I did say in my last post that it was going to be a confusing week and that fact has held true. I didn’t realize until late last evening that I had not taken the time to sit a write my blog for the day. So today, except for getting my first cup of coffee, it is the first thing on my list.

So, — Good Morning! Happy Thursday  to you. I hope your day has started off  with sunshine and the sound of the birds singing. Mine has, which by the way is certainly different from yesterday. Yesterday morning began with rain left over from tropical storm Alberto. That has now moved way north, however, we have another front rapidly approaching from the west and no matter how nice it looks out there now, we have a chance of severe thunderstorms moving in for this afternoon and evening. It has been a crazy weather week all across the nation with everything from 100 plus heat in the southwest to tornados in the midwest, to Tropical storms in the south and dangerous flooding in the east. And —- out in Hawaii, the earth continues to erupt from volcanoes wiping away homes one after another. So, I offer prayers that all of those who may be suffering as a result of these weather related disasters may be safe and find comfort in the Lord.

The Robins are splash-splashing taking their bath and the Cardinals are busy having breakfast before they have to fight with the black birds or the squirrels for it. It won’t be long before the Starlings get here. They will have to battle with the Woodpeckers though for the feeders with the peanut butter in them. Buffet breakfast may be cut a little short this morning though. I just had a huge thunder-roar and then a weather-notification flash across my screen that rain will be starting in about ten minutes. So much for my sunny morning.

The hydrangias are blooming like crazy now and the Stella-Dora lilies are just starting to bloom. There are lots of other lilies that will be following long shortly behind the Stellas. I do love the rotation of the flowers as they each take their turn blessing our yard. This will continue until probably July and then everything will just “be green” until fall. The daffodils are just about ready for me to cut them back as are the tulips.

The rain has started now. The trick is to not let it lull me to sleep as it falls on the roof overhead. I have a little gazebo shaped feeder out there that I fill with safflower seed for the Cardinals. A couple of finches have taken refuge under the roof of it to get out of the rain. It’s cute.

That’s it for today. Again I pray your day is peaceful and your life is full of blessings and love. Keep the faith and remember that God walks with you every step of every day. Shalomn.

You do realize, don’t you, that I am going to be a day late most of the week. That is because we had a holiday yesterday and therefore my brain will tell me all day that today is Monday when it is actually Tuesday. It happens every time we hve a three day weekend. So I guess that means I need to concentrate this week instead of running on automatic.

It is a rainy morning and it has been raining on and off for awhile. I got up at 0530 for a necessary trip and it was raining then and it is supposed to rain quite a bit through tomorrow. Tropical Depression “Alberto” has moved up from the Gulf of Mexico very slowly and is sharing needed moisture with us. I hope we don’t get too much rain but I did have to go our and water the garden yesterday. It had not rained since I planted the okra, zinnias and coleus so maybe now it will get a good start. My tomatoes were looking a little spindly too so this will be good for them. God does a much better job of watering stuff than I do. My next door neighbors to the north are in Panama City, Florida where this Alberto came ashore as a tropical storm. It hasn’t made for a very pleasant vacation for them.

Ms. Kate has an appointment this morning at the beauty shop to get her hair cut. After that we may both go to get pedicures; we both need them. It sucks being in a condition. that we have gotten to the point where we can’t bend over and reach our toe nails and stay there long enough to cut them, but life is what it is. Other than that, I have a sermon to work on today. The liturgical reading for the day is a tough one and I’m not connecting to it mentally yet. So this will be an afternoon of head scratching to make the brain flow. Some scriptures are so easy to absorb and draw lessons from while others really leave you wondering. That’s the ones that I have to pray about and ask for clarification from the “author”.

Tomorrow morning I have electricians coming to replace all of the overhead light panels in my basement. I’ve had to be working in the dark down there for several weeks. It will be nice to be able to have my basement and office lit up once again. The fluorescent lights that are down there are probably at least twenty-five years old and they flicker and are a yellowish tinge. They don’t sell the replacement bulbs for them anymore because they are so energy inefficient. I’m having LED panel put in which are super energy efficient and will most likely last me the rest of my life.

The squirrels are playing chase around the yard to keep one another off of the feeders. The rain isn’t bothering them except it make it a little more difficult to climb the metal poles to the feeders. hat is always fun to watch as they try to climb and slide back down because they can’t get a grip. The robin doesn’t care if it is raining or nor — it is still taking a bath in the bird bath. It is all just blessings and entertainment and I give God thanks for yet another blessed day. I hope you take the time to do the same. Peace.

I don’t know that it is appropriate to say “Happy Memorial Day” considering why we celebrate the occasion, so I’ll just say Good Morning on this Memorial Day. Were this twenty years ago I would have given my summer safety briefing to all of my troops to include remaining them that they are “required” to take care of them selves which would even mean not getting sunburned to the point of not being able to work. Then of course the required no drinking and driving speech. I’m quite sure commanders and senior enlisted advisors are sill giving that same speech. It is a “cover your butt” speech so that if they do get into trouble, they can’t say they weren’t warned or reminded. 

We’ve had a good weekend. Julie, Jim and the pups are down but will be leaving around 10:00 this morning. She has an appointment to get Auggie groomed at 1330 hrs Eastern Time Zone and they have an hour and a half drive back home. Hopefully the traffic won’t be too bad yet. 

The wedding I had to do on Saturday went very well. The rain held of so the ceremony could be held outside and it was a lovely setting. They had anticipated about 75-80 people there but in actuality there were only about forty. 

Yesterday I preached the Sunday service and again we were able to have it outside. The weather was perfect. We had a lot of our folks out camping in Harmony State Park so I figured that the attendance would be slim. However, I had about twenty five visitors show up to hear me preach so that filled in a lot of folks and we ended up having 62 total in church. It was a great day.  

