Happy mid-week! I woke up in time to see the announced celestial events; the “Blood Moon” and lunar eclipse, but the clouds prevented that. Oh well, There will be another chance in February at least for a Blue Moon. Those occur when there is a second full moon in a month. I probably would not have seen the eclipse anyway because it was to occur just as the moon was setting and we have too many trees and houses to see the moon at horizon.

But the morning wasn’t wasted because the Bluebirds are at the buffet this morning again. They have been here steady for over a week and that gives me hope that they will maybe hang around. My sister-in-law, Karen has some that stay around her place during the summer and I have a house just for them. She does too because I built hers.

I have short office hours this morning. Art and I have agreed that on Wednesdays we will both go in to the office so we can meet and compare notes and calendars with Karen, the church secretary. I think that arrangement is going to work out well. He is starting a new Bile study this morning at 0900. I think he has about six people signed up for it. They are studying the book of James.

The President of the United States gave his State of the Union address last night to the nation. I didn’t watch it. I get so tired of politicians. I don’t generally talk politics especially in this forum but I just want to say that I think the President is trying very hard to do the right things for this country. True, he is about as brash and obnoxious a person as I have ever listened to but I think his heart is in the right place. The problem is that he is an outsider from the professional politicians that have been in Washington for decades and he goes against their programs that are built to just make them money and keep them in office. The opposition party, the democrats have had only one agenda in the last twelve months and that is to obstruct anything he wants to do. They have no agenda to help America, just an agenda to derail anything he wants to do. Frankly, this country is in a hell of a mess with all of the division and hatred that is spewed by both sides politicians and it is spilling over into the streets through social media. But —- I keep praying and people of faith keep praying. Again, the problem there is we are all praying for a different outcome. God’s gonna’ slap us all one of these days.

Well, it is shower time and get to work time. I pray your day will be full of warmth and love and blesssings from God. Peace.

It looks like I just jumped right over Monday and here it is Tuesday morning. And —- it is a bright and sunshiny morning at that. However, at twenty seven degrees, it is a cold one too.

I did have a Monday but it was spent doing something I haven’t done in seventeen years; office hours. Yep, I have officially gone back to work, albiet part time. The congregation voted Sunday to hire me as their co-pastor. While they continue to search for a permanent pastor. So, I’ll be sharing duties with Pastor Art for some unknown period of time. Hopefully we will be able to get a good candidate for a full time pastor some time this year. But, in the mean time, I’m thrilled to be serving a congregation again. I really needed the year off that I took. I dearly loved my last work situation but after being there twelve and a half years, I was tired and felt I wasn’t doing them the job they deserved. Now I have been refreshed and rested and the brain cells are operating once again. The fact that it is part time makes it very palatable. But, I do have office hours on Monday morning and on Wednesday morning. It’s not a big deal. I can use the time for sermon writing and working on other programs.

I need to fill feeders again today. I can see ten of them that are empty. Tat still leaves none. That have food in them but we are expecting to have cold weather along with rain and maybe some snow ost of the week, so I need to make sure everybody has food. I have a half dozen squirrel out here this morning running around from feeder to feeder trying to get an easy bite of food. They are res[ponsible for the fact that most of the food is gone in the first place. But, once the “easy feeders are empty then they start on the harder feeders to eat from and they either knock then down or tear the up. They are relentless in their determination. I’m watching a squirrel stretch itself like crazy to pull a feeder up to get a sunflower seed. It manages to get one but what it doesn’t realize that while it has the opening to him, it was pouring send out the other side to the ground. Sigh!!

Ms. Kate and I need to go to Office Depot today. We are both out of printer ink for our respective printers. I started to print a document last eveing and couldn’t. I need to stop by the bank on the way cause ink is expensive,

That’s it for today. I hope your day is blessed and full of love. Be grateful for your blessings and share them with someone who needs an extra smile. Peace.

I would like to call this a sunny Saturday but no such luck today. Instead we’ll call it a soggy Saturday. I’m not site when it started raining but it was raining when I got up. I think it is supposed to be this way for a good portion of the day. But, it isn’t storming or snowing or anything like that. It is just rain. The only danger involved with it is the hypnotic affect of the rain drop hitting my sun porch roof and possibly causing me to drift off to snooze land.

Apparently Mr. Mole only got a headache out of his stomping yesterday because I see a fresh run this morning out in the yard. Maybe I should take my potato fork and jab along the run and possibly kill it that way. There are all kinds of methods listed on the World Wide Web on how to get rid of moles but  who knows if they work. My folks used to use those steel trap things that you put down in a run. I’ve had them in the past but I don’t think I ever actually killed one. There is also some poison that one can buy and drop down in the run but who knows if they are still using that same run. It’s frustrating.

Ms. Kate needs me to take her to GFS this morning for a little grocery shopping. She has to bake a cake for the after-service luncheon tomorrow. I know she is making a pineapple upside down cake and I thought she bought all of the ingredients for that that other day. But, she said she wants to make a second cake and I suspect it might have something to do with a kind of cake I asked about the other day. I’ve been hungry for what I would call a “celebration” cake. You know, one of those commercial bakery cake that say congratulations or some such and have that delicious icing on them. Sometimes a fellow gets an idea in their mind about something that just sounds so good, —- and it is all you can think of. I don’t want a lot, just a piece. I know Sam’s Club makes them but I don’t want a huge cake, just a piece. But, Ms. Kate makes a delicious pineapple upside down cake too and I’m looking forward to that.

Despite the rain, I have a lot of guests at the buffet this morning; several cardinals, junkos, finches, sparrows, wrens, woodpeckers and of course a couple of squirrels. The only ones that haven’t been here this morning is the starlings and they aren’t welcome anyway because they don’t behave very well. It is nice that all of the other birds get a chance to eat without the starlings bullying them out of the way. The rain is light enough that some of the birds are actually singing which just adds another level to the beauty and blessings.

Ms. Kate and I were going to go to the movie last evening but we decided that with this terrible flu epidemic that is sweeping the entire nation, we probably didn’t need to be cooped up in a theater with possible flu carriers. This thing is like the plague. Some people show symptoms of having it and two days later they are dead. It has taken the lives of thirty nine children so far. I don’t think they have a number for the adults that have died from it yet. But it is dangerous stuff. Ms, Kate and I got our flu-shots early in the season and they say that will help. But people our age are particularly susceptible to it. There are placeone needs to go but a movie can wait.

