We will see how this goes this morning. I’m sitting in my car with my IPad precariously wedged between my belly and my steering wheel trying to write. Ms. Kate has a doctors appointment first thing and I decided to wait in the car. It shouldn’t take too long for her since it is early and the doctors haven’t had time to get backed up yet. Actually, I don’t know if she even sees a doctor. It is for her yearly mammogram so maybe she will only see a radiologist who will do the test and then let her know what the results are after a doctor has read them. I don’t now; never had one, never want one from what Ms. Kate describes of it. Any way, she is supposed to call me when she is ready for pick up.  The hospital parking lot is full as it always is on the first couple of days each week. So I dropped her off, found a place to park, and will wait.

It has been what I call a “cows and flat rocks” morning so far. Lots of heavy rain so far but at the moment it is quiet. I’m glad to see the rain because we are running about two and a half inches short for the month and my garden waas really needing it. Now maybe the okra will put on. My tomatoes are really putting a lot on. I can have all the tomato sandwiches I want.  I do love tomatoes and summer time when I can just walk out to the little garden, pull a tomato of of the vine and eat it fresh like God intended me to. LOL

I had a very good counseling session last evening with a couple of my parishioners. It was obvious that one of them was really needing to talk to someone. He really is carrying around a lot of baggage and it is weighing him down. Hopefully we unpacked some of it and tossed it to the garbage can where it belongs. We’ll meet again next Monday and talk some more. I’m certainly not a certified counselor, — but sometimes, —- all people need is to know someone will actually just sit and listen to them and care about them. That is where we are with this session. Knowing someone will listen to us without judgement can be a tremendous healer. I just ask God to give me the right things to say or the right advice to pass on.

I think when we leave here we need to go find a produce stand and pickup a cantaloupe and a watermelon. Our area grows some of the best there is and we probably should get one don’t you think?  In the meantime, I have a couple of Max Lucado articles to read and I need to concentrate on them as my morning devotional. I pray you will have a great day. Shalomn.

Ta-daa! Welcome to Monday. It's cloudy, there are a few sprinkles coming down and the sidewalk is almost wet. There is a hummingbird battle going on in the backyard as the two of them chase one another off of the feeder and off of the phlox. It looks like the hummingbird feeder is empty. I just filled that thing on Saturday. I can't believe the two birds drank all of that sugar water already. I must not have screwed the lid back on correctly or it wasn't as tight as I thought it was. After I get back from the office today I'll fill up the feeders again. I was trying to do too many things when I filled it the other day and probably did it wrong.

From looking at the rest of the feeders I need to fill them up too. But first I need to go to Rural King and buy some more peanut butter pellets. I used my last bag on Saturday and they are already gone. I also bought two new jars of peanut butter to put out. I don't know why everything seems to be eating a lot more right now. Maybe the slightly cooler temperatures have fooled them into thinking they need to be preparing for fall or something. According to the weather folks, we are in for a week of cooler temperatures which I'm sure will not hurt anyone's feelings.

I'm lifting up prayers today for the people of California who are experiencing horrible wildfires. I think the total of lives lost so far is nine and countless homes have been destroyed as well as thousands of acres burned. This fire is up in the Redding, CA area and the Cascade mountains. There is virtually no way to get control of it because the terrain is so rugged. My first Air Force duty station was up just north of that area and it is beautiful country, or at least it was. I'm not sure if this is the one or not, but one of the massive fires that is currently raging was purposely set. I don't understand the mindset of a person that would do something like that. What kind of a person would purposely set a forest on fire with no care whether it killed people or animals or destroyed homes.

We had a much smaller congregation yesterday. Part of the people were out doing a Christian education program for new Christians. But there were a bunch of our folks that are getting their camping in before school starts again. When the camping group takes off, it takes at least twenty out of the pews.  But, I hope they had a good camping weekend. It was perfect weather for it.

Well, it is time for me to get to work and see what's gong on at the church today. I have  meeting this evening at 1700 hours with a couple of men. One is rejoining the church and the other is his son and is going to be baptized and join the church in a couple of weeks. So tonight is a counselling session for that. Pray for the three of us.

I hope you have a pleasant day and are full of good thoughts as you start a new week. Peace.

My days seldom end up like I laid them out in the beginning. But that’s life from an armchair or recliner. I had planned on going out and pulling some weeds from the flowerbeds but I got a text from Julie telling me that the book I had ordered through her bookstore was in and did I want her to send it right out. Ms. Kate said “why don’t we just drive over and get it? “ So we showered and got dressed and took off for New Albany, 120 miles away, to pick up my book, drop off some tomatoes, and some clothes that Jules had left here last weekend. What can I say, it’s worth a 240 mile round trip to be able to hug one of my kids.

We basically did just a “turn-around” over there. We had talked about going on across the Ohio River to the east side of Louisville and having lunch at P.F. Chang’s, Ms. Kate’s favorite restaurant. But, we decided that by the time we got there, had lunch, and started home, we’d be in 4:00 Friday evening traffic and no way did we want to be involved in that. So, we came home, took a nap, got up and went to the grocery store. One certainly lives on the edge of excitement when you get to be our age.

It is already pretty warm outside so I’m thinking that I need to go downstairs and practice my trumpet for awhile, maybe work on a sermon for awhile, and I have to work on my pastoral prayer for tomorrow. I generally write those out. I know God doesn’t mind if I repeat myself and run on a bit, but congregations are less understanding than God. LOL. I’d hate to hear somebody start snoring in the middle of my prayer. It is interesting that these days we don’t have the congregation stand durning the Pastoral Prayer. When I was a kid, we always stood during that prayer. It seemed like the preacher prayed forever! More than once I felt the hand of my mother or father on my shoulder or head as I shuffled back and forth from foot to foot or swayed back and forth in my boredom.

Wow! I got my property tax bill from the state of Illinois yesterday. Through inheritance, we are part owners of some farm ground in southern Illinois. My cousin farms it and we just get a “cash-rent” check at the end of the season for whatever he has planted. BUt the taxes on just our portion of the property have gone up by $250.00 since 2016. Illinois has some of the highest taxes in the nation. We owned a home in Collingville, Illinois for boot four years and the taxes on that small place went up astronomically over the four years. I know that state is broke form all of the years of corruption and mis-management but —- they seem to not understand that they can’t tax their way out of debt. People are fleeing the state and moving to other states like here in Indiana.

