Mr. and Mrs. Purple Finch.

I’ve done lots of research and I really believe these are purple finches. They are easy to confuse with the house sparrow. However, these have a VERY melodious song and they have the tail (which is not in this picture) of the purple finch. Anyway, we sure love them. They keep us entertained when we’re watching birds around here. This picture was taken as they sat right up above us on our back deck. He was singing something fierce to her and we loved it.

Saturday our new preacher moved into the house next door. We had been in the city at a ball tournament, so we didn’t get home in time to help unload the truck. However, when we got here we did go over to see if there was any way we could help. Josh and his wife, Ashley, who is about my size and maybe smaller, were working hard to get a huge sofa into their bedroom. The door wasn’t big enough for the sofa to fit, so he and Don decided to carry it around the house and into a different door. That was a great idea except Don tripped over some carpet in the garage and fell. He got up fine, but today his hip and shoulder were sore. He’ll be okay, but he was afraid to take off on an hour long walk with me, so I walked by myself today.

I always miss him when I walk alone, but it’s empowering to me to go do something by myself. Also, I enjoy just being in the outdoors; I feel like I’m IN the song My God and I. You know the words? My God and I go through the fields together; we walk and talk as good friends should and do; we clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter . . . etc. I really enjoy it. It was especially good to be right there with God when I ran upon a big snake today at the lake. I’m not scared silly of snakes because my brother used to always bring them home. I’m always really interested in them and get up for a close look until a little voice tells me to leave it alone. (I think that’s God taking care of me.) I came home and looked up the snake and I couldn’t find him. He didn’t have rattlers; he wasn’t a cotton mouth or a water moccasin. He was bigger than my cane. I think he must have been some kind of rat snake, but I didn’t see any that looked just like him online. Anyway, it was kind of exciting. He was there the first time I went around the dam and the last two times I went he wasn’t there, so I was really watching for where he WAS! I had my business and he had his; God put us both here, so I think we both had a good afternoon.

Speaking of my brother; he’s doing better. He is in the hospital, still with a tube in his lung. I researched collapsed lungs online and learned that COPD can cause such a thing. I continue to learn and thank God that he is doing better.