I have all of my bird feeders filled here in the Backyard Buffet but I don’t have a lot of takers this morning. I’ve had a Robin come by a couple of times and take a bath and I’ve had a cardinal or two at the feeders but that is about all. I am glad to report that the hummingbird was back yesterday. I’m glad to see that. I was afraid that they had moved on to someone else’s yard. 

I don’t know what else we might want to do today after the kids leave; probably not a lot of anything. It looks like a good day to just relax and enjoy being alive and being thankful for those that have given their lives to keep this country a free nation. That’s waht the day is really all about — not having picnics and drinking too much. I hope your Memorial Day is used to bring back memories of loved ones from your personal past who have helped shape your life. Take time to stop and be grateful for them. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

Bang, bang, bang! Another new roof is going on in the neighborhood and they do start early in order to beat the heat of the day. I don’t blame them a bit. I did a bit of roofing many years ago and I can tell you that came a hot summer afternoon, it is had to be sitting or kneeling up there. Perhaps these days the composition of the material is different, but back then, it would get soft and a peson had to watch how they handles it or stepped on it so it wouldn’t tear. I think about that everytime I see roofers working in the summer. Of course, it could be worse; they could be putting on a metal roof.

Well, happy Friday morning to you. It is a beautiful morning full of sunshine. It is already seventy-seven degree this morning and we are having another air quality alert day. I need to read the report and see what the particulars are on that.  Some thing I pay attention to and other I don’t much about. I still need to get out there and do some flower bed work and I can’t keep putting it off.

I spent a good deal of time yesterday making vacation plans and arrangements. Ms. Kate and I are going to try to cram a few jacket list items into a single week. We’re going to start out by going to Amish country over in Arcola, IL. The move to southern IL and spend a night at Metropolis, IL — the home of Superman; then to Nashville, TN where we have tickets to see The Grand Ole Opry. From there we are thinking maybe we’d drive over to Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC and see the Chihully exhibit fro an evening and then head back home. It is ambitious for sure, but I think we can do it all in a week. We havn’t solidified the NC portion just yet. But Ms. Kate wants to see it so I suspect we’ll end up going. The exhibit is only there for the summer. It is an artistic glass thing.

Our weekend will be busy. Today we are meeting Bob and Brenda for “Schrooms & Beer”. That’s always a fun lunch time. Tomorrow Julie, Jim, and the pups are coming over and I have the wedding to do tomorrow evening at church; and I’m still hoping the rain holds off. Sunday we have the outdoor worship service and I’m preaching. Monday is Memorial Day. The kids will leave fairly early because they have dog grooming appointments in the afternoon.

Toothless, the black cat, was here again this morning trying to catch another bird I saw him before he got one and ran him off. I’ve had a steady bunch of customers at the Back yard Buffet today. Now the squirrel have finally arrived so they will take over the feeders for awhile. Then, I’ll have to fill them again this afternoon. I scrubbed the bird baths again yesterday and the birds have been enjoying their bath in that enough that I’ll have to fill the again today too.

I pray your weekend is full of fun and family time and worship. It is Memorial Day weekend which means the highways will be crowded. Be careful out there. God Bless! C’ys!

Sunshine, seventy-one degrees, birds singing; —- what more could a person ask or this morning? It is an absolutely beautiful morning. I was up about 0700 this morning and have been just enjoying the peace and quiet in the backyard that gets shattered once in a while by the sound of the garbage truck folks out working already. The clacks, clangs, and bangs are enough to wake anybody up.

I got my front yard and Dan’s yard mowed yesterday. Today I’ll mow my backyard, fill the bird feeders, and then work awhile on dead heading flowers and pulling some weeds. But, it is going up to almost ninety degrees today so I’m not going to stay out there too long. It is an ozone danger day and my lungs and asthma will tell me all about that if I’m stay too long out there. I may have to pull the garden hose out to the garden and water that down. I have planted my okra and I planted an area with zinnias and coleus flower seed and it hasn’t rained on it yet. So I need to water it. The tomatoes look like they could use a bit of water too.

We had our staff meeting yesterday and then I got a call that a parishioner was in the hospital. I don’t know the people and they quickly admitted that “welllll —- we haven’t been for a long time.” But, they are on the roles and people will often quickly claim “their church” when they get hospitalized, whether they attend or not. Ours is not to judge but to serve. Who, knows, that one visit yesterday just might be the impetus to bring this couple back to the church. If it does, then I will have done what God asked me to do. And —- if it doesn’t, I will will have done what God asked me to do and they will know that their church family cares about them.

The weather forecast is not looking promising for Saturday afternoon’s outdoor wedding nor Sunday morning’s outdoor worship service. They are forecasting thunderstorms. There is no particular “front” coming in but the high heat and humidity could cause pop-up storms and right now the prediction is 50% or better that it will happen. It will be what it will be I reckon.

Ms. Kate and I are still looking for some place to take a week of vacation. I finally just put down some days in June. Now we just need to figure out where and what. We don’t want to just “be on vacation” at home because I know I’d be down stairs working and she’d be making cards and stuff. So, we need to figure out something.

That is it for today. It is time to remove rump from recliner and get busy. Have a blessed day. Peace.

I try to stay out of politics and political statements because beyond voting for who ever I think is the best candidate I suspect there isn’t much I can do. And frankly, my record on best candidates hasn’t proven to be too wise since I have been frequently disappointed by the actions of those I had supported. But, this morning I made a statement on Facebook that will probably cause some minor stir. I was sitting here in the sunporch when theere was suddenly a noise out at the finch feeder and it was swaying. Then I see the neighbor’s black cat running off through my yard with a finch in its mouth. I noted this on my Facebook page and said that the other birds had probably sent “thoughts and prayers” and had gone on about their business — very much like politicians and school shootings. Now, I guess I could figure out a way to raise the feeders. I could go shout at my neighbor to keep their cat out of my yard. I could quit feeding birds —- but none of these solutions are acceptable. What I am going to do is pop a BB or two at that cat every time it comes close to my feeders. It will learn that it needs to go somewhere else to do its hunting. Politicians could do something about these shooting too and I don’t mean pass another law about controlling guns. My rifle has set in my closet for years and the only thing it ever shot was a target. But, our society needs to reverse directions and start caring about someone beyond the thumbs on their cell phone.  —— Oh, by the way, the cat just came sneaking through my flowers to sit below the finch feeder again. It just got lesson one!