Tomorrow is Sunday my friends. If you aren’t down with the flu or some such, I hope you will take time and go to your favorite house of worship and spend some time giving thanks and praise to God. You’ve made it through another week and any difficulties you may have over come were done so with the help of God. Any blessings you received, came from God. So take some time to give God the glory God rightly deserves.

Until next time, I send you God’s peace.

Friday morning and it is another absolutely beautiful morning. I’m running a little late getting started on my blog and will probably quit in the middle of it. I got a little behind because of doing other stuff and now I have about twenty minutes until we have to leave and go to meet Bob and Brenda for lunch. It’s a mushroom and beer day out at St. Joe Inn.

I have (hopefully had) a mole tunneling right outside my sunporch. As I was sitting here looking at the ridge it had raised up in my dirt, I noticed one of the brick of the walkway bobbing up and down. So, I tip-toed out there and stomped on that Rick as it was moving. Hopefully I crushed its skull. I never had a problem with moles until last year and they really got bad. So now, I sittinghere waiting to see if that brick or any of the dirt around it starts moving again or if that brick is going to serve as it’s headstone. I hate moles. They eat my flowerbuulbs and they eat the roots of my grass. —- Time for me to go. I’ll be back after lunch.
********* 1300 hrs

Lunch was great and the company was better. It is hard to beat tavern food in southern Indiana and St. Joe Inn has repeatedly won Gold and Platinum ratings for their food. The four of us love deep fried mushrooms and they have the best ones around. So we order two orders of mushrooms and a pitcher of beer and have what ever the special is for the day. It is always good to see Bob and Brenda and talk with them. They both miss Ms. Georgia Ann still so very much. So do we. But it gives Bob someone to talk to about her. I’d be the same way if I lost Ms. Kate.

I see tha the “mole-brick” still hasn’t moved so maybe I killed that little sucker. That would be the best I can hope for. The neighbor's cat was here sniffing around the mole’s digging and I thought maybe it would sit there and get the mole. But, it would rather chase squirrels up the tree. It doesn’t seem interested in bothering my birds but it sure like messing with the squirrels. They run up on a branch and just fuss like the dickens at that cat.

I have blue birds out here again today.That thrills me. Maybe they will stick around for the spring and maybe even use the blue bird house that is hanging out there.

Thatis about it for today. I hope you have as good of weather as I do and I hope you get a chance to be out and enjoy it. God’s smile is in the sunshine and His Spirit is the wind. Take time to go out and breathe it all in and accept the blessings God is offering. Peace.

It just would not be right if I didn’t start out this morning by saying; “Thank you God for an awesome morning.” True, the temperature is only 36 degrees but the sun is shining brightly in the sky and there isn’t a cloud to be seen in allof thaat Blue there. I have multiples of guests at the backyard buffet and can hear even more off in the trees in someone’s yard. The daffodils are up enough that I can now see them from my recliner. My coffee is perfectly warm, Ms. Kate is in her office playing Klondike on the computer, There are several cardinals out there glistening in the sunlight and I can see a large woodpecker off in the top of the Red Bud tree. Yep —- just a great morning to be alive. Of course it’s always a great day to be alive it well some days —- they just hit you in the happy spot of your brain. I knew it was going to be tis kind of day before my feet even hit the floor.

My Safelite technician appointment went exactly like I predicted it would. My time frame was from 0800 - 1200 and sure as fire, he pulled in the drive at 1130. It wasn’t a big deal, I didn’t have any place in particular to go although Pastor Art would have liked for me to come to the office because they were going to pick our bulletins for Holy Week and he wanted my input. But, they managed quite well with out another opinion I’m sure.

We need to go to do some minor grocery shopping today. We’re out of milk and bread and who knows —- we might just have a snow storm pop up out of the blue. This is southern Indiana after all. Tomorrow we are going to lunch with Bob and Brenda. EWe awere supposed to go last Friday but Brenda had to babysit for grandchildren because school were closed due to icy roads and snow. So, since it is supposed to be sunny and sixty tomorrow — let’s go eat schrooms and have a bit of beer.

That is about it for the this morning. I hope your day has started off as good as mine has and I hope you feel the full power of God’s blessings. It is a great day to be in love with life. Peace!

I’m up earlier than usual today. My appointment window is from 0800 - 1200 for the glass technician to arrive so I’m waiting once again. If he actually arrive before 1130 I’ll be surprised; but it is what it is. There is nothing wrong with being up early. In fact, if the vote goes right on Sunday at church, I’ll be having more of these up early days because I’ll be going into the office two mornings a week. That will be quite a change. I haven’t had “office hours” for seventeen years which is when I retired from the Air Force. Although I was pastor at two churches for twelve and a half years, I never had established office hours. I did 99% of my work at home. Wednesday was my “visitation day” every week and the day that Ms. Kate and I would go and run the bulletins. So this is going to be a brand new experience. Of course I was available 24/7 on the end of my cell phone and got called often. But —- I guess I’ll have to ask Pastor Art what we do during office hours. The plan is that I will be in the office on Monday mornings, we’ll both be there on Wednesday morning so we can go over things with Karen, the church secretary, and he’ll be in the office on Thursday.

The blessing of being up earlier today was getting to watch allof the smaller birds at the feeders before the bullies arrives. I filled all kinds of feeders yesterday and I have plenty of guests here this morning to enjoy them. But first thing this morning, there were a pair of blue birds here and three or four cardinals. What a neat way to start a person’s day. So I offer my praise and thank you to the Lord above for that special blessing. I also had several junkos and finches. Then the bullies, (starlings) arrived and everyone else let them take over. The starlings didn’t stay long. Just long enough to establish territory, which is why I call them bullies. Currently my only guest is a squirrel. But, everybody will circle and cycle back through several times between now and 0930.

It is a cool, thirty-four degree, cloudy morning but we aren’t supposed to get any rain. In fact it is supposed to be warming up starting Thursday, at least for a couple of days. This is still January ya’ know and we expect it to be winter weather, But the fact that my daffodils are up just warms my heart and seems to be a small message from God that the world shall continue and spring will come as it always does in about eight more weeks. I think Spring might just be my favorite season. All of the new growth and fresh flowers and colors popping up out of the ground. The trees start to fill out again and the earth wakes up from its winter rest.

