Tuesday evening update from rehabilitation; I’m flat worn out! Having said that, I can not believe how far I have come in the last week. The Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy has been intense and intentional. But, as oppposed to other PT programs that I have been involved with, this is not the intense pain that I have had in other programs. Perhaps that is because of the difference in injuries, but I know I am not in dread of going to therapy the four times a day that I am doing.

Today is our 53rd wedding anniversary. Ms. Kate and I celebrated it by having lunch across from one another at my. Hospital beside table. How romantic was that?? But hey, over our Air Force career, we missed several anniversaries so the fact that we could celebrate it together in any form — win,, win!

That catches you up. I would write more but my rump’s a draggin’. Thanks for your prayers. Peace.

Sunday evening, I’m sitting in a recliner in my hospital rehabilitation room, watching ”Worst Cooks in America.” I’ve been in and out of my wheelchair so many times today and I’m really tired by now.

My day started out at 0700 with a respiration therapist coming in to give me a breathing treatment. Having my eyes opened to a cheery therapist holding a plastic mask to put over your face. I wasn’t scheduled to have Physical Therapy todaay but was expecting Occupational Therapy this afternoon for forty five minutes.

My breakfast came and I tuned in to my daughter Lisa’s Live Streamed church service from North Carolins.It gave me a chance to worship with my daughter from two different states miles away. Then I showered and was about done when the nurse came in and asked if I would mind doing my OT in a few minutes. Well, needless to say, I didn’t have anything else on my platter so I agreed. OT went well and Ms. Kate arrived while I was doing my workout. After that we retuned to my quarters and just did whatever it is I do. I had’t ordered lunch yet so I ordered lunch for the both of us. I must compliment the dietary staff here at Deaconess. So far almost all of the food I have had has been delicious and today was no different. I really enjoyed having lunch with MMS.kate today; we spreadout the hospital tray and sat across from one another just like it was Applebee’s or something.Anything that can give us a some little sense of a normal life is a perfect thing.

Sister-in-law Kaaren came by and spent the day with us. And the day was relaxed. Only being in my recliner in my sunroom would have been much better.

A word of perspective: I look around at the other folks here and they are all in some state of life that they do not wish to be. I don’t know what brought them here or to what they will be returning. I know that this is going to be somewhat of a long hall for my recovery. But, I also know that I have people from all over the country praying for me, I have a family that is in contact with me multple times a day. Ms. Kate has been here hours on end and is going to great lengths to prepare the house for me when I do get home. Maybe others here have visiting loved ones too but I have not seen them. Bottom line is that I am completely loved and I know that no matter what form the final results ends up being; I have the power of God and love of Jesus Christ keeping me on track. Keep the faith my friends. Peace.

“Where has he been”, I hope you are asking. Yes, it has been a few days and with good reason. On Saturday, I had asked my neighbor Dan to come over aand help me move my flat-screen TV upstairs and was going to put it in the bedrooom. Ms. Kate had ordered me a 65” TV to go down in my office/ TV area. Well, Dan came over and we started up the steps. There are 14 steps from from the basement to the first floor. Well, Dan was in front and lost his balance and started falling backwards. I od course tried to catch him and failed miserably. The result being; we both tumbled with tv backwards down the steps. I landed on the concrete with my hip & back hitting they concrete and my head hitting a bookcase. Dan and TV both landed on me. I suffered a compression fracture of the L-2 lumbar and a torn Achilles Tendon.  I spent three days in the hospital and now am in Rehab therapy for two weeks to get me able to function at home. This was my first day of rehab and it was exhausting. I have an appointment on the 28th with the orthopedic folks to decide whether to do surgery on the tendon or to do a series of “progression castings” to let the tendon heal naturally. Either way, I have to remain off of it for six weeks. So, that is where I have been and where I’ll be for awhile.

God takes care of children and fools, I always said. But, since I am in this fix, I also have to give thanks to God for the fact that neither Dan nor I were hurt any worse. Either one of us could have been killed or paralyzed for life. How were weren’t can only be attributed to the protective hand of God. Secondly, I must give all praise to God for the skilled hands and hearts of my caregivers. They have all been great.