Time to sign off for today, Have a great weekend. Peace.

It is another beautiful morning as the sun creeps over my roof to light up the back yard. We had a chance of getting some rain last night but it would appear that it didn’t happen. The phlox and other plants are looking a little droopy this morning. I’ll need to water the potted plants today for sure. And while I’m at it I might as well clean out the bird baths again. The humidity is lower and the temperature is supposed to stay in the low eighties today so I think it will be a great day to do a little work outside in these flowerbeds.

It’s Friday and believe it or not, it is the last Friday in July already. It is interesting that some times the days seem to drag along and we go about do our thing and all of a sudden it is later than you think. How did it get to be the end of July already? Of course this year has been confusing because of the weather. None of our weather has owned up to its actual season. Today for instance it almost feels like fall and I’ve seen a few leaves already dropping. We seemingly had only about two days of spring and then summer was all over us. So, let me go on record right now —- I’m predicting a cold and snowy winter. Let’s hope I’m wrong. I’m basing my prediction on absolutely nothing so the scientific reasoning is out the window. However, my friend who lives in Colorado was posting pictures of the hail they received yesterday and it was deep enough to shovel.

I’m re-reading a book about my church denomination. It is an ”Un-Official explanation of the United Church of Christ” and is a good book to explain what we stand for, and what we believe etc.. I wanted to refamiliarize myself with some of the history and stuff, and this book cuts through a lot of the stodgy stuff and says it all in a manner that isn’t boring. Of course, it has now led me to purchase yet another book because it raised a question in my mind that I had not heard asked before. That’s why my book shelves are double stacked and I don’t have room for anymore book cases. I really need to thin out my library. But as sure as I get rid of some, I’ll need them. I know I can “Google” most anything I want to know but that doesn’t give me the whole picture. I sometimes look back on my childhood and wonder how I ever really got any research done. I was fortunate enough that my parents bought a set of Compton’s Encyclopedias. Many homes never had those. I used to set and read them and be facinated by “the world” that was out there. Now people just whip out their IPhone and they have their answers to their question instantly. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. But —- I do it a lot too.

Time to wrap this up and get busy. Have a blessed day. Shalomn.

A bright and happy Thursday to you. It’s a beautiful morning; not too hot just yet and the humidity is still in the tolerable level. I’ve had enough guests at he buffet that I may have to go fill some feeders again. I already went out and filled one of the bird baths becaus it was getting low enough that the finches were having to lean way over into the bowl to get a drink. Once I filled it, it didn’t take long for the rim to be crowded with finches getting a drink. Running a backyard buffet requires a lot of care and maintenance. LOL.

Thursday morning is “game morning” for Ms. Kate and me. We both play a couple of computer games on our IPads and computers. She plays Bingo, Klondike, and two different Criminal Case games. I play Bingo, and the two different Criminal Case games. Thursday morning is when Ms. Kate gets “a new land” to develop on Klondike and I get a new case on Criminal Case. I might seem very silly for us to be doing these games but I will tell you that they are good memory exercises for both of us. If we can keep our brains a little sharper by playing these games, —- so much the better. It sure beats watching the television, although tonight is the night to watch “Mountain Men”, a favorite of both of us and one of the few that we watch together. We also do Swamp People and Survivor together. Other than that —- our television preferences differ vastly. She watches crime/drama anything and I watch things like Destination Unknown, and a couple of paranormal shows and HGTV —- a lot! I also love nature documentaries. I watch those and I just sit amazed at the wonders that God had created. I am amazed at the intricate nature and balance that exists to maintain this world. I am a scientific creationist. I believe that God and only God set this world into motion and caused all of this to be. But, — whether God did this through millions of years of evolution or snapped God’s fingers and it happened —- well, that is of no concern to me. But I will never accept that nature is an accident. I don’t believe that the tiny beating heart of that hummingbird out there is an accident or are the beautiful colors and intricate design of its feathers. Nope —- that my friends is all Divine Intervention. 

OK, so I’m just now sitting here,minding my own business and a dowel rod that I had propped up by the door for weeks just fell over all on its own. So, speaking of the paranormal, I wonder whose spirit just walked through here to get my attention. There was no breeze, no vibration, no movement of the door —— it just fell over from where it has been securely sitting for weeks. Hmmmm.   

It’s time for another cup of coffee and a leftover Bavarian Creme donut from Dunkin Donuuts. I picked up a half dozen yesterday on the way home from the office and we ate the first four. Then I need to get downstairs and practice my trumpet for awhile. I’m doing so every other day for thirty minutes and hope I get it will be enough to get me through my solo. Until my next writing, I bid you peace and will hold you in my prayers. Shalomn. 

Good morning on this bright Wednesday morning. Join me for a cup of coffee as we watch the critters at the backyard buffet. I filled the feeders yesterday and this morning I have lots of guests. So far the guest list has been mainly finches, sparrows, an occasional cardinal, and the squirrels. The woodpeckers will be here shortly since I put fresh peanut butter out for them. I’m not sure what is going on with my sunflower seed that is in my storage cans. It is clumping up and won’t fall through the holes at the bottom of the feeders for the birds to get at it. Even the squirrels seem to not be eating it like I would think they should. I know there are some bugs in it, (like corn bugs) and there is a kind of sticky consistency on some of the seed. I keep putting it out there and they do eat it but slowly. Maybe the heat has caused it to go bad, —— I just don’t know. Of course I’ve never known squirrels to stick their nose up at anything. They are frankly, just rats with fuzzy tails. I’ve seen them eat stuff from the ground that has lain there for a month so I don’t know. I do now I’m not going to pour thirty pounds of sunflower seed out on the ground for a free for all.

This morning I have office hours again. Pastor Art and Karen and I will meet to go over the calendar and discuss some things about upcoming events. I’m generally there for only a couple of hours on Wednesday. So, I’m trying to get this written before I head out. It might be a short entry today.

