It’s New Year’s Eve! Can you believe it? We are but hours away from the year 2020. I find that amazing. As a kid I never imagined that I’d see the year 2020 because that was soooo far away and sooooo far in the future. And if I did see 2020 we would be traveling back and forth to the moon and other planets and stuff. But here we are, on the brink of a new decade and frankly, —-not much has really changed. Certainly people and society have changed for the worse. When I was a kid it was unheard of to walk into stores and churches and schools and gun down innocent people for no reason. When I was a kid, we knew we were either a boy or a girl and we knew God had made us to be that way. Our parents weren’t confused as to which sex their child was either, When I was a kid I was held accountable for my actions. I was taught manners and respect for my parents, my neighbors, my teachers, the law, and my country. We were taught to do what was good for society. Today it seems, we are too focused on individual wants; — not needs or rights, — wants. And the world I see approaching  will continue to be filled with hate, and greed unless we can turn ourselves around and look toward God instead looking in the mirror to see the most important person in our life. How was that for a gloomy end of the year paragraph??

On the other hand!!!! —- As I said in my sermon on Sunday, I also see a blank canvas in front of me. God has laid out 365 brand new days for me to paint the best picture I possibly can. There are 385 days of opportunities for me to make a difference in the world around me. Every dayI will have a brand new day to treat people kindly. Everyday I will have a chance to show respect to others, to do something for someone, to bring the word of Jesus Christ to someone, and to be the example of God’s love to the world around me. That my friends, is an exciting challenge isn’t it. Now, some of you who read this may not in fact be Christian and that doesn’t in any way diminish your opportunities to be a decent human being. The Ten Commandments of the Hebrew Bible were written many decades and centuries before Jesus came to earth. If you simply and truly follow those, you can and will be an excellent citizen of society. I urge you though to take the next step and read and accept the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus adds love and grace and mercy to the Ten Commandments. Love and grace and mercy received from God Almighty and shared with your fellow human beings will open up a world of joy that seems impossible.

I didn’t start out to write aa sermon this morning. BUt it looks like maybe I did. I hope you have a wonderful 2020 and I hope it starts out a whole decade of blessings. Enjoy those blessings and share them. Peace.

It is a cloudy 55 degree morning and the Backyard Buffet looked like a busy airport this morning. Of course the starlings have come in force but so has a flock of Robins, lots of finches, a few cardinals, and woodpeckers. Add to that squirrels and aa couple of rabbits out there too. What all of that tells me is that the weather is going to turn nasty and cold again. We have had about ten days of beautiful weather that isn’t even close to what our Decembers should be. But the rain (lots of it) is supposed to come in yet today trough tomorrow and then the cold weather starts gain new e get back to daily highs of hopefully at least forty degrees.

Ms. Kate’s foot isn’t any better and I think we have come to the conclusion that she has Gout. Gout is an arthritic condition that can come on suddenly and is extremely painful. I’ve only known a couple of people that have ever complained of gout but I remember that they were absolutely miserable. Of course it is a weekend and the doctor’s office is closed. So, we have cancelled any weekend plans that we may have planned and she will just sit here and take her Tylenol, and hopefully she can get in to see her doctor on Monday. She has been sleeping on the couch and in the chair because she can’t stand to have the foot up or to have the sheet touch the effected area. That is very typical of the gout symptoms.

We have the ingredients around here to make turkey noodle soup so I think I will try and put that together today. I am not a cook by any stretch of the imagination but with some good coaching and direction from Ms. Kate it should turn out fine. I love soups of most any kind and Ms. Kate makes soup better than anyone I know. Her best soups are generally ”cream” soups like clam chowder Nd asparagus soup etc. So, with me following her directions, we’ll give it a go and she wwon’t have to get on her feet.

I have my sermon all ready for tomorrow. It is hard to believe that I’m preaching my last sermon of 2019. I have three sermons to preach at my current church i January and then I move to the new parish I have already started working on my services and sermons for February. The big change is that now I preach every other Sunday and up there I’ll be preach every Sunday at two churches. It wil be aa lot more work. But, I love it and I volunteered for it. And God will get me through it if it is meant to be.

With that in mind, I’m gone for today. Have a blessed weekend.

Friday morning of Christmas week. So far our morning highlight has been watching the Roomba work that Julie and Jim gave us for Christmas. I had to go get it unstuck at least three times. Nothing like hearing your Robot vacuum saying “Help me, Help me!”  LOL.  So much for artificial intelligence taking over the world.

I had to take Ms. Kate to the Orthopedic Immediate Care clinic yesterday. She has something wrong with her foot but we don’t really know what. They weren’t a lot of help either. They took X-rays of her painful area and the X-rays showed that nothing was broken or cracked or chipped; but that doesn’t explain the pain she still has. They put her in a foot brace and told her to take Tylenol. So far, we don’t have any improvement. But it has been less than 24 hours since the visit so we will see. The pain isn’t constant, but when it comes, it is severe. On the way home from the clinic, we stopped at our doctor’s office and she had her bloodwork done. This morning they called with the results that her Pro-Time was out of whack  and she has to lay off of that medicine for three days. Pro-time is a blood thinner. Maybe that being out of whack is causing the pain???? So, I’ve gotten the walker out for her and we have kind of traded place in taking care of one another. It’s only fair. She has been watching after me since February.

We are still have unseasonably warm weather here.Today I think it is supposed to get to sixty. Our normal December weather should be maybe the upper forties. But —- the weather dudes say that we will be back to our forties starting next week. I guess this was just a fluke to set us all up for colds and pneumonia.  

That’s all I have for you today my friends. Have a blessed weekend.

Christmas has come and Christmas has gone and so have Julie and Jim and the pups. Ms. kate and I are back to our “normal”, whatever that might be. What I ow is that it is quiet once again in the house. There is no hustle and bustle and pups needing to be let in or let back out. And blissfully, the Hallmark Channel sappy movie channel isn’t playing on the television. I think that channel played steady for the past four days. It’s okay but, every story is the exact same with just different characters, but not necessarily different actors. LOL But they are “feel good movies” and the scenery is always good. So, only fifty-one more weeks until they start playing those shows again.

Our Christmas Eve service went very well. The Chancel choir and the Bell choir did an excellent job, and the place was full. We got to the church about twenty five minutes before the service started and I had to park way in the back of the lot. It was wonderful!!! Lots of family and visitors were in attendance. I don’t know how many folks were there but I suspect we passed the 100 mark.

As is usual, —- Ms. Kate fixed an excellent Christmas lunch for us. The kids had complained at Thanksgiving that we had not fixed turkey so Ms. Kate was determined that we were going to have turkey for Christmas. She had turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, hot rolls, corn, oyster dressing, freshly made cherry/rhubarb jelly for the rolls, and she even made an extra non-oyster dressing for Julie who doesn’t like oysters. We sent some home with the kids but we have a lot left for us to have for left-overs, for which I am glad. And, she did all of this while hobbling around on a very sore foot and using a cane. I helped her but I don’t get around as well as I used to so we looked like old people hobbling and wobbling around the kitchen. Today, I have to “put my leg on”. I didn’t wear my brace at all yesterday which was dumb on my part. Today I can tell it. By last evening, I was hunched over with my walking and that of course makes my back hurt. Yeh, nobody accuses me of being smart.

I don’t know what she did to her foot but it is swollen and very sore at the first joint where the big toe connects to the foot. She dropped something on it a few days ago and it has gotten more and more sore every day. So, we have a message in to our doctor and hopefully she can get in and have it evaluated today.

This morning, we are just lazing around here. Ms. Kate didn’t sleep all that well last night due to her foot so she is in her chair dozing on and off. We have talked bout maybe going to the movies today to see the new Star War’s movie. However, I don’t think she will be able to do the stairs in the theater, so maybe we’ll just stay home and hope the doctor’s office can work her in for an evaluation. The movie can wait until the hype all dies down and the kids are not on school vacation.

In the meantime, I’m headed to the shower and getting myself cleaned up. I hope your Christmas spirit last you all the way through 2020. Have a blessed day.

Happy Christmas Eve!!! It is going to be a warm and beautiful one around our neck of the woods. In fact we may even break a temperature record since it is supposed to go above sixty something degrees today. I love it even though it is far from normal.

We were expecting Julie and Jim here around lunch time today. They will be here until some time tomorrow afternoon They have to both work on the 26th so it makes for a short visit again. But, we’lll love every minute we get with them. But, I just got a text from them saying that she blew a tire and her spare is flat so they are waiting on road side assistance and then they need to go get a new tire. So at the moment we are conversing as to whether they are sitting along side the road and can I come get them or anything? Bless their hearts. This not the way to start a trip.

Today is Ms. Kate’s 72nd birthday. Every year that she has another birthday I give God thanks.  Back in 1993 she had two heart attacks and a double by-pass surgery. God granted us another 26 years together. Fifteen years ago she had a stroke that could easily have killed her but again God touched His healing hand on her and we have had fifteen years of blessings. So, I give God thanks every time she wakes up to another day. I can’t imagine my life without her. I can’t begin to imagine what my life would be like today had she not been with me all of these years. This year it was my turn and I took a fall that could have easily have killed me. But once again God stepped in and am alive and well to celebrate this birthday with her. God is the ultimate creator and sustainer of life. And, God has a master plan for each of us if we will just follow it. Obviously there are things that she and I individually and as a couple have yet to accomplish. So, Happy Birthday Ms. Kate. It is a blessing to be living and loving with you.

Tonight is our Christmas Eve candlelight and communion service. I hope it will be well attended. It is one of my favorite services of the year. And the weather will be perfect for folks to get out and about.
Of course that means that Christmas is tomorrow. I hope and pray that your Christmas will be fully blessed with the spirit of the Christ child. May God bless you and keep you. May God rest His countenance upon you throughout the coming year. Peace, Shalomn.

