What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Saturday Review in Pamela's Wild Kingdom

 Goodness Gracious! This week has been one for close encounters with the wild side of life! LOL.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post HERE, about our close encounter with the dogs at the boat ramp. I haven't heard anything else about them and I hope they are safe at their home, but I do pray the owner will take better care of them and not let them run wild in the neighborhood. We see way too much of that around here, and it is really sad.  But now I will move on to another close encounter...not so much with me, but well, you'll see:

I noticed out my window that the Sand Hill Crane couple was out there, but they were acting kind of strange, hopping up and down and looking at something on the shore.
So when I looked a little closer, I could see this opossum out there, drinking water from the pond.
The Cranes were very curious about him and came over for a closer look, but the opossum just kept drinking, totally ignoring the cranes.
He was very thirsty, which to me, is a bit suspicious, especially to see him in the middle of the day. They are normally nocturnal creatures, and seeing him out like this in the heat of the afternoon sun is very unusual. But I looked it  up online HERE, and I guess it's not all that uncommon for one to be out in the daytime.
The Cranes kept a watchful eye on him and he just ignored them.
He was very thirsty, which makes me wonder if he was sick or something.
On closer inspection (using my zoom lens...I'm not about to get close to a opossum...they have a lot of very sharp teeth and can really bite!), it looks like he may have been injured on his back. Either by another animal, or a near miss with a vehicle. But it isn't bloody or open or anything like that, so it may be an old wound healed over.
The Cranes were very curious about him for sure!
Finally he'd had all he could drink, and he turned away, again, totally ignoring the Cranes, and headed back toward the woods and the cool shade of the day...
He's kind of cute in his own way...One of God's special creatures!
The Cranes watched him go, and then they also went on about their business...
You can see that bad spot on his back better above. I'm not sure about it, but he seemed to be okay and I wasn't about to get any closer.  And this picture below is the last I saw of him:
I pray he's okay!

Now onto the next adventure in Pamela's Wild Kingdom!  You may recognize one of the actors in this next scene...Yes, that's Blackie, and another neighborhood kitty who hasn't been named. I keep calling him "Yellow", but that's not a very nice name, so maybe "Sunshine" would be better.  Anyway, my neighbor has been feeding these kitties for quite a while, and she is having some health issues which make it difficult for her to go out the door and care for them like she always has. So I told her I would be happy to help out.  

You will notice that Blackie is not content to just eat out of  his dish, but he likes to eat out of "Sunshine's" dish as well! No wonder he looks so fat and sassy!
They are used to being fed twice a day, so for now at least I am going to be going over and doing this to help her out.  Oh, and as soon as Blackie was finished eating I noticed he came right over here to our house and plopped himself down in one of our chairs on the back porch, as per his usual habit. 

I don't know where Sunshine goes during the day. I've seen him around the woods and sometimes in our yard, but never on our porch. He's much more skittish than Blackie around people.


Now, for the news you've been waiting for, the completion of the "Washing Machine Saga"  Well, after thinking about it and praying for wisdom, (There's that word again!), and also after doing some research about different options...


And after pricing the options of having this one repaired vs. buying a new one with a longer warranty, with all of those costs, etc. factored in, we decided we would be better off in the long run to go ahead and purchase a new one with an extended warranty, which BTW, the extended warranty costs LESS than the cost of the service call to come out and diagnose the problem, not to mention the cost of labor and parts on top of that...so I shopped online, doing comparisons between different brands and models at the two main big box stores, (Lowes vs. Home Depot), and after all was said and done, we ordered one from Home Depot to be delivered free within two days. Lowes couldn't deliver anything for more than a week, and their prices were higher.  So Home Depot won the toss!  Anyway, they would have charged an extra $50.00 to haul our old one away, so our son came over and between him and hubby they managed to get the old one out the door and onto his pick up truck.


And he took it away to his house, where his smart wife is going to check things out just to see if she can fix it. I told her if she can, it's hers, but I also told her not to get rid of her 15 year old washer that she inherited from her mother!  It may be old, but it's still working and I wouldn't get rid of that unless it was totally falling apart!
Bye Bye Old Washer!

So, with the old one out of the way and everything else cleaned up and ready and waiting, the Home Depot delivery people arrived this morning around 8 a.m.!  They said they would've been here sooner except it was so terribly foggy they took their time, which I commended them for. It was definitely another very foggy morning!  Here they are, unloading the new washer from their truck. You can see how foggy it is!


