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.

Good morning. It is a rainy, soggy, 54 degrees morning. The weather perfectly matches the mood in our house this morning. We received a text yesterday afternoon from our middle daughter, Heather, that her daughter Lauren has found her dad dead at home. I don’t know the specifics but suspect possibly a heart attack or stroke. He had a history of both. Heather had divorced him I think six years ago and Lauren lived with her dad and son Jon lived back and forth between his mom and dad but mostly with his mom. Needless to say, our hearts are breaking for our grandchildren. They are 22 and 19 and far too young to have to deal with this. So I’ll ask you to lift them up in prayer for comfort from God.

We’re supposed to have a full day of rain today, maybe up to two inches. That should take us outOf a drought situation. Heck just a week ago we were all under burn bans here in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. We are told though that even with al of the rain today, we won’t be in any danger of flash flooding because the ground will soak it all up. It’s a good thing as Martha Stewart would say.

My co-pastor, Pastor Art asked me yesterday morning if  I knew how to get rid of raccoons. I guess he has several and they are doing damage to his yard barn. I told him I had just the traps he needs and I took them over to his house and set them for him. He used some dry cat food; I would have used wet because it is more pungent.  It is too rainy and wet in his back yard for hi to go check so far this morning. He said he checked on them around 1700 last evening and still didn’t have one. He has two acres of yard surrounded by woods so it is a natural habitat for raccoons. I hope he starts catching them though.

I guess I’ll finish this and then my cup of coffee and then get on the bike for a ride. Have a blessed weekend; stay in touch with God. Shalom.

It’s a cloudy, dreary Friday morning and fifty one degrees. My Accuweather app says we’ll have racing starting in 34 minutes and it is generally spot on. Forecasters have predicted showers on and off today and then tomorrow we are supposed to get a real soaker. But we are still officially i a drought situation so bring in the rain and bust that drought!

Wednesday we went with the church group up to an Amish restaurant in Washington Indiana which is about an hour drive from us. The food was good as it always is and we had I think about 27 people go. It was a nice time.

Yesterday we had the plumber come and put in a new garbage disposal. He told me that the old one had been leaking for quite a while as it was full of gunk. I think we had that one put in about 2004 so I got fifteen years of service out of it. Anything over 10 years for an appliance like that is gravy so I have little to complain about. My one complaint though is that this seems to be a week of $300.+ expenses. Between the truck and the garbage disposal my billfold has gone dry. Today we’ll get all of the stuff put back up under the sink and can maybe put our kitchen back in order.

I’m working on the park bench still and it isn’t going all that well. I’m having trouble keeping things lined up to put them together. It is not only heavy, but it is awkward to work with. It is definitely a two person job and I ain’t two persons. But where there is a will, there is a way. I went to the hardware store last evening to get some new bolts and what I got is too short. I should have bought inch and a half and bought inch and a quarter instead. There is a common saying that doing FIY projects always requires at least three trips to the hardware store. I’ve had two now so no telling what else I’ll need. But, I will probably go today and get what I think I need. But, as aggravating as it might be, it feels good to be doing something wood working relate again. It has been too many years.  I don’t know that I’ll actually work on the bench today though. I twisted  my knee last night working on the thing, (yes, the same leg as the ankle problem) so I may lay off of it. I want to ride my recumbent bike today for awhile and maybe kind of work the soreness out, or it may make it worse.

It has been a busy time at the Backyard Buffet this morning. I have a few cardinals out there but mostly it has been squirrels out there running and chasing and fussing and fighting. Their running across my roof sound like a herd of elephants. Very entertaining.

Speaking of elephants, Ms. Kate and I are going over to Louisville, KY on Monday and meet Julie and Jim and their friend Karen at the Louisville zoo. They have a new baby elephant that is old enough now to be on display and we want to see that. As you know, I love elephants.

The weekend is here so I'll remind you to take time to go to your house of worship and give God God’s due. We’ve ll had another week of blessings and we need to acknowlege where those blessing came from and be grateful for them. Have a great day.

