Shadow Rituals and Wood Burning

I've been trying to feel inspired today for something to write about.  I've visited other blogs, sat and pondered life (and my belly button) as well as things going on in my life (dry well there) and have come up with nothing.  So, this will be yet another random thought blogging day.

I think about my cat a lot lately.  She turned 10 this August.  She might have 4 more years in her.  Maybe less considering how much she eats and how fat she is.  I've never had a cat (or any animal) this long before.  She  has started throwing up a lot and I don't know if it is because she is getting older or because she insists on eating anything that is on the floor or new to the room. 

We bought a new Christmas Tree this year because we haven't really put one up since we moved to Alabama.  Too much work for too little ado, we always say.  It's just not the same without kids, you know.  Well, I wanted a Christmas tree this year and I happened across a Thomas Kincaid, fully decorated, 7 foot, pop it up tree.  So we got it.  We 'popped it up' and sure enough, it was as beautiful and easy as they claimed.  We let it set up for a couple of days and quickly found throw up on the floor with tree needles in it.  Shadow, the cat, notorious for eating anything new, struck again.  ugh.  We popped the tree down, put it away and sat there wondering how we were going to get away with having a Christmas Tree this year.  Maybe we'll put it on the back patio? 

Shadow also creates a lot of 'rituals' for us.  In the morning, we must be up if her food bowl is empty (and the floor is empty of anything for her to scarf up).  When we come home, we must give her her 'treat' before we do anything else or she will complain to us until we do.  We are fairly well trained on that one.  At night, when it is time for bed, it is play time for her.  She gets up on the table behind the TV while we are brushing our teeth and peeks into the bathroom at us patiently waiting for us to be done and to play hide and seek with her while she hides behind the TV.  Then it is time for me to brush her.  All I have to do is pick up the brush and she jumps down from behind the TV with a squeak of pleasure and stands for me to brush her.  First with the scratchy side of the brush and then with the softer side.  Sometimes she moves away a little at a time and I chase after her trying to brush her.  Tom likes that part.  He always says that he wants to film it for later amusement.  (Whatever) After all that, I am then allowed to go to bed.

This weekend, we had our first 'yard fire'.  By this I mean that we burned some wood from the gazebo.  We started out with me trying to start the fire.  Well, I certainly wasn't ever a boy scout so I was trying to light the end of the piece of with with our charcoal lighter and some charcoal starter fluid.  Yeah, I probably could have sat there the rest of the day with no success.  Mr. Boy Scout Tom came over and put some twigs underneath the boards and wala...he got the thing lit.  (show-off)

Wasn't that creative of him to put those cinder blocks around the wood before we caught it on fire so it didn't catch the bushes on fire.  He's so smart. 

So, while I was sitting over there 'tending' the fire and way across the yard, Tom is still breaking the floor of the gazebo apart to supply more to burn.

I was getting lonely so I ventured over to say hi...

I got so bored, I started sending up smoke signals..."Anyone out there...come and save me from doing nothing..."

So, I took a minute to look up through the trees and see if there was anything interesting there.  Clouds...trees...nothing else.  Wow...how do people do this kind of thing...

The view below is after we got it cooking really good.  Tom was done and we had moved our chairs out of the sun and into the shade.  (This took so long that the sun moved while I was waiting for the fire to burn up the wood.)

Little did we know...unlike in the movies...structures do not burn down in minutes...I was out there from 1 pm to ~ 6 pm.  The final coals were still hot at that time but our pizza had arrived so I let the coals watch themselves for a little while.  We checked it again later and it had definitely burned itself pretty much out. 

By Grace Alone -

Teresa