Yesterday's Chipmunk Ordeal

Emerald...

...was out across the road where the cats normally go; a forest full interesting things to is too much for a curious cat to pass up. Yep, she found something interesting...

a chipmunk.

She must have chased it onto the road before she came in for treats; I had to call Winston in

because he was too preoccupied with the activities of a crow. 

Seems the little chipmunk had dashed across our road and got itself noticed by the ever watchful glaze of a crow, sitting high in a tree top.

Well, the crow was thinking 'easy dinner' and the chipmunk was praying 'ESCAPE' and I was concerned because Winston was meandering on the road so I wasn't paying attention to the crow he kept stopping to watch, I was too busy watching for vehicles that might hit Winston.

Finally he came to me, then I took notice of what the crow was up to. In the driveway of my neighbor the crow was attaching the chipmunk. I yelled and it paid no heed until I came running at it, it then decided that it might be prudent to watch from on high. 

While it perched in a tree, I checked the little chipmunk. It ran from me three times before I was able to turn it over in the grass and carefully pick it up. They bite - I wasn't interested in getting a needle for the bite I would recieve if I wasn't cautious so I pulled my sweater sleeve over my hand and picked it up with the other. The frightened chipmunk sank its teeth deep into my sweater and hung on making tiny squeaky noises as I held it. The crow took a keen interest in 'just what I thought I was doing with its prey...'

 After all, he had a mate to feed!

Holding the tiny chipmunk

who had cupped itself into my hand and was still munching on my sweater, I took it across the road and into the forest. Finding a place with low growing, very young trees, I carefully peeled the chipmunk's mouth from my sleeve and separated the two. It curled into a ball in my palm. I placed the little guy under a low growing tree and covered its hiding place over with dead leaves to shelter it from the rain which had started to fall. 

The rest I left to the Lord, its His chipmunk after all. 

When I finally emerged from the woods the crow scanned me carefully to see whether I still had its dinner with me. When he realized I did not... 

  well, he wasn't too happy about it. 

He flew to a nearby tree across the road but he wouldn't know where to begin looking for his lost prey.

I hope the chipmunk recovered enough to find its way back to its family and I hope the crow found some other prey for its mate. 

It remains in the Lord's hands because its His business to take care of both.

Catspaw







 

RESOLUTIONS

Online Thesaurus.com says that the word Resolutions belongs in Category 1 and means Acts of Volition or determination and strong will. There are a few other words that I will take for my own this year: boldness, constancy, courage, fixed purpose, fortitude, mettle, moxie, resolve, spirit, tenacity, willpower and decisiveness. 

 

Dictionary.com has this to say about the word,

1. Noun: a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization; a legislature, a club, or other group. Compare concurrent resolution, joint resolution.

2. A resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

3. The act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

4. The mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

5. The act or process of resolving or separating into constituent or elementary parts.

 

Being the first day of the New Year everyone will welcome it with the usual round of resolutions, the promises we make and break to ourselves, our loved ones and possibly the Lord too. I've always considered it to be a silly tradition because tradition is what it has become. Instead, may I suggest making a choice of a few words that have a meaning or power to you and setting your will on them. Its just too easy to go back on our word and the resolution that seemed so powerful and life-changing at first, is suddenly drained dry when we really don't feel like following through on it anymore, which will inevitably happen. 

 

Why make promises when a single word can carry more power and purpose in it, especially if you have certain goals to meet this year. Mine are simple because simple is easier to achieve...

 

1.   Save $2,080 by the end of 2013 (I already have $240). Seems small, doesn't it; but when you have obligations to meet and a budget to plan, working this in is HUGE.

2.   Read my Bible daily. (I finished Isaiah last November). I start 2013 with Jeremiah. 

3.   Work on a few personal goals.

4.   Start writing my stories again and get them finished by the end of the year in manuscript form. 

Well, so far so good... its only day 1.

Catspaw

   

 

