We are just about moved out of the house that we’ve been remodeling. Back into our “Conestoga.” Except for a little shakedown cruise about a month ago, this will be the first night in our own bed.
Jolie, however doesn’t share our joy. She won’t even come into the coach to see what’s happening. Funny dog. It is just starting to rain and when the lightening and thunder starts she’ll change her mind.
We are scheduled to leave for Washington on Monday, mid-morning.
Yesterday I cut off the funding for the Food Program, and taped over two sides of the feeder. By thus reducing the amount of feeding loopholes I have reduced the amount of waste.
Since only one or two can feed at one time there is still 9/10 of the food still left. Waste is at a minimum. Life is balanced again.
Today at 2:50 PM I discovered that our Robin babies were apparently dead of hypothermia. We had another Spring snowstorm… second one in two days… and they are stiff and wet in the wet nest. After reviewing the videos that have been taken with the BirdCam, it looks like they stopped responding to the parents about 10 AM, even though they tried repeatedly to warm and feed them.
So sad. It was a delight to watch them grow.
We have had several bird feeders up for a couple of months now. The last week or so the Cowbirds have discovered them.
Now some of you know about the practices of Cowbird reproduction and family life, many do not, so here is a brief synopsis. They mate in the usual way (like your parents tried to explain to you in “The Birds and The Bees talk). Then, when it comes time to lay the eggs she finds a host nest… preferably one with eggs in it… and she lays her egg or two in the nest while its original occupant is out eating or whatever. Some have been know to pull some grass or other material over the first eggs to keep them from being incubated. If any of the other eggs do manage to hatch the chicks are rudely pushed out of the nest by the larger Cowbird and their food is gobbled by the Cowbird chick.
For the last two days I have watched this flock of 20 or so usurpers feed and pillage at my feeders. They have emptied my one and one-half gallon feeding station every 24 hours. Most of the food gets kicked to the ground where it is gleaned by more of their kind.
They have no respect for the needs of others. They seem to live for breeding and taking advantage of others. They waste what is provided for them, living off the largesse of others, and wait for more.
I wonder, could all Cowbirds be Democrats?
Here is a view of our new family… now 6 days old. These 4 babies have more than tripled in size since last Saturday when they hatched. I am collecting and sorting through some 400+ video clips and stills that are being automatically taken each day. After they leave the nest I will edit a video of their short “life at home.”
Yesterday we had an “Open House” for the Mt. Ellis Winter Project. There are a few details to touch up, but the house remodel is finished on the inside. Someone else will be re-siding it this Summer.
http://www.wthr.com/video?clipId=7054149&topVideoCatNo=103348&autoStart=true
Doesn’t it just give you warm, fuzzy feelings to know that you are able to help out the poor working classes that are so willing to work at our demeaning American jobs?
Ellen White once commented on abolished slavery in America, Slavery will never be eradicated as long as the spirit of slavery lives on in the hearts of men.
Now, it’s coming back to bite us in the butt. We have sent our manufacturing jobs to third world countries, because they could get it done cheaper than owning and supporting slaves in this country.
So many people thought they could get their lawns mowed and houses built so cheaply. When we have paid those low $$ under the table we opened ourselves up for the hatred and cheating. In the long run, it probably would have been cheap to own a slave or learn to do those menial jobs ourselves… oh, wait a minute! That’s one of the reasons we had children wasn’t it?
It all boils down to the simple fact that the USA has to be isolationist and live as a closed knit economy, providing work to no one who is not a citizen, or join the whole globe and live as a one-world unit and live by the same rules. You can’t have it both ways. And from what I read in my Bible, there will never be a one-world government on this planet until after God deals with the problems of sin in our lives.
Not related to the rest of this Blog, but this morning it is snowing and the birds are making fast work of food in the feeders.
We’ve been reading this very interesting book, The Green Cord Dream , by Alex Bryan. In it he quotes from John Loughborough, who was a famous early Adventist preacher who was called to the ministry by Ellen White.
“… ‘The first step of apostasy is to get up a Creed, telling us what we shall believe. The second is to make that creed a test of fellowship. The third is try members by that creed. The fourth is denounce as heretics those who do not believe that creed. And, fifth, to commence persecution against such.’ … He was warning against an authoritarian perspective within the church that kills the desire to study the Bible.”
I love this man’s insight and wisdom.
Today while working on my house remodel project I found a 1935 “D” wheat penny. It was lost by a previous owner. It had fallen into a crevice under the baseboard.
In my imagination, this penny was lost in 1935 or 1936 when a penny actually had some value. For instance, 18 pennies would buy you a dozen eggs. Ten pennies would buy a gallon of gas. You could share a loaf of bread for 5 pennies.
In 1935 or country was in the depths of The Great Depression. This little penny must have been quite a loss to its owner. If he/she owned a car, this one penny would have provided the gas to go shopping in Bozeman (about 6 miles away) and return home. Or it could have provided the ingredients for an egg sandwich for lunch, or bought the milk for the baby’s bottle.
One for the road, Two for the trail 
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