New Year’s Eve and Ms. Kate and I are sitting around in our “lazy clothes”. I didn’t go to work this morning because I wasn’t feeling well and was having some stomach issues that kept me close to certain rooms of the house. Ms. Kate is still deep under the weather with her chest cold. This is day six and I’m concerned that it might be walking pneumonia. She is worn out and tired from all of the coughing and hacking that she has had to endure. So, our New Year’s Eve celebration won’t amount to much. Maybe another swig of Robitussen. LOL

It has rained much of the night and most of the day. Our winter forecast for this year was that we woud have a wetter than normal year. So far that has come to fruition. We’ve had at least two days of some amount of rain every week. The ground never has a chance to dry out. But I am not complaining one bit. At least I’m not having to shovel anything.

Yesterday the elders of the church gave Pastor Art and I our annual “report card” for lack of a better term. Mine was an an excellent report but I know it could have been better. I’ll make no excuses for it. It is done by giving the congregation a survey to fill out about our performance. I averaged above a 2.75 out of 3 in every category. There were a couple of negative comments and they were valid. People have great expectations of their pastors and those expectations are “personal need driven.”  We can’t be all things to all people. We were both contracted to continue into 2019 until the permanent pastor is hired. I expect that will be very shortly.

2018 is done. It has been a very rewarding year n that I was given the chance toonce again fill a pulpit and even better than that, —- to fill the pulpit of my home church. That was a dream fulfilled and I and feeling truly blessed. It has been a wonderful year for our family and I am now looking forward to June when we get all of the family together for our week long family reunion in Virginia Beach. Beyond that, our last grandchild will finish high-school. We will travel to CA for that.

I pray you have a wonderful 2019 and I pray that whatever dreams you have for 2019 will be filled. I also pray that whatever relationship you have with Jesus Christ will grow. Until next year, (tomorrow) I bid you peace.

Hello Saturday, you’re certainly a dull looking day. I was hoping that maybe we’d have a bit of sunshine today. But it is cloudy and thirty two degrees and it “looks cold” out there.

My Backyard Buffet guests are sparse this morning. I filled feeders yesterday but don’t seem t have a lot of takers this morning. One squirrel and a couple of Cardinals are all I have seen for mmost of the morning. Maybe they are all gathered around a campfire someplace keeping warm. I wouldn’t blame them at all.

Ms. Kate and I are still nursing our colds. She is much rose off than I am. I’m holding mine at bay with Mucenex pretty well. She still has a deep chest cough but it sounds better than it did, so perhaps she is on the mend. I really hope so because she has been absolutely miserable. I fixed her some chicken broth noodle soup last night and this morning she is having an apple. Nothing else sounds good to her.

It is New Year’s weekend. Again people will be traveling for parties and family visits. I pray folks will be careful and not let the enthusiasm of changing to a new year override their common sense and send them out driving drunk.

I heard the sorriest story this morning about two teenagers than had been shot over an argument about who’s mother makes the best Kool-Aid. And the two teens that were shot weren’t the two who were arguing. But can you imagine that even happening? An argument over kool-aid gets so out of hand that two young kids pull out guns and start shooting, not really caring who they hit. A young by-stander was interviewed and he said; “well, guns are easier to get than candy, and when you don’t have anything to live for — you don’t care about you life or anybody else’s.” And of course, “no one knows” who the kids were that did the shooting. You know, I guess you would expect me to say we need to pray for them but I’m not going to say that. We need to hire, we need to educate, we need to promote community standards and we need to somehow get our society back to putting value in human life. We need parents to be examples and provide discipline; and yes we also need to pray. We need communities to take responsibility for themselves. The answer can’t be to create  another “handout program”. That has been the answer too long. Frankly, all it does is create slaves, slaves to the system, slaves and votes to the group that is “giving away”. The “givers resent it” and the recipients resent it. ——- Sorry, I don’t mean to go on a rant because I don’t have the answers, and I can only see the problems. Let’s hope that in 2019 that as a nation we can come together and work together and once again create a society that knows how to respect one another and will share the blessings that God has provided every human being.

See ya’ Monday! Have a great weekend.

It is the last Friday of 2018 and the temperature is forty nine and the sun is shining bright today. I have a yard full of guests and there are several empty feeders. I guess I know what I have on my agenda then today. I must replenish the feeders so the word doesn’t get out that I am a bad host.

We had a fantastic sunset last night. The way our house is situated, being surrounded by other houses and a lot of trees, I seldom see a really good sunset from my house. But last night was perfectly stunning. You know, one of my oldest and dearest friends is an artist and paints beautifully, and I know several other artists; however, I have never seen an artist paint anything as beautifully brilliant as that sunset that God painted last night. I took a couple of pictures and posted them on Facebook but they didn’t truly capture the reality of the view. So, I just want to stop and give our great God credit and thank you for that extra helping of blessings last night.

Neighbor Dan and his wife texted me last night that they were heading out at 0400 this morning for Virginia. He said it was going to be an extended trip and they may not be back until March. I don’t know how they can do that; I never could. First of all, I couldn’t leave my house for that long and secondly, I couldn’t go and stay at someone else’s house for that long. I would feel like a total imposition. But they have done that ever since I have known them. With her it is a cultural thing I guess. She is Vietnamese and her brothers and sisters are spread aroud the country. But, her family doesn’t come here to visit them and stay, so I don’t get it. His family is all here except for some in Texas. So, they just go visit and stay, and stay, and stay!! I’ve always lived with the old thought that company and dead fish are about the same; after three days, it is time to throw them out. But, different strokes for different folks, as they say. Maybe I’m the weird one

Ms. Kate and I are neither one doing very well this morning. I have a sinus drip page that is keepinga Kleenex at my nose and she has acid reflux from something and has had for a couple of days. By now her throat is burning everytime she coughs and she is coughing or clearing her throat constantly. So, say a little prayer that we both get to feeling better. I had hoped wwe could go out and do something today but I suspect that is going to be totally off the table.

Having said that, I think I need to refill my coffee cup and grab a new box of Kleenex. It’s going to be a long day. Hope your day is much better than this. Peace, my friends.

A good Thursday morning to you. I’m just kind of sitting here, watching the Backyard Buffet, having my coffee and going through Facebook messenger and conversing with the family across the country. It is a warm morning, much warmer than one would expect on the 27th of December, and we are expecting high winds and rain today. That will usher in a cold front that will take the temperatures back down to at least seasonal if not lower. The forecasters still hint at snow in the forecast and the country is getting hit pretty hard from coast to coast, but it looks like Evansville is the middle of the sandwich and we will mostly get rain.

Thursday mornings are always “new case” mornings on my silly Criminal Case computer games. Ms. Kate also gets a “new land” on Thursdays for her Klondike computer game. Suffice it to say, we don’t talk much in the morning on Thursdays. LOL That’s “Nerdvana” time for both of us. Actually, we start most mornings like that; her on her computer and me on my IPad. I really like my IPad. I only had a Nook for a long time but the Ipad has has opened up so many options for me. I sit here and write my blog and watch my birds. I jabber forever on Facebook Messenger with the girls and or friends. Heather and John also bought me a Microsoft Surface Pro laptop computer and I carry that with me anytime I travel. It is so much lighter than the Lenovo laptop that I was using. The Lenovo had gotten old and slow and just didn’t meet my needs. So, the kids heard me whining about it and rectified the situation last year. Between my IPhone, my IPad, and my Surface Pro — I’m geeked to the max and I still have my PC down in my office that I use for all of my work.

I told you we had a great crowd for Christmas Eve service. Well the count in in and we had 136 people there. I am so very pleased with that. That is a record attendance for any service in recent history. For me though the blessing is that from what I saw, people really enjoyed the service. Folks came away from it full of the Christmas spirit. As far as I am concerned, it was “goal achieved”. If a pastor can do their best and people can walk away full of God’s love and grace and warmth, then that pastor and pastoral team have done what God asked them to do. It doesn’t get any better than that.

On that note, I shall go get more coffee, check to see if the wash cycle is done so I can switch the clothes to the dryer, and then head downstairs and get some work done. Have a most blessed day. God loves you and so do I.

December the 26th; the Christmas holiday is over. The Christmas events are over. But, I hope the Christmas spirit isn’t over. It would be wonderful to think that the spirit of love and joy would continue to linger on and on. But, folks are back to work today because Christmas fell in the middle of the week which is going to make the rest of the week feel weird. The same thing is going to happen next week when New Years Eve and New Years Day also fall in the middle of the week. Pastor Art and I worked with Karen to get her whatever she needed in order to have her bulletins all done so she could have today off of work and we have taken today off too.

How was your Christmas? Ours was great. Julie, Jim and the fur-babies came over on Saturday and left yesterday afternoon. Ms. Kate out-did herself with cooking this weekend. We did a ham and she also did a Prime Rib. We stuffed ourselves without shame. She also made an angel-food cake. It’s sad that she had to do all of the cooking for her birthday to include making her own birthday cake but that was what she wanted to do.

Our Christmas Eve program was wonderful. We had a record number of people in attendance. The church was packed. The chancel choir, the bell choir, our guest violinist, and even I made beautiful music for the service. But —- the the premiere performance was by Diane, our organist and choir director. She played our new Kurzweil keyboard for the service prelude and it literally brought me to tears. I was so full of joy and. When I said something to Ms. Kate, she said she was the same way. I had really fought for us to get this keyboard for the church and she proved that I was right in my efforts. I predict that a lot of great music will come out of that keyboard in the coming years.

I think today is gong to be a relax day around here. Maybe we’ll take down the Christmas treeless Ms. Kate wants to keep it up through New Years. The laundry hamper is full so maybe we’ll do that and maybe not. It has been hectic long enough to warrant a day of relaxation. I sat down at my computer last night and started to look at the lectionary scriptures for my next sermon I have to write and I couldn’t begin to focus on what I might want to write. I have two and a half weeks to get it written so it isn’t like there is a rush. So, I think that coffee, music, and watching my guests at the Backyard Buffet will consume a great deal of my day.