Ms. Kate and I went for pedicures yesterday. We go about every four to six weeks and probably should go more often. My big toes tend to get ingrown and it hurts like the dickens when they clean out the sides of the nail or “trenches” as I call them and they clean around the cuticles. I don’t really get my monies worth from a pedicure because my feet are so ticklish that I can’t stand to have them do the rasping and scrubbing on the bottom of my feet. So whoever is doing the job gets off pretty easy.

The clock just chimed 0900 so I better get in the shower and get out of here. I hope you have a pleasant day. Peace.

Hello Tuesday. It is nice to be alive and joining you on this bright and sunny morning. It wold seem that God felt as though I ended another day on this earth so maybe I need to do something good for somebody today. However, for the moment I am very content to sit out here in the sun porch, watch my guests, play my silly Bingo and Criminal Case computer games on my IPad and just enjoy the world around me. I hope you are having an opportunity like that. I think everybody should be afforded some time like that in their life. It sure takes down the blood pressure andfrees up the mind to be open to conversations with God.

I have been trolling on my computer for vacation spots again. Ms. Kate has never been to Washington state or to Alaska. It is the only two states that she has missed. I doubt that we’ll ever get her to Alaska but I would like to get her to WA. So, I’ve been looking for vacation places on the Washington coast. I found quite a few last night and they don’t look all that expensive. Nioiw, we just need to find a time to do it. Two of my four weeks of vacation this year are taken up by reunions of former military groups I was associated with. We’ve already taken one week and our next one is to Gulfport, MS in September. So I guess it will have to wait until next year. Of course, we don’t know that I’ll be working next year so when to go might not be a problem. We already have one week of vacation reserved and partially paid for for next year and that is for our family reunion in Virginia Beach.

The other “bucket list” trip we want to take is to Nova Scotia. I’ve never been there and don’t really know a lot about it. One of my favorite television shows was filmed there and it looks beautiful. And I have read that the best lobster in the world is found in Nova Scotia. We could go and eat out fill of lobster and fresh seafood. We can get good seafood in Washington too but I don’t think I have ever heard of lobster fishing on the west coast. Maybe I need to Google that.

I didn’t get my feeders filled yesterday so the buffet is bare this morning. I still have birds and squirrels but their pickings are slim. We are having a few days of beautiful and less humid weather right now so it would be a good day to get out and do some weed pulling in the flower beds. I also need to practice my trumpet again today. I stretched my practice out to forty minutes on Sunday evening and my lip was still sore most of yesterday. I tried to maybe practice some last night but the lip still hurst. I think I’ll be fine today. I’m playing for church on the 19th of August and while I have the songs down pat, I still need to keep thee lip up. I’m finding that I’m having fun with it again. So, that is my minimalistic plan for today. Some I’ll do, some I won’t. I also need to get in some sermon writing.

I need to quit now, and have a talk or better yet a listen, to the One from who I have received all of the blessings in my life. Have a blessed day.

It is a beautiful Monday morning. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature so far is mild. We were predicted to have severe storms Friday through Saturday but thankfully that did not happen. Certainly other places got hit hard. The state of Iowa got torn up in several places by tornadoes. Julie and Jim had really strong storms over in New Albany, just two hours from us and east of them there were tornadoes too. Blessedly I have heard of no deaths with the exception of the nine members of one family that were killed when the "Duck Boat" tourist boat capsized when a sudden wind came up in Branson Missouri. The wind was calm when they went out on the excursion but that storm just came up out of nowhere and sunk the boat.

Julie and Jim came over this weekend and they brought my birthday present from them and Lisa and Gary. It is a yard sweeper that I can pull behind my John Deere when it is leaf raking time. Jim even assembled it for me to save me the trouble of doing that. We carried it out to the yard barn in the back yard because that is where I get the leaves. I'll still mulch up the leaves but this way I won't have all of that mulched up stuff piling up in my yard. It's good to have some of that as a mulch but I know I had too much last fall. I can just take it all over and put it in the mulch bin.

We had ninety-three in church yesterday; what a wonderful crowd that was. When we sang the hymns the sound just resonated throughout the sanctuary. It was enough to give a person goosebumps. We have a couple of baptism Sundays coming up and those generally tend to generate a larger crowd, especially if it is an infant. These however will be a teenager and a twenty-something year old; so, I don't know what to expect. The first one will be conducted in our outdoor chapel which will be a beautiful setting. Yesterday's crowd was due to a large family coming in to celebrate an anniversary. And we also had two young girls playing the piano for our special music portion of the service. That brought in some grandparents and extra aunts and uncles. My old mentor once told me that as a pastor people aren't coming to church just to hear the preacher so you have to have a reason beyond that for them to come. I have always tried to keep that in mind. At my last parish we made sure that the choir didn't sing on the same day as communion. Then we would try to have something else for people to look forward to on the other Sundays.

Today is an office hours day and then this afternoon I think the only thing on my schedule is to wait on a phone call from a parishioner that is having his son baptized, work on a sermon, practice my horn, and fill the bird feeders. Ms. Kate is doing laundry today and I usually help with that.

This is the last full week of July. It is "Fair Week" for our county. I doubt we will go. Our need to walk around a fair grounds has long gone. It was a big deal when I was a youngster involved in 4-H. That was some fun times. Stay cool today and enjoy the blessings that God has provided. Since you are reading this, God has allowed you another day on earth. Make the best of it. Shalomn.

July 20th, 2018 —- today I turned seventy-four years old. If God gives me another full year I’ll be three fourths of a century old. When I look at my life and the road I’ve traveled I see God’s plan written all over it because other wise I would not be sitting here watching my guests at the backyard buffet and at peace with the world. If you will indulge me, I’ll share a tiny bit of my story and journey.

I was born in Kankakee, IL to parents I never knew. My name was Stanley Curtis Logsdon. By the age of four my mother had re-married and we were living of Siberia, IN where for some reason, still unknown, I and my only blood-sister, were removed from the home and placed in an orphanage home in Rockport, IN. At age five, the two of us were moved to the home of the Heumann’s by whom we were to be adopted. That process took two years or so.