The families and victims of yesterday’s school shooting are on my mind once again this morning. I have not heard any more news about it. I pray each and every one of them will find God’s peace and comfort. And I lift each and everyone of you who read my blog up in prayer too. I pray you will have a peaceful and Holy Spirit filled day. Until next time; I bid you peace.

Very cloudy, and windy with a fifteen mile an hour wind greet me this morning as I come out to the sun porch with my coffee and settle into my recliner. I have selected The Talley Trio as my morning devotional music this morning. Nothing like a little toe tapping Gospel music to get the Holy Spirit up and flowing though ones body and soul in the morning. I must admit it is a bit distracting though because I tend to stop and listen and humm along. But then, I reckon that is the good part. It puts my heart and mind where it should be.

I had one disappointment yesterday. I told you that I had Safelite come and replace my windshield late last week. I had not driven it since. Yesterday morning I went out and was going to drive it down to get a haircut. The windshield was wet because it had rained so I tried to use the wipers and they won’t work. Obviously the technician did something wrong in the installation. So, I got on the phone and called them. Well, first of all, I never did speak to a human being. Everything was automated. I hate that; —- but it worked, and I now have another appointment to sit and wait for four hours waiting for them to come and fix whatever the problem is. At least I found out that the windshield was installed correctly since I didn’t have any water in the truck that had leaked through.

I did get out and get my haircut yesterday after I finished with fooling around with the truck issue. Then Ms. Kate and I went to lunch at the Hilltop Inn. We were hungry for fried chicken and the Hilltop does a pretty good job. There are better places to get it but they weren’t open yet for the day. We like Popeye’s Chicken too but their “sides” are pretty blah. Hilltop does one of the better jobs of fixing baked potatoes. Of course if I wanted really wonderful fried chicken, I would have gone to the butcher shop and bought a chicken and asked Ms. Kate to fry it. She does the best job I know of. Her mom was the same way.

I just had a blurb pop up on my IPad that the was another school shooting, this time down in Kentucky. They are reporting one dead, multiple people wounded and the shooter is in custody. What in the world is wrong with people??? What demons are in a person’s head that make them think the only answer to their anger is to go shoot as many people as they can?? I pray for God’s presence in this situation. Sigh..

Count your blessings my friends. Join me in prayer this morning for the victims ad families of this tragedy. And pray too for the mind and should of the shooter. He or she is walking through a mental personal hell at the moment. Peace.

Good morning on this rainy, windy, fifty two degree Monday morning. The snow is all gone from my yard and the ground is frozen so the water from the rain just kind of sits there. Rain clouds and no sun shining through makes it kind of an ugly morning at the backyard buffet But a week ago it was snowing like the devil on top of ice and colder than a polar bear’s rump. So, Thank you Lord, I think we will choose to love today.

The bandits (raccoon) must have hit me last night at some point. I have two feeders on the ground in the mud and as I look around, over the last couple of days, my guests have emptied almost every feeder during the bitter cold and snow. This rain is only supposed to be here through the morning so I reckon this afternoon I’ll spend some time filling feeders again. But first, I have to find my rubber boots. I know they are in the garage somewhere but so far I haven’t had any luck in finding them. Don’t you hate it when you put something right where you will know to find it and then can’t remember where that spot is? I’m pretty good at knowing where things are; (unless Ms. Kate wants me to get something out of the pantry or refrigerator) but sometimes my hiding spots are too hidden.

The Safelite fella did get here the other day and had my windshield fixed infairly short order. I haven’t checked it yet but assume he got it sealed completely or I’ll have a truck with standing water in it. That would not be a good thing. I’ll check that out too when the rain stops.

We had a good church service yesterday. Pastor Art had a great sermon and some good music. I got tickled at one of the ladies (my age) that told me she got so enthused at one of our songs that she almost put her hand up in the air. I told her that it would be absolutely fine if she did that, and she said; “Oh, I could never really do that. We just don’t do that.”  I find it amusing that we let “proper decorum” prevent us from fully experiencing the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with getting a little “Pentecostal” once in a while. It is good for the soul. But —- we are a little too “high church” for that. I think maybe we are missing out sometimes.

I think it is time to quit and move on to something else here on my IPad. And I still haven’t done my morning devotional and prayer. I know God is patient, but I don’t have the right to make God wait for anything. Have a most blessed week. make good use of your time and do something for someone today. Peace.

“Safelite repair, — Safelite replace”. That’s how the jingle goes but I wish they would hurry up and get here and do that replacement. Don’t you hate it when they give you a window of time to expect them to be at your home? Safelite is expected to be here sometime between 0800 and 1200 today. I got up at 0700 so I’d be awake when they call to say they are on the way. But —- it is 1015 and so far not a word except an email from “Jonas, my technician” saying he would be here between 0800 and noon. It’s not like I have anything that I need to do this morning except I am waiting to take my shower so I don’t miss a call saying Jonas is on his way. Obviously they have forgotten that I have a life; I have to take Ms. Kate to Sam’s Club and then get my haircut. I mean, what the heck???  LOL

It is forty four, sunny clear sky, and beautiful out there this morning. The snow and ice are slowly melting away. I think most of the once dam I had on the sun porch roof has melted away. At least it has quit dripping inside. I tried to clear thee street again yesterday but the ice is holding strong still. And —- I took a fall on the ice yesterday. It heart my pride more than anything else. I mostly fell into a snow bank that I had created by shoveling snow. But I looked like a beached whale trying to get up again because my foot kept slipping on the ice and the only support for my hands was down through the snow bank. It was not pretty nor was it fun. It is dangerous; our Conference Minister fell on icy steps yesterday and broke four bones in his back.

I’m blessed with Blue birds again this morning. So, I have black birds, blue birds, red birds, yellow birds, grey birds, and brown birds this morning. How fun it’s that?? I have to refill feeders sometime today. I think I’ll ask neighbor Dan if he wants to bring the grandkids over later this afternoon to help fill feeders. I think they would enjoy that. I’m watching one of the starlings that is getting a drink. It isn’t using the heated bird bath with the clean fresh water. It has pecked its way through the ice to drink from that water. Silly birds.

