Come Saturday Morning...

It's Saturday morning, and this song popped into my head. I wonder how many of you remember this song by The Sandpipers, from late 1968-69?  Hubby and I actually had this album when we were newlyweds, and it was a favorite of ours back in the "olden days". 

"Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day, just I and my friend

Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning"

Wasn't that a pleasant way to start our Saturday morning? I hope you enjoyed that little blast from the past.

So here it is Saturday morning, and I thought I'd start this off with a little 5 second video from last night, which was taken on our back porch by our little Blink Camera right after we'd gone to bed.  If you look closely, past the dangling spider web that is hanging down in front of the camera, you will see Blackie the fearless running off a raccoon from the back porch...well, Blackie is actually jumping up into his favorite blue chair and the raccoon is running, and then stopped and watched for a minute to make sure no one else was following him because the big motion detector spotlight came on and put him in the spotlight. By the time I got out of bed and ran to the door to see what was going on, he was gone, but we have this little video to tell us that the "Masked Bandit" was here.  He apparently had cleaned up all the remaining crumbs of catfood and washed his dirty hands in the water dish and took off like the bandit he is.  I must remember to remove those food dishes from now on once the cats have had their fill of food.

Upon a closer look, I believe I see another cat under the table. I don't know if that is Sunshine or another neighborhood stray, but it looks like they were having a party there! 

And especially we need to keep the cat food cleaned up because look who else showed up the other evening:

This is a MALE Muscovy Duck...

Some may think he's handsome, but I do not!

Here he is with his mate, or at least one of them. I don't know if they are monogamus or not, and probably not, because I know there was another female way across the pond waiting for them on that fallen tree where they like to perch and watch and see when there might be food over here on our porch.

 

And our "guard kitty", Blackie, just sits and watches them clean up bird seed under the feeder. He doesn't even try to shoo them away.  No, I do NOT want Muscovy ducks laying eggs and breeding here in my yard! Some say the eggs are very good to eat, but these ducks tend to be very messy, dirty, and they think they own the place! I really do NOT want them here in our yard.  

They weren't the only ones who showed up...Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane came over and were looking for some bird seed too. I guess because the pond is so dry they are all looking for extra food...and you can see just interested Blackie is in their activities! Ha!

Yes, the pond is very dry, and I should not begrudge any wild creatures food, but I do draw the line when it comes to those Muscovy Ducks. If you've ever had any around you, you will understand what I mean.  I've already contacted my friends who tried to capture them and remove them last year. We'll see if they can do any better this year.

Meanwhile, let's enjoy this lovely sunset over the very dry Still Waters Pond:

And lest you think I am cruel and heartless, here's a picture of Blackie in his new little soft, cozy and warm bed on the back porch:

We bought two of them, one for Blackie, and one for Sunshine. But so far only Blackie has shown any interest in it. At least it's perhaps making him want to stay closer to home for now! Also, the temperatures are starting to drop down in the low 50's at night, so this is a way to help them stay a little warmer. When the temps drop further we will figure out a better kind of warm "shelter" for them on the porch. 

Peek a boo! I see you!

So, yes, it's Saturday morning, and it's time for the Deep Creek Farmer's Market and Fall Festival. We went over to see Benton at his booth...he's starting to display/sell the Christmas stuff he's been making:

As well as some of the other planters and fun stuff he makes:

Lots of great stuff!  

Cute guys too!  Sorry, They're not for sale! LOL.

You never know what you might see at a Farmer's Market! LOL.

And don't tell Rose, but I bought this beautiful orchid for her, because it's name is "Melinda Rose".

I know she will take good care of it and keep it alive, whereas I am not so sure that I would...

They have an anniversary coming up, so this will be a little surprise for Rose. She loves plants and flowers!

We've been reading through Proverbs this month, because there are 31 chapters, one for each day. However, we missed a few while we were on vacation and I am trying to get caught up.  Here is a portion of Proverbs chapter 25, verses 11-12:

 

"11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold

In settings of silver.

12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold

Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear."

Some wise words of advice when you think about things to say in response to others, perhaps on Facebook. 

And this was on the daily devotional calendar words for the day: 

These two different quotes seem to go hand in hand...a good reminder to be "slow to rebuke or discourage" others...and in this case, to be a wise counselor/mentor for a younger person is something to think about...be "sympathetic, encouraging, eager to develop, and slow to rebuke or discourage".  I don't have too many children or younger people in my life right now, but I pray that if I should  have one come my way that I would be this kind of friend to them. I know I am thankful for the older, wise counselors that I had in my life when I was younger.  They knew how to speak the right words at the right time to encourage me in the right direction. Most of them are long gone on to heaven now, but I thank the Lord for them and remember them fondly.  May the Lord help me to be that kind of person always. Amen.

Have a blessed and beautiful day, my friends.  I hope you are enjoying this "Saturday Morning".

Saturday Revue

 Here it is Saturday afternoon, and there really isn't much to report! It's been TOO HOT to do much of anything!

