Granddaughter's visit.

  My wife's granddaughter visited us for nine days.  Her father is an atheist and she is a non-believer herself although she doesn't seem to mind calling upon the Lord's name when she wants to insert bad language into her sentences.  It was our hope to be an encouragement to her and to let her see how Christian people act and what an influence Christ can be in our lives.
   She had some good experiences here.  She saw the ocean for the first time, saw lots of forests (she's from Iowa) and discovered that chickens aren't born in nuggets.   She liked the zoo but not sitting around the house.  My wife had visited her in Iowa for a week and brought her back to NC when she returned home so it is hard for a grandmother to keep on the go for that period of time just to keep a teenager entertained.
  The granddaughter was nice enough but she seemed so negative, only ate hamburgers, chicken nuggets, pizza and candy and had an excuse for ever thing she didn't want to do like riding the miniature train at the Jamestown Park wasn't an option for her because she suffers from motion sickness.
  She's been back home less than a week, has never said thanks for the trip to her grand mother but sure didn't mind complaining that she only wants someone to love her.    Some one does.

Garen News June 24

June 23rd was my 13th wedding anniversary and I'm still in love with my wife.  She has suffered greatly over the last few years but that has only provided me with opportunities to show her how much I really care about her.
  Yes, I know this isn't about my love for my wife but about my garden.  I picked two cucumbers from my garden yesterday, my first two, and it was on my anniversary.  Don't think there is any correlation there; it just happened to occur on the same date.  So how is your garden doing and has all the rain be a good thing or bad thing for your garden?  

How will America end?

All great empires have come to an end and I doubt America is any different than any other dominate people in world history.  Assyria was crushed by a superior military force, Babylon fell when an enemy found a weakness in their defense system, and Alexander the Great's kingdom fell prey to the Romans when his kingdom was divided among his generals.  The Roman Empire fell because of its decadence
   The Roman Empire ruled the world for over three hundred years and at the time of it's collapse was still the greatest military power in the world.  The empire had come apart at the seems politically and society was collapsing in upon itself because of moral decay.  It was as if Rome was a fine piece of clothing that had been sewn together with cheap thread and as the fabric aged the cloth became brittle and the thread rotted and the piece of clothing just crumbled.
  It seems that there is a pattern to the growth, stability, and eventually collapse of each of the world's greatest empires and America fits that same pattern.  Will it be the Russians that take America down, the Chinese, ISIS. or some unknown force that has not come to the forefront yet?     In my opinion it will be none of these.  America will be toppled from within and not from some outside force.
  Our liberal immigration policies are allowing enough people into this country, some who want to change America, some who want to destroy it, and many others who just want to take advantage of us.  We seem to have forgotten what made this country great and has allowed the attitude of respect for the beliefs of others to disintegrate into embracing and accepting everyone as they are.  I think that we will lose our national identity     and no longer know what we believe in, becoming a nation of divided factions  each of which wants to live their lives after their own beliefs rather than living their lives for the benefit of the majority.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Garden News

 I already have my loaf of white bread and a jar of Dukes mayonnaise waiting in anticipation of that first ripe tomato.  I had a few of the salad tomatoes Monday with my New York Strip for lunch but I am so ready for that first bite of a tasty red tomato ripe from the garden.  That first celebrity looks to be around a pound in size, twice as big as average and it looks so delicious.  It is almost ripe now but I'll have to wait until Friday to eat it.  Today is my Moms 92nd birthday and judging from how she has been doing lately it is likely her last.
   I talked my two brothers into coming to celebrate it with me.  David ordered her a bouquet of flowers and I'll split the cost with him.  I baked her a strawberry cake (while she doesn't eat cake she will have it to share with family and friends).
  She loves tomatoes almost as much as I do so I planted three vines for her.  They are loaded with green ones but I doubt one will be ripe today.  I'm sure she will have a tomato or two when I go back in two weeks,

The lamb, faith and salvation

  Under Jewish law (the Old Testament0 the Jews brought a lamb each year to the priest to be sacrificed for their sins.  They were not saved by the lamb but by their faith in bringing the lamb.  Christ, who was symbolized by the lamb, died on the cross for our sins.  We are not saved because he died but are saved by faith in the sacrifice.
  Being good, attending church, believing in God, reading your bible, or praying doesn't save us but accepting what Christ did for us on the cross and deciding to live for Him does.
 I pray for each and every person who reads my blog and hope that if you have not already accepted Christ that you will do so.

News from the garden

  I have my biggest tomato turning red and one other tomato that is beginning to ripen.  I've picked a few small yellow tomatoes.  I'm not sure what kind but they are much bigger than cherry or grape tomatoes but about half the size of a roma.  I'm excited about my first tomato which I will eat later this week when it is fully ripe.  It is a celebrity but is much larger than average.  It is almost as big as a German Johnson. .  