The door bell just rang so I reckon Safelight Jonas is here. Have a blessed day.

Good morning once again. I have yet to decide if this is “Finally Friday” or just Friday. I think though I will go with finally Friday. It has been a long week hasn’t it? Snow and ice and and bitterly cold weather have either kept people cooped up in the house or required them to go out in treacherous weather and on slick roadways in order to be to work. I don’t know about where you are but here the school system has been closed all week leaving parents wondering what to do with the kids since they maybe have to go to work anyway. As for the kids, —- well in this neighborhood, they played outside for the first couple of days but I haven’t seen any of them outside sledding or doing such things since.  So yeh, —- we’ll call it finally Friday because it is starting to warm up today and the temperature is actually going five or six degrees above freezing and the sun will be doing some melting.

The backyard buffet is busy this morning. I filled the feeders yesterday and cleaned and refilled the bird bath. I currently have four of my fuzzy tailed rat friends out there casing one another away from the feeders as they try to grab a bite themselves. The starlings come and go in flocks of six to ten. They fly in, fight over feeders and then fly out again. In the mean time, the cardinals, woodpeckers, finches, wrens, doves, mockingbirds, and junko try to get something to eat in and amongst all of the fray. But —— my best guests this morning again are the blue birds. I had a couple of pair fly in yesterday afternoon and they are still here today. What has surprised me is that they don’t have a lot of problem standing up to the Starlings.

Ms. Kate and I are getting out of the house today too. we are meeting Bob and Brenda for beer and schrooms out at St. Joe Inn today. I of course, got out Wednesday for my meeting, but Ms. Kate has not left the house since church last Sunday. I think she is getting a little stir crazy. We also have to go to the bank and Ms, Kate says I need a haircut. It isn’t often she says that so I must be looking shaggy. Ou subdivision is still a mess to get in and out of. I tried to remove some of the snow and ice again yesterday from the street and from the neighbor’s driveway but the ice is holding fast and the JD couldn’t do much with it.

Tomorrow morning the folks from Safelite will be here to replace the windshield and wipers on my truck. I’ll be glad to have that back up and in operation. I don’t drive my truck very often as is evidenced by the fact that it is a 2007 with only 44,000 miles on it. But, I do love my truck. We generally take Ms. Kate’s car because it is harder for her to get in and out of the truck. But if I’m going somewhere by myself, I prefer to take my truck.

I reckon the timehas comefor me to vacate my comfortable spot here under my lap robe in the sun porch. I pray your day will be pleasant and filled with the Holy Spirit. If you let the Lord plot the route and do the driving, you’ll never be in the wrong place. Peace.

Good morning on this eleven degree morning. There is a woodpecker sitting on the suet feeder that is suction cupped to one of the doors here on the sunporch. It is trying to eat some of the frozen suet and it sounds like someone is knocking at the door. When the woodpecker isn’t on the feeders you can bet the starlings will be and sometimes they have “discussion” about whose turn it is. There is a squirrel literally hanging by one toenail from a limb trying to hold anther type of suet feeder up to him so it can eat some of the suet. What I have out there is a blend of suet and ground corn and peanut butter paste. It gives them good energy and food at the same time. The thistle seed feeder is down to about an inch and a half of seed left in it. A couple of the other sunflower cylinder feeders are down to about two or three inches of seed left and that is about it. I haven’t gone out and refilled anything since this snow and ice stuff started. About four years ago or so I went out when it was like this and fell resulting in some nasty shoulder injury and surgery. Sometimes us old dogs do learn new tricks like being cautious.

I apologize for not writing yesterday but I had a meeting with Pastor Art about upcoming stuff at church. Unfortunately when we start talking we tend to “go long” and it was noon before we knew it. But that’s what happens when friends meet and greet. You might think that a couple of preachers would be sitting around just talking “holy - churchy” stuff, but nah, —- it can turn into a gab fest pretty quick. We are still waiting for the congregational meeting to see if they will pass a two-pastor budget. But we have to do planing as if it were a reality.

My buffet guests this morning include wrens and finches, woodpeckers, starlings, junkos, sparrows, Cardinals, and squirrels. The bird bath is popular for drinking today again but so far nothing has ventured in for a bath. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a starling or two do that. I really need to dump the water out of it and put in fresh. There is a lot of crud and dirt in there from them wadeing around in it. I’ve been watching this one wren. It eats off of a suet ball for a while and then goes and gets a drink of water, then back top the suet ball.

I guess that is it. I’m going to sit here for a bit more and just enjoy the beautiful but cold picture God has painted outside my windows. Listening to the joyful song of the wren as it hops around out there is just another example of the blessings that God continuously sends my way. I hope you take time to stop and enjoy the blessings that God is sending your way today. Peace.

Three degree outside with a wind chill well below zero. I don't care what Eskimo's book you look in --- that is cold. There is little food left for the back yard buffet guests and there won't be until it warms up just a little. There is still water available in the bird bath and there is food in the less popular feeders that they can have. They will just have to get over themselves and their spoiled ways.

I have a water dripping problem this morning out in the sun porch. There is ice up on the roof and it is slowly melting. The foam roof on the sun porch is I think about five inches thick and there is caulk sealant on every seam. But --- water always wins and I have a spot that is dripping because I guess the heat from the sun porch has warmed the foam up some.. I had this same problem three years ago when we had an ice storm. So, I have a bucket out there to catch it . What drips in the bucket, I'll use to water all of the plants out there. 

The snow we got yesterday amounted to about three inches or maybe a little more. It did quit snowing by about 1500 hours and I got dressed and jumped on the John Deere. Since it was just snow, the JD handled it quite well. I cleared my driveway, part of the street, part of Dan's driveway and part of Purdy's driveway. It was a lot of fun but my hands were cramping yesterday evening from working out there. I'm still sore today and stiff. Dan came out and did some shoveling while I was running the Deere. Today, with the sun shining on it, it is dry where I was able to clear. It will give folks some good traction to get up the hill we all live on. Much of the ice is still there though and the JD just doesn't want to work on that, although I was able to bust through some places and clear it out. Friday it is supposed to be 44 degrees and then on Saturday it will be even better and by Sunday, the weatherman said last night that might hit 63 degrees. Unbelievable!

