Monday, new week, and it is hot already this morning and is not going to get any better throughout the day. It is currently 84 with a feels like temperature of 94 and is muggy as the dickens. It’s just one big ol’ Yuk! But, I think the rain has washed away the Saudi Arabia dust storm that is sweeping the globe. Who would have believed that a dust storm 16,000 miles away was going to cause breathing problems here in southern Indiana. But, it did. I could literally taste the air and the grit in it.

This morning I took Ms. Kate for her doctor’s appointment (check-up) with Dr. Jackson. He said that everything looked good for her except for the Pro-time blood work that controls her blood thinner. She had to do another blood test for that after her doctor’s appointment. Then we went to McDonald’s and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches will probably get us through to supper time.

We had good attendance at the churches yesterday. More people came back from their COVID-19 hibernation. This coming Sunday Indiana is scheduled to go to stage 5 of the re-opening which means that masks become optional and and most businesses can now operate at 100% capacity. It is worrisome though because many states that opened much earlier are now seeing spikes in cases again. Much of it is because people have not practiced the safety guidelines. They have been out in the streets protesting and rioting. They have been filling the bars and nightclubs. They have been crowding the beaches and parks and other events. And they haven’t been social distancing, nor have they been wearing their masks. So 36 states are seeing a major rise in the number of cases again. I hope that doesn’t happen here in Indiana. I would really hate for the to be closing things down again and especially hate for the churches to have to go back to just televised worship services. But, we’ll just pray a that people will begin to show some common sense, and that it won’t come to that.

I’m waiting on a call from a refrigerator repair guy. Our little Kitchen Aid porch refrigerator quit cooling at all. I suspect that it is just out of refrigerant because the fan was still blowing but just no cold air. It has been a good appliance and I would hate To lose a Kitchen Aid appliance of any kind. So, hopefully, this guy can fix it.

We had quite a rain yesterday. I had almost six inches in my rain gauge. We are slated for rain of some measure every day this week. It is messing with my asparagus planting. I still need to put the compost in the raised bed but the bed is too wet to work in. Ohh, well, one day at a time.

I pray you will have a wonderful week. Stay safe from the COVID. Say your prayers and give thanks to God Almighty for blessings received. I would also ask that you say a prayer for my organist at one of my churches. She was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and it has spread to her liver and spine. She was already taking kidney dialysis three days a week and now adding a combination of chemotherapy to that is going to be so very hard on her. She is a dear sweet lady and my heart breaks for her and her family. So lift her up please. You don’t need to know her name, God already does. Peace.

A very pleasant Thursday to you. It is 70 degrees and sunny and I’m waiting for the tree trimmers to show up and get busy. They have finished the house next door to the north and now they have been working for the last two days three doors to the south. That guy had a lot of work done. I was outside yesterday watching these guys work and it was fascinating. Up at that house they have room to use a bucket and lift and they were taking a couple of trees down. The amount of safety rigging and harnesses used was quite interesting. At our house though they are going to have to go old fashion and use climbing spikes. I’m only have trees thinned out and they can’t get close enough with a truck to use the bucket. I think I’ll have some unhappy squirrels when this is over.

I filled 16 feeders yesterday and of course the blackbirds are back and are all over the bark-butter bits containers. Those are always the first two emptied and the blackbirds will stay on them until they are gone. I don’t know how they can eat so much. But, — this morning I have a few of every kind of bird and of course a couple of squirrels that are filling their bellies.

Yesterday was my lazy day. We went to run the bulletins on Tuesday evening so we could be home yesterday in case the tree crew wanted to come here. But — they didn’t so we basically did nada all day. I don’t have a lot of days that I don’t do anything, well I did mow the front lawn; but that didn’t take long and I only mowed mine this week. I think today I am going to run out to Lowes and see if I can get the material I need to create my raised garden bed. I received my asparagus plants yesterday in the mail so now I need to build the bed and get the crowns in the ground. I checked my compost container yesterday and it is ready to put out there on the garden. That is like free gold. We have a large pile of dirt up at the church from digging graves and I need to see if I can maybe get several bags of that to put in my raised bed. I don’t see why I couldn’t/ It is just out there and the renter next door lets their kid ride on it with his bike. I have a bunch of bird seed bags that I could maybe fill and bring home. If I could get maybe 10 bags full that would be enough and would save me a bunch of money.