Happy Saturday the 21st of December. It is a happy day for our family; we celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday. I think it is her 48th. Gosh, in another couple of years, all of our daughters will be a half a century old! What does that make Ms. Kate and me —- Ancient??? Lisa though is our official “bringer of winter” since her birthday falls on the Winter Solstice. So, if you have cold nasty weather with snow and ice, you know who to look to. LOL

My backyard Buffet guests are fairly happy this morning. I filled the sunflower seed feeders yesterday afternoon and I also filled the safflower seed feeder so the cardinals should be very happy. There is a squirrel on each of two of the sunflower seed feeders and they will  hog those feeders for at least an hour and there will be squirrel battles as other squirrels try to move in. I didn’t fill the bark butter bits feeders because I knew they would be the target of the starlings all morning and right ow I have the starlings working on suet cakes. I told you I had a feeder that holds four suet cakes tha they were fighting over yesterday. Two of the cakes are completely gone by now and the other two are a lot smaller than they were. I bought two cases (24 packages) of suet yesterday. It a relatively cheap product to buy and the birds love it. It is a high energy food which is good for them in the winter. I also picked up a 20# bag of safflower seed because I could get it on sale. That will last me probably through January. Trying to keep up with my Backyard Buffett practically needs me to develop a spreadsheet of who like what and when to buy it. I filled up my sunflower seed can a couple of weeks ago and it is down about a fourth. I think I’ve told you I go through between 700 and 800 pounds of sunflower seed a year. My guests are completely spoiled but they return a lot of enjoyment for the cost of all of that.

Well, the country is still in turmoil as the Speaker of the House hasn’t sent the articles of impeachment over to the Senate for trial. And now everyone has gone home for Christmas vacation and won’t return for business until January 6th of 2020. I sometimes think I’d rather have a job cleaning outhouses with a spoon than to be a congressman. The product they put out is about the same but at least I would have honest work and I’d be doing the job I was actually hired to do. You know, I honesty believe that the vast majority of our elected officials go into the job with honest, well meaning intentions. But it doesn’t take long for the particanship, and quid pro-quo to set in and the ideals and morality get tossed aside and the only thing they seem to work for is their re-election. But enough of my thoughts on politics. I’m not nearly as informed as other people soI’ll just stick to whatI know —- Prayer and faith that God will not let us destroy ourselves or this wonderful country.

It’s time for a coffee refill. Y’all have a most wonderful weekend.  Shalomn.

A glorious morning to you. We slept in this morning because we sat up and watched some Food Network baking competitions until 0100 this morning. Itwasn’t that we really cared who won, I guess we just weren’t ready to go to bed yet. Of course, at 0800 we were ready to get up yet either so we lazed until about 0830 today. But, we’re retired old people, well one of us is retired,  and I reckon we can sleep in if we want to.

It has been an interesting morning at the Backyard Buffet. There are two squirrels on a thin branch in the Maple tree just across my west fence. I don’t know if they are fighting or doing a mating ritual. (I don’t mind watching their antics but I’m not going to read the squirrel sex manual.) With all of the batting around and jumping around, I don’t know how the branch doesn’t break or they don’t fall off. But the one squirrel has been taking on all other squirrels for battle to keep them way from the squirrel it has been sitting with. But then, all of the squirrels have been bonkers this morning chasing one another all through the trees and up and down my trees and over my roof and back again. .

Not to be outdone, the starlings have been here this morning en masse. I’ve had a flock of about 18 here this morning. I didn’t fill the feeders yesterday so most everything is empty. But I have a feeder that holds four suet cakes and they have been all over it. They fight and squabble and land on top of one another and peck at one another. They peck at the suet and they lose a lot of it on the ground. It doesn’t get wasted though because a bunch of them are on the ground scooping up what gets knocked off and lost. They are truly “flocking birds” because suddenly they will all take off and fly away. The slowly the scouts will come back and the next thing you know, they are all back again. You have most likely seen that same kind of action on wildlife shows where suddenly huge flock of ducks or flamingos will just suddenly all take off together and slowly return to wha they were doing. So now, —- the starlings are gone and the little woodpeckers are here at the suet feeders and looking like “What the heck happened to the food?” Don’t worry, there is still plenty out there for them. It is 35 degrees out there at the moment. When it hits 40, I’ll throw on my jacket and go feed all my babies.

We are five days away from Christmas. Are you excited? Do you plan to attend a Christmas Eve service. I hope you do. We’ll do a communion and candlelight service again this year, The bell choir will play Nd we’ll sing Silent Night in the candlelit sanctuary and it will be beautiful and heart-warming. Please take advantage  of the opportunity to go give thanks to God for the greatest gift of all time; the presence of His Son, Jesus. For what God has done for all of us, it is the very least we can do to take a couple of hours and humble ourselves before Him..

Have a blessed Friday.

Happy 22 degrees Thursday morning. At least it is just cold. There is no snow and starting around noon a warm front is moving in and for a change, it will be a dry one. I know there will be a lot of disappointed people because not only are we not going to have a “white Christmas”, it is going to be over 50 degrees. Yay us!!!! The great part about that is that we won’t have to worry about people driving through snow and ice to get to the Christmas Eve service.

I try to stay away from politics in my comments and sermons, and writing but I must vet for aa moment about what happened in this country yesterday. For the third time in our history as a country, the congress has voted to impeach the President of the United States. They have spent the last three month in a sham bunch of hearings that have cost the American tax payer over $42 million dollars just to “legalize” a foregone conclusion because the Democratic Party has the majority vote in the House of Representatives. They have gone through a litany of things they wanted to prove he did and have proved none of them and finally have voted to impeach him because he won’t play their game and they don’t like him. They basically started this process an hour after he was elected as President back in 2016. Next, it will move to the Senate where the Republicans have the majority and they will vote to keep him in office and the results is that our elected officials will have not accomplished a thing for the past three years. In the history of this country, never has so much hate rhetoric been spewed across the country and the media. 2020 is the year that we will once again elect a presidential candidate and this entire thing has been about making sure that he doesn’t get re-elected. I think he will be re-elected, in fact I hope is does. I may not like some of the things he does; he tends to act like a spoiled brat with all of his ranting on Twitter, but the country is in the best shape it has been in decades. But —- whatever your politics, I would ask that you pray for our leadership and our country.

It appears that I need to fill bird feeders today when it warms up a little. The Backyard Buffet has a lot of visitors this morning looking for food and the cupboards are pretty bare. That’s thanks to the starlings that have been coming in waves and cleaning out everything.

Time to move on. We have a few things to accomplish today once again. Have a blessed Thursday. Peace.

There is white stuff all over our ground and roofs this morning. However, it isn’t on the roads so I appreciate the “convenient” snow. And, — the sun is coming out now so that will help to eliminate the white stuff rather quickly. I certainly cannot complain. Much of the country is having terrible snow storms in the north and yesterday there were tornadoes in the south. So, we were very lucky with this storm despite all of the cold rain we had yesterday.

I have a lot of visitors at the Backyard Buffet this morning although most frequent are the starlings. I have a couple of squirrels out there and they are really “puffed up” and looking fat. The wind or breeze makes this 32 degrees feels more like 15. The birds are all puffed up too. The doves look like little grey puffballs walking around in the snow covered ground. I’ve had a few cardinals here and a wren or two as well s a few finches. Earlier I had a mockingbird here and it took on a couple of starling for a food fight. The starlings lost that battle. LOL

Ms. Kate is baking cookies this orning. Yesterday she mixed up several batches of dough, Springerlies and what we call “Georgia Ann’s Cookies”. They are an oatmeal cookie with nuts and stuff and they are a crispy cookie and they are delicious. I had some of them for my supper last night. Springerlies are a family tradition and it can’t be Christmas without them. I did ask Ms. Kate to not go overboard with cookie making this year because I know that I would eat 90% of them and I don’t need to do that. So I think this will be it for variety. She did say that she will need to make more of the oatmeal cookies because she has at least four people to make a plate of cookies up for.

Our cantata went very well on Sunday and the service was very well attended. We had 86 in church Sunday. I expect this Sunday will see the pews filled too. The children will be doing their Christmas program during the Sunday school hour and we have a baptism happening during the worship service. So, with two “special events” I expect we will have close to 100 people this Sunday. It is always wonderful to see the church pews full. I finished my sermon and service for January 19th last night. I have one more sermon to put together before I move on to the next parish on the first Sunday of February. 2019 still has three weeks to go and I’m already working on 2020 stuff. It is no wonder I never know where I am.

That is enough for today. I’ve set here long enough and I have things to get done today. Have a blessed week. Peace.

Good morning in this Friday the 13th. Can I just tell you that I am glad to be home and in my recliner in my sunporch!! Vacations are great but it is always so good to get home, sleep in your own bed, and settle in to your routine. Now of course we have to play catch up with all of the stuff we have to do but that is all good too. It’s normal and it’s routine. And —- my cup of coffee I brewed myself, tastes wonderful. I didn’t have to go to a restaurant and buy it, I did’t have to sit at a slot machine and wait for a “free” cup of coffee, I just walked to the kitchen, turned on the pot and had a fresh cup of coffee within five minutes. Life is good.

We checked out of our hotel in Las Vegas at 1100 yesterday, had breakfast, then went to the Bellagio Resort to see the beautiful Christmas decorations. Then we turned in the rental car, caught the shuttle to the airport and got through the TSA security process with little to no hassle. Then we sat for about three and a half hours and waited. The flight home was uneventful which is what you want a flight home to be. We arrived in Louisville around 2315 eastern time, got our luggage and headed home. We got home at 0100 central time.

