Happy Halloween. Last day of October 2020. You know, this year just keeps grinding along doesn’t it. It seems like it drags along but then all of a sudden we are down to 61 days left in the year. It all seems a bit surreal. We’ve been in COVID-19 mode for eight months now, walking around in masks, staying away from each other, afraid to gather in groups and afraid to talk to one another face to face. The virus is no closer to having a cure today than it was eight months ago although we keep hearing “any day now”. The country has gone nuts because they are starting to rebel against the restrictions and not wear their masks and the virus spreads even more. Other countries are seeing a resurgence of this thing too and are locking down their populations. And, it has become so very political. Most of the campaign rhetoric dwells around how good or how bad the current president haas handled the virus. Hate and distrust of the politicians and the national directors of the people that are supposed to be giving us the details is so high that no one wants to hear anything they have to say. This Halloween is an actual scary time because of all that is going on. 

I don’t know if I am going to give candy out tonight or not. The health officials re saying that there should not be any Halloween parties because of spreading the virus. They also say the kids should not go out door to door. I always sit on my John Deere at the end of the driveway in costume but I don’t know if it will be worth the effort this year. If I do, I’ll just sit out there with my bowl of candy and a pair of tongs and pass out candy to whomever comes by. That way it will be “no-contact”, and I’ll be wearing my COVID-required mask. Things sure are different this year. 

Ms. Kate and I went to the churches yesterday and ran three Sunday’s worth of bulletins. I have one more Service to put together and sermon to write before we take off. Then I’ll be ready to roll. The question is —- do we go or not. We’re going to Biloxi, MS and they just got hit with their second hurricane  and I don’t know what we will find when we get there. I don’t know if the restaurants are going to be open, if the hotel is damaged form the ocean surge or what. We’ll need to do some thinking about all of this. We still have 10 days to cancel our trip, but, where else would we go? Sigh!!!

I reckon I better get busy and get something done today. Hav a blessed All Hallow’s Eve. Peace

P.S. — Don’t forget too set the clocks back an hour. 

 The weather hasn’t improved any so far and in fact has, as exited, gotten worse. The rains have gotten here and we could get as much as four inches according to our weather person last night. I’m so glad that the harvest is 99% in around here. The guys are just “turning dirt” at this point preparing for the next crop. There is no real rush. Generally they have until around Thanksgiving to get that done before things get really nasty. 

Zeta has made land fall directly on New Orleans, like they need any more water. The sea level in New Orleans is I think one foot which mean it takes nothing for the streets to be flooded. That’s why their burials are above ground in mausoleums. If they buried below ground, the caskets would just wash back up, and would that ever be a gory mess. 

You know, God works in the strangest ways and sometimes we wonder if God is working for us at all. But trust me, God is always there. I have a friend & parishioner that had a heart attack at work a couple of months ago. It turns out that he needed a double by-pass heart surgery. The surgery went fine and he was in recovery at the hospital but developed pneumonia in both lungs. He went through all of that, much of th time being entibated (sp)  and was about through with that when he started bleeding. The doctors went in for a colonoscopy and have now found out that he has colon cancer. So — to follow God’s trail, had he not had the heart attack and have those repairs done, he may not have been able to withstand the pneumonia treatment and they would not have looked for cancer and found that. God doesn’t promise an easy path. God promises to walk the path with you. God doesn’t promise instant answers either. It took the Israelites 40 years to make a ten day journey. But they grew into a “People” and a “Society” in the process. Trust in God. 

We did our first “call-ahead” on-line grocery shopping yesterday at Meijers. I think I’m in love. What a way to shop. Ms. Kate ordered on line, paid for it on line, didn’t have to wander the aisles looking for products and when we got there, they brought it out and put it in the car for us. That is the way to go! I know my daughters have already done all of that but it takes us old folks awhile to catch on and trust the new way to do stuff. But, we will sure do it again. We’ve been doing most of our other shopping trough Amazon too. I wish I had bought stock in Amazon a couple of years ago. 

I have a cake in the oven at the moment and it smells heavenly. It is a lemon cake. That cake mix has been sitting on our kitchen counter for probably three months so I decided to use it today. Whoops! The timer just went off so I’m out of here. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Gosh, what a yucky morning. It’s cold and raining, and grey. I could sit right here in my recliner and fall asleep pretty easily except that I had a really good night’s sleep.We went to bed around 2300 hrs which for us is at least one hour early, more like two. We are pretty much night-owls. Ms. Kate was up at 0630 and went to her computer. I was awake when she got out of bed but laid there and dozed on and off for another hour. I got out of bed about the time she was turning the light off in her office and she was headed to the couch to snuggle under her couch blanket but I convinced her to go back and crawl under her covers, —- she’s still there. Being old retired folks does have it’s benefits. You can go to bed when you want and get up when you want and you can even have ice cream for breakfast if you want. We don’t, —- but we could. LOL

