Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I praised the Lord, again. I took a shower and had hot water. To many that may be a small thing but for months our hot water heater kept shutting down. We were able to buy another one and have pay someone to install it. Now we have hot water every time. On demand. I forget all those times we did not have hot water. It went on for months. So, again, I praise the Lord for this luxury. Yes, luxury. Hot water. For that matter, there are literally millions, maybe billions, of people in this world who do not have plumbing. Or even clean water. And I am considered poor in this country. Americans are so spoiled and have no idea how rich the average person in this country is. Compare yourself to the multitudes who do not have plumbing in their house. Or worse yet have no clean water. Americans are so spoiled.

Tags: hot water, hot water heater, poverty, praise the Lord, take a shower, the luxury of hot water, the poor and plumbing and clean water, the spoiled Americans
Posted in God, life, local, money, wisdom | No Comments »

Praise the Lord I can feed my seven cats and four dogs.  The dogs are large dogs between seventy-five and ninety pounds so it take quite a bit dog food to feed them.  The cats are not as bad although we get special cat food for them:  one cat needs a certain diet and we can’t feed him that and not the rest of the six cats a cheaper cat food.  And that does not include the bird seed I put out and the suet cakes for the woodpeckers.  It is only by grace I can do all those things.  Some families who are broke or unemployed would love to have the money we spend just on our pets (and bird seed).  Praise the Lord for all that.

Tags: bird feeding, bird food, birds, cat food, cats, dog food, dogs, feeding our pets and birds, four dogs, God, large dogs, our provisions are only by grace, our seven cats and four dogs, pets, praise the Lord, seven cats, suet cakes, woodpeckers
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The poor are always among us.  This was a letter I wrote to a friend of mine who was doing surveys for the department of welfare and he said how could we let people live like that:

There is something important you can do about the people you visit and interview.  You can pray for them–each person and their circumstances.  You said, ‘People should not live in such poverty.’  The poor have always been among us.
Pray for each person you meet.  If you have to, make a list of the households and people you meet.  People are poor for different reasons.  Sometimes alcohol or drug abuse is involved.  Sometimes it is mental illness.  Other times it is just plain bad luck.  Someone lost a job, ran out of unemployment or a bad illness was involved and they did not have health insurance or it did not take care of their needs.
There are all kinds of reasons people live in poverty.  Pray for each person, the children or their parents you meet.  Never stop praying.
Everything is by grace.  Praise the Lord for your health, your living quarters, everything.  Everything is by grace.  Continue to pray.  Prayer can move mountains.

Your friend

Tags: everything-is-by-grace, poor people, poverty, praise the Lord, prayer can move mountains, sometimes all you can do is pray, the poor among us, the poor are always among us, the power of prayer, There are different reasons people live in poverty, your health
Posted in God, health, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, money, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I am being blessed by this weather.  The next seven days it will be in the seventies.  Praise the Lord!  I will just enjoy it.  It has not been too long ago that the weather was unbearably hot, so I will just enjoy today’s weather.  And appreciate the mild weather and who knows I may, even, go fishing.

Tags: blessed, enjoy today's weather, go fishing, God, praise the Lord
Posted in beauty, God, life, local, nature, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Now every time I pass the meadow near our house I look for the two pheasants we spotted a few days ago.  Of course, they are not there.  Surprises are just that.  They come when you are not looking for them.  Serendipity is serendipity.  What if you saw everything you were looking for every day.  Wouldn’t life be boring?  Usually your attention is somewhere else.  And there it is–another surprise.  Thank God life is not always predictable.  What a world it would be if it was?!

Tags: bird-watching, birds, God, life, life not always predictable, meadow, pheasants, praise the Lord, serendipity, surprises, unexpected
Posted in animals, beauty, birds, God, local, nature, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Yesterday it hit 16 degrees and today was 34 and it seemed warm.  I wore the same clothing.  Yesterday when I went out it did not take long for me to become chilled.  I would reach for my gloves right away.  I wanted them just for the fifteen feet walk to the car.  Come April or May, 34 degrees will seem cold but today I was grateful it hit that temperature.  Your expectations define the weather.  I almost considered today to be a heat wave.  And praised the Lord for small favors.  Everything is by grace.  Even the temperature outside.