It is a chilly morning to say the least at 43 degrees. But the sun is shining brightly and I don’t see a cloud anywhere.

Yesterday was a roller coaster of a day. It was a day of good things followed by periods of “well, crap!” I decided that I was going to try to figure out what was wrong with my truck so I took a couple of gallons of water down to the street and poured a gallon into the radiator. As I was looking at what I was doing, I saw water starting to drip from under the engine block. As I suspected, the water pump was bad. So, I called AAA to have them come tow it.  Amazingly enough AAA had a tow truck at our house within thirty minutes and we had it towed to the garage owned by one of our parishioners. Two hours later, I had a new water pump and the truck was ready to roll. Win, win!!!

But, for every up, there must be a down I guess. I decided that I would work on the park bench that has sitting in my garage for two years and rebuild it. About the only tool I required was a drill. However, every battery I had for my cordless drills was dead as a door nail. One was even sitting in a charger but I guess the charger doesn’t work anymore either. So, sometime today I need to go to Lowes and get new batteries and charger. In the mean time, I pulled out an old hand drill to do what I was working on.

Ms. Kate was busy making apple sauce yesterday evening. She had cooked the apples and was going to put the waste down the garbage disposal. It didn’t work. We had been noticing a bad smell somewhere around the kitchen sink but had not been able to locate it. Well, she reached under the sink into a pan to reset the disposal and found that the pan under there was full of water and it smelled just like sewage. Yuk!!! That’s a win for apple sauce and a loss for disposal. We have pulled out some of the stuff from under the sink and I have called a plumber. They will be here tomorrow.

Today we are going with the senior folks from the church to an Amish Restaurant about an hour north of here. Hopefully today is going to have ore “wins” than bad. Although, if the day goes like trying to write this blog has gone, it is gong to be aa long day. I have missed more letters in words and had to go back and correct more words than I can count. Some how I keep missing the “a” and it is driving me a little crazy.

Have aa great day. Peace.

Hello Tuesday my old friend. I’m glad to see you back again. It’s eleven degrees cooler this morning than it was yesterday morning. The temperature is sitting at fifty degrees with a nine mile an hour breeze. I took some stuff out to the compost bin a little bit ago and it felt a bit chilly.

Had a busy day yesterday. My big news though is that I finally made my goal of doing ten miles on my recumbent bike. It took me 76 minutes. I was pooped by the time I got off of the bike and stiff too. But, I was determined that I would make ten miles for no other reason than I wanted to. BBut, I’m not going to ride today. I try to ride three maybe four times a week for at least thirty minutes. And —- I did it without my orthotic. I can hardly believe how well my ankle area is doing. God has truly blessed me through this process.

Cardinals, finches, Woodpeckers and a fat squirrel make up my guest list this morning at the Backyard Buffet. i still haven’t made it to Wild Birds to get more safflower seed. That feeder is n’t totally empty but is getting very close. I like to use that because for whatever reason, the blackbirds and starlings don’t eat it but the cardinal love it. I see the nuthatches going after it too once in awhile. And, I have the wooden 4x4 that that feeder sits on shielded with a three foot wrap of aluminum flashing and the squirrel have given up on trying to climb it. There has been more than one trail of blood running down the pole from where they cut themselves trying to get up there. I think I have had that feeder for ten years now. It is a wooden gazebo with a plastic cylinder in the center to hold the seed. I bought it at an Amish woodworking place on one of our day trips and it has really held up well.

Today I need to see if I can figure out where I’m losing the water from my truck. My son-in-law gave me some ways to try to figure it out. Then I’m going to call AAA and have it towed to the garage. I don’t want to be driving it and be worrying about it running out of water. And, I pay for AAA every year and never use their benefits.

Ms. Kate has apples cooking this morning for some apple sauce. We bought a bunch of apples before we left for vacation and by now many of them had big brown soft spots on them. We bought them knowing they were “seconds” but I think they had been picked up off oof the ground. We still have enough good one left to make a pie or two though.

That’s my life for today. I hope you are having a great day, I certainly am having a blessed day thus far. Peace.

