Memories with Dad

I love summer.  I think I always have; it was my favorite time of year as a kid in small-town America.  Once school was out, it seemed like the days were endless, hot, and full of fun.  I'd play with all of the neighborhood kids until after dark and our parents tracked us down and brought us in for the night (grudgingly), and then we'd start all over the next morning--riding our bikes, roller skating, swimming in our pools, playing tee-ball and softball, drawing with chalk, swinging on the swing sets...there was so much to do and it felt like never enough time to do it all.  I relished every second of those hot, air-conditionless days, and when school started again in the fall, I counted down until the last day of school for the next summer break.  These days brought so much fun and enjoyment for me, a feeling that generally lessens with every year of age for most, but that we still long for as adults, I think, if just in the back of our minds.  For me, summer brings back memories of simpler days and old friends.

Our dad, probably taken mid to late 1950s

My sister and I lost our father on May 18 of this year.  As we continue to grieve and try to think of the good times through our sadness, I feel compelled to share a summer memory that involved our dad: The Fireworks.  These were not just your average, run-of-the-mill fireworks.  This was the state of Michigan famous Bay City 4th of July Fireworks 3-day extravaganza.  People would come from all over the state, and many would come from out of state, with campers, RVs, and tents, and camp out in the park or rent a hotel room in the area for several nights to watch the three-day show that our hometown put on.  Sometimes we as a family would drive downtown to watch the short shows during the first two nights: a fifteen or twenty minute display of fireworks each night.  However, on the final day, when the show was forty-five minutes to an hour long, we spent the day at the park.  We, living in town, would simply stake out a spot in the park on the west bank of the river and spend the day there.  Usually, our dad would go with other neighborhood dads and take coolers full of drinks (both kid and adult beverages), along with lawn chairs and blankets, and find the perfect spot to watch the fireworks that would be fired from a floating platform in the middle of the Saginaw River and from the banks along the river.  They always picked a good spot.  Later in the day, the moms would pack up all of the food that they spent the morning preparing, and all of us kids, and usually more chairs, and they would meet with their husbands at the park.  We'd then spend the rest of the usually blazing hot afternoon walking around

the park, asking to go on rides at the carnival that still sets up every year, asking for ice cream from the nearby concession stand, or playing on the ball diamonds if there were no official games being played.  We picnicked and munched, and generally had a great time waiting for the fireworks to start--they always started around 10 p.m., dusk in that part of the world.  When they started, the entire park full of a hundred thousand people on both sides of the river (a huge number for a town of less than 50,000 people) fell into an awed quiet, though--everyone knew that something awesome was starting.  The show would always start with a playing of The Star-Spangled Banner, and then there would be an incredible, deafening thunder of explosions and shells, and the show would begin!  The fireworks would always be choreographed to a patriotic score of music that played on the PA system that stretched across the park, so every firework that went off was in time to music.  It was an incredible feat of planning and timing on the part of all involved in putting on the show, and it never disappointed.  Our dad loved it.  Every year he'd say that it was the best show yet, and he wasn't wrong.  Every year it got better.  Back in 2012, they celebrated the show's 50th anniversary, and I took my husband to see it.  No one had staked out a spot at the park, as that tradition had long since faded when we kids grew up and moved away, but the show was still the same, and our dad once again said that it was the best show ever (and it was!).  We don't go up for the fireworks shows now,

and the show has decreased in length, but I'm glad we made the trip for that special show.  Every time I see fireworks, regardless of where they are, I'm reminded of the times in my youth that were spent eagerly and anxiously awaiting that spectacular show that came once a year to celebrate our nation's independence.  The world changes, and Dad's now gone, but for the rest of my life, I'll never see fireworks without remembering how much he loved them--and how much he loved spending the day with family and friends.  Happy Independence Day, and thanks for the memories, Dad.  We love you and miss you!

And for anyone who might be interested in more information and seeing a video clip from the 50th anniversary show, here's the link: Bay City Fireworks Festival.

From Ashes to Ashes...

Ecclesiastes 12:7: "then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

This weekend, I had the house to myself.  With her handsome hubby out of town for a guy's weekend, what's a girl to do on a beautiful spring day?  Well, I decided to take a little road trip of sorts that I've been wanting to do for quite a while--go to a graveyard.

Wait, what?