And here is the new washing machine, all set up and ready to go. It is a different model than what we had before, 

and it is actually a larger capacity than the other one, with a stainless steel tub!


However, the cost was very comparable to the old one, and the extended 3 yr. warranty was, as I said, less than the cost of one service call!  They set it up and turned it on, and I loaded it up with dirty clothes and have already washed three loads today! I love it! It was well worth the frustration of the other one breaking down to finally get one that works much better! So this saga has a happy ending.  Did I want to have to spend that money to buy another new washing machine when the old one was only 15 months old? No, I didn't, and hopefully we can pay this one off quickly before we have to pay too much interest on it (like, as soon as we get our tax return back!, which I need to get to work on right away!)

This verse popped up in my devotional reading for today:

Matthew 25:21 NIV
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! 
You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. 
Come and share your master’s happiness!’

I know that this probably doesn't really count as what Jesus was teaching in this parable, but right now I feel like I've been trying to be a good and faithful servant in dealing with a "few things", like making wise decisions regarding mundane things like new appliances, etc.,  and perhaps maybe even Jesus is rejoicing with me for taking care of these things in a wise and prudent manner. I am very thankful for His guidance in this matter as well as in the much bigger matters of life.  If He cares about things like working washing machines, can you imagine how much more He cares about the really big things that pertain to our lives? Yes, He does...He knows our needs, and He always provides.

Matthew 6:31-33 is a favorite passage...

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, 
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) 
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 
and all these things shall be added unto you.

I hope you have enjoyed this post today, and that you will see God at work in the "mundane things" of your life as well.

Oh, I almost forgot!  Hubby's eye appointment went very well yesterday! The doctor said his eye is seeing so much better because of removing the cataract that he may not need to have the cornea surgery anytime in the near future, for which we are VERY thankful!! So thank you again, for your prayers concerning his appointment yesterday!  That is a big answer to prayer!

Friday, February 7, 2025

Friday Foto Friends-A Little This and That

Good Friday Morning...We're off to a foggy start here on Still Waters Pond...

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NKJV
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, 
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Thankfully we can start this day off by trusting in the power of God, and not in the "wisdom" of men, especially since in just a little while we have to once again get on the road to go to see hubby's eye doctor about an hour away. Seems like every morning that we've gone there it's been foggy, which makes for a bit of a nerve-wracking trip for this driver...but I know that God is with us, and we will put our faith and trust in Him to help us reach our destination safely.


This was yesterday morning...too bad we couldn't have made our little trip when it looked like this instead of in the fog!

But still, God is with us no matter what the weather or the condition of the sunshine or moon or clouds...He will keep us safe.

Also yesterday morning we saw this Great Blue Heron back up in the tall pine tree on Goose Island:


Revelation 5:13 NKJV
13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
It's amazing to me to think that one day "every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea..."  will be giving praise and honor and glory to God, their Creator! I think they already do. Have you ever listened to the birds singing in the trees in the early morning?  Yes, I believe they are giving praise to their Maker and thanking Him for taking care of them and bringing them safely to another new day.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and hubby was finally feeling so much better that we decided to go for a little picnic.  We stopped by the Hog Wild Burgers and Shakes place and picked up some fresh, hot and juicy hamburgers and french fries and headed for the Kenwood Boat Ramp to eat our lunch.


It's such a beautiful place to sit and watch the boaters come and go and just enjoy being in nature and fresh air once again!


However, when we arrived, I was a bit startled to be "greeted" by two very hungry looking dogs who were camping out under one of the picnic tables.  When I first saw them and they saw me, I was holding the bag full of very savory scented hot hamburgers, and my first thought was that they were going to run at me and knock me down and hopefully eat the hamburgers and not me!  Hubby was still coming up behind me from the parking lot and didn't see them coming. I just froze in place and tried to talk very calmly and turned around to look for hubby to hopefully see that he was nearby.  Soon enough he came and saw what was happening...I was surrounded by two very hungry dogs, although, thankfully and praise God, they were not growling or baring their teeth or jumping on me like I feared they would do! As a matter of fact, they were wagging their tails and looking at me expectantly, but not begging or aggressively.  Hubby was very calm and talked to them in baby-dog talk and they went right to him like he was an old friend, and I was able to keep walking toward the other shelter and picnic tables where we planned to sit and enjoy our picnic lunch.  

Of course they followed us there and actually stood there waiting, not begging, but just waiting patiently for us to sit down and open our bag of food.

Who could resist that face?

