The clankity clank, whine, and bumpity bump of the garbage truck is about the only sound in the neighborhood this morning. The occasional chirping of the sparrows is the only birdsong out there even though there are a lot of birds hitting the feed troughs this morning like a bunch of flying pigs. The red-headed woodpecker, downy woodpecker, and starlings are fighting over the last morsels left on the bark butter feeder. And somewhere up in the poplar tree a squirrel is fussing about something. I'm sitting here with my cup of coffee, waiting on the plumber to get here and hook up the new generator to the gas line and do a couple of other plumbing things including dropping in a new hydromatic sump pump and hopefully put in a new outside spickett here in back. There is one out here but it is so low that it is almost impossible to even hook a hose up to it. Obviously it was put in long before the patio was poured.

I was just out checking the garden and the asparagus needs cutting again. I only have a very small patch, five foot by three foot, but it really does produce a lot of asparagus; certainly as much as we want to eat. My tomatoes are really growing too. The cucumbers are doing well but the okra, not so much. We only put out four okra plants and one has been eaten and one just doesn't look that healthy. But, --- if just two of them do well, we will have all the okra we will want.

We went to the churches yesterday and took care of our work there. When the two of us go it really makes the job a lot quicker, especially if the copier is working just right. Sometimes one or the other copiers gives us trouble and that gets frustrating. Generally if I do the copying and Ms. Kate does the folding and stuffing it works well. She's probably twice as fast as I am when it comes to the folding and stuffing. I think most churches have a secretary that would do all of that but that would be a total waste of money for our two churches. I would never make good use of a secretary because I'm too independent. All of the years I spent as a military commander I always had a secretary and her job mainly was to keep me on time and guard the door to keep people from just coming in.

So, the world in my little backyard kingdom is good. God I here in the lush green of the plants and the blooms os the plants and the songs now coming from the birds. There is something very natural about God's peace. It permeates your very soul. One only has to stop and breathe out all of the mind clutter and then breathe in the essense of God's blessings and peace. When we don't take time to do that once in a while, our bodies get all knotted up from our toes to our brains and stress and tension will ruin your life. Too many people let that happen to them; --- and the worst part is that it is a choice they make. Jesus said, "I will give you rest". Take full advantage of that peace and rest. It is now the end of the "work week". I hope you will have some time to rest and enjoy God's peace.