Saturday Evening on Still Waters Pond

Good evening from Still Waters Pond.  It's been an active evening on the waterfront, following a light sprinkly shower this afternoon.  The pond is still rather shallow and is shrinking from lack of rain, even with the few thunderstorms we've had this week.  

But this evening we were visited by this Juvenile White Ibis. It appears he is walking on the water, but actually that's just how shallow it is there...

However, there is apparently something good to eat there among the lily pads and mucky puddles...

Actually there were two of these juvenile white ibis'.  

They were wading around with the three white egrets...

Can you find all three?  Kind of like "Where's Waldo?  Or, where's all three Waldos??"

Meanwhile, the Sand Hill Crane family came walking up from across the pond and waited at our back door for a hand full of bird seed...which the "Master of the House" enjoys throwing to them each evening (and morning too, if they show up).

Our resident "porch kitties", Blackie and Sunshine, had a front row seat to watch all the fun in the yard and on the pond.  They whisper back and forth to each other about how silly those Cranes look with their long skinny legs and extra long necks...but they have the  utmost respect for them and will not dare to go down off the porch near them while they are in the yard.  There seems to be an unwritten law that the Sand Hill Cranes are the rulers of Still Waters Pond and its surrounds...

And as soon as the cranes were finished with their evening treat, they took off across the pond and chased away the egrets, who flew to another corner of the pond,  and also the ibis, who flew into this tree on the other side of the pond.  If the egrets and ibis' tried to get back down and across the pond, the cranes would chase them away and let them know that this was their territory and they were not welcome there!

There is definitely a territorial pecking order on this pond!   That being said, now as the sun is going down all the birds seem to have retreated to their respective corners and everyone is settling down for the night.  All is calm and peaceful once again.

The End.

Well, that's the end of THAT story! LOL.  Let's see, what else has been happening in the past few days that I haven't already told you about? Let me think...

There are no pictures, but the kids came over last night for "pizza night". They brought our grandpuppies Sugar and Spice, and we all had a fun time together.   We put up the sheet outside on the porch to block the view of the porch kitties so the doggies wouldn't go crazy.  It worked pretty well, but there was one close call when Blackie found his way in behind the sheet and right up against the glass doors!  Thankfully I saw him before the pups did, and Benton actually distracted them and got the doggies into their harness/leashes and took them out the front door for a little walk. Then I went out on the back porch and encouraged Blackie to come out from behind the sheet with a treat. I repaired the opening where he found his way behind there, and all was well from then on. Whew! That was a close one! LOL.  

I actually had a doctor appointment this past week, a follow up to the lab work from the preceding week. Everything was fine except I was told that I am one point away from being pre-diabetic! That was a shock to me, as I rarely eat desserts/sweets anymore, I try to eat really healthy, I don't drink sweetened drinks and drink mostly water  except for one cup of hot tea in the morning and a glass of unsweet tea for lunch.  Of course the doctor reminded me about the breads, potatoes and all those "carbs" that I am most likely eating that do the damage even without eating a lot of surgary sweets.  So now I am looking at labels on everything I eat. I know some of you are on no-carb diets...I may have to start taking notes from you about what to eat and what not to eat.

The day after I got that news we went out to breakfast because hubby had to have some more lab work done.  We went to a place called "Colee's", which is in Palatka.  We've been there before and always enjoy their good breakfasts. 

I know they have some wonderful homemade breads and biscuits and even a huge cinnamon bun, but I refrained from ordering any of those tempting things...

And got a spinach and cheddar cheese omelette with a side order of bacon and some wheat toast, (which I barely ate).

Hubby hasn't been told that he can't eat carbs,  so he ordered the eggs, grits, biscuit, and sausage.

I'm sure we'd both be better off without all of those carbs, but someone other than me will have to tell him that. LOL.  Maybe that will come out as a result of all the lab work he has been having done. We shall see what develops.

I just realized that today is my Daddy's birthday. He would be 107 years old. My daddy was a wonderful, fun loving, and a good Chrstian father and family man.  This is one of my favorite pictures of my sister Doris on the left, Daddy in the middle, and me on the right. Someone snuck up behind us to take this picture while we were out for a walk, and you can see how we all reacted.  That should tell you something about our family...LOL.

I love this picture that resurfaced just a few years ago. This was on our farm in Pennsylvania. I've shared it here before so you probably have already seen it, but it's always worth repeating in my mind. This was our family around 1952.

Clifford, Russell, Laddie, Mama, Doris, Daddy and me.

And here we were in 2005, back row l to r: 

Russell, me, Clifford, Doris

Mama and Daddy on the front.

Mama died the following year (2006), and Daddy died in 2011. My brother Russell died in 2019.  So that leaves Clifford, Doris, and me.

I am extremely thankful for the family God gave me.  

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Daddy! Until we are all reunited in heaven someday.

Psalm 103:1-5

1"Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."

Thank You, Lord, for all of these blessings...Amen.

And good night to all...Have a wonderful SONday tomorrow!