SUNDAY SERMON

reposted by Robin



The Peril of Walking by Sight, taken from the Book of Jacob Ch 9.


If you want a really awesome read that will inspire you to pray more and understand God's just yet merciful character, click the link below.  It blessed me so much!!


https://bible.org/seriespage/8-peril-walking-sight-joshua-91-27

CAPTURED!!

by Robin


Well, it wasn't exactly the raccoon I was hoping for.  I hope it has learned its lesson.  It surely didn't like dogs barking at it, nor me trying to release it.




Also, yesterday, I caught a picture of a bunny, in her natural habitat.




Hello Lulu.  Sitting in your favorite chair?



Have a blessed day!

ALERT!! HENNING AROUND

by Robin

Ok, so this morning, I finally go out to investigate whatever has been on the shade awning for the chicken coop.

Um... that's raccoon scat... poop!!  

I guess s/he was looking for a way in.  So thankful that the critter's weight did not break through the awning.  Also glad s/he did not find a way to chew through it.



Hello Eaton!



Anyhow, I continued about my morning musings with photographing various "scratching".



I am still hoping to one day catch them stretching wings.



Or even taking flight.

That is so very hard to do.  However, scratching is easy enough, at this point.  Once, I caught Eaton scoring a decent size bug.  She was fast!  Want to down that thing before the other hens catch on.



I love her waddling around as she tries to rejoin the group.  (Just noticed I have way too much "graininess" in this photo.)



Peaches, showing off her beauty.




Pearl striking a pose.



Harris in her full plumage after a nasty molting.
   

Harris - to the right, to the right.




Hen Party - They truly are backyard chickens.  We share more common space than I care to admit.



More Scratching - Eaton has a mean right hook.




Love her fluffy butt.

 

 You can't hide from my lens! I don't care how much you try to camouflage yourself.



Hope you enjoyed the hen pictures.  I sure was nice to have some down time to play with them and learn some new software.

Blessings,
Robin

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S DAY!!!

by Robin

We're having a NYE do-over tonight because hubby had to work.  So, I made my yearly collards (follow Emeril Lagasse's recipe) and my version of Black-Eyed Peas, which is a knock-off of Glory's, if you don't mind me bragging.  Then, while I was getting all that prepped and slow cooking those, I was watching a show called, "The Mind of a Chef" and they had a show on Curry.  Wow, did I fall in love!!  I totally reproduced that Chicken Tikah Master (sp?), but with pork tenderloin meat.

So, I'm booking along and following her instructions when I go back out to my grill and it is totally out of gas.  Lit up fine, but then died.

Hubby suggested charcoal, but I didn't want to wait that long.  Well, the griddle was already out on the counter and it was really more like an experiment that makes me look brilliant.




Look at the crust on these pork-ka-bobs!!  Griddles aren't just for pancakes around here!


And then you marry it with the sauce that she recommends.  Oh my... while dairy (& most meat) are not on my diet, I just had to try a little bit to see if it was as good as it looked.




I thought my kids were going to kill me for making them wait while photographing their dishes.  LOL.  My youngest was stealing ka-bobs from the pan.

I guess you could say it was a big success.  Add a little sparkling cider and followed by some apple turnovers I made.  When, then you start having more of an anniversary dinner.  ha!  Tomorrow is our 22nd anniversary!!

Love you babe!!


May each of you have a blessed and prosperous New Year!!
Robin

FUNNY GUYS

by Robin

Stop by the Rescue Barn to pick up my thumb drive  and thought I'd try out my camera on a couple horses.


These guys took my attention first.

Of course, the white one went down to roll over and when I ran back, it got back up... so none of those shots.



But, they were happy to continue biting on each other for my photo-shooting enjoyment.



There is a part of me that feels like this reminds me of my sister and me when we were kids.

ha ha.

Blessings,
Robin

More ACTION - Nikon D3200 shots

by Robin



This afternoon, I thought I'd stop by the small horse farm down the road from me while I was out running errands.  They have a foal out there and it looks like they weaned him this week from his Mama.  Very friendly, but definitely wanting somebody to meet his needs!!