The National Finals Rodeo was great. Of course we could have stayed home and watched it on CBS Sports but being there with 20,000 fans makes it “an event”.  Unfortunately for my sister-in-law Karen and I, we followed the crowd that was leaving and we went out the wrong door of the stadium and ended up on the opposite side of the stadium of where we needed to be to catch our bus back to the hotel. So, we walked and we walked, a minimum of a mile and a half, probably two, not really knowing where we were going but only with a “general idea”. We knew the direction we needed to be and finally got to the Hard Rock Casino and took a cab from there. I was totally worn out. That was more walking than I had done in a long time and frankly more than I want to do any time soon. Had we known exactly where we were going and had decided to walk “on purpose” it would not have been as bad; but the stress of the situation added to the misery. But —- chalk it all up to the adventure and we two 75 year olds made it just fine.

So today we unpack the suitcases and put those away for awhile. Ms. Kate wants to finish decorating the tree, I have to get the Christmas cards and my sister’s birthday card in the mail, and I have to write a homily for Sunday’s service yet. Sunday is our Christmas Cantata and I’m excited about that. We have choir practice tomorrow morning. (See, back in the routine.)

So, you have a most blessed weekend. Christmas is coming quickly. Take time to concentrate on the purpose of this special occasion and the fact that it is not about running around frantically for buying presents. Take time to be thankful thatGod loves you enough that He sent His Son Jesus to teach us how to live our lives here on earth and to open the only opportunity we have to have an eternal life in the presence of our Creator once this earthly life has finished. Peace.

Wednesday, noonish or so. We’re still here in Las Vegas and it has been a good trip so far. The penny machines haven’t beat me up too badly because I set a limit of how much damage I’ll take each day. When I reach that point, I walk away. I know there are most likely people that would think it terrible of me to be “gambling” but I have a slightly different approach to that. I guess I don’t feel guilty about it because I do have a limit that I play. Slot machines are not designed to let the player be the consistent winner. Four billion dollar hotels aren’t built by the customer takin all of the money. Therefore, to me it is just the price of entertainment for an evening. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to walk away with being a little ahead but most of the time I pay my dues and have a good time and then head back to my room.  

We’ve been watching the Wrangler Finals Rodeo and tonight sister-in-law Karen and I will go. They hve been exciting so far. There are cowboys and cowgirls, or at least a lot of “want-a-be’s” everywhere you look this week. Some of these folks wear more bling and expensive clothes that probably cost more than my new car. Sheesh!! But it is interesting to see it all and be a part of it all.

Tomorrow, we’ll check out of our room around noon and head to the airport and wit for our plane to head home. We are supposed to fly at 1450 hrs and that will put us into Louisville, KY around 2130 hrs. The we get back to the grind and get ready for Christmas. We still have presents to send out, cards to send out, cookies to bake, and a tree to finish decorating. Plus we’ll have an extra worship service to do on Christmas Eve. After that, life will settle down a bit as we go through New Years and into 2020. I still have one sermon to finish and another to write before I move to the new parish. So, I don’t have a lot of time to waste because there are things I need to do to prepare for the new job.

That catches you up with what we are doing. It may be Friday before I write again. Until then, I pray you will have aa blessed couple of days. Peace.

Good morning! I don't usually write on a Sunday morning but I haven't written in a couple of days, and I actually have a Sunday morning free. No, I haven't forgotten what I urge other to do on Sunday and I've already done my meditation with the Lord for the morning.

It has been a great last couple of days with the exception that Ms. Kate has been been sick with her cold still. Yesterday she spent a good deal of he day in the room resting. But, she feels a bit better today, or at least she sounds a bit better.

Heather and John came over Friday morning and we had a wonderful day visiting with them. Lauren came over later in the evening after she got off of work, but she spent the night with with one of her MX racing grirlfriends. Yesterday morning Lauren joined us at our hotel and we all had breakfast together. After that, we all went up to our hotel room and we exchanged our Christmas gifts with one another. Then, Ms. Kate stayed in the room while the rest of us went to the Ballagio Hotel to see their as always beautiful Christmas display. From there I brought Lauren back to the hotel to pick up her van so she could head out to Primm for an awards ceremony and end of the racing season banquet. She was recognized for being second best in the country for the year.

After we dropped Lauren off, the three of us went down to the South Pointe Hotel so we could walk around the cowboy shops and displays and maybe watch a rodeo event ot two. The place was packed. No parking to be found and cowboys and cowgirls and "looky-loos" everywhere. We decided to skip it. Instead, we headed north on I-15 and went out to Nellis Air Force Base. John had never seen it or even been on an Air Force Base so it was a good adventure for hime. I was the Commander of the 99th Security Forces Group at Nellis twenty years ago. I can't believe it has been that long. We went to the Base Exchange and I picked up a couple of things that I was wanting and then we drove around the base and I showed John what the base looked like including where the USAF Thunderbirds are housed. He thouroughly enjoyed his "mini-tour".

Last night we had a nice dinner together and they went back to their room over at the Venetian and we went back up to our room here in the Palazzo.

Today it is cloudy and looks like it could rain most any time. I'm not sure what if any plans we might have for today. It will all depend on how Ms. Kate is doing.

That catches you up . I hope your day is pleasant and full of joy. Peace.

Good morning from sunny Las Vegas. It is currently 43 degrees and will go up to 58 before the day is over.

We left yesterday morning for Louisville which is in a different time zone, an hour ahead of us. Our flight was to be at 1615 which meant we had to be there by 1415 for TSA security crap. We got there at 11330 local time and got checked in. We sat there for an hour or so and they bounced that our plane was going to be on a “weather-hold” when it arrived in Louisville because of bad weather in Las Vegas. We were informed that we would not be leaving until 1800 hrs.  Lots of grumbles went through the crowd of course. Then maybe fifteen minutes they changed the time again. Bottom line is that we actually left about thirty minutes after our scheduled departure tie and arrived her n Vegas at about 1800. Of course by the tie we got to baggage  claim, then to the rental car place and left, we didn’t get to our hotel until right at 1900. By then, we were both starved. We decided that we would just order in-room service. We checked the menu and found out that only the steak-house was still serving in-room. So, we ordered a steak to split, a couple of baked potatoes and a couple of soft drinks. It was delicious. In all of our years of traveling, I don’t now that we have ever ordered room service.

Ms. Kate has a cold which makes the trip miserable for her. She is taking her Muscinex so hopefully that will make the cold short-lived. I don’t think we have devised any plans for the day as of yet. We’ll just play it by ear and see how she feels. Although, my stomach is telling me it is time to give it some love. I guess I better cut this off then and make my self presentable.

I hope your day is fully blessed and is as bright as the sunshine I see out my window. Never forget, God loves you, and so do I. Peace.

29 degrees on this crisp Tuesday morning. At least it isn’t raining and the temperature will bounce all the way up to almost 45 today. That’s about normal for our area here in early December. There are a few high clouds out there but it sure is nice to see a lot of blue sky peeking through.

Early December, —- I can’t believe I’m saying that but here it is. 2019 has only 28 days of life left in it and we will begin a whole new year and a whole new decade. That is kind of exciting don’t you think. Although, you know I was born in 1944 and with this new year being 2020, that means I’m only two and a half decades from being 100 years old. I don’t think I want to live that long. By the time you turn 100 all of your friends are long dead, most likely even your kids are dead. And —- you really can’t take care of yourself and you have pretty much accomplished everything that God put you on earth to accomplish. Nah, I don’t need to live to be 100 years old.

We spent yesterday running around getting some things done before we head out on our vacation tomorrow. So far I’ve only gotten my suitcase out, I haven’t started actually packing it. We’re headed to Las Vegas and I checked the Accuweather predictions and they don’t look too bad. I think the highest temperature we will see is sixty-one and the lowest temperature will be in the low forties. That’s not bad at all. It certainly won’t be “short-sleeve weather” but heavy jackets won’t be required either. I hope we don’t come home to snow and crappy weather here. Right now most of the country is under some kind of winter weather watch and winter storm warnings. It is going to be that kind of year. I don’t have the snow blade on yet. We didn’t have time to do that when Jim was down. He and Julie are going to be down for a really quick trip I think on the 13th or 14th so maybe he will have time to help me get the blade on then. He is pretty quick with doing it. It is a lot easier to get the blade on my newest John Deere than it was the old one.

The Backyard Buffet is busy right now. Lots of cardinals and finches, titmouse, nuthatches, and of course starlings and blackbirds. The feeders are pretty empty but the yard is also very sloppy. They may have to just be on their own and clean up everything they have knocked on the ground. Then I will fill everything when I get back next week. They do depend on me having food and water here for the though. Well, they depend on the source, they have no idea how it gets there; although sometimes they sit on the branch and look this way and it makes me feel like they are blaming me and wondering whay I haven’t done my job. LOL

I haven’t been on y bike for a week and today I am going to get on and ride for awhile. We moved the bike out of the sunporch because Ms. Kate doesn’t want to ride it out here because it is too cold for her. The bike is now in the dining room and I look out the dining room window. BUt, it is what it is. I’ve alwys got my headphones on and am watching You Tube videos when I ride anyway so I guess it makes no difference.

Having said that, it is time to get busy. I pray you will have a blessed day. Peace.

And a happy rainy Saturday to you. Today we celebrate not only the end of a week but also the end of a month. November 2019 is done as of midnight tonight never to return. Did you ever wonder about things like where does time go? I mean, the “present” is so very fleeting. The time it took me to write these two sentences will never be back again. Did I make good use of the time or did I waste it? I don’t know and will never know. Stephen King wrote a novel called “The Langoliers” that addresses the subject. And since he did, I think I will not dwell on it for the moment. But if you find yourself wanting something to do, I recommend the book.

Thanksgiving is all over. lie and Jim have gone home. Ms. kate and I have a bunch of stuff to do today and I’m afraid we won’t have time (there’s that word again) to get it all done. We really don’t want to get out in the rain and run around although the Black Friday people should have been satisfied yesterday and maybe won’t be on the road today. Hopefully this rain will let up and we can get out and do our stuff. We are supposed to go to a wedding celebration at the church this afternoon.