I got hold of my insurance company and they made arrangements for replacement of my truck windshield. It'll cost me close to $300.00 for my deductible and the cost of new wipers, but it sure beats paying the entire thing. We use USAA, serviceman's insurance company and they are wonderful to work with. Thankfully we haven't had a lot of claims with them but boy, when we need them, they are right on top of the issue. I think we have been with them for thirty years now. So, Saturday morning, Safelite will be here at the house with a new windshield and install it. They could have done it today if I wanted to take it to their place over in Henderson, Kentucky. But, since the offer the home service at the same rate, why not have them come here. If it is bad weather, I'll just put the truck in the garage so they can work.

I'm offering prayers this morning for a family in Newburgh, IN. Their sixteen year old daughter was sledding and slid out in front of a car that was being driven by a twenty year old woman who was driving under the influence of drugs. This was the third time she had been involved with police for DUI. So, I'm offering prayers for the distraught family but I'm also praying that the driver gets her life straight and realizes what her actions have caused. What astounded me though was that the news folks interviewed the drivers girl friend who was with her and the girlfriend said, "well, yes she came back positive for drugs but she hadn't had any thing but her Xanax and the marijuana she had smoked the day before. And beside, that accident could have happened to anybody." Yes, it could have happened to anybody but her words are so typical of a social generation that takes no responsibility for their actions and shifts the blame to everybody else.

Have a great day. Stay warm, and take time to be grateful for your blessing today. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

We’re having a heatwave; a tropical heatwave!  Yeh, that song doesn’t apply this morning at 25 degreees. But it is better than it has been and is supposed to go to 30 today. We are having light snow at the moment and are supposed to get another one to three inches.

My John Deere adventures were a disaster. With the ice that developed prior to the snow, it was impossible to do anything with the JD even with chains on. So, we (Dan and I) did a lot of shoveling and scraping on Saturday and got a lot of it up. Then yesterday I finished the driveway and the side walk. Today’s snow is the dry/fluffy stuff with no rain or sleet or freezing rain preceding it, It should be easy to remove it. BUt it will be 1500 hours before this snow is over. Tomorrow we are looking for a high of zero. However, by the end of the week we are looking for fifty degrees. What a roller coaster.

You didn’t know that I waas stopped for awhile but, I’m back. Neighbor Dan came over to visit and he and I have been sitting out in the sunporch for the last three hours gabbing about anything and everything. We have been through a pot of coffee and have solved all of the world’s problems as we sat here watching the birds and squirrels. And, in all of that time, the birds and squirrels haven’t decreased one bit. Nor, has the snow quit yet and it is now 1300 hours.

We ventured out yesterday for church and then out to lunch after church. The hardest driving of course was getting out of the subdivision. Once we go to the main roads the highways had been cleared pretty well. A lot of the churches cancelled services but we had a couple of guys who worked really hard and cleared our church lot and the drive way going to the church. I was surprised at how many people did actually show up for the service and Sunday school.

I guess that is my tale for today. I need to think about having some lunch. The bagel and creamed cheese I had hours ago has since ceased to be of any value. So, Ms. Kate has chili made.

Have a great day and stay warm and safe. Blessings.

Seventeen degrees with a “real feel” of ten degrees, light snow for the next 120 minutes; thus sayeth my Accuweather app first thing this morning. But the sun is shining and I have a backyard full of guests. Thankfully they left themselves plenty to eat today. I really thought they would clean everything out yesterday during their feeding frenzy. but, I will certainly have to go out and fill feeders later. But, first things first; it is about time to see how this new John Deere and blade is going to handle removing snow. Hopefully the snow will come up fairly easily and I don’t spend the morning slipping and sliding up and down the driveway. It looks like we have had traffic up and down the street. The neighbor across the street has guests that unfortunately have parked where I need to shove the snow. I wish they had parked in front of their own house. I’m sure they never thought that I might accidentally come sliding down my driveway right into their cars. Civilians have no sense of situational awareness.

It will be interesting to see how much street clearing the highway and street departments get done today. I imagine they are hard at it already this morning. But nothing is going to melt since it is supposed to only get to about twenty-three today. The pastor and I discussed possibilities of cancelling church service tomorrow. We have one fellow that, bless his hearts, does the cleaning of the parking lot and the road and driveway leading to the church. Our church is a rural church and the likely hood of a highway department getting out there isn’t high. So, if Fred can’t get it done, it won’t get done. My comment to Pastor Art was — safety first. Let Fred be the one to make the call as to whether we have church or not. Not only does the road and parking lot need to be cleared but the sideways around the church too. We don’t want anybody slipping and falling. And, I suspect that with a high tomorrow of twenty degrees, attendance will be scarce regardless.

I reckon I better put on my warmest clothes and go see what I can get done. Wish me luck. Stay safe out there. If you don’t have to be out —- stay inside where it is warm.

Have a blessed weekend .

From near sixty degrees yesterday at this time to nineteen this morning with a thin layer of ice and snow on the ground today; it is no wonder that people everywhere are sick with the flu and colds etc. Fortunately Ms. Kate and I are not involved in that. But then we have tried to stay away from folks even though we did go to the grocery store yesterday. As I told you yesterday, we were out of milk, bread and a bunch of other stuff. So, we went and stocked up.

It is hard to tell but I think it is either doing a very fine snow or freezing rain. I don’t hear it on the sunporch roof but I can see it doing something. Whatever it is, it isn’t slowing down the frantic feeding going on at the backyard buffet this morning. I filled the feeders yesterday again and by now they are half empty. I have probably a minimum of sixty starlings, blackbirds, and red-winged blackbirds out there. There are I think, seven squirrels , plus a few cardinals, junkos. Sparrows, blue jays, finches and wrens. But it is the starlings that are ruling the roost and protecting territory the most. I threw a half a loaf of bread out there and it was gone in thirty minutes. Some of the cylinder feeders have as many as eight starlings all trying to eat from them. The amount of wing flapping, pecking, squawking and out right nasty behavior going on out there is amazing. Survival of the fittest is in full swing at the backyard buffet. And then there are the one actually talking baths during all of this.