Thaat’s it for today. I pray you have a great day and that it is filled with joy. Peace.

Monday afternoon already and I feel like I haven’t accomplished much so far today. This morning I had to take Ms. Kate for some bloodwork to be done. Her Pro-Time medication was way out of whack from her testing last week so they had her lay off of her blood thinners for a few days and told her to come in today for another testing. That’s what happens when the medication for one thing works against the medication for something else. It becomes a vicious cycle.

After we went to the doctor’s office we went to Subway and picked up a couple of sandwiches for lunch. Unfortunately we were the first customer and their toaster takes a while to heat up so we didn’t wait for our sandwiches to be heated up. The ya were still okay but would have been better heated.

Our next door neighbors, Jeff and Theresa have a tree trimming crew over at their house today. They are having one large maple taken out, and two more trees thinned and trimmed. The maple has been having limbs fall out and although not huge they have been hitting their cars. I went over and had their owner come to our place and give me an estimate on cutting out a bunch of the dead stuff that I have in my Tulip Poplar trees and to trim back my over grown lilac bushes. The price is right so I’ve told them to do the job. These guys do a good job. Two of our other neighbors have had them remove trees for them and they did a good quick job. As he was leaving my house, here come a guy from the other side of Dan’s house wanting an estimate on some work at his house. But, that’s the way it is when people see that you are doing a good job and hear that your prices are reasonable. Tat will be seven jobs just within our block.

I’m trying to work on Sunday’s sermon. It is the story of Abraham and Isaac. The story is simple enough. Sorting out ancient Biblical history though is tough. The first thing that is always hard to reconcile to people is that much of what we relate form the ancients is that it is narrative and story but not necessarily “historical fact”. The stories were audible history for a thousand years before the first word was written. So the fact that Abraham was 100 years old before he got his 95 year old wife pregnant has to be listened to for the message God wants us to know, not for the accuracy of the facts.  As one of my favorite pastor’s once said during a class I was taking from him: “The Bible is total truth but it is not a history book.” I have never forgotten that and I have applied it to all of my research and sermon writing. To me, that statement takes away the element of doubt that can get in the way of our faith.

I found a place to get rid of the two flat-screen TV sets that are riding around in the back of my truck. I called a place this morning and have an appointment next week to drop the off. They charge like twenty cents a pound. As soon as I get that done, then I’m going to Lowes and purchase the materials for my raised bed for the garden. Then I can pant my asparagus plants. gotta keep busy ya’ know. LOL

That’s it for today. Hav a blessed week. Peace my friends.

Good morning on an already hot Saturday morning. It is 83 degrees and is projected to go up another 10 degrees today. A weather alert has already been issued for us old folks not to be out doing physical activity. Luckily I’ve done my outside work that I really need to do already this week, although I could get on the two JD’s and do some mowing. The front yard could stand a trim but doesn’t look bad; it’s just a little taller tan I usually let it get. And besides, riding my John  Deere isn’t really “work”, it’s more like play. The problem comes in when I have to start also weed eating with the string trimmer etc.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go downtown, (we never go downtown) to an event. There is a food truck currently in town run by a company called “Cousins Maine Lobsters”. Ms. Kate and I love  a good lobster roll. When we were stationed in Massachusetts we were close enough to Maine that we would drive up and get fresh lobster right off of the boats. There were kiosks along the docks and you just picked out which one you wanted and they would steam it right there on the spot and you got your lobster and some butter and could just walk around eating it. It was a wonderful experience. —- Anyway, we decided to go to this food truck because we had heard that it was really good. Long story short, —- I stood in line for three hours to get our lobster rolls, (I’ve never stood in line for three hours for anything before) —- and for four lobster rolls, I paid almost $75.00. By the time I got our food, my feet and legs were so tired and hurt. Was it worth it? —- well, I guess it is debatable. I’ve never had a lobster roll with that much lobster on it, and it was so very good; but standing three hours, paying that much money just to take it home and eat it in my kitchen, —- I’m not positive it was THAT good. LOL. We had initially joked that we were going to go every day this weekend and get some but that is a lot of money and a lot of waiting. On the other hand, it was cheaper than driving to Maine and took a lot less time. Who knows, we may end up going by to see what the line looks like today. If I get in it, I’ll for sure wear my leg brace and different shoes.