So, I pulled over and tried my continuous shoot and switching out of lens.

I think I could have still done a better job of focusing but I'm not going to beat myself up on it this week.  There was a fence between us and he took off into a nice trot before I was fully prepared.



Then, he broke into a gallop, which was just perfect for me.



I prefer the above shot...more extension.



The one thing it proved is that I can get those extended trot shots that I have been wanting for the rescue horse farm.

Below, I couldn't even look through the view finder because of the fence but simply raised it up and pushed the button to see what I got.   Unfortunately, it was a very focused mid-fence line. But, little guy was as cute as he could be whining for Mama.



And then, I got to switch out lenses and take a couple distance pics of the horses in the other pasture. Looks so peaceful.



Very cool.



So that's it. Maybe tomorrow I can some more features.

Blessings,
 Robin

NEW!!!! Nikon D3200

by Robin

First, I really want to thank my hubby for blessing me with this new gift.  My "other" camera was just not cutting it when I needed it to perform with action and low light.

Anyhow, I am still sooooooo on the lower end of the learning curve, but I'll get there ... with enough tutorials.

So far, I'm still in between auto and manual modes.  Today, finally switches to manual.

Here are this morning's pics. Although, I'm totally bummed because I took them in raw and then couldn't get my favorite pic monkey site to recognize them.  So, I may have to stick with "fine" setting until I can figure out what I'm doing with raw data.  These were in raw data and then I had to screenshot them so I could share quickly.

I even baked a few cookies to see how I could get depth of field and focusing differences.




So much fun....  it will take months, if not years to master.  You know I love to photograph food & the garden.  Here are those test pictures.



But, I can already see, I'm getting the low light shots I want (Lulu in her cage, grooming herself, in a dark room.) and ....



The dogs outside today in running motion and caught on two legs.  I have pics where 3 legs aren't even on the ground and they're completely in focus! Yeah!




I love the 4 frames per second.  It helped me to capture this photo that bunnies really do pray for carrots.




Well, that's just a small taste of the 100 pics I took this morning.  Although I have some serious kinks to work out, it looks like this was exactly what I was wanting.

I've got 16 days until Christmas to figure this thing out to take amazing Christmas morning pictures!

LOL

Blessings,
Robin

ROBINBARS and HOT MAN POCKETS

by Robin

I love it when I have time to create good food in the kitchen.

Here is my version of the Larabar.  I made a nutty version last week.  I went to grab ingredients to make one a little more dessert-like.  This has vegan carob chips, plus dates, cherries, and coconut. Wow, I feel guilty, but I shouldn't.  It's soooo healthy.





Then, we were watching a commercial this morning and saw something like this being made.   I couldn't wait to buy the ingredients.  Essentially, it is a manwich (or taco seasoned meat can be used too) with shredded cheese on the inside and wrapped in pizza dough.  I made up several of them and now they can be used on my busy day tomorrow.




Speaking of busy day tomorrow, I need to go prep for class!!  I'm the teacher!

God bless!

THROWBACK FRIDAY

by Robin

Only.... it isn't an old picture.  I took it about an hour ago.  It sure does remind me of the old times when they were little boys and inseparable.   Now, they're practically men (one IS!) and big enough to drag their own mattresses over into the other room.

DONE VOLUNTEERING

by Robin

Not completely done volunteering, but we're done with the horses for now.  I definitely cannot return because I have injured my left elbow with the repetitive stress of mucking stalls.  But, we *definitely* enjoyed our time there.

To the left is "Gus" a rescue thoroughbred.  Of course, he's a beautiful guy, but what I see in this picture is a young boy who didn't want to come work in the heat and horses.  Over three months, he quit complaining about that.  He gained a sense of duty and a bond with the horses.  In the beginning, he walked right up to a horses rear and we all screamed for fear he would get kicked.
By the time we were done, he was very comfortable around the barn horses.  He still struggled with the halter, but he tried for a long time before he asked for help.


I can see us returning at some point once school settles down and my arm gets better. I see this as a complete success for building my bond with my son and for him to have some type of rite of passage in maturing.  He got structure in a very fun way.