I hope you hve the opportunity to sit and relax today too. It is almost the end of the year 2018. Maybe you can take some time and reflect on how your year has gone and be grateful for the year of God’s blessings that have come your way. But, whatever your day may hold, I hope it is full of God’s peace.

Christmas Eve! It doesn't seem or feel like Christmas Eve. I'm at the office for a couple of hours and then will head home. It not only is Christmas Eve, it is also Ms. Kate's seventy first birthday. So, we need to do some celebrating of that. For lunch today we are having Prime Rib. Ms. Kate picked up a beautiful Prime Rib at Fresh Market on Friday. I'm looking forward to that for lunch. I don't know what else we may be having but when you have a fresh prime rib -- ya' don't need a lot else. Besides, Julie is on a fairly restrictive diet due to the huge ulcer she is having to deal with.

Our Sunday services were great. The children did their program and it was cute as it could be. As I said on Facebook, when the "shephard boy" is holding the lamb by the tail, you know it is going to  be a great kids program. The worship service went extremely well too. All of my characters did their part very well and with a lot of enthusiasm and I think brought the picture home that I was trying to paint when I wrote it. Now, I just want to get through the Christmas Eve program tonight without dropping the communion host or flubbing up the notes of my solo. Then I can relax.

I think this afternoon, Jim and I will take the mower deck off of the mower and put the snow blade apparatus on. I think that I'll put on most of the apparatus except for the blade itself. That way it will take up less room and we won't have to navigate our way around the blade when we are walking through the garage. I'm always afraid that one of us will trip over that blade or something. When the snow does come, it won't take more than a minute then to attach the blade.

Also on my list for today, I think that I'll need to fill birdfeeders. A lot of them look empty. So, I have a busy day bcause at some point, I be;lieve tht Santa Claus is coming too., --  but not until we have cl;ebrated Ms. Kate's birthday. I always try to ensure that we separate Christmas and Ms. Kate's birthday. If it runs together, then she doesn't feel as if she has a birthday. That always bothered he a kid.

That's it. I'm signing off for today. This is a holy night. It is a night of prayer and thanksgiving for tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we believe to be the Son of God. I hope you will have a blessed Christmas full of fun and family and faith. I probably won't write tomorrow. I pray God will bring you nothing but peace. Shalomn.

It is Saturday and the Christmas holiday has begun! Millions of people are getting in their cars and heading out to visit family or head to the airports and stand in line and wait because the weather across much of the action is causing delays. We just got a text from Julie thatJi was just now going out to do his Christmas shopping (a bit last minute) and they will be getting on the road and heading this way too. So, I offer up a prayer for safe travels for all.

It is a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music kind of morning. I really am a creature of habit. This album has been around since 1984; that’s 34 years and I am still listening to it. BUt, it is good music, so why not? It is 34 degrees in theBbackyard Buffet and mostly sunny. At the moment my only guests are the squirrels. I had three or four Cardinals out there earlier but that is about it. No doubt there will be a bunch of guests fly in all at once before very long; that’s the way it happens.

Yesterday was “schrooms and beer” day with Bob and Brenda. Ms. Kate and I always enjoy that. We catch up on what is going on with each other’s families and just have good conversation. Yesterday though much of the conversation centered around the fact that their pastor has announced his retirement and the question of how much longer will I be doing the interim pstorship at my current church. The innuendo being of course that I could return as the interim pastor back at Ft. Branch. But, as I said, that is all a year away and lots could happen before that. I’m just concentrating on getting through this Christas season. Tomorrow we do the Christmaas drama and Monday night I have to play a solo at church and don’t want to mess that up. So, as a former boss of mine once said, take life at a Pac Man pace, ie one bite at a time. Or as Jesus said, “don’t worry about tomorrow.”

However, last night I re-read my sermon that I have prepared for next week, and as I often do, I decided that I need to do some tailoring on it and rewrite portions of it. So, I got started it but I need to finish that up sometime this next week. I don’t know why I do that to myself. Or maybe it isn’t me. Maybe it is the Lord saying “you don’t have it right; — redo!

Well, Ms. Kate has started moving aroud here getting things dry for Jim and June and the pups to get here and that men’s that I’ll be doing some “honey, I need ya’” duties. So I better sign this off and haul my tail out of the recliner. I hope your day is bright and sunny. If you plan to travel this weekend, please take care. Peace.

Thursday, Thursday, what are we to do with you today. It is the last official day of autumn and it is obvious. It is a rainy chilly day and there are none of the fall colors left anywhere. In fact, were it not for the blue tarp I have covering the yard sweeper, there would be no color at all in the back yard. That is why I so look forward to seeing my cardinals show up. They read the last of the birds with color. The goldfinches have turned color until spring and the rest of our birds are either brown, black, or some mixture there of. 

This is one of those days where it seems hard to get motivated to do anything. Maybe that haas to do with the weather too. I didn’t sleep all that well last night. I woke about 0330 and never got back to a deep sleep until Ms. Kate got out of bed around 0700 when we got one of those stupid “Robo-calls’ that woke us up. She went on and got out of bed and I slept for another hour and a half. I expected that I would find her at her computer when I got out of bed but instead she was sitting in her chair in the living room still snoozing too. But, I had “work” on my mind a good part of the night, goingover worship services that are coming up and stuff like that. So, it was a toss and turn night. 

Luckily we don’t have much on our agenda for today. I need to practice my trumpet for awhile and Ms. Kate wants to go to Dollar General store to get some gift bags for putting Christmas presents in.   I think that gift bags are one of the better inventions of the 20th Century. There are people who can wrap presents like a champion but I’m not one of them. I finish wrapping a present and it looks like a blob of tape and scrap paper. Then when the first tear of the paper occurs, all of the beauty of that wrapped present is gone. At least with gift bags, people generally fold them up and re-use them. 

I have lots a nd lots of guests here today at the Backyard Buffet. For awhile I had a dozen starlings out there being rude to anything else that wanted to eat, but they have since left. Now, it is mainly cardinals and finches and woodpeckers. The titmouse and wrens kind of flit through and fly away and come back for more. I had a couple of squirrels here but they have since moved on. So at the moment, the cardinals rule the roost. 

We had a nice Christmas gathering at one of the parishioner’s house last evening for the choir. I took a crockpot full of “BBQ sausages” and most of them were eaten. Ms. Kate fixed those for me because she said that men always gravitate to them; and she was right. 

As I have sat here the starlings have returned for another round but so has the blue jay. My blue jay will give the starlings a “what-for”.. It becomes a battle of the long beaks. 

That is all for today my friends; no witicisms of sage advice, Not even a sermon. Just a prayer that you have a most wonderful day. Peace. 

Thirty-two degrees and sunny this morning and the feeders are full in the Backyard Buffet. I filled nineteen feeders yesterday as I promised I would. There were birds chirping at me as I filled them, I guess telling me to hurry up. Some birds landed on the feeders as soon as I hung them back up. And of course, the squirrels don’t miss a thing. I think they literally post sentinals to keeep a watch on when I’m refilling the feeders. Right now though the squirrels are in the trees and fussing a warning. There must be a cat in the yards or approaching the yard so they are sending out the warning. Or maybe they are just getting ready for a territory battle claiming the full feeders. If so, there will be squirrels casing one another all over this yard and across the the roof. They are fun to watch.

I went out and worked in my flowerbeds yesterday. I finally got the peonies cut off that I should have done two months ago, I raked one flowerbed and got it cleaned up. If I have time today, I’d like to rake this back flowerbed and get all of the leaves off of it. It just looks messy. The leaves being on it doesn’t hurt a thing and even serves as a mulch of sorts but I think it looks unfinished. I have office hours this morning, but it is supposed to get up to about fifty-five degrees this afternoon. The problem is that there is also supposed to be a lot of wind coming in, so I don’tknow how well raking will go. Tomorrow and Friday we are supposed to have rain. But, it still looks like we are going to have a mostly mild and dry Christmas with no snow.

Speaking of office hours, I need to get my shower and get ready to go to work. This is staff meeting day and Art and Karen and I need to make last minute changes and detail for the two services coming up. It seems that we just started Advent and now we are only six days away from Christmas. Time seems to fly when there are deadlines to meet.

Have a blessed day, and take time to give thanks for your blessings. Don’t forget that God gave you those blessings to share. Peace.

It is “brrrrr-eautiful” out there in the buffet this morning. So far my guests have been limited to a couple of downy woodpeckers and a couple of cardinals. I see more birds off in the trees but I still haven’t gotten around to filling the feeders yet and they know it. I promise I’ll do that just as soon as I finish my blog and my coffee. It isn’t like there is no food out there, but they have to eat it off of the ground from where they have thrown or spilled it. I guess it is shameful to make them have to be like “wild birds” and do natural things. I told you that I went to Wild Birds Unlimited the other day and stocked up, so I do have everything they need. It is just a matter of taking the time and getting the job done.

I had a good practice session with Diane yesterday. Hopefully the number will go just fine. I’ll need to practice it again today. I don’t know why I keep volunteering to do this. It is a pain in the butt to get ready every time to play a solo. It doesn’t take any time at all for the lip to be out of shape. I guess I could practice very day, but to what end. No one is going to ask me to play. I mean, if someone else was planning this Christmas Eve service, they would have not come to me and asked me to play.