I don’t know if you have had any of the Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans breakfast bowls or not but I recommend them when you want a good breakfast but don’t want to go to a lot of trouble I just fixed one while I was making a trip to the coffee pot. It only takes thre minutes in the microwave. BTW, this is going to be a two pot day from Mr. Coffee too. It is certainly a day to stay in. I did go out to see what I could determine about whatever was falling from the sky and it is a mixture now of rain and snow. I have the John Deere sitting at the ready but it would be useless at the moment to go out there.This is supposed to last all day. And, frankly, depending on the layer of ice that is there, The JD might just slip and slide when I do get out there. But, I went out at midnight after it had quit raining for awhile and I threw down a good layer of ice melt as a helper for when it did arrive. I may have done more harm than good. I guess we’ll find out eventually.

That’s it for today. I hope you didn’t have to get out in this weather and are hopefully safe and warm at home. Pray for those that are out in this whether they are working or maybe homeless. Peace.

It is hard to believe that it is almost sixty degrees this morning. It is even harder to think about the fact by tomorrow morning it will be thirty degrees colder with freezing rain, ice and snow. The sad thing is —- I have to be one of “Those people” because we are actually out of milk and bread around here and now I’m going to look like one those people that panic at a snow flake and have to buy milk and bread. Oh well, I just won’t make eye contact while I’m in the grocery. Or better yet, Maybe I can convince Ms. Kate to go in by herself.

I just refilled the backyard buffet items so everybody should be good for the next couple of day. If in fact we do actually get snow and ice, I want them to have a source of energy and water. Of course if we do get snow, the place will be over run with starlings and blackbirds. In the past I have seen it look like I have a black yard because there were so many black birds etc. At the moment though, it is the cardinals that are enjoying the freshly filled feeders, and the woodpeckers are enjoying the fact that I filled all of the bark butter feeders.

I went to an absolutely wonderful speaker/luncheon yesterday. The speaker was Rev. Dr. Sara Lund from Christian Theological Seminary, and her presentation was called “Blessed are the Crazy”. She told the story of her family and learning to deal with severe mental illness in the family. It was an amazing presentation and I don’t know how she gets through the presentation with out crying. Her family life has been filled with people and incidents caused by mental illness to include mental and physical and mental abuse, homelessness, poverty, suicide, murder and death row family members. Her discussion was on how to deal and rise above it and take away the stigma and shame for even admitting that we may have a mental problem. People suffer in silence and don’t want to admit that they have a family member with a mental health issue or an addiction. Her speech gave me much to think about having dealt with some of this in my own family.

I guess I should put up my IPad now and take Ms. Kate to the store, or maybe I could be a real nice guy and let her stay in her PJ’s and go by myself with a list. There is no need for both of us to go unless of course she is going to let me go out for a good breakfast of pancakes or something. Right now I could go for a plate of steak and eggs and biscuits and gravy with fried potatoes.

You have yourself a most wonderful day. Step outside and suck in some warm air before the freezer door opens up again. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

Good morning on this cloudy, wet, but quasi-warm Wednesday morning. It is fifty degrees and a bit foggy yet. For whatever reason, I associate mornings like this to Carolina springtime mornings. We lived in Fayetteville North Carolina for a couple of years and many mornings during the spring time of the year were like this. It is peaceful and the world, just like me, is slowly waking up and ready to start the day. The temperature is supposed to climb maybe another ten degrees today and even higher tomorrow before the bottom drops out once again, and we are then predicted for rain, freezing rain and sleet followed by measureable snow fall for Friday and Saturday. No wonder the doctor’s offices and hospitals are full of patients with colds and the flu.

I have lots of small birds at the buffet this morning; finches, wrens, junkos and sparrows mostly. One red-headed woodpecker is out there pecking away at the bark-butter feeder. Perhaps the cardinals have already been here for their first round but there are none at the moment. Nor are there any squirrels or starlings, not that they are missed. Oops, I just noticed there is one squirrel just beyond the door eating off of the ground.

I had a morning clergy meeting yesterday and I never got around to writing my blog. There were interesting conversations being held  at the meeting concerning the direction and re-organization of our denomination conference. It is a fact that “The Church” of 2018 is not the church of the 1960’s. The parishioners and clergy from that era are having a problem with the change and the “New Church” seems to be having an identity crisis and lack of direction and or leadership. In my humble, or not so humble opinion, the modern parishioner could care less about “where we came from” or what has made us the church we are today. And we have for the most part lost our sense of Covenant with one another. We come to church, do our worshiping with no sense of belonging to a larger worshiping community. True, we can exist as a church like that —- but can we survive with a sense of purpose? It is a transition period that we are going to have to go through because society continues to move on. With God’s help we will make it.

While I was sitting here writing that last paragraph, I suddenly had three or four blue birds come in for a quick snack. So, that was my extra helping of blessings for today. And now, on schedule, the cardinals are arriving. God is great and life is good. Have a blessed day.

This is a day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!! And glad we will be. The thermometer says it is thirty-nine degrees this morning. Our deep freeze weather pattern has at least temporarily broken.

The backyard buffet is running over with birds and squirrels this morning. I have seven squirrels out here this morning casing and running and eating and playing tag or some kind of squirrel game. It is hard to keep up with them. I just never cease to be amazed at the gyrations and contortions they put their bodies through to eat from these feeders. It is a good thing I don’t live in the country where I can shoot or we could have squirrel pie for days.

I also have at least a dozen Goldfinches out here which is more than I have seen at one time for quite awhile. Then of course there are the bullies of the neighborhood, the starlings. At the moment I only have four or five starlings but they are so busy chasing one another away from feeders that they hardly have time to eat. My other guests are three or four Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers and Red-Headed woodpeckers. It appears though that I’m going to go out and fill a few of the feeders before the day is over. It’s good to know I won’t freeze my tilly off while I’m doing it.

Did you watch the “Golden Globe” awards on television last night? I did not. I had read that it was going to be a night of the stars each taking their turn protesting the sexist treatment of women. Articles this morning indicate that was in fact the case; a three and a half hour protest with each star bringing an activist. What a bunch of phonies. I guess if there was a bright spot it was that for the first time these same women came actually fully clothed without having their breasts and rear-ends hanging out of their dresses. I wonder how they think dressing like that isn’t inviting sexism in their industry.

