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| "How will we feed our programs? $200 million is hardly enough." |
We have had several promises of rain, which were fulfilled by dark clouds sailing past. The rain-barrels are dry. I revived the irrigation system, comprised of switching valves for the soaker hoses in the front and back. The birds like this, because water makes their bug and worm hunting easier and more productive. The backyard has:
- The birdbath hose with the patio cleaner attachment
- The Wright fence soaker hose
- The Gardener fence soaker hose
- The Wild Garden sprinkler.
The front yard set-up includes:
- The Butterfly Garden soaker hose
- The upper rose garden soaker hose
- The area sprinkler hose.
The backyard birdbaths are a lot of fun. I clean them with the patio attachment, a brass connection that creates a jet for long-distance spraying and short-distance cleaning. The birdbath water is always dirty and almost gone, so I clean and fill three children's pools, one small concrete bath (on sale at Walmart one year, $7), and a few lids and pots.
A short time later, the starlings and grackles are bathing, splashing, and jumping from one pool to the other.
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| Clethra is just starting to bloom. |
The bird-baths are in the bird feeding area, which is informally fenced by some favorite bushes - Clethra, Chaste Tree, Beautyberry, Gooseberry, and a Helianthus (perennial sunflower) plant. The floor of the area is all mulch, mostly leaves from last year, plus some shredded wood for flooring. As someone wrote, the largest and best bird-feeder is a mulched garden, because the area teems with bugs and worms.
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| Chaste Tree has flowers loved by bees. The woody shrub loves sun and pruning, but not watering. |
Starlings dramatically prowl and flip mulch cover to find food. Grackles ae more inclined to use their beaks to drive into the soil and get grubs. Bath and food time is in the morning, when a collection of birds are in and out to feed and bathe. Squirrels look for cracked corn on the ground. I see Robins, Cardinals, Sparrows, and Finches.
The saying is true - "Plant it and they will come." Even more so, in drought, "Bathe them and they will bring all their friends." A splashy, sprinkly yard generates the noise that birds and other animals love. They need our water more than our food, but they enjoy both together. If I had to neglect one, it would be the food, since God provides for that. Birds are just as habitual as we are. If they find fresh water reliably, they stick around and nest nearby. I may be watering the neighbors' birds, but they are removing the pests for me. At most a bird will eat 15% of its diet from feeders. They need bugs and certainly feed them to their young. Long ago, birds discovered that cereal did not make a good breakfast for kids. Tender, juicy bug steak is far better, as revealed by the rapid growth of baby birds.
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| What better way to wean babies! They will be searching for Thrivent grants in no time. |
The birds feed heaviest when a big storm is coming, calories to keep them warm. I enjoy seeing the shy birds make a show of looking for food in the empty feeders. Cardinals, no longer hiding, will parade around, mimes feeding where no cracked corn is left. I fill the feeders to the sounds of various species clucking and gossiping while they wait. Some soar over to the feeders before I am back inside.
Our exotic, foreign travels are to the front and backyards. Flowers and weeds are bursting into bloom all the time. I was ready to yank out two large weeds in the Wild Garden when they displayed their flowers - saving their lives, reminding me I planted the two gifts from Almost Eden.
Sassy resents food given to birds. I tossed two corn cobs into the bird feeding area. She went outside, her nose sniffing for food, and found one. I said, "Leave it for the birds." She looked guilty, picked it up, and looked for a safe place to enjoy it.
Even a small gathering of believers will show that God has given people unique gifts that all work together, just we see in the Creation Garden. But false teachers in their denominations are jealous and peevish. They want to be the whole show and cannot bear than anyone else outshines their limited abilities. They force themselves on everyone:
- Fake scholars who never study;
- Translators, who copy and paste the New NIV and change a few words to make it their own new Lutheran Bible;
- Preachers who plagiarize and share their stolen sermons on the Net - until exposed by the same technology;
- Leaders who glory in all the wealth they have absorbed from a few rich people, Thrivent, and the boards where they serve (themselves);
- Dogmaticians whose only faith is in repeating the errors of Holy Mother Sect.
I have often wondered what would happen if the Lutherans gave up their security blankets, their Woobies (Mr. Mom), their Thrivent loot. The LCMS gets about $50 to 60 million a year. Members could easily replace that, and the so-called conservative leaders would no longer whine that they had to work with ELCA to get the money. Tis funny how a sprinkling of money will quiet the conscience of everyone. The Lutheran Forum worried about insurance influence until they got a grant. Christian News complained publicly about insurance money until AAL gave them cash sedative.
But, as Dr. Cruz has observed, they argue from their theories that they cannot get along by trusting in God's Word. No, they need the wisdom of CPAs and Church Growth salesmen.
