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 A Journal to impart knowledge and facts |
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July 22, 2015 I'm going to start today to record on a daily basis whatever happens to strike my fancy. So, it is a very cool breezy day. I just posted 5 short book reviews to The Monthly Reading Challenge. I'm suppose to put away some winter wood today from the woodpile outside but I'm playing hookey from work to write so starting this blog will get done. I'm having a daily fight with a flock of English Sparrows that are trying to take over my barn. They are making a terrible mess so they have to go. I have destroyed several nests so far they don't leave but they get out of the barn when I am around. I'm just starting the fight so I guess I don't know how far I have to go to discourage them. I'm trying not to spread myself to thin on WDC because I find so many things that are interesting here and I am trying to work on a new story. I really enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and reading blogs on WDC. |
What is something you started doing during the pandemic that you will continue in the “post-pandemic” world?  I think we are approaching post-pandemic, but it is too soon to leave our masks at home. I also started a knitting a sweater. I need to work on it some more I would like to finish it someday. However I'm not working on it in a steady way. Actually, I've been just muddling along since about the first of December. I'm hoping I'll get more enthusiasm as spring moves closer to us. I have some house projects I would like to complete, but they take financial input so how much I will achieve will depend on financial flow. Started some spring cleaning which will continue no matter what. I have many things to get rid of that just are not needed and will make the house easier to keep clean. Over the years I have moved toward a lighter load of just things that clutter. Working my way year by year through each room in the house. This mentions a few things, but who knows how post - pandemic will play out. The flock of red-winged black birds are emptying the feeders because it snowed this morning. I need to put out more seed. Warmer weather forecast which will be better for returning summer birds. Harder to find cash to buy seed with this year.  |
Do you have a green thumb? Are you a gardener? Do you want to be? *flowerg*Yes I like growing things. I love eating vegetables and fresh grown products. I like beans, nuts, and fresh fruits. I don't know about the green thumb part? I don't like to be tied to a large garden because I'm not very knowledgeable about how to control weeds. As I grew older I managed to buy a few books on growing edible plants. Then, I tried my hand at raised bed gardening. This is one I have had more success with, raised beds. They are more controllable since I do all the gardening by myself now. Presently my raised beds are wreaked. To use them I will have to rebuild them. I also have had some success with container gardening. Hydroponics is something I think I would like to try. Recently I read that vegetables grown in hydroponic setups taste different? The article did not explain if that was a good thing or not a good thing. I know the flavor of home grown vegetables is better than what is bought in the stores. Nevertheless, eating fresh from the stores is better than canned. I could not even buy seed last year so there was no gardening at all. I like this advertisement: https://www.agardenpatch.com If I can scrape some money from the budget I would like to try this some day. It would add to the flower growing I do on my porch. I love begonias in the summer. I have grown some begonias that lasted over the winter if I bring them inside. This year my house plants suffered from the cold during February. The house warmed up after I found an open window on the East end of the living room. I grow a lot of tropical type house plants inside. They are fine if you can maintain 55 or more degrees, but suffer if it gets colder. Equinox on March 20. We are having a stretch of sunshine. A flock of robins and a flock of red winged black birds arrived at the feeders this week on different days. It is still March and we could have some snow storms but right now the fields are melting off more every day. I took the dogs out for a short walk in the field yesterday. Mostly walked on green grass. Just some patches of snow. The sun is working in our favor. Spring will take over soon. A good time to start seedlings for the garden and think of growing things. Happy trails. |
| What kinds of things do you like to cook or are good at cooking? What are your comfort foods? Just for me I like to try different salads and casseroles. I can cook almost anything fairly well but, it isn't what I enjoy doing. Most of the time it is a necessity. My comfort foods have changed over the years. As a teenager I liked spiced gumdrops made with corn syrup not sugar. I went through a sweet stage about cookies and donuts. Then I hit the 30's and kept dairy goats and sheep, chickens, and turkeys. I grew and butchered most of our own food. I made my own cheese, yogurt, butter, cottage cheese and canned goods, and cooked for a family of 6. I sold the sheep and used the money to buy a new horse. My favorite foods now are walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, almost any kind of nuts. I've stuck with potato chips as a favorite for years but, try not to eat them often. ![Merit Badge in Risk Taker
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Thank you for reading and commenting in my blog!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Risk_Taker.gif) LIfe moves on. Have a wonderful day. Less food is better for you than more food. |