Good morning on a rainy warm (61 degrees) Monday. We’re having what folks Call “a good rain”. It is slow and sporadic meaning it will rain for a few minutes and then stop for a few minutes, and then start again. My new grass is coming up nicely and this is exactly what the yard needs. So, all praise to God for  yet another morning of blessings.

I’m doing “Pastor on Call” this morning and working from home. The office at the church is being renovated still. Right now all of the furniture is out of the office. It has been painted and new drywall has been put up but the old light fixtures have been taken down and new ones have yet to be put up. The secretaries office is the same way. I don’t know what she is doing but all of her office stuff was in our conference room yesterday stacked everywhere. I think this is the last of the renovations that we are doing at the church for awhile. I know we need to be thinking about new A/C units but that will have to be on next year’s budget. Hopefully Zoar will have a new “settled pastor” by the time they put those in. We’ll be on year six of the pastoral search come January.

We have a busy week lined up. Tomorrow we meet with or financial dude to take care of some investment stuff. Wednesday we are going to Washington IN for a “Senior’s Day” trip for lunch t a really good Amish restaurant, then Wednesday evening will be choir practice. I haven’t looked at the calendar beyond that. But, I’m still tinkering with my sermon for next Sunday and need to finish that up.

My Backyard Buffet guests are sporadic this morning. A few cardinals come by in between the rain showers as do a couple of woodpeckers. The squirrels are staying in today so far. I guess they don’t get hungry if it is raining which is too bad. It is fun to watch them try to climb wet metal poles and they get part way up and slide back down. I need to go to Wild Birds and get a bag of safflower seed for the cardinals. That feeder is almost empty. My sun flower can is down to half too and I could pick up another 40# bag of that. The weather forecast call for sunny days for most of this week sso there will be a lot of birds coming by.

Right now though,, I need to finish this up, drink the last of the coffee in my cup and get on the bike and ride. I hope you have an excellent day full of blessings.

Until next posting —- Peace.

A blessed Saturday morning to you. It is a chilly 40 degrees outside but the sun is shining through a partly cloudy sky. It will warm today to about 70 degrees. So, we are in for a pleasant day.

I’m sitting here watching the squirrels play in the trees. The neighbors trees. All of the trees in my yard and the neighboring yards are large enough that their branches intermingle. It makes for a very large “squirrel highway” or playground, depending on their mood I guess. They go from tree to tree chasing one a another and fighting. It is quite entertaining. This morning I absolutely must fill the bird feeders. They still have food out there that they are “making do” with but if I’d fill the feeders, they would be very much happier and I think I would draw in a larger crowd. Of course, the first in would be the danged starlings and blackbirds. This morning my guests are several cardinals and a couple varieties of woodpeckers. One lone goldfinch sits out there eating thistle seed. It is time to empty out the hummingbird feeder. The temperature has not officially reached freezing yet but I’m sure our hummingbirds have packed their suitcases and headed for Arizona. Hopefully when they return next April they will bring lots of friends.

We had a wonderful visit with Ms. Brenda and her dad, Mr. Bob. Brenda's husband was out on the combine harvesting soybeans. He had wanted her to run the tractor and disc yesterday but she had enough other things to do, including meeting Ms. Kate and me for lunch, so she left him on his own. Ms. Kate and I bought a pig from them and it will be delivered to the butcher shop on the 30th of this month; —- “Trick or Treat” little piggy. LOL It will be great to have a freezer full of meat. The hog should weigh in around 250 pounds. I don’t know the loss is when butchered but that will still provided a lot of pork chops, sausage, ham, and tenderloin. I think I have mentioned that I prefer pork to beef although a good steak every now and then or some good ground beef is pretty good too.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my Sunday to preach. I suspect that the crowd will be a bit small. One of our members is getting married in another state and her family will all be gone. The girl’s grandmother is also my Sunday school teacher so I told her that I would handle teaching the class. It will be a busy day. That reminds me that I need to read our lesson today and prepare for the class. I hope you wil take the time and go to church tomorrow and give thanks to God for any and all blessings that you have received this week. You know, I think most of us go from day to day with out considering what all God has made possible in our lives. So, we need to sit an hour aside to do that. And, I’m convinced that if we can do that with others it makes the event much more special. So, I urge you to attend a house of worship this weekend. Have a blessed day.