I got some good work done yesterday I got the front and back yards all mowed and leaves mulched up. I also got the rest of the peonies all cut back, the okra cut way back and several other yard things done that I needed to do. There is still a lot of things that need to be done but, one thing at a time. That’s probably all I’m going to get done outside this week because it is supposed to be cold and rainy the rest of the week. we’ll be picking up the outer bands of Hurricane “Zeta” that is going to make land fall on the gulf coast tomorrow evening. Those poor folks on the gulf coast have had a terrible hurricane season with one right after another. They don’t get the damage from one storm cleaned up before another one hits. Pastor Art and Dixie are in their condo in Gulf Shores right now and they plan to leave in the morning to come home before the storm gets there. We are planning on heading down to Biloxi in three weeks and I hope all of the hurricanes and storms have passed by then. Biloxi sits right on the Gulf. 

I don’t think I told you; the pastoral candidate that my home church was really hoping and praying for turned them down for another opportunity. Big disappointment there. They had really “rolled out the red carpet” for him and it was a good offer. And the fellow was a really like able guy. But, ours is not to reason why, the search committee just needs to go back to work. As I told them, God has the right person out there somewhere. It’s only been Sven years that they have been looking; —- no need to rush. LOL

Despite the rain, I have a lot of guests at the Backyard Buffet this morning. I have several cardinal, a couple of Red-headed woodpeckers, some finches, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, wrens, and a starling or two, and a couple of squirrels are also running around out there. Their ability to climb the poles though is hampered because the poles are wet and slippery. They look like yo-yo’s trying to get up the pole and sliding back down. It’s amusing, what can I say. 

That’s it for today my friends. I have writing to do today so I’m going to fix myself an egg or two and some toast and then get busy. I pray you have a wonderful day. Stay warm, stay safe, and stay in touch with God. Peace. 

 Hello New Week! You aren’t starting off very friendly this morning with your 43 degrees and overcast skies. Rumor has it that you don’t intend to do much better for the rest of the week and in fact have lots of rain to help make it a bit more miserable. I know some folks are thrilled that the cold and winter weather weather is close at hand, but understand that not everybody feels that way. So —- feel free to throw in some sunshine and mild temperatures for the rest of us. However, —- I have several friends in the upper mid-west that are shoveling snow this morning while I’m sitting here grousing about a “cold 43 degrees”. They live in beautiful places like Colorado and Montana. Yikes, I’m glad I’m not there. 

I have four squirrels in the backyard this morning. One of them has a stubby tail. I wonder if it was burning that way or lost it during a fight at some point. One day I had a squirrel here that all most all of the hair was gone off of his tail. It made him look more like a rat than that already do. I haven’t seen it back. Last year I think it was that I had a stubby tailed squirrel here and then it disappeared. I wonder how the loss of a tail effects them. I think they use it for balance and for communication. 

It’s “snowing leaves” again today with the breeze. The male tulip poplar has a lot of its leaves flying in the wind today. The female has already finished up her shedding. I think I might go and run the lawn mower over the back yard one more time and mulch them up and then call it quits for leaf raking for the year. But, that also means I have to get the garage straightened up so I can bring the little JD around for the winter. What I really need is another shed to put the JD in. However, there is a cute lady here in this house that will completely disagree with that statement. LOL

The weekend was excellent for us. The church services were well attended and yesterday we did a “Trunk or Treat” at St. Lucas. It was very well attended and everyone seemed to have a great time costuming up and decorating their cars etc. This was the first time we have done that and I expect it could become the new practice instead of a Halloween party. 

That’s about it for today. I pray you will have a wonderful week. Peace. 

 Welcome back to fall and a couple nice “summer days”. It’s a damp 47 degrees this morning which is certainly not the worst it could be, but enough to be uncomfortable. But, I have outside stuff to do today so I hope it hurries up and warms up a bit, although it is only going to about 62 today. 

Yesterday I finally got off of my duff and went to Lowes and bought the blocks and lumber and peat moss and a bag of soil and horse manure and set up my new raised bed. It should not have been as involved as it turned out to be but —- it is what it is. I had made up my mind that I was going to go to the Lowes on the east side of town because I was Ted to surprise Ms. Kate and go to Mike Libs candy store and get some caramel apples for her. She loves those silly things. So I started out there but when I got there, they had none. So, I decided to go to his brother’s place, Stephen Lib’s, and see if they had any. For those who don’t know, Mike Libs is the “poor brother” of the family. He’s a great guy but has had to constantly move to find a place for his business. He’s been in his current location for several years now. It isn’t “fancy” but he does a good business and the prices are reasonable. Stephen Libs has the “fancy” place and has been in his location for years. His prices are high but he has a much larger selection of chocolates and candies. For instance, had Mike had the caramel apples yesterday, they would have been a little smaller and would have cost about $4.00 each. My bill yesterday would have been about $12.00. However, at Stephen’s palace, the apples are slightly larger but they charge by the pound. I ended up paying $30 for three apples. But, the season is short, and Ms. Kate loves her caramel apples, so it is worth it to me. But, back to my story. ——