I got the Christmas tree assembled and all of the lights work on it. Actually we put up a small second one too in the dining room. It is up to Ms. Kate to decorate them however she wants. We actually had our Thanksgiving meal in the dining room and used the good china. That is the first time in maybe five years. I find it amazing that we have rooms in our house that we don’t use. We have a fairly large    Living room that is wall to wall with relatively expensive furniture and antiques and we use it on Christmas Day and that is it. We have a dining room that we apparently use once every five years and it too is wall to wall furniture. But, the family room and the kitchen are where we spend our time. There is nothing new about that concept though. Remember, —- your grandma probably had a “parlor” that you never went into either except to sit (and I do mean sit) and visit with company. I listen to all of my HGTV House Hunter shows and the biggest common claim is “it’s too small”. The real issue I thin is that people have and want too much.

I guess I better quit now. It has stoped raining and I need to get showered and ready to do some stuff. Have a great weekend. Peace.

“Black Friday”!!! I see I forgot to finish yesterday’s blog so I just hit publish for it this morning.

I was telling yu about the wine I had selected for our meal yesterday. Unfortunately it wasn’t that great. It had really taken on the taste of the cork I guess. It had a very “earthy” taste. It wasn’t bad enough to throw down the drain but it wasn’t great either. But, Karen and I drank it. I’ve had a lot worse wine.

Did you get up early and rush out and join the maddening crowd of Black Friday shoppers? I don’t think you could pay me to get out there. All of the pushing and shoving and grabbing stuff off of the shelves. I’ve  never actually seen it all happen but my mind tells me what people are like and I see it on television. Then of course there is the traffic and trying to find a parking spot. But —- we know people that just seem to live for Black Friday shopping. They gather their friends or siblings and make a day of it. They claim it to be so much fun, but I just can’t see it. Thank goodness Ms. Kate does our shopping for us. I’ve got the imagination of an aardvark when it come to buying presents. Ms. Kate’s birthday is Christmas Eve so I have to look extra hard for a present. I try to insure that she gets to se that we are celebrating her birthday one day and Christmas the next. She grew up with them always being combined so she technically missed a lot of birthdays. But, she did give an idea of a category to shop from this year, so I at least have a place to start. I may have to wait until we get back from vacation to shop for her.

It’s a grey day, low forties and we’re expecting a lot of rain between now and Sunday, maybe as much as two inches. Yesterday afternoon, Jim got up on my roof with the leaf blower and blew off the gutters and the sunporch roof. It was packed with leaves so I am really grateful he did that. That would have been a lot of weight when it got wet and froze and created an ice dam up there. I’ve had that happen before and it starts to melt and then drips down into the sun porch. Not a good thing. I couldn’t believe how much stuff he blew off of there. I think all of the leaves fro the one poplar tree must have gone over on the roof because there certainly wasn’t that much in the yard this fall. And, since the wind has taken all of the leaves off of he trees by now, I won’t have to worry about it building up again.

Time to go put the Christmas tree together and see if it all lights up. If it does that will be aa great thing. I reckon a lot of Christmas trees will go up around America today. My daughter Lisa said they are decorating today and daughter Heather said they are already done. Julie doesn’t decorate at her place because they come down here for Christmas.

Lunch was super yesterday and today Julie has fixed chicken and dumplings for our lunch. Tis the season to be eating!! Have a most wonderful day. Just because Thanksgiving Day is over doesn’t mean you are allowed to quit being grateful. Peace.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you! It is a 35 degree morning and cloudy It is supposed to be cloudy most of the day and only get up to about 43. That is very typical weather for around here for Thanksgiving. The horrible winds have died down and moved on to the east coast where it will are for dangerous traveling conditions for a lot of people So, offer a prayer for safe travels for all of those folks either trying to get to families or perhaps trying to escape from families. LOL

Julie and Jim and the pupperonis came down late yesterday evening. It’s always good to have tem in the house. Us old people need a little chaos in our lives once in a while. With dogs wanting in and out constantly and conversations gong on, it is nice to settle in to a little noise once in awhile instead of the tomb-like nature of just Ms. Kate and I settling in our peace and quiet.

This morning we were up at 0630 so Ms. Kate could get the rolls ready to rise for a few hours and sh could prep the ham. We are having a fresh ham for lunch so it will be like a bone-in pork roast. It looks delicious. She cut a checkerboard pattern on the skin-cp and put garlic cloves, salt and pepper in it and now it will set and rest for awhile. When it is about done she plans to do a pineapple marmalade glaze on it; so it should really be delicious. Pork roast is one of my favorite meats / meals.  I don’t know what else she has planned but I suspect sweet potatoes, corn, broccoli, cranberry sauce, the rolls and then brownies for desert. It will be delicious no matter what she fixes. I just brought up a bottle of my “special wine”, a 1983 Spatelese that I brought back from Germany many years ago. Karen and I never got around to celebrating our 75th birthdays together this summer so I’ve saved  this wine for that occasion today. I really hope it is still good and has not turned to vinegar. That can happen sometimes.

Hang on to your hat or it will be in the next county before you can catch it. It’s a beautiful looking day out there and in fact it doesn’t feel too bad. But it is 46 degrees and the wind is 24 mph. I have a couple of substantial limbs down that I will have to clean up when all of this dies down. My shed door was blown open and the cover has blown off of my John Deere. This wind advisory is supposed to go until around 1500 hours today. Julie and the pups are coming down later this afternoon. Hopefully the wind will die down before she gets on the road. She has a small car and it is a bit “boxy” and I wouldn’t want her to get blown off the road.

One thing the wind has accomplished is that the trees around my yard and perimeter are all totally nude now. If we could get a couple of nice days in a row, I could get all of the lean=vets cleaned up and mulched up for the winter. But —- that is not likely to happen any time soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be okay but then rain on Friday and Saturday and into Sunday. BTW, I listened to the winter forecast last night and it is predicted to be snowier than last year, especially in February. So, at some point I better get the snow blade on the John Deere. Basically he said colder and wetter than last year. It was not what I was hoping for. Of course, if I would retire like guys my age are supposed to do, it wouldn’t bother me; I’d just stay home. But not me —- I gotta go to work which means I gotta get the snow off of the drive way. I do make my own trouble.

The Blue Jay is out there fussing at the squirrel because it is on the feeder it wants to eat from. The squirrels are doing acrobatics this morning through the trees. They are jumping from one tree to the next and they land on such small limbs that I don’t know how the limbs don’t break. It is both fascinating and fun to watch.  I have a lot of guests braving the wind this morning to come in and eat. I did get to Wild Birds and pick up some more products. I still haven’t picked up sun flower seed . The car was full of groceries so I didn’t have room for any forty pound bags of birdseed. I could go today and get a couple of bags. All of the feeders are full now but the can is empty. I should probably take advantage of a sunny day, wind or no wind.

That’s it for today. Have a wonderful week. I hope you have the chance to be with loved ones and if you don’t, think about maybe going and helping at a shelter to serve food. It will warm your heart and make you thankful for what God has blessed you with. Peace.

It’s not a matter of “if” it rains today but rather “when” it rains today. We are totally cloud covered and the day looks very gloomy out there. We have a wind advisory for later today and in to tomorrow.  And, — we are expecting rain on and off through the weekend although Thanksgiving day looks to be fairly good, but cold. Ms. Kate and I have some running around to do today and we should probably do it sooner rather than later. Although we are supposed to meet my sister and a friend for dinner at 1700 and it will most likely be raining then. Tis what it is. I’m looking forward to hearing my preferred weather guy give his “winter forecast” this evening. He is fairly accurate or at least as accurate as weather folks can get. Last night he mentioned that he would be giving it tonight and his only hint was that this year is going to be different than last year. Now —— if I could just remember what last year was like. LOL. I don’t think we had a lot of snow last year and the weather guy from another channel has already predicted that we will have maybe as much as 17 inches this year. So, I reckon we’ll just wait and see what Wayne has to tell us. It’s all just an educated guess anyway. And —— I still haven’t seen any wooly worms.

Last night we had the annual “Hanging of the Greens” at church and our folks got the class rooms and sanctuary all decorated for Christmas. It looks beautiful of course but it always does.  As I said yesterday, they put the same decorations up every year. I love my church. It is a beautiful church. It isn’t ornate but it is very classy. The lines are clean, the stained glass windows are beautiful and when you walk in, it gives you, or at least me, a feeling that it is a place where you really want to worship. Not all churches give off that aura. I’ve been to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican and it is simply overwhelming with the art and history and magnificence. But, personally, I found it so overwhelming that it didn’t allow you to find peace. A person is so busy looking at the art and decor that they can’t find God. Does that make sense to you?? My home church and the two churches I’m soon going to allow you to find the peace of God in the simplicity. It is kind of like like the difference between staring at the Grand Canyon and staring at a rose. —— Wow, that got deep in a hurry, didn’t it?

Time for me to get cleaned up and get ready to go shopping. The list is short but the locations are all over town.  This could take awhile. You have yourself a most blessed day. Don’t forget; God loves you and is waiting to hear from you. Peace.

Thanksgiving week and this morning we have a lot to be thankful for. The sun is shining, the temperature might be a tad cool but we are going up to sixty-three degrees today This Tuesday we will be having an afternoon dinner with my sister and her friend. Then on Wednesday Julie will be down with the pups and Thursday Jim will arrive and sister-in-law Karen will be joining us for the Thanksgiving meal. Sunday I think we will be going up to Karen's house for Thanksgiving lunch. So, lots of fellowship this week. And --- the church office will be closed this week so no office hours on Wednesday or Thursday. That makes it feel like a vacation week.