Okay, a little background: My grandmother was kind enough to write down her and my grandfather's ancestry going back a few generations in my baby book when I was born, which was my first exposure to genealogy.  I became hooked on tracking my ancestry, and I was on a roll several years back with the Ancestry.com website.  In digging up my family dirt, I discovered that I lived only about an hour away from the graves of some direct descendants on my grandmother's side!  What are the odds, considering I grew up in another state?  When I discovered this, I made a vow that I would someday get to the cemetery and "visit" my great-great-great-great-grandparents.

Whew, that's a lot of "greats"!



According to Google maps, the cemetery was only about an hour away, an easy drive through the Ohio countryside.  The weather was a balmy 68 degrees and breezy.  The sun was shining occasionally, and the only thing missing were leaves on the trees.

I didn't have a hard time finding the actual headstones.  I later discovered, after doing some web research, that many of the other names in the cemetery were also distant relatives.  I had hoped to find four specific headstones, although I only knew of two that were confirmed to be there.  Two is better than none, though, and so, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to my 4th great-grandfather and grandmother, George and Jemima Lighthill!

(The curtains or drapes are typically a symbol of continuous mourning.)

(The book is typically a symbol of either the Bible, indicating faith, or a person who could read, a scholar.)

I hope you'll forgive them for not exchanging pleasantries.

Here are a few other pictures that I found interesting:

Not a direct relative, but the inscription made me curious: "S. H. Lighthill, Co. I, 100 O.V.I. (Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War), Man of Mystery", and faintly below, "Faith, Hope and Charity".  I kept hearing the Johnny Rivers hit "Secret Agent Man" in my head after seeing this.  The 100 O.V.I. spent time in the Richmond prison camp, and then joined with Sherman's troops in his march on Atlanta.

Several of these marked the graves of Civil War vets.

I don't know who this person was, but I guessed that he was not only a sea captain sailor, but an avid arborist as well.  Certainly unique, as far as grave markers go.

It got me thinking.  I love the history of human life--the way that people used to live before modern technology.  As a living history interpreter, I have gained a general sense of what life was like when these ancestors lived.  But what was it really like?  I began to wonder about these ancestors: What did they do for fun?  Did they travel much?  Where did they live in the town?  What made them travel so far away from their family?  And, what did they look like?

(Supposedly my great-great-great-great-great grandfather [father of George Lighthill, above].  According to records, he lived to be 105, was 9 years old in Pennsylvania at the onset of the American Revolution, and at some point made his way to Iowa at 80 years old to live out the rest of his very long days.  This looks like a tinted Daguerreotype image, probably 1840s or 1850s.  It's obvious that at the time this was taken, he had no teeth!  Photo found on Ancestry.com.)

Well, maybe it's okay to not know what they looked like.  He looks pretty hangry!

(Page from the 1790 census, supposedly taken in Pennsylvania, for another ancestor.  The 1790 census was the first census ever taken in the newly-formed United States of America, and my ancestors were here for it!  From left to right at the top, they recorded the names of the head of the household, free white males of sixteen years and upward including heads of families, free white males under sixteen years, free white females including heads of families, other free persons, and slaves.  I absolutely love the handwriting.  Saved from Ancestry.com.)

I really love digging up my ancestry.  It can be time-consuming, but I've learned so much, and there is so much free information online nowadays.  Ancestry.com is pretty stingy with their information, but I was able to get the information I have without a subscription.  There are also free websites that you can try too, such as FamilySearch,  GenWeb, and GenealogyBank.  Sometimes just doing a name search on a search engine brings up entire pages of information that other genealogists have created.  Many records are public information, if you're willing to do some digging.  However you might find your family history, you'll find that it's a lot of fun to do!

German Glass Glitter...You've Gotta Try This Stuff! And Birthday Fun.

Well, I've been having fun the past few days.  Which makes the stomach bug, which I'm experiencing now, a major bummer.  Plus, this is the one night each year that gains an hour, which makes it the longest night of the year to be up running back and forth to the bathroom--major major bummer.  So, to pass the time and take my mind off of the sickness, I'll tell you what I've been up to.

