Another lovely day at hand

First, I'll say that my knees aren't aching so badly.  I must have just overworked them.  They're not back to their normal pain level, but much better than they were in my last post, thank God.  

There was frost on the ground yesterday morning, and yet the peach blossoms weren't hurt.  Strange, isn't it?  Maybe the frost was patchy.  Anyway, I took all the old curtains and sheets off the potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers; everything is fine.  

I'll do some tilling in the garden today to keep weeds down between rows.  We have good chances of rain in the next two days.  I love seeing a bit of light in the east when I look out my bedroom window before 6 A.M.  This morning the waning moon was showing from that viewpoint too, as well as a bright star that's always above the moon in the morning, and a dimmer star below it.  I don't even try to learn the names of stars, but I like looking at them.  When I see that bright star above the moon, I remember a hymn from my youth, the chorus of which says, "He's the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star; He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul."

I'm trying out a very simple slow cooker recipe I saw online:  Take three or four chicken breasts, put in the crock pot.  Mix one can of cranberry sauce with 1 cup of barbecue sauce, mix in an onion diced in small pieces, and pour it all over the chicken; cook on low for six to eight hours.  The recipe suggests it be served over rice, so I'll probably do that.  The reviews were great on the site.

Our furnace still comes on during these cool nights and mornings, but I have a feeling it won't be long before we're switching to air conditioning.

I enjoy my dog, Gabe, so much more these days.  He'll be five years old in August, but it's only in the last few months that he has learned to stay with me when I'm outside.  He used to disappear, and no matter how much or how loud I called, he wouldn't show up until he was good and ready, which of course worried me.  I might find him down by the ditch digging in some kind of nastiness; sometimes I couldn't find him at all.  He'd just show up eventually, with me on the verge of crying, thinking my dog had been run over.  These days he is usually in sight, and if he disappears on the other side of the house, he comes back to touch bases often.  Oh, and he comes when I call now.  That makes my time spent outside much more enjoyable, with no worries.  Of course he and Blue, the cat, keep me entertained with their playful antics, too.

Hey, it's daylight at 6:15.  Gabe and I are going to the garden to see if there's anything new out there!  

Have a great day.