So —- happy Wednesday to everyone. Today is my youngest daughter and her husband’s anniversary. I think it is number twenty-six. Gosh, time does fly. Where are the days when she was just a little toe-head sitting out in a water puddle in the middle of the rain holding her umbrella? I’m very proud of them as adults and as a couple. They are both successful in their chosen field and they have opened and are running a very successful business and have raised to wonderful children. And they have a deep connection with God as the basis of their relationship. What more could a parent ask for? They have been fully blessed and so have we.

I need to get ready to head to the office so I’ll drop off for today. I pray your day will be a beautiful one filled with God’s love and blessings. Peace.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo, — tell me which way will the weather go. Will it rain or will it shine, — please let the weather be just fine. I have wet sidewalks again this morning and a partly cloudy sky that is filtering out the sun. It is currently seventy-four degrees and only going up to about eighty -five today. That is quite tolerable as long as the temperature doesn’t match the humidity level.

I’ve been being entertained by watching the Utility Guys over in Ms. Margret’s yard again. They keep doing something around the sewer manhole. They were there for about thirty minutes and then they took off. This is maybe the fourth time they have been back there. Who knows if they have actually accomplished anything or not.

I made great strides in my upper-most flower bed yesterday afternoon trimming back the peonies and iris and pulling wild onions that had grown to about two and a half feet tall. The ground waas moist enough that the onions came up rather easily. I intend to go back out there again this morning. I also need to get into the azealia bushes that are up next to the house and cut out the volunteer trees and pull out the morning glories and another vine that is starting to I climb the wall. I’m not sure what it is but it might be poison oak so I’ll need to throw on a long sleeve shirt to do that and use my gloves. I know I have poison ivy out there and I’m going to spray that today. If I get all of that done, then I’m moving down to the flowerbeds by the street and dead head all of the peonies and iris down there. Having flowerbeds is a lot of work. My only problem is that I have such a hard time getting down on my knees and getting back up again. Getting old isn’t for wimps for sure. But I have had so many people walk by the house and enjoy our flowers just as we do. I guess I’m working for compliments. LOL. I’m looking at the hydrangeas out here in the backyard and they are are full of blooms tha are coming on. The blooms are there but still developing. They will turn from green to white within a couple of weeks. It will be beautiful.

We had a God answered prayer yesterday at the church. We are getting ready to replace the pew cushions at church and the cost is going to be about $10,000.00, so we were about to begin a capital fund campaign to raise the money. While I was at the office yesterday, a parishioner came in and gave us a check for the full amount. God touches hearts and miracles happen. I was overwhelmed to say the least. What a wonderful for this person to have done. God turned their grief from the loss of a loved one to joy by giving a gift that will no doubt last at least a quarter of a century. All praise to God this morning. Have a great day.

It is the 21st of May already; just a week left of this month. That means that 2018 is just shy of forty days from being half gone. Time is the great constant isn't it. It marches on at a steady rate; never speeding up nor slowing down. God reached down and gave the planet an eternal spin that hasn't wavered a micro-second in all of time. That is just another example of the perfection of our creator. Just think about that perfectness for a second. If the world rotated any faster we would be flung off into space. If it rotated any slower, we wouldn't be able to move because the gravitational pull would hold us down. (OK, I may have those things reversed. I didn't stay awake through all of my science classes)

It is a muggy morning again. It rained again last night a little bit. The sidewalks were still damp this morning. We are under a threat for severe storms once again today with a chance for hail and damaging winds. It will be Wednesday before we can look for "nice weather". However, my Backyard Buffet guests could care less. They have emptied the feeders once again so I'll need to fill everything back up again. Saturday afternoon  I bought another eighty pounds of sunflower seed and refilled my cans. I have been rather disappointed in that my one or two hummingbirds have not come back since we refilled their feeder. It has set there long enough that we need to empty it and put in a fresh batch. We used the commercial product and I think frankly we are just a s well off mixing just water and sugar instead of making sure the liquid is red. I think I recall reading once upon a time that the red fluid/feed wasn't particularly even good for them, and maybe they just don't like it. It's tough keeping up with aviary whims and wishes.

We had a fairly good attendance yesterday for our Pentecost Sunday service although it certain;y wasn't the ninety-five we had the week before with Mother's Day. This coming Sunday is Memorial Day weekend and I suspect the attendance is going to be slim. I know of at least three families that are going to be out camping. That will take a dozen people out of the number. It is supposed to be an outdoor service in our Woodland Chapel and I'm really hoping the weather holds and it doesn't rain or storm. Of course, I also have the wedding out in that chapel the night before so I hope we don't get any more rain after today until the weekend is over.

I have office hours this morning until noon. If by then it isn't storming or raining, I have a bunch of small trees and weeds to get out of my azaleas and flower beds. Because of the large trees that this neighborhood has, I'm fighting a constant battle with volunteer trees, especially red bud and tulip poplar. When we first moved here I was constantly fighting black gum trees but thankfully, most people in the neighborhood have gotten rid of those trees. I had mine cut down the second year we lived here. I got really tired of turning my ankle when I stepped on the darn gumballs. I do miss the beautiful colors they had on the leaves in the fall but it wasn't worth the aggravation of cleaning up thousands of gumballs.

Time to get to work and accomplish something. I doubt that anybody will come by the office today; there seldom is a time when anybody comes by to speak to the pastor. Mostly if anyone comes, they have business with the secretary.

I hope your day is blessed. I pray that you will have the peace of Jesus Christ in your heart  and will feel the love that comes from that relationship. Peace.

