What better way to start off a new week than with a heat index of 105 degrees and no breeze. Even the squirrels are already draped over the branches this morning and or walking slow. They aren't too happy anyway because the feeders are all empty and I haven't bothered to go fill them yet this morning. Although, I have one out there that has and is going through all kinds of stretched out gyrations to reach a couple of feeders that they don't normally go to. It was literally hanging on to a small limb by a couple of toe nails and stretched out to reach a bark butter feeder. I guess I'll go put some sunflower seed in all of the feeders so they can all eat in peace again. I also need to hose out the bird baths again and refill them. It is important this time of year. It is definitely "the Dog days of Summer."

We had a good weekend. Saturday we drove over to New Albany and had dinner with Julie and Jim at Joe Huber's Farm and Resturant. It's a couple hour drive for a meal but the company was great and the food wasn't bad either. There are a lot of good places to eat here in Indiana, a person just has to look for them. One of the things Ms. Kate and I intend to do once I retire is to do "day trips" and find unique and neat little places and hidden gems of this state. When I retired from the Air Force back in 2001, we had promised ourselves we were going to do this but now fifteen years later we still haven't gotten around to it. Last night I spent some time on the internet looking at the smaller van type of camper/motor homes. It was quickly made obvious that we could stay in a lot of five star hotels for the $60 - $120,000 that it would cost for a new one. I guess Motel 6 better keep a light on for us. LOL

Yesterday we had our Associate Conference Minister in for our worship service. She gave the sermon and it was pretty good. After the service we had a meeting with her and the members of the two churches to talk about my retirement. Ms. Kate and I stayed for part of the meeting and then we were excused so they could "plot my demise" so to speak. There is a lot of things that the churches need to do to even begin to search for a new pastor. And I guess there are things that I need to do too. I have already begun working on a bit of a continuity folder for my replacement. Staying out of the process and not asking a lot of questions is going to be hard for me. I'm a guy that needs to know what is going on, but in this case I'm not allowed to influence anything. And me asking questions without rendering an opinion is next to impossible. So, I just need to keep my mind on my work and let them do theirs.

It is clouding up now so I guess I better get dressed and go fill the bird feeders before it starts raining or storming or something. I hope you have a wonderful week filled with warm and loving experiences and the joy that is brought by your relationship with the Lord God. Until next time ---.