Tags: 16 degrees, April, chilly, cold weather, everything-is-by-grace, gloves, May, praise the Lord, small favors, the temperature, winter
Posted in balance, God, life, local, nature, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Praise the Lord for small favors.  Our TV in the living room “burnt out”.  It just did not work any longer.  When you turned it on, all your saw was a line or two in the center of the screen and there was, also, no sound.  I wanted to see our favorite show, “The Saint”, starring Roger Moore.  Every ten o’clock in the evening we watch it and then go to bed.

There was another color TV in the office we were not using so I quickly hooked it up to our antenna and “box” so we could watch it.  We found out the color was crisper than the old one and although the screen was smaller, it did not seem too small.

The next day I tried to figure out how to wire the DVD player and also the VCR to it.  I quickly drove to the nearest Radio Shack and they sold me something called a modulator, which enabled me to hook up a DVD to the old TV.

Now I had to figure out how to wire the VCR also.  I called my brother-in-law and he suggested a type of splitter, which I had.  I used it and now I was back into business:  both the DVD and VCR were now hooked up to the TV and worked.

Everything is by grace including advice by people and old TVs that still worked.  It even had a remote and now I can go back and watch my “Touched By An Angel” episodes again.  I know the latest thing is all these gigantic flat screens with brilliant color but I was happy to have this old color TV.

Tags: "The Saint", "Touched By An Angel", advice by people, antenna, brother-in-law, DVD player, everything-is-by-grace, flat screen TV, grateful, modulator, old color TV, old TVs, praise the Lord, Radio Shack, Roger Moore, small favors, TV, VCR
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It is only 66 degrees outside today and praise the Lord for it.  It is only a week ago we had a short heatwave–temperatures in the 90’s and it was quite uncomfortable.  It was hard even sleeping when it was that warm so I am thanking the Almighty for his “gifts” when they come along.  So thank the Lord for all the small gifts that come along.  This was just one.

Tags: God, God's gifts, heatwave, His gifts, June, praise the Lord, sleep, thank the Lord, thanking the Almighty
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It will be more of the same temperatures. I checked the long range forecast and found out it will be cold for the next seven days–it will hit the low forties at most. Then the low fifties. Not very warm at all. We had one or two previews of spring whereby it hit the low seventies. It still feels like winter. It is easy to complain. Praise the Lord we can still pay our heat bills. I know it will get warmer. I just want it now if not sooner! I am clearly not in charge.

Tags: cold temperatures, God, heat bills, long range forecast, praise the Lord, preview of spring, spring, winter
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It is not even winter (less than a week to go officially) and I want to join the black bears and hibernate. I checked the ten day forecast: at most the temperature will only creep slightly above freezing. Praise the Lord I have heat. All I want to do is stay in. I will make a dash for the car when I have to go out and be happy when the car heater kicks in. I will put out the feed for the birds quickly. To think, winter has more than three months to go. Presently they are not calling for snow. It could get worse.

Tags: bird feeding, birds, black bears, cold weather, hibernate, praise the Lord, snow, ten day forecast, winter
Posted in animals, local, nature, seasons, time | 1 Comment »

The Maker awaits us all.  Why do we act so surprised when He comes a knocking.  Yes, my kidney function is declining but we are all going to go.  Sometimes it comes suddenly and sometimes we have some time to think about it.

Life is indeed very precious.  And we can’t always choose our time.  In fact we never know for sure.  All we can do is wring every bit of life out of every day, every hour, minute given to us.  And praise the Lord in the process.  That is all we can do.  Praise The Lord for every minute, every day afforded to us.

Tags: can't choose our time, death, God, life, life is very precious, praise the Lord, the Maker
Posted in death, God, knowledge&learning, life, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I praised the Lord For the drizzly day.  I drove up the River and stopped at several landings.  I still remember how uncomfortable the heat waves were.  They were not too far from my memory–the ninety degree days and accompanied (???) high humidity.

I flushed one blue heron at one landing and a bat darted out above me into the road, which was kind of unusual since it was nine thirty in the morning and bats are nocturnal.

Anyway, I am going to to enjoy the rain and lower temperatures today.  I know the heat and humidity will come back.  Summer was not over yet.

Tags: a bat, bird-watching, birds, blue heron, drizzly day, enjoy the rain, heat waves, high humidity, praise the Lord, river, summer
Posted in birds, knowledge&learning, local, nature, seasons, time | No Comments »