I got my apples and then I went to Lowes. They didn’t have what I needed. So, I came home, gave Ms. Kate her apples, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out again to the Lowes on the west side of town. I picked up my garden blocks that I needed, a bale of peat moss, and a bag of soil and hose manure, paid for that and then drove down to the other end of the store to get my lumbar. 2x12x 8ft are heavy and of course they were up high. I could reach a couple but one of them was warped. So I went to the service desk and asked if I could get some help. They called for someone and I went back to the section and waited, and waited and waited. I only need a total of four boards and finally a young lady showed up and between us, we got the boards down and on my cart. I told her that I need two of the boards cut in half and she said she would call somebody to run the saw and do that. I went on back to the millwright section and waited, and waited, and waited for at least thirty more minutes. They had made a total of five announcements for someone to come back there before someone finally showed up and did the two minutes worth of work that was required. 

I got home, unloaded the truck and got the raised bed put together. It was threatening thunderstorm and the sky was black but —- God held the rain and storm off until I got the last of the peat moss raked out. Thank you very much God. Today, I’m going to rake up a lot of these leaves and put down a really good layer of leaves in that bed to serve as much over the winter. Once I have that done, I will go buy my Miracle -Gro garden soil and put that in. It will settle over the winter but will be ready for planting come spring. 

That was my yesterday, and my plans for today. I hope your day is full blessed and I pray that you have a marvelous weekend. Peace. 

 Bright sunshine with a breeze today and already 67 degrees and going up to about 85 today. I think it will be a great day to go stand in line and vote. Early voting has been going on for a week or so and the lines are long. This years election for President of the United States is maybe one of the most contentious that we have had in years and years. The lies and the mis-information and dis-information surrounding the candidates is horrendous. Our current president is not a politician and the establishment hates him because he tends to be rude and crude and refuses to play along with long established corrupt practices. He’s running against a party that is promising free everything and they play with sympathy to very fringe group in society in order to gain votes. As a person, I probably would not choose our president as a best friend  but I think he would be a loyal friend that would look out for my best interest. Our current Vice President, from everything I know about him is a total stand-up guy with excellent morals and values. 

The opposition candidates has been in politics for 47 years, has become a multimillionaire on a government salary, was Vice President for eight years, has accomplished absolutely nothing as a senator or Vice President except to raise a lot of taxes and has chosen a running mate strictly because she is a woman and a person of color. There are a dozen corruption scandals surrounding him that the media refuses to acknowledge and he has a hard time remembering his words in front of an audience. 

Realize of course that everything I just said is my opinion and my opinion only, but it is the opinion that I will take to the polls with me. Others will think exactly the opposite of me and that is okay and that is why we vote. I pray, and I pray often that once the election is over, regardless of who wins, that this nation can come back and be one nation, under God because if we don’t, I fear there will be blood shed. So my friends, I ask you to join me in prayer for peace. I ask you to be sure and go vote. I’m sure it is obvious who I’m voting for, and I hope that if you vote differently, we can still love one another  and be Americans first, and Republican or Democrat some where down the line of of priorities. Peace my friends. 

 It is a much better looking morning out there on this Wednesday morning. The sun is shining, only a little overcast, and it is 60 degrees instead of 40+ like it has been the past couple of days. Everything is pretty well soaked though from the rain. Once it dries out, I have more leaves to rake (Oh goody). 

I have a lot of visitors at the Backyard Buffet this morning. That’s mainly because the starlings are back for breakfast. But, we are a non-discrimination establishment here and all birds are welcome. I had another hawk strike yesterday. It came through here like a WWII fighter bomber, zigging and zagging after its prey. I don’t know if it actually got anything or not because it passed out of sight and into the neighbor’s yard and trees. Odds are good though that it got the breakfast it was after. 

Yesterday morning I had to take Ms. Kate for her hair appointment and permanent. I had planned to write my blog and do some other work on my IPad while I sat there and waited in the car, but I had no internet connection. I went went over to the bank and did some banking, the to Dollar General to pick up some Halloween Candy for this Sunday afternoon’s “Trunk or Treating at the church, then stopped at Dunkin’  for some “munchkins”. Went back to the beauty shop and sat there in the car with my coffee and donuts and waited and listened to the music on my IPad. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

This being Wednesday, of course you know what my plans are for the day; go to the churches and run bulletins. I’ve told you that we got new technology in the one church. We added screens to the front of the church. I sent the bulletin to the guy that runs our system and he put the announcements, prayers, hymns, and scriptures all up on the screen. Last week I made close to 50 bulletins for that church and I don’t think we used a half dozen. With everything up, people need bulletins less and less. This has been one advantage to come out of the COVID pandemic. And since I use the same service for both churches, folks from either church can listen in and watch at home. But, I still need to go run the bulletins for St. Paul’s because we don’t have any technology beyond a microphone at the pulpit. And, —- with that’s all of a congregation, there is no way it would be cost effective. I’ll still run some bulletins for St. Lucas, I just won’t run as many. 