Growing up a Heumann meant I learned discipline and a work ethic. I learned about respect, I grew up in the church, I learned I had a talent for music and became pretty good at playing the trumpet, piano, and accordion. I developed an appreciation for writing, (I’ve written and produced several  plays and a lot of short stories that are collecting dust in a binder in my basement.) I love speaking in public which certainly is a benefit in my current job as a pastor, and I learned leadership. Somewhere in there I assimilated a Christian lifestyle although will be the first to admit I have failed at it far too often. I keep an open prayer line to God at all times and have Jesus on speed-dial.

I met the love of my life, Ms. Kathy Parton, in my senior year of high school and we have now been married over fifty two years. We have three wonderful daughters and five wonderful grandkids. I drug the family around the country and the world for thirty-two years as I built my career in the Air Force and retired the first time in 2001 as a Colonel. In 2002 I begin my second career trining to be a licensed minister for the United Church of Christ. Being a minister had been a dream of mine since early in high-school but that is a whole different story that id too long to tell in one writing.  In 2004 I was called to my first parish where I served as pastor for two churches for the next twelve and a half years. I retired my second time in November of 2016.  In February of this year I came back out of retirement to become the interim co-pastor of the church I grew up in while they are going through the search process for a new settled pastor. I love being a pastor. It is the most satisfying job in the world.

That’s it, my life in a couple of paragraphs. As I said, without the help and path clearing of God Almighty, who knows where I might be today. So to begin my 74th years on this planet, I will begin it by simply saying “Thank you Lord”. Have a blessed day.

What a lazy morning this has been. Both of us got up out of bed by 0630 for no known reason. I know I didn’t sleep well last night though. So we have pretty much just lazed around here on our IPads and our computers and dozed in our chairs in between. Ms. Kate did fix us some sweet rolls for breakfast to go with our coffee. I think I am just winding down from a year of being seventy-three. Tomorrow I’ll maybe be bright and bushy tailed as I turn seventy four. Happy birthday to me.

I did get the awful weed mess cleaned up where my raspberry path was. I’ve pulled the berry pants up and the weeds. Julie is supposed to bring over my grubbing hoe when she comes this weekend. Jim borrowed it to do some work around their place and I need it to get after those danged mulberry plants. Hopefully I can get down far enough to do some damage. I also did some weed eating and trimming out front of the house and mowed the front yard. Bless my neighbor Theresa, she was over to neighbor Dan’s house pulling weeds yesterday. I didn’t mow his yard though.

The backyard buffet has been busy all morning. The hummingbird has been here, the cardinals, the finches and the blackbirds. I was sitting here and I saw a really tiny lizard run across my back patio. The next thing I saw was a starling drop down and I think it ate that lizard. So, at the moment, I have butterflies, birds, and squirrels all here for their lunch. Not a bad view at all.

My garden is putting out a lot of tomatoes now and this morning I cut a couple more okra. I really don’t think my beets are going to do much more than they already have. Of course all of the weeds in there hasn’t helped a thing. I also put down a bunch or Round-up again yesterday. I hope it helps.

Tomorrow we will go out with our friends Bob and Brenda for some mushrooms and a beer to celebrate my birthday and the birthday of Bob’s late wife Georgia Ann. It’ll be nice even though it will be a bit somber.

Time to get up and shake the sleep off of myself and move around a bit. Have a great day and stay cool.  Peace.

A happy beautiful Wednesday morning to you! I’m going to just try to get at least a short blog in before I have to get ready for work and go to the office. Actually, my Wednesday office hours can’t be considered much work because it is just a short staff meeting to go over the calendar and schedule, and upcoming events. It generally takes an hour depending on whether or not we get off topic. And yes, we generally get off topic.

I wish you could see the cardinal I have out here this morning as it sits up on the feeder pole and the sun hits it just perfectly. The butterflies are already at work on the phlox. We usually have a couple of black ones and also a yellow one that spend the majority of the day out there on the blooms. Some of the phlox has already been stripped of their petals. The phlox also attracts bees and they are a bit rougher on the blooms than the butterflies.

I spent a good deal of time out in the garden yesterday cleaning up the weeds that were taking over part of it. I’ll finish that up today after I get back from the office. It is supposed to be a gorgeous day and I want to take full advantage of it. I have decided to pull up all of my black raspberries because they are out of control and so mingled in with the darned mulberry bushes that I can’t seem to get rid of. I never had any berries that were on the plants anyway and that is the second year in a row, So, if they come back; fine. If not —- it is no loss. I just want to get that weedy mess cleaned up.

Okay, I’m out of time. I see Buttercup the yellow cat from next door has come over for a visit. The birds and squirrels will be making a fuss about that until she leaves.  Have a great day. Shalomn

Hello Tuesday and a good blessed morning to you who are reading this. The birds are singing early today; probably because I filled feeders yesterday. The cardinals, the. Wrens, the finches, the woodpeckers are all here first thing. And of course I have one fuzzy-tailed rat out here but so far it is only eating ground clutter and isn’t up on one of my feeders. While I was out there filling feeders yesterday I noticed that the wrens were chirping like crazy and so were several other birds. I thought at first that maybe they were announcing. That the buffet was soon going to be back open for business. But then I noticed a four foot black snake laying in the flowerbed all stretched out. So that is what the wrens were sounding the alarm about. It is interesting that I had a snake in the yard. Last week I had a much smaller one out in the garden. Last fall I had a snake in the back yard too and that is the first snake we had ever seen in this yard. I generally don’t bother them. So far they have all been just common yard” snakes that eat things like mice and voles and moles and I have plenty of those. So they are welcome as long as they stay out there and don’t invite any of their venomous cousins to the party.

It is going to be another hot day although th weather guys say that the humidity is supposed to drop some. My main weather guy said last night that after today he wasn’t seeing any 90 degree days in the next several days forecasts. Of course we all know the nature of weather predictability. But our guys seem to hit it pretty well.

We were rudely woken up this morning by one of those “robo-calls”. I hate those. My answering machine was announcing the number and we immediately knew it was a junk call so we didn’t bother even getting out of bed. But, it disturbed our sleep. You always know it is a robo-call when the number being announced starts with “V” and then a long series of numbers. If you do pick up the phone, there almost always is an immediate hang up on the other end. I hope there is a special place in hell for all scammers and robo-callers. I hope they spend the next thirty bazillion years with a phone ringing in their ears.

