It is a rough morning around here this morning. My cold is kicking my butt today. I should have had my broker invest in Kleenex. It is a good thing Ms. Kate bought several more boxes yesterday. I woke up way too early; my chest hurt, my head hurt, I was coughing and all of the other pleasant things that go along with a cold. I find it only a tad bit amusing. This will be the first Sunday in 12 and a half years that I would be in danger of not being able to go to work and I'm retired and don't have to. I'm sure God has a message in there somewhere. Actually, I've heard from several friends this morning who are either suffering with it or or have family members with it. Welcome to winter. I think it is going to be a do nothing day. I'm going to sit here in the sunporch, pull my lap robe up, play some Andre' Reiu, have my coffee, watch the world and take naps. I have one of those Mr. Coffee cup heaters on the end table beside my recliner and it keeps my coffee just right to drink no matter how long I am out here.

The backyard buffet has been busy this morning. I have several downy woodpeckers aand some finches and a coupe of wrens here.I see a couple of squirrels high up in the neighbor's tree but they haven't made it over to my yard yet. There have been one or two cardinal here and aa couple of robins dropped by. I guess I need to finally plug in the bird bath. The robins and cardinal all tried o get a drink this morning and there was a thin layer of ice on the water. However, it is now 36 degrees and that layer will melt before long.

I went out yesterday afternoon and ran the lawnmower over the leaves one last time in my front yard and neigbor Dan's yard. Jeff's Bradford pear tree is losing leaves quickly now and he was out there raking them and bagging them. I went out and finished the job in about three minutes that he had been working on for 30 minutes. So, now I can swap out the mowing deck for the snow blade. But, --- I'm not ready to crawl around oncold concrete today.

So, it is time for Tylenol, a fresh cup of coffee and my lap robe --- and yes, a nap. I hope yu have a great day. God bless!