| When you are old, what do you think children will ask you to tell stories about? How old is old? My grandchildren ask me about how the lightning hit the tree in the back yard. Sometimes, they have asked about family history for writing projects at school. Sometimes they have asked me about bible information. My belief: People age but they rarely get old. I have missing files on my computer. So, it isn't working at the present time. I'm using Keith's computer and I'm not familiar with it. I'll be in as often as I can this month. ![Merit Badge in Ghost
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Thank you for your participation at the [Link To Item #30dbc] in October, an unofficial month! Congratulations of winning the MB for Week 3!! Kindest Regards, Lilli](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Ghost-700.gif) Happy Trailsapondia#1781748 apondia#1781748 apondia#1781748 apondia#1781748 apondia#1781748 |
Who / what inspires you?  Words inspire me. I used to walk through a library in the nonfiction stacks and read the titles on the backs of the books. If one grabbed my curiosity I would take it home and read it. Every time I listened to my intuition, about a book I had one of life's questions answered from a book I read, which I noticed in this way. I've had a lot of questions answered, about living, over the year's. I think if you read the right books you can find the answers. Taking classes is another way to get questions answered. On a budget, that is empty, the public library is there to help. Today, I use the Overdrive app and do the same thing. I'm still searching the stacks. |
*Heart* 4. Write a list of things that make you happy.  I’m not sure about the word happy. It makes me think of running around with a smile on my face. Not going to happen I guess. However, I enjoy my pets. Each one is an individual in its own way. I enjoy keeping the house work up so we live in a fairly clean atmosphere. I enjoy sunshine which we are actually getting some this morning. I enjoy walking the dogs. I like to read and sometimes I write. I enjoy finding things in history that explain societies in the old and new testament. I enjoy playing music and my guitar. I just like living, in spite of the fact, that living right now is putting a lot of stress on me. These things make me feel accomplished which is kin to happy and enjoy. Something new, I’m learning to appreciate Face book more. This morning I was out in 20 degree weather filling bird feeders. Morning birds were already out and about. Sun came up early so everyone was enjoying the heat. There are deer trails all over yesterdays fresh snow. I wrote a short story for a Christmas prompt but did not put it on my computer and edit it so I never posted it to the contest. Now, it lays in a tablet waiting to be finished. Maybe for next Christmas. Spring is On Its Way!! I hope.  |
| *Heart* 2. A day in the life... give us the low-down on how you spend a typical day. Because I don’t work a regular job outside of my home I fluctuate with my time. For instance yesterday: Up at 5 a.m., put out the dogs, filled the corn stove hopper, fed dogs half of breakfast, went back to bed until 8 a.m., fed cats and birds, read Bible reading plan, made the bed, removed corn stove clinker, started wood pellets in wood furnace because of outside cold, started a load of laundry, ate breakfast, fed dogs other half of breakfast, online to bank to pay bills, read email, WDC, posted to blogs one to 30 day. One to Take UP Your Cross, put dogs back out, changed laundry from washer to dryer, started another load in washer, fed lunch to birds, cats, dogs, cooked lunch for K and I, took dogs out for a short walk. Filled outside bird feeders, filled dish washer, folded clothes from dryer, put 2nd load from dryer to washer, cleaned cat boxes (there are 5 and are cleaned daily), several times during this list I filled pellets into wood furnace, It was 3 p.m. by the time this was done so I took my kindle and read for about two hours. Then I had a light snack for evening meal. At, 7 K filled the hopper with corn on the corn stove, I took out the clinker and we retired to our bedrooms for the night. I played township before I went to sleep. Showering and dressing also take up time. Today no laundry. Just reading, feeding animals, cleaning cat boxes is steady, I take time sometimes to run the red dot for the cats. Talk to the parrots or do special cleaning in their cages daily. It is really windy and snowy today so I’m not looking forward to going out with the dogs. I will probably play fetch down the hall and run them through their training course sometime. Feeding pellets into the wood furnace is not strenuous work but hourly if I forget it will go out. I should do some exercises. I can get exercise plans from silver sneakers and I use them plus there is an exercise bike and I do yoga exercises regularly on impulse. Other things that might come up in a day is taking out the trash, vacuuming a room or two. It is time to do the taxes and I am putting them on computer so I will take a day for that this month. I am almost ready now to do them. One day this month I will do all the bill paying for the month and another day I will do grocery shopping. Blogging on WDC can take two to four hours. In good weather I get more done in a day because I stay up at 5. Now, I go back to bed to doze or read, or play township. K and I are not getting along at all right now. Cabin fever I think. He never stayed home much before he retired. Then he got a part time job until march when every thing shut down. Now, he has trouble finding things to keep him busy. I can always find something to keep me busy. It irritates him I think. You can imagine, I'm high energy--he is low energy. In the winter the house is closed up. It makes a difference. The house is large so some parts are warm other parts not so warm. He was always extremely attached to his family. Now both of his parents are gone and he does not spend much time with his sisters. I think that being separated from his siblings may make him lonely. I’m not a substitute for that attachment. He likes Facebook that helps him stay in touch with friends and family. . Retirement can be a real obstacle to over come if you aren’t ready for it. Who is? Covid does not help. *Heart* 3. What are you excited about in the coming month? I’m hoping for a break in this weather. A day of sunshine, no wind, and melting snow would make me excited. Plus, I’m taking the dog to the vet for a check up. Once that is done I can apply for a lifetime license and he will be set for awhile. |