This morning I had a special guest in the back yard; — a Brown Thrush was running around in my backyard. I don’t see them around here except maybe every couple of years so it was exciting. They are ground feeders so it is welcome to clean up after the other guests if it wants to.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow is Sunday and Father’s Day. I hope you have a good one. Peace.

A blessed Friday to you. I hope your day has started out well and finishes up even better. It is aa pleasant morning around here but is going to be a warm one. I think 89 with rising humidity is on the score card.

It is laundry day around here. The first load (darks) have been washed and are in the dryer, The other load (whites) have yet to go in. Ms. Kate always has something she wants to pre-treat so she told me today to just carry the stuff out there and she will get it in the washer. LOL, she can put it in the washer but she can’t get it back out because she is too short. If I’m not here to help she uses a pair of tongs. Like everything else, we make a good team. I had to throw my every-day tennis shoes in the washer this morning. I did a bunch of tilling yesterday and they were really dirty When I finished. I’ve needed to do that for awhile but yesterday got them past wearing in public.

I did get the garden all tilled yesterday. It took quite awhile. I needed to get the bed ready to plant the new asparagus plant’s that are coming in the mail shortly. I also need to read up on planting asparagus. I’ve heard everything from planting the crowns three feet deep to six inches. The worst part will be the three year wait to see if we will actually have a crop. I guess I’ll need something to do when I’m 79. LOL

I’ve been outside long enough to put air in the tire of the “backyard John Deere”. One of my projects today is to clean that mower up. It is filthy and hasn’t had a good cleaning since I bought it a dozen years ago. The poor thing has been neglected. I also think I will call my JD dealer and have them come get it and service it. The blades need sharpening and the oil need changed, and maybe a new fuel filter etc. I just have too hard of a time getting down and back up to do that kind of stuff. I did good to get down to air up the tire this morning.

I’m very happy to report that Ms. Kate is feeling very much better this morning. I’m relieved. I waas really getting concerned. She did have a full blood-work up done yesterday and an xray done on her lumbar. It comes out to be basically arthritis in her back. As you know, daughter Julie had terrible Rhumatoid Arthritis and it runs in Ms. Kate’s family on her dad’s side. So, I’m not surprised. But, Thank you God, for the relief that she is feeling today.

That’s it for this beautiful Friday. Time to get back to work. Have a blessed weekend. I may see you tomorrow. Peace.

It’s another fantastic weather morning in a series of fantastic weather mornings. So I’ll start off by saying Thank you very much Lord for a wonderful day. We have the house opened up and have had for the past couple of days. Right now it is a sunny 73 degrees with a five MPH breeze. There are a lot of birds singing around the neighborhood. There are so many trees in the subdivision and they are all old and tall trees too. Birds have been singing here for a long time. I need to fill a couple of my feeders, the bark-butter feeders of course because they is the first thing they empty, and it looks like maybe one of the sunflower feeders is empty too. I have one feeder that I call my “squirrel feeder” because they generally go to that one first. There has been. Squirrel sitting on it for thee past half an hour and I can tell it is empty. I guess he just wants to be first in line in case I show up and fill it. LOL.

My raccoon has outsmarted me twice. I had baited the trap once but the critter simply pulled the can over to the side of the trap and sat on the outside of the trap and reached through the wire and fed himself. Then, I wired the can to the bottom of the cage and danged if it still didn’t manage to get all of the bait without tripping the door. I don’t know how he did that. They are intelligent critters for sure. So, — back to the drawing board. I feel like Wyle E. Coyote trying to trap the road runner.

