Thursday Thankfulness from the Back Porch

Good Morning from the back porch!  Sunshine and Blackie are "greeting" you, but after looking at their eyes and posture, it's more like they are "glaring" at us!  I'm thinking they are saying, "How dare you make us stay out here where it's so cold while you are inside where it is so nice and warm!" (this picture was taken yesterday).   However, seriously, they have been doing fine and they seem to have taken advantage of the warm places that we prepared for them on the porch for the past couple of very cold days, and now today it is already 47 degrees and heading back up to 75 this afternoon, so they are just fine.  

So, just after I wrote that paragraph with that picture above, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I stepped into my bathroom I was literally shocked to see Blackie in there, snooping around quietly and acting like nothing was unusual about him being there...and I am like, "Blackie! How did you get in here???"  He kind of turned around and smiled at me as if to say, "Ha Ha! I fooled  you!! I got in when you weren't looking and I've been in here for 10 minutes and you didn't even know it!"  The only thing I can figure out is that when I stepped out on the front porch to put out the flag, he must've been right there by the front door and slipped in when I wasn't looking because I was focused on putting out the flag and looking at the sunrise!  It certainly was a shock to me, because he's rarely ever on the front porch in the morning. He is such a little scamp! 

So here we go, I am herding him back toward the back door... (he sees those doggy beds under the coffee table, which belong to our grandpuppies when they come to visit, and I think he was kind of smirking at them, as if to say, "just you wait...I'll be in here in those beds one of these days!") LOL.

Sunshine was right there at the back door as if to say, "Hey! How did you get in there without me?" Meanwhile Blackie headed to the edge of the porch to look out at the birds and pretend nothing was any different. Mister Innocent. LOL.

And once again they sat down and got back to their normal places...

But Blackie looked back and gave me one last glance as if to say, "I almost fooled you this time! You better watch out, because I know all the tricks, and one of these days you won't be able to get me back out that door!"    Yeah, I'm thinking this blog is becoming a saga of whose will is going to break first...mine or the cats, (or my hubby...who is the real stern one behind the mandate of no cats in the house...and yet he goes out to give them treats when they really don't need them, and I hear him talking baby talk to them when he doesn't think I'm listening...)

Stay tuned.  I wonder how many of you are placing bets on how soon those cats will be living in our house? LOL.  

Meanwhile, life is calm and peaceful out on the still very dry Still Waters Pond. This was the scene this morning, with Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane literally walking on the dry pond over to the shore, which really isn't a shore anymore...it's all dry land these days. That black bird you see behind them is that male Muscovy Duck...who is still hanging around and trying to sneak up on the porch when we aren't looking... Did I say life was 'calm and peaceful'?  LOL. 

Yesterday morning hubby had a follow up Doctor visit to go over his labs from last week...and Praise the Lord! They were all really good, and he had a very good visit with the doctor. Things are looking much better than they were earlier this year, and we are VERY thankful.    So we BOTH had good doctor reports this week!!

From there we stopped at the hospital so I could visit our neighbor, who has been in there for about a week. This is the same neighbor who used to feed our kitties before I took over. She has had a lot of health issues over the past year, and has been in and out of the hospital several times after falling in her home.  It's really been a rough time, and her daughter works full time and lives a couple of hours away, so things have been really challenging for both of them.  I've tried to help as much as I could, but there's only so much I could do, along with other home health people her daughter has had to hire to come and check on her and help out.  Anyway, finally her daughter was able to find a rehab place for her closer to her home, and she is going to be going there for at least a month, and then we'll see what happens after that. I wanted to see her before she left today because I know I won't be able to go visit her at the rehab place 2 hours away.  I am thankful that she will be taken care of and hopefully she will get stronger...and of course her dream is to be able to come back to her home...but time will tell and I pray for what is really best for her.

After that it was lunch time, so hubby and I decided to go try out a restaurant in Palatka that has just reopened in a new location after about a year of renovation, etc.  We'd never been to that restaurant before, so we really didn't know what to expect, but we'd heard that people really loved it and they were anxiously awaiting for it to reopen. We got there around 11:15 a.m. for lunch, and there was already a line waiting!  Thankfully we got in pretty quick, and we were not disappointed in the food or the service...and the atmosphere was very "country". Of course I took pictures!

The name of the restaurant is "Bradley's", and they serve southern country style food and seafood. Oh, and steak and catfish too, on their supper menu, but we rarely go out for supper. Although I love some good catfish, and so we may have to go back for that sometime...

Here's some of the decor...one of Sunshine and Blackie's distant cousins was there: LOL.  (a.k.a. a Bobcat)

This area is known for large mouth bass fishing...and it looks like someone caught a few prize fish!

We are not far from the Ocala National Forest, so these fellas aren't far from "home".  There were a LOT of these deer mounted on all the walls of the restaurant...I was half expecting to see venison on the menu, but it wasn't...

LOL...This is what goes on at night out there on the shores of the lakes in the area...Welcome to north central Florida!  

Oops...that fella didn't get away...

I thought this painting was quite interesting.    Might be a bit too remote and swampy for my liking, but this is typical of places in "old Florida"...

And here's my plate! I ordered the Chicken and Dumplings special for the day, and it came with a choice of vegies...I chose Collard Greens, and Zipper Peas, and a "Hoecake"!  I had to ask what the "hoecake" would be, and was told it was cornbread. Imagine my surprise when it came looking more like a "pancake", but it was definitely cornbread! It was all REALLY good, if you like southern country cooking!

Hubby had the Chopped Beef Steak smothered in mushrooms and gravy, rice and gravy, and green beans. He ordered the hush puppies for his bread. Normally we have those with seafood, but they were good with this too...

It was all good, and we will definitely be going back! Now I see why people were standing in line waiting!!

Well Folks, I guess this is all from the back porch today. I'm very thankful for all of these blessings and also that today has turned out to be a lovely sunshiny warm day. Oh, and I just found out that my sister and her family are going to come here for Thanksgiving, and I am very happy about that! It's been a while since they've all been here at our house for Thanksgiving (or any dinner), so it will be wonderful. Now I just have to start cleaning house and planning ahead...

Here's a good thought for today...

 John 14:27 NKJV

 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

One more thing I am thankful for is that the government shutdown is over and hopefully things will get back to some kind of normal. Praying for all those who have been seriously impacted by this shutdown in one way or another. 

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my daughter in law's sister's family. You all are a wonderful family of friends. I do thank God for each and every one of you.