Aaah! The weather, the weather, what will the weather do today? We are starting off with a cloudy morning and seventy degrees. It has rained but I don’t know when it did because I was sleeping. The sidewalks and grass are still damp though.

I attended a very nice concert last evening at the Trinity Anglican Church. They had a women’s vocal chorus called Angelus doing a presentation of traditional music of different varieties. They did it all a cappella and it was beautiful. I thought the group was some professional group they had brought in but it turns out that they were from a local high school and were juniors and seniors. I’m thinking it would be wonderful to try to get them for a concert at our church for the Christmas season. I’m guessing we’d have to start now because they do an awful lot of concerts and have traveled over nineteen states performing. I need to bring this up to the Music and Worship committee.

I finally got my okra seeds planted yesterday afternoon in between the rain showers. Now let’s hope it comes up. I only planted five and if it comes up like it has the past couple of years, that will be more than enough for us. A couple of years ago I planted five plants and they grew to almost world record height. They were above the eaves of the house and had to be cut every other day. That was a lot of okra. LOL Ms. Kate puts it in soup and occasionally wwill deep fry some.

Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday for the Christian Church. Most people will be wearing the color red to symbolize the Holy Spirit. I think it is the more traditional “mainline” churches that celebrate it; I think it is a big deal. BUt some churches really don’t do much with it. It is referred to as the Birthday of the Christian church because it is the day that God sent the Holy Spirit to serves as a counselor and guide for man after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’ll have Holy Communion as part of our service.

This country needs more of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. Yesterday, once again, some student took a gun to school and gunned down and killed nine students and a teacher and wounded at least nine more. He had planted explosives around the school and the area. This was a kid with no previous criminal record, no known mental health problems, and no outward signs of this style of carnage capability. And yet —- he has shattered hundreds of lives. What makes people do things like this? I don’t know, —- but it sickens me. And —- that was just one of the shootings yesterday I know there was at least one more and it isn’t gettinga lot of attention because that one “only took two lives”. It is time for some kneeling and praying time in this country, and it is time for people to start taking personal responsibility.

I’m done for today. I hope you have a pleasant day and a wonderful weekend. I’m lifting each of you up inmy prayers this morning and I hope you will do the same for me. God Bless.

Anybody want to buy a squirrel this morning? I have a good half dozen hogging up the feeders this morning that I’d gladly trade for stick or a rock. I filled feeders again yesterday afternoon and these guys are out in full force this morning. But then, so are the black birds and starlings. I filled my bark butter feeders with a new product yesterday. hey are supposed to be suet cake sticks that you just push into the holes of th feeders. However, they were really soft and crumbled as I tried that and it made quite the mess but it worked. The woodpeckers seem to really like it. When I first came out here this morning, there was a fat Robin sitting just outside the glass door with a worm in it’s beak. Just looking around like it wanted to show off it’s catch.

Today is going to be a day of rain, cloudy skies, thunderstorms and just maybe even a little sunshine. We get the entire collection of weather today. It has just started sprinkling . Neighbor Dan and his wife Minh are leaving Washington DC area this morning. I looked at the radar for there and they are leaving in the middle of some torrential storms etc. I pray God will grant them safe passage. We’ve had. A week of rain on and off and the forecast calls for another week of it. That means it will also be muggy when it isn’t raining. Pastor Art’s daughter is traveling up here from Alabama and I think she is going to have a wet drive too. I pray she will also have safe passage.

I got my “outside work” all done yesterday with the exception of planting my okra. I’ll get out there between showers today and get those few seeds in the ground. It won’t take but a minute or two to poke a hole in the ground, put the seed in and cover it up. I only want a few plants or we’ll have okra coming out of our wazoo.

Since I’m caught up outside and it is raining, I’m planning to spend the day playing my horm for maybe a half an hour to practice, and then I’m going to read. I have a new book called “On the Other Side”, by Candy Hemphill Christmas. Candy is one of the many singers in the Gaither Homecoming Group. She and her husband Kent run a mission feeding program literally under one of the bridges in Nashville, TN and feed and clothe hundreds every week. Her book is about that journey and how it came to be and some stories of some of their “customers”. Their program is called “The Bridge Ministry”, and it sounds wonderful. I don’t usually promote things but if you are interested in being involved; go to www.bridgeministry.org and check it out.

Well, since it is raining outside, keep the sunshine in your heart and leet it shine through you. Have a blessed day.

Happy Thursday afternoon, well almost evening. I’ve been busy today and just haven’y Gotten to a point of sitting down to write. What have I accomplished?? I haven’t gotten a lot done but I did get my back yard mowed, I got some stuff done on the computer, and best of all, I made the arrangements for our 2019 family reunion. We’ve all been dancing back and forth with this for six month far as where to go, when to go. Most place won’t take reservations any more that one year out. We had narrowed down a location and a house that everyone seemed to like but it wasn’t open to reservations yet. Then yesterday when I tripped it again, the site said that our desired days were not available/. I was honked off about that. Well, —- it turns out that the days were available, but —- the owners do a Fri - Fri rental and my dates were for a Sat - Sat rental which by computer means the dates were unavailable. So, once I figured that out — I moved our date back one day and it all worked like it should. I am so glad to have that off of my list of things to do. Our last three family reunions have been in Tennessee but this time we are going to Virginia Beach, Virginia. The family now has a year to figure out who is bringing what, who’s going to fly and who is going to drive. Lisa has the short drive this time with only about three hours. Ms. Kate and I and Julie and Jim will have a two day drive to get there, and maybe the same with Josh. Heather and family will fly for sure and we’ll see what Steph and family do.

I still need to go out and mow my front yard and I need to do some weed-eating.  I want to get that done before it rains again. I also need to get my okra seeds planted. This rain and warm weather has made my tomatoes grow. They are already about to top the buckets that I put around them to protect them from the rabbits.. The lettuce is growing like crazy and the beets are doing well too.

I wish you could see all of the beautiful peonies that we have growing around here. They are magnificent; and some of them smell heavenly. We have some white iris that have a wonderful scent too. I do love springtime.