Welcome to a new week. I hope your week is full of good things and joy. If you are reading tis then you obviously woke up this morning and are alive. Those facts alone are all blessings. Take time to give thanks for all of the blessing you have received and will receive this week. Then take time to share some of those blessings with others. Have a blessed day.

If it felt as good outside this morning as it looks, —- we’d be out there in short sleeve shirts firing up the grill. But despite the beautiful sunshine and not a cloud in the sky, — it is six degrees. And the steam us rising off of the bird bath; which I will have to fill again this morning.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. I hope your day has started out well and continues for the remainder of the day. My day almost always starts out as a good day because I determine that it will. I think that is the key to a happy life; simply determining that you are happy. I saw a thing on Facebook yesterday about a teacher that told her students that they were having a “pop quiz”. She gave them each a piece of paper and there were no questions on it, —- just a black dot in the middle of the paper. She asked them to describe what they saw. When they were finished she told them there was no grade for the test but then she went on to read what they had said. Every student had gone into great detail describing that black dot and not a single student said anything at all about the complete field of white that surrounded it. Her point was that the dot is like the small things that we focus on in life and we completely miss everything else that is going on around us. It is a good life lesson to learn.

We went to Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday and they had a sale going on. It still cost me $100.00 to restock my supply. I find that amazing because if anyone would have told me that I would be spending $100.00 on food for the birds I would have called them silly. But it happens every couple of months these days and oh by the way, I still need to go pick up sunflower seed. At least it is relatively cheap @ $18.00 for a 40# bag. And it gives me something to grumble about. If I didn’t love feeding and watching my birds I wouldn’t be doing it.

I’m sitting here in the sunporch with a light lap blanket over my legs, writing, and Ms. Kate just came out and brought me a coffee refill and a warm cranberry muffin. I have Andre Reiu playing on the Bose: —- I may be here for awhile. God is good, life is great and Ms. Kate is the love of my life; what else could a fellow ask for.  After awhile I will put my coat on and go top off feeders again and put more water in the bird bath. That is about as complicated as my life gets.

Tomorrow is my day of worship so I’m hoping the pending snow/winter mix will hold off until tomorrow evening. I don’t want to have to drive on slick roads. There was a day when that would not have bothered me at all but those days have gone by the wayside. I like to think that maybe I’m a bit smarter than I used to be. Until our next meeting, have a most glorious, love filled weekend. Peace.

It’s snowing this morning. Or maybe it is more correct to say that there are a few shoe flakes falling from the sky. One could almost count them as they fall, but it still makes for a nice winter picture. My Accuweather App says it is only going to last for another eighteen minutes so we’ll see how “accurate” Accuweather really is.

Red and black are the colors for the morning at the buffet. Red for the cardinals and black of course for those bully-birds, the Starlings. At the moment I have about a dozen starlings here fussing and fighting and pecking at one another and all the other birds too. The finches, sparrows, and other small birds try to sneak in and grab a seed or two before the starlings run them away. The bird bath is still full. I had to fill it twice yesterday because the starlings kept coming in and taking baths and splashing out all of the water. One time I looked out the kitchen window and there were four of them in there at once having a swim party.

Well, Accuweather has updated its forecast and now says “light snow for at least 120 minutes”. At this rate we might actually end up with a light dusting. That would be just fine too. Ms. Kate and I may venture out a little later in the day. I need to go to Pet Food Center for sunflower seed and. To Wild Bird and Things for the rest of my stuff. And we’ll most likely end up at Meijers for some groceries. —— No, we aren’t making a run on milk and bread because of snow. Although —- we could probably use a loaf of bread now that I think about it.

The big storm on the east coast has passsed and people are digging out I reckon. Unfortunately several people lost their lives in this one so I offer prayers for comfort to their families. There are always reports of so many house fires during weather like this. Because of space heaters being used incorrectly. I feel so sorry for folks that end up losing their homes and have no place to go. It is such a sad picture of them standing out in the snow watching the fire destroy everything. The hopelessness always is so predominant on their faces. I just pray they realize that God will continue to be there with them as they rebuild their lives.

Time to refill my coffee cup and maybe even fix a bagel, and I’ll check on the status of Ms. Kate’s coffee while I’m at it. I hope you have a wonderful day. It is Friday and the weekend starts today so I hope you have an opportunity to relax and enjoy it. Stop by your preferred house of worship this weekend. You and I have much to be thankful for and God would like to have us all come for a visit.  Peace.

Brrrrr @ three degrees and a wind chill of minus six this morning. I definitely have “fluffy birds” this morning. They are all puffed up allowing the air between their feathers to warm them up and keep them from freezing. Ms. Kate had a bunch of dinner rolls from the freezer that for what ever reason refused to rise. So, she went ahead and baked them and I tore them in to pieces and threw them out for the birds this morning. Now I have a whole bunch of different birds competing for them. They don’t seem to mind that the rolls didn’t rise.

I talked to daughter Lisa in North Carolina this morning. They had what the weather people are calling a “Winter Hurricane” go through their area, (it’s still going up the east coast) and dropped 2-4 inches of snow and ice on them. By winter standards elsewhere that isn’t all that bad. But North Carolina and those states are totally ill prepared to deal with that kind of weather since they get it so very seldom. She said the roads are terrible, especially any back roads and what does melt today will freeze on the roads tonight. We moved to North Carolina in January of 1988 to our new duty station at Pope AFB and they had two inches of snow and the girls were out of school for two weeks because of melt and re-freezing on the roads. What was amazing to us was that we had just left Massachusetts where we had two feet of snow in our yard and the kids were not missing a day of school.

I filled all of the sunflower seeed feeders last night and all but a couple of the bark-butter feeders. I ran out out of bark butter and a couple of other things. I knew I was getting low on some stuff but I didn’t stop at Wild Birds and Things yesterday while we were out. It’s not a problem though; they have plenty to eat. I also need to pick up another forty pound bag of sunflower seed. I think I need to declare my backyard a bird sanctuary so I can write off all of the food that I buy for them as a business expense. LOL At the moment I have a flock of Starlings here and you know how I feel about those guys. They are the nasty bullies of the neighborhood. They squawk and fight and peck at one another and at the other birds too. Once in a while a woodpecker or a Blue Jay will stand up and fight back but most of the time the Starlings win. They generally stay for about thirty minutes and them they move on. But with me having the only source of water now, they tend to stay around a little longer.

