I can’t believe it has been all week that I haven’t written. But, here it is — Saturday morning. We are back home from our vacation; got home Wednesday evening. We have been busy catching up on stuff. We got our suitcases unpacked and clothes in the laundry basket. We haven’t put the suitcases away because we are going to be packing them again for our next vacation in about two more weeks. The next trip will be to North Carolina to visit with Lisa’s family. Then we are home for six weeks before we head off to Las Vegas once again for a week. I know we are cramming in a lot of vacations here in the fall but being laid up for six months and not being able to travel has forced us to get our four weeks in kind of all at once. My contract with the church allows me four weeks of vacation and that contract ends at the end of December and December isn’t that far off.

I accomplished two things I wanted to get done yesterday. I filled most of the bird feeders and I got the leaves cleaned up from the sidewalk and the back yard. My gutters are covered up with leaves and I couldn’t find my extension ladder to get up on the roof and blow them off. I finally remembered that I loaned my ladder to my son-in-law. Of course, I’m getting all kinds of advice about me being upon a ladder, let alone the roof, but, a fellow has to do what a fellow has to do. I’m not going to ask anyone else to get up there and I don’t ant to let them lay. Fortunately, there is enough wind to blow some of them off. These two poplar trees have a bazillion leaves on them and so far about 10% of them have fallen already. After I vacuumed up the leaves from the sidewalk I got on the JD and mulched up the leaves in the rest of the yard. The cloud of dust I raised has everything out there with a coat of dust. We really need rain and my back yard has zero grass on it anymore. I don’t know whaat to do to fix that. I have reseeded it but it just doesn’t really grow. I think the soil has gotten really poor and it is shaded probably 75% of the time. I may take thee hose and go out there and water things down though so it doesn’t look like a desert.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my Sunday to preach. I have my sermon all ready to go. We are supposed to have the worship service outside but I think that it might have been moved inside because of a chance of rain. I think that decision was made a bit prematurely. Yes, we are supposed to maybe get rain on Sunday but not until late in the afternoon. According to the schedule, this was to be our last outdoor service for the year. I hope you will take the time to go to your house of worship this weekend. I think it is critically important that we take the time to give thanks for the week of blessings that we have been given during the week. I know you ca stop and say a prayer at any point during the week but there is a special power in worshipping with others. It gives you strength emotionally and physically, or at least it does for me.

Time for me to to get on the “bike to nowhere” and ride for a few miles. I did that on Thursday first thing because we had been off of them for a week. It would be so easy to fall out of the habit and give excuses, but I don’t want to do that. Besides, it isn’t hard to do, it just takes some time. I put on my earphones and pull up my music on my IPad and peddle away. In thirty minutes I have done four miles. Otherwise, I would have just sat in my chair for that half hour and complained nothing. So, I’m gone for today. Have a blessed weekend. God loves you and so do I. Peace.