Tonight we will be doing our Hanging of the Greens to decorate the church. There will be pizza first and then the flurry begins. I'll go but I'm zero help, so I'll "walk around and be seen" and drink coffee. It will take them a couple of hours and that is about all. Our Sunday school class decorated their tree yesterday so all of us "old people" don't have to get out at night tonight. Zoar is like every other church that I know if; they put up the same decorations every year in the same spots. The only thing that changes is the people that do it. The task drops down to a younger crew each year as it get harder and harder for folks to get up on ladders. I guess you could call it "the passing of the ornament".

We finished up two of our charity drives at church yesterday. For Operation Christmas Child we filled thirty-three shoe boxes. Then for the local food bank we collected 337 can of corn. I'm really proud of our church because they really do a lot for missions around the world and here at home. That is after-all where the church truly is; outside the door of the church building. I'm really pleased with our youth teachers and leders because they constantly have something going for the kids to help with or some drive going. Last month they were collecting socks for needy children through some program They were trying to collect 200 pair of childrens socks. I'm not sure how many pair they ended up with but I do know that the box was overflowing. Teaching a child to give at an early point in their life will develop them into tithing member for later life.

I had lots of cardinals at the Backyard Buffet this morning. I still have not made it to the two stores to get more bird feeding products. That is on my list for today after I leave the office. Ms. Kate has decided that she wants to also get a turkey for either Thanksgiving or for after Thanksgiving. Right now her plan is to bake a fresh ham. But, dressing, and oyster dressing does not go with ham.

Well, I'm at work so I should probably dedicate at least some of my time to doing some work. I'm working on my January 19th sermon so there is plenty of time; but --- I might as well get it done.
I hope you have a wonderful day.

Again Bullwinkle??? Do we have to have rain every morning?? Mother Nature is sure being a downer. It is raining and forty-one and not a bit of sunshine anywhere. If I didn’t have so darned much to be thankful for, —- I might be in a grumpy mood. But, instead I’ll just sit here and watch this silly squirrel be frustrated because it can’t get into the feeder it is trying to rob from.

Speaking of feeders, I need to fill them all again and I really need to go to Wild Birds and Things. They have a good sale going on and I’m in need of several items. I still haven’t made it to Pet Foods either to get more sunflower seed. I may have enough to do another filling but that would be all. The can will be empty. Just maybe it will quit raining today and we can go this afternoon. Of course it is going to be sloppy to walk around out in the yard.

Finches, sparrows, a pair of nuthatches, a couple of cardinals, and a large red-headed woodpecker are all my guests this morning. And of course old “swishy-tail”. Squirrel finally gave up and went off to the neighbor’s yard. It won’t get much there, Their feeders are empty too. They only put out a couple.  Using my house as the center, there are eight houses surrounding me and only one other house has feeders out all the time. So there is little wonder that my Backyard Buffet is successful. And I have more foliage like azaleas  and plants for them to hide in. It does make a good habitat for them.

I spent a few hours addressing Christmas cards yesterday. I addressed 70 so far and those were just to church families. Ms. Kate had to put some more together last evening because I used up most of what she had made. This morning I’ll finish up our list and that job will be done. As soon as Thanksgiving is over they will all go in the mailbox and that chore, (I mean joy) will be done for another year. At least we don’t send out “brag letters” anymore. As a matter of fact, we don’t get many of those any more either. Maybe it is because like us, all of the folks we used to send them to have gotten old along with us and their kids are all grown and gone too. And, many of the relatives that we used to send them too have passed away.

That’s about enough for today. It is Saturday and that means you have an appointment with God at some point this weekend for worship. Don’t put it off because of bad weather or something. After all —- God doesn’t put you off. Peace.

It’s Friday morning and a forty one degree chilly one. It isn’t raining —- at the moment. It has been and will some more before the day is over. Yuk. Why do I think this going to be a very “winter blahs” year? Perhaps it is because it isn’t even winter or even Thanksgiving yet and we are already tired of crappy rain and cold weather. Our November’s are usually  sunnier and brighter than this.

Ms. Kate was up early today. I woke up when she got up but I lay there and dozed on and off for another hour. I was having a really weird dream, one of those that you go in and out of. Ms. Kate and I were on a large helicopter with a bunch of Air Force General Officers and high ranking civilians and we were flying over a flooded Manhattan Island and we landed on a tarmac somewhere that was obviously a military base. She and I stayed on the chopper while everyone else went to tour the damage. We could see the ocean lapping waves up on to the tarmac and getting higher. That was when I woke up. So, —- one of you “dream interpreters” please tell me what that was all about. I haven’t a clue.

A week from today —- Thanksgiving will be all done and we’ll be looking December straight in the face. We are only thirty three days away from Christmas as of today. Ms, Kate and I will be losing eight days of time to get things done because we will be leaving on vacation. Lots todo, lots to do. Ms. kate has I think completed making all of the Christmas cards. I started addressing them last night and my plan today is to finish that. She does such a beautiful job of making her cards. People do seem to enjoy receiving them and I can certainly understand why.

The squirrels re fussing about something this morning. There is probably a cat in the yard or the neighbors yard. Although I saw the hawk flying around the area his morning too. So maybe the squirrel are giving the early warning.

My first cup of coffee is about gone so I think I’ll grab my portable Bose speaker and IPad and go to the kitchen table, put on some Christmas music and address Christmas cards. Sounds like a perfect thing to do on a gloomy weather day.  I hope your day though is “merry and bright”. Think only good thought. Peace.

Another yuk weather day. But, it isn’t freezing cold and or snowing, so I guess a rainy, cloudy, windy, 51 degree day beats the alternatives.

It isn’t quite noon yet but getting close. I’ve spent my morning here in the sun porch. I’ve played my two daily computer games; Criminal Case and Bingo Bash. I’ve spent more than enough time reading  Facebook comments and articles that people post. I’ve had a couple of Facebook Messenger chats with folks, and I’ve spent an hour on “the bike” and rode a little over seven miles. And —- I’m only on my second cup of coffee.

It has rained on and off all morning. It hasn’t been a down pour, but waves of showers that come in and last maybe fifteen minutes and then fade away. Between the water on the dry leaves making them heavy,  and the breeze, the leaves are really falling from the trees all around the neighborhood. The trees in my yard and the maples in the neighbors trees to the south and west are mostly bare. But looking through the yards to the west over to the next street, it look like an orange colored snow fall. I have a row of red flame bushes that line the south fence here in the backyard. They have yet to lose their leaves.

My Backyard. Buffet guests this morning have been mostly finches. I’ve only seen a couple of cardinals, a starling or two, a mockingbird and a dove. The squirrels have been having trouble this morning trying to climb the metal shepherd’s crook poles. There was one squirrel that I know tried two dozen time to make it up the five foot of pole and just kept sliding back down. It was amusing to watch while I was riding the bike.

Yesterday being Wednesday, of course I had office hours in the morning. After I left the office, I picked up Ms. Kate and we went to to Bob’s house and “made a turnip run”. I got maybe a dozen from him and they are really good and sweet. I think he probably has another thousand still in the ground and we are surprised they haven’t frozen yet. But, I pulled one and trimmed it. Ms. Kate washed it and peeled it and said it was really good. She does like her raw turnips. Neither of us would give you a penny for a gallon of cooked turnips, but peel, slice, salt and eat is the way to go. My mother used to cook them and I don’t even like the smell of cooked turnips.

If and when it quits raining today, Ms. Kate and I have to go do some grocery shopping and I unfortunately have to go to Wild Birds and Things. I’m out of a couple of things. And I should go to Pet Foods too and get some sunflower seed for my cardinals and all of their friends including the fat bushy tailed ones. Unfortunately that also means I have to get out of my very comfortable sweats and put my brace on. I try to do without my brace as much as possible when I’m just around the house and not going downstairs. It gets easier to get around without the brace all he time. I just know that Achilles’ tendon is growing back. I have to be careful though because turning wrong tends to trip me up and I wouldn’t want to damage what has healed and ot maybe even break an ankle. That would totally suck. So, when I go out of the house or down the stairs, I put my brace on.

That about does it for the day. Have a blessed day. Do something nice for someone and be thankful to God for the opportunity. Peace.

A gloomy Tuesday afternoon. It seems our pattern is “one nice day, followed but several gloomy days”. We keep hearing about a coming warm up to where the temps will actually get up to around sixty but that hasn’t happened. Now the forecasters are saying sixty or above for Thursday —— but —- let’s add a couple inches of rain to that. That’s no bueno.

It is 1330 hours and Ms. Kate just fixed a wonderful Brunch for us of eggs, fresh sausage patties, and sausage/milk gravy. It made my tummy happy. We needed something a little bland. Last night we had split pea soup that she had made. We don’t think the peas were quite cooked enough because they were only slightly hard. But, the results have been “dis-gas-trous”. We need to put the test of it back on the stove and cook it some more.

Our only item of “gotta do” today was a visit from our furnace guy. It was time for the winter check up and servicing. Other than putting in a new “Heppa-filter” everything looked good. It is hard to believe that our “new furnace” is almost fifteen years old. Time sure does fly. That means that most of our appliances are starting to see some years. We bought our washer and dryer and one freezer when we moved in here in 2001. In 2003 we bought a new A/C unit. Stuff will be twenty years old before we know it and I’ll be buying replacement this and replacement that. It’s a good thing I don’t quit working.

I’ve been putting together Advent Worship services this morning. I had two of the done but Art asked me if I would do the other two so while the furnace guy was here, I did that. That takes care of all of the services for December now.

I think that is all I have for today. Try to stay warm and dry. Peace.

