Ten Things of Thankful

Here's hoping that all of you have had a good week. This morning I was sure I would be linking up to this blog hop much earlier in the day than now, but I finally made it.  This is my weekly post to Ten Things of Thankful, hosted by Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not.

I am thankful some of these daffodils decided to
bloom even though some of their bulb mates didn't
have a chance when fir branches dropped on their
 portion of the plot during the recent ice storm making
it impossible for them to push upward through the soil
against the weight of the branches.

"Bad news" - Finding out our tractor wouldn’t start on Monday

#1Good news - The guy who repairs our tractor could come today and take a look at it.  He was able to start it fairly quickly, and told us what to do if we had the problem again. So thankful he was able to take care of this with just a simple “house call” plus not charging us an arm and a leg.

#2Good news - Finding an old cassette tape one of our daughters made early in her freshman year of college to tell us about what she experiencing (Long distance phone calls were very expensive then, so in an attempt to still hear her voice and she ours, we used tape recorders and cassette tapes to lower the telephone bills some of the time.)

#3Good news - Finding and ordering a cassette to MP3 converter player recorder so I can make copies of the above tape to give to our daughter and her siblings

"Bad news" - The computer didn’t recognize the new device even after I watched and read multiple instructions online and did what they said.

#4Good news - In desperation (not sure why I didn’t consider this sooner), I shut down the computer and unplugged it and waited a minute before plugging it back in. Restarted the computer and woo-hoo! It recognized my device.

#5Good news - The questions I have about using Garage Band, which I had never used, are being answered as I learn to phrase my questions just right in my Google searches and will help me complete the project.

#6Good news - Having a friend who recently tackled a similar learning experience with transferring a cassette tape to MP3 to CD, and sharing what she learned as she worked on her project

"Bad news" - learning that a muscle relaxant that seems to have fewer side effects than those I have tried using in the past is only available by prescription (I was afraid that would be the case, but I called the pharmacy just on the chance it might be an over-the-counter item.)

#7Good news - My doctor has an available time this coming Monday to see me and decide what she thinks is best for me to try next.

#8Good news - A grandson is one step closer to reaching his goal to becoming a doctor and just got word of his residency on Friday.

#9Good news - A granddaughter just got another acceptance letter from a college to which she has applied. 

#10Good news - Not all good news comes in the way of giant leaps forward, but in recognizing the progress one is making, even if it requires taking a step back and starting over again and giving oneself grace.

I am thankful for Vic and each person in our family and for those who feel like family, and I am thankful for my Ten Things of Thankful community.

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Six Sentence Stories - Filter

The inspiration for today’s Six Sentence Stories post came as I propelled myself back and forth in a rocking chair while gazing out the window, lost in my thoughts. While the cue word wasn’t what promoted the story, fortunately after I completed the story I was able to find a place to use it. After sharing the story with my husband, he said it reminded him of a Seton Watch and for all intents and purposes, it was. I am linking my post to the blog hop, Six Sentence Stories - Filter, hosted by Denise of Girlie On The Edge's Blog

Pixabay

The kettle was circling high above the logged area of what had once been a forsaken Christmas tree farm gone wild. Sometimes they painted celestial whorls, but maybe to break the monotony, interjected slow motion, constantly changing geometric patterns, a daylight version of asterisms with the individual vultures being the stars in the constellations.

Although they began with eight in number, one began to soar beneath the rest and venture further away in an easterly direction as though he’d dropped through an unseen filter in the sky as the others maintained the same altitude while slowly moving toward the west as the sun was beginning to sink lower in the orange-tinted sky. Perhaps the loner would be able to find the committee before darkness settled in and his night vision made it difficult for him to find where they had perched for the night.

One has to wonder why he purposely left the kettle, choosing to descend. Did he see or smell carrion the others didn’t, and maybe had been left out to lunch at the first feeding, or did he just lose sight of their real purpose, to find a place to rest for the night, before continuing their migration in the morning?

Ten Things of Thankful

Spring is on its way in some places, and this week there has been more evidence of that. Beginning tomorrow with the onset of daylight savings time the evenings will be lighter longer, which I personally enjoy at the stage of life. Well on with the purpose of this post which is to link a post to the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop hosted by Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not.

Lavender Starflower dotted with raindrops

1. Squeaky wheels (Sometimes one needs to be one and other times one needs to be reminded to do something because someone else is the squeaky wheel.)

2. Sharp hoes and sharp knives that make some tasks easier (thanks to my husband)

3. Being able to get a new car radio (Much has changed in the industry over the past 17 years, so there is a little bit of a learning curve here.)

