Community and my dog

Good morning!  It is Saturday!  I bet you didn't know that birds start singing at 4:30 in the morning these days!  Even with earplugs in, they sneak their little songs into my brain.  They say, "Wake up!  Wake up!  The morning has come and you are missing it!"  I fought it for a while, but...really who can fight that beautiful invitation? 

I have so much to say this morning that I have a feeling it will all come out jumbled.  I was walking to the laundry room and I stopped and looked out the window at my dog.  He was sitting there so regally watching the morning break.  It made me think of all the mornings he sat and watched come and how many of them were with an empty stomach and a lonely heart.  If you haven't read prior posts, he was a rescue.  He was in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for 10 months.  His people moved off the property and asked the farmer down the road to feed him.  I brought him to the vet the other day for some tests.  It really hit home how little he was fed when they had a hard time finding a muscle to put the needle in.  He is such a love bug.  It is hard enough to think of him alone for months on end, but then to realize that he wasn't fed on a regular basis...that is just too much to think about.  I took a picture of him sitting out there.  It isn't the best picture, but it...it shows to me that he is really home.  He doesn't just have food here.  He doesn't just have a couch to sleep on at night (ok, if Belle lets him).  He has a family who loves him.  He has a yard to patrol.  He has toys to play with.  He has a sister to romp with in the wee hours of the morning.  He has a HOME. 

I wanted to let you know that I gave my Mom entry to both my Mom and to my friend who "must be 90".  They were both very touched and so gracious about my writing.  I am so blessed to have older, wiser and loving women in my life. 

Community - Community!  As I have written many times and I think I included in my intro on myself, I started this blog looking for community.  I was lonely.  I felt like I didn't have time for community.  I felt like I didn't have anything to give in exchange for building community.  I HAVE COMMUNITY!!  My husband and I stepped up and started teaching Financial Peace University at our church.  I have been amazed at the number of people who God has brought into our lives through that!  We are enjoying the camaraderie and we are enjoying the chance to teach together as a couple.  We are enjoying seeing people's lives change because of what we are doing.  It is neat too to be so connected with people on a larger scale.  And I am finding that the more we commit to that and to making the changes in our own life that we need to make finances a priority, other parts of our lives are affected.  My work life is empowered.  My ability to reach out to people in need is empowered.  My self-confidence has seen a huge shift too!  Gotta love that! 

We made 5-gallon buckets into worm bins with the cubscouts!  That was fun!  It was my idea too.  I have so many worms right now that it is crazy!  I have three worm bins and I already gave one away.  It is a lot to take care of and make sure that they are fed on a regular basis with us being as busy as we are.  So I thought about how to share that with our scouts.  It was so fun to talk about recycling food and how important it is.  We also talked about using the "poop" as fertilizer.  The boys got a good giggle out of that.  The parents were a bit squeamish at first, but then they actually started asking questions.  I figure that even if those worms die, it was worth it to be able to share the message.

I have been thinking a lot about bringing a bucket into my work place.  We waste so much food there it is crazy.  Maybe that is where my bucket will go.  I could hide it under my desk.  Tea bags, banana peels, orange peels to some extent, apple cores, etc.  It is a lot smaller than the bigger bins that I have too, so it is easier to harvest the fertilizer.  Hmmm...I wonder if I have talked about worms in this blog?  I will have to check it out and do a more in-depth entry about them.  They are such a cool part of our efforts to recycle as much as possible. 

I just went out to let the chickens out for a romp in the yard.  I feel very contented and happy.  I hope you have a beautiful day. 

Lovely Saturday

How nice to have a clear Saturday in the Fall!  My guys were working on updating the computer, so Belle and I took the opportunity to spend it mostly outside.  Our shed had a lot of moss and other debris on it.  I worked on it for quite a while.  I couldn't finish it, but I will. 

Then I looked at the worm bin.  I have been feeding them regularly, but just haven't taken much time to check on them.  WOW there are a TON of worms in there.  They have been busy while I have been ignoring them.  The people who lived her before had started a compost bin.  I cleaned out part of our garden and dumped old tomato stocks in there.  Then I thought, well there are a lot of worms for one little bin!  So I added about half the bin to the compost bin.  Not sure how that will work, but hopefully things will break down faster.  And it was past time to clean out my original bin too.  Now just to start USING the gold in there!!  Ok, I think I will let it grow over the winter and use it in the spring. 

As I said, I worked on the garden areas as well.  I got one pretty cleaned up and then Tim and I moved the chickens onto that one so they can clean it all up and give it a good fertilizing as well.  We will dig the fertilizer in before it freezes and it should be ready for good planting next year.  Then they get to clean up the next portion.  They are so good at cleaning up weeds and such. 

Next I tackled the leaves.  We have a lot of leaves from two huge cherry trees in our yard.  I keep thinking about having them taken down, but they really are beautiful big trees.  In any case, I raked a bit and covered our non-garden areas with the leaves.  Hopefully they will protect the areas from the weather and they will keep the weeds down.  Even if they don't break down (they are thick leaves!) I can rake them off the beds and continue to compost them in another area when spring comes. 

We are just at the beginning of the leaves dropping, so there will be a lot more where those came from.  I will be able to get a good load of them onto the side gardens.  These gardens don't get much sun.  I will look at what kind of veggies grow well in more shadier areas and see if I can get some stuff to grow there next year. 

Watched a very interesting documentary last night.  It was called Forks over Knives.  It talked a lot about how it is better for our health to eat less meat, fish and dairy.  I think it would be less costly too, even with eating all organic foods.  It is tough on Tim as he does the cooking around here.  So I am thinking about doing some research and seeing what I can do.  I understand grains and vegetables better than I ever have meat anyway.  I assured him that we are not going to CUT out meat completely, but lessening it is a smart thing.  And it seems easier to do in the winter when there are stews and soups that warm the tummy and the soul. 

Carl wants the computer, so I had better go.  Thanks for sharing this lovely Sunday morning with me.