Monday morning and what in the world am I doing up at 0630? Well, I woke up at 0500 for a necessary trip and just never really went back to sleep. I hate it when my eyes want to close and my brain keeps reaching over and pulling them open. “Let’s think about Christmas”, my brain says. “How are we going to get the tree up the stairs this year.” “What ornaments is Kate going to want to put on the tree this year? She doesn’t want to use the same ones we used the last three years.” How many boxes are you going to have to haul up and down the basement steps, and can you even get to the ornaments in the basement?” “Or is she going to want the ones that are out in the garage storage area?” —- See what I mean? My brain was being a pain in the rear this morning. And let’s not even talk about the three sermons and. Newsletter article that are rattling around in there waiting to come out. So, at 0630, I turned off the alarm and got up and made the coffee.

We had a good church service yesterday. I’m guessing about 75-80 people there. It always looks slight but then you see the choir of fifteen come in and the ladies working the nursery and children’s church and the numbers jump up. Next week our numbers will drop slightly as I guess six to eight of our snow-birds take off for Florida for the winter. Some of them gave me good-bye hugs yesterday as they will not be back before Kate and I head off to our new parish in Ft. Branch come February 1st. Believe it or not that time is approaching faster than it seems. I’m working on my final three sermons for January at Zoar Church and then I’ll start working on my stuff for the new job. I ordered a new pulpit robe for the new job. Since I’ll have two churches I’ll need a robe for each one so I don’t have to pack them back and forth. I had a second robe when I was pastor of those two church the last time but I gave their current pastor one of them. I don’t know if he still has it or not, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve ordered the new one and it wasn’t all that expensive and I can write it off on taxes.

The place I had my minor surgery on is still draining. It doesn’t hurt but is a pain but the butt to have to deal with. BUt better it drains than closes up and get re-infected again. Dr. Jackson said that could happen and if so, it will take a larger incision. I don’t seem to be able to do anything simple. Gotta drag it out.

Time for me to get cleaned up and ready for my morning at the office. It is cloudy and gloomy outside but I hope your morning spirit is full of sunshine. Ne’er forget that God loves you, —- and so do I. Peace.

A blessed Saturday morning to you. The sun is shining and it is 34 degrees going up to 44 today or at least that is what is predicted. There is however, a very stiff wind blowing out there so I suspect it would be pretty uncomfortable unless you had a good jacket on.

We had a pretty good day yesterday. We started off by going to Sam’s Club for some items Ms. Kate wanted. We came home, put that stuff way and then headed to St. Joe Inn to meet Brenda and Bob for lunch. Lunch was good but not as good as usual. I guess every restaurant can have an “off” day. But, —- the conversation and company were excellent so I have no complaints. I was glad to see that Bob was looking a lot better. He fell face first on his concrete patio last week and really banged himself up. Had to have four stitches across the bridge of his nose. His eyes were blackened but most of that is gone now and he had the stitches removed on Thursday. I’m not sure but I think that Bob must be about 87 by now. Brenda has her 65th birthday today. I need to send her a birthday text.

After lunch, Ms. Kate and I came home and I spent some time filling bird feeders. My guests started flying in almost immediately. This morning I have had a lot of guests already including a couple of squirrels. At the moment we are “between courses”, and only a couple of chickadees and finches are around.

I had my surgery yesterday and it was indeed minor surgery. Dr. Jackson opened and drained this spot on my neck. It was really big, or maybe seemed bigger than it really was, I don’t know. It was at least the size of a silver dollar. Doc said it was just an infection that had grown. He lanced it and drained it and cleaned it; then just bandaged it. He said he wasn’t going to stitch it because he wanted it to remain open so it could continue to drain if it needed to. It did drain some more last evening and Ms. Kate changed the bandage, and then changed it again this morning. My next hurts this morning and that is expected. But, — this too shall pass in a day or two. I’m just glad it wasn’t anything to worry about.

Today, Ms. Kate and I will finish doing the laundry, and I’ll get on the bike for a ride and maybe she will too. I need to check and see if the BMV is open this morning and go get my license plate for the new car too. Then this afternoon I’ll go over my sermon again in preparation for tomorrow, and maybe do some more work on the sermon I’m writing.  I started on my sermon for January 12th, 2020. I got a page and a half written last night while I was watching television.

So, that is my day. I hope you have a great day and that is full of blessings. Do something nice for someone today and it will increase your own blessings ten-fold. Peace.

“Hello Thursday my old Friend; it’s nice to see you once again.” (hummed to the song “Sound of Silence”). What can I say, it is going to be one of those kind of mornings. It is a beautiful morning; thirty two degrees already. That sure beats the eight degrees we had yesterday. I thik we are supposed end up in the lower forties today which would be great. Maybe all of this silly snow will melt today.

I waste a lot of time playing a computer game called “Criminal Case”. Easy “case” should maybe take a couple of weeks if you are a normal person and don’t rush things. I on the other hand am not a normal or patient person. Thursday morning is “new case morning, or t least it is for me. I found out quickly that I can play it on my IPad until I run out of “energy” but then I can move to my computer and play with a fully charged energy bank. And —- I can do this a couple of times a day when I get time to waste and viola’, I’ve finished the entire case by Sunday night or Monday morning. Then I have to sit in “time out” and wait until they give me a new case on Thursday morning. So, —- right now I’m procrastinating and delaying my start on a new case for a few minutes.

Chris, from our yard crew that we hire, came by yesterday and moved the first of our large azaleas from the west fence line to up here by the house yesterday afternoon. We have another two or three to move before the city comes along and starts to clear out the sewer line easement line. We were told that we had until the end of October to get ready for that project but —- now, I don’t know. I was told by a city worker out here marking the area that the city only got one bid to do this huge project and it was way out of line for what they had money to pay. So, heck, this could go on for another ten years. In the meantime, we are doing our part.

Speaking of moving those plants, —- the birds and especially the cardinals are going to love the move. It will give them good cover right up here by there favorite feeders. I absolutely have to fill feeders today. I didn’t have a chance to do it yesterday and many of the feeders are empty today. And now that it is starting to warm up again, it won’t be as bad to be out there doing it.

Our “pig” is ready for pick up at the butcher shop. I told you that we bought a pig from Brenda and Andy and they delivered it to the butcher shop on Halloween. So it has been butchered, cured, some of it smoked and is ready to bring home and put in our freezer. I have no idea how much it will weigh or how much room it is going to take up. What I do know is that we are going to be having a delicious pork roast for Thanksgiving and I’m looking forward to that. I love a good pork roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, hot rolls, brussel sprouts  and corn. Throw in some pumpkin pie and whipped cream and life is just heavenly.

I’ve delayed my game long enough. You have a blessed day. Peace.

Fifteen degrees with a fourteen mph wind equals a “real feel” of one degree this morning. We have maybe an inch of snow out there but the rain yesterday with the sudden temperature drop has left the streets covered with black ice. Schools have been cancelled and my clergy meeting for this morning has been cancelled. So, I have zero reason to venture out into this weather and I don’t intend to. I have the USPS app on my IPad and IPhone that tells me what will be coming in the mail today and I already know it won’t be worth trying to walk down my driveway for. Nope, I’m staying put.

I tried last night to go to the church for the monthly council meeting. I drove about four miles and the wind was driving the snow so hard that it was a virtual “white-out”. I decided to not chance going any further and turned around and came back home. I found out though that Pastor Art and I were the only two that didn’t go. I make no apologies. Old dogs get to be old dogs by being smart dogs.

I have lots of guests here this morning at the Backyard Buffet. As I expected, the starling were here in force first thing this morning and being bullies to the other birds and to each other. They re some grubby, greedy, nasty birds with all of the pecking and flapping at one another. They were here enforce for about thirty minutes and have somewhat now dispersed. Now the cardinals, finches, wrens, junkos, woodpeckers, doves, and mockingbirds are all here. I’ll probably need to fill feeders again tomorrow. But, it will have to warm up some before that happens. Yesterday, I was sitting here in my recliner and saw a huge hawk just kind of drop from a tree limb right in to its prey. I don’t know if it got a small bird or a mouse or a vole. Whatever, it sat right there and ate it and then flew off and sat on the neighbors roof. It didn’t give so much as a “howdy” or a “thank-ya’ kindly”. It just literally ate and ran.

I guess I’ll do some writing today or I’m sure there are something around here that Ms. Kate might want me to do. And I need to get on my bike and ride a few miles. It’s great to be able to ride aa few miles and only have to see snow and not actually be out in it.

Y’all stay safe and warm today. Peace.

It is forty seven outside right now. If that pleases you, ya' better get out there and enjoy it because that will be the high and the weather is going to hell in a handbasket quickly today. We are looking for rapidly dropping temperatures, rain, and then rain turn to a winter mix, followed by all snow. If the temperature gets above twenty degreees tomorrow, it will be surprising. Welcome to an early winter. I simply say --- YUK!!!!!

I'm at work this morning and will be continueing to work on a sermon that I started on the other night. Then, Pastor Art and I are going to met for lunch at the Lamasco Bar and Grill. Today is spaghetti day and I've told you how much I enjoy their spaghetti. I don't think Ms. Kate will be going with us today. She is home working on craft stuff for Christmas and Advent and still making Christmas cards. She has made Advent Calendar Boxes for each of the girls and we need to get those filled and in the mail so that they have them on the 1st of December. Besides, it is going to be getting cold and she doesn't want any part of that. LOL. 

Tonight we have a church council meeting. I hope it is snowing too hard. There won't be much of an accumulation by then but I don't like to drive in it. I'm getting old and only like to drive on bright sunny dry days. LOL But, I'm hoping our search committee will have some good news aboutfinding a candidate for us. You might wonder why Pastor Art and I couldn't be called to be the permmanent pastors. Well, the simple reason is that it is against the rules. Beside this church really needs a much younger pastor than what either one of us is. We have a lot of our members that are in their early thirties and have kids so they need a pastor that is energetic and can relate, not two old dudes that have been around forever. --- Of course I say that as I'm getting ready to go take on a Yoked parish for maybe five years or more; so where's the logic. 