So yes, we shared our lunch with them. They mostly got french fries, but with a few bites of hamburger thrown in as well.  They never got unpleasant or difficult, and were actually well mannered and sweet.

But they still appeared to be abandoned in my eyes.  When one of the boaters came in to put his boat away we asked him if he knew anything about them, and he said they'd been hanging around there for about three weeks. They were good dogs and obeyed commands, so they obviously had belonged to someone at some time. It made me so sad to think they had just been left there.  However, I knew we couldn't take them home with us, so I just prayed that God would take care of them and find them a good home.  And I also thanked God for our own protection, because if these dogs had been of a different kind of temperament, that whole scene could have turned out much worse.  I do believe God had His angels surrounding us and protecting us...and perhaps even protecting the doggies as well.

When I got home I sent these pictures to our local Facebook "Word of Mouth" for our community. Right away someone said that the dogs belonged to someone who lived near the boat ramp and that they were already back home.  My response was that they did not have any collars or ID on them, and they looked abandoned to me...they had some skin problems developing...and if they belonged to someone they definitely needed to take better care of them and not let them run loose. There is a leash law in our county, but we've seen all too often that it is not heeded nor is it enforced very well.  I am thankful these dogs were sweet doggies, but they very well might not have been and things could have been very different.  So I pray for whomever it is that owns them to do a better  job, or I hope these dogs will find a new and better master!

Well, I have to go now...we must be on the road by 7:15 a.m. and it is 6:24 a.m. now. These pictures were from a little lake we discovered while on a ride the other day...just thought the clouds and reflections on the water were pretty...but the lake looked very muddy to me. Still it was a beautiful and peaceful place.






Okay, that's all for now. I will tell you more about our washing machine saga tomorrow...so stay tuned.


Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Wednesday Treasures

 I didn't have anything new to share until I looked out the window this evening!

It was so beautiful...I broke out in song...




1 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!


Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.




2 Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning;
sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining!
This flock of ducks flew over while I was out there watching the sunset!

Have you not seen all that is needful has been
sent by his gracious ordaining?
3 Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;
surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriends you.


4 Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.



And then the moon starting peeking out from the clouds...
And as the sun disappeared in the west, this is how the moon appeared:

And one last look at the sun setting behind the trees...

Those are the lights of the gas station/convenience store on the other side of the highway beyond the pond.  We can only see it at night and especially in winter when there aren't as many leaves on the trees, but I love to see the lights across the pond.

Oops! I blurred that a little bit, but I like it, don't you?

This is how it looked early this morning!

I hope you enjoyed these "treasures" from this evening's sunset.  It was truly majestic.


Amen!


Okay, so, I would like to end this post on a totally positive note. I wish I could, but you need to know that my life is full of frustrations and issues just like yours. It's not all lovely sunsets and sunrises and birds and flowers and trees... Thankfully, right now my frustration is not something terrible or life threatening, thank the Lord.   But it is frustrating, none the less.  You've seen this washing machine before HERE, about 1 year and 3 months ago, to be exact.  
If you re-read the previous post that I linked above, you will know that this washing machine started out on a rather shaky note. When it was first delivered, within 24 hours I was calling for them to come pick it back up because it wasn't working properly. They replaced it with another, that has worked perfectly until NOW, three months after the one year warranty expired. Of course.  And no, I didn't purchase the extended warranty. Yes, I should have. Lesson learned. It would be worth it to do so, and if I had it to do over again, I would certainly have done so, and I highly recommend it if you are buying any new appliance today. They are NOT built to last more than a couple of years. Trust me! I should know better. And it is too expensive to have them repaired, IF you can find someone who knows how to repair these electronic gizmos. SO, NOW we are trying to figure out the next step. Should we pay for someone (if we can find someone) to come and fix it...or should we replace it? I wish I could find a good used washer that is about 10 or 20 years old and still working. That would be worth buying. The older the better.  So we are going to sleep on it and pray about it and try to figure out the next step tomorrow. I really DON'T want another one of these NEW washing machines. They are built to fail.  My One Word "Wisdom" is getting a work out.

Oh, this is the verse that is on a devotional reading for today's date:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

"16 Rejoice always, 
17 pray without ceasing, 
18 in everything give thanks; 
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."


So, on THAT note, I will rejoice, and pray, and give thanks. This is God's will, and therefore I believe He will provide and show us what to do about this situation.  
Stay tuned.

Good Night my friends.  Let's go back up and look at that sunset again and sing that song once more, shall we? That's a much better way to end our evening, rejoicing in what God has ordained!
Amen!