Word Worm Book of Outrageous Fun, Grip-Rite Throw-N-Splash, Wheelee Ball, and basketball cards.  My daughter/their sister gave Birding Oregon to her 10 yo brother and a Swiss army knife to her 7 yo brother.  From friends and relatives, the boys received birdfeeders, birdhouses, books, cash, more basketball cards, Seahawks hooded ja...

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...

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 ...

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).  T...

  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 .