Category: Animals

If Interested…

Our Real Home is now available at Amazon in Kindle format and paperback.

This is fictional story of real life characters as they explain how they see Heaven. I made these book marks for a few of my friends.

The main purpose of this book is encouragement. Encouragement with how the Bible explains to us what Heaven is like and encouragement of just how much we are all loved by God. While the story may make you smile as these characters learn of the beauty that they were made for, it is a testament, according to scripture, of just how much God loves each of us and that he created each of us for a purpose, man and beast alike…so that he could spend eternity with those who love Him. My opening comments of the book…

Encouragement in God’s Love

The sole purpose of this book is showing the encouragement we all need by giving a visual perspective of God’s love for everything He creates. God has a special love and purpose for man, who is made in His image, and for animals who possess a special connection with God’s love. This story is written from the perspective of how I believe a dog is created and how a dog thinks. At the base of any dog’s heart, there is an inherent form of love and devotion, given as a gift from God. This gift is then given freely from the dog to his owner, even when that love or devotion is not deserved. The dog knows no different way to be. Hopefully, to anyone who is an animal lover, the love and devotion you have received from your past pet(s) can now be shared with people. Then in time, you may acquire another pet companion – not to replace one you have lost, but to strengthen you further still, and to expand that love you have been shown with others – animals and people. Life on this earth is hard on a good day and can be worse on hard days. It is my sincere hope that this book will be an encouragement for anyone reading it to realize the love, beauty, and patience of God for everything He creates. God’s identity never changes, but how we see Him changes as we follow His Word and grow closer to Him.

Do you believe in angels…real angels. I do. Scripture speaks of angels as messengers of God. I believe God uses all of creation to speak to our hearts non-verbally….and occasionally verbally of needed. This book takes on the light side of the “what ifs”. There have been many stories about angels…and we have all heard them. What if…

Regardless of your interest in this book, may you always be encouraged knowing God loves you more than you could ever imagine. Have a blessed day and don’t forget about the beauty of all of creation.

And remember to always be kind.

SOCS, Nov 5

I fully realize today, in my time zone, is Friday morning BUT I loved the idea of tomorrows SOCS prompt. My Saturday is going to be out of control busy so I are doing it today.

My favorite word is a word of action or an expansive adjective, and sometimes it can be an adverb. Its a word that is uses in every language on earth. Its an action that is used by every creature ever made that shows our inner hearts. It is a characteristic of one of the nine fruits of the spirit mentioned in the book of Galatians. It is the forerunner of all things beautiful. I close every post I create with it in some form. That word is….Kindness.

Kindness in any of its many forms, like kind, kindly, kinder… etc. is a base word for growing beauty. Think of all the actions you do on a daily basis but kindness is where you start from…like love, sharing, gentleness. It is a word we should always have in our pockets to use at any given moment. The dictionary has 197 synonyms and antonyms for the word kind proving the power of this one tiny word. Animals use it within their family units but how often do you hear about an animal reaching out to a different specie with an act of kindness and even protection of the other specie. I could tell you countless stories I have read, the most recent from National Geographic about a diver and a whale. It happens more than we know.

Kindness can be as simple as sharing a smile, a soft hello to someone scared, or a much needed hug from which you also benefit. It is a word we ALL benefit from so let’s use it often and help the world become a better place.

Always Be Kind

Feeder Pest

Those of us who spend money to be able to enjoy the birds, we don’t always appreciate the antics of these pesky thieves.

🙄

Some love to watch the antics of these creatures but they keep the birds from coming close so I have learned that if you only feed Safflower seeds, the squirrels don’t like them and stay away. But when someone donates a 12lb. bag of birdseed for your enjoyment you don’t complain.

🐷 Guess I should be glad its not a Racoon.

I gave you food on the ground. Stay there!!

They can be greedy little pigs as they will empty the feeder in a short amount of time.

But they are quite amazing hanging by their feet!

So I guess I will try what I did at home. Not sure if it really works as I changed to Safflower seeds at the same time. But we will add this to see…

The squirrels don’t like the movable slinky…supposedly. We will see.

While I wonder if a paint ball gun would be unkind in this instance…I always try to be kind.

Silliness of the Things We Love

Life can be frustrating, confusing and down right hard. So today we are throwing in a little silliness to bring a smile and possibly a chuckle to the day. I give you Daisy…

Hello, My name is Daisy. Some have seen me before but today I give you my official duties. Its not all love and cuddles. I am the chief protector of the home. The sofa is my favorite perch to look out. The softness of the arm is comfy on my bottom and allows quick jumping to the window to warn anybody of my presence…if they didn’t know already.

