Cooler, Moose and Wood

Yesterday the question of the day on Studio Calico was something like "How do you know it is fall?" Well, this picture of the thermometer this morning ought to answer that questions for me. Yep, that is about 12 degrees F. It is officially fall now. To celebrate the coming of fall, we went for a family wood cutting outing after football practice. Because it was evening, the lighting wasn't great, but Andy already had his two trees scoped out. On our way to the first we saw this: That would be a moose. Not a great photos because of low light and taking it from a moving truck, but still, a moose all the same. That was pretty cool to see! We got up to the wood cutting place and I took advantage of what light we had to grab a couple of photos. That brown tree is the first one we cut, and will warm my home this coming winter and spring. J found this a few yards from the warming tree. It must be a moose, elk, or a cow because the femur bone near by was too big to be a deer. This little trip to get wood was a great culmination to a good afternoon. You see, the last week has been pretty terrible around here. It is the first week of the month, so I was bogged down with billing and bill paying, which is always overwhelming to me. Plus, I don't think I admitted this on the blog last week, but last Friday the dogs got out again, and got into the dead porcupine again, this time something awful. We had to take them to the vet again, and it was expensive, requiring a full surgery for Leo. Not something we could afford. As they struggled to get in and out of the car for that trip to the vet, one of them stepped on and mangled my glasses. Then, a couple of days ago I forgot to set the emergency break in a parking lot, and my car rolled back into a big truck - no damage to the truck, but a big dent in my new car's bumper. That is going to cost us to repair - even the insurance deductible seems just too much to afford right now. And then the office phones went out and I had to buy new ones (another big unexpected expense). So I was feeling pretty down. But, I took my glasses to Costco's glasses place yesterday, and they fixed them - for free! First I was amazed they were fixable. I thought it was a pretty long shot, and the woman warned me that trying to bend them back into shape might break them, but she would try. There is a small scratch in the side of one of the lenses, but otherwise, a-okay! I had prayed at least three times while they were being fixed that they would not break. It was such a great answer to prayer, because I knew new glasses were not in the budget. So, I was ecstatic when she handed them to me no charge. It really was a turning point in my down in the dumps attitude. I was feeling so optimistic. To follow that up with a great family outing cutting wood was wonderful. So, I face today with a new attitude. Thank you God for providing just the encouragement I needed!