German Glass Glitter
I am a new fan of this stuff!  I read about it a while ago in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and decided to give it a try.  If you haven't heard of it before, I'll explain: German glass glitter is basically what the name implies.  It is ground-up colored glass, and it comes in many different grit sizes and colors (I purchased three different grits, and I think I like the fine grit the best for the project that I'm working on).  Obviously, as this is tiny bits of glass, it is sharp, and yes, I've already drawn a little blood.  Here are the colors I purchased:

In these pics, you can see the different sizes of the glass grains.  The silver seems the most dangerous!

I'm working on some new items for my Etsy store using the glass glitter, and I'll share some pictures with you here: 

That's as far as I've been able to get with this particular project, though.  More to come when I'm finished!

Frankenstorm
With all of the coverage on the news and Internet about the hurricane that struck the eastern US last week, I'll not bother with saying much here.  All we got was a lot of wind and rain, but we also got some snow from it, which tickled me pink.  Hubby thought I was crazy for being so excited about seeing our first snow for the year, but I am like this every year when we get our first flakes.  It did make driving into work a tad treacherous, but here are a few fun pictures of the fluffiness:

You can see that not all of the trees have dropped their leaves yet, but many blew off during the storm.  I'm so glad to be this far inland, and not have had to experience what folks out east have been going through. 

Birthday Fun
My birthday is coming up this week, so we decided to celebrate this weekend, since a weekday birthday is pretty inflexible when it comes to having fun.  Hubby so sweetly decided to take Friday off, and we spent the day together, running errands, doing chores around the house, and eventually ending up having dinner at a quaint restaurant about a half hour away that I've mentioned before, Jeanne's Kitchen.  We had a good day.  But Saturday was really what I've been looking forward to ever since I found out what my dear husband had planned for us:
Here are a couple of photos of the Ohio countryside as we traveled to our destination...

And here is a picture of my birthday weekendapalooza purchases.  Wait a minute...is that...

Oh, yes it is...

Why, whatever could it be??

Silly girl, you picked it out...

Open it! Open it!

Oh, isn't it lovely?

It's a sterling silver piece of their 175th anniversary jewelry collection.  It's on a sterling silver chain, and both are stamped with the Tiffany & Co. logo.  Yes, my husband took me to Tiffany & Co. in Columbus and let me shop and try on all sorts of jewels!  I've never been in a Tiffany's, so this was extremely exciting.  When we first walked in, we entered a lobby area and were met by a well-dressed salesman and a well-dressed security guard.  I understood why there was a guard, but didn't expect it.  You don't see this sort of thing when you go to Zales at the mall.  The salesman took us around the store, asking us questions and trying to feel us out.  He showed us everything that they had.  I found a lot of things that were simply gorgeous, but way out of our price range.  The $58,000, 2+ carat diamond ring took the cake as the most expensive piece I tried on, which was fun because our salesman knew there was no possibility that we would buy it.  He didn't seem to mind, though.  The ring was so incredibly brilliant and simply stunning, with a narrow platinum band and a huge diamond in the middle.  The salesman put it on my finger, and my husband and I both exclaimed in unison, "Wow".  There were no other words.  While I know that I would never wear anything so audacious out in public even if I had the money to purchase such a piece, I couldn't help but think that I would love to be "the one percent" (if I bought into that whole school of thought).  I had picked out three necklaces, and finally decided on the one in the picture.  I really do like it!  I plan to wear it often.  Before going to Tiffany's, hubby took me to a very fancy steakhouse called Smith & Wollensky's, a restaurant that he'd eaten at before while in Columbus for work, but a place that I never had the pleasure to patronize until now.  It was neat, and the steak was soooo good!  We also ordered sides of green beans and lobster mac and cheese.  I didn't care for the green beans--they had been sauteed and mixed with Gorgonzola cheese, which I found out upon tasting that I didn't like (hubby agreed).  I tried to eat around it as much as I could.  Didn't matter, though--the steak more than made up for it!  For dessert, we ordered a piece of chocolate cake, which was huge.  We took most of it with us to eat later.  After lunch and jewelry shopping, we walked around, visiting other stores, and finally left after many hours of shopping, eating and walking.  It was a wonderful day spent with the man I love most (and not just because he took me to THE jewelry store).  I thank God for him every day, and am so glad to be blessed with such a sweet, kind, and thoughtful husband.  He really is a great guy, and I love him more and more as time goes by.  I look forward to many many years of happiness with him.  Thank you, my dear, for a wonderful day that will always be in my mind and heart!  

