Birds of a Feather & Maranatha 70's!

This morning my son told me to come very slowly to the window. In the tree outside, which I believe is a cedar, there was a small flock of birds. I don't recall ever seeing them before. They were fat little birds with medium gray on their wings, very dark heads and an orangish colored breast and stomach. Just behind the orange beneath their tails they have white. The tails are also gray.

This is the tree where the bird feeder is, but I think they are too big to be able to use the kind we have. They were pecking at seeds of some kind in the tree. As they ate little dark specks were hitting the snow below the tree.

They were accompanied by little birds with dark and white striping. We also saw what appeared to be a tiny woodpecker...black and white with a bit of red on his head. He was tapping away at a branch in a nearby bush, but we could not hear anything, even when we opened the window a tiny bit. We do have woodpeckers around. In the summer we have heard them.

There is still snow on the ground and the trees still have some ice on the branches. No icicles. It is more of a layer of ice that just coats them. Yet, the birds were able to get to those seeds in the tree, even with the ice.

Hmmm...I wonder...do we choose to keep picking at God's Word for that sweet honey for the spirit, even when it seems like everything in life is layering "ice" upon it? Sometimes, when hard things in life hit, it is harder to get into the Word. It almost seems as if there is this layer over it that makes it hard to see...difficult to understand. Yet, if we act like those birds and keep at it...we, too, will be rewarded with the nuggets of spiritual nourishment that are there.

These birds were together...a small flock. They led one another from tree to tree, from place to place. Do we gather together with one another? Do we fellowship and allow ourselves to be led by one another to His Word and to His presence? Sometimes, especially when we are weak and unable to find our way on our own, we need the rest of the flock to help show the way to the next place...to the next bit of nourishment on the journey. So, do we allow that to happen? Or are we stubborn, independent buggers?

Well, I am sitting here listening to the February 15th PUD (Praise Until Dawn) podcast from PBN. This particular one seems to be the worship music from the 70's...Maranatha style...the stuff I heard in that time when I was really growing into my relationship with the Lord in a much deeper way. Boy does it take me back! I LOVE this music as it lifts my spirit and makes my heart soar.

It is now time to get off here and do some bible reading with my son. While we read, I am going to start the very slow filling of the bathtub. Because of the small water heater, I have to let it fill VERY slowly so that the water stays hot. It takes about 20 minutes or so to get the tub filled. No sudden baths around here. You have to preplan them. But I will share more about that in another post sometime.

I have been sharing my rambling thoughts here this morning. I sure hope they make some sense! :)

Oh...and one more thought about the birds and music. At one point, my son said that there was a bird outside that kept opening its mouth as the music was playing. He said that it almost seemed as if the bird was singing with it! I hope that your heart is singing to Him today!

Ice, Lockin, Mice, Mildew & a Blanket in the Bathtub!

OK...you are probably wondering what those things have in common...or maybe not! :)

Our church has a youth lockin tonight. So far, it has not been cancelled due to icy roads. The roads are in pretty good condition...right now. However, a lot of driveways are not...which effects us. Last night Dave parked across the creek rather than risk trying to get down an icy driveway this morning. That was a good thing as there is at least an inch of ice on our driveway. :(

The lockin...well, the ice effects our son getting there. Dave has to work late. We have only one vehicle. The driveway of the person who could give us a ride there...yep...you guessed it...is icy and she cannot bring us. So, Dave will have to bring him about two hours late.

Now, what does this have to do with mice, mildew or a blanket in the bathtub? Well, this lockin is overnight. We did find the sleeping bag, but it had gotten left outside in a garbage bag when we had to spray the inside of the tarp shed for mildew. The bag apparently got ripped open or something and there is frozen water in it. The washing machine is wrapped up for the cold and I cannot use it to wash the sleeping bag.

Our son has a favorite blanket that someone gave him. It is bit large for his sleep area, so it was in the tarp shed. Well...the mice got to that and bit holes in it, which has son rather upset. It was a gift...poor guy. So, he cannot use that, either.

We found a bigger blanket in our box when we went looking for his small sleeping bag...a bag that was NOT outside. However, this blanket smells like the box and needs to be washed. So, we have a blanket in the bathtub.

I have washed smaller blankets in there and it is not too bad. We have a shower curtain rod in the middle of the wall at the top to hang things from. I use it to drape things across and then twist them to ring them. Only one problem with that...this blanket (a queen/king, if I remember correctly) is too heavy and will just bring the rod down. I know...I tried and almost brought it down. :P

Ever try to wring out a big blanket? It is very heavy...and hard to wring. What makes it even better is that our hot water heater only holds 6 gallons...which means the water is pretty COLD!!! Yikes! So, I have this blanket that is soaking that I have to get wrung out enough to get it into the dryer. Hmmm...I wonder what happens when you put a soaking wet blanket in the dryer? Do you think it will ruin the dryer? Uh oh!

So, as I write this...we are trying to get the smell out of the blanket...with only partial success...partly due to an inability to really wring out the water. Plus, I am waiting for the hot water heater to heat the water up again. Oh, what fun...NOT! :)

This is life in our little RV on the hillside. We have mice and mildew, ice and lockin and a blanket in the bathtub! What is YOUR day like today? LOL