Julie and Jim came over for lunch yesterday and brought back my garden tiller. I fixed lunch on my new Blackstone griddle and it was pretty darn good. I cut up a bunch of veggies and some smoked sausage and cooked it on the grill. Good stuff.

This morning I need to go out to Zoar Church an d pick up some books from the Sunday school class that Ms. Kate and I attended while we were there/ They haven’t been having Sunday school classes since the COVID-19 virus started and they have offered them to me. I’ll take them to my churches and maybe use them for a Bible Study.  And today is the day I run bulletins so I’ll do that too and also stop by Bob’s house because he has some asparagus for me. Maybe on the way to his house I’ll stop by DQ and pick us both up a sundae.  That would be a nice trade for some asparagus.

Okay, my friends. Tine to accomplish something. I pray your day is wonderful and your week fully blessed. Peace.

Happy new week. I hope your weekend was pleasant. Ours around here was just two more days in a string of days. Nothing exciting going on. The big event that was supposed to be happening didn't. This is the week that we are  supposed to be in Branson, MO hugging necks and sitting on a back patio of a beautiful home enjoying our family reunion. But as you know, the COVID-19 virus terminated all of that not only for us but for people all over the world. I would never have thought that we would still be worrying about this thing still. I though that surely by mid June everything would be alright. But instead, places have opened up and of course the cases of it are spiking again. What is amazing to me now is that the public has gone numb to any news about it. The powers that be are crying the alarm that as many as a quarter of a million people could yet could catch it before 4th of July and as many as 25,000 people could die and it barely makes the news now. I hate the term "New Normal" as I have told you before but, --- God help us, this has all become a new normal. Kate and I haven't "been anywhere" except church, drive through food pick ups at restaurants, and I have been to Lowe's once and I go do the grocery shopping. We're planning a vacation in September with Lisa and her family but I don't have a lot of confidence it will happen because there could be another country shut-down because of COVID or more race riots and demonstrations or something else. What a way to live.

We did have in-person worship yesterday at the churches and that was wonderful. We had a really good turnout at my small church. Percentage wise we had probably 90% of that congregation show up. The larger church wasn't near as good, although I know that there were a lot of those folks watching the service on-line. Our camera for the service didn't do a very good job of picking up the sound though. I watched the video last night and I had to turn the volume all the way up to understand it. Jacob used a different camera yesterday. I think he was using his IPhone rather than the IPad he had been using. We'll have to look into it.

I set my trap last night to catch the raccoon and it out-smarted me. I had put some peanut butter in a small used tuna can and set it in the middle of the trap. This morning I checked the trap and had noting in it. But then I check the can for the peanut butter and noticed that the can had bee pulled over to one corner. So, the little bugger pulled it over there and just sat on the outside, reaching through and getting his peanut butter. So today I am going to drill a couple of holes in that can and wire it to the center and see if that does it. Darn thing!! I hate being out-smarted by a raccoon.

That's enough for today. It looks to be a pleasant week so enjoy yourself and give thanks to God for your blessing. Peace.

Friday and the end of the work week for those that are actually going to work or have been able to finally return to work. It is another beautiful morning; currently 84 degrees and a boatload of sunshine. The birds and squirrels are happy because I filled the feeders yesterday afternoon. So this morning I have had a couple of squirrels out there, although I almost had a real battle because the wandering black cat almost caught one. It snuck up to within pouncing distance when the squirrel suddenly saw it and made the leap to the tree. That cat went right up after it for about five feet and then decided it wasn't worth the effort. I don't mind that cat because it does chase the squirrels and generally leaves my birds alone. Although it is welcome to eat a blackbird or two any time it wants.

