A few days ago I was grousing because it was 14 degrees outside. I apologize Mr 14, would you please come back? It was 3 degrees outside there this morning. That is unacceptable. —-And on top of that we have a foot of snow on the ground. This is the second largest snow storm this area has had this century. In 2004 we had 22 inches. Having said that, —- we were very fortunate, There are a couple of million people without power today because they got a lot of ice and wind which is a dangerous combination.

This is the Backyard Buffet and as you can see, the feeders have been cleaned out and with a foot of snow out there they will just have to wait a while. If I am going to spend time pushing snow, it will be out front so we can get out of the driveway. 

There was a snow plow truck that went down our street yesterday afternoon but I haven’t seen any cars go by at all. My next door neighbor to the north cleared his driveway yesterday afternoon. He has young boys and I saw one of them out there shoveling. I may put my boots on and go see if his son wants to make some money by shoveling my driveway. I don’t have their phone number so I’ll have to walk over. That sounds like a Brrrrrrrr idea. I know I always rely on my JD to move the snow around here b it first of all, the bade isn’t on the JD and even if it was, it wouldn’t be much help moving this stuff. I’d just end up in a bigger fix with a lawnmower stuck in the snow in the middle of my driveway. 

That’s enough for today. Since we’re snowed in, it’s a good day to get the laundry done.

Have a wonderful day, Stay safe, stay warm, and give God thanks for a beautiful world. Peace. 

 Good morning! I am just running through and dropping a note. The anticipated snow storm has arrived and it is really coming down and the wind is whipping. If is goes as predicted, this is just phase one and should amount to two or three inches. Then tonight the “real storm” hits us and will continue through much of the day tomorrow. I’m hearing all kinds of wild predictions. The latest said maybe 21 inches. I don’t believe that at all. I still think we’ll get a foot which is bad enough. But my weather guy did hit the “start time “ right on target. 

Y’all stay safe out there. 

 Like 1.8 million other people, I’m sitting here waiting for the snowmageddon to start but that won’t happen until sometime tomorrow morning. Then it will run through Sunday. The estimates are all over the place as you probably know. The latest I heard about ten minutes ago is that we could get as much as 15 inches at our house. But, sitting here worrying about it would be the most useless thing I could do at this point. What’s going to happen, is going to happen. I just pray that people can and will be safe.  I know that travel in and out of this subdivision is going to be impossible for at least through Wednesday. My only hope is that the forecasters are correct about the “type” of snow we are supposed to get. They are saying that we should get the “light and fluffy” kind that will be easier to move around. That would be most excellent because even though I’ll have to get out and shovel it out of the driveway, it will be much easier to just move little bit at a time. I’m hoping that we won’t get a lot of wind with it after the snow stops. I don’t want it to blow back over the driveway. But —- I think we are ready for all of this to unfold. I took Ms. Kate for her hair appointment. Would not want to have a snow storm with unkempt hair you know. From there we went to Walmart to fill the car with gas and to pick up the “call in” order we placed last night.  On the way home we jaunted out to one of our favorite restaurants for a brunch. (It wasn’t that great today. I ordered off of the Mexican menu and didn’t particularly like my selection. I will go back to my “Merican” steak and eggs thank you!) We came home, put way the groceries, and then I prepped the driveway with snow/ice melt and I brought the truck up to the house to get it off the street. Who knows, a snow removal truck might get lost and accidentally come through our area. It happened once before. 

I looks as though most of my family is going to get hit with this storm. Julie is just across the state and will get hit about an hour after us. They are looking at 15 “ too. Josh and family, Lisa and family, Amanda and family are all in the “ice zone”. Steph and Christ are in Oklahoma and will send it all to us first. Heather and all in California will just get a bunch of rain. Som no one is safe. 

That’s enough for today. I don’t expect any of our local churches will be having services this weekend. So, if you can’t get out for a service, take the time to stop and give God thanks in the privacy and quiet of your home. Sending you blessings until next time. Peace. 

 January 20th and another raw cold day, but so far no snow to shovel. 

How was your Martin Luther King Jr holiday? Did you think about his accomplishments. Did you attend any programs in honor of him? Did you reflect on what he did for the nation? Neither did I. Nor do I do any of that for George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, or anybody else’s birthday holidays. They are just excuses to have a holiday. And —- being retired, it’s not even a “day off” because I already have the day off. 

What the day did bring was a really great college football National Championship game between Indiana University and University of Miami. Had not IU been playing — I never would have watched the game. But, I had to support the home team. So, I have watched the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl, and now the National Championship game, all of which IU played brilliantly. That will probably be the last sports I watch this year unless I happen to be bored and decode to watch the Super Bowl. I guess that will depend on who’s playing; —— or has that already been decided?? I don’t watch other “playoff” level sports either like the baseball World Series. Just not interested in watching grown men playing children’s games and getting paid outrageous money to do so. Grow up —- get a real job. 

I got a call the first thing this morning from my dental technician saying she had an opening at 11:30 if I wanted to come in and get the left side of my deep cleaning done. So, that’s what I did. I’m sitting here with the left side of my face being numb. After the appointment I went to Dairy Queen and picked up a chocolate milk shake for my brunch. No chewing involved and the only danger is having milk shake running down the left side of my face and me not knowing it. LOL I’m really glad to have that done. I have to go back for a filling on the 3rd of February. 

I guess I’ll sign off/ Walgreens just called and I need to go pick up some meds for Ms. Kate. Have a blessed afternoon. Peace. 

 Friday evening and another week is winding down quickly. It has been an up and down week but I’m glad to say that Ms. Kate is doing so much better. Today we even went out for breakfast. It wasn’t a special trip but we were out already for an appointment and decided to stop for breakfast before heading home. It was our first breakfast run since before Thanksgiving. 