Old Sterilizer Cabinet, Snickerdoodle Blondies, and Short-Eared Owls

I see I've been quiet on here for a little while!  I've just been busy and bustling away here.  We headed over to Indiana on Saturday to help my in-laws clean out their back garage.  It was an all-day affair, and very tiring work, but we got it done in one day!  Cleaning is fun, and I enjoy it.  Since I'm still in my purging mood, I also enjoyed hearing the words, "pitch it", "burn pile", and "do you want that?", which, in fact, we did!  We took home a picture of my father-in-law's Navy picture, a black-and-white photograph from 1969 of him with his company.  It's a neat picture!  He and my father both share a Navy background; my father-in-law served in a submarine during Vietnam, and my father served on a light cruiser which is now docked in Buffalo, New York: USS Little Rock.  My husband's brother and sister both served in the Air Force, and my grandfathers both served in the Army during WWII.  We have a strong history of military service in our family, and I'm proud of that!

We also took home an antique sterilizer cabinet.  I can't seem to find any information on it, such as an idea of age, but it was used to sterilize towels at beauty parlors and barber shops.  My mother-in-law, who is a beautician, had planned to have her own styling salon a long time ago, and this was part of the furnishings that they purchased for her.  It was never used, sadly, and sat in the garage for years, but now we have it and I'd love to turn it into a usable cabinet in our forever home.  I'm excited!  By the way, if anyone out there can offer information on this cabinet, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post.

After the hard work that we did on Saturday, I felt exhausted on Sunday.  I did as little as possible, but there's always energy for baking!  I came across this recipe for snickerdoodle blondies online (yep, you guessed it--Pinterest!), and snickerdoodles are one of the hub's favorite cookies.  It sounded too good to not make, so here is the recipe, courtesy of Dozen Flours:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be somewhat cookiebatter-ish.) Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.

These are just so good.  You can thank me later.  We ate them and I never even bothered to take a picture before they disappeared.

Owl Corner: Short-Eared Owls

Photo from Wikipedia

This week, I'll tell you about Short-Eared Owls.  These owls can be found across the entire United States, north into Canada, and south into South America.  Their main habitats are grasslands, where they hunt during the late afternoon and through the night.  They usually range from 13"-17" in height, making them a medium-sized predator.  Their feathers are usually brown with streaks along their chest, stomach and back areas, and males tend to be lighter colored than females.  They have white faces with yellow eyes circled by a ring of black.  They prey mostly on small mammals, such as mice and voles, but have also been known to attack other small birds and even go fishing on occasion.  Hey, a bird's gotta eat!  I wonder if a crayfish is like a lobster dinner to an owl?  Because of their habitats, the owls tend to nest on the ground, usually in grass mounds or clumps of ground cover.  They tend to lay 5-7 eggs on average, but have been known to lay up to 14 eggs when food is most abundant.  They can live for up to 13 years.
Information taken from owlpages.com.

Being able to help others is always fun.  I think it contributes to a person's joy in life!  When I am able to help, I feel like I've accomplished something.  It's even better when the people you help are those you love the most: family.  Our ability and willingness to help others is also pleasing to God: "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (Hebrews 13:16).  It seems like people are less willing to lend a hand to others these days, so I encourage you to take a moment out of your day and look around.  If you're at the store, is there someone who needs help loading their groceries?  The leaves are falling; could your elderly neighbor use a hand with raking them up?  It won't take long to do, and you'll be glad you did!

P.S.  I'm starting to add some Christmas items to my shop on Etsy.  No, it's not too early to think about Christmas!  If you feel like it, check it out! The Sunflower Tree.

Hubby's First Haircut

 Tonight, I feel like sharing a story from the early years of our marriage.  Please to enjoy.

Inside view of the church where we were married

           My husband and I were married in 2004.  During that first year of marriage, we remained living in the same town that hubby was from, where his family still resides, and where his mother, a beautician by trade, continued to lovingly give her son free haircuts on a regular basis.  I had no problem with that, mainly because I had no experience with haircutting.  At all.  As in, I'd never cut any hair--never given a doll a haircut, never cut my dog's hair, never tried to trim my own bangs, nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.