Ms. Kate made a great lunch yesterday after I got home from the office. (See, we don’t always eat out.) She made up some foil packs with potatos and Salisbury steak and onions in them and we had an ear of Mr. Bob’s corn to go with it. It was delicious. Then last night we ordered in a pizza but she made a pan of chocolate and banana brownies to go with it. That was a first for me to have banana in my brownie but we had one banana left and it was starting to turn, so, why not experiment; —- and it worked.

Time to refill the coffee cup and move on to other things. I pray your day will be filled with good stuff and lots of love. Peace.

Good morning! Let's begin a whole new week together shall we? We are having another one of our weather alert days for heat and humidity. But what can we expect --- it is mid July. If this weather is good for anything at all, it sure is making the corn grow. Our friend Bob gave us a dozen ears of sweet corn last week and it is so sweet and delicious that I could sit and eat a half dozen ears all at once. Of course then I'd have to pay the consequences. We have been getting sweetcorn from Bob for years and have put up hundreds of bags of his sweetcorn in the freezer. I think though that we are about out and Bob is getting past the age to be out there planting and tending a garden. He has always put out at least two dozen tomato plants and this year he only put out four. That is all because his wonderful wife, Ms. Georgia Ann, passed away last year. We really miss her.

So how was your weekend? We didn't do a whole lot other tan the typical stuff like an occasional visit to the grocery store, go out to eat a couple of times, and go to church. We are so very mundane and unexciting. I did fill the bird feeders once and now they have to be filled again. Saturday I cut open a watermelon and we shared half of that. I had the idea that I would put the hull out on the patio and possibly it would attract some more butterflies. Well, it attracted a lot of flies, --- but no butterflies, so I took it over and threw it into the compost pile. one of thee days I need to take the fencing down from around the compost pile and get a lot of that good dirt that has been maturing out of there and spread it around on the garden and the flowerbeds. I last did that maybe five years ago so by now I should have some good compost under there. That is pure gold to a garden. If I had to actually buy it, it would cost a pretty penny. But instead, all I have to do is take the garbage out and put it in the bin. That sounds like a job for a nice cool fall day.

We had seventy six in church yesterday which is a good attendance, especially for summer. I know we have some folks heading out on vacation again this week for several weeks. But others are returning and we have had a steady flow of visitors and that keeps the numbers up. I love it when our folks feel good enough about their church to want to invite people to come and worship with them. I think we must be doing something right.

The squirrels were running all over the roof this morning and up and down the trees and feeder  poles. Most of their feeders are empty so I think they are trying to get my attention. I'll get to them this afternoon. In the mean time they can get their fuzzy butts down on the ground and clean up all of the seed that they knock out of the feeders. I have office hours this morning so they will just have to wait.

Time for work. I hope you have a marvelous day. Take time to count your blessings and give thanks for everyone of them. Peace.

Happy Saturday! It would appear that my writing has become an every other day thing but I assure you that is not by design. But for some reason or a bunch of reasons, that is the way it has been this week.

Yesterday started out very early. I was scheduled to be at a local surgery center for prayer with a couple of parishioners at 0900 yesterday but late Thursday evening I got a text from them saying that his surgery had been moved up by a couple of hours. So, I rediscovered 0530 on my alarm clock, got up and got ready to leave the house by 0645. I arrived in plenty of time and then waited until his surgery was over. He had a double hernia repair and it went textbook according to his doctor. I left when he went to recovery and she was planning to take him home in another hour or so. They are nice people and I’ve known him most of my life as we grew up in the same church, although he is eleven years older than me.

After my visit I came home and got Ms. Kate and we went to Nellie’s for breakfast. I’m a breakfast person. I can eat breakfast at any meal at any time and Nellie’s is one of my local favorites. I had a steak skillet that was huge enough that I brought half of it home and had it for supper last night. It also came with pancakes.

I got a little more done on the garden weeding yesterday and I hope to finish it this evening. Today though is going to be another ozone alert day and it is supposed to be in the “high alert” stage. The heat and humidity are bad enough. The “real-feel” temps today will be in triple digits but the humidity has dropped just a tad. The problem is that the air is not moving and that causes the ozone alert because the air particulates are stagnant. So, it will be another “stay indoors” day, which in reality is a good thing because I still need to finish my sermon for next week.

It would appear though that I’ll have to go out at some point. Because the backyard buffet needs to be re-stocked again. I have lots of cardinals and other smaller birds here this morning. The hummingbird is back again. He sits on the feeder but spends most of his time at the phlox. Ms. Kate has really enjoyed sitting out here watching the butterflies that have also come for the phlox. There is obviously something about the phlox that the bullerflies like or need because we have several that spend most of the day out there. It is a pleasant to watch and is just another bundle of blessing from God. The newest feeder of which I wrot a couple of days ago has still yet to catch on with the woodpeckers but I think it will. So far though, they really like the peanut butter that I’m putting out there for them. They seem to flock to it as soon as I refill those feeders. I’m going through a forty ounce jar a week. But, I buy the “store brand” and it is less than a fourth of the price that I was paying for the Bark Butter from Wild Birds and Things. Who knew I could have just used peanut butter?? We drove by Wild Birds and Things yesterday. I wanted to see if they had any indication that they would bee re-opening and ther isn’t. All of the merchandise and everything is still there. The family simply closed and locked the door and walked away and it is in the hands of the lawyers, I assume as part of the estate settlement.

I didn’t mean to write a novel this morning so I guess I’ll wind this up. Tomorrow is “church day” and I pray you will take time out to attend a worship service of your choice. You’ve been blessed this week once again and I hope you have taken time to recognize that fact and are maintaining a strong relationship with the God who made those blessings possible. Have a great day. Peace.

Good Thursday morning to you! I hope this bright sunny day has found you feeling well and happy. I pray that when your feet hit the floor this morning you determined that today was going to be an excellent day. I certainly did. I reason that just the fact that I wake up and can put my feet on the floor means that God has allowed me another day of life in this beautiful world God created. Who knows what today will hold; — certainly not me.

No, I didn’t sit down and write yesterday. My morning started off with doing a Bible study at the church and then staying around for office hours. It was the usual four ladies that attended Bible study.   Bible study goes for about forty-five minutes and is more fellowship than study. I don’t normally attend and Pastor Art runs it. But, —- he had another appointment yesterday so I covered for him. That is one of the benefits of having two pastors.

