Monday Monday from the Back Porch

 Here it is Monday afternoon, (EVENING NOW!) and I can't believe how far behind I am in reading your posts and writing my own!  I kind of took the weekend off from blogging...not intentionally exactly, but it just happened that way. Nothing major going on except for the usual Saturday and Sunday routines...church, family, and catching up with things around here.

This morning's sunrise...I love how the sun is glowing through the flag. 

The temperature was a tad bit warmer this morning, around 59 degrees, and with just enough humidity to create some fog out over Still Waters Pond

Sunshine and Blackie were wide awake and watching the activity out there...and it appears that some critter came and knocked over the birdbath during the night while trying to get a drink of water. What's silly about that is that we have put a little kiddy pool filled with fresh water right there on the lawn, so that thirsty critters can come get a drink any time.  But some raccoon probably (or it might have been Sunshine the cat...he likes to drink out of the bird bath too!) tried to get a drink from the bird bath and over it went! Thankfully it's not breakable.

If you look out on the pond, which is basically all dry land except for a few puddles here and there, you will see the Great Blue Heron and the Sand Hill Cranes, going through their morning routines of finding food out there somewhere...

With the sun shining through the trees, it looks like a beautiful fall morning. And it is exactly that.

Sunshine says good morning to you.

He was being particularly clingy and not eating his food this morning. I think he wants to be fed some of those fancy cat foods they advertise on TV. He must've been watching the commercials through the window.  

I put their normal food out as usual this morning, and Blackie  dove right in and started gobbling it down. But Sunshine kept following me back to the door and acted like he wanted something different. I would redirect him back to the food, and he'd look at me like what, Meow Mix again? And then he'd follow me back to the door. We went back and forth several times before he finally gave up and decided to go ahead and eat a little bit of what was provided. He tends to be a more finicky eater than Blackie (and if you look at Blackie, you can tell he eats most anything and everything!)

  

I think he decided to just nibble on Blackie's ear for a while instead. LOL.

I'm thinking they both need to learn that this is the season of Thanksgiving, and they need to be thankful for what is being provided.  Actually, I think they are thankful. They are sweet kitties, and we are enjoying them, and I want them to be happy and healthy.

Updated this evening...Well, I decided that since Sunshine really didn't eat hardly anything all day long it was time to try something different.  I had recently purchased some of this food, but hadn't tried it yet:

I wish I had recorded the looks on their faces and the sounds they were making ( VERY LOUD MEOW, MEOW, MEOW!)  when Daddy (yes! He wanted to be the one to feed them the GOOD stuff! LOL) came out the door and let them get a little whiff of what was in the bowls...Oh my goodness! I've never seen them so excited before!!!

Well, see for yourself!  They both gobbled this food down and licked the bowls completely clean in no time at all!  I was certainly impressed!  I had no idea how much they would LOVE this kind of food as opposed to the dry stuff! Shows you how little I know about cats! SO, I think we've decided to alternate the dry food with the wet food and see how they do for a while...or mix it together. What do you cat people recommend?  It certainly did my heart good to see Sunshine especially eat so well and be so happy and animated about it.  I guess they've moved up a notch in their status here on the porch. LOL.

Switching Gears:

We took a walk Saturday morning, and I was pleased to see these little bits of fall color...

Here in Florida we don't have a lot of the real showy autumn leaves like you do further north, so we celebrate any bits of color we see.

Our weather has been really beautiful...sunny days starting out in the 40's-50's mostly, and ending up in the mid to high 70's...perfect fall weather...(just too dry still).  We will enjoy this kind of weather for most of the winter, with the exception of a few really chilly days and nights now and then, but for the most part, this is the norm from November-mid April at least.  

Do you remember the old 1970's-80's Florida tourism commercials encouraging people to come to Florida in the wintertime...

"When you need it bad, we've got it good..."

I remember them because we were living up north, and we were from Florida originally, and we really "needed it bad"...LOL.

Now there are so many people living here and trying to move here that they don't bother running these kinds of commercials anymore...we may need to put a gate up at the border of Georgia and Florida and hang a "no vacancy" sign on it!  

But seriously, if you are coming to Florida to escape the winter weather, be sure to let me know so if there's anyway possible to meet you, we will try!
.

On another note, our "boys" were here yesterday for Sunday dinner...Scott came from his place where he works and stays up in Jacksonville, and Benton came over after church as Rose was working.  Scott came primarily to do his laundry and eat lunch and visit with us. He tries to come every other week. It's about an hour & 1/2 drive.  He also came with a purpose to 'clean  his room'.  When he moved out some time ago he only took the essentials with him, like his clothes and personal items, because he is renting a room in a house that is already furnished, so he didn't need much.  However, over time his room here has become more and more of a catch-all room and a lot of his stuff was getting scattered and littered about as he'd pull things out of the closet to look for things, etc., and I was tired of looking at the mess in there and mostly would just shut the door so I didn't have to deal with it. I did not take any before or after pictures as it is still a bit of a work in progress, but it looks SO much better after he got rid of a lot of cardboard boxes and cleaned out the closet so that everything that is left is nice and neat. The room is now so much better I could use it as a guest room if needed. Once I tweak a few more things I will take some pictures.    Anyway, in the process he found his old football lettermen's jacket from when he was in middle school:

He was surprised he could still fit in it!

Then of course I had to look for his team pictures to go along with it, and was happy that I had organized  my pictures so that I could find them! (That's was a small miracle in itself! LOL)

Wasn't he a good looking 7th grader?

This brought back some fun memories for him.  

So all in all it was a pleasant weekend and I am so thankful to have had our kids here to enjoy.  It's a blessing that I do NOT take for granted.  

Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths."

Our choir sang this song this past Sunday, but this recording by the original artists is so much better, I think you'll enjoy it more.  The message is really powerful...

Here are the lyrics so you can understand it as you listen:

"You've Already Won"

There's peace that outlasts darkness

Hope that's in the blood

There's future grace that's mine today

That Jesus Christ has won 

So I can face tomorrow

For tomorrow's in Your hands

All I need You will provide

Just like You always have

Chorus:

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done

And I'm fighting a battle You've already won

There's mercy in the waiting

Manna for today

And when it's gone, I know You're not

You are my hope and stay

When the sea is raging

Your Spirit is my help

He'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ

I'll say that it is well

Oh, I know that it is well

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done 

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

I know how the story ends

We will be with You again 

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death 

I know how the story ends 

We will be with You again

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death

I know how the story ends 

We will be with You again 

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death

I know how the story ends

I'm fighting a battle that You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done (thank You, God)

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bryan Christopher Fowler / Bethany Joy Barnard

You've Already Won lyrics © So Essential Tunes, More Songs From Wellhouse, Songs From Wellhouse

I hope this message blesses you, and if you're fighting a battle, whether it be in your health, or that of a loved one, or other issues that are a great concern, just know that Jesus Christ has already fought this battle and won it for us. We don't have to fear life or death...we know how the story ends...we will be with our Savior for eternity...we don't need to fear whatever is happening here. God is in control.  

"I know how the story ends!"

Amen.