I went out yesterday afternoon as I was filling the bird feeders in preparation for this cold snap, and I decided that I would maybe jump on the "backyard John Deere" and mulch up the leaves. BUt, as luck would have it, the battery was dead as a doornail. I gues I could try to get the little self propelled mower out of the shed and try it out. I haven't used it in two years. I assume it might work. It will be a pain in the rear to get it out. And by now, I'll have to wait a few days for the snow to melt and the leaves to dry some. 

Well, I have an hour left to work on my sermon so I better get to it. Have a blessed week. 

It’s a partly cloudy, balmy thirty two degrees this morning. Doesn’t that just make you want to grab a lawn chair and go sit outside?? yeh, right. At least the wind isn’t more than a couple of miles per hour. You can see the leaves moving but the ones that are falling from the trees are falling almost straight down.

There are a couple of squirrels zipping through the trees in the yards around me with their tails a swishing. The trees surrounding my yard are all big enough that the branches practically touch one another. So it is a virtual squirrel interstate out there. The squirrels jump from one tree to the next all around my yard and into my trees at an amazingly fast pace. They look almost animated and cartoonish sometimes.

I have a couple of woodpeckers and a few finches here this morning. It is still early so the cardinals have not arrived just yet. I give them another thirty minutes or so before they arrive. I had a couple of starlings come by for a quick bite or two about twenty minutes or so ago. But they didn’t stay long. I don’t know what’s up with that. They generally come in and seem to never leave.

I went to Walgreens like I told you yesterday and picked up my prescription. Dr. Jackson prescribed some antibiotic pills for this place on my neck. I don’t know what that is supposed to do for it but I hope it helps to shrink it. I feel like I look like Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I know it isn’t near as big as I imagine it to be but it feels huge to me. Dr. Jackson with a scalpel is not a thing I want to see next Friday.

So, I wrote my last sermon for 2019 last night. I’ll give it on the 29th of December. I have three more sermons to write for Zoar Church before I move on to the parish in Ft. Branch. I’ll give those three, on the last three Sunday’s of January 2020. Who would have thought I’d still be serving as a pastor in 2020, let alone starting a brand new adventure and job for an undetermined amount of time. I feel so extremely blessed to be afforded this opportunity. I’ve said it any times before and I’ll continue to say it; “I love being given the honor and privilege of preaching and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” I believe there are “Ministers” and there are “Pastors”, and I believe there is a very distinct difference between the two. I hope I’m always considered a “good pastor”. Having that said at my funeral would be a validation of my work and life.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I hope you plan to spend some time at your favorite house of worship. If you don’t have one, take a chance and attend one. People might look at you and wonder who the stranger is; but God will be smiling because God will recognize that one of His children just walked in. Have a blessed day.

There used to be a saying that “It is colder than a well digger’s butt”. I don’t know how cold a well digger’s butt gets however, it is 29 degrees outside with with a real feel of 20 degrees. But, from the inside of the sunporch, it looks beautiful because the sun is shining brightly. I’m watching the leaves fall from the neighbor’s maple trees. Thankfully there is very little breeze this morning so the leaves are falling fairly straight to the ground instead of over into my yard. I have enough leaves in my yard that need to be cleaned up.

I thought that today was going to be a sloppy clothes day but I have to go to Walgreens and pick up a prescription. So, while I’m out I might as well get a haircut too. Then I might as well take Ms. Kate with me and have lunch out. See how it just expands?? LOL. I’ve gotten in touch with my doctor because i have a huge lump on the back of my neck that I suspect is an out of control keloid that has grown exponentially in the last couple of weeks for some reason. Keloids are common and there is no real treatment or prevention. They generally come from scar tissue etc. But this one has just grown so quick and it hurts to touch and I haven’t had any scars there. Dr. Jackson had me send him a couple of pictures of it and then he prescribed some medicine. I suspect it will be steroid pills. Then next Friday I have to see him and he will decide if he needs to surgically remove it or not. This silly thing has gotten big enough that it bothers me to have my shirt collars touch it. So, hopefully the medicine will take care of it. I don’t want to have a sixth surgery this year. But, what will be — will be and I totally trust Dr. Jackson. If he says it needs to come out, it needs to come out.

As I look around the yard, I guess I’m going to have to throw a jacket on and fill the bird feeders again. The bark-butter paste feeders are empty. The woodpeckers are finishing up the last bits of that. The squirrels have emptied a couple of the sunflower seed feeders so I need to fill those too. My can is less than half full so I’ll need to be picking up at least one forty pound bag of sun flower seed. The electric bird feeder has been a hit this morning. The non-electric one is frozen over so they are coming to the heated one.

I had a strange dream last night. I basically “wrote a sermon” in my dream, (I guess I was dreaming. It went through my mind regardless of whether I was asleep or not.) It was a very powerful sermon, much more conservative than I usually give and certainly more conservative than what is preached in my denomination these days. It still is going through my mind today so I am going to put it to paper and hold on to it. I’m sure there is a reason it has come to me and a place for me to give it.

Okay, Walgreens called and said my prescription is ready so I need to go pick it up. Maybe I’ll just stay in my comfortable clothes and forget about the haircut etc. In the meantime - you have a most blessed day. Peace

Rainy and cold are the watch-words of the day. No matter how you slice it, it still comes out miserable. And it is supposed to get colder tomorrow.

I had my six month check up and follow-up with my orthopedic surgeon today and it was all good news. I know the ankle and leg is doing so much better and and is getting stronger. The doctor was thrilled though. He felt of the area and said that it is possible that the Achilles’ tendon is in fact regenerating. The area is strong and thickening. I have good strength and zero infection in the ankle and the scar has healed perfectly. I walk well on flat surfaces without my brace although I don’t temp too many stairs and I trying to not take any chances with the ankle. Sometimes it really gets tired and sometimes I tend to limp even with the brace on. But if that thing does regenerate, —- it will be a pure miracle from God because it is extremely rare for that to happen. Frankly, even if it doesn’t regenerate, my healing has been a pure miracle from God. I give God all of the credit. He wants to see me one more time in six months to check my progress and then will release me. Again, “Thank you God”.

I got started on my December 29th sermon last night; nothing more than some scribbles and the scriptures that I want to use. But, it is a start I certainly have plenty of time to get it written but I want to stay way ahead of my work. One never knows when a surprise funeral could pop up or some other thing, so I write ahead.

I don’t have much for you today. I just wanted to to share with you God’s great handi-work. Now I need to get on my recumbent bike and ride a few miles before I give in to the recliner for my nap. Have a great day my friends and ty to stay warm. Peace.  

Good morning! Did you wake up feeling blessed today? I did; —- not for any special reason just a general feeling of being blessed that I had another day here on earth. You know, some days a person just needs to open their eyes in the morning  and before their feet hit the floor, stop and say “Good morning  God, thanks for giving me another day to do something for somebody, even if today it is only for myself.” You know, we sometimes forget that we need to take care of our self too.

It is a cloudy day and I think it is forecast to be this way most of the day. Mid fifties are to be the max temperature today. The sidewalk is recently wet from an obvious rain shower. My Google calendar tells me that I don’t have anything scheduled for today. Although my “Ms. Kate” calendar tells me that we’ll be going to “Fresh Market” today because it is “ground beef Tuesday”. Every Tuesday they have ground beef on sale and we generally try to get there and get some; generally just a pound or maybe two. Kate also has a list of other things that we need from the grocery although I think it is a relatively small list. I know we are out of potatoes and our milk “best sold by” date is today.

The leaves have finally turned in the neighborhood. As I look out my Sunporch windows, everything is just kind of orange. On a cloudy day like today it is actually a little eerie looking, like something you would see in a sci-fi movie. The backyard Buffet is quiet this morning. I’ve only had a few cardinals and a coupe of robins show up so far. One robin was eating out of the bird feeder again. This is the only place I have seen robins eat out of a bird feeder and they don’t do it very often. They are generally ground feeders. But, I guess they wanted a little variation in their diet. I mean, I guess worms are good, but one would not want them as their only staple.

With the exception of writing an article for our church paper I am caught up with my work through Christmas Eve. I have one more sermon to write for December and then three to write for January. That should complete my writing for my current church. Come February, the “easy days” are over and I’ll be back to writing a fresh sermon every week when I move to the new Parish. (Lord, I’m gonna need some help here.)

Yesterday Ms. Kate baked fourteen jars of pumpkin “bread-in-a-jar”. I opened one this morning for our breakfast and it is delicious. There are going to be some very lucky recipients of those jars come Christmas time. She also has made another dozen jars of apple bread in a jar. It is some fine eating.

Time for me to put a period on this page and call it done. I’m going to finish my coffee and then get on the bike to no-where and ride for a few miles. Then I need to shower and get ready to take Ms. Kate grocery shopping. So, you go out there and have a wonderful day. Share your smiles with people and make their day a bit better. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

A very good Monday to you. It is afternoon and just pre-nap time. Ms. Kate and I went out for launch because it is spaghetti day at the Lamasco Bar. Their spaghetti might not be the best in the world but it certainly satisfies us. Ms. Kate tried the baked today and I took my regular order. The waitress recognizes us and asked if we want our regular. Monday is the only day we go there. Maybe there other days are good too but one day a week there is enough.

I cheated about work today although it certainly was not intentional. I had spent most of the morning putting together a couple of worship services and wrote my homily for Christmas Eve. I looked up at the clock and it was almost noon already. So, I packed up my computer and said good bye to Karen and left. I had to stop and get gas and as I did I got a text from Kaaren that said, “You left an hour early today. The clocks haven’t been set back for the end of Daylight Saving Time yet. Sure enough, I looked at my watch and I was an hour early. Oh well, it isn’t like I had anybody coming in to see me and I guarantee, the church gets that hour and many more. But, it was humorous.

