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!