Janet's Blog

Fall has arrived and, with it, I can't help but notice the timely arrival of the Canada geese. They are everywhere, swimming in every river and lake for miles around, or grazing in the open fields. They fly in lopsided V formations at sunrise, and again at sunset, honking wildly as they search for a place to forage for food or spend the night.  Canada geese, sometimes called Canadian geese, are common thoughout much of North America. Many of them breed in Canada, as their name suggests. Some flocks winter in southern Canada, but most travel further south to the US or northeastern Mexico. A good number spend the winter here in Nebraska. They are large birds, with wingspans reaching from four to six feet. They mate for life, and can live from 10 to 24 years in the wild. Most flocks of geese migrate every spring and fall, at the rate of 40 to 70 miles per hour. With a favorable tail wind, Canada geese can fly as far as 1500 miles in a single day! As you would expect, Canada geese eat ...

My four local grandkids ate lunch with me on Tuesday, as they usually do while their mother, Meagan, is working at the church. After I put all the fixings for tacos on the table, I encouraged everyone to wash their hands before sitting down at the table. Since Levi didn't have school this week, he joined us for lunch, too. When I asked for a volunteer to say the prayer, two-year-old Ari waved both hands in the air while grinning from ear to ear, and shouting, "Me!" As everyone else bowed their heads, Ari folded his hands, bowed his own head, squeezed his eyes shut, and said these words, very clearly: "Thank you for this food. Amen." Then he opened his eyes and beamed at everyone gathered around the table. This Thanksgiving is going to be very hard for many people. We are missing loved ones who usually join us for dinner. Some of us are sick with Covid, or still recovering, or concerned about friends and loved ones who are sick or even in the hospital. Some of us...

I've heard that it was a good year for pumpkins. Meagan grew more than 30 nice, orange pumpkins in her garden. My grandkids know that I never have much luck growing pumpkins, so they made my day when they brought me several from their abundance. I plant pumpkins and various squash every year, but I feel blessed if even one of the plants produces anything but leaves. You see, my garden is just too shady to grow much besides tomatoes and green beans. That doesn't stop me from planting pumpkins and squash anyway, because their vines produce some good ground cover even if they don't give me any squash or pumpkins. This year, I was thrilled to pick several zucchinis and yellow summer squash. The acorn squash I planted didn't grow at all, but I ended up with a prolific pumpkin vine that invaded the onions and green beans, climbed the tomato cages, and even scaled the wood fence that separates my garden from the neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, it was all vine and leaves, o...

I was hiking along the old Oregon Trail the other day, on the path that leads to the west from the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitors' Center. As the sun was just disappearing behind the nearby bluffs, half an hour or so before the official sunset, I started to think about the pioneers who had traveled that same route so many years ago.  My trek was easy: I just drove my car the short distance from home, then got out to walk on the path for a while before heading back home again, an hour later.  Those long-ago travelers didn't have such an easy time of it, though. They had to plan carefully, leaving Missouri in early April so they could make it to Oregon before winter. They didn't have any convenient bridges or paved roads, and no motorized vehicles. They had to depend on simple, canvas-covered wagons with wooden wheels, pulled by a team of mules or oxen. So much could go wrong. The trail was littered with belongings cast aside to make the load lighter, and graves of s...

As I was driving down Fifth Avenue in Scottsbluff the other day, I couldn't help but notice how many local campaign signs line both sides of the street. It's that time of the year--the election is looming, whether we like it or not. I'm not a particularly political person. I'm well informed about the issues, though, and I have definite opinions about some of them. I'm not thrilled with much of anything that's been happening in Washington, and throughout our country, lately. I really wish we had a better choice of leaders who are running for office. However, I can certainly understand why many of the most upstanding and responsible leaders do not have any intention of ever running for national office. Quite frankly, the political climate in our nation stinks! I will vote in the upcoming election, though, and trust God with the outcome. That's all I can do, when all is said and done. Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from G...

Just last week, Meagan and I took the kids camping for one last time this year. Now, cold, yucky weather is upon us, and it's time to winterize the RV and park it until next spring. Due to the Covid pandemic that has been ruling our lives this year, we weren't able to go camping at the beginning of the summer. We didn't even bring the RV home from storage until June. Then, some of the local campgrounds remained closed for several weeks, and when they finally opened, it was just too hot to be comfortable, and there were too many reports of rattlesnakes. So, we waited. Bill suggested that we camp in the driveway, but that's just not real camping! Unless we can get outside, someplace where we can enjoy God's beautiful creation, sleeping in the RV would be disappointing, to say the least.  Stop and consider God’s wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect kn...

Bill was sitting in his kitchen chair after supper the other night when, all of a sudden, the chair collapsed, almost in slow motion, sending him to the floor. His pole vaulting instincts kicked in, and I watched him roll away from the disintegrating chair. Except for his bruised dignity, Bill wasn't hurt at all.  It could have been so much worse. Bill could have hit his head on the brick wall right behind him, but his guardian angel must have been watching out for him, yet again.  As for the chair, though, it was pretty much destroyed--unrepairable, for sure. It will never again serve its designated purpose. Bill checked right away to see if his ill-fated chair was fixable. No one ever expects their chair to give way beneath them, especially a chair that is only a few years old. Dining chairs are usually made to last for decades, or at least, that's the way it used to be. Chairs, like most pieces of furniture, are meant to be trustworthy.  I never give much thought about...