We had 71 in church yesterday, I thought that was pretty good considering I can think of at least three families that were not there. My sermon was well received and we had several people make comments to us about our leaving the church. All of the comments were positive though. The fellow that we were courting to come and replace me as the co-pastor turned us down. So, I don’t know what we are going to do, or rather I don’t know what Art is going to do. There are still a couple of options out there but the picking is getting real slim.

Ms. Kate made up a bunch of pumpkin “bread-in-a-jar” today. I’m anxious to give that a try. Speaking of Ms. Kate, she just turned of her Pad and closed her eyes so it must be nap time. I hope you have a great day. I know I will. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A happy and glorious Saturday to you on this sunny forty degree morning. There is a breeze  tough so that will knock the “feels like” temperature down to less than comfortable. But my Backyard Buffet guests don’t seem to mind too much. I filled 16 feeders yesterday so everybody has a choice of what they would like for breakfast. Fat squirrel has claimed his favorite spot and will cling to that branch and stretch out to get what he wants until he is satisfied or until another squirrel comes along and runs  him off. I never cease to be amazed at the gyrations that those critters go through to get to food. They are nothing but pure muscle.

The blackbirds and starlings are here of course. I knew they would be i here today. It doesn’t take the long to discover food and I’ve been feeding them so long that they know to come here. Too bad I can't claim them on my taxes as dependents. Yesterday afternoon I filled the feeders just in time for the evening feed. It didn’t take long for the place to look like a busy airdrome with all of the birds flying in and out. It was pure pleasure to sit out here and watch them. I have a regular large gathering of cardinals that stay here year around. It would appear too that the robins are on the move. I’ve had aa fairly steady stream of them coming through for the past week.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my week to preach. I’m doing a sermon called Caterpillars to Butterflies. It is, of course about the transition that we must make in our lives when we accept Jesus Christ into our lives and dedicate our life to God. I found some good pictures to go with it for the screen. I hope it goes over well. We never know how a certain sermon will be received when we write them. I just write what I think and what I feel needs to be said. It is a lot like fixing supper. You fix it based on what you think is not only tasty but what will keep people healthy. Sometimes people love it and want more, and some times they won’t even touch it. All you can do is prepare the best meal you know how. Although, I’ll admit that some times you end up just hurriedly putting supper together and hope it turns out right. I know of pastors that say they never write their sermons down ahead of time. They say that they preach on whatever the Holy Spirit leads them to on the way to the church. That might work for them, but it sure wouldn’t work for me.

I guess I’m done for the day. Tie to eat out of the recliner and get a little stuff done. I pray you will have a blessed day and weekend. Peace.

A blessed Friday morning to you. I hope you have a good hot cup of coffee or maybe some hot chocolate this morning. It is 0830 and the sun is shining, but the temperature is on 28 degrees. Everything is frost covered but that will melt off soon enough as son as the sun hits it.

How was your Halloween? Ours was uneventful for the most part. Rather than costuming up this year I sat a box of candy out on the front porch. The kids could take what they wanted. For the most part, they took one or two pieces of candy until the box was pretty well empty. I was sitting here at the table kind of watching them as they come and went. I saw a group of “older kids” coming up the street and sure enough one of them took the rest of the candy, box and all. The box was an orchard basket with a handle on it and I guess they decided it would be perfect to hold their candy. Some people just have to be “yay-hoo’s”. But they weren’t  doing anything destructive, and I do have other orchard baskets. Although last night I did say that I hope a zombie bites their butt. I think we easily had a hundred or more trick or treaters come by. I hope they don’t all have colds this morning. It was brutal out there during the trick or treat hours.

I hope the temperature climbs quickly today I have bird feeders to fill. I also hope he ground is a lot fryer than it was yesterday. I need to get on a ladder to fill a couple of my feeders and yesterday the ground was too soft to safely support a ladder. Yesterday the Cardinals were flocking in as were the woodpeckers and of course the blackbirds. They pretty much cleaned up everything that was left in the feeders. It is supposed to go to 50 degrees around noon so that will be a good time to get out there. The wind is also supposed to be much calmer today.

November 1st; only three weeks until Thanksgiving. Before we know it, 2019 will be a thing of the past. 2020 is election year and the airwaves and television will be filled with all kinds of nasty political advertising. You know, if politicians would just tell us what they intend to accomplish if they are elected and stop lying and spinning crap about their opponents, we the American people would have a lot more respect for them. But rather than that, they spend millions of dollars to bash and trash their opponents. I know there are good people out there with good intentions and motives to become a politician but they get lost in the muck and mire brought about when special interest groups and corrupt people get involved in their campaign. They become lackeys for the special interest groups and and create their own version of truth. I think most Americans are very cynical when it comes to politicians and feel like they are forced to choose the “least horrible” candidate. What scares me is that so many politicians are trying to push us toward a socialist type of government, a type of government that has failed and ruined every country in which it has been tried. They say they want everybody to be economically equal. The CEO should not be making any more than the guy shooting screws on the production line. But, —- enough about politics, just pray my friends. Pray that God’s guidance and desire will be the underlying factors in the decisions made by our elected officials.

I’ve rambled on enough today. I need to put my back brace on and then get on the bike and ride. My back has been giving me fits all week and I have had to wear my brace. It is in the L2 region that I hurt during my fall. I take ibuprofen during the day and Tylenol PM at night. I think the winter cold weather. Is going to suck this year as far as pain is concerned.

Have a most pleasant day. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are. Walk with God today and always. Peace.

Happy Halloween! Can you believe that we actually had snow flurries this morning. It is 1500 hrs and the temperature is 36 degrees and a stiff wind is blowing making the “real-feel” temperature a balmy 24 degrees. I generally go sit at the end of my driveway on my John Deere to pass out the candy to the trick or treaters. Not this year. I have set a basket of candy out on the porch and they either take it or they don’t. If the kids do go out tonight to trick or treat, there will be some sick kids tomorrow.

One of the first things we did today was to get the patio plants in to the house. We are expecting our first hard freeze of the season tonight and in the morning. I’ve disconnected the hoses from the taps outside. I don’t think they would have ruptured with just one night but I’m taking no chances.

The news of my leaving my home church hit cyberspace today via the monthly newsletter and I’ve already had feedback. I must be a popular guy. LOL. But,, I just hope we can get a co-pastor to help Pastor Art out quickly.

Ms. Kate and I had to get out and go to MsDonalds for lunch. The McRib is back for its limited time and we do like those. Then we had to go see Bob because he had some turnips for Ms. Kate that he had actually gone out in the mud to pull for her. So we went up to his place and picked the up from him. We love them raw the best.

That’s it for today. Have a Happy Halloween. Can you believe that tomorrow it will be November already? Tie to start thinking about Thanksgiving.

Tuesday afternoon and it is a cloudy “thinking about being warm” day. Ms. Kate and I had an early morning appointment for her at the doctor for a routine visit and while we were there we both got our flu shots for the season. It was time. People are already starting to claim they have the flu although in most cases it most likely doesn’t amount to more than a cold. Not that it matters a lot; either way you feel crappy.

After the doctor’s visit we went to breakfast and called my sister-in-law to come join us which she did. We went to “Nellie’s” one of my favorite places. They have a great breakfast as well as other  meals but I can eat breakfast any time of the day. I had some delicious pancakes covered with bananas, blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream. After breakfast I had to go to Wild Birds Unlimited and pick up some more safflower seed for the Cardinals.

YesterdayMs. Kate. And I joined Julie, Jim and their friend Karen at the Louisville, KY zoo. They have a baby elephant that has grown enough to be viewable by the public for a few hours each day. I have told you before that if there is such a thing as a “spirit animal”, the elephant is mine. We got to the zoo and Julie, Kate and I rented electric scooters to get around. There would have been way too much walking had we not done so. That little elephant is about as cute as it can get. It sticks right beside it’s mama most of the time and imitates the things that she does. But it did take off once and run around with it’s trunk up in the air and it’s ears flapping in the breeze. After our disastrous news last week with the former son-in-law passing away, we needed a day like yesterday. It put some joy back in our hearts.  After the zoo, we went to PF Chang’s  for lunch and then headed home.

I am free to tell you this news now, after the first of the year, I’ll be changing jobs —- again. I am currently the interim co-pastor at Zoar UCC, my “home church” and have been for the past two years.    In November of 2016 I had “retired” from pastoral work because I felt I was no longer being an effective pastor to the Parish that I was serving. I had been there twelve and a half years and just was looking at burnout. So I retired. After a couple of months rest I began to know that God still had work for me to do. In October of 2017 the Interim Pastor at my church came to e and asked if I would come be his co-pastor as the church continued to search for a settled pastor. There had been rumors that our search committee was closing in on a candidate and should be hiring one shortly. So I quickly said yes to the interim co-pastor job. That was two years ago and I’m still there. In January of this year the pastor that had replaced me at my former parish announced that he would be retiring at the end of 2019. They formed a search committee there and began their search. t some pot in their search, they asked me if there was anyway I would consider returning to the Parish as the settled pastor. After much prayer, I said yes. Bureaucracy of the denomination requires that a “trial sermon” be given  so that all of the church members can vote as to whether to accept the candidate or not. Sunday I gave my trial sermon  and was accepted for the job, I’m told by unanimous vote of the parish. Today I sent notice to my current church that I will not be re-contracting with them and will be moving once again. I am thrilled to be returning to such a warm and loving faith family. Being asked to serve as pastor in my home church was a prayer and dream answered by God. Being asked to return to my former parish to once again serve them as their spiritual leader is just blessings upon blessings. God just continues to heap blessings on me and I totally deserve none of them. So, my friends, keep me in your prayers as I again step off in to another journey. Peace.