Last evening Ms. Kate and I attended a benefit supper for a local organization called Jacob’s Village. The organization serves families with members who have physical and mental developmental problems. One of my best friends has a daughter with MS and they use this facility. Our church and St. Wendell Catholic Church are two of their biggest supporters. The dinner was held out at St. Wendell which sets maybe twenty miles out in the country from our house , but it is a lovely country drive. So, we enjoyed our evening. We had fried chicken with all the trimmings and an ice cream bar. How can one not enjoy that?

I filled my bird feeders yesterday or at least some of them. A couple of the sunflower seed feeders were somewhat clogged up because the seed was “clumped up”. I don’t know what cause that but I think it has to do with the heat. I hope it doesn’t mean that the seed has gone bad. I stirred it around and got it to flowing again so we’ll see if they eat it or not. I wouldn’t want to be known as the guy that serves bad food on the buffet.

Tomorrow morning early I need to be at a surgery center for a parishioner who is having an early dual hernia surgery. I already them on my schedule  but last evening they reminded me tha he was having this surgery so it is obviously important to them that I be ther to say a prayer with them before surgery.

That is it for today my friends. I. Including you in my thoughts and prayers this morning praying that all is well with you and that your day is full of peace and God’s protection and love. I hope that you will in turn, include me in your prayers. Peace .

Aaaaah Tuesday, —- one of my seven most favorite days of the week. This one though is already starting off humid and hot and it is only 0900 hours. We’re on our way to a heat index of 105 today.

Tuesday kind of gets lost in the week. Nobody pays much attention to a Tuesday unless they have some appointment or important event scheduled or the day. People talk about Monday and whether they like it or not. They talk about Wednesday and it being “Hump day”. They talk about Thursday because “it’s almost Friday”, and then it is Friday and of course there is always TGIF. Then we have “Awwww, Saturday, —- the weekend is here!” And Sunday is special because it is set aside for church and other family activities. But poor Tuesday just gets left out of the fray and celebrations; so today —- Let’s all celebrate it being Tuesday!!!! Yay Tuesday!!!!!!!   Okay, so I woke up using my weird brain today. I think it is the heat.

I mostly have woodpeckers at the buffet so far today. Although, I keep hearing some bird that has been doing just a single chirp and I don’t see it or know where it is. But it has been doing it for almost an hour now. Last evening we had a mocking bird up in the tree that was singing it’s little heart out. It was definitely happy about something or there was an attractive female in the area it was trying to get the attention of. I’ve always heard that they have a repitoir (sp?) of over 200 songs and I think he was using everyone of them. It was facinating to listen to. He could come over here and sing this morning for us. It would be much prettier than ol’ single chirp.

Yesterday I did office hours then we went out to lunch and did a little grocery shopping and went by the music store to get some valve oil for my trumpet. Came home, took a short nap and then back to the church or the council meeting. Today is a “nothing on the schedule” day so I will try to do some writing. I’ve only gotten to the concept point of writing my sermon for next week and I’m not even sure it is what I want to do the sermon on. The fun part of reading scripture and trying to build a sermon from scripture is that there are so many different things and ways to start. However, 90% of those things turn into “blind alleys” before you get too far. Well, at least they do for me. Maybe the more “learned clergy” don’t have that problem. I’ve even heard of preachers that say they have no idea what they are going to preach on until they actually walk up to the church or the pulpit. I don’t think I could do that and I’ve done extemporaneous speaking. But to get up and claim that everything you are about to say is straight out of the mouth of God ——— not this guy.  

I think I need to go to the freezer and get out some Toaster Strudels and warm a couple up n the toaster and make that my breakfast. I hope your day is blessed and be glad today is Tuesday! LOL Peace.

After such a beautiful weekend the heat and the humidity is slowly returning to the area. That's too bad because I really enjoyed having a few days of nice comfortable mornings and evenings. But, it is summer and we don't want fall weather to come on yet. The seasons have been mixed up enough this year so far.

We took advantage of some of the cooler weather and got some yard work done on Saturday. First though, we went for our "schrooms and beer" with Brenda and Bob at St. Joe Tavern. It is always a good time with them. Then they surprised us by showing up for church service yesterday at Zoar. We had talked to them about that on Saturday but they had made no commitment. Their church is still doing their summer schedule so Brenda didn't have to play the organ yesterday.

I spent a good hour just doing weed eating on Saturday and Ms. Kate went out and did some hoeing and spraying with Round-up. I need to get out there and finish the hoeing in that garden. There is a weed that grows out there that is just hard to get rid of and it spreads like crazy. It isn't hard to hoe it up but it returns fairly quickly. I can't spray too much where it is or I'll end up spraying my beets or my okra, or my tomatoes. I certainly wouldn't want that. All of those crops and my flowers are growing very well. I have a lot of tomatoes on and have picked the first three of them, but, they were split on the bottom and starting to rot because of all of the rain we have had.

The critters and birds have cleaned out most of the sunflower feeders once again. I'll have to refill those yet today. The hummingbirds are paying much more attention to the phlox blooms than they are to the actual hummingbird feeders. Ms. Kate went out and refilled that feeder yesterday because the last was old and it turns bad in the hot sun. I bought a new woodpecker feeder. This one has a place to put in a suet roll log type of thing. So far they haven't really investigated it or paid much attention to it. But they will. It seems I'm always looking for something new to attract my backyard buffet guests. I have a lot more feeders than I have places to hang them.

We had ninety-two for church yesterday. That is truly exciting. A year ago we had just over half that many. I'm not sure what we are doing right but I hope we keep doing it. I have seen our church at its best and I have seen our church at its worst. What old timers like me call "the good old days" are days when we had 200-300 in church every Sunday. The church had several different social organization and sponsored missionaries and several mission programs. But those days are long gone for most of the churches across America. It s a new day and a new society. Then our church went through a phase where they were only getting around 30-45 on a Sunday and those are truly sad days in any church. But, we are slowly coming back and trying to rebuild the Faith Family. Pastor Art and I are only interim pastors for the church and the search committee is reviewing profiles for a new permanent pastor. I hope that whomever they get in here will be willing to continue to reach out and do the visitations and the evangelism work that he and I are doing. I really want to see this church succeed because it is the church I grew up in.

