It’s been fun to watch the robins enjoying the bird bath.
Lately when I go out into the world I come home and need a good bath (shower) and change of clothes to make sure I’ve left all those ugly germs we are warned against. There are other dangers to be aware of…
“If we don’t know the Bible, if we don’t know Doctrine, if we don’t know theology, it is virtually impossible for us to identify false prophets.” Voddie Baucham
“Discernment is not a mystical process where you ask God for discernment and He magically drops ideas into your mind. We receive discernment from studying the Bible and understanding what it says, by the guidance that the Holy Spirit provides.”
“Never trust a faith healer who has to wear glasses.” Justin Peters
“Settle out of court with God because when you stand before Him it will be too late. You have a mediator who will settle your debt, the Lord Jesus Christ”~ Riccardi
Hope you all have a meaningful Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll save my Memorial Day post for Monday.
A song of spring once more we sing
As winter flies away,
And changeful hours bring sun and showers
To weave a crown for May;
With heart and voice we all rejoice,
On this returning day.
For once again the promise-strain
Floats down from days of yore,
That fruits of earth shall wake to birth,
To bless the toiler’s store;
Each annual round with bounties crowned,
Till time shall be no more.
Thee, Lord, we praise for springtide days,
And life’s yet fairer spring;
These golden hours, these opening powers,
We in glad service bring,
Thine own to be, from sin set free,
Our Father, Savior, King.
1. Ever played the game Farkle? Are you a risk taker? In games only or also in life?
When I asked Dear if we had ever played Farkle, he said no, he paused and then said, “Sounds like a fairy fart.” Chuckle, chuckle.
In games I’m not afraid of taking a risk but in real life I tend to cling to the sure thing. I do like an adventure but even with an adventure I need to have some control. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m not enamored with the idea of a cruise. Too much is out of my control…
2. What’s your favorite thing about your yard or whatever outdoor space you may have?
I like the fact that whatever window we look out of, we see yard, trees, plants, birds, bugs. One of my desires when we moved from our city home was to purchase a property where I wouldn’t be staring into someone’s carport when I was outside or when I was looking out a window. I wanted nice views and I’m thankful for those nice views.
3. Tell us about the most interesting building you’ve seen or been in.
Old cathedrals and churches fascinate me more than anything modern. We’ve been in several amazing Cathedrals in Great Britain. Today I’ll choose Gloucester Cathedral in England to share. Amazing architecture and details that I could take hundreds of photos of. The Cloisters in this building boggle the mind. Questions pop up like, “How did they do that?”, “How long did it take to build this?” “How has it survived all these years?” Here’s only six of those hundreds of photos!
4. In this current season of social distancing, what’s something you’ve come to realize you take for granted in more ordinary times? Do you think you’ll make a conscious effort to appreciate whatever that ‘it’ is once normal life resumes?
There is so much that we take for granted. That’s a lesson all in itself. What a carefree life we’ve been afforded for so many years! I could list many things that I hope to take a conscious effort to appreciate. Going to church and worshiping with others is one for sure. Making traveling plans with ease instead of wondering about restrictions is another. Jumping in the car and heading to a restaurant to enjoy a meal out is another.
5. Share a favorite song with a springtime flower in the lyrics somewhere.
Drew a blank with any springtime flower in the lyrics but here is Springtime from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons!
And then I came across this one which will work, too.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Our little family here in the northeastern corner of Washington State where we’ve had very few cases of COVID-19 felt that we could be together again.
This right here is the best feeling in the world. A sweet hug and cuddle!
On the letter O today and I’m using an old saying to show our tree service chopping or felling two trees we were concerned about on our property. Two Douglas Fir trees came down in a jiffy with the right equipment. The grinding of the stumps took a bit longer.
We didn’t like how this tree was leaning towards our bungalow.
Timber!
Our experienced tree service guy said it was a really good choice to take this tree out as the base of the tree was rotting on the side of the trunk towards our house. We were thankful for that decision. We were only going to have the one in the back taken down until the tree people offered to do this one for half the price since they were on our property with all of their equipment already. They got in a full day of work with good pay and we got two down for the price of one and a half! We are counting our blessings!
There are more photos I’d like to share from the grinding and the chipping but my country broadband is acting up again. I’ll have to also show the wide open spaces we now have with these two trees gone. Dear and our son chain sawed the logs into manageable rounds that have been hauled up to our sons place to be stacked to dry. Our son will have enough wood to keep his place warm next winter from these two trees and then some. We haven’t had to burn wood to keep warm at our country bungalow.
Today is Friday y’all. I know some of us need to remind ourselves each day about what day of the week it is!
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
In our part of the country we do not have any yard waste pick-up. There are times during the year that we can have burn piles. When the fire danger is high there are burn bans. There are limits to the size of our burn piles. We were in compliance.
There are different methods to get the fire going. Before we start we connect a hose and we make sure the water is turned on and ready to spray if the fire gets out of hand. I’m happy to say we’ve never had a fire get out of hand.
Once we get the fire going we watch it all day long and keep feeding it with the rest of our gathered brush. If you look behind back to the fence you will see the pile we hope to get through.
For several hours we added limbs and cones and anything else we trimmed around the yard. We made it through the big piles we had. It was a good productive day and we did not have to worry at all about social distancing. We were bushed by the end of the day!