Yesterday we went and ran the bulletins at the churches. We normally do that on Wednesday as you know, but I decided that I wanted to finish my sermon for this week on Wednesday so I delayed the bulletins. It really makes no difference when I go run them. My initial plan when I returned to the parish was to have Wednesday as an office day. I planned to do my visitations, run my bulletins, and do some sermon writing up there. But, this corona virus has totally eliminated those plans. We still can't do nursing home visitations or other visitations, no one expects me to be in the office nor has anybody asked me to be at the church for anything; and I can write here at home just as well although I did move a lot of my resource material up to the office at St. Lucas. And I bought several hundred dollars worth of office furniture for the office at St. Lucas that is nor being used. At least the office looks professional when I do want to use it. I may go back to my plan once we open up the church a little more and advertise that I will be in the office on Wednesdays for a certain amount of hours each week just in case some folks do want to come by to talk or prayer.

Today I need to go out and use the hoe around my garden plants and I need to water then stuff with some Miracle Gro to add fertilizer to the soil. The tomatoes are looking good as is the cucumber and okra. Jim and Julie are coming over next Tuesday and returning my tiller so I can work the soil again. But in the mean time, I need to take the "Hula Hoe" and clean around the plants up close. I also need to do something about the area on the north side of my house. It isn't a very big area; maybe 25 foot by 30 foot but it is a mess. When we first bought this place I worked it up real well and I put the "anti-weed cloth" down and covered it. over then with mulch. I planted several peonies in there that I had gotten from my mother's yard and I also planted a lilac bush there that was an heirloom that came out of my mother's yard but was a shoot off of one that had originally belonged my mother's sister who passed away many years ago. Over the years, the weeds and grass  took over and I let it because that area is on a difficult slant and hard to stand on. I eventually dug up the peonies and transplanted them around elsewhere in the yard. Tree sprouts have come up and one has become a really beautiful red-bud tree, I missed one of the peonies when I was transplanting so I need to get in there. Also there is a lilac that was already there at the edge of the house that has grown totally out of control and the limbs block entrance to the area completely now. So, I have a lot of work to do. I love having a beautiful a yard with all of the flowers etc. But, it is so much work and I'm just not able to do things that I used to do. Growing old is not for woosies.

Okay my friends. Time for me to quit. I pray you have a blessed weekend. Stay safe and take care of one another. Peace.

And Wednesday is here already, Wow! And -- it appears to be a good one. We have had our temperature high (84) already for the day and now the temperature is gong to drop back down to a comfortable 75 or so with a slight breeze and a partly cloudy sky.

My chores today are to go to the church and run my bulletins for this coming Sunday, and I need to go by a farm-stand and pick up a couple of tomatoes and maybe some squash and cucumbers for some fresh veggies around the house.  I also have to get serious about the sermon that I am writing. I have the service done so I can print the bulletins but I have only one page of the sermon written. It is another one of those that I have an idea of what I want to say and I kind of have an outline but I'm a long way from a finished product. I know that some preachers will tell you; "I never prepare a sermon, I don't even know what I'm going to say until I get up there and then God tells me what to say." Well, good for them; but I can't do that and that's not my style. I used to watch my former mentor, Rev. Dr. John Trnka get up and give a sermon and he'd have maybe several single sentences on a card to go by and he gave wonderful sermons. I look at my current mentor and fellow-pastor, Rev. Dr. Art Christmas and he is almost the same way. He and I exchange sermons every week and he sends me a couple of short written pages of narrative and turns that into a 15-20 minute sermon. I send him four to five pages to read for my 15-20 minute messages. He gets out from behind the pulpit and can walk around and give his and I cling to the pulpit for support and protection. LOLOL. Ms. Kate will tell you that if I start to get off of the written and go extemporaneous, I'll get to running down rabbit-trails and everybody will be lost. Different strokes for different folks I reckon. But, God hasn't fired me yet and people tell me that they get inspiration from my sermons, so I reckon I'll keep on, keeping on.

When I get finished at the churches today I think maybe it is time that Ms. Kate and I went to Sam's Club and did some looking around. I think we should look for things like paper products, toilet paper, paper plates etc. I don't know if the hoarding of those products has stopped or not because we haven't been to Sam's or Walmart since all of this craziness started and have only been in Target once. Nor have we been in a store of any kind together since February. I have done all of the grocery shopping except for Ms. Kate going into Fresh Market last week. So maybe we'll go to Sam's just for an adventure. (What a sad life.)