I guess I better quit resting and get busy with the weed eater. Then I think I’ll come in and cut the watermelon that I have in the fridge. That sounds like a refreshing thing to do.

Enjoy your evening and before you go to bed, take some quiet time and give God thanks for this day full of blessings that He has heaped upon you. Peace.

Soggy weather for today. It started raining around 0500 and we will have rain on and off most of the day I think. It rained pretty heavy for awhile but it kind of coms in waves. The garden will love it as will all of the plants and flowers. My backyard guests though aren’t apparently as crazy about it because there aren’t as many as usual. At least we aren’t having storms like the Virginia and DC area were having last night. Neighbor Dan is on vacation there and posted a video last night of the storms. The wind was really whipping and rain was torrential. But, we are to have this kind of off and on rain for the rest of the week. My only concern is for Saturday the 26th when I’m supposed to do an outside wedding. There is no use worrying about it because I can’t control it. I just hope for the couple’s sake the weather dries out and the area will be dry. Brides tend to want what they want and it doesn’t take a lot sometimes to “spoil” a dream wedding for them. But —- in my meeting with them, I did explain that regardless of outside or inside, == they will still be just as married. I’m not sure it was comforting. LOL

We made it out to the stores and I bought a bunch of bird feeding stuff. I need to go buy Pet Food Center and pick up another 80# of sunflower seed. Both of my cans are at half full or less. Last night we went to Menard’s and I bought every bag of the suet pellets that hey had. A bag will only last about a day and a half. The dang black birds and starling just devour it. It is the favorite of a lot of of my birds and we have some battle royals over that feeder between the Cardinals, Woodpeckers, and Blackbirds.

This morning I’ll have my staff meeting with Karen and Pastor Art as we go over the calendar of events. There isn’t too much to discuss as the events really diminish after Pentecost Sunday and Memorial Day. This coming Sunday will be Pentecost. Pastor Art has the sermon. Next weekend will be Memorial Day weekend and I’ll have the sermon. It is supposed to be an outdoor service. Again, let’s hope the weather dries out. But if not, of well. God will provide what God will provide. But, there are part of the country that could use the rain a little more than we can.

I guess I better sign off and get ready to go to the office. I hope you have a truly blessed day and a day full of good thought. Peace.

Hello Tuesday already. It’s a warm sunny morning after a night of a few gentle thunderstorms. I have to give thanks for the rain we received last night. I was going to have to go water my newly planted tomatoes today and probably my patio garden flower garden too. But, God took care of my light work for me and now I can just sit here and enjoy.

I had a busy day yesterday. Office hours stretched out into a shopping trip for some technology shopping and a lunch date with Ms. Kate. Then last evening I had a church council meeting to attend. Those generally go about an hour and a half, — not because we have that much work to do but because we have so much good fellowship doing it. We have a good council and they get along very well. That isn’t always the case at churches. Far too often councils are made up of people that want everything to be done their personal way and the councils end up spending more time fighting than not. I’m very glad to say that I have never had to experience that as a pastor but I know other pastors who have and they are miserable and it often leads to pastors either resigning or being fired. Why fire the pastor you might ask?? Because he’s the “outsider” and not one of the relatives that are sitting on the church board so the problem must be his or her fault. Small groups are some funny animals. But I have been very blessed to not have any of those kind of problems. It must be my winning personality. LOL.

Sunday was Mother’s Day and Ms. Kate and I had a very relaxed day of it. Our daughter Lisa had ordered a “edible arrangement” for Ms. Kate and it was supposed to be delivered on Saturday. But we were gone when they came by which meant that we had to go pick it up on Sunday after church. All of the restaurants were already full by the time we got out of church so — we went to Cold Stone Creamery and had ice-cream for lunch since it was in the area where we had to go pick up her gift. Then, for supper, I asked Ms. Kate where I could take her for dinner and all she wanted was hotdogs from the grill. How easy is that?? The truth is that we are at a point in our lives where ion we want something we go get it and our needs are few. Ya’ just don’t need as much stuff when you get older. So, our gift to each other is usually something that we can do together, even if it is just fixing hotdogs on the grill and sitting around enjoying each other’s company. I give God praise that we are both still alive and can do these things together.

I need to go shopping for bird feed stuff today. I’m either out or low on most of my products and I must keep my buffet guests happy. They are just like party guests — if you feed them — they will come. So, having said that — time to get cleaned up and start my day. I hope your day is pleasant and filled with good things. Peace.

A springtime Saturday and the sky is mostly clear and the temperature is going to be July-like today. That generally ends to thunderstorms sometime in the next forty-eight hours.

My yards are all mowed, including neighbor Dan’s; I spent an inordinate amount of time weed eating yesterday, and the bird feeders are all full. It’s a good morning to sit and relax and be grateful for a life full of blessings.  I’ve had a fair amount of visitors at the Backyard Buffet this morning. At one point I had Cardinals bathing in one birdbath and Blackbirds bathing in the other. There was water going everywhere. Of course that means that I will need to fill the birdbaths again today. I’ve had several Downy Woodpeckers and a couple of Ladderback Woodpeckers here most of the morning. They seem to be very satisfied with me putting out the chunky peanut butter since I can get bark butter. However, I now have a recipe for the bark butter and I need to try to make that.

Ms. Kate and I are having lunch with Bob and Brenda and Andy today again. It’s a “schrooms & beer”  day. On the way out to the tavern I need to stop at the local CO-OP and pick up a half dozen tomato plants to put in the ground today. It is time to get those in the ground. My lettuce is doing really well and my beets are coming up fine too. However, my asparagus isn’t doing much this year and I don’t know why. Maybe it will come around yet. And, I need to see if my okra is coming up yet. I also need to see if the Rouund-up I sprayed yesterday on the dandelions and morning glory’s did any good.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and if you are a mother, I hope you have time to sit back and take it easy and I hope that those you have raised acknowledge the sacrifices you may have made to raise them. I didn’t have a “Hallmark Card” relationship with either of my parents, and there is no law that says it has to be that way. Even though they adopted me and raised me —- I’m not sure it was ever really a “good fit”. My father and I had no interests in common and my mother and I seemed to always be at odds. However —- I’m grateful to them because had they not adopted me — I would not have the wonderful wife and daughters that I have today. God works in mysterious ways and that adoption was the way He chose for me to get to where I am today. I give God all the glory for that.

