Time

Time -- what a precious commodity!  And there are so many sayings about time -- "You can't put time in a bottle"; "I don't have the time"; "Only time will tell"; "In the nick of time"; "Time and time again"; "If I could go back in time"; "How do you spend your time?"; "Time heals all wounds"; "You can't stop time": "Time waits for no man"; "Time passes": "You can't save time" -- and I'm sure you probably have a few or your own favorite sayings.  All of us have the same 24 hours in every day, and each of us gets to choose how to spend those hours. 

I find it interesting that time is a very tangible thing, but you can't hold it, trade it, save it, store it, keep it, or give it away -- but we do SPEND it -- constantly!  And I find that I don't seem to have enough of that very precious commodity.  Because I work full-time outside of the home (as most of us do), I have to cram everything that I can't do during the week into my weekends, and that's where I feel the crunch.  Keeping up the housework and garden work in warm weather is just part of it, but with all of our children living locally and the blessing of 6 (soon to be 7) granchildren from those children, my life is packed every weekend.  We are either going to one of their houses or they are coming to ours.  This past weekend, I went to my daughter's house after work on Friday and got my one-and-only granddaughter, and after dinner at my house, I took her shopping at a craft store, where we purchased bird houses to paint.  After breakfast in the morning, that's what we did.  Then I took her to lunch and back home.  My grandson Niland was supposed to spend the night Saturday, but he got a stomach flu and kept mommy and daddy busy cleaning up after him Friday night.  But Saturday evening we had Bob's 3 daughters over for dinner, his 2 grandsons, one son-in-law, and his mother.  Fun but exhausting day! 

Sunday afternoon was more toned down, with Bob and I working in the yard, me taking it easier than him, varnishing the painted bird houses, as well as an outdoor table, and enjoying the daffodils that were beginning to bloom.  My daughter treated us to some theater tickets that she and her husband had decided not to use, so we got to be entertained Sunday evening with music and dance.  Now it's back to the work week!

Time -- precious indeed -- and I'm endeavoring not to let it slip through my hands, unnoticed, unappreciated, and unattended.  I can't get it back if I waste it.  I want to make the most of the time God has given me, but when I get to heaven, to my eternal home, time won't exist.  That is a strange yet wonderful concept! 

Frustrations and Blessings

My life has seemingly turned into a parade of physicians.  I'm learning that, even though one does the "right" things in life to take care of oneself -- eating healthy, exercising, not smoking or drinking -- there is no guarantee of health as one ages.  A year and a half ago, after experiencing unexplained leg cramps and twitching in my legs, I was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome which, in and of itself, is not life threatening, but it does impact one's life, as anyone with RLS can tell you.  Sleep is difficult, and if a person is tired, every facet of life is affected.  Medication helps, but cramping and twitching are still a constant problem.  I've learned how to relax instead of tightening up when my legs and/or feet cramp; I've learned how to move so I don't get cramps; and I've learned that sometimes there's nothing I can do about it.  So I have a neurologist, along with a family physician.
Last week I had a stress test, the first for me, and watched my heart on an ultrasound screen -- pretty amazing to see one's heart beating -- and I've added a cardiologist to my list of physicians.  Much to my dismay, I'm now taking medication for RLS, heart palpitations, and a sleeping pill so I can sleep because of the intenstity of the leg movements and the heart palpitations!  However, I am seeing the palpitations lessen, and that's a relief, and the sleeping pills are getting me 6-7 hours of straight sleep where before I was wakening 4 - 10 times a night.  Deep sleep was impossible!
I'm trying to work through these physical frustrations, knowing that my blessings far outweigh them.  Like I said, they are not life-threatening; they are manageable.  My husband and I are blessed with all of our children living close by, which means that we are part of our grandchildren's lives.  Many grandchildren see their grandparents once in a while, while others never get to know theirs due to death.  I think that is the greatest blessing that God has bestowed on us -- being close to every child and grandchild -- and even though life throws unexpected physical frustrations my way, I can focus on what's good and worthy of praise and gratitude.  Adjustments can be made to live fully within the scope of those frustrations as I give them to my God. 
As an aside, my husband and I dug up and transplanted a 12-foot tall Magnolia tree yesterday -- what were we thinking?!  (Actually, it was Bob's idea, not mine!)  I told him that he had to promise me that there would be no more tree moving (we relocated a maple tree 3 years ago, and thankfully, it's thriving), and I told him that a 63-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman had no business doing such work!  It's a blessing that we survived!  Hopefully, the tree will also survive! 

