PORCH PONDERINGS

Birds Throwing Grenades

Today we had a trash pickup along the highway. Our church does this twice a year as a service project. Several folks showed up to help, including some kiddos so it was a good event. Then we always adjourn after to a member's home nearby for a potluck lunch and church meeting.

Driving to the site where we begin, you could see how close the recent fire came to crossing the main highway. Scary. You could also see some homes completely surrounded by burnt fields. That would've been scary to be there at that time, but maybe they had evacuated. Hard to know.

I always do some publicity about this event for the statewide church newsletter. One of the questions I always ask everyone is what they found that was out of the ordinary. So this year's interesting finds:
1. 5 face masks.
2. Blue Moon beer bottles - a favorite each year, but down in volume this time, we think maybe the consumer moved?
3. 3 tie-down straps for trailers
4. bungee cord with bent hook
5. washer - at first I thought it was a real appliance, but, no, just one of those little metal thingies, why pick up something so small was my thought!
6. someone's pay stub with social security number on it - oops - not good to let that get loose

After the trash pickup, we all gathered for a potluck meal. All vegan, in nod to some members that are vegan, and then we had a church meeting in the yard of the farm house. Beautiful. We sat under a crab apple tree, bird feeders all around. Every so often a crab apple hit someone. It was as if the birds were hitting us with bombs. Some hit plates, some hit heads, one person got hit on her face, one on her shoulder. Pretty funny actually. Birds throwing grenades.

On the way home I stopped by the thrift store to check on something, only to find it jam packed full of boxes. While I was there, the owner and her husband came in. They received a large donation over the weekend and are quite unsure as to how to proceed with it. So we discussed how to deal with this largesse. I had someone with me that I needed to get home, she is a bit disabled, so I couldn't stay and talk too long, but I'll have to get my thinking cap on for this puzzle.

We're supposed to have more fire weather tomorrow. Hot and dry with wind. We pray that nothing happens to start another fire here. One is enough.