That is it for today. I need to get to the office and get some work done. Have a most blessed week.

Happy Friday my friends, wherever you may be. It is a much more comfortable morning. The humidity is starting to drop slowly and the temperature isn’t rising as rapidly. There is rain in our forecast but at the moment all I see is a blue sky through the trees that surround my back yard.  The sun is crestingmy roofline and shining on a beautiful Goldfinch thatis sutting on a feeder pole right next to the patio. What a brilliant sight that is.

I’m thinking that maybe it will be cool or comfortable enough today to get out and do some yard work. The yards need mowing and I have weeds that need to be gotten out of my garden and flowerbeds. I don’t intend to push it too much but I’d like to get some of it done. As long as the air isn’t oppressive and I work at a leisurely pace, I’ll be fine. The most difficult part is actually getting off oof my rump and getting out there. There are a lot of lazy reasons no to. LOL

My back yard continues to make its summer transition. The hydrangeas have gone from their brilliant white to a light gree,. As they summer wears on. The will lose all color and turn brown. The heads will eventually fall off or I’ll cut them back. The purple phlox is blooming nicely and provideing an alternative to the feeder for the hummingbirds. The various lilies we have out there are blooming including a Stargazer which makes the whole back yard smell wonderful, at least to me. Many people really don’t like the smell of the lilies and it can be a bit overwhelming especially in a large bouquet like a funeral arrangement.

I had a good day of visitation yesterday. I took communion to some of our homebound people and spent about five hours visiting with people. I think I get as much out of those visits as do the people I go see. One of my parishioners is paralyzed on one side of his body and can’t speak because of a stroke he had about six years ago. Bu his wife was there and and as we talk, he can somewhat nod his head in a “yes or no” fashion. He’s a nice guy and I really hate that this happened to him. And, each time I visit him, I remind myself that Ms. Kate could be in the same shape from the stroke she had a decade ago.  Her brother was in the exact same condition for fourteen years before he passed. We are so very blessed that Ms. Kate’s stroke didn’t do that to her. I can only give the credit to God and be grateful. But then, I could have lost her too back in 1993 when she had her heart attacks. I can’t imagine how different my life and the life of our children would be today had that happened.

Ms. Kate and I have finally narrowed down when and where to take our next vacation. We are going to do a week down in Gulfport Mississippi. We like that area and it is only about an hour from New Orleans so we can run over and have some oysters on the half shell at The ACME Oyster House, and some Bengiets. I most likely spelled that wrong. Gulfport is also close to Bay St. Louis and there is a restaurant there at which we had a fabulous meal once before and we want to go back and hopefully have another.

That’s it for today. I need to get outside before the sun gets too high in the sky. Have a great Friday and a great weekend. Taketime to stop and look around you at your stacks of blessings that God has heaped on you this week. Share some of them; that’s why they were given to you. Peace.

Happy birthday to our oldest daughter, Julie, today. Jules turned fifty one today. Where does the time go? It is so easy to look back and still see that little girl, and then that teenager, and then that young bride. One day rolled after another and now here she is; fifty-one years old, and a total success. Jules has always been the one of our girls who set her own path, set the tempo of her life’s drum, and marched off on her own to whatever destination she wanted. As a child she was destined to be the first ballerina cowgirl. As an adult she has been a dental hygienist, written a book, managed a couple of hotels, raised a fabulous son, successfully managed two Barnes and Noble College Bookstores, and now has decided that maybe she should get a college degree. She’s that favorite “weird and fun” aunt to our grandkids who loves with all her heart and will smack you down with a heap of “pay attention” in a heartbeat. So, —- Happy Birthday Jules; we love you to pieces.

It is another “heat-warning day”. This weather is supposed to break by tomorrow and start getting a bit cooler. You know it is hot when you see the squirrels just drooped over the branches and not moving. The birds don’t come around as much in this kind of heat except for early morning and late in the evening. I’ve had only one or two birds at my feeders in the last hour and they were more interested in the bird bath than the feeders.

Yesterday being a mid-week holiday is going to mess my mental schedule up for the rest of the week. Today should have been “trash day” but it wasn’t and I hope I don’t forget to set the cans out tonight. I plan to do parishioner visitation today if folks are going to to be home. Then I need to come home and start on my sermon for a week from this Sunday. I also have my monthly pastor’s report to write and my mileage paperwork t fill out. Always something on the schedule.

That’s it for today. I have phone calls to get to and work to do. Thank goodness most of it is indoors. Until next time, I wish you a perfect day. Peace.

Happy Fourth of July! It is a great day to be an American. But then; — I think any day is a great day to be an American. I think any day is a great day to salute the flag, to walk tall with our shoulders back and our head held high and proudly proclaim that we are Americans with our warts and faults and our love for our fellow Americans. I think every day is a day to give Almighty God praise and thanks for the men and women who have fought and died in the effort to keep this country a land that is free from oppression and tyranny.

You know, I’m so very tired of the effort of so many people to trash-talk our country. I totally support the right to free speech and the right to express an opinion without worrying that some agent of the government is going to haul you off to prison or worse. However, I’m really tired of self-important people like television hosts and movie stars who have made no measureable contribution to this nation; who have never served in defense of this nation; and yet come on television and rant and bash, and stand in protests shouting and ranting about what a terrible place this is to live and what a terrible president we have; and yet have not a single idea for workable soulutions to solve things with which they may have issue. I would suggest that if they really feel so indignant about how immigrants are treated that they sell a couple of their million dollar homes and cars and maybe help create some shelters and education programs and health-care facilities to take care of these people they are so concerned about. But is so much easier to not be held accountable  for what you say and not get your hands dirty.

I believe that if America is to remain free, if America is to remain a responsible country and a leader on the world, then we as a nation need to once again learn to roll up our sleeves and work together and get our hands dirty. Don’t protest about homelessness  —- go help Habitat for Humanity build a house. Don’t protest about people not having food, roll up your sleeves and go serve at a shelter or help to hold a food drive to support one. If you didn’t vote in the last election —- you forfeited your right to bitch. If you did vote and it didn’t go your way —- accept that it happened and be sure you vote in the next election. Pull out a blank piece of paper and stare at it. Listed there is everything you are entitled to and what society owes you.