That is it for today. Stay warm and stay safe in this bone chilling cold. Take time to be thankful that you have a warm place to be. Peace.

Welcome to “frustration Wednesday”. Things have, I think, smoothed out now but I spent the morning with internet problems. The worst thing is that when I do get stuff to work, I never know why. But, since I’m able to write this blog, obviously this blind squirrel found a nut after all. I just think that some day I’m going to push the wrong button and daccidently blow up the world. back in 1983 I was stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base in a Program Office. Ms. Kate had gone to work for the government too and also worked in a program office. One day the Communications Squadron came around and started putting Z-100 computers on all of our desks and we were supposed to use them. We had zero training and only a couple of the folks had ever used a computer and actually had a home computer called a Commadore 64. I let my computer set there for months without touching it. Eventually we were forced to start learning how to use them. But rather than giving us all instruction, they would pick one or two oof the NCO’s to go to a class and they were supposed to come back and instruct us. I never did learn much more than how to use it as a glorified typewriter.

By my next duty station, we had progressed to this new thing called “e-mail” and I loved that. By then the Air Force had decided on a single computer language that we would use too. Prior to that, the different Commands were using different computer programs and they couldn’t talk to one another. It was the world of nine inch “floppy disks” and making sure you “shipped” your computer before you turned it off or it would crash. What a horrible way to learn. But —-  now a days, people hand toddlers  an electronic device just to entertain them. It does make me feel ancient.

It is still colder than a polar bear’s butt out there although the week ahead looks promising. We may get back to our “normal high of forty” and or normal lows of twenty five. But then, it will probably start to snow which is fine. My John Deere is on stand-by. Seventy five percent of the nation is in this deep freeze so I have nothing to complain about. I need to just keep my mind on the blessing that I have; a warm home, a healthy family, and money to pay the electric bill when it comes in next month.

My bird feeders are almost all empty and that means I must get out and fill them today. I also need to take down the Christmas tree today and put that stuff away. I’ve been watching the squirrels this morning going from feeder to feeder and finding nothing. I think they are totally frustrated. (At least they didn’t have to fool with the internet!!!)

Peace.

Holy Moly! My accuweather app says it is -2 degrees with a “feels like” temperature of -41. There is steam coming off of the electric bird bath. At least; (thank you Lord) we don’t have snow and ice to contend with like so many parts of the country do. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a polar bear walking through the yard. (Okay, yes, I’d be really surprised.)

The birds are all puffed up this morning to keep themselves warm. They look like they are twice their normal size. When they sit they get as low as they can in order to cover their legs and feet.  They are coming with regularity to the electric bird bath and drinking but at least they aren’t taking baths. A couple of starlings took baths yesterday in seven degree weather. I haven’t seen any squirrels out yet this morning but it is a bit early for them. I’m up and writing much earlier than usual this morning for no reason at all except that I woke up early.

The advantage to me getting up early was that I got to witness the moon setting and the sun rising at the same time. What a neat phenomena that was. The moon is full now and tonight we are supposed to have what they call a Super moon. I took a garbage sack out to the trash can late last night and I could easily have read a newspaper by moonlight. I absolutely love celestial events. Maybe when I die God will let me help with celestial events for eternity in this or some other universe. —— Well, it beats the idea of sitting on a cloud plinking on a harp. I don’t know how to play the harp and my singing certainly isn’t heavenly. I’m sure God will have a different job for me.

I wonder how many people have already broken their New Years resolutions. I don’t make resolutions, I just send up prayers for help in correcting my bad habits. The closest I ever came to keeping a resolution was in 1989 when I resolved to quit smoking. In January of 1989 Ms. Kate and I went to a “Quit Smoking through Hypnosis” class and we have neither one touched a cigarette since. That’s been twenty eight years. I can’t imagine what my breathing would be like today if I was in fact still breathing at all. Being an asthmatic is bad enough. I’d most likely be on oxygen by now or dead. It is just another one of those cases in my life where God took the lead and saved me. So, I owe Him my life, body and soul.

Ms. Kate took care of insuring “our luck” would be good for 2018. Yesterday she fixed cooked cabbage with smoked sausage, black-eyed peas, and corn bread. I don’t that any of that really has anything to do with a person’s luck in life but it’s still a good tradition and a great meal.

OK my friends, I’m off of here. Take care of one another and look out for the elderly in these freezing days. Have a blessed day. Peace.

First blog of 2018! Happy New Year my friends. I hope your year is prosperous in the Spirit of the Lord. If your have that; —- everything else will surely fall into place.

Our New Years Eve was totally uneventful as it usually is. Since Ms. kate and I stay up until 0100 every night, it was no big deal. The lower half of the street sounded like a war zone at midnight for about five minutes as people used up the last of their 4th of July fireworks. But it died down quickly because it was too cold be be out there enjoying it. As for entertainment —- Ms. Kate watched a couple of movies and I watched HGTV rerun stuff. We are an exciting couple. I made it down and back up my basement stairs; that was about as much excitement as I needed.

It is currently seven degrees with a 15mph wind. That is cold in anybodies book. We are supposed to be in this deep freeze all week. We pretty much need to keep the door open to the sunporch or the plants will freeze. Vectren Electric will love us this month. Ms. Kate has turned the thermostat up by one degree. Then they will send us (and everyone else) a letter telling us that we are using more electricity etc than anyone else in our neighborhood. We neighbors compare notes and we all get the same letter. I figure that as long as I’m paying my bill on time —- the heck with them. What other company sends you a letter and says “you are a bad customer because you use too much of our product.”

I’ve spent much of my morning chatting with all of the girls via Facebook Messenger. I love that technology. We talk constantly and have had a conversation running for years now. It’s now the same as seeing one another but it is a blessing none the least. Ms. Kate has the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl parade on in the family room. We tried to go see all of the floats one year when I was stationed at March AFB. We were taking my parents because my father loved flowers so much. We fought the traffic, found a parking spot that wasn’t too far from the float viewing area, and my father decided that he’d just wait in the car. Well that ruined that. I think we went in and maybe walked around two floats and left. Ms. Kate and I were not happy campers.

That’s it for today. I wish each of you a very happy and faith filled 2018. Peace.