Did you know there is a verse in the Bible– 1 Thessalonians 4:11–which states:
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life……..
Back before Christmas while reading a post by the Modern Mrs. Darcy I noticed she was recommending a book of 365 devotions–Savor by Shauna Niequist. I found the book on Amazon, read a few of the pages through Amazon’s “look inside” feature and hit the “buy” button. While sometimes I don’t feel as if the devotion of the day has anything to do with me, other times the author hits the nail on the head. The Bible version I have reads the verse as:
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands just as we instructed you before.
I liked this devotion today–it seemed to fit. The devotion book author titled today’s devotion, Anti-Frantic–as in the complete opposite of frantic. Slow down, take time to enjoy and be present in every single moment.
Tile work is progressing–
The tile under the huge refrigerator is set and grouted–no need to move that monster again! Notice the blue masking tape–that is the Cowboy’s warning–don’t step on those particular tiles–they are newly cemented and must dry for 24 hours. When Jane and Paul were here all the tiles in the center of the kitchen on one side had blue tape–it made for some convoluted walking paths while trying to make dinner!
Tuesday our friends Ralph and Angie came over from Tombstone bearing steaks–we always welcome guests bringing steaks! 🙂 We hadn’t seen them since last March and spent a very enjoyable afternoon playing catch up. Emmi even decided Angie’s lap was a good place to be–
The guy next to the Cowboy is Brian, our friend and well driller–he stopped by to return a borrowed router. Ralph is sitting out of the photo.
Poor Emmi received a bath and haircut yesterday–and of course the weather turned cooler–she isn’t very happy with me and needed a coat for our early morning walk.
This afternoon while walking Emmi I saw a cool bird in flight who landed close enough to photograph–
I used that cool app our blog reader Kim recommended–Merlin Bird ID–to find out he/she was a loggerhead shrike. Cool app–you can even listen to the sound the bird makes.
And one last photo–morning light on the Dragoons.
Restoration Cowboy Style 
I love Modern Mrs. Darcy! I’ve spent many a dollar with her daily Kindle deals email. Also, that loggerhead shrike is likely to stow his prey on the barbs of your fence. I did a study on them during one of my classes in college – very cool birds. We found that the ones around Jonesboro were mostly year-round residents, with some birds migrating to the area for the winter.
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Jamie–supposedly this area of Arizona has over 500 species of birds–thought I would see if I could identify some! I love Modern Mrs. Darcy too–it’s one of my favorite blogs!
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Larry will feel bad, Emmi found a new lap! The tile looks great!
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I was glad–Emmi has always been standoffish with Angie and Angie loves animals. Our other schnauzer, Jazz, loved Angie so it was good to see Emmi warming up to her! The tile does look so good–he only has a little bit in the hall and the bathroom to finish laying.
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What a wonderful devotion for today and everyday. We have been so enjoying the absolutely quiet of the desert and being all alone when we hike and take the Jeep out. Just being in the quiet moment is so relaxing and fulfilling. The floor looks wonderful!!
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When I walk with Emmi in the morning and evening the sound of silence is wonderful!
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I loved that the Bible verse and the Devotion had the same message. The tile is beautiful and I loved the pics as always.
Thanks Janna and Happy New Year!
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Thanks! Happy New Year to you too!
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Kitchen floor’s looking good and I’ll have to give that Merlin Bird ID a whirl. We got Pheebs a night collar like Emmis and it’s working great. We have a little circle of greenish lights walking around in the dark desert nights now.
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It’s a convoluted process Al–at least for me–to get the bird photo onto my phone–I don’t take the phone with me when we walk, just a camera. I have to download the photo to my computer then email that particular bird photo to myself, then open that email on my phone and save the photo on the phone. The Merlin app then can access the photo for identification. See–I told you it was convoluted! Glad to hear the collar is working well–we love Emmi’s!
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I keep forgetting I have that app on my phone! Thanks for the reminder to use it. Kitchen looks great. I can’t imagine tiling a whole house!! I know you’ll both be glad when that’s over. Your mountains are so beautiful. Glad you’re taking the time to just be.
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I forgot about the app too until that day–I’m thinking the Cowboy was wishing we had used some other type of flooring–tile is labor intensive!
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I forgot about the app too until that day–I’m thinking the Cowboy was wishing we had used some other type of flooring–tile is labor intensive!
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I love how you demonstrate with your pictures the words of the Bible! Wonderfully done! Thank you and greetings.
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I hadn’t thought of it that way but thank you Cecilia!
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