Okay, enough for today. I pray your week will finish off with loads of blessings and praise for God. Peace.

Happy New Week! Welcome to Monday and the second week of June. Do you realize that very shortly this year will be half over? It doesn’t seem like we have had a 2020 yet because we have been cooped up in the house for the past eleven weeks. That pretty much shot Spring in the rear end. In two weeks it will be officially summer and it is going to be a different kind of summer because of restrictions due to the stupid COVID-19 thing. None of the swimming pools are going to be open. The local county fairs have been cancelled, the 4th of July fireworks have been cancelled. The state fair has been cancelled. Theaters are only operating at half capacity if they re-open at all. Restaurants are operating at half to a third of capacity if they can re-open at all. People are still being told to stay indoors and cover their faces and don’t touch one another. It appears the only acceptable social activity these days is civil unrest and protest. Then you are encouraged to crowd as many people into the streets as you can. We’re told that we aren’t supposed to sing in church even wearing masks and standing six feet away from each other; —- but it is just fine to stand shoulder to shoulder in the streets and yell at the top of your lungs. The world has gone mad.

We had our outdoor service yesterday and it went well. I guess we had maybe 50 show up. . We also tried to livestream it but for whatever reason, we got the first 13 minutes of it and the IPad quit and and we got nothing more. So, no one sitting at home had to listen to my sermon because that is the point at which it quit. I thought it was a good one too but maybe God thought differently. I considered  taping it here at home and putting it on our Facebook page but decided that would be prideful. As the fells on tv says; “On to the next”. Next week we return to the post COVID schedule and I go back to preaching two services.

We made our vacation plans for fall. I’ve rented a beach house in Emerald Isle on the North Carolina coast for a week in September. Will have a chance to see Lisa and all of her family.

Time to quit and go do some writing. Have a blessed week.

Saturday morning, June 7th. It is currently 86 degrees "out yonder" and is going to 93 before the day is out. That doesn't sound like the worst day ever does it? If I were going to plan a day for an outdoor outing at the beach or picnicking someplace, I'd say it was a perfect day. If fact I am very much anticipating this same kind of day tomorrow for out out door service. The only problem I have is that we were issued an sir quality alert for today which means I should not spend too much time outside. Sigh --- what else is new; if it isn't Corona Virus alerts, it's racial riot alerts and then it's air quality alerts. No wonder people don't want to go anywhere.

We did a little running around yesterday. I went to Lowe's and picked up the new toilet flapper to fix Ms. Kate's toilet.  While I was there, I picked up a new drill. I've been waiting for Father's day to get here so I could get one on sale. And this is the first time I have been in Lowe's since all of this COVID crap started and I found a good deal on one so I whipped out some of my gift cards and bought one. Bless my kids hearts, they have kept me supplied with Lowe's gift cards for years and I love it. Yesterday I took out three, paid and left. I still have another five in my billfold.

Today is a day of tension for many of our Evansville residents. Allegedly sometime this afternoon or evening, there is supposed to be bus loads of rioters and looters coming into the east side of town and they plan to storm the large Target and the Walmart Super-center and steal and destroy. Now, how anybody knows this is anybody's business. Allegedly this is all part of the protests. Frankly, I feel that if the black community wants solidarity and change, they should be out there along side of the police and telling these thugs "No way -- Not Today. What a sad and dangerous world we live in. But, the police force is on full alert so we'll see what happens. Hopefully nothing will happen.

Okay, I gotta stop and do something productive. I also need to go over my sermon for tomorrow. I pray you will have a safe weekend. I also pray for this nation and our community. Let's practice kindness. Let's practice tolerance. Let's stay in touch with God. Peace.

Welcome to Thursday Morning. It is a bit cloudy this morning and 77  degrees. We are told we are going to have a few Thunderstorms roll through at some point today. Before that happens, I need to bring my new Blackstone griddle in so it doesn't get wet or rusty. I've been pretty pleased with it so far.  I need to check the weather report and see when the storms are predicted; maybe I can cook something on my griddle before I have to put it away.