I love going outside. The yard is fenced in so no one else is allowed in my yard and I protect it with a vengeance. But sometimes I wonder what’s going on inside , so I go look in the window to see what my mom is doing. She watches a lot of TV.

My most favorite place to snooze is also on the sofa…the whole sofa. I am long and stretch out to the fullest. Preferable on my back. I like hanging my head over too…it stretches out my neck.

I kind of shadow my mom…wherever she goes…you can never tell what may go on in the bathroom…the shower is in there. That’s a bad place.

So hello, my name is Daisy and it was nice talking to you.

And like we all need to remember, animals like kindness too. So be kind to everything.

April 6 #1minFiction Challenge

Cranny’s #1 Minute Fiction Challenge this week made me laugh as my mind went in a whole different direction. Come join in to share you thoughts.

The Glass Box

“Hey George, come look. Those weird creatures are coming up out of the ground again. Hurry, come look before they leave.”

“Ignore them Martha,” said George as he moved away out of sight. “The more attention you give them the longer they stay.”

“But George they are fascinating to watch. Come look.”

“No.”

“One of them has that light box thingy that gets bright when he puts it close to his face. I wonder what it does?”

“George, are you listening to me? Don’t you even care?”

“No.”

Have you ever wondered what goes through the minds of animals at the zoo? I bet they think we are the weirdest creatures of all.

Regardless of the creature you come in contact with, always be kind…but if you need to run first, then run and be safe, then be kind from a distance.

And Always Be Kind

The Fun Side of Christmas

Good morning friends. So far I have shared my living room tree, more on the elegant side; and my bathroom tree, the down under tree. Today I am sharing my bedroom tree, the kitchen tree and the woodland animals tree. Its the fun side of Christmas or at least my quirky side.

My bedroom tree is the more personal tree. It has the ornament that my children made when young, happy ornaments that make me me smile and it is fast becoming the S’more tree.

I know as kids we all ate S’mores, or should have, but over the past 20+ years, I have collected S’more ornaments. Its my kids fault, they started it – I have just kept it going. My S’more ornament this year made me chuckle when I saw it, so, yes I had to have it.

A Graham Cracker truck, lol

Below are some of my more favorite ornaments from this tree because I cant show them all – they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t a favorite of some sort.

Notice the date on the bottom of the angel – ’81, my oldest made this when he was three. It always goes on the top of this tree.

Moving from the bedroom to the dining room and you have the Woodland Christmas including a cabin, the outhouse with cow, woodland animals and the hedgehog Christmas.

Then from dining room to kitchen, yes no room was left untouched by Christmas, we have the rest of the critters celebrating Christmas. All enjoying the fun of the holiday, singing, playing instruments and playing in the snow.

On Thursday I will share the Sunroom Christmas that has the big tree and the Christmas Village. I added a side village this year – the candy cane village. Until then, I hope you have wonderful week. Stay warm, its 12 degrees here in Iowa and remember to always be kind. It shows the very best side of you.

Backyard Acrobatics

I enjoy watching the antics of the birds and squirrels our my windows. It is amazing how animals can adapt to the humans who have invaded their areas. We could probably learn a thing or two from them.

Twice now I have had to call animal control to come get the ground hogs who are bound and determined to dig tunnels in my yard. Guess that is better that porcupines.

Then the squirrels became creative in getting to the suet feeder at the office. I later added a slinky to the post so they can’t climb up it. It a gentle and effective way to keep them off certain feeders. They have their own feeder further over.

Then the antics of the sparrows was amusing when the suet cake got to small. I would think eating from the side of the cage would be easier…no, he climbed down inside it where no one would bother him…smart bird.

The woodpeckers we are used to seeing hanging upside down, which is why I have the bottom feeders. But they like the regular ones better. The nuthatches like the bottom feeders but are very skittish of movement.

Guess its time to pull up the dried up sunflower. All the birds enjoyed eating the seeds from them. Well, I guess they should have, they planted them. Having nature come into your yard is a fun way to help you relax. You can actually learn a lot about the hierarchy of the different birds. Think of putting out a feeder, you would be amazed of who may come by.

And as always remember to be kind…to all kinds. All of nature understands kindness and are part of God’s creation plan too.

ALWAYS BE KIND!

Flash Back – For the Love of Dogs

When I first started blogging in 2018, this was one of my first posts. It was before I started adding pictures and scripture references. I am a firm believer in a picture being worth 1,000 words. Some will look through to just see the pictures and if I can get the message in the pictures as well, then we may reach that one person that needs reaching with a message showing kindness.