Time to finish my coffee and get out the door to other adventures today. Have a most blessed weekend. Take time to visit your place of worship and give God some praise and gratitude. Shalomn.

As a former weatherperson used to say here —- ‘The muggys have returned.”  It is only seventy two degrees but the humidity is at seventy-four percent and the temp is to climb to almost ninety degree today. That is pure summertime weather. The Robins and the Starlings are already taking baths this morning.

Today is a red-letter for the family as our son-in-law John Watson retires from the Riverside County Sheriff’s department. While not a sworn police officer, he has worked as a jailer for most of his career and that is more dangerous than being on the streets. More often than not, prisoners have zero respect for authority and figure they have nothing to lose. His particular jail, like most, is over crowded and that always adds to the tension. His advantage is that he treated the prisoners like people,  as opposed to some jailers who have prove they are in charge. I’m giving God praise and gratitude that he wasn’t stabbed or killed and had a successful career. He is a great guy and now he can relax and figure out what his next venture might be. He’s only fifty so I know he will be doing something else. He’s not the kind of person to sit around and do nothing, but I hope he takes some time off before he jumps into a new career. He and Heather plan to do some traveling, but —- she has a few years before she can retire. She runs the Sheriff’s 911 system for the same county.

I have several things to do today. It seems like I didn’t get anything done yesterday. I did fill part of the bird feeders and I BBQ’d some chicken and made a quick trip to the grocery store. But, beyond that and putzing around the house, I can’t tell you what I did. But today, I need to mow the yard, front and back, (and Dan’s) and I have to do some work on the upcoming wedding. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about all of the questions I didn’t ask of the couple when I met with them. They don’t want a rehearsal and that throws my “system” out of whack. So I need to ask some pertinent questions, especially of the bride.

I have a Robin on the table right outside my window and it is cleaning up the residual from my filling the feeders yesterday. I don’t really have a lot of guests this morning, a couple of Cardinals, a Ladderback Woodpecker, the Robin and the Starlings; and of course a couple of squirrels. What would life be without a squirrel on the bird feeder?? LOL

Thata’s it for this morning. Have a blessed day and share your love with someone. Be the bright spot in someone’s life today. Peace.

Welcome to a blessed Thursday morning. I hope you have had a good morning so far. I have. I’m on my second cup of coffee and just finished a bagel with creamed cheese. I do love bagels in the morning or actually most any time. They even make a good snack when paired with either Philly Creamed Cheese or maybe even a litttle honey butter. It is actually justthe last coupleof years that I have gotten in to eating bagels. But, you know how people’s taste buds change, and I guess that is what happened with me. I used to be a cereal eater for breakfast but now, cereal is my midnight snack. Of course a real breakfast is and always has been a “big breakfast”; eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits, gravy, hash browns or fried potatos, coffee, and maybe some juice. Top it off with a couple of pancakes and I’ve gone straight to heaven for breakfast.

I had a busy day yesterday. We had our staff meeting and then I did some parishioner visitation and home communion. Then late afternoon I had a couple come in to discuss their wedding that is coming up. Today I need to put together their wedding ceremony. It was interesting to sit and meet with them.  Sometimes, I think I need to read “behind” the words being said. I just pray for them to have a successful marriage.

I have empty feeders out there that I need to do something about for sure. And it appears that I also need to mow my back yard again. That fertilizer that I put on when I replanted the grass is really working. The back yard looks better than it has in a couple of years. I think Ms. Kate is going to want to go to the grocery store today too so I’m not sure what all my day will bring to the table. The wedding service writing is what will take the longest. But, I can save that for this evening if I need to.

I was out in the yard looking around earlier. The peonies, the iris, the snowball bush, the climatis are al becoming the stars of the yard now. The daffodils are done and are at the stage where they just lay over and dry out. In a couple of months I’ll be able to pull the tops off of them. The tulips are also about done. They have dropped most of their petals by now. The lilacs are blooming and making the yard fragrant and the pink and the white dogwoods are also in bloom. My yard just looks fabulous. Every time I walk around in it or work in it, I feel so very blessed. Yes, it is a lot of work, —- but God has enabled me to still be abl to get out there and tend His garden, and I give God all the praise for that. I can’t imagine our yard without flowers.

Tine for me to finish up this cup of coffee and move on to another job of the day. Tomorrow is TGIF day and I pray you will have a wonderful weekend. Go in peace.

Let’s call today “Wonderful Wednesday”. It is a little overcast and promises to get a lot more so with thunderstorms later today. But, that’s all good. It is sixty-one degrees outside and the flowers are blooming, so what is not to like.

But — I want to tell you about our Elephant Encounter at Wilstem ranch that we had yesterday. We were up by 0500 to get ready because the rive was going to be at least an hour and a half and we would lose an hour due to time zone change. We found the place with a little difficulty. There are simply places that you don’t use a GPS to find.

We arrived in plenty of time, checked in, and then went and petted some alpacas and dwarf brahmas and fed them some oats and stuff. Then we went up to the elephant barn. There were maybe fourteen people there. The owners brought in three elephants, one by one and they had us hose them down, scrub the mud and dirt off of them, hose them down again, and then they had the young kids paint their toenails with somethiing. So, Ms. kate and I got to wash three elephants. It was so much fun. The elephants ranged in age from 33 to 44, and were totally relaxed and gentle, and it was very obvious that they had been doing this for a very long time. It took us an hour just to get the three of them washed and then we had another hour of education and an opportunity to take pictures with them.

