Fifty two degrees with a little bit of light rain on and off this morning. But, the gang is all here. At the moment it is just the small birds like finches and sparrows and a couple of starlings. But the cardinals will be along shortly as well as the woodpeckers and other critters. One quarrel has claimed a feeder and I expect there will be at least one more that will come in for a snack. Speaking of which —- here they come now; four of them playing chase all over the yard and up and down the trees. They do amuse me with their speed, agility, and animated actions.

I hung the wreaths on the windows yesterday morning. That is always an exciting adventure. With the azelias out there up close to the house, it is almost impossible to set my ladder up with any hint of stability. So I Jerry-rig in in place and just kind of hope I don’t fall off of it. Then I have to stretch to reach where I want to hang them. It’s a real circus act. And, —- I must apologize to any neighbors that might have accidentally heard me everytime the ladder began to slip. I could have asked Ms. Kate to help me by holding the ladder but there isn’t room for her to get to where she could be of help. These things might have seen their last year.

Ms. Kate and I are busy  prepping for our vacation. We are taking along Christmas presents for Heather and family and at least one thing is fragile. We think we have a “carry” solution for it but will have to see. If we were driving it would be no problem, but we are flying and I’m not in. Hurry to have baggage handlers get ahold of it. I have set looking out the windows of planes and have seen how they handle the bags. The Olympic distance throw is nor what you want for fragile items. .

Neighbor Dan and I are going to swap the mower deck out for the snow plow this afternoon. I read the winter weather prediction for the Tri-State area last night and they say a La Niña is in full effect this winter which means for us — much colder weather and for the three winter months maybe around fifteen inches of snow. By the time we get back from vacation, we could be looking at some snow. I need to be ready. last year that brand new blade never saw a flake of snow. This year I think it might just get a work out.

I need to drop off and get ready to make this day happen. One of the first things we need to do is go to a store and get some ink for my computer and for Ms. Kate’s computer. I hope you have a blessed day. Peace.

What a difference the sun makes. It is the same temperature out there as it was yesterday. Howeve, yesterday was sunny and bright and warm and inviting. Today it is cloudy and dreary and cold looking. Yesterday I was anxious to get outside and enjoy the day. Today, I’m in no hurry because it just doesn’t look inviting. And you know, I could change the word “sun” to “Son” and it would mean the same. Without God’s Son, the world and life tends to be dreary and dull an scary and uninviting. With God’s Son in your life, life is bright and promising, and inviting and full of joy. The difference between sun and Son??? — The sun shines or it doesn’t; you have no control over it. With the Son; —- you have total control because you either accept Christ into your life or you don’t. It is your choice. But given the difference; death or eternal life;  — I recommend you let the Son shine in.

We got a few more chores checked off of the list yesterday. I finished up the front yard, or at least I think I’m done for the year. we went to the cemeetaries and put winter flowers on the family headstones. We only do Ms. kate’s Parents, grandparents and brother, and my parents so it doesn’t take a lot of time. But Ms. Kate is very good at doing it and takes great pride in keeping the graves looking good. Here mom was always fussy about that too. The Hahn family plot sits fairly close to the entrance so that when anybody drives into the cemetery, they will pass the family plot. So, if there was going to be be a funeral of anybody she knew in that cemetery, she had to get out there and make sure the family grave plot looked good. Ms. Kate isn’t quite that bad but she does change flowers with the seasons so they always look fresh. Sadly, when we pass, there will be no family left around here to maintain our graves. But then, most of us are just one generation away from obscurity anyway. So, if we want to be remembered we better do our best to make a positive impression on the lives of people around us and the generations coming after us. —— Wow! I sound in a somber mood this morning don’t I? I told you the sun wasn’t shining. LOL

My backyard buffet guests are satisfied this morning because I filled everything up  yesterday and cleaned and refilled the bird baths. The usual gang is here; cardinals, junkos, finches, downy woodpeckers, and sparrows. I’ve had a couple of squirrels here off and on. The neighbor’s big ol’ Black cat was here earlier and ran the squirrels up the trees. Sometimes it will even go after them up the trees. I like the fact that the cat will chase the squirrels but never bothers my birds. It is also good for grabbing voles that tunnel under the mulch. So, it is welcome to come eat the buffet any time it wants. The first time I see it get a bird though I will revioke its buffet priveleges.

That is about it for today my friends. The sun is slowly breaking through the clouds and it is looking like a different day out there. Don’t forget to let the Son shine through your life and you too will have a different day. Peace.

Another bright, blue, sunny and semi-warm morning. We’re having small gusts of wind coming through and it is doing a great job of removing the leaves from the fire bushes. I hope it is also helping remove the leaves from the Bradford Pear tree in the neighbor’s yard. That tree sits on the very edge of his yard and is huge. In fact I’ve never seen a Bradford that big. But it seems to take all winter for the leaves to come off of it.

We did get a few of the things on our “to-do” list accomplished. I got the flowerbed along thefront walk cleaned up and the dead azealia gut back. I didn’t dig it out because I want to see if in the spring it might come back. Stranger things have happened. The one next to it has also mostly died off and I’ll need to cut it back too but I ran out of garbage can space for this week. I can’t imagine why they have died.

Today Ms. Kate and I need to go through the things that she has bought for the different family members and make sure we are on track. Next week we are heading off to the west coast and will be celebrating our Christmas and gift exchange with Heather and her family. I know some of the things Ms. Kate bought but most of it I don’t. And we also need to make sure the rest of the family is covered. By the time we get back we’ll be within ten days or so of Christmas.

The second thing we need to do is go put winter flower decorations on the family graves. We bought the stuff yesterday and again, —- we’re pressed for time. I still haven’t filled my bird feeders although they are having no problem finding something to eat out there. It is just that their “favorite” feeders are empty. There is enough spilled seed on the ground that I could let the feeders stand empty for a month and there would still be plenty to eat. But that is on the list of things to do today too.
I also need to try again to find some suction cups to put on my windows out front to hang my wreaths from. I went to Walmart and to Dollar General yesterday and could not find any. So, we’ll try another couple of places while we are out decorating the graves.

We had the neatest surprise last night. Our grandson Jon called just to talk. He’s 16, almost 17 and a really good kid. His question and reason for calling was to know what kind of facial hair I grew because he thinks he wants to grow some facial hair and he had heard that it was determined by genetics. I told him he’s in bad shape from my line. The best he can hope for is sketchy. But, what a neat thing  it was for him to call. It warmed our hearts.

