I always say that we decide what our day is going to be like as we step out of bed and start the morning. My morning started with shooting hip and back pains and then I come out to the sunporch and everything just looks blah and dull. The snow has all gone and there is no color to be seen. The world matches the color of that squirrel hanging off of my feeder. And then, when I'm just deciding the day is going to be a good day to just frump; --- here comes my wandering rabbit hopping across the yard. I haven't seen Ms. Rabbit in a couple of months. I'm not sure but I think it might have been carrying a sign that said, "Get over yourself". At any rate, it improved my mood greatly. So, I just say "Thanks for the rabbit, God! You're always there when I need you."

Between the warmer temperatures and the rain showers last night, our snow is pretty well all gone. I don't think we have any bad weather predicted for a few days. I hope not since I have a funeral to do on Thursday morning. For the family's sake, I hope it will be a bright sunny morning.

I filled all of the feeders yesterday afternoon. I emptied all of the shelled corn out of the feeders because nothing was eating it. I poured it all out on the ground out by the poplar tree. This morning first thing there was a large gaggle of blackbirds out there making short work of the corn. Perhaps it was just too hard to get out of the feeders that I had had it in. What ever the situation was, I won't buy that again. The blackbirds left as soon as they cleaned it up. I also have some stale bread and cookies it there on the ground. But, nothing has come for that yet either. In fact, except for that initial gaggle of blackbirds, I've hardly had any company at all this morning. But then, the only thing that is predictable about my birds is their unpredictability. A large woodpecker, a mocking bird, and a little wren have been my only guests with the exception of one squirrel.

My Tylenol has kicked in and my hip and back pain is less by now. I'll take a warm shower and put some Activeon balm on it and that have me moving good enough to be going up and down the stairs etc. I need to go to Walgreens and pick some Tiger Balm patches. They work really well. But for what they cost --- they should work really well. I think I need to go to the church today and run my bulletins. My day is already crowded for tomorrow. But, I also have a lot of writing to do so it becomes a toss up of when to do what. One of these days I'm just going to retire and eliminate all my suspenses and deadlines I have to meet. Of course, -- the fact that I create all of these timelines myself, kind of gives me no one to blame. I think I suck as my own boss! LOL

My cardinals have begun to show up and that adds just the color to the yard that I was waiting on. There will be no sunshine today so the brilliance I generally see on them won't be there. But they sit out here on a limb or the bird bath and remind me that no matter where we are, there is always beauty to be found because God is in charge of the mix. I hope you find reasons to smile today. I hope you are seeing the world through the love and grace that God has given you. God is good; -- all the time. Peace!