Tuesday, April 15, 2008

In the News

Every word of God is pure:
he is a shield unto them
that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee,
and thou be found a liar.
~Proverbs 30:5-6

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. ~Acts 17:11

And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. ~Acts 10:25-26

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: ...And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. ~1 John 17:1, 11

I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. ~Isaiah 42:8

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. ~Matthew 23:9

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. ~Ephesians 5:23

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. ~1 Timothy 2:5

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ~Hebrews 4:14-16

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. ~Psalms 32:5

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. ~1 Timothy 4:1-5

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. ~Colossians 2:8

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ~1 Peter 1:18, 19

Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. ~Mark 7:13

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. ~Matthew 15:9

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. ~Matthew 6:7, 8

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. ~Matthew 23:14

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) ~1 Timothy 3:1-5

And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. ~Matthew 8:14

Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas [Peter]? ~1 Corinthians 9:5

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ~1 John 2:1, 2

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ~John 14:6

[...Jesus Christ of Nazareth...] Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. ~Acts 4:12

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ~1 Corinthians 3:11

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ~Joshua 24:15

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. ~Acts 5:29

To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
~Isaiah 8:20
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This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ~II Timothy 3:1-5

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Treasures(not)

There's a trash treasure heap on our land. Hey, it came with the place -- was included in the contract price. And it may well be the boys' favorite feature on the acreage. I had to crop it out of one of the Meadow Muffin Avenue photos, since it added angst rather than ambiance. Now you know one of my piggledy little secrets. I also cleaned one pane in the back door yesterday morning, so I could take one of the following photos. Man, it was cold, standing outdoors in my nightgown at 31º, with a brisk wind! Our part of the globe just isn't that toasty. C'mere little polar bear. C'mere. You can come live with us. You'll like Kansas.

There's been renewed interest of late in Treasure(not) Mountain and excitement over the finds. Who wouldn't want a still-sealed can of beer, rusty oil can, and trophy toppers?


Dad, that's who, and that's why they went back out the door as quickly as they came in.

One treasure was merely described to me, sight unseen. "I found an arrow in the dump. You know, like a sign; an arrow showing the direction to go to get somewhere."

"Oh, that's nice."

I was amused the following morning, when I glanced out the back door and saw clearly what is not-so-clearly seen in this photo. I circled it:

I cropped the photo for a closer view:

I pondered its possible meanings:

Leave
Escape Route
Go This Way to Blow This Joint
The Rest of the World Is Out There
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

Who needs a directional sign in their driveway? We don't. And maybe that's the reason I like it: it makes no common sense, so one can make of it what they will.


Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. ~Matthew 7:13, 14

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Googles

According to statistic reports, the second most used search criterion which plops visitors onto my blog is an image search for "ancona." I've long wondered what the ancona attraction is, so I ran ancona through Yahoo! Image Search and sifted through 15 pages of photo thumbnails without seeing a single image generated from my blog. Okay, I thought, the stat identifies Google as the engine, so I'll do the Google Images search. Still, it wasn't until I'd reached page 12 that I saw the photo.

That? That's bringing people to my blog? Weird.

And I wonder if they're disappointed when they get here. Do they growl? They knew they were going to get a wad of chickens (clear, even in the thumbnail), so they're happy? Were they just curious about what sort of nutcase person is posting fowl fotos?

More interesting to me, though, was running through Google Images the word which generates the most hits on my blog -- from all over the world and with regularity: HenNots.

I was very, very scared to run it, as evidenced by the fact that it's been showing up in the stats for months, and only today was I able to make myself give it a go. I don't know why, but I feared it was the name of a porn star. Or an uncomely website. Or a brothel in Indonesia. Why ever on earth are so many people typing hennots into Google Image and poking the button? I cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that doing so will bring one a single (1) page of results, with 13 photos, 12 of which are on my blog: 3 blog entries and 2 sidebar photos neither of which are hens...which I suppose does make them HenNots, although hen and/or not don't come to my mind when I think of a child or a dog. Go figure.

The first photo in the results, though, is of a family named Hennot: "The Hennots in deep family...," and I've not yet followed the dot-dot-dots to learn in what the Hennots are deeply engaged. Based on the thumbnail, they may be engaged in a pitcher of tea. Or ale. (Is ale served in pitchers?) They may be discussing Cousin Herman's balding pate. Ah, the URL indicates it's a genealogy site. Mayhap they're in deep family distress over Aunt Scarlet's escapades and laying plans to lop her branch from the family tree.

All jesting aside (and desiring not to be sued), the Hennot family looks lovely in their thumbnail, and I'm confident they're merely in deep family...conversation of the finest sort. Cousin Herman, you still have plenty of hair on the crown of your head. I was just joshin' ya! Aunt Scarlet, anyone can experience embarrassing moments. Why, I once (decades ago) tripped while stepping away from my table in a popular nightspot and unwittingly broke my fall by latching onto the waistband of the man seated on a stool opposite my table, and who had a plumber thing happening with his backside. Hey, it could happen to anyone. Couldn't it? Tell me it could happen to anyone.

The sleuth in me sent me searching this morning; I just thought I'd share the googles.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. ~John 8:12

Friday, April 11, 2008

Avenue

I liked all of the suggested names -- delightful, one and all -- for the CowNots' path to the north pasture. Thank you for the shared fun.

I also like seeing my middle initial; it is all about me.

avenue: a broad passageway bordered by trees

Next, I'm fond of alliteration. A couple of decades ago, my dear husband addressed me as "my little meadow muffin," which warmed the cockles of my heart...until I learned what a meadow muffin is. Even so, I've never shaken that initial, warm, fuzzy feeling derived from such a dainty sounding endearment, flowing to me from the lips of my beloved.

With this preface, I present:

Meanwhile, back at the house...

They're still just being chickens.

Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. ~Jeremiah 33:2-3

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Spring

SPRING
*sigh*
It's beautiful.

I just had to take pictures today, even though it was overcast most of the day. I wanted to capture the beauty of spring.

The jonquils are blooming.

The trees are beginning to flower.

I planted gerbera daisies.


Daisies are so cheerful. ºÜº


and some pansies


happy little faces


Hello, little pansy.


I just had to take pictures today, even though it was overcast most of the day. I wanted to capture the beauty of spring.

IT'S SUPPOSED TO SNOW SATURDAY

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ~Galatians 1:3-5