I think it is time for me to get on out into God’s most beautiful day and go ahead and feed my birds. The hanging wire on one of their favorites broke last night so I need to do a repair job. I hope you take some time out from your day to give thanks again for your blessings. I have a whole new set of things to be thankful for today that I will discuss at a later day. So, —- be joyful in your heart and kind to all of those around you. Peace.

November 27th, 2017; a year ago today I officially retired as pastor of the two United Church of Christ churches in Ft. Branch, IN. At that time I wrote in a Facebook post that I hoped that my retirement would “stick”. It was, after all, my second time to retire. Well, in all honesty, I guess I wasn’t as retirement ready as I thought I was. I simply needed a good break. I was tired, I felt my messages were becoming tired and ineffective and I wasn’t serving God or my two congregations as well as they deserved. So, I sit here in the sunporch refreshed and ready to serve God in what ever capacity God might have in store for me. My daughter Heather probably said it best when she said “I guess God wasn’t done with you yet.” I certainly hope not. I have had a couple of opportunities to give the message at my home church and have fully enjoyed the opportunity. I’m not ready to take on a full time ministry of a church but —- well, we’ll see what happens.

It is a forty two degree morning and is going up to the mid-sixties today. Ms. Kate and I have some running around to do today before I get outside and do some work. Today is what they are calling “cyber-Monday” so hopefully people will be shopping from their computers instead of being out in the stores. What I need I could probably pick up at a Dollar General store, but Ms. Kate said something about going to Hellmart, I meanWalmart. I’ll need a second cup of coffee before I can tackle that.

Today we want to get the wreaths put up at the windows and a couple of other Christmas decorations for the outside too. I also want to run the John Deere over the leaves one more time in the fron yard and then neighbor Dan and I plan to take the mower deck off and put on the snow blade. December will be here in less than a week and winter weather is going to hit us one of these days.

I also have all of the bird feeders to fill today. Except for a few suet cakes, they have eaten most everything. The sunflower seed feeders are all empty and the bark butter feeders are empty and I need to fill the bird baths again. I have had a yard full of cardinals, junkos, and finches all cleaning up the last of the sunflower seeds and other residuals. There has been four downy woodpeckers here cleaning out the bark butter feeders too.

With all of that to do, I best get my bagel toasted and another cup of coffee downed before I begin my day, —- but not before I take time to give thanks to God for another marvelous day and express my gratitude for blessings received. The saying may be trite but is always true; God is Good, All the Time! Peace.

Yesterday may have been “Black Friday” but today is certainly “Sunny Saturday”. Gosh, it is beautiful outside. There is a clear brilliant blue sky and the temperature is fifty one degrees with a ten mile an hour breeze. Ms. Deb from next door has already been out on her John Deere and mowed her lawn and I hear at least one more lawn mower going somewhere in the neighborhood. If I were going to put up outdoor Christmas decorations, this would be the day to do it. I’ve seen some people already have their lights up and their Christmas trees are decorated. I actually do have some lights to put up but they aren’t in very good shape and I have yet to figure out how to put them up. Before we had gutter guards I could buy clips to fit over the lip of the gutter and hang them from those, But with gutter guards the clips won’t work. I had tried using those plastic hook with the adhesive on the back but the cold make them useless. Ms. Kate likes for me to put the lights up so I need to concentrate on how to get that done. I also have wreaths to hang in front of the windows but I get a bit more shaky each year on the ladder trying to put them up. I may work on that this afternoon though.

Our Thanksgiving festivities continue today as we go to Karen’s house and have lunch with her and her family. It is going to be a beautiful day to be at her house. She has a beautiful home that sits across the street on a hill overlooking the Ohio River. Her living room has a panoramic view of the river and I could sit there for hours just watching the barges go up and down the river especially on a beautiful day like today. I’ve been known to take more than a few naps sitting in front of those windows with the sun streaming in on me.

I talked about Black Friday and the chos that goes with it so often yesterday in my blog. True to what I said, there was a news story about a mall in Alabama that had to be shut down by the police because of the fights that broke out on Thanksgiving night and It wasn’t even Black Friday yet. These were people lined up to barge through the doors as soon as the sales started around midnight. I swear, some people have no more civility that street rats fighting over a crumb of bread.

Tomorrow is Sunday once again and we have begun the Christmas season. What better time to stop what you are doing and goto your local house of worship and join others as they celebrate the coming birth of Jesus Christ. If you are a professed Christian, don’t think of this as being just another Christmas. Stop and re-read the scriptures and pray about the impact that this birth has on your life. If you are not a Christian, I urge you to get a Bible, turn to the gospels, (the first four books of the New Testament) and read them. I personally believe that the love that pours out of those four Gospels will bring you a special warmth that come from being in close proximity with God. Have a great Day.  

They call today “Black Friday” in the commercial world. It is the day that stores allegedly begin their push to sell you stuff for Christmas. So today stores all over the country will have ridiculous sales on certain items like televisions and other electronics. People literally set up tents, sometime for three or four days in advance so they can be the first person in line and be sure to save $200.00 on that item that they didn’t need in the first place. I’m not sure why they call it “Black Friday” unless it refers to the black hearts and greedy nasty attitudes of the people pushing and shoving and fighting over items in a store. People have been assaulted, knocked down, trampled, and a few have even died. There was a picture in the paper during the last one of these days of a grandmother pulling a gun on another shopper who was fighting her for a certain toy. What??? Was she really going to kill a complete stranger over a toy??? And yet, —- I hear people say that “it puts them in the Christmas spirit”. In my personal opinion, if that kind of chaos is what it takes to put you in the Christmas spirit —- you have already missed the entire meaning of Christmas.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at home with Julie and Jim. The food was typical Ms. Kate wonderful and we ate our fill. Ms. kate made slightly smaller amounts of each item so while it looks like we pigged out because there weren’t many left-overs, we each only had a plate full. Jules didn’t even finish her plate but set it aside and had the rest of it for supper. I went back for more oyster dressing and turkey gravy for supper. Ms. Kate had made a pumpkin chiffon cake for dessert and we each only had one slice of that. So, no over -indulgence here and we aren’t still suffering from over stuffed tummies today. The only downer for the day was when Ms. Kate grabbed hold of a pan that I had just taken out of the oven. She had even warned me to be sure and use a hot pad because that pan was going to be extremely hot. But —- in her haste and a momentary mental slip, she wrapped her hand around that handle and has several burned spots on her hand. She says it is still very tender today and I have no doubt it is.