Along that same line of thought, Ms. Kate and I were talking last night about how we have gotten to the age where we have become “the forgotten generation”.  I think most senior citizens get to that point and it is harder to accept for some than it is for others. I see it at church all the time. Our senior generation comes and sits there and worships and a few people speak to them as they come and go, but no one expects anything of them. I realize that many probably feel they “have done their duty” and may not want to be called on; but the reality is that a new generation has now taken the lead and is doing things the way they want to do them. And frankly, it is the same way with our kids. We are loved and we know we are loved, but the kids and grandkids really don’t have time in their lives for visiting. They are busy working, and trying to make a living a having a life of their own. I fully understand it because twenty years ago we were the same way. To visit the parents took days of travel each way and then you had to spread your time out between families. It became a total hassle and we ended up not really enjoying our visit at all. I think I have come to the realization that maybe the reason I try to keep working is simply that I don’t want to become “forgotten”. From my experience as a visiting pastor to nursing homes, I think the worst thing mentally that can happen to an elderly person is to be “put in a nursing home”. They realize that they have now been “put away” to eventually be forgotten. I’ve done so many funerals for people like that and maybe only ten people show up. It’s so sad. So, —- my message is to remember our folks in the nursing homes and remember our elderly. You might be the first bright and friendly voice they have heard from in a long time. ——- Are you depressed yet?   Sorry.

Time to finish my coffee and then feed my birds and critters and make sure the back yard buffet  is open for businesss.  Have a most blessed day.

Happy Monday morning to you. Here in southern Indiana it is a sunny thirty-nine degrees with little to no wind thereby making it a pleasant morning. That is especially pleasant for a December morning. I've been watching the forecast and it appears that snow is going to be out of the question for Christmas. While that may be very disappointing for many people who want a white Christmas, I'm just fine with it. Other than the pleasure and fun I have using my John Deere to move snow with the snow blade, I don't ever need to see snow again other than in a picture.

We had a really wonderful day at church yesterday. We had a record number in Sunday school (58) and we had a large crowd for the 1015 worship service (94). The chancel choir presented the the Cantata and it was wonderful. We had so many great comments on the performance. I came home from church "full" of the Holy Spirit and I imagine many others did too. This coming Sunday should be another "full-church-Sunday". We are having the children's Christma program at 0845 for the Sunday school hour and the for the worship service are doing a dramatic reading that I wrote that represents several people that "were there" for the birth fo Jesus Christ. We had a rehearsal of it yesterday and the character's all did a really good job. I'm looking forward to it. Then, on Monday night we will have the Christmas Eve candlelight service with communion. So, it is going to be a long but inspiring weekend.

I finally made it out to Wild Birds Unlimited on Saturday. I spent a lot of money ($135.00) on restocking my larder. I shouldn't have to go back for quite awhile. After I get home from the office today I'll fill all of the feeders again. I have most all of my work done that I need to do for the services etc. so I'll have time to sit in the sun porch and enjoy my Back Yard Buffet guests. I don't sit out there as often I would like mostly because it is considered a "three-season" porch and is not heated. A couple of years ago I did have a contractor run an air vent to the room but it really doesn't do much. The room still gets cold air from the soffets and there is no insulation because it is made up of all glass. I have a space heater that I use sometimes when I'm out there but I hate to do so because those things draw a lot of energy. I'm already ready for Spring and Winter doesn't actually arrive until Saturday. We leave the doors from the family room open to the sunporch at night so that the plants don't freeze that we keep in there all winter. Ms. Kate is always cold because if her blood thinner medicine so we keep the doors closed in the day time.

I'm waiting for our organist, Diane, to get here this morning so we can practice my trumpet solo that I'm going to play Christmas Eve. I've been working on it so it should go well as long as I don't flub it up.

That's it for today. I hope your day goes well. Peace.

The song says “It’s a rainy night in Georgia”, and it may well be; but it’s been a rainy night in Evansville too. In fact it has rained about three inches over the past two days. But, the rain hsn’t been constant. It rains for a while and then stops for a couple of hours, then we get a little more, etc etc. At the moment we are between showers, but it is really a grey day with no sunshine forthcoming.

Ms. kate is getting ready to go to a baby shower this morning for a former parishioner of our. The young lady is just a real sweetheart and her husband is a super guy. I married them several years ago. In fact, I married all three of those kids and they are all just plain good people. This couple have really wanted to have a child and have had bad luck trying to do so a couple of different times. But, God works as God works and we don’t question it. Her parents are some of our favorite people. I pray for nothing but blessings for the entire family.

I did my Christmas and birthday shopping for Ms. Kate yesterday. Traffic was heavy and the lines were long, but I got it done and I think she will be pleased with what I bought. I went from one side of town to the other looking for what I had in mind and even called Julie for a bit of guidance. But, everything is under the tree now so I’m done.

I’m still working on my solo that I’ll be playing on Christmas Eve. I have it down, but I need to go over it every day just to keep the lip in working order. I need to get a practice time lined up with our organist so we can practice together. I’m doing “O Holy Night” and using the version from our Cantata, so she knows the music well too. But, we need to be in sync when we do it.

My sister’s shoulder replacement went well so I thank God and I thank any of you who may have said a prayer for her. I imagine by this afternoon they will begin the first therapy on her, enough to make sure the alarm and shoulder don’t freeze up. Boy, I sure remember my PT. It was no fun.

Time to get cleaned up. When Ms. Kate comes home from the baby shower, I hope it will have quit raining and we plan to go to Wild Birds and stock up the can with goodies for my Backyard Buffet guests. In the meantime, as always, I pray your day will be blessed and full of joy. Take time to tend your local house of worship this weekend. You have so much to be thankful for. Peace.

December 14th; my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday Sheila. She’s getting a new shoulder for her birthday. That doesn’t sound Iike much of a birthday present does it? But, I reckon the good part of it comes after the the operation and the physical therapy is over and done with and you can use your arm again. So, lift her up in your prayers that all goes well if you will.

Can you believe that December is almost half over? It is amazing how the year goes along at what often seems like a crawling pace and then viola’ the year is suddenly over. A week from today will be the first day of winter. And it will also be my youngest daughter’s birthday. Then just four days later it will be Christmas which means that Christmaas is eleven days away. That means of course that I better get my rear end out and shop for my wife’s birthday and Christmas present. I still don’t know what I am going to get for her; any suggestions? I saw a video on Facebook yesterday talking about what to get for your wife for Christmas. The lady said to not go but jewelry, or candy or things like that. She said to give her a weekend to herself, or spa treatment day or plan a trip for her with her girl friends, or clean house and wash dishes and do the laundry for her for a change. Well, I’m here to tell you that none of those suggestions work for Ms Kate. She already has more time to heeerelf than she probably wants, I already help her around the house, and she takes vacations with her sister to Vegas. And the only thing she has mentioned that she wants is a set of ear rings. So —- I’m back to scratching my head.

Despite the rain, I have a lot of guests at the Backyard Buffet this morning; Cardinals, wrens, junkos, Mockingbirds, finches and several varieties of woodpeckers as well as a couple of squirrels. It has been a busy morning out there. They are the bright spot on a cloudy day. So, I lift up gratitude to God for blessings received again this morning. And with that, I’ll leave you today. I hope that no matter what your outdoor weather might be like today that you’ll have a day of sunshine in your soul. Take time to stop and talk with The Lord today. Peace.

Thursday morning and this week is going quick. We’ve had one thing after another going on this week. Tuesday morning I had a clergy meeting all morning and then when I came home we had a bunch of things going on around here. Ms. Kate has been busy baking cookies, I’ve been busy getting the Christmas cards out. I was supposed to have a physical on Tuesday but my doctor is sick. He’s come down with the virus or cold or flu, whatever it is, that has been going around. I had gone and  had my bloodwork done on Monday so when I get rescheduled I won’t have to have that done again. And I’m still waiting to her from the Neurologist to get an appointment for whatever testing they want to do on my arm.

Yesterday of course was my morning staff meeting and then I made a couple of trips to the post office tomail out Christmas presents to the kids. I’m $85.00 poorer but at least all of the present are in Santa’s sleigh. Now, to just finish putting away the boxes from decorating the Christmas tree. Last night we had cantata practice dress rehearsal. I’m looking forward to us doing that. For a relatively small church, we have a large choir. I think we have fifteen now. I know we are out of room in the choir loft. How great is that?

Did I tell you about my garage door? The other morning, I went to raise it up and the spring cable broke and it shot the spring across the garage. I was out there and was lucky not to be hit. Anyway, I called the company that we deal with and they sent out a repairmen fairly quickly. But they are coming back today to replace the system that is currently on the door. It is supposed to be much more safe.

It is raining today and is supposed to rain on and off through today and most of tomorrow. But, the temperature is supposed to remain in the upper forties so that won’t be terrible. It isn’t slowing down my backyard guests at all. Although, I still haven’t made it to Wild Birds to pick up the special foods so they are looking around for that. Maybe if the garage dooor folks get here soon and finish up their work, I can maybe get out to Wild Birds. I also have to go Christmas shopping for Ms. Kate. Time is running out and I have a Christmas and birthday present to buy. I only have a “kind of” idea so this could take me awhile.

So, are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? I am. I’m looking forward to dong the cantata this Sunday. Then next Sunday we are doing a dramatic reading that I wrote. Then I’m doing the Christmas Eve service with communion and candlelight. It’s going to be beautiful. I’m playing a trumpet solo for that service so wish me luck. The the next thing you know, it will be 2019. I think Art and I will be still interim’s for the first couple of months of 2019 or maybe even all the way up to Easter. We’ll just have to see what God has in store.

That’s got me caught up. I pray your day is blessed and I pray you feel the full affect of God’s love in your life. Peace my friends.

Monday morning and we are busy running around and trying to get some things accomplished. We’ve started off at the doctor’s office having bloood drown. Ms. Kate has a standing blood draw every month to six weeks for her Protime medicine. I’m having a “fasting physical’ tomorrow at 1400 hours and I didn’t want to go without somethng to eat until late in the afternoon so I asked if I could do the blood draw today. It took a few minutes too get the order from the doctor but we got it and now we are all set.