 

~~~HELP ! DOOMSDAY IS COMING !~~~

Personally, I don't put any stock whatsoever in any prediction performed by man. Least of all an Ancient, long dead and violent civilization that would have given Hitler a run for his money!  That's just a given. When you're Bible tells you that 'Not even the Angels in Heaven know when the end of the world is'... I take that to mean Only the Lord himself has this information. This is HIS business, not ours.

Yet, Christian professing people around the globe are blowing their life savings to build an Ark???

This monstrosity has a looong way to go before the end of the world next Friday!!!

How the Lord must shake His head at us!

I can imagine Him asking 'why do I bother'.

 I mean, people.... he hasn't even gotten the plumbing in yet!!! 

?!How long has he been building this thing?!

This one rather confuses me, if the world is coming to an end, why do you need fuel in your car? Where exactly, do you think your going to drive to?

Do tell, how is toilet paper and instant noodles going to help????

Can you imagine the sales this Department store is making - two weeks before Christmas yet! 

Its like celebrating Christmas twice!

Course, its not all good news for every store on the planet ~ food panic buying has resulted in food price surges round the globe.

Thank you VERY MUCH! 

Like food isn't expensive enough on Prince Edward Island, Canada!

And its not limited to our side of the world either...

Then there's this...

Uhmmm, if radiation is going to engulf the globe in a week's time, tell me; how are these going to help?  Uh, this question is open to everybody, by the way

   What I would not give to own a store right now! It wouldn't matter what I sold.

Pretty much says it all...

 

 Personally, my husband and I plan to sleep through it, depending of course on what time of day or night its supposed to happen........... 

You'd think the Mayan's could at least given the time of day! Jeez

Just so you know, I will be blogging on December 22, 2012; after the end of the world. What do you think my topic will be?

Catspaw

Working On ~~~

Sorry to be so late. I had an issue with a barn cat today. His name is Scaredy and for good reason ~ he's an absolute TWAWT!

So named because he's a barn cat that refuses to let anyone near him, although he is one to come round my patio door, begging. As you know my door(s) are open to all comers, within reason. Well, the usual barn cats came in this morning and as I quickly found out so did Scaredy. He came in (for the first time ever and probably the last) without me knowing it. It poured buckets of rain half the day so I closed the glass patio door. Lord God! All hell broke loose when Scaredy realized he couldn't get out!!!

He must have slammed into the patio door four times and the front window at least twice while running ramshackle through the house. Stupid cat smashed his nose up pretty good in the process. That other black cat did the same but Merrill was able to check him out and he wasn't hurt to the point where he would not recover; I'm sure the same will be said of Scaredy. Anyway, he managed to crawl under the fridge and I had to drag that out and get him free... Then he got himself trapped behind the big brown chair next to the patio door so I could finally shoo him outside. Haven't seen him since! Still have two greys and the black one in though, barn cats all and all as scared, at first as he is. They quickly learned the benefits. 

Today is our 10th Anniversary ~~~

Dumb cat!

Catspaw

An 'Oops' Moment

Just lately things have not been going so well, my husband and I have been trying to survive a winter of difficulty that has so far ranged from financial to health problems. These kind of troubles are not intended to be fun; they have been filled with stomach-wrenching drops, dips and sudden curves and in my case, physical pain. If I didn't know better I might start to believe that this roller-coaster ride is nothing more than a random experience, that the forces that have lifted us up in the past also push us down and are the whims of some nasty fate that is singling us out. Its very humbling to have so little; little money and big bills. To keep the heat off to save the oil. To only run hot water as you absolutely need it. To keep the lights off and put your washing on the line in winter to dry. Geez, sounds like something out of a third world country doesn't it!  Poverty isn't limited to certain countries in the world, its a global infection and we have found ourselves there now. This winter has hit us hard. How many of you out there are experiencing the same?  I wonder. 

There are two things that get me through my day: the Lord and His advice and my cats. When things get too much to bare my four are there as, I almost said silent, comfort but in reality they are pretty chatty and demanding of my care of them. At other times, they sense my mild depression or my husband's and they come quietly to nestle against us, curling up to sleep on one lap or the other. Molly has this endearing quality about her, she will come and lay the top of her head against you and ask to be petted!

This is the message the Lord gave me today:
Just In Time
May the God you serve all the time save you!  Daniel 6:16


Look at Jonah in the fish belly - surrounded by gastric juices and sucked-in seaweed... He prays... Before he can say amen the belly convulses, the fish belches and Jonah lands face first on the beach. (Doesn't life make you feel like that sometimes.) Look at Daniel in the lions' den; his prospects aren't much better then Jonah's. Jonah had been swallowed and Daniel is about to be...
Or look at Joseph in the pit, a chalky hole in a hot desert. The lid has been pulled over the top and the wool has been pulled over his eyes... Like Jonah and Daniel, Joseph is trapped. He is out of options. There is no exit. There is no hope... Though the road to the palace takes a detour through a prison, it eventually ends up at the throne... of Egypt.
Such are the stories in the Bible. One near-death experience after another. Just when the neck is on the chopping block, just when the nose is around the neck, Calvary comes to save the day!


This comes from today's reading in my Grace For The Moment by Max Lucado book. Another book I am reading that has literally saved my bacon in the sense that it has successfully lifted up my hope is The Upside Of Down, Finding HOPE When It HURTS by Joseph M. Stowell.
Aside from books like these and the Bible, Proverbs 18 today, they are what keep me going. These and the cats the Lord has entrusted us with. I hope everyone who takes the time out of their own busy days to come and read my humble blog will take something uplifting and encouraging with them. Life isn't always about the happiness our pets bring us and we have to find ways to cope with the down times as well. I have finally learned not to cope using my old 'oops' system of depression and anger. This is a down time for me right now; in sharing how I've learned to cope I hope I've helped you. 


Thank you for reading my blog.


Catspaw