Who wants some black walnuts?
I decided yesterday that I had better pick up the walnuts from out in the field. Maybe that will discourage the bear from taking up residence here. I found an old cat litter bucket and took that out. I filled it up in five minutes and didn’t make a dent in the number of walnuts. Mr. FixIt found me a 7.5 gallon bucket. I filled it up and hadn’t left the first tree yet. I rummaged around in the building and came up with an old enamel canner and a plastic washtub. I got about three bushels! I got all the walnuts picked up that were in the mowing area of the field but there are still plenty on the trees and in the underbrush of the hedgerow. Copperheads look exactly like fallen leaves so I did NOT mess around in there. We’ll leave those to the wildlife and hope for the best. I will say, the cat was hissing all around the first tree. She went cautiously to the edge of the creek bank and looked over, but whatever she was smelling wasn’t there at the moment. That being said, I found three or four big piles of bear scat so they are frequenting our fields, for sure.
Mr. FixIt had an appointment in town yesterday morning early and he was so kind to let me sleep in. When I cleaned the kitchen before our big trip, I wanted to tackle the pantry, but I ran out of time. I took advantage of my sweetie being away and I tore through the cans and boxes, tossing some, giving some away that no longer meet our dietary preferences, and started cleaning the shelves.
She is so unbelievably tiny! Her litter mates are three times her size!
I had a grocery list for Mr. FixIt and he also needed to stop at the furnace parts store. He and two other guys poured over the schematics of our model of furnace and they finally came up with what part needed replaced. Mr. FixIt got home and in ten minutes he had the furnace up and running. I had to leave the rest of the pantry for today because we had another errand to run.
We headed to town because a drain line is blocked in our rental house so we had to work on that a bit. Then we went over to visit the Former Mrs. FixIt. She has a new puppy…a mixed breed. It has Mountain Feist in it…a breed I’d never heard of. This little girl is the runt of the litter and when I say she’s little…I’m not kidding! She’s no bigger than your hand and weighs less than a pound at two months!
She has a familiar mark on her back so she named her Minnie!
But, when we got back from town, the furnace blew hot air for about five minutes and stopped, just like it did the first time. I know Mr. FixIt can do this…he can do anything! He’ll keep trying. We have a couple of security cameras around our house, so I set up a trap of sorts. I made sure there were walnuts within sight of both of the cameras so maybe we’ll catch that bear red handed…or is it pawed? We didn’t let Pumpkin out of the building till around 10:00 and put her inside long before the sun started to sink low over the far ridge across the creek. So, we’ll see!
On our way home, we stopped for Chinese food. I’ve lost thirty pounds now and that meal was a huge treat for me. The nice thing is, I’m learning to pay closer attention to my hunger cues. Too many times I was eating because it was TIME to eat whether I was really hungry or not. Or, because I was feeling peckish and I would graze until my mouth was satisfied. Or I would eat because I was bored or sad or angry. Isn’t it weird to be seventy years old and just learn these things about yourself? It just goes to show you, we never stop learning. If I’m on the right side of the grass, I want to be learning something!
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“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV
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His Mercies are New Every Morning