After we had been married a little more than a year, hubby had decided to take a job that required us to move from Indiana to Kentucky, and away from his hairdresser.  Since we were moving away, he asked me to learn how his mother does it so that I could cut his hair from then on.  So his mom kindly showed me how to cut his hair one time.  Then I inherited the scissors (so to speak).  It seemed to be easy, and I watched carefully and took lots of mental notes.

Normal hair style and length.  Remember this for later.

 When the time finally came for hubby to have his hair cut, about six weeks after we moved, I went out and bought a little plastic comb, cape, scissors, a spray bottle, and a hair removing brush that his mom had recommended—it had a chamber to put baby powder in it which would be released when a little button on the handle was pushed.  The baby powder was supposed to help the brush get all of the little pieces of hair off of hubby.  Armed with all of the tools I needed, I began to cut his hair.  It was a looong haircut—I worked hard for an hour and a half, or maybe longer.  I was so very nervous!  I did everything just as I had remembered seeing it done.  I pulled the hair between my fingers and cut, cut, cut away all of the extra, and I mean ALL of the extra. My mother-in-law did not tell me how long to leave the hair, so I just put my fingers flat against his head and cut off all of the hair on the other side.  My poor husband!  He usually kept his hair a little longer on top than the back, but not that time!  After all of that cutting, he looked like he had just gotten a buzz cut.  As soon as I had finished, I knew I had done it wrong…and I was so scared and nervous that I started laughing uncontrollably.  You know that totally inappropriate laugh that you can't control, because you are so uncomfortable in the situation that you just don't know what to do?  That's the laugh that bubbled up and spilled out.  And wouldn't stop.

  That tipped him off and he asked for the mirror, so I handed it to him, my hand shaking, trying so hard not to pee my pants.  He was so kind and understanding, because he knew that I was scared to cut his hair anyway, but when he looked in the mirror, his first comment was, “Wow, I didn’t know you could cut hair this short with scissors…” At this comment, I doubled over with laughter.  It took a while to regain my composure.

I still had to brush the hair off of him, and I had loaded the brush full of baby powder.  I pushed the button a few times to get the powder into the bristles and began to brush off his neck, ears and back, and what I thought was a little bit of powder was actually a lot.  Big white clouds of baby powder drifted into the air and swirled around my husband, coating him in white.  He begged me to stop, and when the powder cleared, there sat my beloved husband, pale from the layer of baby powder and at a loss of what to do about his now very short hair.  I lost it, and started laughing all over again.  It was so memorable that we took pictures of his very short hair.  It took about a month for his hair to grow out to the length that he usually liked it, and he wore a hat for almost that entire time!

Photos from the first cut, in the front

There would be no spiking, or any other styling, for at least a month

Epilogue:

I have gotten somewhat better at cutting his hair, although some haircuts are still admittedly better than others.  I will never be as good of a haircutter as my mother-in-law.

Moral of the story: an understanding husband is a precious thing.  And you can get a buzz cut using scissors.

"The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain"-Proverbs 31:11.  I love being married to the most perfect match for me in this life.  Thank you, my dear husband, for eight years (and counting) of wonderful adventures, and occasionally, misadventures.  I can't imagine my life any other way.

Independence Day Celebrations!

What Fun We've Been Having

Hello!  It's been a little while since I've been on here.  We've had a lot going on over the past few weeks!  We were affected by the storm that moved across the eastern US on June 29, resulting in no access to the Internet or any news for several days.  Praise the Lord, though, that we didn't lose power during one of the hottest weeks of the year, though!  We watched the storm come through, and it was unlike anything we'd ever seen.  After the storm, we drove through town to see how everyone else fared, and it was an astonishing scene of destruction.  Massive trees were uprooted and homes damaged, windows were blown out and shattered, debris in the streets, and about 90% of the city was without power.  While everyone has their power back, there is still a lot of cleaning up being done.  I didn't have to go in to work last week--the town where I work didn't have power until last Wednesday night, and I'd requested Thursday off to go up to Michigan to visit family (more about that in a moment).  To sum it up, I ended up with a surprise week of vacation thanks to the storms!  I needed it, but it's been really hard to get the motivation to be back at work this week as a result.  I wish I had more pictures, but these will do for now:

Overturned shed in the yard next to my work.

Wide view of the house across from where I work.  The arrow on the left shows the bottom half of what's left of a pine tree that was about the same height as the one next to it; the arrow on the right shows half of a tree that was destroyed.