From there we stopped at McDonalds and picked up breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and headed out to the church for an hour or two of “office hours”. From here we are heading back out to the south side of town and to another doctor’s office. I have a Neurosurgeon appointment to check on my shoulder problem. I really hope he can zero in on the problem and get it taken care of. It is driving me a bit “nutso”. I’m losing sleeep over the darned thing because it wakes me up in the middle of the night and I can’t get comfortable.

My birds and critters were really looking and acting cold this morning. Everybody was fluffed up and puffed up. The squirrels were looking like they were really fat and the Robin had puffed up his feathers to where he was twice his normal size. I really have to stop at Wild Birds and pick up some stuff and put out fresh food and refill the birdbath. .

OK, time to head out to the doctor’s office. You have a great day. Peace

Happy Friday; and it is a happy Friday because Ms. Kate has already started making more cookies. She is making chocolate chip this time. Most people like their cookies warm and chewy and right out of the oven. Not me; I like crisp cookies and will eat my cookies out of the freezer. She baked up all of the Springerlies from Wednesday afternoon’s work, and I have to tell you —- they are delicious. Of course, I knew they would be.

I think I have finished with the Christmas cards now. I addressed a bunch more last night; so far that is ninety cards. I just took the last thirty or so out to the mailbox. That will be something I can check off of my “to-do” list. But now —- it is carry the boxes up from the basement and dig the boxes out of the garage storage area to get Ms. Kate’s Christmas ornaments out. I went out and moved a whole bunch of stuff from in front of the storage in the garage and realized I needed a ladder to get to the stuff. So, I went out to the yard and searched for my ladder in both of the yard barns and could not find it. I went back to the garage and there it was, just four feet from where I had been working. (Heavy sigh!!) So now, I’m back here to my blog which I started three hours ago and seem to be writing in patches of time. I’m warming up from being outside, having a cup of coffee and then will get back to it. Or, who knows, I may get pullled away and start doing something else. In fact, I know I will because I need to run up to Haubstadt, IN and pick up a meat tray and a cheese tray that we ordered for the church tomorrow.

So, I’m going to just wish you a good day and sign off. Peace.

Thursday already?? Who took my Wednesday? Actually I know where it went; “stuff” took it. I started out with my usual Wednesday morning staff meeting. As the year draws to a close, we find that we have less things to plan because all of the events for the remainder of the year are already in the works. But, with us two, that doesn’t mean that the meeting will be any shorter. We do like to talk together. Since Pastor Art and I are only interim pastors our need to plan too far ahead is limited. There is talk that the search committee appears to be zeroing in on a candidate for the job and that if they take the job, they want to be in place before the start of Lent which starts on March 4th. So, we’ll see what happens. There are still steps to be taken before all of this gets solidified, but I do hope and pray that the church will find a permanent pastor that they like and one that is good for the church. After-all, I’m not just the interim co-pastor, I’ve been a member of that church for almost seventy years. That seems strange to say since I was gone for thirty two years with the military and then another twelve and a half years as pasto of the two churches in Ft. Branch. But I’ve always maintained my membership at Zoar and we always return there. So, that is my “home church” and I am considered a “Son of the Congregation”.

After coming home from the office I find Ms. Kate in the middle of making her Springerlie cookies. I am the original “Cookie Monster”. I’m sure that character was based on me. I have several different Christmas cookies that I like but as I have said a hundred times, it just can’t be Christmas untiil the Springerlie cookies are made. She mixes them, cuts them out and then they have to set over night. This morning the house smells wonderful. She’ll start baking when she gets done with her computer stuff. Yummm!

After we finished mixing and preparing the cookies, I started on addressing the Christmas cards. Ms. Kate has spent months making all of our Christmas cards. I got the first sixty addressed and stamped last evening. I’ll drop them off at the post office here in a bit. I could put the in my mailbox but I have to go get more stamps anyway. I have maybe another sixty cards to address. I’ll do that stuff when I go get my haircut after while.

As I look around at the buffet this morning, I see that almost all of my feeders are empty and I’m being a bad host. I also know that I’m out of certain kinds of food, but I have pleasantly of sunflower seed and all of those feeders are empty. Just another job on the “to-do” list for today.

Having said that, I need to get cleaned up and get started on my days activities. I know it is cold outside and I’m not in a hurry to go out there, but gotta do it. So, you have yourself a blessed day. Take the time to slow down, count your blessings, and smile at someone today that isn’t expecting it. You just might be the bright spot in someone’s day. Peace.

Happy Tuesday. I don't have a lot to say this morning so I thought I would just include this pictire of what peace looks like to me. If your day is going hectic and the Christmas season is creeping up on you and making you frantic with all that you have to do --- just stop! Sit and look at this picture for a few moments. Place your self in the setting and listen to the wind blow through the pine trees and the silence of the world around you. Take a few deep breaths. What I see here is the purity of God's creation and the advent of the birth of the Son of God; the advent of the Prince of Peace.

Take time today and calm yourself. There are still plenty of days left before Christmas and if you don't get everything done and it's not perfect; guess what --- December 26th will arrive the day after Christmas and the world will still be here.

Breat5he in, breathe out --- God loves you. I love you and I'm saying a prayer for you right now that your life will be full of peace and joy. Shalomn

Hello Monday morning people! I hope you had a most excellent weekend and are ready to charge out into the world and take on a whole new week!

Our weekend was good but busy as heck. I thought we would get the Christmas decorations put up but that didn't come close to happening. Ms. Kate was busy putting together the last of the Christms cards. Now I can begin addressing them so we can get them in the mail as soon as possible. We also have purchased the last of the Christmas presents, (I think) and need to get them wrapped and in the mail too. And then, --- at some point Ms. Kate needs to go down to the basement with me and start deciding what she wants me to carry up for decorations. And if she doesn't find enough down there, we have a ten foot by twelve foot storage area in the garage that is stacked from floor to ceiling with nothing but Christmas stuff. I hate to even think about getting into that stuff because we haven't been in there for at least three years. I hope it hasn't become mouse heaven. But, I'll keep my word and get out whatever she wants.

Yesterday we went from one thing to another all day. We started out at Sunday school, then church. Then we went to the east side of town for lunch and that was followed by a trip to Michael's Craft store so Ms. Kate could find and buy some artificial flowers for the parents graves. From there we made a quick trip home to pick up the rest of the tools that we use to deeorate the graves. Then it was off to the cemeteries where we decorated seven graves for the winter season. Then it was back to church for a piano recital. Our organist was giving a recital of all of her  piano students. Ms. Kate and I went to just support her. Her students did well. She had every level of accomplishment there. Some did really well and some were just beginners and "one fingered" it. We finally got home around 1800 hours. We were both hungry but neither of us knew what we were hungry for. So, I hit the cereal box and Ms. Kate did something on her own.

Today is office hours day and then I'm going out and do home visitation and home communion with some parishioners. I always like doing that. It brightens my day when I get to go out and visit with folks.

Well, my friends, that's my gossip for today. This afternoon I look foward to getting back in the sunporch and watching all my guests for awhile. In the meantime, I hope your day and week have started off well and that you have a great week. Remember that we are approaching a wonderfl celebration in the life of Christians and take time to remember that Jesus is the focus to the season, not a full shopping cart. Peace.

Welcome to the weekend. I don’t know about wherever you might be but at my house it is a rainy but warm morning. I guess it rained a good portion of the night. I know tha we were under a slight chance for thunderstorms but if that happened —-I sure didn’t hear it. But forecast today is for rain on and off until this afternoon.

Welcome to December. Gosh, only twenty five days until Christmas. I still have not bought anything for Ms. Kate for Christmas or for her birthday which is on Christmas Eve.  Frankly, I’m at a loss, as usual as to what to get her. We’re at that age where we don’t need anything and if we do, we buy it. The last thing we need it to have more “stuff” sitting around our house. We hardly have room for what we have now. Her present to me this year is the new bird feeder that we just put up last weekend. She had said that could be a “communal present” but I’m not satisfied with that answer. She did give me one idea so I need to go shopping and see what I find.

I know I didn’t write yesterday but we had a quasi-busy day. She worked on Christmas cards, I did some sermon work, and we went out for ‘schrooms & beer” with Bob and Brenda at lunch time. We had a really good visit and got all caught up on our family gossip, and church gossip, and who’s doing what to who. We always love our visits and look forward to them. With the busy Christmas season coming on, it is possible that we won’t get together until after Christmas now.

So how about you? Are you getting in the Christmas spirit yet or are you dreading all of the “things” you have to do between now and then? I think todayMs. Kate and I are going to root through the storage and pull out Christmas decoration stuff and do the tree. You and I both know that no one is going to see our tree except us and Julie and Jim, —- but it means something to Ms. Kate so I reckon we’ll do it. And that is pretty much what Christmas is about isn’t it —- doing things for others? So part of my Christmas present to her is to go to the trouble to pull out all of this deeeply buried stuff and let her decorate however she wants. If there is one thing I know; it is that I certainly wouldn’t want to be having Christmas without her. We’ve been there done that because of military assignments and they were the most miserable Christmas’s ever. We have friends who lost spouses this year who were either our age or not much older than us. That’s not a thing I want to even think about, but is a reality. So —- I hope you are getting in the Christmaas swing of things and putting on your “ho-ho-ho!” After all we are celebrating the greatest event in the history of the earth —- God sent a part of himself to earth in the form of a baby; to grow up and teach us and let us experience the power and wonder of God, and then to sacrifice himself for the salvation of mankind. Talk about “giving” —- that was the greatest present ever in the history of the universe. Some of you may not accept or believe what we Christins profess to be truth. I would only hope that, and yes pray that, you will open your mind to the possibility of Jesus Christ and read the teachings of Jesus with an open mind. You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. Peace my friends.

