Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends Again!

 It seems like only yesterday that it was Thursday and Friday...but a whole week has gone by, and oh! What a HOT week it has been!! After last week's cooler rainy days and nights we have been thrust into the heat of summer overnight it seems. Our temperatures have been in the high 90's every day. 

This was the outside temp a few minutes ago when we went for a ride.

 Every day this week we have thanked the Lord that our air conditioner chose to die last week instead of this week, and we have had our new AC system working beautifully all week long for this very hot weather. God's timing is always perfect!!

However, one thing that was a little inconvenient this week was that our community water department decided to do a system cleaning, and so our water was shut off all day Tuesday, and then we have been under a "boil water alert" ever since.  When you are hot and thirsty it can be a bit of a pain to not have access to potable water from your faucets and not be able to use the icemaker in the refrigerator!  But thankfully, just a few moments ago, this arrived on our door:

(never mind the typo in bold print..."Boll Water Notice") Lol. We're just glad it's over)

So now things are pretty much back to normal, even though it is still so very very hot!

But we found a way to beat the heat this afternoon:

Oh wait! First...another blessing to add to my thankfulness list:

Our kids Benton and Rose made it home from their vacation safely Tuesday night. We sure are happy to have them back home again! And so that brings me to what we did this afternoon to beat the heat:

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago HERE that progress was coming to our little town, and that soon we would have a place for burgers and milkshakes:

The owners of our favorite BBQ place, Hog Wild Country Cafe', have bought this other location for a burger and shakes place.

They've kind of been having a little difficulty in getting things going due to county inspection slowdowns (not their fault), so they still can't serve the hamburgers, etc., but they are open for 

ice-cream.

We decided to go pay them a visit this afternoon and meet our "kids" there for some ice cream.  Hubby discovered that they also have toys and fun things for sale:

Here's our sweet DIL Rose deciding what she wants to order:

I found something I wanted, and asked for a cup of ice-cream to go with it for a Root Beer Float!

Benton and Rose decided on a chocolate milkshake for him and a ice cream cone for her:

And here I am with my Root Beer Float.  Hubby decided he didn't want to spoil his supper so he just came for moral support while we indulged in our ice cream treats. LOL.

It was really yummy and refreshing.  Even though the treats seemed a little "pricey" (the owner explained the cost of all things dairy went up considerably just since the time they decided to open this business), it was still worth the time and energy to go and cool off and spend some fun time together with our kids. We sure have missed them!  As a matter of fact, we had them over to our house last night for supper, and they brought the grandpuppies Sugar and Spice, who were very happy to finally come back to Grandpa and Grandma's house after so long. But I didn't get any pictures of them, I guess because I was just too busy enjoying having them all here again.

One picture I did take before they arrived was this:

I baked this lemon-blueberry cake for dessert. It's actually Rose's recipe, but she didn't have time to bake anything since they had just gotten home from their trip and I didn't want her to have to make anything.

We had a pork loin roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked maple glazed carrots and green peas for supper. It was all very yummy, especially because we were all together again. Even a peanut butter sandwich tastes better with loved ones to share it with. LOL.

So what else is going on?

Well, in the bird kingdom here on Still Waters Pond there seems to be some changes going on.

This is Mrs. Bluebird last week.  This week Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird seem to have abandoned this nest. At least I haven't seen them around for a couple of days. I never saw any babies ready to fledge, so I am thinking something went wrong and maybe the high heat has caused these eggs to not develop properly and so Mom and Dad have gone away. I haven't looked inside the birdhouse yet to see what's there. I will wait another couple of days to be sure they don't come back first.

  

But in the meantime another couple have started checking out the other birdhouse again. I think it's probably the same couple who were there earlier in the spring, as they tend to come back again for their 2nd brood a couple of months after the first batch leaves the nest.  Here's Mr. Bluebird checking out the house:

What's funny is all the while he is inspecting the house he is chattering away in bluebird talk, apparently talking to Mrs. Bluebird, who is up in the tree and out of my view.

I can hear her chattering back, and it is literally like they are having a conversation with each other about the merits of this house.

You can tell he is giving it a very careful inspection, and she's probably telling him to be sure and check for leaks and air flow and safety issues.

He does not overlook a thing.

He inspects the roof:

And then sticks his head inside, and he did actually go inside and come back out after a minute or two.

Again, he keeps chattering away in a sing-song conversation. I wish I could tell what they were saying, but it seems logical to me that it is all about whether or not they should set up housekeeping here once again.

Here he is on the tip top of the pole, staking his claim on this piece of property. I think he likes that it has a nice view of Still Waters Pond, and hopefully they can catch a cool breeze now and then.

I half expect to see the moving van coming tomorrow to bring all their worldly goods. LOL. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Well, I will close with these thoughts from a little devotional calendar from earlier this week:

Psalm 119:105 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Seeing this also  reminded me of the poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Lamplighter":

This came from my very favorite old book from my childhood:

This also reminds me of another verse, from the most favorite book of my whole life, The Bible:

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

And with those thoughts I will leave you for today.  May we always strive to be that light that is shining before men and women, to give glory to God for Who He is and all He has done for us!  Amen.