 Quote:Groundhog found fog. New snows and blue toes. Fine and dandy for Valentine candy. Snow spittin'; if you're not mitten-smitten, you'll be frostbitten! By jing-y feels spring-y.” ― The Old Farmer's Almanac https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/february *Heart* 1. What do you want to do this month? Write your goals for the month, and think about what you need to do to accomplish them. I’m on a new Bible reading plan that will help me reread the entire old and new testament in one year. I hope to keep up with the plan for this month. Also, want to be sure to take new dog to his veterinarian appointment and keep up with his training. Then, just get through every day with as much grace as possible. I’d like to see less snow and cold but that isn’t in my hands at the moment. I have 3 library books out that should be read in the next 14 days and one new book from Amazon that I would like to read this month. Maybe I will take a new class if I can find one that meets my curiosity and budget? I'm knitting a sweater, if I get audio books from the library I can knit and read at the same time. February isn't a month for great new ideas. This year just too cold and blustery for exuberance.  keep warm. |
| Do you practice mindfulness or meditation? How often? On an average day, how often are you intentionally aware of your mental state and emotions? Prompts for the war chest? 1. How do you think mindfulness will affect the general public, if it is practiced regularly? I read a comment one time, when I was in some website or another (sorry no reference), that mindfulness will help redeem this country if it is regularly taught and practiced. It definitely is an aide to keeping your mind focused. The trick for me is to remember to use it. I do practice it. I meditate on the words of Christ. To me, meditation and mindfulness can fulfill two slightly different realities. Meditation about some specific thing is helpful to understand life situations and actual advice. Mindfulness helps clear the mind of the rolling films of words that strike through the mind at any given moment. Mindfulness can be a few seconds or a lot longer. Mindfulness keeps us mentally focused on the present. A strong focus on minute to minute living can bring solutions to the surface of the mind. It can help the realization, that daily living can be accomplished over and above problems. Daily I am aware of everything going on around me. And, I have a lot regularly going on . I can and do stop for a few seconds to readjust my actions or thinking especially if I become stressed out about what is going on inside my home. 2. Do you have a social account outside of WDC? It you do, Does your social activity on your other account help fulfill social needs? How well do you get along with the technology involved with social media accounts. What do you think about 5G in comparison with what other WiFi has been around for the last few years? 3. Everyone talks about the weather. Do you like cold or heat? Do you participate in sports related to either one? ![Merit Badge in Appreciation
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 What’s one thing you wanted to do in 2020 that you couldn’t do or didn’t get to do? Will you make it happen in 2021? For the last couple years I have been wanting to add another dog to my animal pack. On December 24 we began negotiations to rehome a dog who was in desperate need of a permanent home. We is my daughter and I. Early on the 26th of December I picked up our new member of the pack. It is a neutered male. He is very well mannered. All of our other animals were welcoming. The cats have found a new buddy as well and my older dog is happy to have a dog friend. We have started formal obedience training, although he is already well housebroken. It is something fun to do during these cold days. I was taking both dogs out for long walks until the snow started up this week. so, this week we are working on wait, down, sit, and stand. And, taking lots of naps while I read. Once a day I throw toys for a game of fetch down the length of the hall. I miss having to go to the barn to clean stalls and feed horses even in this bad weather. I'm going to have to start a new exercise workout with silver sneakers on my phone. Dark clouds, cold, and snow storms always make me want to hibernate. New exercise projects might keep me alert until spring. The snow isn't very deep. Only about 6 inches but too deep for my older dog who is only about 12 inches tall at the shoulder. Neither the dogs or I am very happy with the cold. It is down into the 20's at night and raises into the 30's during the day. My new dog friend is a whippet mix and has very short hair. He isn't fond of the cold weather either. If the snow doesn't go away soon I think I will start taking them to the horse barn for outside walks. The inside of the barn has a lot of machinery parked in the walk trot area but, still enough room to walk dogs. It isn't to far to carry the older dog and he always likes to visit the barn. He used to go out to the barn morning and night for the chores. K and I spent yesterday with the TV on all day watching the inauguration. I hope their efforts to encourage the country take hold. Sending  to everyone. Keep warm. . apondia#1781748 |
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