If  my math is correct, we are celebrating our 242nd anniversary as the United States of America. I pray that in the year 2276 this nation will still be alive to celebrate its 500th birthday. I can’t begin to imagine what this nation or this world will be like by then. Will we still be the USA or will be we be part of a global community. Will we have solved the pollution problem of our air and oceans or will we have completely destroyed ourselves. Will we have spread out into the galaxie and colonized our moon or another planet? Will we have learned by then that in order to survive, —- we must first learn to care; about one another, about our world, about our universe, and about ourselves.

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions and neither do you. What I do know is; God will still be God, and if we are still alive, no matter what our form or fashion, God will still love us; for God and God’s love is eternal. May God bless America, and may God bless you. Peace.

Ugh!! 0800, seventy-six degrees with a “real-feel” already of ninety. Suck in a lung full of that air. And — this isn’t even designated as a weather-alert day. Those come tomorrow and Thursday as the heat index climbs to over 105 degrees. So I don’t think we will be doing a lot of venturing outside for the next few days. We need to go to the bank today sometime but that won’t take much; just a down and back trip.

We had a fairly heavy “pop-up” thundershower yesterday afternoon and I’m sorry to say, our little little leak problem in the bathroom shower still isn’t fixed. Bless my contractor’s heart, he has been all over that portion of the roof and in the attic. He caulked and caulked in all of the places he can think of and yet it is still there. I hate to even call him today to let him know. The next thing he’ll have to do is start pulling up shingles and trying to trace it down. It is such a minor leak and. It is in the perfect place for it to drip — in the shower, but it has to be fixed. I’m already concerned that I’ll have a mold problem up there in the attic.

My feeders are mostly empty again this morning so I’ll have Backyard Buffet duties to take care of this morning. I need to go get some more supplies. I’m out of thistle seed and I think I only have one package of the peanut butter bits left. I could stand to get some suet balls too and put some of those out. Maybe while we are on our bank trip we’ll swing down to Meijers or Rural King and pick some stiff up. I also need to fill all of the “log-feeders” with peanut butter again.

I’ve been scouring the web pages looking for a place for next vacation. Last night I was checking out places to saty in Gulf Shores, Alabama and Gulfport, Mississippi. Earlier in the week I was looking at places in Seattle, Washington. The question always comes down to; “what are we going to do once we get there?” The answer is always the same —- we don’t know. We are limited by health issues from doing a lot of walking and hiking any more. It is nice to go and just enjoy the atmosphere and peace and quiet; —- but you can’t get anymore peace and quiet than we have around here at the house every day of the week. I always lie to myself and say I want to just sit and read some of my novels, listen to the waves crash on the beach. But the truth is that Ms. Kate has a hard time walking through beach sand too so she doesn’t like to do that. And —- I get bored just sitting there, book or not after very much time. The places I’ve been looking at are condos and are really nice but they cost a lot of money just to go sit in somebody else’s living room. Am I getting so old that I’m losing the adventure in my soul??? Gosh, I hope not. But, the answer to the original question maybe Togo to Gulfport, MS. There are aa couple of casinos close and it is only an hour from New Orleans and a couple of favorite restaurants. I guarantee you will hear more about this down the road.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Take time to celebrate and also to pray for the leadership of this nation. Take time to remind yourself that this is a great country and while we may have a lot of social strife going on, we are American citizens and only by working together as a nation and as a people will this nation remain free. Freedom is such a precious gift and it has been bought and paid for through the sacrifice of many thousands of lives. Give God thanks and praise for bountiful blessings. Peace.

Good morning on this hot and steamy July 2nd morning. I'm at the church because I have office hours this morning. Our secretary is off for a week of vacation so I'm holding down an empty office and a non-ringing telephone on the off chance someone does come by. Actually, our Financial Secretary was here to get the deposit from yesterday's offering ready and take that to the bank. It takes him about an hour to get all of the paperwork done that he needs to do. So, he and I chatted for awhile. But other than that it has been as quiet as the proverbial "church mouse".

I was glad to see that we had a good attendance at church yesterday. I didn't know how it would turn out with this being the "4th of July holiday weekend and many people being on vacation. But once again we had several visitors that made up for the absent members. That is always good to see. And, we have some new people showing up on a repeated basis. It is time to sit and talk with them as to their interest in joining the church. I've said before, that is an area where Pastor Art really shines. He comes from an Evangelistic background as a Baptist pastor and they do a lot of that. I do pretty well with home communion and visitations of nursing home and hospital patients. We all have our strengths and this way it works out well for both of us and for the church. We are still averaging twenty five or so more in church every Sunday compared to a year ago.

I did have a chance to sit in the sun porch for awhile this Monsignor and watch my Backyard Buffet guests. I lost part of a feeder yesterday because "Toothless" the neighbors black cat was stalking in my flowerbed again. He jumped up at a bird that was on a feeder and knocked the feeder down. He broke the tray base and the dome lid that was on it. It was a feeder that I had gotten from Wild Bird's and Things maybe four years ago. Were they still in business, I could have taken it back to the store and they would have given me a new one. But --- they aren't and I can't. I guess though that I can't get too mad at Toothless, he was just doing what cats do. It could have been a squirrel or a raccoon that knocked it down too. But Ms. Kate was sitting there when he pounced from out of the flowerbed. That happens more frequently than I like. I'll just buy another one somewhere that isn't made of plastic.

I finished my sermon for this coming Sunday last evening. I need to now go back and read it and make sure I'm saying what I wanted to say. It might be a bit long too so I'll need to time it. Our service is supposed to be an outdoor service this coming Sunday. I hope it isn't going to be a scorcher for weather. If it is much above eighty degrees, we may want to hold it inside. We don't need people having heat strokes out there. But eighty with a nice breeze would be perfect  because the whole area is shaded.

Time to wrap things up here and get ready to close up the office. This evening we have a memorial service to attend for a class mate of mine. I'm getting to that age where that is going to become a more common occurrence, and someday, the ones that are left will be attending mine. Such is life.

Have an enjoyable day. Pray hard and love your fellowman fiercely. Peace.