Indepence Day weekend~

I'm not a huge fan of the television evangelists; that might have something to do with the Tammy Faye and Jimmy Baker days. Anyways, this morning I am channel flipping on the television and Kenneth Cox Ministries, Give Me The Bible, is on.

He was talking and caught my attention.

He said, "Americans, we are headed for Bondage."

He went on to preach about the uprising and falling of our nation; making so much sense.

Not only did it make sense; it was down right scary.

We as a country NEED to OPEN OUR EYES!

This is what I got from his message:

Bondage
Spiritual Faith
Courage
Liberty
Abundance
Selfishness
Compliance
Apathy
Dependence
Bondage


Notice where Bondage is on the list. The Beginning and the End.

We as a country began in Bondage to England. We wanted our independence. How did that independence come about; by calling upon God with Spiritual Faith to give us the Courage to fight for our Liberty.

We attained our Liberty. Our independence from England. We were a free nation under God.

We acknowleged God and our faith in Him for helping us through these hard times. It was through our faith and trust in God that this country was formed. We as a country were so proud of our independence and freedom of speech and religion that we stamped it on all our currency, "In God We Trust."

What happened? We attained our Liberty and were able to form our own country. We were able to start up our own businesses. We became prosperous. We were making money and growing as a nation. We were living in Abundance.

Our Abundance was such a luxury; but were we satisfied? No. We as a country became greedy and consumed with Selfishness. We wanted more.

Now we are in trouble.

We became borrowers, without knowing how we would return. We let our greed and Selfishness consume us.

How can we fix this? Our government steps in and bails us out.

We as a people have lost pride and dignity in ourselves. We let our Selfishness in the material world over take us. Where is our Courage to rely on our Spiritual Faith that is in us to get back our Liberty!

Our Selfishness has turned to Compliance. We act like we don't care anymore. We are submitting our power as One Nation Under God to our own government!

We have become numb with spiritlessness. We are letting Apathy take control. We are lacking interest in general to what is going on right now in our own government!!

We as a nation can not give in to Dependence.

That is Bondage.

We need to keep our independence, our spirits up, and above all, our faith in God.

Think about it.

~~~~~~~~~~

"and no Virginia, England doesn't celebrate Independence Day. That is an American tradition."

God Bless our Troops.

Keep Independence Day in our lives.

Happy 4th of July.

surprise~

I'm out in the bait shop ... and who should walk in ... SURPRISE Aunt Mel! It's my little nephew Zach ~ who I haven't seen in about 3 years. Oh my.... has that boy grown! That's him on the left in the picture beside my son Sam.. who is 6'4". I never thought Zach would pass up his cousin like he did. Oh I just love surprises like this!! I just wish our visit could have been longer and Slim would have been home to see his nephew. None the less... it really made my day to see you Zach!

~~~~

Happy Birthday wishes to my brother Doug and sister Darla today!!!!!!!!!!
Also, birthday wishes to my brother inlaw JD!!!
Now get out there and have some fun! It's YOUR DAY!!


note: if any of ya baked a cake... gimme a call

the woods are alive~

Our trail camera has been giving us quite the show these last few days. The bear, the skunk, raccoons and wolf have been frequent visitors on the path.

Big Momma with a little cub following. The cub is under the fallen tree behind her. That fallen tree is about a foot off the ground. That's how little her cub is:


up close:

I love this pic ... just sitting around:



one of the DNR's pets with his shaggy summer coat:


It's fun checking the camera every day just to see what's been through the trail. I'm just waiting for a picture of a cougar. That will really make my day! I know there are some bobcats and fisher around too ... so time will tell.


You never know what you might see. Here's my long legged son, Sam, checking things out:


~~~~

I got the nicest surprise yesterday from Gary S. ~ who has a cabin over on the river and comes up for a visit when time permits. He brought me a flat of strawberries. Yum! Thanks Gary!!



Time for another strawberry rhubarb pie ~ like this one that I made last Jan. for the fisheree's pie auction. Am I bragging? YES! I was so proud of my little pie. It sold for $50.00. Thanks Lisa!!



Now ... onto the flowers. Sorry JD... I just couldn't resist a post without them.

My poppies are poppin' and the geranium is germin':

make the rooster stop crowing~

Poor Bailey... as much as she begged him ... she couldn't get him to stop. She just stood there with her ears plugged and that rooster just kept it up!

flowers~

My flowerbeds are blooming fools in this warm muggy weather. I love it! I'm not a big fan of hot muggy weather; but the plants sure like it.


The Sum and Substance Hosta that I planted 2 years ago is really taking off. Next year it should come into it's full glory expanding to about 5 feet in diameter. Although, right now I think it's looking pretty good at 3 feet wide.



The ferns are up and the poppies are blooming on the hill:


I just love the look of ferns. Next year I'm putting in another flowerbed of the different kinds of ferns we have native to our area. There are quite a few. Just off the top of my head... there's the cinnamon fern, wood fern, maiden hair, beech fern, bracken, crested wood, giant wood, fiddle head, oak and ostrich that I can think of.

I would also like to start an area in my yard of native plants such as the wild ginger, ginseng, grandiflora trillium, pitcher plant, solomons seal, lady slipper, jack in the pulpit, ... just to name a few. We have such beautiful wild plants; that it's a shame not to enjoy them on a more up close and personal level.

So many ideas . . . so little time to execute them.

My new blueberry bush is showing it's baby blues . . . exciting... isn't it!



The Bleeding Heart is still pushing out it's little heart shaped blossoms:



Isn't this a nice little compact plant? Wish I could remember what it's called. I have to start using garden stakes and mark this stuff down. Or... start a plant journal of what's planted where.


My daughter, Staci, belongs to a garden club called Friends of the Garden. They get together every Thursday evening and visit other peoples gardens and green houses, mushroom farmers, organic farmers, etc... and she keeps asking me to join. I'll have to tell her if she can identify my purple plant I might go along. lol

A Bearded Iris:

Double White Petunia:




Once again... I hope you enjoyed the little garden tour of some of my bloomers.