As I said to Ms. Kate first thing this morning —- Happy Thursday! It is a much warmer morning and we have only a small amout of breeze going on. So that really helps out. The past few days have been not only bitterly cold but there has been some strong winds out of the north west that were driving down the temperatures. Now we have our winds up from the south and the air is warmer but it will also bring mor rain with it. So, ya’ take what ya’ get and do the best you can.

The area morning has allowed me to get outside comfortably and fill my bird feeders again. Almost all of them were empty and since I filled them —- now it will be back to the Wild Bird Unlimited to break another $100.00 bill. Dang, these birds are expensive. I also cleaned out the bird bath. It was full of leaves and scum at the bottom, so I scrubbed that up and filled it with clean water. I’ve had a steady stream of finchs and sparrows and cardinals at it ever since I cleaned it up. I know they drink scuzzy water elsewhere, but here they can get something a bit more sanitary.

We had a good choir practice last evening. We are working on the cantata and only have a couple of weeks to get it right. It is called “Arise Shine” and I think is is a good one. I love doing cantatas and hearing cantatas. I like them for Christmas and Easter. They are a great amout of work to put together and take a lot of practice. But, when done right — they add so much to the worship experience.

This Sunday begins the Advent season.That adds extraliturgyto the service and of course the lighting of the Advent candle each week. It is a four week walk to Christmas. It depicts the waiting and watching  associated with waiting for a Messiah and the birth of Jesus Christ. I think that only the more traditional churches actually celebrate the Advent season. That is what I think so many non-denominational churches miss out on. The lack of tradition. But, on the other hand, that is also why many people seek out non-denominational churches; — to get away from the dogma and liturgy that comes with tradition. At least we live in a free country where we have the luxury to choose how we worship.

Time to get busy and take advantage of a warmer day. I hope that you have a most blessed day. Peace.

Good morning on a cold and blustry Monday morning. The wind has howled all night with gusts up to forty miles an hour. I have new limbs down and I noticed that the cover for my John Deere, the yard sweepers and a table had all blown off. I'll have to go put all of that back tpogether when I get home today. And, we even got a skiff of snow on the windsheilds and roof tops. Winter weather is going to be around at least the first half of the week. By Thursday it will start getting a little warmer but then, of course, it will rain. I have enough work to do this week to keep me indoors so it doesn't matter a lot to me. I just am not ready for snow yet though.

I am of course at work with an empty office. I have been going over last years Christmas Eve service and the Cantata Sunday service. I'm putting together the service for both of them this year and since I haven't been to either of these services at this church in many years, I needed to know what traditions have remained and what has changed. They look fairly straight forward and I have a lot of material at home to draw from to create both programs. I was surprised though that Pastor Art didn't do a sermon with either of the programs. I may change that and do a short homily or just do an extended meditation for communion. It depends on how much writing time I'm going to have between now and then.

Julie, Jim and the pups all got home safely and they got the table we sent with them home without it raining on them. Jim had really wrapped it well so if they did run into a shower it wouldn't get wet. We won't see them now until Christmas. She has a horrible schedule from now until then. She is taking two classes at the university and running the Barnes and Noble Bookstore that services the campus. Her "between semesters" is called Rush and it is hectic beyond words with students ordering new books, selling back their old books, doing book rentals and all of he otherstuff like stocking shelves and pulling book orders. They put in some hellish hours during Rush and it always wears her out. And of course she has to get ready to start her own new classes too.

I really proud of Lisa and her family. Lisa, Matt and Amanda will all be starting college again in January. Matt is continuing his automotive classes for an Associate degree. Amanda is taking Spaanish simply because she wants to learn it. And Lisa is taking some CNA (I think) classes as part of her desire to eventally become certified by the State of North Carolina to be  the Director of a Mental Health Facility. I am so thrilled to see the grandkids finally decide to go beyond a high school diploma.

I need to start practicing my trumpet again. I am planning to do a duet with our choir director/organist on Christmas Eve. We will do "O Holy Night". I needed to add something else to my schedule. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. LOL

That's it for today my friends. I hope it is warmer where you are than it is here. Have a great day.

Happy Saturday! It is a grey morning but not too cold. In fact it is supposed to go up to almost sixty degrees today which will be nice. We had some showers last night and they might return off and on today but I hope not. Jim and Julie are going to be taking that dining room table home today and we don’t want it to get wet. He bought a couple of tarps yesterday to cover it with for the trip home so that should keep it dry.

We had a busy Friday around here and I got some of my “chores” done. Jim and I finished putting together the yard sweeper that they bought me and I used it on the back yard. It works pretty well. The thing I have to do now is rake out the flowerbeds and then run it again. But, the leaves are all off of my trees now. I may have to take it over to Dan’s house when his Maple decides to finally drop its leaves.

We got the Christmas tree put up yesterday. It isn’t decorated or anything yet. BUt Jime carried it up for me and I put it together. I’ve told Ms. Kate that I’ll carry anything up that she wants for Christma this year. The last three years or so, we just used the ornaments that are from Sam’s and while they are nice, Ms. Kate has so many ornaments that she has made or bought that are special to her and we haven’t used them because they are “put away” in a hard to get to spot. And it’s only hard to get to because we have too much stuff around here. So, to get to the Christmas stuff, I have to move a ton of stuff. Then four weeks later I have to take it all back down and put it away again. But what the heck, it will make her happy.

The sun is trying to poke through the clouds and that will make life look a bit bright er out there I the Back yard Buffet. I still haven’t seen anything use the new feeder. It always take a few days for them to find it, and figure out what a new feeder is. They certainly have favorite feeders that they all go to. My critters are not much different than human beings sometimes. This morning my guests are mostly the small birds; woodpeckers, finches, wrens, junkos and sparrows. And, — I have two squirrels out there too. So, I’m just sitting here watching life go on, listening to some Alan Jackson and having my coffee. Life is just too good. I hope your life is good this morning. Take time to give thanks to God from whom all of your blessings come. Peace.

It is “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving when millions of shoppers will go out early to get the best bargains as they shop for Christmas presents or maybe just shop for things they want for themselves and have been waiting for this day to get here. I would’t Go shopping for anything today even if it was free. The traffic will be horrible, the crowds will be rude and crushing, and pushing and shoving. I’ve seen people fight over things that were on sale like having it was their personal right. Back in the mid 1980’s the big toy for Christmas was a Cabbage Patch doll. Trying to find one was next to impossible here in the United States. Prices went out the roof for one and women were having knock-down fights in the stores for them. (Lots of Christmas love being shown ya’ know.) Well, I was traveling back and forth to Germany that year. On one trip close to Christmas, I went to a local store outside of one of the Air Bases that I was doing temporary duty and there on the shelves were rows and stacks of Cabbage Patch dolls. They weren’t any higher than any other doll and there was no rush to get at them. They were the exact doll that was selling in the US except that their “adoption papers” were in German. I bought three and carried them home. I was a Christmas hero that year to my my three young ladies.

Jim and I put up the new bird feeders yesterday and I’m waiting for the first birds to “discover it”. It sits on a 4x4 post and I put a two foot long baffle on the post to keep the squirrels off of the feeder. Hopefully it will work. I put sunflower seeds in it and as I said yesterday, I have now emptied that can and must go get some. I doubt seriously that there will be a “rush” at the bird feed store, although there might be people buying presents for their “pet’s Christmas stocking”. I really don’t like it when people put there pets in stupid costumes for their “family-photos”. Maybe the animals don’t care but I think it is humiliating for and to the animal.

Jime and I have a couple of jobs that we need to do today. Ms. Kate and I are sending the kids home with a dining room table for their kitchen. It is a famiy pass-down. I have two more that I have refinished that are also famiy heirlooms. So, We’ll send this one home with them and than he and I have to get one of the others up from the basement and put it in the dining room. Then, we also have to bring the Christmas tree up from the the basement. And, he and I have to do a little work on the yard sweeper that the kids bought me. So, we’ve got work to do before it rains today. I guess that means I better get busy.

Have a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving! A morning of cooking has been completed by Ms. Kate and I helped some although I was probably in the way more than I helped. Then we sat down, were thankful for our world of blessings and then over indulged ourselves on the bounty of goodness that Ms. ate had put on our table. The good thing is that there are plenty of leftovers for supper and will also be pilgrim sandwiches tomorrow. Now, the gang is all down for the count and are taking naps. But I have etoadmit thatIcan’t help but feel some guilt because on my mind today are all of the people have lost homes this year to natural disasters such as hurricanes and fires. Thousands of people have been displaced and I’m quite sure each of them was counting on a wonderful Thanksgiving in their home his year instead if food in a styrofoam takeout tray from a shelter somewhere. So I pray God has looked out for them and they have found something to be thankful for.

Jime did make it over last evening after he got off of work. I’m hoping he will give me a hand afterwhile so I can get the new bird feeder put up and filled. From the looks of it, I need to be filling up some other feeders too. I think I’m also going to have to go get another 80 pounds of sunflower feed for them. My can is half full and by the time I fall up the new feeder and the other feeders, I’ll be just about out.

Well, the pups are up and running around in the house. That tells me that everyone else is starting to move around too. So, I’ll sign off.  I hope your day id truly blessed and that you find all kinds of things to be thankful for today. If you can’t find anything by looking around —- try looking up. God loves you and there is no better thing to be thankful for. Peace.

Up early on a cold but sunny Wednesday morning. It is still 26 degrees outside. But the temperature is supposed to climb today up into the low 50’s so that will be great. I need to go to the office this morning for our Wednesday staff meeting and then I’m going to go by Lowes and pick up a six foot four by four and a mounting stake for my new feeder and maybe I can get that put up today if Jim gets here in time to help me get it done. It is not only a bit heavy, it is large and awkward. But, once it is up, it should last a very long time. It will be interesting to see just how much sed that thing is going to hold.

