8° this fine morning!  The snow storm has come and gone and locally left a six inch present for us. I will be first to admit that it is a beautiful sight. The snow was in fact a dry snow and therefore left no danger to trees and power lines. But today is only supposed to get up to 21° and that will rapidly drop off to some sub-zero windchills by tomorrow evening; not a pleasant thought.

It basically stopped snowing around three o'clock yesterday afternoon. So, I bundled up and jumped on the little John Deere and began clearing the driveway, my neighbor Dan's driveway, and the street in front of our two houses. We live on a long hill and the steepest part really begins at my house. So, I try to clear part of the street so we can get in and out and other folks can get up the hill. It took most of an hour to get it all done and I thought I probably froze my cajones off. But two cups of hot chocolate later, --- life was good. I may go out and work a little farther up the hill today. But then again, I might just stay in the house.

The news from Sheila and Byron wasn't good yesterday. His PSA number climbed another five points this month. And he has to go off of his medicine so that he can have a root canal. Bless his heart, he can't seem to catch a break. So, we continue our prayers and trust in what ever plan God may have for him and them. They are only about seventy days from celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. A year ago they weren't sure he would be alive for them to celebrate. Now they need to be thinking about which riverboat casino they are heading to in order to celebrate the day. God has given them that time and that blessing, and we are all grateful for that blessing.

The crowds of birds has arrived. It was quiet for the first forty five minutes or so. All I had was about a dozen Cardinal and a couple of Woodpeckers to look at. But now the Starling gang has shown up to bully everyone around and fuss and fight amongst themselves. I had to shovel over to the birdbath and add a gallon of water to it. It also had a one ice inch ring around the top where there is no heating element. So I took that off. Now they won't have to bend over so far to get their drink. There is a lot more bird feed out there this morning than I thought there would be. I'll not fill anything up today and just let them clean it all up.

I'm waiting to hear from the two church councils as to whether their roads are clear enough to have the Ash Wednesday service tomorrow evening. The worst part is that by then the artic front is supposed to be on top of us and it will be bitterly cold. I suspect if we do have church, it will be a very thin crowd because folks will just not want to get out. We'll just have wait and see.

My coffee cup is empty and I must do something about that. So, I wish you a most blessed day full of the warmth of the Holy Spirit. Think good thoughts and enjoy God's beautiful world.