Thursday morning and we are home. We left Lisa’s house on Tuesday morning and drove mst of the day; finally stopped in Corbin, Kentucky at the same hotel we stayed at on our first day of travel down to Lisa’s house a week ago. The weather was perfect on Tuesday and we made good time. Our only holdup was a traffic accident that had happened at the seven mile marker just inside of North Carolina. We caught up with that accident around the fourteen mile marker and traffic was at a standstill. We had maybe a 30 - 45 minute wait there but once we started to move, it was good traveling from there on.

We stopped in Louisville, KY for lunch at P.F. Chang’s. It is Ms. Kate’s favorite restaurant. From there it is a two hour jaunt to the house. We got home and immediately took a nap, and then unpacked the car after we got moving gain. Ms. Kate got a load of wash going right away and we can put our suitcases away until December.

It is a brisk 40 degrees here this morning. My bird feeders are empty and that means I’ll need to put on my jacket and go full feeders sometime today. I see I also have a bunch of leaves to take care of today. Bless my sister-in-law Karen, she kept the yard watered while we were gone and my newly seeded back yard is showing a good stand of grass now. We’re starting to get rain again so I think I can pull the hose back in. This morning I have cardinals and blue jays, and finches here and they’re all giving me the “stink-eye” and looking toward the house, accusing me of not doing my job. I noticed too that the goldfinches have almost all turned brown now with little to no yellow showing.

While we were on vacation, I only did one day of doing any bike riding. Lisa has a recumbent bike identical to ours but I never got off my rear end except for one day to to day riding. So, that too is on the agenda for today. And, I also need to take Ms. Kate to get her hair trimmed. It;s aa busy day and we are playing “catch-up”  Having said that, I guess I better get out of the recliner and get started. Have a most wonderful day. Peace.

Monday afternoon and we are still at Lisa’s house. We have had a wonderful visit since we got here and the vacation is going to be over way too early for us but all wonderful things must come to an end at some point and we must return to reality and work. I’m always glad to be back at the church and doing the job I love, but visiting with my family is a blessed thing. 

Had a great evening yesterday. Lisa fixed a great meal and then we had fresh apple pie and we froze a freezer if homemade ice cream. Every body had already eaten their tummies full at lunch time and then supper wasn’t that late. But, the pie and ice cream went over well. I had a piece of ape pie for breakfast today and then had a serving of ice cream for a snack when I got home from our running around today. 

I’m going to miss doing my daily task here at Lisa’s house. She has one chicken that runs around her yard and it lays one egg a day generally. I have enjoyed going out to the little coop that they have for the chicken and collecting that egg. It is reminiscent of the days and or occasional weeks that I spent at my grandma’s house and I always went out with her to gather the eggs. It used to scare me when I did it the first few times because they would peck at me. But I learned to shoo the hens off of the nest and gather the eggs with out too much problem. Those days are full of fond memories. My Grandma Rath was a busy person all of the time. I’d help her as she went out and took a long hooked chicken catcher and she would hook a chicken by the leg and grab that chicken by the neck and wring it’s her off before the chicken even knew it. Then, she had a five gallon lard bucket full of water that was boiling of an open wood fire and she would stick that chicken down in it for a few minutes and then we would “pluck” the chicken’s feathers off. She would take me fishing with a cane pole in the strip mine pits and we would catch blue gill. She was always up to something. 

My Grandma Heumann, on the the other hand, was the sedate one. She mostly sat in her recliner. She was one of the sweetest woman I’ve ever known. I remember her dinners the most because she almost alwys made roast beef with browned potatoes and carrots and a bowl of peas. 

We’re heading home in the morning and will get there on Wednesday sometime. So, if you don’t hear from me. For a couple of days, just know that I pray you nothing but good things and blessings from God Almighty. Peace. 