And here he is with Nala.  Nala was also a rescue who hated people when she first came to the rescue farm.  She has a wonderful mom now and gets daily care from us volunteers.  Look at that sweet face.  He loves her and she loves him.



This was our "last day" and we were fortunate to help train our next crew.  I hope they have as great of an experience as we did.

I met a new friend along the way.  There was purpose in me going besides bonding with my son.  I had a divine appointment to meet with a hurting mom who needed prayers.  I was able to share some of my struggles and she did the same.  I hope to stay connected with her as she begins her homeschooling journey in our county.  

She was our partner on Thursdays and if we go back, we'll join up with her.

This picture is me with Nala who was falling asleep in my arms.  We were laughing because she totally put all her head weight on me.  I'm a sweaty mess from having cleaned stalls and filled water buckets, but it was too cute not to include.



Off we go to Crystal River!!  Time for the last vacation before school starts up.
Robin

Eighteen!!

by Robin

We survived childhood and now we move onto manhood!!  LOL

Last time I blogged, I was letting you know he got hired by Publix.  He loves his job.  

He was called, the night before his birthday, to do a "sting" operation. He was so excited to go undercover and try to buy cigarettes and lottery tickets at another store. He was so nervous.  He put on shades.  He asked for them.  She asked for his ID.  He gave it to her.  She glanced down and then gave the cigarettes to him.  :(   He then pretended to forget his wallet and leave the counter.  


Sadly, the clerk was going to let him and she was get reprimanded for it.   But, for him, being a spy was like a huge gift. LOL.

College starts back soon and we're praying for scholarship money and good grades.  He is taking quite the load of science, labs and math. Not for the faint of heart! 

Blessings,
Robin

LANDING A WHOPPER OF A JOB!!

by Robin



Bet you thought I was going to talk about fast food jobs!! Right??

Our son has been trying to get on with Publix Corp. for a few months and he finally got the timing right with going in there just as they were pulling applications for interviews.  He had his first interview a couple days after graduation.  Then, we went on vacation to GA and when he came back, he was called in for the 2nd interview.  I guess he passed that very well and they took a drug test on him.  The next couple trips, he was called in to do paperwork.  Today, he goes to orientation class!!

I know this is a LOT of work for landing a bagger/stocker position but I think it shows what type of care Publix puts into picking out their employees. As we have journeyed along the past month and shared his story, people have told us over and over again about how wonderful it is to work for Publix.

We couldn't be happier that he has a job that he can grow with and keep as he continues college.  Even if he transfers, we are hoping that he will be able to transfer to another local Publix near his college campus.  Of course, I don't like to talk about that day because it will make me cry to think of the day he leaves home, but it is a good thing.

Thank you Publix for choosing our son.  I'm pretty certain that he'll be one of your hardest working kids.  I know he is my right hand here when his father is gone to work.

Love Ya Son!
Mom

GARDEN UPDATE - In no particular order!

by Robin

Dried Black beans


Broccoli seeds.



I'll show you later how we went from the bundle to a container but it was pretty simple and we captured more seed then we ever have before.



You used to be able to read the sign that said "Lulu's Garden", named after our bunny.  The herbs and lettuce are growing great in here.



The Ugly Ripe have faded due to the heat and so these are taking it's place.  We call them Big Tasty Maters.  They're coming in, just in time.





Okra are going crazy with the heat.  They always do.





I had a trellis for beans to grow up but it was completely taken over by the Campari and Cherry tomatoes. I may even see a little cucumber vine getting in on the trellis action too.



These are the Mayflower drying beans.  Not very successful this spring.



6 ft, at least and growing.





I have radishes that are over 3 ft high and blooming but have not produced a single bulb at the bottom.  I'm thinking we'll try that again in the fall when we can have cooler weather. My onions are monstrous.


What a tangled mess of yellow squash, sweet basil, jalapenos (got choked out), radishes, tomatoes and bell peppers.  I'm desperately trying to save the bell peppers from being choked out. There is no foot space here when I come in to get the tomatoes.



Well, ok, that is the main spring garden.  My acorn squash and pickling cucumbers were all ruined by larva eating them.  Yuck.

Thanks for visiting!