I was reading back through some of my old post and thought this message was still very relevant, so I have revised it by adding pictures and scripture references. Last month, I lost one of my precious babies, Mimi, and I firmly believe she did have a soul. I could see it in her eyes.

July 2018

You know that look you try not to show when someone makes a really stupid comment, or maybe they just need to be slapped back into reality for other reasons. You want to do the honors of the reality slap but you reframe due to the kind person that you are so you just walk away shaking your head.

I react this way when I hear people make comments about dogs or animals not having a soul. Hey, they were created first. Okay, so what defines a soul. After much research I found three “definitions”, and I use that term loosely as the soul comes from God and who can ever know the mind of God. So below are the three definitions that I thought described this concept of a soul the best:

  •  The spiritual immaterial of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.(immortal meaning not dying but crossing over to God at death)
  • The principal of life, feeling, thought and action from those attributes.
  • my favorite – The part that consists of  mind, character, thought and feeling.

Our soul is what makes us who we are. The ability to analyze a situation, and act on it through our personality or character with compassion. Now that compassion can be either gentle or strong. In scripture, the bible is descriptive in explaining God creating all life and gave it as a gift.

It is important sometimes to understand the original language the scriptures were written in so that you have a better understanding of the words used. 

The above verse describes animals having hayyah (life). However, in the Hebrew it also has the word nephesh in combination with hayyah, which is the exact same wording as the description of the soul in the creation of Adam. In other words, though nephesh is only translated as “life” here, the Hebrew speaks of the soul. Animals thus have a nephesh hayyah just like Adam. Marianne Widmalm

Think of the things dogs do for us, not only with their protective abilities but all things. Think of your worst day and your dog comes to you to quietly sit by your side, sometimes with its head in your lap or they pushed under your arm to let you know “I am here”. How about the occasional lick on the face to wash away the tears you shed. Dogs KNOW the feelings of people and are especially tuned into their masters. They laugh with us when we are happy by bouncing around. Picture this, you just get home from work and are greeted with 100% tail wagging, circle turning unconditional love. How about if you trip and fall. You are immediately surrounded to assure all is well. And if you are hurt, they are by your side offering assistance.

Think of the times when this is all reversed, your dog is terrified of the vet or a thunderstorm. Now they are looking to you for love and support and when you give it, it strengthens the bond. Even when dogs are mistreated by their owners, they remain loyal. Dogs reflect God’s love for us. Always there, always protecting (even though we may not see it) and ALWAYS loving. Even when we don’t deserve it.

I saw a video on FB the other day of two dogs, one on the floor and one on the sofa. The one on the sofa had a cookie and as he bit into it, it broke in half. After eating the half in his mouth, with his nose, he pushed the other half over to the dog on the floor. Now I know not all dogs would do this but why would even one? Because of its inner being, the soul.

Think of the times our dogs let us know of dangers heading our way. We understand that the dangers may not be real for us but still the dog sees something they feel is not right and they let us know. How many times has your dog looked at you asking the question “Do you not see this?” Yes, we do. But we know how to handle the wind tossed scary plastic bag that is moving up and down the street. We laugh at them sometimes but they are always in protective mode – some more and some less – because of their love for us. And the more we love them, the more they love us. An ever evolving circle. Kind of like hoe God loves us..

My whole point of this is to remind us (in my opinion) of dogs and all animals having the gift of a soul. Everything that has breath is a creation of God and the soul is a gift given out of love to all living things. All of it reflects God’s love for all of creation.

And to help drive my closing comment – even though I know it is a controversial point – how can any creature who shows love and shows kindness NOT have a soul. Its part of the inner nature of God.

Always Be Kind to All Kinds!!

#Writephoto – The Cow

I have not joined in on this challenge in a while but today my brain is on the quirky side. Guess its because the sun is finally shinning after two weeks of rain. So I thought I would share some of my odd humor. Come join in on KL’s challenge and WRITEPHOTO with the rest of us.

Conversation Between Two Lizards

“That beast is here again.”

“I know, I see it. Just stay clear of it.”

“Why does it come down here?”

“To drink, you idiot. It’s the only water source for miles. Snakes need water too you know. They cross here.”

“What,” said Cedric in a panic as he scanned the area.

“Chill out. Mom’s waiting for us at the bottom of the orchard. The fruit is getting overripe and bring in the flies.”

“I hear that the human has several of these big beasts.”

“Yeah. Other humans want the fluid that comes from it.”

“Now that is just gross. Drinking fluid from another beast.”

“They make make things from the fluid and eat that too. The flies seem to like it.”

“And we like flies.”

“All part of the circle.”

“I guess. Flies are better,” said Cedric as they headed for the orchard.

And in closing I remind you to be kind. It matters for every being.