We hope to borrow our son’s tractor sometime and take care of more brush on the property that needs to be cleared.
Life in the country is very different from life in the city. My life went from City mouse to Country mouse in September of 2018 and so far it’s been a joy.
We are complying with the President’s guidelines, 30 days to Slow the Spread.
Can you see the sun shade dear put up for me so I could weed and not get burned to a crisp?
Now all I need are some nice knee pads.
The shade cloth was a relief to my body for the section I was working on. I need to get out in the early morning hours to weed again.
The Clematis at the end of the deck is moving up and clinging to our garden trellis. This one is a deep wine color or maroon.
Many more blooms are getting ready to show off.
The purple one and first one to bloom is continuing to show more blooms.
Way on the other side of the yard is the last to bloom Peony and it looks like it will be pink. We have 5 deep red peonies, a white one, and this pink one.
The lawns are mowed. Some weeding is done. Some weed killing is done. Watering is ongoing. We are looking forward to a Father’s Day celebration here on Saturday evening. It will be the first time our little Jaymison comes to Gramps and Baba’s house. It’s been several weeks since Addy has been here, too. She came once after Jaymison was born with her Auntie Laura.
Tomorrow is Flag Day. We’ll be flying our flags and I hope to have my red, white and blue buckets off the shelves to do some decorating at our Country Bungalow.
Happy Flag Day and Happy Father’s Day Weekend to all of you!
This is the one and only squirrel we’ve seen on our property. We were excited to see it since we’ve never seen a red squirrel in person before.
Latin name:
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
Category:
Mammals
The red squirrel is about the same size as the Douglas squirrel and lives in coniferous forests and semi-open woods in northeast Washington. It is rusty-red on the upper part and white or grayish white on its underside.
The squirrel didn’t stay long but I was really happy that I happened to have my camera on me when it appeared.
We have more surprises to share soon from around our Country Bungalow.
Today is Tuesday but my Tuesdays with Moisi posts will have to be put on the back burner because I do not have the proper time to research and find the photos I need to continue. It will take a while before I can resume.
The photo above was taken in May at the last home our parents owned before they left to Russia as missionaries in 1997. This home was in Yorba Linda, California. The town where President Nixon’s Library is. I’ll make a guess and say Pop was barbecuing for a family get together to celebrate his and our sister Kathy’s birthdays in May.
Springs demands are keeping us busy at our country bungalow. It took me over 4 hours to mow our property on the riding lawn mower yesterday. Dear did the weed whacking for the same amount of time. We purchased a back support for me to wear while I mow since our ground is uneven and there is quite a bit of bouncing about as I move across the acreage. After that kind of work we are a wee bit brain dead and just fit for vegging for a while.
Our Canadian friends enjoyed their Victoria Day weekend and now we have our Memorial Day weekend coming up here in the U.S.A. Do you have any plans?
Came across these verses in my readings this morning and thought they were a good reminder for our times.
So, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2: 22-26, ESV)
After several warm days and Dear’s hard work the pond has dried nicely.
This is another necessity on most properties in our neck of the woods. Everyone says they are unusually big this year. We are hoping they aren’t as prolific as they were last year.
First of 3 stumps we want to get rid of. And on the very bright side…
Lily of the Valley. We’ve heard from those of you who know that this plant is very invasive. I’m happy to report they are in an isolated planter.
These succulents are in the rockery that borders the pond area.
We have a nice healthy looking Peony. Looking forward to seeing what the blooms are like. We also have a white bleeding heart blooming and three clematis that are reaching towards the sky.
On the way back from the mailbox Dear stopped to chat with our neighbor and heard some stories about the rattlesnakes killed from year to year. Yikes. We’re being careful especially when we clear out brush.
Happy to report that our Heat Pump is working as it should and we’ve been able to cool things down when we need to. The technician found wires that were wired wrong. Glad it was an easy fix.
On Sunday afternoon we turned left out our driveway and headed north to the town of Northport.
We followed our road to highway 25 and turned right headed for Northport. Northport is just shy of 10 miles to Canada.
Northport was given its name since it was once the northernmost town on the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway. It was officially incorporated on June 1, 1898 but has a history stretching back to the 1880s when it was a port and shipbuilding center for steamboat services running northwards into British Columbia during construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, related to its location at a stretch of the Columbia known as the Little Dalles, a rapids and narrows that was a barrier to navigation and which also was an alternate name for Northport itself. In 2010 the census of Northport registered 295 people.
We had a meal at the River Town Grill.
We crossed the bridge over the Columbia River.
Sometime in the near future we’ll follow the highway all the way to Canada and check out some of the towns close by like Rossland, Trail and Nelson. Nelson is where the movie Roxanne was filmed. (Steve Martin)
On the way back home we stopped to take some photos of the Columbia River.
At this spot we recognized the property across the river and the structures at the top of the slope. Our Eastern Washington kids got married on that property in 2015. I zoomed in to make sure it was the spot.
Flash back to June 30, 2015.
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
We hope to have many more day trips in the future to learn more about our new part of the state.
Mother’s day plans here are going to be last minute and flexible as our kids are still pretty much homebound. The guys are prepped and ready to barbecue something for a meal on Sunday for all the usual suspects.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 