This is our current reading on the themometer on the back porch. (Around 3:00 pm) However, I understand that the "heat index values" are up to 111 degrees, according the the severe weather alert we have on our phone app.  That's pretty doggone hot for us here in this part of Florida, and there's no rain in sight!  We are extremely thankful for our central AC, which is running all the time, but it is doing the job! Thank You, Lord, for whoever evented air conditioning!

Even though I grew up in Florida in the days before air conditioning...we didn't have it at home, or at school, or at church, or in our cars, or anywhere!  Somehow we survived, but looking back I do remember that as a child I either stayed outside and played...

yes, that's me...keeping the intruders out of my wood pile fort. LOL

 or I sat in front of a fan a lot.  I wore as minimal amount of clothes as I could and it seems like we made koolaid or juice popsicles in those tupperware things and enjoyed eating them to cool off. Life was much simpler then, even if it was hot! The windows were open at night and we could hear the tree frogs "singing" back and forth to each other. Sometimes they got so loud, especially after the rain, that we could hardly sleep for the noise. But thankfully my Daddy had put a big attic fan up in the attic, and he would turn that on at night and it would pull in a nice, albeit humid, breeze and also the whirring of the fan helped drown out the sound of the frogs.

My Sister Doris (washing the dishes) and I , drying the dishes, barefooted and trying to keep cool in our short shorts in the summertime.  

I know some of you may live where you don't really need central air conditioning that much, but trust me, if you lived in Florida in the summertime, you'd be very very thankful to have it.

So what else is new?  Let's see,

There's a new store in town!  "The Trading Post" at Deep Creek...

Deep Creek is the Farmer's market place where our son sets up a booth a couple of times a month in their outdoor Saturday morning market.  But now they have added a very nice indoor "Trading Post" store, where vendors can sell their products  every day (Wed-Sun) without having to be there because the store owners will handle the sales.  It's a lot like what we did at Dixie Cottage, and since that store is no longer in our town, the timing was just right for this new store to open.

No, this isn't our son's booth, but he does do similar work as this, and I thought it was interesting that this fellow's store name is "Benjamin's Sawmill".

Our son Benton doesn't have a booth yet in this store, but he does plan to set up one soon. He's just been too busy with their other projects to do this one too.

Some of you who remember our Dixie Cottage days may remember these items...yes, this is the same woman who was in our store, with her beautifully made bird baths and bird feeders, crafted from vintage glassware...

You may also recognize the items in these photos below!  I was surprised to see these pictures of MY birdfeeders that I purchased from her a few years ago. I had sent these pictures to her, showing how much our birds loved them, and she had asked permission to use these photos in her booth display some time ago. I'd forgotten about that, and when I saw these pictures today I was so surprised!!

You may recognize our Sand Hill Crane family when they had two little colts! This was several years ago!

Here's another interesting woodworker booth.  I love these items...and so many more that are there for sale in this new store.

Many many interesting things to look at...

And I found something special for Sunshine and Blackie!

These two little mice are stuffed with catnip!  I was so excited to get them and couldn't wait to give them to our kitties!

LOL! Here's Sunshine...he got up and moved away and wouldn't go near it!

Blackie wasn't there at this time, so I am still waiting as I write to show it to him. I will keep you posted.

Okay, I tried again when I fed them.  Blackie sniffed the mouse, but was more interested in eating.  Sunshine gave it a wide berth once again.  Wouldn't even sniff it. So...maybe mice stuffed with catnip isn't exactly their "thing". LOL. I think they'd prefer the real deal...you know...real mice? LOL. Thankfully I don't have any of those to offer them. 

I suppose since these kitties have been raised in the wild they aren't interested in fake toys. Oh well, I tried. LOL.

This is how they wait for me to bring them their breakfast in the morning...

The longer I stall, the closer they get to my window! LOL.

But this is how they spend the rest of the day...

On these "dog days of summer" I can't say as I blame them.

Thankfully while I was writing this earlier this afternoon, the sky turned dark and I could hear thunder in the distance, and sure enough, we got a surprise afternoon thunderstorm!  It cooled things off all the way to 92 degrees! LOL.  But we are truly thankful for the rain, and also that it didn't bring any strong winds or other severe weather.  It was a good reminder to be patient and wait on the Lord, and He will bring good things to pass!!

Psalm 37:3-8 has some good reminders for us today...

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

I underlined the words that show us a better way to live, especially in these difficult times when the world is trying to go in the opposite direction of what this psalm is teaching us to do.  If we can just remember these words and apply them to our own hearts, we would be amazed at how much better we will feel and get along no matter what is happening around us.  

Trust, Dwell, Feed, Delight in the Lord, Commit, Rest, and Wait on the Lord, Do Not Fret, Cease from anger, forsake wrath, and again, Do not fret!  

God's Word is right and true...we just need to believe and do what it says.  Amen!!

Have a blessed and beautiful rest of your weekend, my friends!!