Random 5 Friday

Linking up today with A Rural Journey Random 5 Friday

 

1.

These past few weeks, I have been lagging and dragging in my diligence to read or write blogs. It is my hope to feel inspired soon to record the happenings in our life, but thus far this year has just been a little too crazy!

2.

Spring is trying to burst out here one day and then the next, Winter says, "I'm not done with you yet!" The water in our hot tub was frozen yesterday morning. Today the high is expected to be 78 degrees!! What?? So confusing.

 

3.

My DH has been applying himself to the study of Aquaponic gardening and is buying and investing in all kinds of things (plant, animal and mineral) in order to produce so many vegetables this summer that we will have to give it all away! In case you aren't up-to-speed on Aquaponic gardening, the very basic idea has to do with growing plants in water and fertilizing them with fish and their waste. (I'm learning things, too. I had no idea you could order worms from Amazon!)

This pic will give you a little idea of Aquaponics:

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Ours is proving to be on a MUCH bigger scale and the whole thing sounds quite fishy to me. (Sorry!)

 

diagram credit

(I'm not from Missouri, but this is something I will have to see to believe.)

Someday I think I will have to devote a blog to some of the things my DH has done. He is a guy who "must" have a project and it "must" always be something unique (weird to me, expensive or dangerous). He is fairly creative and one thing I can say for sure, no, two actually, he has fun, and with his fun comes frustration. Fun for him! Frustration for me! Never a dull moment!

4.

My 15 year old dog Trudy had to have her dental cleaning yesterday. No teeth were pulled and she's good to go. The vet says this is her last year for that as she is getting too old to be put under anesthetic. Although I'm glad Trudy is in such good shape health wise, it is sad to see her so feeble having a hard time walking, getting confused and sleeping almost all the time now.

Sweetest dog

5.

Downton Abbey! Another season ended way too early! Oh well, guess we will just have to wait until next year to find out whether Bates really did it. What do you think? In the meantime, I'm ready to watch some Call the Midwife, which begins I think at the end of March. If you haven't seen Call the Midwife, you really should take the time to catch up! You will love it. Fantastic series. DH and I both sit and bawl our eyes out or laugh with joy!



Call the Midwife
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Throwback Thursday

Although this pic is cluttered with things such as "Hello, my name is," visor, what appears to be a red bag hanging from my neck, and white tennis shoes with dark wind suit, it is still one of my favorites. We are standing on top of Mt. Arbel in Israel which overlooks the Sea of Galilee and the view is spectacular.

The pic makes me happy because Israel was first of all, a place I love to visit. Second, we were able to make the climb up the mountain! :-) And third, I love the colors of the rocks, the sky in the background, and the tree growing out of the rocks in the photo. We were on the heights and you can see from my windswept hair that it was very gusty up there!

Standing 700 feet above the Sea of Galilee, the Cliffs of Arbel provide a panoramic view stretching from the Golan Heights to the Jordan River valley. The snow-capped Mount Herman can be seen in the distance on clear days.

photo credit

The view is beautiful, but the history of this mountain is quite bloody. The historian Josephus documented the Roman conquest of Hasmonean rebels living in the cliffs in the 1st century. It is recorded that Herod the Great sent soldiers over the edge of the cliff by lowering huge baskets.  The soldiers then reached into the cliff dwellings and hurled the Hasmoneans to their death, and set fire to the dwellings to finish the job.

If you are interested, you can see other pictures and read more about Mt. Arbel here, but frankly, it's pretty gruesome.

Throwback Thursday

 

This pic on my fridge is an example of "how things seem" and how they really are,  and I chuckle when I see it. My friend and I did the Race for the Cure 5K together one year. We chose to walk rather than run the race. HOWEVER, at each point during the race where the news cameras were, we ran. We looked good for the camera, but resumed our pace to a walk (stroll) away from the camera. When others see this pic, it looks as though I actually "ran" the race. :-)

I'm reminded of this quote by Tony Dunghy who said "integrity is what you do when no one is watching. Your reputation is the public perception of your integrity. Because it’s other people’s opinions of you, it may or may not be accurate. Others determine your reputation, but only you determine your integrity."

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Linking up with for a fun Wednesday Hodgepodge with great questions from Joyce at From This Side of the Pond!


1. Are we always responsible for our actions? Are there any exceptions?

Yes, I emphatically believe we are responsible for our actions! (I've taken responsibility for mine, but I'm so very thankful for grace and mercy that has been given to me on many of my actions.) Someone will have to point out the exceptions to me. I will be interested to read the thoughts of others on this question.

 2.  Has anyone from your home town become famous?

Lots of famous people from my home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma - too many to list and many I don't recognize, but here are a few familiar names:

Garth Brooks, Jennifer Jones, Tony Randall, Anita Bryant, Oral Roberts, David Gates, J. Paul Getty, Roy Clark, Phil Driscoll, Patti Page, Gene Autrey, Gary Busey, Kristen Chenowith, Blake Edwards, William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) and

Paul Harvey

3. January was National Slow Cooker month. Do you own a slow cooker/crock pot? Did you use it last month? What's a favorite dish you make using a slow cooker or crock pot?

I have two slow cookers and used one of them just last week to cook a delicious pot roast with vegetables and gravy and it made enough for two meals! One of my favorite comfort foods.

4. How do you feel about private companies collecting data about you?

I don't like it. Is there anything I can do about it?

 5. The Games of the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off with their opening ceremony this coming Friday....will you be watching? Which Winter Olympic event would you most like to see in person? Have you ever been to Russia? Any desire to go, Olympics or otherwise?

We may be the only ones who don't tune in, although if I happen to know in advance when the figure skating will be shown, I would probably watch them. I've never been to Russia. It would be interesting to see the country, the Ural mountains, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, but really, it's not first on my list of places to go.  And, I have no desire to attend such big events as the Super Bowl or the Olympics. There are too many things to contend with and it seems crazy to spend so much money on something like that.

6. Share a good or bad sports related memory from your childhood or teen years.

Playing outdoors was always fun and we especially loved to play softball at school and in the neighborhood. I had a really strong arm and could hit the ball out of the field for a lot of home runs. We didn't have any organized teams or leagues when I was in grade school (if we did, my parents probably wouldn't have been able to afford it). However, the girls  I went to school with, from both sides of the tracks, formed teams and played against each other on a regular basis. We finally played a showdown game to see which was the "champion." One of the dads from the other team came to supervise the game and umpire. After we had "whipped" them, we all gathered round as the Dad gave each of us a dime. That scene is forever etched in my memory because I believed he must have been rich to be able to give  all of us a dime! A funny thing to me is that the memory of watching her Dad count out the dimes in his hand overshadows any recollection of how our team would have been able to divvy up the money if we had lost. I draw a complete blank.

 7. What's a must have song for you on a work out play list? If you don't work out, run, swim, bike, walk, or anything else that could be construed as 'exercise', then what's a song that motivates you to at least get up off the couch?

I know this really dates me, but ANYTHING Motown, especially Marvin Gaye's rendition of I Heard It Through the Grapevine ... the Supremes, Aretha Franklin or The Temptations.

 8.  Insert your own random thought here.

A praise report has to go here. My husband's CT scan came back negative today and so THANKFUL!!! Thank the Lord!

And I leave you with: