5 Dec 2024 Wild Animals

Do you ever see wild animals?

Good afternoon! How are you? It was another icy and frosty day today. I had morning prayer today so I had to scrape my car windows! It was just Lois, Pastor Jayson and me. There is always a lot to give praise about and equally as much to pray about.

Matthew 18:20New International Version

20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

We are hoping our little group will grow in 2025!

Today’s prompt is rather random. As I’ve mentioned before, I live in a small town that could be considered rural. We have a current population of approximately 11,501 in Middleton and growing. People have cows, horses, goats, chickens and ducks. A month or so ago there was talk of seeing a wild mountain lion wandering about. I don’t know what became of that. The only wild animals I’ve seen in town were a bunch of wild turkeys one morning! They seemed so lost. With the growth we’ve been experiencing, the open spaces for the wild animals native to this area are disappearing.

Here are some Bible verses about love from the NIV – (love is one of the most used words in the Bible – 551 times in the NIV version):

  • 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” 
  • Mark 12:30-31: “
    Mark 12:30-31 says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 
  • 1 Chronicles 16:34: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” 
  • Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments” 
  • Jeremiah 31:3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” 

Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were to:

  • “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” 
  • “Love your neighbor as yourself” 

4 Dec 2033 Eating Meat

What are your feelings about eating meat?

My feelings about eating meat is guilt most times. I know that most meat animals in commercial farms suffer horrible living conditions. I eat meat with gratitude for the lives given so that I might live.

Isaiah 11:6-9New International Version

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a]together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

8 August 2023 Days Like These

Hello to you. It’s Tuesday and another lovely day. We got some much needed rain again yesterday – I even took a walk in it! No scary dreams last night just something about paying out money to family to include my parents lol. What strange movies the brain makes!

The title of my blog today is me being in observer mode and seeing a pattern with the world. We’ve had dark days before and come through but will we come through these? There is a lot of stuff on social media I’m seeing that is painting a dark confusing picture. This is nothing new really. These are the worst of times. These are the best of times. These are confusing times – which way to go?! Everything is put on us all at once- thank you internet! We have major cities being taken over by homeless who are on drugs, AI and robots taking over the world, inflation, an election coming up, increased veterinary fees, no access or little access to decent medical care, war, weird stuff going on with the beings living in the oceans and seas and now aliens…on and on! No wonder the average American is burned out and doesn’t care! Most people just tune it all out and don’t pay attention unless what’s happening directly affects them. So many people are in survivor mode!

As Christian’s and children of God we must keep our lights on even as hard as it can be. Earth school is definitely in session! I’m glad I’ve chosen team Jesus. There is hope in him and his promises.

Psalm 18:28New International Version

28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.

A couple areas of interest I pay attention to is animals and robotics. Both categories don’t have a very good track record with regards to rights:

Euthanized animal statistics – we’ve got to do better!

On average, 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized every year in the United States. Shelters around the country euthanize an estimated 670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats each year. 45% of all cats who enter shelters are eventually euthanized.Jul 11, 2023

https://youtu.be/MS-m3UWw-To – more pets abandoned with rising cost of post pandemic

https://amp.sacbee.com/news/local/article276077491.html – Sacramento shelters surge with abandoned animals in past year after COVID slowdown

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/food-delivery-robots-under-attack-from-vandals-thieves-local-businesses-starting-to-be-affected/amp/ – what would happen if humanoid robots like Sophia or Ameca were attacked?

30 April 2023 Turkey and Holy Sacrifice

When I came home from church this turkey was running down our road! What were they running from?

Hello to you. Hope this finds you doing well. I’m a bit frustrated. The ants found Links food and water bowl and swarmed it. I managed to take care of it- Monday can’t get here soon enough! SO annoying!

Church was good today. We are going over the covenant between God and Abraham. There were a lot of “its” involved lol. The only thing that bothered me was the sacrificing of animals. The way things were done in the Old Testament was pretty gory. I don’t understand why things have to be so bloody to be holy for God. When I think of animal sacrifice in our modern time I think of the turkeys that die in the millions for Thanksgiving. Think of all the places that sell meat – lots of living sacrifices that we might live. Most people don’t think like I do about that and still eat meat. I am extremely grateful for the lives, the sources of energy, that die so I can live. In some cases there is so much needless suffering beforehand.

Romans 12:1 (NIV)”Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

22 November 2022 A Goal

Hello to you. How are you? I hope well. I just had a telephone consult with my psychologist through the VA and it was pretty intense. She is a short term therapist with goal orientated treatment. I don’t know if she and I will be a good fit or not but will give it a try. She wants me to come up with a goal for treatment. The goal I am thinking of involves leaving the house more. This means leaving Link alone more and that’s hard for me. I don’t like leaving him alone a lot. We shall see what comes up. I talked to her about my swaying sensation being a problem about me doing things. She is going to forward a note about it to my nurse.

Something I’m struggling with with volunteering is driving too. May be there is something I can do that doesn’t involve a lot of driving. I will lift this up to God. I will be useful some how.

12 November 2022 Doggy pills

Hello there. Hope you are well. Link and I had to go to the vet again yesterday. He was coughing really bad so they sent us home with antibiotics. Probably got something when he was at the pound. So now we are up to 4 pills I have to get him to take! He tolerated the peanut butter but I don’t know for how long. Why don’t they have doggy pills that are more pet friendly? I hate having to force him to take things.

5 November 2022 Doggy Pains

Hello to you. Today was pretty productive. My Aunt took me over to my house and I got to see the wreckage of what happened- it’s like somebody else was in my house! Things are broken and damaged. We got groceries so that’s taken care of. Tomorrow I will go home and be there for the first night alone. I’m a little nervous about it but it will be ok. Just take a bit at a time. Link is still limping pretty bad on his back leg but he wanted to go for a walk today so we took him.

The three most common dog knee problems include:

  • Luxating Patella. A luxating patella means is essentially the dog equivalent of a dislocated knee cap. … 
  • Arthritis. Arthritis is a stiffness in the joint. … 
  • Torn CCL/ACL. The cruciate care ligament (CCL) is the dog version of an ACL, anterior cruciate ligament, in humans.

Our doctor suspects a torn ACL for Link. I can’t believe it but he’s 48 years old in people years, will be 8 in doggy years on 9 December! I keep telling me someday he’s going to break my heart. Like the little boy in the story about why why dogs have such a short lifespan – they are born knowing how to be unconditional loving and good so they don’t have to be here as long!

In his aging he’s growing black hair under his eye! We thought of him being like a panda when we first saw him.

4 November 2022 Free bird

We got Link back this morning!

Today has started out good. I was able to get some of my ID replaced that I lost and the biggest news was we got Link back! His back leg is bothering him so we are taking him to the vet this afternoon to have it looked at. Hopefully nothing serious! It was scary being at the humane society shelter- so many barking dogs! I’m so glad to have my little boo bear back! I feel so much gratitude towards my family both current and past that helped us! This was another case of powerlessness and having to let God about it. Even though we are far apart, we are still connected and there for each other.

3 November 2022 Home Coming

Today was a good and bad day for me. I had a bad manic episode which landed me in the hospital for the past few months. I thought it was the end of the world again and did some stupid stuff about it. Today my Aunt and Uncle braved the long drive to get me out and come home. On the way home we found out my baby boy Link got away from the dog sitters and got picked up by the the humane society that is making it really difficult to get him out. I am so disappointed but am trying to stay hopeful that everything is going to work out.

Please pray that our Link comes home tomorrow

41 July 2022 Faces

These are some of my drawings. The glory, the “payment” goes to God.