That’s it for me today. I don’t know how regularly I’ll be writing I the next couple of week. Hang n there with me and let’s walk this walk together. I promise II won’t pull you down any stairs. LOL

Sometimes you can just look out your window and instantly imagine how cold it must feel out there. This is one of those mornings. It is currently thirty degrees with a real feel of twenty two. The ground is blanketed with a thin layer of snow. Once again we were lucky and had “the storm thaat wasn’t”. The majority of the snow and ice storm shifted south of us. Our streets and sidewalks are dry. There is enough snow on the grass to leave tracks in, but barely. I consider it a blessing and willsay “Thank you God”.

Since I just blogged fifteen hours ago I really don’t have a lot new to say. The Backyard Buffet is bustling this morning with birds. I could almost use an air traffic controller. The majority of my guests this morning are Cardinals. But I also have several sparrows and finches and a couple of varieties of woodpeckers. I filled everything yesterday except the bark butter paste feeders. I have four of those. A lot of people take that paste and smear it on the side of trees for the woodpeckers. I know if I did that the squirrels would just set there and clean it off. So I bought these pieces of log with inche and a quarter holes drilled into them and I fill those holes with the paste. It works really well. Some guy is probably living on his fortune that he made buy patenting a home made product. How come I never think of things like that? I mean, it’s a fifteen inch long log by two and a half inch thick with holes drilled in it and a screw hook in the end of it. And I was silly enough to pay probably $15.00 or $20.00 for each of them.

Tomorrow is Sunday and Pastor Art is preaching this week. However, I am going to do the children’s sermon for a change. The kids will get to meet my invisible dog for the first time. I have one of those novelty leashes that has an empty harnes attached toit. . I used this at my last parish maybe fourteen years ago. There. Was the cutest little boy sitting there and as I was talking to them, he suddenly looked at me and said “your dig just went up thre” and pointed to the back of the chancel. I cracked up. I will never forget that. It was a priceless moment. That young boy has turned into a fine young man.

That’s it fortoday. I pray your weekend will be filled with joy and love. Take the time to go to your house of worship. If you don’t have one, please stop in one and see what it is all about. In the meantime, I bid you peace.

It's 4:30 in the afternoon on Friday. My morning was busy and I'm just now getting around to moving the fingers across the keyboard. As I do, I'm watching the weather and news on the TV. It is sleeting/snowing outside right now. I've already treated the driveway with snow melt. This weather event is supposed to last until late tonight, I think. Heaven knows we don't need any more moisture of any kind on the ground at this point and yet the forecast calls for rain each of the next seven days.

Ms. Kate and I went shopping for a new television for me for my area. (I won't call it a "man-cave" because I'm really tired of that phrase.) But, it is the area where I watch television and my office is here in this space. Ms. Kate has said that she wanted me to get myself anew television becaue I had mentioned that I'd like to have one the size of hers that is in the family room. Do I need a new television ?? No I don't; but that new sixty-five in television is sure going to be sweet. We went to Best Buy to get it simply because they will deliver it, and install it and show me how to use it. I'm anxious to see some of my favorite shows on that massive screen.

I filled bird feeders this afternoon. I think I probably put out about thirty pounds of sunflower seed asd well as some of the bark butter pellets and meal worms. The blue birds really like the meal worms and I have friends that keep blue birds around all year up in Michgan by feeding mealworms. My problem with meal worms is the cost. They are really expensive and the stinking starlings just sit there and gobble them until they are all gone. But, if I'm going to run the Backyard Buffet, I guess I have to accept any and all customers. No discrimination allowed. But -- I did buy "hot-pepper" bark butter bits to keep the squirrels from eating them.

Ms. Kate and I had a relaxed Valentines Day although we spent a bunch of it shopping. She wanted to go to the Butcher Shop, then we went to Walmart and Target checking out the prices of televisions at those places.

I just went out and checked on the snow and sleet and the ground is covered. It is changing over from sleet to some snow. It is currently twenty-six degree so with the suin going down, what is wet will begin to freeze. I'm glad that I don't have anywhere to go tonight.

That's it for tonight. Have a great evening, stay warm, stay off of the roads. The reporters says that are alreay slide-offs and road rage due to slowing traffic. I don't know why people have to be such asshats!  Peace.

Happy Valentines Day. Here it is Thursday already and I haven’t written in a couple of days. But then, I have’t had any readers either so there it is. Welcome to. Cloudy, forty degree, and windy morning.

