See Rock City Birdhouse

Mom and Nana got the "See Rock City" birdhouse up in our front yard, and it just looks marvelous there.  I pulled up to the house and saw it set up there, and it's such a great sight.  We picked that up so long ago when we went to Rock City, and I put it together, and even painted the post and attached it to the post itself.  But it's taken us a while to get into the ground, until today.  And it just looks so great there.  The house has compartments for six different nests, if that many birds would like to take up residence there.  I mean why not?  It's a bit more comfortable, I'd think, than our front door, right?

So we're in this odd gas shortage.  Human conditioning is such that when we're told to just get a half tank of gas as we wait for the supply to come back, we'll all collectively and immediately race out to the gas stations and not only fill up our tanks, but in many cases bring along extra gas tanks and barrels to fill up with even more gas.  It's similar to what happened last year with toilet paper, only this one was even more self-inflicted.  The gas lines out there are crazy, and gas stations left and right are sitting there, completely empty.  We filled up on Sunday night, so we're good.  But I pitied a lot of people on the way home, as I passed many who were sitting in these enormous lines at the otherwise uncrowded gas stations.

Madison was at school today, studying Henry County, or math problems.  You could combine the two in this interesting math challenge:

Question:  In Henry County, I-75 is 16.42 miles long.  A truck is moving north as it crosses the Henry County line on I-75 at 60 mph, while a small white Toyota is traveling south as it crosses the Henry County line on I-75 at 70 mph.  At what time do they meet?

Answer:  Four hours and fifty-five minutes, due to traffic.

We had a meeting with a dietician.  I had the laptop set up so that Mom could speak with the dietician as I as sitting there.  It made sense, as Mom prepares all the food in the house.  The end result of our meeting was "we're pretty close to the mark."  We're still needing to make some adjustments though, one of them being the replacement of our normal butter with a substitute butter.  There are other dietary changes too, but it was good to meet with this person to get advice.  It's been a good program afterwards, informative and helpful.  I've had ups and downs, but more ups than downs.

Tonight's viewing was more of season two of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."  We've seen these guys again:

"Your compliance will be rewarded."  What a quote.  It's the phrase used by Hydra operatives as they manipulate and control others.  It's best stated while sneering, or at least through gritted teeth.  It's also a phrase you can easily imagine our own government telling us when implementing laws or executive orders we don't agree with.  For example, just thinking off the top of my head here... "Get a vaccination.  Your compliance will be rewarded."  That sort of thing.

Anyway, we saw a few more episodes of this show tonight before heading up to read, and pray too.  Added to our prayers is a prayer for Israel, a nation under attack this week.  Our new President has condemned the terrorist rocket attacks against Israel, and supports Israel's right to defend itself.  That might seem fairly obvious, but it surprising given the political party he represents.  Still, it's going to go on  and on.  It's like a volcano that erupts from time to time.  I think there's a famous statement by Dave Barry about the Middle East that goes like this:  "They can hold all the peace talks they want, but there will never be peace in the Middle East. Billions of years from now, when Earth is hurtling toward the Sun and there is nothing left alive on the planet except a few microorganisms, the microorganisms living in the Middle East will be bitter enemies."

Regardless, we pray for Israel.  A lot of talk is going on about the end times, and that happens each time the volcano erupts over there.  Our job is to be ready regardless, pray for peace, and do the best we can.  And try to get a good night's rest.