Julie and the pups came over last evening. So we are all havig a good visit. Jim had to work today but will be over later this afternoon or first thing in the morning. She has the to dogs. Auggie is the older of the two by several years and is the male. He is short and fat. Fenway is a tall and thin dog and aa chicken butt. She won’t go anywhere or do anything without Auggie. She refuses to go on a leash and acts like she has been beat with it. But they got her as a puppy so they know that isn’t true. I don’t know what is going to happen to Finn when Auggie passes away. She is that dependent on Auggie.

Ms. Kate is heading out the door this morning to take her sister, Arlen, to an eye appointment. Karen has to be dialated and needed someone to take her. So, Ms. Kate is going to do it. I’m heading out the door too because I need to get to the office. That will leave Jules and the hounds here to fend for themselves. Since she tends to get up at 0400 with the dogs, I’ll bet they take a nap while we are gone and that is fine with us.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and that means I need to get the turkey out of the refrigerator today and get it unwrapped. I’ don’t know why —- except that Ms. Kate said so. She also said that there are several things that we need to do today to prepare for tomorrow. Sounds like a busy afternoon. Then Friday I’ll bet Julie and Ms. Kate want to start doing Christmas decorating.  Tis the season.

OK, time to get off my duff and get busy. Havea most pleasant day and ifI don’t write tomorrow, have a most blessed Thanksgiving. Use the day for the purpose for which is designated. Take tie and stock of your blessings. Peace.

Wow, it has three days since I have written. I think I’m getting my life cluttered. But in all honesty, I have been playing “catch-up” since we got home from our vacation. We haven’t been home quite a week yet and it seems we have been on the run ever since we came home. With this being Thanksgiving week, it will be just as hectic.

Yesterday we had the funeral for one of our parishioners and then the funeral meal afterwards. It all went very nicely and there was a large crowd at the funeral. Betty came from a large family and then she and her husband had six children so it figures that the church would be fairly full. And she was a really sweet lady.

I bought a new bird feeder yesterday. I think Ms. Kate and I have decided that it will be our Christmas present to one another this year since we spent $400.00 on it. I know that sounds really extravagant and it is but it is a really neat feeder. Now I have to go buy a 4x4 post and some “quickcrete” to mount it. It s going to hold a lot of birdseed. I bought a baffle to go under it to keep the squirrels and the raccoons from climbing the post. The weather is supposed to be somewhat nice the next couple of days so maybe I can get it put in.

This morning I’m waiting on a plumber. We got our water bill yesterday and was shocked to see how much we owed. We noticed in Sept and Oct bills that our “use rate was up and couldn’t figure out why. This month it really jumped so I called the water department. The lady had the ability to dial right into my water meter and she said yes, you hav a problem somewhere. She suggested that I probably had a “silent leak” in one of my toilets and told me to pour some food coloring into the tanks of the toilets and if after a couple of hours the water in the tank was clear, that would indicate that I had a leak. Well I did that and found that one of the toilets indeed did have a “silent leak”. It never quite filled up and if you put your ear up to the tank you barely hear it running. So, that thing was running water all the time. I’m not a plumber and can’t get down to do such things, so, we are waiting for a call from Bud’s plumbing to let us know when they will be out.

Julie and the pups will be over this evening and they will stay until Saturday. Jim has to work tomorrow yet so he will either be here Wednesday night or Thursday morning. At some point today, we hve to go grocery shopping for the stuff for Thanksgiving meal.

It is a cold and damp morning and it really looks like it could snow but it isn’t suppose to. But it make for a dreary day as I watch my cardinals and woodpeckers and wrens out here. BUt the squirrels are having a lot of fun this morning and are playing chase all of the yard and up and down the trees. t’s a lot of fun to watch.

That’s it for today. I hope your day is filled with joy and happiness. Peace.

Happy Friday! It is a bright one for sure. When I first came out to the sun porch I said  it sounded like rain even though the sun was shining brightly. That was because the sun was melting the ice off of the trees. The temperature has risen to forty-six degrees, so it is a very nice day.

I now have happy birds again. I just came in from filling all of the feeders and cleaning out and plugging in the bird bath. I hope this electric bird bath makes it through another winter. If not, for sure I will buy another one. We’ve had this one for several years now and the birds really use it all winter long. There are many days that this may be the only open fresh water supply around when it is freezing or snowing.

Well, —- Ms. Kate got a deal yesterday. I think it was ten years ago that a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner sales team came through the neighborhood selling door to door. They’ll come to your door and offer to clean your carpet, absolutely free. Of course their end goal is to sell you a very expensive vacuum cleaner. I had that job as a very young man and didn’t last through the orientation. It just didn’t feel honest and I couldn’t tell people things that I didn’t think were true just to make a sale. And yes, at the time they came through our neighborhood last time, we were weak and gave in and bought one for probably 1200 dollars that we really could not afford. But —- it has been a very good vacuum. However, we’ve noticed that it didn’t seem to clean as good as it once did. Well, yesterday a Kirby team came through again with the same pitch; “We’ll clean your carpets absolutely free”. What they didn’t know was that (a) we already have a Kirby, and (b) we’ve just been talking about having the major traffic areas of our carpet cleaned. So, Ms. Kate invited them in. It was then they they found out we already had a Kirby, but by now they had to honor their word that they would clean the carpets, and they learned quickly that we were not in the market for a new one. They looked at our current one and discovered that the only reason it wasn’t doing as good of a job was that it had a broken belt on it and therefore the roller wasn’t working. So, their team leader left “to go check on the other members of his team” and left this poor kid to spend almost an hour vacuuming and cleaning the high traffic areas that we were going to have to pay Stanley Steemer to do. The team leader came back when the kid was done and of course tried to put the high pressure on, — but there was no way we were going to fork out $2500.00 for a new vacuum cleaner especially since we had a perfectly good one. Oh, and by the way, he had also already given us a new belt to replace the broken one. I kind of felt sorry for the young kid because he knew that he wasn’t going to get a comission, and he did a really good job.

I think Ms. Kate wants to go to the store so I better get cleaned up and be ready. Have a wonderful weekend. Shalomn.

It is a winter morning for sure and winter doesn’t even arrive for another month. But, last night brought a winter storm to include a bit of snow, freezing rain, and sleet. Many schools canceled or scheduled late start today depending on where I the Tri-State one lives. I saw the school bus come by here this orning around 0900. I wa pleasantly surprised to see that the roads and my driveway were basically clear this morning. I had put down ice-melt on the drive but the street was just as clear. Right now though it is snowing lightly. I doubt it is going to amount to anything. The weather report is coming on shortly. Hopefully all of this will get over itself and be gone by tomorrow. Next week is Thanksgiving and of course it isn’t unusual to have snow then but —- sorry, not interested. —- OK, the weather report shows a much better weather system headed our way.

Tomorrow or maybe even later today I have to get out and fill birdfeeders, and I have to get the cord and plug in the bird bath. It is that time of the year. I haven’t filled the feeders since we got home Wednesday morning at around 0230; so with this winter weather, my birds are not happpy with me. The squirrels are even less happy not that their unhappiness bothers me a lot.

I did get out and and mulch up the leaves in the yard yesterday. I finished up my yard and Dan was out starting on his, so I went over and we did his yard, Purdy’s yard, and Seto’s yard. We may be old retired farts but we do goood neighbor stuff. I still haven’t raked up all of the leaves out of the flowerbeds nor have I gotten all of my fall pruning done on the peonies etc. Every time I was ready, something came up and I just never got to it. Yes, —- I admit to some laziness on days that I could have gotten it done. I hope that the weather will cooperate a bit and I can get it done still. Vacations are over until next June so maybe on some nice days I can get some outside stuff done. It is going to be time to start decorating for Christmas soon. (Did I just say that out loud??)

I have a funeral sermon to write today so it is a good day for me to be staying inside. The funeral will be Monday with visitation on Sunday afternoon. This is  second funeral for our church in about three weeks. We don’t need anymore, thank you very much.

I think I’ll go do something about lunch. It is almost 11:00 am and my stomach is talking to me. Then I got to get my finger working on my computer downstairs. I hope your Thursday is a good one. Take time and give thanks to God for the blessings you have received and will contiue to receive. Peace.

Change of plans, change of plans. We are back in Las Vegas this orning. We decided that if we waited to get up first thing this morning and then drive over here in time to turn in our rental car and then get over to the airport,  that we wouldn’t sleep very well anyway, so —- we decided to come on over to Vegas yesterday afternoon and stay. We booked a room through Priceline at the Rio Hotel & Suites which is a hotel we use anyway and it is alright. However, I will say that the buffet here has really gone down hill choice and flavor wise and up in price. At one time there were about a dozen stations with all kinds of food and a great salad bar. Now, the price is up to $37.00 a person, and you basically have a choice of Mexican, Asian, or BBQ and a selection of tasteless desserts. Of course since it is a buffet one must serve themselves including getting your own drinks. Then they have the audacity to “suggest” as much as an $11.00 tip!! For what? All they did was take me to a table and take dishes away as you empty them. Scheesh!

It is a beautful morning here in Vegas but forty two degrees which is better than the thirty one with snow flakes back home. We will land late tonight in Nashville and then make the three-hour drive home which should put us at home around one thirty in the morning. That is going to make for a long day. But, I’m not going to go to work tomorrow. However, I have a funeral to plan for as soon as I get home. The mother of our secretary has passed and the funeral will be Monday morning. Art will put the service together and do the eulogy and I will do the sermon. So, depending on how I feel in the morning, maybe I will go in for a while. He has been kept very busy while I’m on vacation. He had a funeral late last week, had the service all to himself on Sunday, the council meeting last night, a hospital visit this morning for a fellow having heart surgery, and then start working on the funeral.