My Backyard Buffet has beeen full of birds and squirrels and the feeders are almost totally empty. I need to put on my boots and fill everything up again. I went to Wild Birds a couple of days ago and spent $101.46 on restocking my larder of supplies. I knew the feeders were getting low and my can was almost empty. The backyard though is sloppy because of all of the rain that we have been getting. Today is supposed to be mostly dry but windy and that will help dry things out But — tomorrow night we are again looking at more rain and maybe sleet and snow. Then again on Saturday night, more of the same and that is followed next week by even more rain. But, we are so very lucky that we aren’t having the winter storms that are still ravaging the upper part of the nation. Some parts are measuring their snow in feet instead of inches.

Well, the news on the pastoral search at the church is not good. It would appear that the primary candidate has dropped out and the committee is back to reading profiles. That means that Pastor Art and I are going to be there longer than we thought. He and I had planed our schedules out through Easter. Now, we are having to look further down the road for both the church and for us individually. We are going ahead with making vacation plans etc. I hate that the candidate fell through because the church is on year five of a search. It has to be depressing for the committee. We are a conservative church in a denomination that is pushing their churches to be much more liberal. Most of the candidates have fallen in line with the “new thinking”. But, God will send the right shepherd for the flock. IN the meantime, Art and I will keep the flock safe and well as best we are able. That is our charge.

Ms. Kate and I have alreaady celebrated our Valentine’s Day. We went out to dinner Tuesday night in order to beat the crowds at the restaurants tonight. So, while everyone else is searching for a place to eat, we will be home on our recliners watching television.

That’s it for today. Enjoy your day aand stopand give thanks for your blessings today. Peace.

It is warmer this morning but the rain has not ceased. At least it is a gentle rain most of the time. This weather front is supposed to hang around until Tuesday afternoon. The area is under flood watch again as all of the rivers and streams will be over flowing their banks.

We didn't have church services yesterday. We woke up to freezing rain. My truck was frozen over with ice as were the bird feeders and the roads were hazardous. It was tricky to decide whether to call of church or not. While the roads were bad enough between 0600 and 0900 that they even closed the twin bridges between Indiana and Kentucky, by 0930 the temperature was above freezing and the freezing rain had changed to regular rain and streets and parking lots were melting. But better safe than sorry. I woulld have hated for one of our parishioners to have come to church and slipped on our parking lot.

Not having church made yesterday seem like a very long day. I literally had and extra four hours of time to fill and hardly knew what to do with it. Well, --- that's not entirely true, after the decision was made to not have church by 0730, I sat down in my recliner and snoozed for awhile. But, it did leave some extra time in the day to play with.

Thursday this week is Valentine's Day. I haven't yet got a clue as to what to do for Ms. Kate to celebrate. I'm a firm believer in celebrating things like Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and birthdays. It is my job and responsibility to do things that make my wife feel appreciated. I have know doubt that I sometimes take her for granted and that isn't the way to treat a relationship with anyone, let alone a spouse.

The back yard is again a sloppy mess. I'm glad that the bird feeders are still full. I'd hate to go slopping around out there. But, I'm looking forward to the springtime warm and dry days. I'm getting anxious to get out there and rake away the winter crap. I have a lot of twigs and branches down in the back yard that I need to clean up. I have at least one day that I need to dedicate to doing just that. I did go out on Saturday and start up the John Deere that sits out back. I wanted to make sure the battery had not died over the winter. I was surprised that it started right up. I sat on it for maybe five minutes and let it warm up and recharge the battery.

Tonight is the church council meeting so I'll need to come back to the church again tonight. Tomorrow morning is the local Clergy Circle. That will take up most of my morning so I may not get to write. I know I can do it in the afternoon but ---- well, we'll see what happens. Who knows, something dynamic could happen and I'd want to share it with you. Nothing dynamic has happened at one of these meeting in the last fifteen years, --- but it could happen. LOL

That's it for today. I have another hour here at the office and I brought along my next three sermons to go over this morning. As always I pray your day is blessed and you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Peace my friends.

Happy Saturday. It is twenty degrees out there this morning but the sky is so blue and clear that I think if you look hard enough, you can see all the way to heaven. Ms. kate and I are doing our Saturday morning “sit around”. She is in the family room watching Food network and I’m on the other side of the sliding glass door to the sunroom. We spend a lot of time like this. We are together at home all the time, yet, I’m in one room and she is in another and we may go three or four hours not seeing or talking to one another; — together but separate.