Today’s Notes for the Sunporch is brought to you from Lisa’s sunporch, not mine. We are in Goldsboro, NC at our daughter’s house.  We got here Thursday afternoon and have had a really good visit thus far. The last time we were here was three years ago. It’s a darned shame we don’t get out and go more to see our kiddos. Oldest daughter Julie only lives 90 miles from us and we don’t even get there very often. They come to see us mostly. Lisa lives here in Goldsboro which is 750 miles, Heather lives in SOCAL which is 2500 miles from us so it isn’t that we can just drop in to see the kids and even if we could, they all have jobs and schedules that requires prior planning and vacation time if we are to get a good visit with them.

We’ve been eating great here. Lisa is a good cook; she should be though because Ms. Kate is a great cook and has provided each of the girl’s a large cook book that she put together of all of the family recipes from grandmas, and aunts, and other friends and families. Last night we had chicken enchiladas. Tonight we are having spaghetti with shrimp and asparagus mixed in. Tomorrow night we are having whatever Lisa fixes but also Ms. Kate is going to make an apple pie or two and we are going to make some ice cream to go with it.

I’ve talked to Gary about my truck back home and he also says it sounds like a bad water pump. I guess I’ll just have it towed in when I get home and see what they say.

Tomorrow my church will be celebrating their 160th anniversary. We’re having what we call Homecoming Sunday with a picnic and a special guest speaker to deliver the sermon for the worship service. Of course Ms. Kate and I won’t be there because we’re down here. We are going to g to her church which is a Pentecostal type of church with praise and worship music etc. It will be a lot different from the traditional service that I do, but scripture tells us that Jesus said: “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there too am I.” So, we’ll partake of the Holy Spirit in their church and it will be fine.

Time to grab a short nap before we head out to do something else. Have a great weekend; stay in touch with the Lord. Peace.

It is Wednesday night and I'm in a Comfort Inn & Suites in Winston Salem, North Carolina. We stopped here for the night rather than driving another four hours or so to get to Lisa's house. e spent the night last night in Corbin, KY. About 1530 hours we had stopped at a gas station to refill the Prius and decided that the traffic was getting heavier than we wanted to drive through. We still have Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh to go through, all of which are heavy traffic cities. We had seen two very serious accidents out there on the highway already in the last hour or so and didn't want to be involved in one or have to wait in traffic for an hour while one got cleared up. So, here we are. There is an Outback Steak House next door so that's where we had our first and only meal of the day.

I have to say that I am impressed with our new car. It has plenty of pickup when we need it and it handles well. Best of all, we've driven 500 miles on $13.00 worth of gas. I find that incredible. The vehicle is comfortable and has plenty of room. It was Ms. Kate's idea to buy this car and I salute her thought process. We have the prospect of some changes coming in our life in the next couple of months and this car will be a great asset. More about our changes if they in fact come to frution.

Speaking of vehicles, when we get back home, we need to take the cadillac in for servicing and maybe some new tires. And of course, the Dakota is sitting in front of the house waiting for a trip to the garage and diagnosis. I'm looking at anyhting from a busted hose to a thermostat, to a water pump, to a new radiator. Nothing is going to be cheap, that is for sure. Since I have the new car for a work car, I might just fill the radiator with antifreeze so it doesn't freeze up, unhook the battery, and let it set there for the winter.

It has gotten late and I think I'll finish up and go to bed. Have a great week. Later!

And Monday has arrived once again. Oh, get that frown off of your face!!! It's a whole new week of blessings and opportunities to serve God  and be surrounded by people who love you.

But, maybe I'm just in a great mood because tomorrow we will be heading out on vacation to see Lisa and her family. It has been three years since we were down there last. Therefore, we are anxious to get there and hug some family. It is hard to believe that our grandkids are now fully grown adults with lives of their own. But what is wonderful is that all of our grandkids are still always glad to see us and want to be with us. It doesn't get better than that.