We have had a good trip but I’m glad that we’ll be off of the road for awhile. I have enough stuff to do for this season and from the looks of it, our winter weather is setting in. It is no secret how I feel about winter. If I never saw a day below thirty two degrees or another snow flake in my life —- I would consider that a win! But I am only half of the equation and Ms. Kate wouldn’t move even if the house burned down. And there is the fact that Julie did move to Indiana to be relatively close to us. So, I guess winter will continue to be a factor in my life for the rest of my life. And actually, there is no place that we could move that doesn’t have some kind of either weather issues or traffic isssues or something.

That is it for today. I hope you have a great day. I’ll see you in the sunporch. Peace

Good morning and “Happy” Veteran’s Day. I guess it iss proper to say “happpy” Veterans Day.  I’m never quite sure. I think though that we are more correct than if we said Happy Memoriaal Day when that comes around. At least today we are celebrating all of those who have served and lived to tell about it.

We are still at Heather’s house and will be here until Tuesday Morning bright and early. Grandson Jon is here with us and the rest of them are returning from San Diego at some time this morning. Yesterday we took Jon and his very sweet girlfriend, Kailyn, out for lunch and then did a little geocaching because Jon always wants to go geocaching when he is with Papa. We took time to find three but then Jon had to get his girlfriend back home because she had to babysit younger siblings. He stayed there for quite awhile (as I would have expected hi to do) and then last evening he and I went out for pizza and Ms. Kate stayed home. It was a good bonding evening with him. He reminds me of a former television character called Alex Keaton with his business say, always looking to find a way to make money, and a die-hard Republican. he certainly doesn’t fit the stereotype of so many of the kids his age these days. He will graduate high-school in June and plans to go to Paloma’s Community College to study movie industry stuff. Then he will probably finish up with a bachelor’s degree. I see a bright future for him as long as he keeps his he’d and doesn’t get in some kind of “quick-money” scheme. The boy does have a streak of “huckster” in him and always has had.

This afternoon Ms. Kate and I will go to the reunion that was the origin of this trip. It will be good to see some of the guys that I knew “back when”. Altough they had a picnic yesterday afternoon and took photos and posted them and I hardly recognized any of them.  We all change with age, and this is a reunion of anyone thaat was stationed at March AFB and was a Security Policeman so there are people I have never met. I was the commander of the unit from 1992-94.

I still have not taken the time to go out and sit in that wonderful patio/outdoor kitchen lounging area that Heather and John have. It is my favorite part of their place. So I think it is time for me to shower and get ready for the day and take Mr. Stephen King and go sit outside.

I hope you have a most blessed day. Don’t forget to take time too thank a loved one or friend that has served our country through military service. The fact that you are reading this in a free country is in some part through their sacrifice. Peace my friends.

Good morning on this 10th of November. Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day and the Facebook is full of well wishes and gratitude honoring our veterans. I’m always proud to be a veteran. I have served with some wonderful people over the years and yes, some folks that I’d as soon forget, but they are veterans too and so I salute them too. Fifty three years ago today I left home to join thee USAF and went to Lackland AFB for basic training. The USAF was only fourteen years old when I joined. They changes I the force and the mission is drastic and dramatic. The weaponry and the atmosphere has changed and so has the attitude toward service. But the Air Force is a leader in the best of the best when it comes to a professional fighting force. It provided a great career for me and a good living for my family. Now, it provides a wonderful retirement for Ms. Kate and me. Win, win, win.

I’m waiting on my grandson Jon to get here and then we re going for lunch somewhere.  We got here to Heather’s house yesterday afternoon and Jon had to work late. Then he went to his dad’s house for the night since Jon’s place of work is much closer than coming up here to his mom’s house. Jon is bringing his girlfriend to meet us.  — I told Ms. Kate that it must be serious if he is bringing her to “meet the grandparents”. LOL

Thre are terrible fires burning north of Los Angeles. Several people have died and at least 150 homes had been destroyed as of last night. I have not heard the news yet today, but as of last night the fires were zero percent contained. I feel so very sorry for all of those affected. This is the second round of disastrous fire that California has suffered this year. These fire are being driven by high winds and dry brush. We came through some really heavy winds on the way over here yesterday. It t happens this way often here in Southern California.

OK, Jon should be here any moment so I’m jumping off. Have a great day.

Good morning from the 29th floor of the Palazzo Resort Hotel and Casino. Our view overlooks part of the Vegas strip but mostly we see The Venetian Hotel & Resort which is the connected sister to this one. The Venetian was built first and at the time was the most expensive new hotel in Vegas @ around two billion dollars. Now all of the hotels cost at least that. It is amazing how much money goes  into building this town. And it stands in stark contrast to the homeless street people that you see on the sidewalks at night with their hand out or their little sign asking for help. And why is it that they alwys seem to have a dog? Of course, the big issue continues to be , and will always contiue to be — where is the water going to come from to sustain this place?

We got ito the hotel last evening around 1700 hours. We went to dinner shortly after that and then played the slots for maybe a half an hour and went up to the room. Ms. Kate had let her system and sugars get out of whack and wasn’t feeling well. By 2100 she was under the covers with the chills. I watched the rest of Survivor and went to bed not much later than her. I was up around 0700 and Ms. Kate got up around 0800. We are some really exciting people as you can see,

 It isn’t quite 1000 hrs yet and sometime shortly we will get ready and go down for breakfast. We’ve. Been on our tech devices playing our games and having coffee here in the room. I always pack along Folgers coffee singles and I have a little heater coil that I can use to boil and brew my coffee. I also pack along Half and half creamers for Ms. Kate so she can have her coffee with cream. True, we could go downstairs and they will bring you coffee at the machine and alll it costs it is a “tip” for the hostess. Oh, and what ever it cost you to play the machine while you are waiting for the hostess to finally come around. That free cup of coffee could end up costing fifty bucks before you know it. You’d be much better off stopping at The Coffee Bean and buying a cup @ $3.00; or making your own like I do up here in the room.

We haven’t decided what we want to do here in Vegas yet today. Ms. Kate is feeling a bit better this morning but I doubt we will stray too far from the hotel. Afterall we were here just one on the ago and did most of what we wanted to do. And since we did live here for two years, our selections of something “new” is extremely short. But, It is time to make a decision and get cleaned up for the day.

I hope you have a great day and will get out and enjoy life today. Tomorrow we head across the mountains to daughter Heather’s house and will spend a few days with hugs and love. We’ll also attend the reunion of the 22nd SPS former cops from March Air Force. Base I was their commmander for two years. And I’m honored thaat hey have asked me to attend. Peace.

The election is over, thank goodness! Now we wait another 18 onthsutool the madness begins again only next  time for President of the United States. That is going to be a terrribly uncivil and embarrassing time for our country. The liberal side of our countries politics hate our president so much that they are willing to do anything to get rid of him short of murder. He is a good president and is doing some really good things for our country. The problem is that is a not part of the political establishment and therefore doesn’t knuckle under to them. And socially he is a jerk! He says stupid stuff all the time and he comes off as an idiot. It he has accomplished more in two years than the last president did in eight. But, now the Democratic Party has taken over the House and all they are going to want to do is start an investigation or multiple investigation into every aspect of the Presidents life. I predict they will do zero legislation which is what their actual job is but will spend  all of their time trying to block anything the president wants to do and willl spend all their time trying to impeach him. It is a sad state of affairs. There was a day that I would have said that the Republican Party was the mean guys. But the Democratic Party openly supports riots and pays demonstrators to disrupt congressional hearing etc..

But, enough of that. I’m sitting in the Nashville airport waiting for our flight to Las Vegas.  So, I’m just dropping through today. I hope your day is blessed. Peace.

Tuesday, November 6th! It is Election Day in America and already record numbers of people have turned out to vote during the early voting time period. Ms. Kate and I will certainly be out to vote a little later this morning. I believe that every citizen (and only citizens) should get out and vote for the candidate of their choice. I think the American people are so tired of the nasty ads and commercials that politicians put out there against their opponents. They don’t tell you what they intend to do or how they hope to help America, they just tell half truths and slam their opponents and have no shame in how low they can go in their attacks. I can’t think of a reason in the world to be a politician because their system is so corrupt. They spend most of their elected time pandering to people with the money and working to get re-elected. I don’t think they start out that way but the deal making starts on day one and the slope is steep and slippery. It is so time for term limits for elected officials at every level. In my opinion, politicians are the absolute dredge of society. We no longer vote for the best candidate, we vote for the least bad. OK, that is my rant, and I’ll hush about it.

The great thing about November 6th is that it is my granddaughter Lauren’s twenty first birthday. How is that even possible? It seems as though it was only yesterday that she was a toddler. That is one of the problems of not being located close to your children and their families. Josh is 31, Amanda is 22, Lauren is now 21, Matt is 20, and Jon will be turning 18 next month, and I feel like we have missed so much of their lives. They have all become adults in between our sporadic visits. And, because their families live so far apart, they don’t really know each other nor are they involved in each other’s lives. But, it is no different in the next generation up. I only have one sister and she and her family no longer speak to me and my family, so there ya’ go. Not how I thought things in that area would turn out.

Ms. Kate got all of the laundry done yesterday aand today we’ll pack our suitcases. This is really going to be a quick trip it seeems. But, we’ll spend a couple of nights in Las Vegas and then drive to Heather’s place and spend four days at Heather’s house. The purpose of the trip is to attend another reunion of military folks that I have been stationed with. It will be wonderful to see Heather, John and the kids for a couple of days. That will be the last of vacation time for about six months.

Time to shower and get ready to head out to get in a line to vote. I hope you have taken the time to do so. If you haven’t yet —- please do so. Pray — vote. That’s th way it works. Peace.