I filled the bird feeders yesterday afternoon. The Downey Woodpeckerss were literally landing on the freshly filled bark butter feeders as I hung them up. I have had a steady stream of guests at the Backyard Buffet all morning. Early, I had mostly small birds; wrens, finches, sparrows, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers. Then the Cardinals and the mockingbirds, and starlings came in for a bit or two. So far I haven’t had any squirrels down here but I see a couple of them sitting up in the Maple tree and the Tulip Poplar tree. As I write this, they are starting to come down the tree and make their way to the feeders. Once they get settled in they will be there a long time. That’s the way the starlings generally do. They will land and just stay there and stay there, fusssing and fighting and pecking at one another.

Nephew Kevin  brought us a couple of tickets to the Philharmonic for tonight. His boss had them and can’t make it so he gave them to Kevin who in turn gave them to us. I think the concert is called Legends of Country so it ought to be pretty good. Ms. Kate and I had season tickets to the Philharmonic for several years after I retired from the military. But. We just got tired of going and have not been  probably in about four years. It will be nice go again.

Tomorrow is my turn to preach again and I’m doing a sermon that is a bit more serious than some. It is a sermon that I have worked on for a while and is more “preacherly” than many that I do. I pray it will go over well. It is called “Slippery Slopes” and addresses how we have gotten away from our Bible teaching and have as a society accepted things as normal that God never intended.

Time for more coffee so I’ll drop off now. Have a great weekend and don’t forget to go to your house of worship. Peace.

Good morning on this bright, blue, cold morning. It is brrr cold out there and isn’t going to warm up any to speak of either. We were supposed to go to lunch today with Bob and Brenda form shrooms and beer. But Bob, who is 87 decided it was a bit too cold for him and I don’t blame him one bit. As I told his daughter Brenda, we’ll go when the daffodils aren’t shivering. I know Ms. Kate doesn’t want to get out in this weather either. We have a prediction thatait might even bring a little snow again by Sunday although the predicted amounts are somewhere between “a trace & a dusting.”

So what to do with my time today. Ms. Kate and I have been talking about going and getting a pedicure again. But that of course requires going out so I reckon we’ll see what she has to say about that. She generally likes to walk out of there in flip flops  because her toe nails are freshly painted; and I don’t think that would be in the cards on a 24 degree day. I know I absolutely have to get my bird feeders filled today. Everything is empty. I could have done it when it was warmer but it has been pouring rain and the yard was sloppy beyond use. So, I’ll bundle up and do it today.  The ground should be frozen over today.

My daffodils are up about three and a half inches and that makes me anxious for spring and warm weather. How they don’t just freeze is God’s own mystery. (Tell me again about the Big Bang that started this planet.) But they winter over very well. I haven’t checked  for crocuses yet and I know we don’t have very many left. I never got my flowerbeds cleaned off last fall so they really look a mess. But it is time for me to quit being lazy and do some serious work. I keep telling myself that and then I don’t do it. I’m like a kid being told to clean up his room; the job has gotten overwhelming now. I keep delaying it because I go out there and work and have to stop so often because I have let myself get out of shape.  Got to change that this year.

Despite the lack of food out there, I have several cardinals today. That’s because they know that there is a lot of food on the ground. These guys sure are wasteful and sloppy with their eating habits. But the advantage is that when I don’t fill feeders right away, there is always plenty of seeed on the ground for them.

That’s about it for today. May your day be as bright as the sunshine and may your day be filled with the warmth of the Holy Spirit. Peace.

Welcome to soggy, soggy Thursday. It is “cow and flat rock” raining out there. I’m very glad I don’t have to be out in it. I think it is supposed to continue until around 1800 hrs today and then the temperature drops from the sixties down to the thirties. We are currently under a flash flood warning and the next county up is under a tornado watch. That’s what happens when you stick sixty degree weather in a month called February.

I’m fairly worn out. I had my colonoscopy this morning at 0700. I was was up most of the night doing the “clean out and prep”. But, it went extremely well and I don’t have to have another for five years. That’s a wonderful thing. After my procedure Ms. Kate and I went out to breakfast and then came home and took a nap. In fact, she’s still snoozing. With the rain pouring down on this sunporch roof, it makes for great snoozing weather. I have a Board of Christian Education meeitng tonight and I think I’m going to not go. Pastor Art might go but if it is still raining, I’ll recommend that he not go either. Neither of us sees worth a hoot at night especially if it is raining and I’m supposed to drive for eight hours after my procedure. I realize that themeeting will be just outside of the eight hours and I’d be legal, however, —— I need and excuse. LOL They are gong to be talking about events that will happen after Art and I are gone do making decisions that should be made by the incoming pastor, when-ever that happens.