Spring?

With great anticipation, we're looking forward to the coming week that will have springlike temperatures here in North Carolina!  The winter has been brutal, as anyone in the United States knows, and I know we can't complain about our winter when compared with what others have endured, but it has been snowy and very cold, and we don't usually experience that.
I moved here from Connecticut in November of 2004, the weekend before Thanksgiving.  When I left Connecticut, the trees had long since shed their leaves, and the daytime temperatures were only in the low to mid 40's.  It was in the low 70's here the Sunday I moved into my apartment, and the leaves were still on the trees.  The first January I lived here, we had two weeks of well above average temperatures, which caused the flowering trees to bud out, but the return of cooler weather stopped that quickly.  We did have one small -- very small -- snow event that year, but when it came down, all of the schools dismissed early and businesses closed, and the greatest gridlock ever seen was experienced.  People literally spent 8 hours getting home, and many didn't make it.  The roads had not been treated with brine prior to the snowfall, and the traffic moving slowly over 1/2 inch of snow turned it into a sheet of ice.  The salt trucks got stuck in the gridlock, too, so it was a situation unlike anything anyone here had ever seen.
But SPRING is on the way.  My tulip and narcissus bulbs are poking through the soil, which is still frozen about an inch or two down.  The lily bulbs are pushing through, too, and the buds on the Star Magnolia are swelling with anticipation of exploding.  Birds of every sort are still feeding frantically at my feeder, gorging themselves on their favorite seeds at my expense, but I don't mind.  The pleasure I receive from watching them is certainly worth it!  The day lilies (I think we have 12 - 15 varieties) are showing green growth in the midst of their spent foliage; mounds of new growth appear around the base of the chrysanthemums and the verbena; and tiny, reddish leaves are appearing on the rose bushes.  Soon, I'll put out the short strands of yarn left over from projects, place it in a nylon bag, and hang it in a tree for the birds to use in their nests.  The yarn makes colorful nests and makes them easier to spot, but most importantly it gives the birds strong fibers to use in their nests. 
The temperatures are predicted to be in the low to mid 60's all week with the forecast of seeing mid 70's next Saturday and Sunday.  Today, my husband and son will begn to powerwash our house, which has changed color from a straw yellow to a yucky, greenish yellow in spots - thanks to the summer humidity!  Other jobs in preparation for summer include replacing the screen on the 6-sided gazebo, which I'm still trying to figure out how to do that; adding more mulch to the gardens (where did the 15 cubic yards of mulch go that we put out 3 years ago?); killing all of the weeds that are sprouting where the Zoysia grass has yet to grow; leveling and installing a concrete patio pad in our shade garden on which to put the park bench; and the list goes on and on!  But the work is good for our souls and for our bodies!
I've already started my heirloom tomato plants from seed -- 600+ of 23 varieties!  Why?  Because I sell them to others who like the character and flavor of the older varieties.  I have 2 large grow mats (which hold the seed trays and warm them) and grow lights for the seedlings.  My brussel sprouts are also up, and they'll go in the ground as soon as they become large enough to transplant. 
The natural world -- as well as people -- seem to come alive with the promise of Spring!  God has ordained the seasons in Genesis 8:22:  "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."  I don't know about you, but that verse gives me assurance that SPRING WILL COME and that winter will not last forever.  Take courage, you Northerners! 

