Dear Diary.......

Hi Diary.  How are you today?  Sorry, but I know I don't keep up with you the way I should on a regular basis, but, well, you know how things tend to get away from me.  Especially lately.  I guess I've kinda' been mentally absent the last few weeks.  But I know you'll forgive me since you always do.  Ha.

Anyway, a number of things have been on my mind.  One is the bird feeder on our back deck.  Man!---birds of every hue and feather flock around it all day and night.  My deck has become the avian focal point of the neighborhood.  An oasis, if you will, in the sea of east Tennessee's ridges and forests.

I love the birds.  I guess the cardinals are our favorites since they were the first to discover our feeder and begin using it on a regular basis.  But we also have grackles, wrens, sparrows, doves, red-winged blackbirds, blue jays, goldfinches, hairy woodpeckers, cedar waxwings, cowbirds and more.  It is great entertainment to just watch the antics of these creatures.

I will say that it is getting expensive, however---they go thru two feeder's worth a day of mixed seed.  Looks like they could at least show their appreciation by making a mortgage payment or two for me.  Hummmph.

Then there is the drama unfolding with one of Cindy's aunts.  Her husband is divorcing her after 40 something years of marriage (they are in their 70s).  The aunt is ill and the stress of her husband leaving her is overwhelming.  Funny how Cindy never heard from her until this divorce thingy came up....now the woman wants to be friends.  Hummmph.

I got a creative streak over the past two months and have now authored 5 songs---three gospel and two country---that I am in the process of putting to music.  I especially like the gospel ones.

Cindy bought some pecans in the shell that she asked me to crack open.  I went to the garage and began hitting them with a hammer on the cement floor.  All went well until I missed the shell and hit my thumb.  Not good.

Finally got all the pecans shelled, but then noticed that I had not only cracked open my thumb but also had got pecan shell grit inside my fingernails from trying to get the meat out of the shells.  My hands and nails now look like those of a coal miner.  Sigh.

God and I made a deal a short while back---I would trust Him to take off the extra pounds I put on while I followed a mild diet.  Well, I have lost 8 pounds so far---in a month---but none in the last three days.  Now I am questioniong God's sincereity.  Moral:  It doesn't take much at all for us weak humanoids to question God.  I'm ashamed of myself, but this is not the first time this has happened.

Speaking of God, I have been reading 1 and 2 Samuel the past week.  I am always amazed at how the trickery, deception, envy, pride and all that are the same now as when these old books of the bible were written.  Nothing ever changes, does it?  Instead of learning from God's lessons and observing our own mistakes in life, we keep on doing the same sinful stuff over and over.  Hopeless.

Went with Cindy to the park after dinner last night.  We walked around the paved hiking path for thirty minutes and then got off the path because it looked adventuresome.  Ha.  Almost got lost in the woods as nightfall approached.  I got us out of the woods but I must say I was a little worried about bears, which have been seen in the area.  I told Cindy if a bear gets after us I don't have to worry about outrunning it---I only have to worry about outrunning HER.  snicker.  Somehow she didn't see the humor it that.

I have kept up my workouts on a daily basis.  I got tired of the treadmill yesterday, however, and opted to instead walk briskly around the shopping center for 45 minutes.  Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into my power walk, I encountered an old geezer from the workout center who was also walking (except he was walking the speed of a turtle), and he stopped me and started telling me about his gall bladder operation and his diet and his medications blah blah blah and I couldn't get away from him for at least 15 minutes and by that time I was pissed off and had to resume my brisk walking for much longer than ordinary and from that time on I would look for him as I walked and if I saw him up ahead of me I would change my direction of walking into the parking lot to avoid him.

Of course then I was reminded of Jesus' words "What you do for the least of these you also do for me", and I was once again ashamed of myself.  Sigh.

Here are a few blog ideas I have for the future:

---Bullying
---Acting Out
---Hosting a Party
---Seeing Someone One More Time
---Regrets
---Unforgettable Characters

Selah.