Life should be back to normal tomorrow and we are supposed to go have shrooms and beer with our buddies  Bob and Brenda; assuming of course that they want to get out in the cold.

Neighbor Dan and his wife are finally heading back here next week They have been gone for about eight weeks.They have ben to Virginia visiting with her brother. It willbegoodtohave them back home.

That is it for today. I hope your day is dryer than mine and that you have sunny skies and fair temperatures. Peace.

Good morning and Happy Wednesday. We’re having a rainy morning again this morning and in fact we had some awesome thunder through much of the early hours of the day. We are expecting more and ore rain through tomorrow evening. Then winter will return and done temperature will drop off into the deep freezer.

I writing this before I get ready to go to the office this morning. I never got around to writing yesterday. Ms Kate and I had some running around to do yesterday morning and that included going out for breakfast. By the time we got home I had other things to do. As you now, I don’t like to write my blog in the afternoon or evening which is just silly because I do a lot of other writing in the afternoon and evenings.

Last night was the State of the Union address by President Trump. I thought it was a very good speech even though it was “typical”. He spent an hour plus bragging on what he and his administration have accomplished and laying out his agenda for the coming year. Then of course the other side of politics had their spokesperson come out and tell us that everything the president had said was wrong and only they had the solution. Very typical politics. They both call for bi-patician solutions to our problems as a nation but neither side wants to concede anything. It is little wonder that people hve zero respect for our elected officials. They all run on how they are gping to go and work for the American people but in reality they work for what ever and whoever is funding their political party. My daughter wrote a very good post on her Facebook page this morning addressing this. I wish I knew how to paste it in here.

Today I’m doing my “prep” for my colonoscopy that I’m having at 0700 tomorrow. I’ll be glad to have that over with. I only hve to have one every five years so it isn’t a big thing. My diet today consists of a couple of eggs, some toast, rice, coffee. Then at 1800 I have to drink this awful stuff that cleans out the system and pipes. I’ve been watching my prep diet for a week now avoiding the certain foods I need to. You can bet that lunch tomorrow will be full of some favorite things because my procedure will be over.

Time to get showered and ready for the office. Stay dry and warm today. Recliners and fireplaces are a good spot to be today. You please say a prayer for me and I’ll pray for you. Peace.

Good morning! It is a gloomy "spring-like day, Cloudy with mists of occasional rain and forty plus degrees. It is one of those morning s that were it later in thye season, I'd be looking for daffodils and or crocus out in the yard. But, while there are spring flowers coming out and up, they are a long way from having any blooms. That is just as well because I'm sure we are not close to being done with winter weather yet. In fact forecasts say that we could be having some freezing rain by the end of the week.  Welcome to the second half of winter in southern Indiana. But, I don't know if I tod you or not --- I went to Walmart and I bought the last "good" snow shovel they had in the store. I figured that maybe it would be my "defense against the dark art" called snow. If I buy it, it won't come.

We had seventy-nine in church yesterday which is really good. I just does my heart good to see the pews filling up and people standing round talking and fellowshipping. When I can stand at the door and wait for people to come by and shake hands and they don't because they are too busy laughing, and, talking and visiting with one another, that is a sign of a healthy church. I am so glad to see our church at that point. There have been many years that we didn't have that and the church was in turmoil and people were not coming.

When I get home today I need to fill my bird feeders again and carry the 80# of bird feed around from the garage/car out to the shed and put it in the cans. I think my arm is healed sufficiently that I shouldn't have to baby it anymore with my lifting restrictions. I suspect the ground will be a bit sloppy from thawing so I'll need to watch where I walk and probably put on my rubber boots. But my guests need to be fed. At least the temperture should be relatively pleasant so my teeth won't be chattering while I stand out there.

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday with the New England Patriots playing for their sixth National Title. They played the Los Angeles Rams. Depending on how you think about it the game was either really a good defensive game or it was a boring game. The final score was Patriots 13 / Rams 3. That makes a total of two football games that we watched this year. Many people will tell you that they watch the Super Bowl strictly for the commercials. Companies go all out and spend millions of dollars for a thirty second spot during the Super Bowl. I have no idea if they actually get their monies worth or not. I only saw two commercials that I thought were really entertaining and "watch-worthy".