A closer picture of the destroyed tree.

Everything in town had pretty much come to a stand-still for the Fourth of July celebrations, and even though the fireworks happened as scheduled here, we opted to stay in and out of the intense heat.  Besides, we knew we were going to see the granddaddy of all fireworks shows up in Bay City, Michigan.  Every year, since before I was born, the city has held a three-day fireworks festival for Independence Day, and this year was the 50th anniversary of the festival.  They had promised that it would be the biggest show ever, and it truly was.  We left Thursday and stayed with my mom, as we always do.  I showed my mom how to make the scented gels, and we made a dozen together, creating new scents and having a good time.

The next day, my mom, stepdad, husband and I all traveled an hour and a half north to a beach on Lake Huron.  It had been years since I'd been up that way, and I had forgotten how beautiful of a drive it was.  We took food with us and once we arrived at the beach, we had ourselves a nice picnic, with grilled hot dogs, all kinds of chips, a delicious broccoli cole slaw, and fresh watermelon.  We spent several hours there, until the beach began to get too crowded for our liking and we began to get a little crispy.  We headed back to meet my sister and her husband for dinner at a favorite Mongolian barbecue restaurant, and we all had a good time together.

Saturday was the big day!  Lunch with my dad, a little shopping with my sister and brother-in-law, and the fireworks festival!!  My hubby and I left a little early to go to a few shops downtown (there are some really great little boutiques in Bay City), and several antiques stores, as well.  I have to credit my love of antiques and historic architecture to growing up in Bay City, because it has a good amount of both!  It's changed since I left almost fifteen years ago, but it still has some great gems.  I found a small cast iron cauldron at an antiques shop just before lunch, and plan to give it a new coat of paint and use it for a little flower pot on our table on the patio.  It's super-cute.  I'll post pictures later.  Then it was time to meet for lunch, and we ate at a little Italian restaurant and chatted.  Afterward, we went to St. Laurent Brothers, the chocolate/candy store that's been there since 1903.  I have always loved going there, and since I no longer live there, it's always a treat to be able to stop in.  I sampled an almond confection that was great--and I don't really even like almonds!--they had coated whole almonds in dark chocolate, then coated it in cocoa powder, and it was delicious!  We did some errands with my sis and b-i-l, and then had dinner.  Then, finally time for the fireworks!  We met my sister and b-i-l at the park downtown, and after waiting for a few hours, it was time for the fireworks to begin!  They shot off 50,000 shells in a fifty-minute show choreographed to music.  It was AWESOME!!  They usually have a great show every year, but this was above and beyond what we expected.  We were all impressed.  To see pro photos and a video of the entire show, click this link to the Bay City Times July 7.  You won't be sorry...unless you're sorry you missed it!  I took video, too, but the videos are way too big to load onto here and even YouTube, so I'll just post a few photos for your enjoyment:

Whew!  This is a long post!

And now...onto the Owl Corner!

Photo from Owling.com.

This week's little guy is called an Elf Owl.  He's called such because he's so tiny.  He's actually the smallest owl in North America, and one of the smallest in the world.  The size of a common sparrow, the elf owl has a call that sounds like a yapping poodle.  Its main habitat area is the southwestern US and parts of Mexico, and eats mostly bugs and beetles.  During breeding season, the male owl is known to sing throughout the night (what a way to woo!), and when the female lays eggs, they usually nest inside old woodpecker holes and saguaro cacti.  The female usually lays 2-4 eggs.  These owls are on the endangered species list.

Photo from Owling.com, and information from Owling.com and Audubon.org.

And finally
...the next post will be post #100!  I'll have to come up with something good to talk about.  Until then, adios!

Today, Christians are under attack more than ever in this country.  While this is not the first time a nation has rebelled against the commandments of God, I think that we are approaching some really serious consequences for our rebellion.  I have to believe that we have been under the protection of God for a long time, but probably not much longer.  We as Christians are called to be modern-day prophets and evangelists in a world that doesn't want to hear a much-needed message of love and hope. The prophet Ezekiel experienced a world much like the one in which we live today: "He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against Me to this very day.  The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen —for they are a rebellious house —they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak My words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious." (Ezekiel 2:2-7)  Sounds an awful lot like what we are still called to do today!