Julie and Jim will be heading out before too long I reckon. They are starting to pack thing up slowly because if the dogs get wind of it they will start being a pain in the butt with their barking and jumping around. Ms. Kate has been gathering up some of her craft paper to send home with Julie. She  has shelves and shelves of it that she has bought over the last decade and since she has stopped scrapbooking and started making cards, she uses a different kind of paper. So, she’s sending a bunch of it home with Julie to give to Julie’s friend.

I’ll bet there will be a lot of Christmas trees put up today. There was a time that we would start putting up our Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. But that was when Ms. Kate had me putting up seven trees. These days we put one up simply because that is all we have room for. I don’t know when we will put that one up because we are going to be gone on vacation for awhile. It hardly seems worth the effort to drag that heaavt trees and all of the stuff that goes with it up from the basement, only to have it up for a couple of weeks and then haul it all back down again.

Time to drop off for today and get some other stuff taken care of. I hope your weekend is full of joy and peace. Shalomn.

Happy Thanksgiving y’all. I hope your day is as full of blessings as mine will be. Ms. Kate has the turkey in the roaster, the sweet potatoes are chopped and are par-boiling, the regular potatoes are cut up and ready to cook at the right time. The brussel sprouts are cut and ready to cook, the carrots are chopped and ready to cook (have you ever seen purple carrots?), my oyster dressing is in the oven and so is the dressing for everybody else. And Ms. kate made a pumpkin chiffon cake yesterday. Yep, —- we be ready to play pilgrim and feast down. Of course there will be a lot of leftovers and I predict a pot of turkey noodle soup will be in the making in the next couple of days.

It sure isn’t hard to look around me and see things that I am thankful for. The hard part is to talk about them with humility and not sound “braggy”. But I just feel so very blessed. I’ve had the opportunity to be in contact with all of our girls this morning, and Jim and Julie are here spending their holiday with us. I’ve heard from cousins and friends with well wishes today through the Facebook media. I have a home, I’m warm on a day that started out at 32 degrees. Yes, I’d take a little of the 90 degrees that Heather has at her house in California, but with a high today predicted to be 48 degrees, that is a more typical Thanksgiving for us. I didn’t have to go over a river or through a woods to be with family. And although Ms. Kate and I weren’t in the same location —- this is our 55th Thanksgiving together. For every blessing I am experiencing today, I give God all the credit and glory.

My prayer this morning go for those people who don’t have homes today and I pray that they find someplace to have a family meal. The storms and natural disasters this year have deprived so many of homes and of course there are the folks who tend to be homeless through other means and situations. I lift them today with the confidence that God will look after them and bring them comfort. I can’t even fathom what it would be like to be on the street and looking through garbage cans for something to eat or a place to get out of the weather.

I suspect that there may be something I can help Ms. Kate out with in the kitchen so I’m closing today with hopes for a day full of God’s peace around the world. Imagine a day where there would be zero violence anywhere in the world. I think that place was called Eden. Blessings!!

Twenty nine degrees this morning! And — there is a stiff breeze blowing. I guess the good news is that it is blowing the dried leaves off of my gutters so I won’t have to get up there to do it. But, —- 29 degrees and a stiff breeze will keep you out of the yard in a bikini. I’ve had four squirrels out in the back yard and they kind of wrap their tails around them in an effort to keep warm. So far this morning I haven’t had but a couple of finches and small downy woodpeckers. I filled the sunflower seed feeders again yesterday. I’ll need to go to Pet Food Center and pick up another 80# of sunflower seed today. The can is almost three fourths empty. Hopefully they will have it on sale for “Black Friday” already. We got a flyer in the mail but I haven’t looked at it yet.

The sky is clear and blue and the sun is shining brightly. However, with absolutely no leaves on the trees and the grass being brown — it looks cold The hydrangea plants still have leaves hanging on them but they are frost bitten droopy. I’ll need to go ahead and cut them back one of these days. My firebush trees have now turned a nice red now that the cold weather has arrived and the sun can get to them without being blocked by the leaves from the poplar and maple trees. God’s world has an order and routine to it and not much changes in the routine. It reminds me that God is the same way; always present, never changing, consistent and reliable. I take a great deal of comfort in knowing that.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day. I think that means I need to take the turkey out of the refrigerator today to let it complete the thawing process and begin to get to room temperature. I’ll have to ask Ms. Kate. I watched several of the TV Chefs tell me all of that but that was days ago. The memory is never that good when I’m only half listening in the first place. I did uncover and bring up the turkey roaster pan form the storage room. I had forgotten how big it really is. I think the best plan will to be to plug it in on my work bench out in the garage. Of course, that means I may have to actually clean my work bench off. I’ll never find my stuff again, LOL

Julie and the pups came down yesterday so “X” amount of chaos has ensued. The pups are a constant in and out, especially the young one. But, we feel so blessed that Julie and Jim have moved from the Boston area where they lived for over twenty years and now live just over an hour away. I would prefer that all of my kiddos lived that close but they are all happy with where they do live and have very successful lives in their current locations. And, —- with the technology of Facebook Messenger, we talk every day. It is possible that we talk more often than many familes that all live around each other.

I may or may not write tomorrow so I wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving. No matter what your daily situation is, you have much to be thankful for. The fact that you are able to read this means that you have an education and can read. You are living in a country where you are free from oppression. You have eyesight, you are probably in your own warm home, you have people who care about you including me, and you have God who is watching over you and is offering you peace and salvation and eternal life. All of those blessings working together just while you are reading my simple blog. You and I are so very blessed. Take time to be thankful for it. Peace.

Cardinals, junkos, finches, a couple of starlings, and two squirrels round out my guest list this morning at the back yard buffet. Yesterday I went to Wild Birds and Things to get some thistle seed for the finches. They had been coming to the empty thistle feeder for a couple of days so I thought I better get some more and fill the feeder. So far today, —- they haven’t touched it. Howz that for gratitude?? While I was there I saw some really neat bird houses and I asked about them. The owner said they were for wrens and were made out of mango trees that no longer produced fruit. I have several wrens around here most of the year so I may have to invest the $50.00 and see what happens. I’ve had a wren hopping around on the patio most of the morning. It comes right to the door and looks in. It is cute as it can be.

I did get out in the years yesterday and I raked the back yard, cleaning up the Cyprus needles and twigs and leaves and those sharp little seed from the tulip poplar trees. My large compost bin is about to overflow now. The winter of rain and snow and decay will whittle that down to next to nothing by spring. I haven’t used out of it for several years so there should be some really good dirt under there by now. I also have a heavy duty black plastic composting bin that I use. I’ve gotten several wheelbarrow loads of good rich dirt out of there and put on my garden over the years.

Mr. Fuss-a-lot, the blue jay has announced hi presence and has come in for a meal at the buffet. The good news is that the starlings take off when he comes in. They have had some “sharp-beak” battles out here and the starlings lose.