We will be driving down there in a brand new car. We went Saturday and ordered the car and they are supposed to go and bring it to the dealership yet today. I suspect it will be late afternoon before we can actually pick it up. It is amazing to me that we are buying this car. I wm usually the one who mentions getting a new car and Ms. Kate, who hates the thought of going through the car looking and buying process, drags her feet all the way. But this was her idea and it makes a lot of sense. I think it is going to take some getting used to driving a hybred car but the one we test drove on Saturday drove very nicely and was comfortable. Granted --- it isn't a cadillac, but it will be economical to drive and for a "work-car" it doesn't need all of the bells and whistles on it.

God has provided us with some very much needed rain. Granted, it was only a half an inch but it saved me two days of watering on my newly planted grass seed. The seed has begun to germinate and is sprouting up. now. I hope it takes a good hold. At least the birds didn't eat it all up.

I may miss a couple of days writing this week what with traveling and all. But my record hasn't been that good as of late anyway. So, for you who read it faithfully, I say thank-you and and frankly, I'm surprised that anyone cares to eread my diatribe. But, I'll be in and out and keping you up to date on my daily adventures, as mundane as they may be. Until then, I'll drop off for today. I hope you have a wonderful blessing filled week. Walk with God everywhere you go. Peace.

What a beautiful Saturday this is. Ms. Kate and I are both sitting in the sun porch checking our eyelids for holes. I dozed for a bit but now I’m mostly awake so I thought I might as well jot a few words.

It has been a busy morning. We went to the Toyota Dealership today and ordered a new car. It is a 2019 Prius, AWD XLE. We had to order it because the colors they had on the lot were not colors we liked. They found one in the color we liked at another dealership somewhere and will send their porter to get it on Monday morning. Personally I would have taken one of the ones they had because I like dark colored cars it Ms. Kate doesn’t and she says that AAA recommends light colored cars for us older folks. So, we’re getting a “Sea-Grass” green. We want them to expedite picking it up because  we want to drive it to North Carolina next Tuesday. This will be a “work car” for me. It gets 50/54 MPG which will take a load off of Caddy and my truck. We’ll save the Caddy for trips etc. and use the Prius for all of our run around driving here in town and for my parishioner visits etc. It might seem really silly for two people to have three cars but they each have a purpose. I could have traded in my truck but I just believe that a family needs a truck even if only occasionally, and my truck, although it is a 2007, only has 48,000 miles on it. Of course, as I told you yesterday, it is “sick” at the moment and needs to be repaired as soon as I get back from vacation. As for Ms. Kate’s Caddy, well, she loves her Caddy and we want to make it last as long as we can, We already have almost 70,000 miles on it and it is a 2015. See, one can rationalize most anything if they put their mind to it. LOL

We are really looking forward to our visit to Lisa’s house next week. I think it may have been two years since we were down there. I sometimes really envy folks that have their families really close. BUt the truth is, all of the kids and their husbands work all the time and have little to no time for things like visiting. It is a fact of life in today’s society.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I’m preaching the sermon tomorrow. I hope you plan to take the time to attend your house of worship. We can never be grateful enough for all of he blessings God provides so we as a minimum owe God an hour or two a week spent in worship.

I looking at my recumbent bike and obviously it isn’t going to ride itself so I guess I better haul my butt out of my recliner and get on it and ride for a few miles. Have a blessed day. Shalomn

Good morning and happy Friday. It is a beautiful fall morning; currently 61 degrees with a breeze  and promises to be a beautiful day all day long.

Yesterday was a day of issues. First thing yesterday morning we got a call that appointment opportunities had opened up for us to go to the dentist. It has been a year because of one thing or another so we said that we would be there. Well, the appointments were for 1130 and Ms. Kate has to take an antibiotic pill before any dental work. The dentist called in her prescription to Walgreens but they don’t open the pharmacy until 0900. So, I got dressed and went there and waited, picked up the scripts and took them home to Kate.

After our appointments we went to get some lunch and then to the grocery store and the hardware store. From there we headed up to Haubstadt to Dewig’s so we could put in our order for how to butcher the hog we are buying from Brenda and Andy. On the way there I had a trouble light come on that said my battery was having problem. I drove on to Dewigs because it was only another six miles or so. When we got there, I hopped out and raised the hood and there was water going everywhere. Luckily, there was fellow that I knew that came over to help me. I went on the store and asked if there was a hose that I could use to put some water in the truck and they had me pull around side of the place and we tried to cool it down. It took quite a while but we finally got it to the point that I could drive it.