I guess I'll sign off now. I have some scriptures to look up and cross-reference for a sermon. I pray your day and week will be full of God's blessings and I pray you will recognize them when they come in. Peace.

What would you call a morning like we are having? It is twenty seven degrees aand certainly cloud covered. But, I guess one could say it is also “foggy” although the visibility is pretty good at least from my recliner. My daughter Julie said it is super foggy over in New Albany which is 125 miles north east  of us.  I think it is supposed to get into the upper forties and lower fifties today. The warm-up will be great.

Happy Saturday! Welcome to the end of the week, first weekend of February. There are only twelve days until Valentine’s Day. I need to be thinking about what I’m going to do for my forever Valentine, Ms. Kate. And I also need to be thinking about what I am going to do for Ms. Kate for our fifty-third anniversary which is the twenty-sixth of February. I haven’t looked but, I think both dates are “mid-week”. One of the problems of getting up into your senior years and having been married for fifty-three years is that there aren’t a a lot of new surprises that we haven’t already done. If it is very cold she isn’t going to want to get out of the house and we won’t know that until a couple of days earlier. I’ve bought her all of the variations of jewelry she will ever want. I buy her flowers fairly routinely, and we go out to eat once or twice a week. She makes greeting cards that are better than anything I could buy —- so what to do? What to do indeed!

I have mostly the small birds at the the feeders this morning. The starling and the Mockingbird were both here fighting over a feeder but they have gone. Right now it is the finches, sparrows, and wrens that are here. I can see a couple of cardinals though up high in the neighbors tree. They will be here shortly. They start out over there and survey the scene for safety before they come in. Then they fly down not the firebushes at the edge of the property before they move in on the feeders. I do hve one squirrel that has decided to join us.

Are you going to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow? I guess we will since New England is playing. I’d like to see NE win again just to keep all of the haters whining. I don’t understand why so many people claim to hate that team. They win because they play extremely well as a team. Our society has gotten to where people don’t want to ever see others succeed. It’s just crazy.

Super Bowl or not, don’t forget to start your day off taking time to attend church and giving thanks for God getting you through another week. It is the least you could do. Peace.

Happy February everyone. I’m sitting in the sun porch and I see a glaze of ice on the sidewalks and the birdfeeders. I’m glad they are full. All I have seen out there at the Backyard Buffet so far is one squirrel and a couple of starlings. But it is early and the rest of the guests will be along before long.

2019 is now 1/12th gone. One year ago today I started as co-pastor at my home church. It has been a really great year. Pastor Art and I make a really great team. I still can’t believe that he convinced the council to bring a co-pastor on board. It had never been done in the history of our church. But, — since it was to be an interim situation, they went for it. it, I’m hearing rumors that they may actually be considering doing it when they hire the permanent pastor. I guess we will just have to see what happens. When I hired on, I really didn’t think it would go into a second year but it has. Now he and I were thinking (due to rumors) that we woud be gone by the beginning of the Lenten season. Now, we’re revising our plans and thinking that maybe either by Easter or right after Easter. So, we had our staff meeting yesterday and have planned through April which will get us past Easter Sunday. Art has planned a vacation in April. Ms. Kate and I aren’t taking any vacation time until June. If that means that I lose vacation time because my employment runs out before that, well so be it. But we need to be saving our vacation time for Jon’s graduation out in California and drive back across the country to Va. Beach. That is all going to take us three full weeks. I don’t know that we have ever taken three weeks of vacation at one time. I have a lot of planning to do before that trip.

If the sun would just pop through the clouds, it would feel a whole lot warmer outside, and it would quickly melt the glaze on my sidewalks. The temperature is twenty eight and is supposed to go to forty three today. But, the melting will be slow if the sun doesn’t come out. Ms. kate and I plan to go out and about today. We have some shopping to do. One thing I need to buy is a snow shovel. I finally wore my last one out last year. I don’t need one very often because I use the John Deere, but sometimes ya’ just need to clear off the sidewalk The best I have atthe moment is a “corn-scoop” shovel. That works but they are heavy. So, by now stores ought to start putting snow shovels on sale. Winter is almost half over.

That’s it for this Friday blog. I hope you are where it is warm and don’t have to get out in ice and snow. If you have an elderly neighbor that lives alone, give them a call and check on them. Peace.