Root Beer Floats, Flea Markets, and God's Creation

Someone was talking about remembering back when they had the A&W Root Beer stands, and you could drive up and order your Root Beer and a hamburger and they would bring it to you on a little metal tray that could fasten onto your open window of your car, and remember we'd sit inside the car and eat our hamburgers and drink the root beer out of a frosty glass mug? And we'd have to wait for the girl to come back and take our tray with the glass mugs on it before we could leave. 

Well, today (Friday) I was thinking about that, and when we went to the grocery store I looked for some A&W Root Beer, but they didn't have any, so I bought this Mug Root Beer instead, and came home and made myself a Root Beer Float! It was still pretty good. I didn't have a frosty mug to drink it out of, unless you want to consider these:

Yes, those are actually miniature Root Beer Mugs, but they won't hold much! LOL. Anyway, it sure tasted good! I haven't had one of those in I don't remember how long. What about you? Do you like Root Beer Floats?  Now I wonder how many of you will want one now that I've mentioned it? Let me know. LOL.

We also went to the local flea market today.  Sometimes they have some good deals on things and we always watch for some good used furniture deals to pick up for our son to refinish/repurpose for their store, "Dixie Cottage" in St. Augustine.  I spied this vintage buffet, which appeared to be in pretty good condition, so I asked the price and it was reasonable, so I took a picture of it and sent it to my son for his consideration. After we haggled over the price a bit, everyone was in agreement, so we bought the buffet (which our son will reimburse us for). Then of course we had to figure out how to get it home, since our son was already at the store with his pick up truck, and our SUV probably wouldn't quite be able to fit it.  Thankfully there was a couple there who were friends of the people selling the buffet who had a pickup truck and offered to deliver it to our house. We only live less than a mile from there, so that was a wonderful offer.  They wouldn't even accept any money for delivery!  Good people!! 

I will be sure to share a picture of it once our son and DIL have applied their magic touches to it. Most likely it will be painted because that is what people seem to want these days as opposed to restoring to natural finish, etc. But they may do something a little bit different since this has some different tones of wood trim/inlay on it. I can't wait to see how it will look.  What  would be your preference?

After all that excitement and after lunch I heard a lot of frantic calling from a Sand Hill Crane outside our house.  I looked out the back door but couldn't really see him, but his calls were getting louder and louder. If you've never heard one of these big birds calling, well, just google Sand Hill Crane call and you will know what I mean.  (Here's a clip I found online. These are not mine, but you get the idea)

Anyway, the calling sounded more frantic than this clip above, and I was concerned that something must be wrong.

Finally I was able to zoom in and discovered that there were two cranes, and they were at the far end of our lot, up against our neighbor's fence. They seemed to be going back and forth like they were trapped or something was definitely wrong.

I thought they were just up against the fence and couldn't figure their way back out with all the brush and the pond on the right, etc., but of course I didn't know what I could do to help them. 

I watched them from a respectful distance but I did call to them to try to calm them a bit.

I don't speak "Sand Hill Cranese" very well, and I think I just made them more nervous.

So I stayed up on the back porch and just quietly sat and watched. I figured they would figure it out sooner or later if I just left them alone.  The calls seemed to get a little less frantic sounding, so I felt relieved that they must be figuring it out.

What I couldn't see with my naked eye, but only saw with the eye of the camera (but actually I didn't see this until I put the pictures up on the computer)...look down to the left bottom side of the taller bird and what do YOU see? (below)

Did you see it? 

Well, keep watching and maybe you will figure it out soon...

They finally stepped over the old log on the ground and started heading more in my direction. So I sat perfectly still and watched.  They were quiet now and started pecking the ground for food, so they seemed to be relieved from whatever had upset them so much before.

Slowly they made their way toward the bird feeder in our woodlot, and would you look at that???

There's a baby bird!!! Actually they call them a "colt"!  That is what they were so upset about. Apparently the "colt" had either gotten a bit lost or was too far behind them and they were very very upset earlier. But once the baby caught up to them all was calm and peaceful again.

They made their way to the seeds on the ground and nibbled at a few/

Isn't he adorable?

Oh, I am SO glad I came outside and watched and waited! I had NO idea they had a baby!! I know it is the season for them, but I didn't know how or where or when or anything, so this was a total surprise!

What a cutie!

Then they made their way toward the shore of the pond, with baby toddling along behind them:

He really can't quite keep up with his long-legged parents, so no wonder he gets lost behind sometimes.

But he definitely does try to keep up:

And then they headed for the water.  The "colt" followed them right in, even though I am sure the water was probably a bit deep for him there, but he could swim and paddle along as Mom and Dad continued foraging for food...

Thankfully the baby stays close to Mama, or vice versa...

And pretty soon they made their way on around the pond and out of my sight, so I went back inside and took a nap! That was a lot of excitement for this old gal! LOL.

Oh, but wait! The story isn't over yet!  This evening after supper I looked out the window, and what to my wondering eyes did I see? There was the baby colt toddling along again...and yes, his parents were close by. They apparently had made their way all around the pond and came back to our yard again for their evening stroll!

And while the Sand Hill Crane family was working their way again back into the pond and on around, they were being watched by some other anxious parents:

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird sat on their perch, patiently waiting for the Crane family to pass on by. But if you look really closely in their mouths you will see that they each had a tasty, juicy bug or grasshopper to feed their babies in the birdhouse!!

They waited for the Crane family to pass by their house before they dared to venture forth any closer.

And once the Cranes were gone...well here's a closer picture of the bluebirds. Look in their mouths:

As soon as the Cranes were out of sight, Mrs. Bluebird flew to her nest to feed her hungry babies.

And Mr. Bluebird sat on the perch and watched and waited for his turn to feed the babies.

Wow! Wasn't all of that a very heartwarming story about God's wonderful creatures, the Sand Hill Cranes and the Bluebirds...and how they care for their own children?  It never ceases to amaze me how wonderfully the animal world looks after their own families.  Sometimes I think we humans could take a few lessons from God's Creation.

Here's something to think about:

Matthew 10:29-31

"29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 

30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

If God cares for the sparrows and bluebirds and Sand Hill Cranes, then don't worry...He also cares even more about you, as you are worth far more to Him than many "sparrows".   That is very comforting to know, isn't it?

I hope you enjoyed this today as much as I did!!