4. Humorous moments in the midst of normal married life (We had some of those moments this week. Both of them had to do with not being able to find objects. We each had a turn. Ha Ha)

5. YouTube classes (I missed a Zoom watercolor painting class during the recent ice storm and accompanying power outage and finally picked up my supplies this week and watched a YouTube video so I will be able to do the watercolor painting this coming week.)

6. The Six Sentence Stories post that grew (I not only posted about a few things that my great great grandfather experienced during his life, but added his experiences as an audio story on the Family Tree app, something I had been wanting to try.)

7. Grown children who humor their mother (After seeing photos of our children in a group text today, I commented, “How fun is this! Now we just need to hear the laughter all around and it will be a reunion.” They made that happen with a bit of their recorded laughter. Ha Ha)

8. Neighbors and friends who watch out for one another

9. Salt-free blends of seasonings

10. Vic and being able to grow older together

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Six Sentence Stories - Journey

This week I reread a short biography about one of my great great grandfathers. One thing that was apparent throughout his little book was the gratitude he felt for having survived difficult things and for having received the strength he needed to overcome harmful habits, even after years of indulging. For my post to the Six Sentence Stories - Journey, a blog hop hosted by Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog, I am sharing in my own words a glimpse into the life of Valentine Kimes Junior (1811-1892).

Like many children wanting to test the waters and throw caution to the wind, he resisted the warning to stay on the bank when the older boys were allowed to swim in Virginia's Holston River; when they finished swimming and headed home, he ignored another young boy’s caution not to go in the water. Miraculously after jumping from a rocky ledge into the river below and immediately sinking to the bottom, he managed to somehow crawl through the deep water to shore and to safety, never the worse for wear.

Not all water related accidents were so kind to him, and may or may not have been his fault, when at about age 16 he incurred a life threatening injury, cutting his left knee and completely severing the main artery while  working on a mill wheel. During the month that followed after the accident, there was little hope for him as he got lockjaw, scarlet fever, pneumonia, and his skin turned black, but he lived to tell about it.

In his mid fifties, during the time of the Civil War, and before water treatment plants, etc. he became ill with cholera for nine days before beginning to mend, and he described it as his worst sickness while living in Arkansas.

Through some of these experiences and others in his journey through life, he came to know that there was a God who loved him and heard his prayers.

Ten Things of Thankful

For the last half of February I was missing in action as far as participating in blog hops was concerned, but writing in my journal (pen and paper type) was one of my means of coping and documenting what it was like for me personally and for us as a couple as we found ourselves having to deal with what Mother Nature dealt us. Today, I am ready to write another post for the blog hop, Ten Things of Thankful, hosted by Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not. 

Thankful for low shrubbery covered with
ice beside our home instead of tall trees

1. Still feeling grateful that we didn’t have any damage to our home and vehicles in the recent storm, though many trees did not fare so well

Just some of damage to oak trees

2. Electricity and all the benefits  of having it

3. All the people who came to this part of the country to aid in helping all the folks who were and still are impacted by the results of the ice storm as well as those who in the midst of their own distress came to the aid of others

4. Receiving our first Moderna COVID-19 vaccines

5. Getting the tax preparation packet of 2020 info submitted to the accountant

6. Taking advantage of one of the downsides of having a very large chest freezer filled with quite a lot of food that should have been discarded a few years back and that we couldn’t keep frozen during the recent  power outage, to really clean out freezer with no plans to restock it

Chest freezer filled with thawed food and juice that
seeped out from the berries (Does anyone else have
food over 20 years old in their freezer?)

7. Seeing some little crocuses in bloom, totally ignoring the limbs that have fallen on the ground around them

On a bed of dead leaves and broken
twigs and branches is a purple
crocus fringed in white with
a bright orange center
calling for attention

8. Labels that identify food contents make it so much easier to join Vic in a real concerted effort to be more conscious of the salt/sodium content in the foods we purchase and the meals we prepare 

9. Spotting a tree that seems to be a roosting spot for herons wanting an upper view the large river below (no photo because I was driving)

10. The herd of 14 deer that showed up in our yard, maybe just to give us a heads up that they made it through the storm okay in spite of what must have felt like the shaking of their world as trees and branches descended to the ground below

More than just ten this week. . .

Waiting in line at a drive thru the day
after our power was restored and 
seeing a rainbow

I learned how to use animate a photo on My Heritage this week. I believe this to be a photo of Sylvine, one of my mom's half sisters. She was born in 1895. It was among photos mom had of her siblings. Unfortunately no one had written a name on back of the photo. The original was in black and white, but on My Heritage another option is to colorize a photo.

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