It has been a “warm” (42 degrees) day and the temps are heading back down because the sun is almost down and it is cloudy, a light rain and 4:00 in the afternoon. This was our warm day until next Wednesday. Sop what do you do with a rainy afternoon, —- laundry of course. Thank goodness the “hang the laundry out on the clothesline” days are long past us. This way all the laundry is done for the week. I do the laundry most of the time because I don’t really mind doing it. Kate has a hard time getting the clothes out of the bottom of the washing machine. She has to use a set of tongs to get the off of the bottom. Besides, I’ve been helping do the laundry since I was a kid. And in those days we did have a clothesline; outside for sunny days and in the basement for rainy or freezing cold days. In my youngest days my folks had a ringer washer with two tubs for rinse water. I wasn’t allowed to use the ringer washer. Then my folks got a new washer and dryer.  There is a lady across the way that still hangs her laundry out on a line and I think she does wash every day. She watches her three grandkids a few days a week and I guess she washes their clothes every day. 

Dis I tell you that I have a few preaching days coming up? I will be preaching at Ft. Branch at my former parish on February 1st. Then I got a call from a church on the east side of town looking for a pastor. Their pastor had suddenly retired due to health reasons and they were trying to fill Sundays especially during the Lenten and Easter season. I agreed to fill the last three Sundays in March. I’m really looking forward to that. They would have been happy if I would have agreed to serve as the interim pastor for awhile but I’m really not interested in serving in a full time position. And, I suspect that they would not have been real happy with me in the long run because I’m not in tune with the liberal policies of the United Church of Christ. I think they are an “O&A church”. Besides —— I have gotten real used to this retirement thing. LOL

That’s it for this Friday. I hope you will have a blessed weekend and I pray you will take the time to get in touch with the God that has blessed you all week. Peace. 

 January 14th; time to start thinking about Valentine's Day options. You only have a month. 

It’s really turned cold outside and I saw three snow flakes a few minutes ago. It isn’t supposed to amount to anything here, but of course up north they are going to get another bunch. I’m so glad I live in southern Indiana. Most of the time our weather is more of a nuisance than anything else. 

I went for session one of my teeth deep cleaning yesterday. It wasn’t bad to go through. They cleaned the right side on my gums, upper and lower. The worst past was getting the numbing injections and even that wasn’t all that bad because my technician made sure the topical numbing was good before she did the injection. I appreciated that. I go back on February 18th and have the left side done. Unfortunately, the dentist said I have the beginnings of a cavity on one tooth and he wants to take care of that on February 3rd. Kate and I are very lucky in that we have not had to spend a lot of money on dental work over the years. We both believe it is incredible important to take care of our teeth and we are lucky enough to be able to afford it when we need it. We have a dental insurance plan through the government but it really doesn’t seem to cover very much. But, it’s better than nothing. I smile every time I think about old people being able to keep their teeth their whole life. I remember my grandma and my mother always saying “Well, I still have my teeth!” It seemed to be a sense of pride for them. 

The contractors working on the house across the street have begun laying new brick. It’s a cold day for it but it needs to be done. I’m assuming that cold weather doesn’t affect the process. Their house is sure going to look different when they finish. I hope they love it. They have been out of it since the fire last January. I think I’ll walk down and take a look at how far they have gotten as I take the trash cans to the street. Got to be nosey ya’ know. 

I have a couple of sermons resting on Google Docs that I should maybe work on and have them ready should I get called to do a supply sermon sometime. Kate had a call from an old friend today wanting to know if I was still preaching or had a church because their church was now without a pastor due to retirement for health reasons. Kate told her friend that I was available for supply work but was not interested in doing an interim job. She gave them my cell phone number. We’ll see if anyone calls. I would love to fill in for them once in awhile but I’m not up to doing full time pastoral work any more as much as I think I could. One must be realistic. 

That’s it for today. In case you forgot; it’s HUMP DAAAAAAY!  Enjoy yourself. 

 Good morning on this the 13th day of January . We have another fairly nice day that promises to degrade rapidly tonight. But, I’ll take 45 nor now especially since it is supposed to continue on up to 58 before the day is over. 

We have cardinals and bluebirds out at the buffet and unfortunately we also have junkets too. Don’t get me wrong, the Junkets are cute and I like them but they are always a precursor to snow or so it seems. Hence, they are often called “snowbirds”. And yes, we do have flurries in the forecast and several days of cold weather coming up again through the weekend. 

Today I have an appointment with my dental technician that I’m not looking forward to. She is going to do the first part of my “deep cleaning”. It will require that she numb my mouth to do it. They do it in four appointments. Today I guess they are doing the right lower jaw. According to the internet, the appointment could take two hours. That’s a long time to be in a dentist’s chair. I think I have a total of three appointments to get this done. Not getting it done can cause loss of the jaw bone material. I guess I better grill these steaks for lunch and plan on Ramen for supper. LOL

I read this morning that my former parish will be discussing leaving the United Church of Christ denomination at their upcoming winter meetings. I guess I need to process this in my brain for a bit. I can certainly understand their logic and frankly I have mentally left the denomination some time ago because I can no longer tolerate the radical liberal stance they take on so many social issues. However that parish goes back to 1876 and they are walking away. I just think it is sad that the denomination has “left them”. I think they will face some unknown challenges certainly. And their pastor is very young with a lot of hope but not a lot of experience in taking two churches out on their own. I urge you to join me in praying for them. They are going to need a lot of prayer. 

I guess I better go get the grill started for lunch. Have yourself a wonderful day. Peace.