From there we went to the giraffe barn where these folks had two giraffes. There was an educational session about giraffes and we all had a chance to feed them carrot sticks and take pictures with them. It was a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives. I’ve said before that there is such a thing as having a “spirit animal”, mine would be the elephant. I have always been facinated by these huge gentle beasts. It breaks my heart and makes me furious that poachers kill these animals to the point of extinction just for their ivory tusks.

After we left the ranch, we drove over to Montgomery and had lunch at the Gasthaus Amish Village and restaurant. The food of course was delicious, and it almost always is when eating at an Amish place.

I have a long day today with office hours, in-home visitation and communion, and then a wedding preparation counseling session this evening. The wedding is the last Saturday of the month and I really don’t know the couple or what they have planned or want to plan. So, I’m earning my money today for sure.

I pray your day will be blessed. Well actually, —- I know your day will be blessed; I pray you will recognize the blessings as they flow from God. I wish you peace.

Bright and beautiful are the words to describe this Monday morning. It is fifty-seven degrees and going to seventy-one, there is no wind and there are no clouds. My early morning Backyard Buffet guests are Cardinals, Grossbeaks, and finches so far. The rest of the yard is quiet. It just is 0700 and Ms. Kate and I are both up. I have to be at the office in a couple of hours so I thought I’d get my blog written now. I could probably do it at the office but the wifi is sketchy at best there. I certainly have the time because it is rare that anyone actually comes in. And —- if they do come in, it is because they need to talk to our secretary Karen. I could be using the time for visitations but there is an expectation from the congregation that Pastor Art and I spend a couple of morning actually at the office. So, I do four hours on Monday, he does four hours on Thursday, and we have our Wednesday couple of hours together and meet with Karen. It’s all good.

We had an uneventful but productive weekend. Saturday afternoon I got the yards all mowed and then Nick came over and we put down the last twenty bags of much. I think that comes out to four cubic yards of mulch that I have put on the flowerbeds. The yard really looks good and so does the flowerbeds. My next chore out there is to try again to kill these dang dandelions and morning glory vines. Both of those plants have roots that reach China and I don’t care what Round-Up says about their products killing them down through the root —- it ain’t happening.

I got the potted plants all taken out of the sunporch and some of them replanted into new pots. We also planted all but two of the new plants we’ve bought. It now makes for a very nice looking patio garden which blends in well with the rest of the yard. I’ve put a lot of pictures of my yard on the Facebook and I get comments and compliments on it all of the time.

Saturday morning I spent in a meeting of our local chuch association. We have two meetings a year and they are about as exciting as watching paint dry but I guess they are necessary. There are a lot of presentations by local organizations offering opportunities for us to get involved with them  and support them. It’s all God’s work and it is all work that needs to be done to help people. I’m just not a person who likes to attend meetings especially when they seem to drone on and on. Our church is involve with several charities that we support and sometimes I feel that as pastors we spend too much time asking for more money. But, that is how God’s work gets done.

I will maybe write tomorrow but if I do it is going to be late. Tomorrow Ms. Kate and I head out early for our “Elephant encounter”. We have to be there at 0900 and it is on Eastern Time Zone which mean we have to leave here really early. We don’t have a good feeling about where the place is. So, we need to be out of here by 0600.

I hope your day has started out happy and I pray your week will be full of joy and God’s blessings. Take some time and look around you at all of the flowers and trees that are blooming and listen to the birds sing. Those are just examples of the blessings that God has sent to you this week. Shalomn.

Let’s welcome Friday to the week this morning. It good to see you Friday as you enfold us with all of your sunshine and blue skies this morning. It is a very comfortable sixty-eight degrees this morning. The rain has stopped for awhile at least although we only got about three quarters of an inch. Thankfully that won’t be enough to to keep the farmers out of the fields. It will basically just keep the dust down as they work the ground. And, — it got all of my plants watered. So once again, I have something to give God praise for. I think today I will get all of the pots of plants moved out of the sunporch and on to the patio. I’m not sure where I’m going to sit them all but I figure I’ll receive some direction on that matter. The frost danger has passed so it is time to let them get some natural watering and unencombered sunshine.

I’m also thankful that my temporary guests, the Red breasted Grossbeakss are still here gracing the Backyard Buffet. There aren’t as many as there usually are. Some years we will have a migration of up to a couple of dozen. So far this year we’ve only had a couple. But, I need to make sure I fill the feeders again today so I can keep them interested. perhaps here are just the advance party. I also haven’t seen our hummingbird for a couple of days.

While you are lifting up your prayers this morning I’d ask you to include my sister. She’s had a rough three months since she took a fall several weeks ago. She currently going through PT & OT trying to rehab a shoulder. Then she is facing a shoulder replacement on the other shoulder and a knee replacement. She’s eighteen months younger than me and I think her warranties are expiring so she needs new parts. People say that growing old ain’t for wimps, and I think they may be right.

I also give thanks that Ms. Kate continues to improve from her bout with Bronchitis. I’m so glad she is not going through those terrible coughing spells any more. She had me very concerned.

I sit here amazed at how the trees and foliage and bushes have filled in with leaves just this week. Within a week we will be under a full canopy of tree leaves again for the summer. The neighbors houses are slowly disappearing behind the branches and we can again feel like we are being closed off by the forest. I think it is wonderful and it is peaceful.

Tomorrow I have a meeting first thing in the morning that will steal a good part of my Saturday. I wouldn’t mind if I thought it was going to be interesting or exciting but it won’t be. It will just be hum-drum and probably full of self-importance. These kinds of gatherings usually are, but, it goes with the territory of the job.

It is time for a coffee refill and also time to do a bit of meditation. I hope you have had a wonderful week and will have an even better weekend. Keep the faith alive and share your love. Shalomn.