God has indeed turned up the thermostat and it is now fifty degrees outside and gong up to 58. I have promised myself that I will finally get those darned four-o’clocks dug up and maybe even that azalea cut back that I have been saying I need to do for two months. The wind is a bit brisk but I will be on the east side of the house and should be blocked from a good deal of it. I just need to get it done. My neighbor on the north side of the house has this huge Bradford Pear tree that is blessing my front yard with it leaves so I will run the mower over that too.  I’m a little sore from yesterday’s raking but today will help with that.

I hope you have time to stop and look at the world around you today. While you are in a pause mode, give God thanks and praise for the bucket load of blessing that you have been showered with today. If you are having a tough day, hold out your hand and let God guide you though the rough spot. God knows what path you are supposed to be on, because God laid it out for you. Peace.

My guests at the buffet are all looking “puffed up” this morning as they try to stay warm on this thirty two degree morning. Thankfully the sun is bright today without any cloud cover and the winds that we have been having over the weekend have subsided. There is a glaze of ice on the unseated bird bath so the heated one is having plenty of visitation. I’ll need to put some fresh water in both of them  today. They have had a lot of leaves and seeds in them making the water look yucky although the birds and the squirrels don’t seem to mind. After all —- they do drink out of mud puddles alongside the road.

The storms this weekend ceertainly stripped the last of the leaves from the neighbor’s maple trees. I need to take my leaf blower out and blow off my sidewalk and patio again. The wind also filled my yard with little cypress twigs and needles from Ms. Margaret’s tree. I hate that tree. It is huge and it is never a pretty tree. Every year I end up cleaning up all of the stuff that blows off of it. If I don’t clean it up then it clings to Julie’s dog’s fur when they come and run in the yard. Then they carry it in the house. So, I guess I’ll get the JD back out of the shed, or maybe I’ll throw on my coat and go rake the stuff up. It will take a little longer but it will be good exercise. But I need to do it today because they are coming over tomorrow.

The worship service and sermon went well yesterday and appears to have been well received. Pastor Art and his wife got home from Alabama last evening, but I was glad to have a chance to preach again.

This is Thanksgiving week. I took the bird out of the freezer yesterday and put it in the refrigerator to start the thawing process for a Thursday cooking. Ms. Kate bought a turkey roaster about fourteen years ago and we have never used it. It was one of those deals when it was “the thing” to buy at the time. We’re going to get it out of the basement and use it this year and see how well it works. The thing takes up a lot of counter space though and counter space is a premium item in our kitchen.

I have a yard full of cardinals again today. What a great way to start off a Thanksgiving week. Most of them have dulled their colors but there are a couple of them that still have really bright red feathers. As I have said before, when the sun hits them, it just brightens up the entire yard. So, I give thanks to God this morning for that beautiful vision. I hope your week is full of good things. If you are traveling, travel safely And —- take time to be truly grateful for the blessings that God is sending you every day. Peace.

Happy end of the work-week to you! This is the day that people are anxious to have come to a close so they can get on to the weekend. I was once told, and it bears some amount of merit, that when a person is making a major purchase such as a n appliance or a car that they should ask what day the item came off of the assembly line. If it came off the line on a Monday or a Friday, don’t buy it because workers are more distracted on those two days and pay less attention to their job. There is also more absenteeism on those two days so people unfamiliar with the task end up filling in. Having worked on assembly lines in my past, I’d say there is some validity to the argument. —- Wow! That was a real “Seinfeld moment” about nothing wasn’t it??

Blustery and thirty nine degrees this morning; good November weather. It is supposed to go up to fifty four or so today but unless the sun comes out, it will still feel pretty chilly out there. Yesterday I went out and dug out the okra plants and go rid of those. I would have worked longer but I got chilled out there. Normally I don’t get cold to speak of but my hands do. The gloves I have aren’t built really for cold. They are just good leather work gloves. I may have to do a little bit of shopping for something warmer. The problem I find is that when I get warmer gloves, they are thicker and harder to do things with. But, if the temperature does go up today I want to go out and finally get the four o’clocks pulled up. I still haven’t done that and they really look ugly out there in front of the house. And, if it doesn’t warm up —- I may just have to quit being a wuss! We are due for some storms tomorrow so today needs to be the day to get some stuff done.

But —- before I do anything outside today, Ms. Kate and I are meeting Bob & Brenda & Karen at St. Joe Inn for Mushrooms and beer and lunch. It has been Three weeks or so and it is time for our monthly gathering with good food and good conversation.

I look around at the feeders and see that I have a job to do out there too. It appears that most of the feeders are empty. Last night Ms. Kate and I each had a bowl of popcorn for an evening snack. She didn’t finish hers so I threw it out the back door figuring that the birds would clean it up pretty quick today. Well, — the birds never got to see it. I was sitting in the sunporch around midnight listening to music and there at the back door was a fat possum just eating popcorn like it had paid for it. I just watched it and didn’t dother it. I don’t mind having a possum around here. They eat all kinds of things that we don’t want around here including mosquitos and voles and other bugs. And, they are so dang ugly that they are almost cute.

Time to get the jacket on and head out for “Schrooms & Beer.” I pray you will have a most wonderful Friday. Peace.

What is up with this gloomy and cloudy day?? The weather dud said sunny and a litle warmer today but that doesn’t look very promising. It is currently 35 degrees out there. Not that my buffet friends seem to mind very much. My guests this morning include  a lot of finches and sparrows, three or four cardinals at the moment, a couple of wood peckers and of course, a couple of squirrels. At least the fuzzy tailed rats aren’t over running the place like they did yesterday. I don’t know what was up with the squirrel convention in my yard yesterday.

I think today, if the ground dries out just a bit more, I may run my lawn mower over my back yard one last time and then put it in the shed, and pull the battery for the winter. Actually I have a cover for it so I may just pull them battery and leave it covered. I can barely get the thing in my shed. I could rearrange my garage and drive it around and put both John Deere’s in the garage but —— then there would be a death in the family and it would be mine because Ms. Kate would shoot me. You know how people say “You got another think coming”? Well, I better use my other “think” about this situation.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is one week from today. Ms. Kate has the turkey bought and it is in the freezer. I’ll probably take it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator on Tuesday so it can start thawing. I guess it will just be Ms. Kate and me and Julie and Jim for the Thanksgiving meal. I just sent an invitation out to Karen but she may be having all of her family over. We’ll see what happens. I have no idea what else Ms. Kate will want to fix. I always count on her to make at least a small bowl of oyster dressing, which means I need to make sure I can get some fresh oysters. I do love that. I’m not much on cranberry sauce of any kind. But, I have no doubt there will be mashed potatoes and turkey gravy, rolls, corn, maybe some green bean casserole, and maybe an apple pie. Ms. Kate is the best cook I know which accounts for the sixty pounds I have gained in the last fifty one years.