From there we started home before it got hot again so we pulled over and let it cool down a little more and started limping back home again. Well, we didn’t get far and it was obvious we were not going to make it so I pulled off to the side of the highway and we set there for a while letting it cool down. I called neighbor Dan and he brought us 3 gallon jugs of water. By the time he got there the truck had cooled off sufficiently for us to add the water. We lived it all the way home and it now sits in front of the house. I’ll worry about having it fixed when we get back from our vacation. In the mean time, it can set there. I think it is either the water pump or the thermostat that has gone bad. Either way won’t be cheap to fix.

So, yesterday was a day of issues. However, neither Ms. Kate nor I had any problems with our teeth from the dentist so that was a good thing. And, we got the order put in for how to butcher the hog. Brenda says they will be taking the hogs to market within the next two weeks, soo that will be waiting for us when we get home too. Brenda says the hogs will probably weigh in at about 250 pounds so that will put a lot of meat in the freezer. I prefer pork to beef anyway. I think it is hard to beat a good pork roast.

I guess hat is about all the news I have for you today. It is the weekend. I hope you have a good weekend. I send God’s blessings. Peace.

I’m having my coffee, watching my Backyard Buffet guests, and procrastinating about getting on the recumbent bike. My Buffet guests this morning seem to be happy that I have filled up feeders again last evening especially the darn starlings. I don’t know how they always manage to know when I hve freshly filled the feeders. There is one feeder in particular that they flock to and it is filled with a product called “Bark Butter Bits”.  These bits are just small nuggets of something like peanut butter and everything loves them. The starlings, the blackbirds, the bluebirds, the cardinals, wrens, finches, and especially the woodpeckers all hit up that feeder as soon as I fill it; and of course, it is one of the most expensive of the foods that I buy. The surprising thing is that the squirrels won’t bother that feeder at all. This morning the blue Jay has joined the fray too so there is going to be a battle of the “long beak” birds over that feeder. I also put fresh water in the birdbath so they will be going from the feeder to the birdbath with regularity.

It is the first of October and rather that being a cool fall day, it is already eighty three degrees this morning and going up to ninety five today, again. That will break a 100 year old record temperature for today. The month of September was the driest on record with only eight tenths of an inch of rain for the whole month. And we are not expecting any rain for most of this week either. The weather dude said that maybe Thursday we will see a shower but it won’t amount to much. And while the majority of the country is suffering through a heat wave, the north west portion of the country has already had snow fall measured in feet instead of inches. The state of Montana has declared aa state of emergency for portion of th high elevation that received over forty inches of snow over the weekend.

This weather though is allowing our farmers to get out into the fields and get the crops in. I’ve only talked to one farmer’s wife but she said the corn harvest is really going well. They need rain to help the soy beans though. The news reporters too have been out in the fields talking to farmers and they too are saying hat it is going to be a good harvest. That is really good news because the spring forced a late planting season due to all of the rain we got then and many mid west farmers didn’t get to put corn in at all. I always worry about my friends who are working on harvest because they work too many hours in the day and that causes them  to lose concentration sometimes which leads to front accidents and injury. So I keep them in my prayers for a safe harvest.

Tomorrow I have to cover Pastor Art’s Bible study for him because he has a funeral to do. He does a lot of funerals. But, he has been a pastor for over sixty years and a lot of people and their families know him. I have been blessed to be able to work with him these past two years and have learned a lot from him. His training is Southern Baptist but he is ecumenical enough to fit in with our congregations.

I guess I have put off getting on the bike long enough. It isn’t a big deal, I just put my IPad up on the bike, tune into to You Tube music videos, put on my ear phones and peddle away to no where. It’s good exercise and gets the heart rate pumping. While I’m doing that, go have another cup of coffee for me. Have a blessed day, and stay in touch with the gracious God who created you. Shalom.