First things first -- fill the bark butter paste feeders. I did and it took about three minutes before the first downy woodpecker discovered they were full. Since then the mockingbird had found it, the starlings have found it, several finches have found it, and a red=headed woodpecker has even come by for inspection. I also need to fill some sunflower seed feeders but that can wait a bit. There is still enough out there for the cardinals and they are busy eating from them.

My walk outside this morning led me to discover that the daffodils are coming up in all of the flowerbeds. That is a real promise of spring. Of course, I've seen a lot of times that the daffodils had to poke through the snow so I'm not toasting the arrival of spring any time soon. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. I'm never sure if the groundhog is supposed to see its shadow or not supposed to see its shadow. I think if it sees its shadow it goes back in for another six weeks of winter which just co-incidentally also coincides with the end of meteorological winter. Amazing how all of that worked out isn't it?

It's a forty five degree partly cloudy morning. The sun has not actually "popped through" the clouds yet this morning and most likely won't today. We had a few rain drops last evening. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm until the afternoon when the severe weather hits us and then drop back to more February like weather in the thirties. Lots of folks seem to have colds and sniffles and it is no wonder with the rollover coaste weather etc.

The squirrels have arrived and the chasing and frolicking, and tail flipping has begun. They are energetic little boogers but they are going to be disappointed this morning. Most of the feeders they like are empty so they have to go through great gyrations to hang upside down and balance on precarious branches to steal from other feeders. If people had the work ethic of a squirrel --- there would be no unemployment in this country. Think about it; there's no amount of work they won't go through to survive and feed themselves; they take food and bury it for later, i.e. a savings account, they work together in communities and protect their territory and they protect their young. Yep, --- people and society could learn a lot by thinking more like a squirrel.

Today is going to be a writing day. This evening I have to go for my annual Licensed Minister review. It is a once a year thing where we go present ourselves to the Committee on Ministry and tell what we have done for the past year. The committee then decides if we are "fit" to continue on as ministers and if so, they license us for another year. The ordained clergy never have to do this unless they have committed an ethics violation of some kind. They are basically like tenured professors. We're are just "hired gospel guns" so to speak and serve at the leisure of the Committee on Ministry. It would be interesting to see what would happen if a church decided they wanted a certain person for thier pastor and the COM didn't renew their license. For instance, I have been the pastor at my two churches for the past 11 years and the two churches are happy with me. I wonder what would happen if the committee decided not to renew my license? I suspect we will never know.

Mr. Cardinal is sitting on the birdbath all bright and beautiful and reminding me that I have goofed off long enough this morning and it is time to get busy. The sun is now bright in the sky which is a pleasant surprise, but I must head downstairs to my office and get busy. I hope your day is bright and pleasant and filled with the blessings of God. My daffodils popping through were my extra blessing from God this morning. Go out there and see what God has in store for you. Peace.