And again it is afternoon before. Get to sit down and write. What’s going on here in my life? Well, my mornings have been taken up doing one thing or another and next thing you know, lunch time is over and the morning has been used up. Today it was staff meeting that took up my time. That should have occured yesterday but I was at the doctor’s office yesterday so we postponed it until today. The only bad thing about doing my blog in the afternoon is that I get sleepy. I’m sitting here having just eaten a large Taco Salad from Wendy’s and my tummy is full. Add to that, the gentle raindrops that are falling on the roof of the sunporch. It is a great combination if one wants a nap, but my nap has t wait for another couple of hours.

Our weekly planning session and staff meeting went well again today. Even though we have been waiting on spring to arrive, it seems impossiible to believe we are into the month of May already. Mother’s Day is just ten days a way. Two weeks after that will be Memorial Day and the summer will be off and running. We are going to have some construction work done at the church over the summer that will, I think, greatly improve our grounds and facilities. Much of it has to do with laying a lot of yards of concrete to put new steps an path in the outdoor chapel. Currently we have a thick layer of wood chip barks out there and it gets soggy and slippery. When we have weddings out there the bride’s dresses get dirty as they walk down the hill to the altar area. This also eliminate some of the worry about our senior citizens slipping or tripping in that mulch.

As I said, it is raining here today so that means I won’t be getting my mulch here at home put down. It isn’t raining hard or steady, so if young Nick does have time this afternoon yet, I’ll work out there even if it is sprinkling.

I’ve made a commitment to play a trumpet solo at church late in July. That means I need to get started now making my lungs and lips ready. I’ve been saying I was going to do that but I keep putting it aside. So today I signed the list for special music. That gives me ten weeks to get ready which isn’t a lot of time. The things I get myself in to sometimes is redonkulous.

Time to head downstairs to my office and quit sitting here watching my buffet guests. I pray the rest of your day will be filled with love and good thing. Peace.  

It is another afternoon posting of my blog. Today though would normally have been an office day but I had a physical this morning with Dr. Jackson. To the best of my knowledge everything is fine. He asked me how I was doing and I told him that everybody felt as good as I do, —- he would be looking for work. LOL

After my doctor’s appointment, I came home and picked up Ms. Kate and we went to brunch. It was her first anything out of the house except for doctor’s appointments in ten days. It ws wonderful to have her out and breathing outside air. After brunch we went by Karen’s house and looked at her flowerbeds. She has a couple of tree peonies that she wanted us to see. They are magnificent. The blooms must be eight inche across. I hope our new one will grow and get to that point. Of course that just energized Ms. kate to want to get another one.

I finished my Mother’s Day sermon late last night. I still have some tidying up to do on it and the worship service yet to tailor but I ‘m glad to have it done. The sermon has nothing to do with Mother’s Day and I didn’t want it to. After all, there are women in the church who are not mothers, or can’t be mothers, or maybe even who have lost children. I think a pastor has to keep those kind of things in mind when acknowledging special days and anniversaries like that. I call it situational awareness.

It is a warm but windy day and we are supposed to get rain this evening and maybe tomorrow. I want to get my back yard mowed today before the rain. We need some rain again. It will water all of my plants and my garden. I’d like to get the mulch put down before the rain but that may not happen. I have a meeting at 1800 hours today and that is about the time young Nick will probably finish his homework and be available to help me. It isn’t critical that the mulch go down today, but if it sits out there in the truck bed it is going to get wet and that will make it heavier and may even cause it to mold some. I’d like that not to happen.

Time for me to get busy. This is “hump day “ and the work-day is now half over. I guess that means we are “over the hump”. Enjoy the rest of your day. Peace.

Happy lovely Tuesday. It is lovely because Ms. Kate is feeling so very much better and her cough has become productive instead of just being a dry heave and taking her breath away. So I offer thanks to God and also to Nurse Stephanie at Dr. Jackson’s Office for giving her that shot of antibiotics yesterday. It appears to have done the trick and she is smiling today for the first time in ten days.

I have a few guests at the Backyard Buffet this morning. There are a couple of squirrels out there and a few starlings and a couple of woodpeckers. It will be another fifteen minutes or so before the cardinals come back for another round. I see that I need to put some more suet pellets out and also a couple of suet cakes. And if I’m going to be out there, I might as well fill the sunflower feeders up again too. It has been warm enough and sunny enough thata the birds are starting to use the bird baths  for some splashing and splashing too. Those need to be refilled again. A squirrel was up there drinking a few moments ago and a starling run it off. They are some nasty tempered birds. No wonder Alfred Hitchcock used so many of them in his movies.

We were supposed to go have our Elephant Encounter and Giraffe encounter today but I postponed that until next Tuesday due to Ms. Kate’s bronchitis. While she is a little better today, it just wouldn’t work to do it today for her. I’m very excited about this adventure. I’ve probably said too many times already but my favorite animal is the elephant. While I know they can be extremely dangerous, they appear to be so serene. The are smart and loyal to their family groups and the saying of having a memory like and elephant has great value. I anthromorphize them with some of the better characteristics that humans are supposed to display. However, I sometimes think humans couple learn a lot from elephants. It will be a sad day indeed if man ever hunts those magnificent beasts into extinction. Programs like this elephants sanctuary are doing their part to bring awareness of the plight of the elephant.

I finally have begun to narrow down what I want to do my Mother’s Day message on. So today, that will be my focus. I could bring my laptop out here to the sunporch and write but I know me well enough to admit I wouldn’t get a lot done. It takes me forever to just write my blog because I’m constantly looking outside at my guests. A big ol’ robin just flew on to the branch outside my window and is starting to prune and preen himself. Of course I will have to stop and watch him and see if he moves over to the bird bath. —- that’s why it takes me so long to write when I’m out here. So. -no; I can’t do sermon writing out here in the sunporch. LOL

I hope you have time to get outside today and enjoy some beautiful weather and while you are there — just stop and look around you and take in all of the beauty and glory that God has to offer. Then, bow your head and give God praise and thanks for it. Peace.