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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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