I think that is about it for today my friends. Have a wonderful Thursday. Try to make it your best day of the week so far. Then come on back for Friday and the beginning of your weekend. Peace.

Yesterday was fairly bright and sunny and I had to spend the entire morning in a meeting. And while the meeting was somewhat interesting and somewhat productive, it doesn’t equate to a morning of watching my back yard buffet guests. Today, on the other hand, is rainy and cloudy and gloomy. However, I’m still having an eventful morning in the back yard. For some reason, I seem to be having a squirrel convention at the buffet. There’s a minimum of ten squirrels in my back yard right now. They are on feeders, on branches, on the ground chasing one another. I don’t think I have ever had this many squirrel in my yard and at my feeders at one time. I just opened the sliding door and fired off six or seven shots with my BB gun and I think I only missed hitting one of them one time. But, they have gone high in the trees or over to a neigbor’s tree for the time being. And —- as soon as they left, the birds began swooping in to eat. Unfortunately, give the squirrels five minutes and they will be back. If I ever wanted squirrel for lunch, this would be the day to have it. (Yuk). I’ve had squirrel; it doesn’t taste like chicken, I don’t care what anybody says. 

I think it is amazing that the birds and mystupid squirrels all just seem to be impervious to the fact that is it raining like crazy. They fly though it with ease and sit and eat like it is a sunny day. I guesss their drive for food over rides every other drive. I assume they have no concept of it raining or being cold  or whatever. I think God designed them so that their bodies simply adjust to the conditions. If they are cold, they fluff up their fur or their feathers automatically and there is no thought process to it. And, when I stop to think about that I just never cease to be amazed at the complexity of God’s world and the creatures God has created. How anyone could try to remove the concept of Devine intervention and design from our existence and claim this is all accidental evolution is beyond me. As I and so many other s have repeatedly said, —- “Yes, their may have been a Big Bang —- but God lit the match with purpose and power., 

It has stopped raining for a few minutes and Ms. Kate wants me to put something in the mailbox so I’m dropping off for today. I think I will spend the day either reading or writing or maybe a bit of both. It’s gloomy outside so light up the world with your love!  Peace. 

Forty two seems to be the going rate for morning temperatures these days with the exception of last week’s cold snap. It is forty two again this morning and the sun is breaking through a quasi-cloudy day. The leaves are still, what is left of them and my chimes aren’t moving or ringing so I’d say it is calm. Looking around outside I see I need to go to the shed and start filling bird feeders again this morning and I also need to get the leaf blower out and blow off the sidewalks again and take the leaves out of the bird baths. But for the moment, I’m having my coffee and a bagel and enjoying this beautiful day God has given me. 

Welcome to Monday! Welcome to the start of another week. I wonder what the week will hold for us. Obligation wise I have a Pastor’s Circle meeting tomorrow and then Ms. Kate and I are meeting Bob and Brenda for mushrooms and beer at lunch time on Friday. Beyond that, my calendar looks clear, unless some kind of issue comes up at the church. I’m filling in for the pastor this week. I went to the funeral home yesterday to pay respects to a member of the church whose father passed away. I didn’t know the man and barely have met the member, but Pastor Art would have gone so I went. 

I started reading a new book last evening and made it through about the first two thirds before I had to put it down and go to bed. It is called; “Love, Skip, Jump; Start Living the Adventure of “Yes”. It is by a lady named Shalene Bryan and it is one of those books you would find on the bargain book table. I borrowed it from the lady who teaches our Sunday school class; I don’t know where she bought it. But has been marked down from its original price $4.00. My friends, if you can find a copy somewhere, buy it. It will be the bargain of a lifetime. Simple synopsis; it relates her adventures of saying “yes” to God and you can just feel the joy in her heart. I’m going to finish it today.

I think that is about for this morning. It is time to get my day rolling and be a bit productive before I sit back down in my recliner and finish reading my book. I hope your week has started off right. If it hasn’t, stop, take a deep breath, have a word with God, feel God strength as it lifts you up, and press on. The challenges will still be there but they go so much easier when you don’t try to face them alone. Shalomn.  

If birds can be happy, I think mine are this morning. While two of the bird baths were frozen over, the electric one provided a nice spa experience for them this morning. By now the temperature is up to forty so the other two have their ice melted, but the birds were literally in a ring around the lip of the electric one this morning.

We lost our cable connection yesterday afternoon. The neighbor two doors down has a major sewer line problem and had an escalator company out there working. They cut the main feed for cable for a whole bunch of us. That meant we had no land line telephone, no internet, and no television cable! We were in the dark ages. Don’t they realize that a crisis like that could force families to actually have to converse face to face?? Well — Ms. Kate and I weren’t going to to be forced into a situation like that! We whipped out our IPhones and turned on the “hotspot” and used our IPads. Then we figured out that we didn’t need cable to play a DVD on the television. So we watched a movie.  No cable company is going to trick us into personal conversation.  I went to bed around 2330 and Ms. Kate said that the cable maintenance unit showed up around 0030 hours. So, we are back out of the dark ages.

I have had at least a dozen cardinals out here most of the morning. It has been a wonderful sight. The sunflower feeders that I filled a couple of days ago are half empty by now. I may need to top them off before the day is out. It is supposed to get cold again tonight and I want my critters to have plenty of food and water.

Ms. Kate wants to go to a Christmas Bazaar today that one of the churches is having. And we have to go to Mejier’s and get some groceries. We need to take a salad of some kind to the church potluck lunch tomorrow and need the fixings for that. And there are a couple of other things on the list to pick up. Starting tomorrow afternoon I’m covering for the pastor as he and his wife go on vacation to see the baptism of their granddaughter. I’ll be preaching the sermon next Sunday too. We have a couple of people in the hospital that I may need to visit this week too. It wil be like “old times” again.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I hope you will take the time to go to a house of worship. I personally find that starting the week out with worship and prayer just gets the new week prepared. So, I urge you to stop your life long enough to give God some time. Have a blessed week.

A couple of things became really obvious to me first thing this morning. First, I need to get the electric bird bath plugged in. There was a layer of ice on each if them when I looked out there and a couple of birds were trying to peck through it. With even colder temperatures predicted tonight, it is time to plug it in.  Secondly, — I’m not rushing outside to do anything today. It is still thirty nine degrees with a stiff wind. That spells cold, I don’t care what you say.

