Weather, Psalms, Cats and Gardening...It's Tuesday!

It must have rained off and on all during the night and you'd think I would really be knowledgeable about that because it was another long night with Buddy. Around 2:00 am I got up, came downstairs and let her sleep in my lap. Sleep didn't come for me so I read and listened to scripture. Finally, after a little over an hour, I went back to bed only to be awakened around 4:00, 5:15, 6:20 and then finally getting up around 7:00. 

The first time I read about Dwell was on Twitter. So to the app store to check it out. About $30.00 a year with a seven day free trial. What I like about it is, different voices can be chosen for the reading as well as background music. There are playlists, like I listened to all the parables last night from the gospels. Then started the book of Mark. Such a wide range of choices. Usually I keep away from audible because my attention strays and then if a book, I have to re-listen cause I have lost a huge chunk of the story. The playlists are divided up by subject or by the book. Think Dwell is sticking around after the seven day free trial.

This Sunday we are studying Psalm 23 as we take our last look at David's life before moving onto Solomon. Sometimes teaching very familiar passages is harder because they are well loved, often memorized and our attitude, while not with malicious intent, we can skip over meaning and new meaning just due to familiarity. Yesterday, while working on the front bedroom and getting things together for a Goodwill run, I thought about the 23rd Psalm, remembering maybe my first memory of it. Seems like my cousins and I were given children's Bibles by our grandparents. The cover was Jesus with all the little children. Inside the cover was Psalm 23 and the back inside cover was The Lord's Prayer. So it must have been around the second or third grade being at my grandparents for part of the summer and being able to go to VBS at their church. It seems we were studying Psalm 23 and by the end of the week we were to have it memorized for the all important star by our name of completing memory work. Upstairs, in the bedroom I slept in while there, I remember sitting by the window gazing out on the gas station on the far corner and memorizing the Psalm. When I got to the part about, "yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, Thou art with me..." back in the day the King James version is all we had...but somehow I began to think that the cedar closet in that bedroom was the shadow of death. We weren't allowed to open that closet door and with my grandmother reciting the poem, Little Orphan Annie...which is complete with goblins, before I fell asleep each night, the closet became shadow of death...goblin home. I do remember that I memorized the Psalm and was so happy it was on the inside cover so I didn't have to thumb through the thin pages to find it each time I did memory work.

I am trying an experiment today. The little family, Strawyer, Punky, and Mr McBeavy come into the garage now and then when their food is being prepared. With all the rain from last night and trying to make the screen around the porch not be too attractive to investigative scratching, I left the backdoor to the garage open. Punky came in and guess Straw and the Mr have come in as well. Trying not to bring attention that it could be a big deal being in the garage out of the rain. It is just so stinkin' wet and almost have had three inches of rain. They are looking for a dry spot so they are getting an option other to hanging off the ledge around the porch. **Update** It looks like at least for now, Nancy's ark I mean garage is closed for business. Punky and the Mr just left for the great outdoors and Strawyer, he might still be asleep in the garage but I will go check in a little bit. **Update** Strawyer wasn't asleep in the garage and had probably gone out wandering before Punky left the friendly confines.

Just read an interesting article about the new CEO of Barnes and Noble. He has been successful in turning around bookstores in the UK. With the recent closings of Lifeway stores I read the article with those closings in mind. I avoided Lifeway stores if at all possible. They were stark, cold, full of junk and the arrangement of the books didn't facilitate browsing. I had found better selections at the nearby Barnes and Noble store. It might happen that B and N will warm up a bit in tone and arranging books for more browsing opportunities. This will be interesting to keep tabs on.

I broke my vow of not assembling anymore furniture but it wasn't too difficult. Ordered teal chairs to go with the dining table on the porch. Most of the time metal chairs come assembled, but not these. It was a quick assemblage before the rain and storms came last evening. 

Before the sun came through the clouds and after the rain it was a brief attempt at weeding the front flowerbed. It is overgrown with grass and weeds in the very front part. I'm thinking of making up some of that vinegar, Dawn and Epsom salt mix to spray carefully around the plants. I worked till the sun made the temps too difficult for work. Even in the low 70's with a breeze cannot compete or overcome the sun at this elevation. As evening draws near, I will get back out there and get the weeds that did get pulled into trash bags.


Wrapping this up and thinking and studying Psalm 23.