So yesterday and today again I heard this woodpecker doing a rat-a-tat on something in my back yard. I knew it was close because the sound was loud. I checked it out and lo and behold, I had a Pilated Woodpecker doing it's thing on my gazebo bird feeder that I have mounted up on a pole. I bought that bird feeder several years ago over in Ohio and it has been a good one. It has a clear plastic cylinder down through the middle of it and I usually put safflower seed in it and the cardinals are about the only ones that eat from it. I love the fact that I have a Pilated Woodpecker here but I sure don't want him eating my bird feeder. Silly thing can go across the yard and eat on that dead Red Bud tree. Ms. Kate says that it means that the gazebo is starting to rot. I have not noticed that but I need to check it out.

We went to the church yesterday and ran the bulletins. I met Jacob there  and we brainstormed the set up for this coming Sunday's "Tent Meeting". So far the weather prediction for a gorgeous day is holding. I really hope it continues to hold. I think this is going to be so much fun; and it will be wonderful to be back in in-person worship with everybody again. I think most folks will come but there will be those who are still afraid of catching the Corona Virus and they will stay home. That's okay too because we will be live-streaming it on Facebook and they can watch it there.

Did I tell you that I caught another raccoon night before last?  I called animal control to pick it up and they came out rather quickly. I didn't reset the trap last night. I  did get it all cleaned up and ready to use again. I think this guy was a loner so I'll give it a few days to see what happens.

I don't know why but Facebook changed their app again. I play two games on the computer every day; Criminal Case and Bingo Bash. These were always stored under the heading of "Shortcuts". For some reason, they no longer are. Ms. Kate plays a game called Klondike and it was taken off of the shortcuts list too. The games are still there but we have to go through extra steps to get to them. It makes zero sense to me. Why couldn't they have simply left things alone. It's not just us either. Julie said she had to go looking for her stuff today too. Grrrrrr.

Time to toast a bagel and slather some Philly Creme Cheese on it for breakfast., and pour another cup of coffee. I hope you have a wonderful day. Peace.

It’s “hump day”! I’m a little later in the morning writing this morning; it 1045 and already 80 degrees outside. It is however, very comfortable. I as out a bit ago checking on the raccoon that I trapped last night. I heard my trap snap shut at about 0100 and went out there. Sure enough, it had fallen or the old peanut butter trick. And was not one bit happy. I called animal control first thing this morning and they come out fairly quickly and picked him up. I’m glad that it didn’t have to stay in the cage very long. I can’t believe how much of the area around the trap that raccoon tore up. The cage is full of pulled up daffodil stalks and dirt. It tore the container that I had the peanut butter in totally apart. Much of it is gone so I guess unfortunately it ate it. I say unfortunately because it was plastic. If it ate it, it might kill it eventually. I bought a new trap yesterday because the other trap is torn up and I don’t think I can fix it. I watched the way it was working on this new trap and I hope it didn’t tear this one up. I know I have a lot of cleaning up to do on this trap now.

The race riots, looting, burning, and killing of police officers and innocent civilians trying to protect their property continues. It is a night and day issue. During the day, large, mostly peaceful crowds gather and protest which is lawful and fine. At night the young thugs and opportunists come flowing out into the streets for the sole purpose of destruction and mayhem and anarchy. They have no interest in a cause and they are often being bussed in and paid to do it by someone or many someone’s desiring to overthrow the gov’t. I watched a video this morning of looters that had broken into a shoe store and crowds of young people were storming in and grabbing boxes and boxes of shoes. They didn’t care one bit that people were filming them because they know nothing will be done to them. There was a video of a bunch of them that beat an 80 year old woman with fists and boards because she stood in front of her shop trying to deter them. They are the devil’s animals at work.

I better drop off before I get into a rant. I do pray that God will show us how to bring peace back to this nation. We have had protests here. In Evansville and they have been peaceful for the most part, with no arrests or destruction. The protesters stand to one side or march and the police stand off to the other side. Some protesters say that the police shouldn’t be there at all because it is threatening and one lady came on the camera and said the police department should be abolished completely. Everybody has an opinion I reckon.

