The hurricane threw me off my routine. Actually I haven't had much of a routine lately but needing one. Our little hummingbird which I named Madeline is still with us. She stayed on our porch through the entire tropical storm. I have nicknamed her Maddie. She has two friends around as well.
When I started cleaning up limbs that had fallen during the storm I thought about securing one of the limbs to our back porch for Maddie. Each time we go out the back porch Maddie would fly off the clothesline. The first day she was not interested in the tree branch but then she decided she liked it and this is where she has been resting ever since.
The hummers battle over the feeder but they have softened to each other the last few days and are doing more of a dance now than a battle.
I have enjoyed watching them and taking pictures. They are so small that I had to zoom in really close.
We are quite a haven for wildlife here in our backyard. This morning I took this picture trough the window screen.
During the tropical storm two doves stayed huddled together on the cucumber arbor.
During the high winds trees fell all over town, there were power outages and we were very fortunate that we recently had three very large pecan trees cut down or we might have had some very serious damage. We still have two large pecan, one very tall pine, three large oak trees in our yard and one large magnolia tree just on the other side of our property. I did have much concern of a tree falling on the house during the high winds.
It has taken me all week picking up limbs and raking up debris, Charles has been working long hours and has not had the time to help until today. The humidity has been just terrible so my energy is low doing this cleanup.
Fall is nearing so the flowers and vegetables are nearing their end. I love Zennias pictured above and will miss them being in the yard but there is always something else that starts blooming in the fall such as the Daisy Chrysanthemums.
The lemongrass is getting nice and thick now so I will harvest some of this and put it in the freezer.
Yesterday I made a casserole to take to a neighbor and I was thinking of how we ate more casseroles in the past. My friend Catherine is very good about making casseroles and I am thinking I need to bring back the casserole into our routine.
I have been posting less with all that has been going on here lately and actually I have been very tired lately so I am just taking my time with posts.
I have received emails from many of you with concerns and prayers for us and I want to thank all of you. Also I have heard from several that have been through the hurricanes. Some said they had prepared better because of the posts I had done and I am happy to know that helped. My blog friend Linda said this experience has made her want to be even more prepared. Linda had high winds, flooding, power outage and a couple of snakes. Yikes!
I want to say that disasters are going on all over the world every day. Lately the serious wildfires that are going on in our country out west have not gotten a lot of news attention but that has been an ongoing problem all summer and many people have lost their homes.
There are droughts, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, pest attacks, epidemics, unexpected job losses and the threat of terrorism and war going on all the time. We all need to arrange our priorities to keep a stocked pantry even if we do not have a pantry because we can find a place to put the stock. Keep a stocked first aid kit and medical needs stored and have drinking water stored (especially important) and not put off doing these things. Have an evacuation plan to where if we must leave our home we leave with provisions and shelter (we keep a tent with our evacuation supplies).
Then we can go on with keeping a home and living a simple life knowing that living prepared is part of that sensible simple life.
Living a life of foolish spending on things that are truly not important, going out to eat on credit cards and buying goods just to keep up with the trends is not what real life is about. This kind of life can lead us into serious debt and when some kind of disaster does happen we are completely stranded.
I think often about my Grandmother, the most gentle sensible woman I have ever known. Soft spoken and steady. She lived simple, she made biscuits each morning and kept the left over biscuits in pan on a shelf in the kitchen. That was what she would consider a snack. Cold biscuit, butter and jam.
Take the time to ponder on this for a moment. Let us all leave our family good memories.
I want to share a video I stumbled on recently. I hope you enjoy.
100 year old Eva Bossenberger still living with much purpose.