God is raising the blinds on my picture of the world. What with the rain and the wind that we have had these past few days, the leaves are really dropping now and there is a lot more sunshine coming into my backyard. Our leaves in this area are at “fall peak” and a sunny day like today is a good day to go out and drive around the country side. My back yard is covered in orange this morning as the leaves from the tulip poplar trees are starting to fall at a fairly good rate now. I guess I need to figure out how to use the new yard toy that my kiddos bought me. It is a yard sweeper that I pull behind my John Deere. Jim assembled about 99% of it but there are no instructions to it at all. Sooo — I’ll have to figure the rest of it out.

I went for my MRI yesterday. They took a bazillion pictures of my neck & spine I guess they were looking for a pinched nerve or something. I got the report back but as far as I can read it, —- it didn’t show anything that was unusual. But, hopefully my doctor will have a better idea of what it all means and will come up with a plan. It isn’t as though the pain is more than I can stand, but it is certainly more than I want to tolerate. The MRI wasn’t a big deal, just noisy and loud. It took about twenty minutes of all that clanging and banging and it is right in your ear. They give you ear plugs but they don’t seem to help a lot. Or, maybe they help ore than I know. No telling what it would sound like with out the earplugs. My biggest problem was that there was no way to move my shoulder and arm to take the pressure off it and therefore relive the pain. That part sucked.

I have one fewer guests at the Backyard Buffet now. A hawk swooped in and carried away one of the smaller birds for his breakfast. That was rather rude, don’t you think? But, that is the way it goes as they say in the Circle of life. Sometimes you eat breakfast — sometimes you are breakfast. I need to fill somee feeders today again. I’ll do that as soon as I get off my duff and get busy.

Tonight we set the clocks back one hour. I never remember if we are starting or ending Daylight Saving time. I think it is a bumb practice and from what I hear, so do most people. It had its use “back-in-the-day” but not any more that I can see. But, folks who fail to remember will be at church an hour too early tomorrow. But that isn’t a bad thing either. I could sit in the parking lot or in the cemetery at our church and just enjoy the peace and solitude for an hour. We have seventeen acres of beauty surrounding our church. And the chimes play on the half hour so it is quite peaceful.

Time for my breakfast. I made a pan of Pilsbury Orange Danish roll and I’m anxious to get to them. Hav a great day.  

It is the first day of November; only 55 days until Christmas. And — it is only 51 days until winter. But today is definitely a “fall day”. It is still raining but is supposed to stop around noon so the forecast says. The high today will be fifty degrees. So, wet and chilly are the watch words for the day.  It is just as well, I have a sermon to wwwrite and if it were nice outside, I mght be tempted to be out there instead of being inside getting some work done.

We had zero Halloween trick or treaters last night. It was rainy on and off all evening, nad smart parents kept their kids inside instead of letting them be out and running around catching a cold for the sake of a few pennies worth of candy. But, I guess it mans I might as well put the costume back in the storage room for another year.

I’m blessed with cardinals and woodpeckers, and finches this morning as my main guests. one squirrel came down off of the roof a few minutes ago but went on back up the tree. I did get to Wold Birds Unlimited the other day and bought some more bark butter bits, and bark butter paste. As soon as it quits raining today I will fill the bark butter bits feeders. I also bought some suet balls that are loaded with hot pepper to keep the squirrels from eating them. Of course mt squirrels are most likely undocumented aliens and love hot food. That would be my luck. LOL I was also looking to buy a new fancy feeder from them but they had sold the one they had and I couldn’t truly remember what it looked like. I described it to them and they said that the one I was describing had sold in two days but they have another one on order. I have asked the to call me when they get it in so I can take a look at it. Ms. Kate told me to buy it as her Christmas present to me. $300.00 is a lot to pay for a feeder set up but it has a lifetime guarantee and is beautiful. I have the perfect place to put it that I think will keep the squirrels off of it; if that is even possible. It will take some work to prep the place first. I need to go to Lowes and pick up a treated 4 X 4, some gravel, and some quickcrete to plant it.

Speaking of Christmas, Ms. Kate wants me to help her get the Christmaas presents bought for the kids  this week.  We pretty well know what each one wants or needs. Life sure changes when the grandkids get to be adults. It gets harder to shop for them all the time.

Tomorrow I have my MRI for my shoulder. I’ll sure be glad to find out what is wrong with it. I’m out of guesses because I haven’t fallen or anything like that to injure it. Butit hurts like it did when I injured it a few years ago and had to have it operated on and it is the same shoulder. I’m figuring at this point it is most likely arthritis, but hopefully the MRI will tell.

OK, time to get busy. Hav a blessed day! Hopefully I’ll see ya’ tomorrow. Peace.

Happy Halloween, albiet a bit late in the day. I’ve had a busy day and now it is 1530 hours. I should be Taking my daily nap but that isn’t happening because my shoulder is giving me fits. I just can’t get comfortable no how I move or sit in my chair. I’ll be glad when I get the MRI done on Friday morning and maybe they can tell me what the problem is.

I had about 60 or so trick or treaters last night. I didn’t mask up like I usually do; just didn’t feel like it. Maybe it was because it wasn’t “really” Halloween. I even had kids ask where the monkey was this year. It has rained on and off all day so I doubt there wil be any kids out tonight.

I went to work this morning and then I went for a hospital visitation with a parishioner. She will be going home on Friday. Pastor Art went to the other hospital and sat with a family while the dad was having a knee replacement done. His surgery went well too. He wil be going home this evening. I find that incredible. When Ms. Kate had her knee replaced, she was in the hospital for four days and then they sent her home with a achne that would make her leg move and bend. I’m told they don’t even use that machine anymore. It is amazing how medicine has changed. This is the second knee this fellow has had replaced this year.

The air literally looks orange out of my sunporch. The leaves have turned so much and the damp cloudy atmosphere puts off almost an orange glow. It is beautiful in a gloomy way.

I think I am going to go change out of my “church clothes” and get comfortable for the evening. Then I’ll scour the streets and see if I spot any little candy begger’s. Have a great Halloween night. Don’t go hiding the favorite candy away from the kids. Ya’ gotta share. Peace.

Another warm morning and unfortunately the weatherman said last night; “Enjoy it while you can”. I guess we are still looking at 2-4 inches of rain coming our way over Wednesday - Friday. Halloween Trick or Treating has been moved up to this evening here in Evansville because of the probability of downpour on Wednesday.

My contractors came yesterday and worked on my roof again. They think they finally found where it was leaking. I guess we will know after the rain starts tomorrow. If it isn’t dripping in my shower stall anymore, I guess they will have gotten it fixed. I know it has been a pain in the rump for them. But they did find a piece of board that had a hole big enough in it to put a finger through and it was wet all the way around it. Cross your fingers.

I have several things I want to do today and it is already 1100 hours. Where did my morning go? I have bird feeders to fill, I need to walk the roofline with my leaf blower and blow out my gutters, I need to go to Harbor Freight and pick up a tool that I want that is on sale, I need to go to Wild Birds and Things to get some items, and today is BOGO Calzone Tuesday at Old Chicago. And then, I guess I need to be home to pass out candy to the little goblins this evening.

Julie et al came over yesterday a had lunch with us. Ms. Kate fixed a fabulous lunch for us and we had a great visit. They left yesterday evening and today they are all going to the Louisville Zoo. I think Karen has to go home to New Hampshire on Friday. She and Jules have the best time when they are together and I’m glad Jules has a BFF. Heather has Stephanie as a BFF, but Lisa doesn’t have anybody that I know of but Lisa always was more of a loner than the other two girls, but she was also the one that was more likely to befriend kids that other ignored. We used to say that she was always bringing home story pups.

Time to quit and get busy. Enjoy your week. Tell somebody that you love them. Peace.

A sunny and relatively warm Monday morning greets me today. I was up early enough to maybe do some blogging but instead I sat in my chair with my cup of coffee and just kind of zombied out for a good half an hour. By the time I needed to get ready for work though I was a little more rested and ready to face the day.

Ms. Kate is a busy camper this morning, Julie, Jim and Julie's best friend, Karen, are coming over from New Albany for lunch and a visit. Karen is here from New Hampshire for her annual Halloween week visit. She is generous enough to bring her over here so we can say "hi" and visit for an afternoon. Karen is good people and a great BFF for Jules. Ms. Kate is fixing a ham and sweet-potatoes, and some roasted veggies for lunch. I know it is going to be delicious. And --- I see a few ham sandwiches in my immediate future after they leave today.

We had a good weekend and yesterday we had "Trunk or Treat" after church service out in the parking lot. It makes for a safe venue for the kids to go around in their costumes and get a little candy from the church members. It appears that Halloween itself is going to be a washout because of heavy rain. I hate that for the kids because they all look forward to the fun of trick or treating.

I have a roofer on top of my house again today. They are still trying to track down that leak that is putting water dripping out of my bathroom shower light fixture. They thought they had it fixed once before but the first rain that came along showed that they still have not found it. As I always say, water will win every time, and where it is dripping rarely has anything to do with where the leak is. As I left the house this morning, they were pulling up shingles again. Since we are supposed to get up to four inches of rain this week, it will be a good test of their new fix.

I need to be working on my sermon for mid November this week. We leave ob vacation mid next week and will gone for a week. So, I need to have everything ready to go for the Sunday after we return. This will be our last vacation until probably June of next year. Then I think we are going to be gone for much of the month of June. Of course, it could happen that I won't be employed by next June and that would be alright too. As much as I love being the co-pastor here, the church really needs to have a settled pastor leading them. I think that we are going on five years without a settled pastor and that is too long. It makes it difficult for pastor Art and me to know exactly what to plan for the future of the church.

Time to put away my lap top and do some other stuff around here. I pray you will have a good week. I hope everyone you meet will be kind to you and sunshine will reign in your life. Peace my friends. Rest in God's love.