Clack, clack, bang and whack! The Friday morning trash trucks are ging through the neighborhood. Between them and “Lily”, the neighbors dog barking at them, it is a noisy morning out side. But, it was time to get up and get the day started anyway.

It is a lot cooler this morning than it was yesterday morning. It is thirty two degrees but there isn’t no wind to speak of. Although it is a lot harder to tell about the wind now that the leaves are all off of the trees. The sun is shining brightly with no clouds and the cardinals are glistening in the sunlight. This morning’s buffet guest list includes a half dozen cardinals, several junkos, finches, sparrows, a couple of doves, a couple of starlings, and three woodpeckers. It’s a good mix and. They are a lively group, except for the doves. They just walk around pecking at the ground.

Neighbor Dan and I took the mower deck off yesterday and put the snow blade on the John Deere. The winter forecasts for snow are all over the place from two inches for the winter to fifteen inches for the winter. But regardless, I’m ready; the blade is on and I have plenty of snow melt chemicals for the drive way too. The forecasters all say that it is going to be a really cold winter though which will be a big departure from last year.

Happy December 1st! Thirty days until the year 2018. As a child, 2018 was so very far in the future and the world was supposed to be so advanced. In reality though, that time journey has been nothing more than a lot of days all stacked on top of one another with one seemingly no different than the last, and life just happened without us thinking a lot about it. I suppose that is the way God intended it to be. We have gadgets today that were just “sci-fi” thoughts when I was a kid. Remember Dick Tracey’s wrist radio??  Remember Dick Tracey???  But unfortunately as human beings we’ve not progressed much. racism, homophobia, fear, world hunger, threats of war all still plague the world just like they did back in the 1950’s. We have more churches —- but less people attending them.. That alone should tell us where the problem lies.

But, I’m not going to put you in a downer mood to start your December, after all — Christmas is coming and we will again celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So ‘buck up” folks; the wonderful ride we call life is still alive and well and can be as exciting as you want to make it. Start with a prayer each day and end with a prayer each night. God will handle everything in between. Peace.