A Cat and a Rat

I've been serious far too long on this blog and so have decided that it's time to share some of the lighter moments I've experienced.  Laughter is a good thing!  I hope the title of this blog has piqued your interest, so here goes!
We have two cats, Samson and Delilah -- named after that famous, or infamous, couple in the Bible -- and they are Maine Coon mix, which means that they are both long-haired and big.  Samson is entirely black, while Delilah is a typical Maine Coon color -- striped with an M between her eyes.  At one piont in his life, when Samson was confined to his apartment and wasn't able to run outside, he weighed almost 23 pounds.  He was one BIG cat!  He's still big, but probably weighs close to 15 pounds now, while Delilah has maintained her weight at 15 pounds or so, even though she is smaller in size than Samson.
When my husband and I purchased our current home, it became obvious to us that Samson needed a cat door; the litter pan wasn't to his liking.  What was needed has now become an entry point for all sorts of critters that Samson, the great hunter, brings in to show us.  Mice and voles are a given; there's an endless supply in the wilds behind our property, but other interesting things have shown up through that door -- and one of the most exciting was the rat!
When Sammy brings something inside, he immediately starts talking -- in cat language, of course -- by meowing and howling while holding his catch in his mouth!  This speech has a distinct sound, and I immediately know that Sammy is presenting us with his latest trophy.  The night the rat came to visit, Bob was the one who saw it first.  He called out to me, "Barbara, I don't know what it is, but it's BIG!"  I hurried to the kitchen, where the cat door is located in one of the sliding glass doors, and immediately saw this HUGE rat that Sammy had let loose in the house.  Mind you, Sammy was quite proud that he had hauled such a huge critter up the hill, onto the deck, and through that cat door, and the grin on his face was unmistakable!  Upon release, the rat, which was only slightly injured, began to run around the kitchen and small office attached to it, sending Bob and I into a whirl of activity, shouting at each other as to what in the world to do, but Sammy's grin never changed as he watched the circus.  He was having the time of his life!
Bob was on a chair while I was running around closing doors to contain our unwelcome visitor as it scurried through all of the wires under the computer desk.  Sammy simply watched, grin never fading.  Bob began moving furniture and shouted, "Go get the hammer!"  "You've got to be kidding!  You aren't going to kill it with the hammer, are you?"  "What else to you want me to do?"  "It will be a mess, especially if you hit him when he's in all those wires!"  Sammy must have been annoyed that the rat was where he was, so he chased him down and carried him toward the sliding glass door, only to drop him again.  I then had an idea.  I hurried to the kitchen cabinet and pulled out the biggest plastic container I had and handed it to Bob, still atop the chair.  "Here, slap this down on top of him!"  "Then what?"  "Then I'll get some cardboard for you to slide underneath it so we can take him outside."  "Sounds like a plan!"  Hopping down from the chair, which gave me time to hop up onto one, Bob somehow managed to corral that poor injured terrified rat into the corner of the room and was able to slap that plastic container on top of it!  Mission accomplished!  I hurried off to find some cardboard, and when I returned, Bob was gingerly pushing the plastic container to the floor -- that rat was rather strong and definitely wanted out.  Carefully sliding the cardboard under the container, Bob was able to lift both as he clamped down to hold the aparatus together.  Sammy continued to watch in sheer amazement.
We maneuvered our way to the car.  I drove while Bob held that rat trapped in the plastic/cardboard container, and we drove a short way from home where we practiced the catch-and-release program.  I don't know who was more relieved that the event was over -- the rat or us!
There are other escapades of Samson's hunting expeditions that I've detailed in a book entitled "A Cat's Tale."  However, this event isn't in it because it happened after I published the book.  I'm going to update the book to include this story as well as other memorable events, including one involving baby oppossums.  I'll let you know when the updated version of the book is ready, but in the meantime, you can view it at www.createspace.com/3369283.  Happy reading!