   I should be picking squash and cucumbers by the end of this week or the first of next week.  I have already picked about half of my blueberry crop and I picked a few blackberries last week albeit of the wild variety.  My domestic blackberries are beginning to turn red so it will be soon I get to pick those big juicy berries.  

Garden News

The tomato vines are full but some of the leaves are turning yellow from to much rain.  The jalapeno pepper plant has flowers as does the squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and squash plants.  My transplants that I am trying to establish with potatoes are still green.  My glads have begun to open and all my new plants are still living but the bee balm is struggling with all this water.
  My Easter lily bloomed and my tigers lilies are beginning to open.  The pickerel bloomed this week and my water lilies that I separated are growing and one has bloomed.  Overall my gardens looked really good so far.  My only disappointment so far has been my tulips.  I had two to bloom although I had about 8 put out shoots.   I even have some of my wildflowers putting out blooms now. 
  I have actually picked about four of the little yellow tomatoes.  I have had two peach trees and one cherry tree to die and some of my peach trees are bare but some of the first time bloomers are full of peaches albeit small.  Most of my apple trees have fruit although most of the trees have cedar rust.  I spray per directions which has helped some.  I picked some blueberries this week and had blueberry pancakes for breakfast Sunday.  Boy were they good.  My blackberries are setting fruit and my grape vines are full.  My lone pear is still hanging on.  My butterfly bush finally bloomed and my crepe myrtles are filling out.  The white one has a few blooms on it.
  The Japanese beetles made their presence know last week but I sprayed with liquid Sevin dust which drove them away.  I'll have to get some more and respray when the rain quits, if it ever does.
  A few years back we had a rainy spring like this and my tomato plants drowned like many other folks's did and what few tomatoes survived to maturity tasted horrible.  I believe I had one good tasting tomato that year out of thirty plants.  I hope I have better luck this year with so many beautiful tomato plants in full production.
   The frogs have been serenading me regularly.  I had separated some water Iris and placed a bunch in a bucket for a friend and when they didn't come and get the plants I decided to plant them in the creek bed to help keep me from hitting rocks when I mow and the bucket was full of newly hatched eggs.
  I haven't seen any sign of new goldfish but it is probably to soon as they just spawned a week or so ago.  I would like to transfer them over to the big pond if I can ever get rid of the carp that is in the larger pond.  I had nine die this spring when the pumps quit working for a few days.  I sold six last year.  I have many 40 fish left.  Great starter fish for new ponds to get the nitrogen cycle going.
  I can't mow today either because of the rain.  maybe this afternoon when I get back from my doctors appointment.  
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What to do about a life out of control

A young man meet a preacher and they talked for several hours.  The young man talked about how his life has spiraled out of control and he felt he was now at rock bottom.  The preacher, of course, told the man of Jesus.  The young man promised that he would go to church with the preacher and learn more of this Jesus but he never did.
  We all know that if your addiction is destroying your life that you can regain your direction by getting rid of the addiction.  It may feel like your life is out of control whether it be drugs and/or alcohol, relationship problems, bad financial decisions ,  deviate behavior, or some other thing that has control over you but realize that something has control of your decision making process that is causing the feeling of hopelessness.  You need to regain control but how?
   Addictions and deviate behavior makes you feel out of control and you are but something has control of your life.  It may seems like the solution is to regain control but instead one is urged to turn control over to another.  Instead of being controlled by destructive behavior let the Holy Spirit have control of your life.
   I know one will miss the party's and will lose many friends but for most people in this situation it is the party's and friends that are keeping them in the gutter.  It is almost impossible for a person  to decide to clean up their lives and be successful at it.  A drug addict that turns to prostitution to pay for her drugs vows that she is going to change while she is in jail but when she is released she finds that she has no where to go and so has to return to her former life, caught up in a spiral that she can't seem to get out of.
  Instead of taking the fun out of life, Christ returns your life to you and fills you with joy.  Unless you believe in and trust Christ it is something you just can't understand.  Just as I find it difficult to understand the lure of alcohol, and drugs, or the desire to hurt people, it may be hard to accept that Christ is real especially in this unbelieving world but the truth is He is real and He is alive and he will keep His promises.

Taking care of babies is easier

I went to see my Mom yesterday who is 2 weeks shy of her ninety-second birthday.  She is nearly blind, practically deaf,  and recovering from a recent bout of pneumonia.  Like little people she lacks bladder control  and has been left severely weaken by her resent bout with pneumonia.
  Unlike babies she either still believes she can do for herself or thinks she is helping when someone is rendering aid to her but more often than not she makes situations worse and much harder.  Believe me taking care of babies is easier.