I need to get ready and I have to clean up an animal trap and then I need to go to the church today and run buletins for Sunday.  Have a great “Hump Day”. Peace.

Good morning on this Tuesday, June 2nd, which just happens to be Indiana primary Election Day. You can bet that Ms. Kate and I will be at the polling center a little later today and cast our ballot. We could have asked for absentee ballots and filled them out and mailed them in. But frankly, I just don’t trust that. Ballots for my party seem to get “lost” somehow which is why the other party seems to be really pushing for mail in ballots. I’m not saying they are crooked, but it is said and has been shown  that a lot of dead people seem to keep voting for that party’s candidates year after year. So, I go vote in person. I don’t have any guarantee that it is any safer, but at least I see when the machine says my vote has been cast.

Well, I have baited my trap the last two night and haven’t caught my raccoon yet. The bait has been gone both mornings. I figured out that the trap trip platform is not releasing the spring. I think the last coon that Art caught with it must have bent the platform trying to escape. I’ll have to work on it and see if I can fix it. If not, —- it only cost $25.00 so I’ll go get a new one.

Today is going to be a hot one; — 90 degrees. I have office work to do today so the basement will be the place to be. I need to make parishioner calls today and I need to do a short video to the church Facebook page about our service this coming weekend. The weather seems to be cooperating so we are going to do an outside service on Sunday. I’m finally getting the “tent meeting” service that I wanted to do a few weeks ago. I hope it turns out as good as I want it to. It will be wonderful to have folks back together even though they will have to be wearing masks and staying six feet apart. The energy of Christian love will fill the gaps between parishioners, of that, I have no doubt.

So, I guess I better get cleaned up and get ready to go vote. I hope people don’t treat this like they do so many primary elections. Turnout is generally light and since people have been making in their ballots already, the lines may be short. We’ll just have to go and see.

Have a blessed day. Do something kind for someone today and give God thanks that you have that opportunity to share His love. Peace.

Welcome to June of 2020. Five months of this year are gone and we’ve spent the last 11 weeks basically holed up in the house. It is very much a repeat of 2019 where I spent from February through April recovering from surgery, and from the end of May through August again in recovery from more surgeries. But look at me now. The tendon has regenerated to some degree and I can do almost anything I need to do. God is great and the miracles God performs are beyond imagination. Who would have thought that an Achilles Heel would regenerate? Certainly not my surgeon who said, I almost hate to call it a tendon , —- but I can feel it.

All of my family should be starting to pack for a vacation in Branson MO by now but sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has ruined and canceled those plans. At least I got all of my money back that I had paid out for the house. Last year I lost $9,000.00 because I thought I had travel insurance but didn’t and we had to cancel the trip because of my surgeries. That’s a hunk of change. But — it’s water under the bridge and gone. This year I was much more careful about how I made the arrangements.

The weekend has been a terrible one for our nation. Last week the Minneapolis Police arrested a black man for little or no reason and during the takedown the man was killed right there on camera. An officer had his knee on the man’s neck and despite the fact tat the man pleaded that he couldn't breathe, the officer continued to keep him pinned and he died. Race riots and looting has broken out all over the country. There have been some peaceful protests and there should be a lot of peaceful protests over this killing. But the riots and looting and thuggery have used the death of a man for nothing but criminal actions. They have nothing to do with paying honor for the man that was killed. Add to the problem with the criminal activity is the fact that we are still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we don’t see a big spike in the positive cases of the Corona Virus after these riots and demonstrations are over — well, we will have been lied to on that front because there certainly wasn’t any “social distancing” going on and yes, a lot of people had masks on but they always do during a riot because they are thieves. I guess we will know in a week of two about the reality of the spread of the virus. My friends, —- this country is in a mess!! I pray God will intervene.

That’s it for me today. Pray for a calm week and for the nation to come together once again in a peaceful way. May God guide us and bring us peace.