Another Sunday morning arrived without any unexpected events, and of course my first duty of the day, was to get myself settled back in my darkened corner, just so I’d be able to start my weekly contemplative session early enough so I wouldn’t be interrupted by street noise which normally begins after sunup.
Today I had another intention to add because an acquaintance of mine has been having some debilitating mental issues going on in her life which she’d shared with me this past week. The only help I could possibly offer was to pray for her. I couldn’t believe the remark she made which caused me to become a little teary-eyed when saying, “You’d do that for me?” After we parted, I couldn’t help wondering why it is that some people consider an offer of prayer to be greater than a gift of gold. After hearing such words, I definitely didn’t forget about her this morning.
The Services over at St. Paul Lutheran went very well to the point I was even more comfortable playing their vintage organ than ever before. I mentioned to one of the members this morning that after these many times of playing it, I believe “she’s” finally warmed up to me. I had to laugh a little when saying, “There’s another pipe organ at a church I used to sing at, but only played it a handful of times, and mostly out of my fear of it, but after I’ve grown acclimated to yours, that one would be a piece of cake.” Without a doubt, for me there is a distinct difference between how a pipe organ and an electronic one is played.
I did decide to stay after and have a short visit with a few of their members downstairs while they were having coffee and mid-morning snacks. I cornered one of the members who happens to have a small vegetable farm near Fertile, who supplies some of our area restaurants with organic vegetables. From the sounds of it, his onions have also been doing quite well, but I didn’t dare tell him about my 4th of July planting of 150 onion sets which appear to be on a burn to supply me with some large onions this fall. If they are large and beautiful, I’ll have to bring one of them to St. Paul and hand it to him and then ask, “What’s your take on this onion out of my garden?” I think it’ll be fun to hear what he has to say.
When I got back to office, I changed into my work clothes and headed out to Tractor Supply to buy some mouse poison and leather gloves to replace another pair I’d worn out this year. The supply chain of mouse and rat poison must have a few broken links in it because the type I normally buy, only had one tub remaining, so I quickly grabbed it. I can’t imagine people having a larger than normal rodent problem to where their shelves are nearly sold out.
I learned the hard way some years ago when discovering a mouse or two had managed to get under the hood of my car and started making a nest from the fiberglass insulation that’s in various places under its hood. Thank goodness I discovered it before they started chewing on the wiring. Rats and squirrels will do the same thing, but fortunately my garage is tight enough to where only mice manage to get it. Having seen one near my garage several days ago, prompted me to get that poison purchased and distributed. Yes, the squirrels, mice, raccoons, and rats are all already looking for winter hideaways, so it’s best to stay proactive.
With it being noontime, I stopped and grabbed a small hamburger from a take-away and headed to office to doctor it up before eating. There were several emails that came in later morning which I answered, and after getting them sent off, I headed out to get some more outdoor work done.
Today’s labors was definitely dirty, and after a good three hours, I found I’d managed to get myself completely filthy to where even my glasses were coated with a fine dust. Oh well, I got what was needing to be done, and for sure after standing back and giving it all a good look, it was well worth the effort. I keep reminding myself that winter’s coming and things need to get done before it arrives.
Oh I almost forgot to mention what I spied when pulling into my parking spot at the rear of my office. I couldn’t believe there was perched atop one of the cars in the parking lot to the north, a bird appearing to be a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. It was walking back and forth while looking down, and wouldn’t you know, out from under that car flew a handful of sparrows that were heading for that small leafy tree on 3rd Street. The hawk made a dash for them but didn’t manage to get even one. I had to laugh to myself because normally those sparrows don’t fly very fast, but they were definitely flying for their lives this morning. I did take a photo of the hawk with my cellphone, but because the sun wasn’t up yet, it wasn’t worthy enough to share. I knew there were hawks in our Downtown because last year I actually saw one catch a sparrow behind my office. Let me tell you, they are quick.
When I arrived back at office, I cleaned myself up and then changed into my street clothes before even thinking about seating myself in my office chair. Yes, I was that dirty. I did have another email to send before heading out, so after that was accomplished I closed up shop for the day.
Knowing I needed a few things from a groceteria, I stopped at one, and of course the Sunday afternoon grocery shoppers were out in full force. One thing I found noteworthy, was having looked at every brand and package of hotdogs, and only found one that didn’t contain MSG along with some sort of sugar, so I bought it. To this day I can’t get my brain wrapped around things containing less, costing markedly more. What’s that all about?
The above photo is one I captured last evening of the perfect half of our moon. I still marvel at how well my camera takes photos. You can even see the craters. How fun!
Tonight’s One-liner is: When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard.”, I’m always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