I did get my (okay, Ms. Kate’s) tulip bulbs planted yesterday. Assuming they come up, they will make a really nice display come spring time. I put fifty bulbs out. According to the directions, I planted them in exactly the right time of the year. Hopefully they will do well. We had planted that area with a lot of tulips several years ago but I think those build are all gone because I didn’t find any while I was digging.

If I have time today, I may go out and cut back and dig out the four-o’clock and the okra. They are both done for the season. And after we get the hard freeze tonight, they will just sit there and look ugly. Since the four-o’clock are by the front door and Christmas is coming we don’t want any ugliness by the front door. Dead flowers don’t make a very festive appearance.

Tomorrow we celebrate Veteran’s Day. I was just thinking about that and realized it was fifty two years yesterday that I started basic training at Lackland AFB. Wow! That made me feel old very quickly. But, looking back, I had a wonderful career that provided well for my family and created lives for our daughters that they would never have had if we had stayed around Evansville. I can’t even begin to imagine what my and our life would have been like. Andso, when I think of celebrating Veteran’s Day, I give thanks to God for looking after me and my family and for opening doors all along the way. And — I thank God for my family that followed along with me; albeit not always happily, as we moved from base to base making them rip apart friendships as we pulled up stakes here and moved to there and then did it all over again every two years or so. If you ask me — it is the families of service men and women who are the real veterans.

Ms. Kate has a “plan of action” for us today so I best get out of my recliner and get busy. Peace.

 There are satisfied squirrels and birds everywhere at the back yard buffet this morning. I filled the sunflower feeders and the bark butter feeders yesterday afternoon and they are all being well used. I have customers everywhere. The ground also looks to be moving once again with the junkos hopping around all over the place. And I have two squirrels that are either having a heck of a battle this morning or they are playing a vicious game of tag. I don’t know which. However, they have been up and down every tree in the yard several times and have circled this entire yard chasing one another back and forth. I suspect it is a territorial thing. I have another squirrel that is stretched out from the branch to the feeder. He is holding on to the branch with his back feet and the feeders with his front feet. And — he is trying to eat his way through the aluminum lid on the feeder to get to the sunflower seeds. It did the same thing yesterday fro almost 20 minutes and finally gave up. Of course, it didn’t even make a scratch on that lid. But, I must admire its determination.

It is a beautiful fifty two degree morning with a fairly stiff breeze. I cleaned up the leaves on the sidewalk and in the yard yesterday but the local maple trees are sharing their beauty with me once again not only by being beautiful but then landing in my yard so I can get a closer look. How nice of them. At least the leaves are much smaller than the leaves from my tulip poplar trees so they ate far less noticeable. Neighbor Dan, across the street has a soft maple in his front yard that is beautiful with all of its orange and yellow leaves. But his trees have lost a lot of their leaves now too so I went over while I had my lawn tractor out and used the mulcher blade on his yard too. Ms. Kate used to do a great job of mulching leaves out my my parent’s house. Dad had a Cub Cadet and there were six trees on the back hill. She would go out there and run that Cub over those leaves until they were practically powder. Dad liked to watch her out there and mentioned what a great job she was doing. Little did he know that she was doing the same thing that I do when I get on my John Deere; — enjoying the peace and quiet, and in her case, — avoiding having to have conversation with the in-laws. LOL

I didn’t plant the tulips yesterday because the ground was still a bit muddy. I’ll try again this afternoon and see if it is any better. It wasn’t terrible yesterday and I think it should be a bit better today. I need to get them in the ground though. And while I’m out there I can get some of the winter weeds dug out of the flowerbed. I suddenly have a rash of what I’ve always called wild cabbage. And I have a real mole problem out front in my yard. We’ve never had moles until the last couple of years and I really don’t know what to do about them. I need to get on Google and do some research.

that is about it for today folks. I need to get on with my day. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Peace.

What a wonderful, bright and beautiful morning!!! Thank you very much God! The sky is blue and I only see a single cloud. It is 42 degrees and a breeze is blowing that is just strong enough to keep the Corinthian chimes softly ringing. There were a couple of cardinals sitting on the bird bath a moment ago and the sun made them look a brilliant red. Wow; just one blessing after another this morning.

I see that the sunflower feeders up here in the willow three are empty so I reckon I need to go fill them up today. And — between the woodpeckers and the starlings, the bark butter feeders are needing some refill too. At the moment I have a large Ladderback woodpecker enjoying a meal from the suet cakes. The ground appears to be moving again this morning from all of the little birds that are eating from it. Once again the yard is full of junkos and finches and a few cardinals. I wonder if maybe it is a migration of junkos; though we always have junkos in the winter. They and the Chickadees are my favorite winter birds, — along with my cardinals of course. Speaking of cardinals, there are two of them out theere taking baths this morning. It makes me cold to think of that.

As hoped yesterday, the breeze has dried out the leaves on my sidewalks and patio sufficiently to blow them off with the blower. Then I can run the lawn mower over the yard and clean it up one last time. My big trees are basically done dropping leaves although I’ll be the recipient of some maple leaves from neighbors on both the west and south sides of the house. I guess it is a fair exchange; I get to see the beauty of the yellow leaves before they fall.

Some time today I need to get Ms. Kate to tell me where she wants me to plant her tulip bulbs. She bought a bag of them some weeks ago and they are still sitting in the garage on my work bench. I don’t think it is too late to get them in the ground. We do like to se our tulips come up in the spring but every so often we need to plant new ones. I don’t know if the voles eat them or they just “wear out” and don’t produce after a couple of years. But while it is a sunny and kind of warm day, it would be a good day to do that little chore. I’m hoping the ground is dry enough to work it a bit. I don’t want to be “mudding” in bulbs. We’ve had to do that in the past and it never works out that well.

Having said all of that, it is time to get busy and be productive for today. I pray your day will be blessed and I hope you have time to get outside for a bit and enjoy the world that God has provided, especially if it is as nice a day as we are having.  Peace.

HappyTuesday, the 7th of November. It is another cloudy cool morning. It has been like this for enough days that one could easily become depressed were they of that mindset. But I have no doubt that the sun will come out maybe later today or perhaps tomorrow. Isn’t that what “Annie” promises us: “The sun will come out tomorrow.” In the mean time I’ll enjoy looking at all of the yellow and orange leaves in the neighborhood that surrounds me.

