The Life of Mrs. Miles

HEAVY METAL KIT - frames

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Well, yesterday's request about how you all feel about death, funerals, etc - illicited quite the passionate responses! It appears we are either hot or cold about it - not one person was just casual. It's a very interesting subject and I plan to do some more reading up on it. Thanks so much for your feedback. If you have not read the comments from yesterday, I would suggest them for some interesting reading!

I got the most LOVERLY surprise in the mail... EARLY - a goodie basket from our daughter, Melanie, for Mother's Day. She was thinking my 'love language' with her gift of designer gardening gloves, knee pads, incence, candles and a card that made me all misty-eyed. Thank you sweed Girl! The gardening items arrived right in time for my foray with Bonnie!

THE HEDGE - all wild and wooly

THE HEDGE - neat and trim

Yes, it was my weekly date with Bonnie to learn and help keep this place bee - youtiful! We it was a sunny, hot day and we were soon stripped down to our lightest layers and enjoyed soaking up the sun while working. Bonnie is a good and patient teacher and she invested plenty of time showing me how to prune back the hedge of Oregon Grape and Rabbitbrush. The Rabbit Brush is native to this area - but it wants to grow in great manes which take over. The Oregon Grape get shoots trying to sneak right out of the box! The OG also has very sharp, prickly branches! In the end we managed to tame the hedge nicely.

RABBIT AT THE DESERT CENTER

Becky came for our weekly visit yesterday too. I so look forward to our time together - she's so real, and our time together always flies by! We went for a walk around the trails and took photos. The lake was very still, like glass. On the trails we heard something I've never heard before. There is a hatching of what looks to be mosquitos, but they don't bite. Miles suggested they may be just the males. However, there were clouds and clouds of them... and as we stood in the shade by the shore, the whine from them was incredible. It was nothing I've heard before - in complete unison... and the pitch went up and down. Have you ever heard this?

We also witnessed a 'school' of fat, lazy, brown carp sunning in the reeds at the waters edge. They would slowly raise up to take gulps off the surface, their fat pink mouths breaking the surface. As we watched, a duck flew past, about six feet off the water. Immediately it was like 'submarines down!' as the carps promptly dove under. They waited for several minutes before bobbing up to the top again.

We laid on a grassy bench, among the fluffy soft dandelion heads and covered many subjects... the time always seems to fly by when we get going. Later, after butterfly cookies (the bakery tries to call them pigs ears, but I like butterfly cookies better) and homemade lemonade with a sweet strawberry on the rim, we looked at the clock to discover it was well after 6. Thanks Becky!

One of the things we talked about how easy it is to allow ourselves to allow the world to make us feel angry, resentful and to rob us of our daily joys. We talked about being FRUSTRATED. With our best intentions of not enabling the world and daily grind to not rub us raw - we still fail at times. Its good to be accountable to each other, and to talk about it. I know it always makes me feel better to share. Its important to not let our resentments build up until they explode somewhere. If you don't share, if you blow up, then you're not of much use to show the grace of God in your life!

I thank God for friends in my life who care enough to take time to listen when I need to 'rant'... and who give me an ear and get me back on track. And, of course, pray for me!

Resentment is racing your emotional motor...

it wastes valuable energy and gets you nowhere.

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God

and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

HEBREWS 12:15

Today in History

1775 - 2nd Cont Congress convened in Pa issues paper currency for 1st time

1798 - George Vancouver - British explorer dies (birth date unknown)

1869 - Golden Spike driven - Promontory Pt Ut-Transcontinential RR complete

1910 - William Huggins - discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda - dies

1923 - J Edgar Hoover became head of FBI

1960 - USS Nautilus completes 1st circumnavigation of globe under water

1971 - US Special delivery rates go from 45 cents to 60

Birthdays in History:

1788 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel, pioneer in optics

1850 - Sir Thomas Lipton, tea magnate

1899 - Fred Astaire, tapdancer

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 258

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Did you know there is such a thing as a 3d printer? REALLY - there is such a thing. Ok, wrap your head around this concept. You create a 3d file... you've all played with or are aware of, some 3d modelling programs? Well with this printer, you say upload a 3d file to make a plastic part for something... the printer can actually interpret that file and create the item in a solid form. The printers can do plastic or metal at this time. If your not clear on what I'm saying I will try to use an example. You are missing a small plastic part for your camera. In the future, you could say, phone your camera company, they would send the file to a 3d printer locally, then the printer would 'print' your part and you would simply pick it up. This is, unless, you buy a 3d printer yourself! They have come down to about $20,000 You may enjoy finding out more by clicking on the following link.

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