Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

We will work in reverse tonight since I am getting a late start, as per usual these days.  Here was tonight's sunset on Still Waters Pond...pretty nice, huh? I'd say so.  A lovely ending to a lovely day. Read on for more details about "the lovely day".

Today was a very special day. It was my hubby's 75th birthday!  We mostly spent a quiet day, until this afternoon when we met up with friends from our church for an early supper at the Hog Wild Country Cafe'.

Here's part of the crowd that gathered to celebrate...Our Pastor and wife and some other men from the Men's Bible Study and their wives. My hubby teaches the Men's Bible Study, so we wanted to get together with them and also some others from the church...

And here they are...some members of the Adult Sunday School class and other friends...we were also celebrating two other  people's birthdays...the lady in blue in the middle...our friend "Pamela", whose birthday was also today, and our friend Norman, on the far end with the ball cap on...it will be his 80th birthday this weekend!

It was too bad they couldn't put us all at the same table, but we managed to have a good time and enjoyed the great atmosphere of the back porch at Hog Wild, which we had all to ourselves.

Here's my friend Pamela...she was enjoying her birthday...looks like a lightbulb popped on over her head...I am sure she had a good idea about something fun to do!

These are just some of the items for sale in the restaurant...it's a fun kind of place to visit...

We were in good company with Elvis and John Wayne and I think there was even a picture of Lucille Ball. Some of the greats...

I think Pamela may have found a new boyfriend..."Pappy"... maybe there's gold in that bag...

And John found some new friends...a couple of kitties who hang around hoping for leftovers...

And here I am, wishing I could ride on the tractor, but the seat was a bit broken and old, and I didn't want to become like it...broken and old...LOL.

We had a great time. But the party isn't over yet. Saturday our extended family will be coming up to celebrate with us at our house. It will be another day of fun and good food. I can't wait! But gotta get the house cleaned up and ready first...

Now back to Still Waters Pond and all the activity surrounding it these days...Things have gotten pretty interesting now that Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane are expecting a "baby" (or maybe two?) in a month or so.  Mr. Crane has become quite protective and territorial...and this Great Blue Heron was on our side of the pond, but that was still too close for comfort for Mr. Crane:

He flew across the pond and landed on our shore just to let Mr. Heron know who's the boss around here right now...

And then he flew back over to the island where Mrs. Crane is sitting on the nest, just to reassure her that he's got things under control. No need to worry.

However, I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a Great White Egret on the marsh island out in front of where the cranes are nesting...

Mr. Crane just noticed, and flew right over to give him a stern warning about getting too close. Mrs. Crane is standing up and saying be careful Mr. Crane!  Baby Valentine and I are going to need you!

Mr. Crane landed right beside Mr. Great White Egret, and you can see it would not be a very fair match if it were to come to blows...

Meanwhile, in the pond the little diving ducks, "The Ring Necked Ducks", are busily doing their thing, bobbing up and down and having their breakfast. They don't appear to pose a threat to the Crane family, and they are just minding their own business.

Mr. Great White Egret decided to join them for a few minutes to cool off and get out of harm's way.

Mr. Crane stood on the marsh island to remind Mr. Egret not to trespass into his territory any further...

I think Mr. Egret got the message, and he swam off to another part of the pond to fish for his breakfast.

Meanwhile the Canada Geese flew in for their morning swim. They don't seem to pose a threat to the Cranes either, well, at least they seem to know better than to get too close...

All of a sudden Mr. Crane flew across the pond again and warned Mr. Egret to not come back...

Then Mr. Egret flew away and around the other side of the pond and we didn't see him anymore:

Bye Bye Mr. Egret...

So that's the excitement from Still Waters Pond for today. I wonder what will happen tomorrow morning? Stay tuned and I will try to watch and see and share with you whatever happens.  

However, I won't have as much time tomorrow, as we will be going to Dixie Cottage in the morning, and then I have physical therapy in the afternoon. BTW, I started therapy yesterday, and I must say I am sore today, but that's probably a good thing, right?  I do hope it helps...and I know I need to maintain my exercises and hopefully my shoulder/arm will heal eventually. It would be nice to have two good arms again. It's been a long time since I've had full use of them without pain.  I am thankful to be able to have therapy, and I am thankful that my problems aren't worse than they are. 

We had a break from Dixie Cottage today as their friend came to take care of the store for the day so we could all have a break.  Our son and DIL have both had the same sinus/coughing crud that I had, and they needed a day to rest and recuperate.  However, while I was there yesterday, I took a few pictures of a few things that are kind of new to the store that maybe you haven't seen yet...

We have a new vendor who builds these potting benches. I showed you another one HERE last week.  This one is a little smaller, but still really cute and functional. I love these and wish I had a place to put it, but I really don't need it. It's just cute.

This fireplace (electric) surround/mantel is an item that my son painted for some customers. It was a dark brown and not nearly this pretty. So they asked Benton to paint it for them. Isn't it beautiful? It really did turn out very nice. They were quite pleased.  

This is a hall tree/storage bench for sale.  Really a nice item, especially for a busy family!

This vendor comes up with some really cute items that she repurposes/flips:

Pretty cute, huh?

I think this is so cute, but of course I have no idea what to do with it. If you have a sewing room or garden room or something like that, this would really be cute.  

This is kind of funny..."Farm Fresh Butt Nuggets"...another name for eggs I guess. LOL. Eggs are definitely like gold nuggets these days! Wow.  We've really cut down our egg consumption recently, which is probably just as well. My cholesterol is high enough even with medicine, so I have to watch it...

We took a walk a few days ago, and I wanted to see if the Lady Lupine was blooming yet. I had noticed pictures of it in a previous post written about this same time a few years ago, HERE, and so I was wondering if there was any blooming yet.  Sure enough I found some, but not nearly as much as in the past couple of years.  It has been such a dry and cold winter, I think it is a bit behind in development this year. But at least I found this much of it. I will keep checking as it should start blooming more soon...

It is nice to get out and walk in the evenings again, now that it is staying a little lighter later as we head back towards Daylight Savings Time in a few weeks.  That's the only thing I really like about DLS, as we can take walks in the evening when it is cooler. Otherwise I wish they'd just leave it alone and we'd all adapt I am sure. What do you think?

This was the sunrise yesterday morning. Let's see, when we "spring ahead", it will be dark again in the early morning, right? Well, maybe for some of you that will be a good thing...you will get to see the sunrise. For us early birds we will have to wait awhile for it. Kids will be waiting in the dark again for the school bus. I don't like that, even though I don't have any kids riding school buses anymore. 

But anyway, I am thankful for the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the flowers and birds and all of God's marvelous creation all around us.

I am thankful for my hubby's 75th birthday and for our almost 54 years of marriage together (in August).  I am thankful for our health and God's provision for us in so many wonderful ways.

We are blessed beyond measure, and we give thanks to God.

That's my thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends post for this week. Oh, and I am thankful for each of you and your kind comments and the things you share with us in your posts.

Have a blessed night and upcoming weekend, my friends.

Good Night.