It rained some more last night and now the leaves that are all over my yard and sidewalks and flowerbeds are soaked. Hopefully they will dry out enough for me to get them cleaned up before the week is out. But it won’t be today. It would be a real mess trying to clean all of that up today, although it would be good exercise trying to rake all of that up. I may have to re-evaluate the situation a little later if it doesn’t rain anymore today. I could rake at least some of them up and put them in my compost barrel.

It must be “tiny bird day” out there in the backyard, although I don’t recall making that announcement. The yard is teeming with junkos and gold finches My thistle feeder has as many as six gold finches on it at one time which is more than I have seen on it in a week usually. The ground looks alive with junkos running and hopping around eating seeds, I guess. I’d venture to say there must be at least fifty junkos, finches, and cardinals feeding off of the ground right now. There is plenty of food in the birdfeeders so that isn’t an issue. But obviously they are finding something out there that they like. And there are a couple of squirrels nosing around in the leaves too. As the character on the old TV show used to say: — “Verrrry interesting!”

Sunday, my pastor, Rev. Dr. Art Christmas, gave me a book he has written called “The Ambitious Pastor”. I started reading it Sunday night and I finished it yesterday. It is a great book and I consider it a wonderful gift. Over the past 15 years I have read a lot of books for my ministry training and I’ve attended a lot of seminars and classes on theology, and the Bible, and ecclesiology, and boundary training etc but this is the first book that I have read that truly talks about how to be a “Pastor”, and I make a large distinction between being a “Preacher” and being a “Pastor”; just like I make a distinction between being called “Reverend” and being called “Pastor”. I wish I had been able to read this book when I first started. So, “thank you, Pastor Art.”

I need to go refill my coffee cup, grab a cookie or two and maybe a banana and sit and enjoy the view out my sunporch for awhile. So, I’m wrapping this up for today with prayers that you will have a most blessed day that is full of love and joy and peace. Shalomn.

Rise and Shine! It’s a Monday morning and a start of another week. I hope your weekend was excellent. We had a good weekend around here. Ms. Kate and I did a little shopping and running around but nothing exciting. Yesterday we went to church, then stopped at McDonalds for lunch because they have their McRib sandwiches out again. I don’t know what it is that makes them so popular. Granted they taste pretty good butbut they are still just “fused meat. I think they have a very smart marketing strategy for them by only putting them out for a limited time. It makes people think they are really something special. Isn’t it amazing how easily the American consumer can be manipulated?

We had storms roll through last night and now my yard looks like we had a NYC Confetti parade with all of the leaves in it. Assuming the rain will hold off today I’ll go run the mower over it once more time. My trees are at the 95% clear stage so this should be the last time I have to do anything with the yard back here.

There was another mass shooting in this country yesterday. Some young guy went into a Baptist church and killed 26 people and wounded another 25 or so. How do we even begin to make sense of somethng like that? I certainly don’t know. I don’t know much more than that because I haven’t turned on the news yet today. I know the gunman is dead and as of last night the police had no motive. But, I can not imagine what would make a person have so much hate in their heart tha they would go and do something like that. As weird as it my sound for me to say this, I hope they were people that he had a connection with in some manner. In some horrible way that would be more comforting that thinking he was just driving by a church and decided to go in and kill everybody. Regardless, I certainly offer my prayers for the victims and families of the victims and I offer up prayers for the people of this nation.

That’s it for today. I need to put my mind on something else and I have work to do. have a blessed day and stay in touch with the Lord God who gives you life and hope. Peace.

Saturday morning and it is another cloudy and warm morning. It is 57 degrees and there is still a hint of the ground fog remaining. I stepped outside last night around midnight and it was warm too and cloudy which is a shame because other wise it would have been a brilliant moonlit night. Despite the clouds one could have easily navigated in the dark without a flashlight. It would have been a perfect night to pitch a tent and a perfect morning to wake up and cook a camp-breakfast over an open fire. Man, we haven’t done that since the late 1980’s. It is amazing what we quit doing along life’s path isn’t it. We never used or had luxuries like air mattresses or cots; we put down newspaper and layed our sleeping bags on them. Luckily we did have a tent or two. Those were fun family days. Now our family “camping trips” consist of me renting a 7000 sq. Ft. Cabin somewhere that has all of the ammenities —- with wifi being first priority. Gone are the days of “water-bag” hanging showers and digging a hole in the ground for a “slit trench” behind the bushes or a camp ground with only a wooden out house. Life was so much more simple then and so were the expectations.

I have lots of cardinals here this morning; — And I have a few finches and a couple of downy woodpeckers. I went to the Wild Birds and Things store yesterday and managed to get out of there for under forty dollars. They had a couple of specials and I had some discount coupons, so I just bought a couple of large seed-cakes and three containers of bark butter. I could easily have spent some large money in there though. They have a new feeder for woodpeckers that I really like but it is $50.00. The good thing about buying my feeders there is that they have life-time guarantees. But they are expensive. They also had a piece of art that I really liked and would look great here in the sun porch. But it was $90.00 so I resisted the urge for spontaneous spending. Maybe Santa will bring it. I have a great method for avoiding spontaneous spending when I’m out shopping. I’ll pick something up that I want and will walk around the store carrying it until I’m done finding what I went in there for and then I put my spontaneous buy back on the shelf having convinced myself that I really don’t need it. Sometimes though — I’ll see something that really strikes my fancy and regardless of what — I’ll go get it. Those turn out to be expensive trips for things like my last John Deere Lawn tractor or the Black Hills Gold ring I just bought Ms. Kate while we were in South Dakota.

Tonight we turn the clocks back one hour for the end of Daylight Saving Time. That means it will be getting dark by 1700 hours. It makes the day seem so short. I’m not sure why we still use Daylight Saving Time. I personally see no benefit but obviously there is a commercial or monetary reason for doing it.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is first Sunday of the month which means it is also Communion Sunday. Our church has taken to doing communion by “intinction” which if you are not familiar with it, means that we come to the altar, take a pinch of bread and dip it into the goblet of wine and eat it. I have used that method for communion occasionally over the years as a pastor but prefer other methods such as serving communion in the pews or standard altar communion where you come get the bread and then the little cup of wine or juice and take them separately. I’m not sure why our church has gone to this method. Perhaps it is as simple as cost savings. I need to ask that question.

I hope your weekend is joyful and I hope you take time to celebrate the Sabbath. Starting a brand new week by worshipping our God who has made your new week possible is just the right thing to do. Peace.

I took some pictures this morning from my sunporch and I wish I could figure out how to post them in my blog. I have them right here on my IPad but haven’t found a way to move them around to where I can use them. As usual, I’ll wait until I can sit down with one of my kids. They all seem to be so darn computer smart. I guess if you want to see my pictures you will have to go to my Facebook postings. I’ve at least figured that out.

It is another cloudy warm November day. It is much warmer than it should be and that is going to lead to some stormy weather before the weekend is over and the temperature drops back down. It is certainly an up and down weather week.

I filled the birdfeeders yesterday after going to the store and buying another eighty pounds of sunflower seed. I had fourteen feeders just waiting and tweeting birds and tail-swishing squirrels waiting for me to get it done. The cardinals were on those feeders before I got even half done and the squirrels didn’t follow far behind. This morning I have a half dozen or so cardinal out there and have had four squirrels playing chase all over the yard in between stopping to eat. It has been a fun morning to watch.

Sometime today we need to go to Wild Birds and get some of the more expensive stuff for my birds. I’m out of bark butter and the larger seed cakes. It won’t be a cheap trip; it never is. And sometime today I should maybe go out and see if I can get the leaves off of the back walk and patio. They are all wet so I’ll wait and see if just maybe it won’t rain and then I can blow them off if they dry out a little.

Not mich else is appending today. I’m just enjoying the beauty of the season as I look out my sunporch. The orange/yellow of the Maple tree over in Ms. MKargaret’s yard casts a kind of glow to the atmosphere. The large tulip poplars in my yard are shedding rapidly. One is maybe 75% done and the other is about 50% done. When the sun does shine, it sure lets in a lot more light these days. All too soon, all the leaves will be gone and then we will be watching for snowflakes. God’s perpetual cycle just continues on and each day brings a new look and new beauty and blessings. That thought alone gives me a reminder of my own insignificance in making the world run and yet — God has tasked each of us with the stewardship of His creation. Just Wow!!!

Peace.

 I heard the trash collector truck come buy so it must be Thursday. It is a cloudy and warm (62 degrees) morning. My Accuweaher App tells me that we won’t have rain for at least two hours. I have found that app to be pretty reliable. Although, it sure does look like rain could come at any minute. The rain has really knocked the leaves down again and my sidewalk is a mess. I need to go out and fill birdfeeders today but I think I’ll wait and see if the sun comes out and the ground dries a little. I have forgotten to pick up any more sunflower seed so I may have to do that today. I’ll need a couple of 40# bags as the can is really low. There may be enough to fill one more round but I’m not sure.

Ms. Kate and I didn’t do much yesterday. She worked on her Christmas cards and I did get my sermon finished. I haven’t handed it over to her yet as she had her mind on her cards. There was a time when she could have done both, make her cards and read/critique my paper but those days are gone since her stroke a few years back. It frustrates her that she can’t multi-task like she used to. I’ve never been much of a multi-tasker. LOL, I’m more likely to jump from one task to another and then forget where I was. I had a Colonel once that I worked for that always preached using the “PAC Man” theory towards our tasks; ie one bite at a time wins the game. I think he was right.

The sun is actually making its way through the clouds albeit briefly. I is amazing how it changes the dynamics of the back yard when that happens. The leaves, which have all gone fairly orange by now just really brighten up when the sun hits them. Ans of course I have always said that my cardinals and other colorful birds look so much brighter when the sun hits their feathers. I just look at it as another one of God’s blessings passed down for me to enjoy.

The sermon that I just finished was on the joy of having a relationship with Jesus Christ and how it affects me and my life. It is times like I’m having right now that brings me to think about that. I look around me at my back yard and my critters at the buffet and I can see one of two images. I can either focus on how many leaves are down and now much work I have to do to get the yard cleaned up yet again, and how much money it is going to cost me at the Pet Food Store today; or — I can focus on the beautiful leaves and the fact that God has provided a warm sixty plus degree day for me to enjoy as I sit here with my cup of coffee and watch the birds as they come in for breakfast and a dip in the bird bath. Am I saying that I couldn’t enjoy the scene outside my window if I didn’t have a relationship with Christ? — No, I’m not saying that. But I firmly believe that I find much more peace and joy in this scene because I am amazed at the complexity of what I see and I understand from whence it came. I define it as the difference between “looking at” and “seeing.”

So, — having said that, I now pray you will have a blessed day and that you too will feel the joy and peace that comes from a relationship with God, the Father and Christ Jesus, the Son. May the Holy Spirit be your guiding force today. Peace.

Good morning and a very happy November 1st! It is a cool morning at 40 something degrees and it it is rainy day. The prediction is that it will be this way for the next few days and I have heard everything from a day with 70 degrees to a night with snow showers. So — welcome to a southern Indiana November.

This is the month that we will celebrate Thanksgiving and our middle daughter Heather will turn 47 and her daughter will turn 20. So there is much to celebrate. We are rapidly running out of teenagers in this family; only Matt and Jon remain. That is the price of getting older. The kids grow up and move away and start their own lives; — although that doesn’t see to be the case these days. More and more kids seem to not want to leave home nor do they want to make any plans for their future. My generalization, (and it is only my opinion) is that parents have so protected their kids from everything that they simply haven’t even thought about learning to fly. Why should they? They have everything they need at home and it isn’t costing them a thing.

I had a great Halloween again this year. I used the monkey costume once again and sat out at the street on my John Deere Lawn mower. I set completely still and the kids and their parents are never sure if I am a person dressed up or a prop setting there. Common comments include: — “Is it real?” “I think is isn’t real”. — “You go up and check.” — “I think it moved. I think I saw it’s eye move.”  — “No, that is an animatronic.”  “I’m not going up there, you go.”   Then they slowly approach and say “Trick or Treat” and I just still set there and stare or maybe I’ll slowly turn my head to look at one of them. At that point they scream or jump back or start laughing. It is all great fun. What is amazing is that some of these same kids have been coming back for a few years and I use the same costume and yet they still seem to not know. I have been known to dress a prop in my costume as much as a week ahead of time and set it out so they all get used to seeing it setting there. Then on Halloween night I put the costume on myself and scare the bejeeezus out of them when I suddenly come to life. It is all great fun. I reckon that at 73 it is too late for me to consider growing up.

Today I want to put the finishing touches on my sermon I’m working on for November 19th when our pastor goes on vacation. I have most of it finished but have to touch it up before I hand it over to Ms. Kate to look at to make sure it isn’t boring or that I haven’t rambled off point. It has been a year almost since I wrote one. I feel blessed to be asked to fill in.

My “Collingsworth Family” CD has just about finished playing and I need to get another cup of coffee and check on Ms. Kate to see if her coffee cup needs refilling. I hope you have a blessed day full of God’s love. If you do, share it with someone and brighten up their day.  Blessings!