That is about all for this day. The sun has disappeared, and the day has gotten gloomy looking. So, put a smile on your face and brighten up someone’s world. Peace. 

 How was your weekend? I hope it was filled with good things. We had a good one around here, busy, as usual, but a fairly good one. 

We did have one mishap this weekend. Ms. Kate was getting something out of the refrigerator and can of something fell out and landed on the “quick” of her big toe. I’ve had that happen before and it is painful as can be. She still cannot put a shoe on that foot and didn’t go to church yesterday. She’s walking around better but. Still is only wearing her house-slippers. I’m hoping she doesn’t lose the toenail. 

Other than that, our weekend was fairly uneventful. ( we didn’t need any more excitement than that) I got the tomato plants all pulled up and the cantaloupe vines all pulled up. Yesterday afternoon I got the tiller out and tilled the garden to get it ready to build my new raised bed that I have been talking about for a month now. I still haven’t been to Lowes to purchase any of the stuff. 

The big news I have is that my home church, Zoar, has actually called a man to be their permanent pastor. They have been in the pastoral search mode for seven years. I met him on Saturday and spent a two hours with him. He is an extremely like able guy and obviously very smart. He has a MDiv and a PhD in Theology. He did his “trial sermon” yesterday and was approved by the church at 100%. I listened to his sermon yesterday afternoon and I was impressed. It is obvious that he is very comfortable speaking and teaching and preaching. I pray he will be just as comfortable and effective as a “Pastor”. I pray it will all work out. He is currently teaching in Greece and would not move here until after the semester is over in the spring. That means that Pastor Art will continue to lead the church until then. All of this just proves to me that God might not answer every prayer immediately, but God will answer every prayer. Every assembly line has a beginning and a lot of parts need to be put together before you have a finished product. 

I need to get down to my office and get this day moving. I pry you will have a wonderful week, full of blessings and joy. Peace. 

 This will be a Thursday afternoon quick note I think. We have had a busy day so far. This morning we got and listened to the weather and decided that we needed to bring in the patio plant today. We don’t a lot of them but we bring them in every year to keep them from freezing. The plants were dry and needed watering so it ws a good time to move them Dry dirt is much lighter than wet dirt. It was supposed to rain todaay and then turn much colder and by the weekend we re supposed to have frost. So, we got busy, pulled furniture back out of the way, went out and trimmed up the plants and removed all of thee dead tree levees that had fanned on them and cleaned the flower pots off too and brought the plants in. 

Next, I got my rake and cleaned off the sidewalks and flowerbed of the bazillion leaves that have fallen in the last couple of days, raked them all out into the yard and then jumped on the John Deere and mulched the all up. We had just taken in the last flower pot when it started to drizzle rain. So, I did my raking and mulching in the rain. The advantage was that it held the dust way down. 

We came in and had a cup of coffee and Ms. Kate fixed lunch for us and then I had to go make a grocery run. We knew we needed some stuff, but when she opened up the milk to make some gravy, we discovered that the milk was expired and turning bad, the potatoes for fried potatoes weren’t all that great either so —- it was time for a trip to the grocery. One thing seems to lead to another doesn’t it? So now, it is 1600 hrs and I’m just now getting around to my blog and my other computer stuff. It is almost cardinal feeding time so I reckon sitting her will be aa good thing. The cold front brought the rain in and the temperature has dropped a good 10 degrees. My comfy chair here in the Sunporch is the perfect place to be surrounded by my flower buddies. 

That’s it for today. Stay warm, stay dry, and stay healthy. Peace. 

 It is another beautiful morning as we begin our day on the Wednesday. I’ve been sitting here awhile doing my usual morning computer (IPad) stuff and watching the leaves fall. We have gusts that come through and it literally looks like it is snowing leaves. It’s blowing them off of the trees and the roof, and the gutters, all for me to rake up and mulch up. I wonder how many levels there are on a 60 foot tree? I think the answer is: —- a lot. 

I’ve had an active Backyard Buffet this morning. I see a couple of feeders that need filling either today or tomorrow. I had a squirrel circus going on out here earlier. One of them came and literally was scratching on the bottom of my door wanting to get is. I think it was seeking refuge from another squirrel that was chasing it all over the yard and trees etc. But sorry, I’m not running a squirrel shelter here. You’re on your own buddy. There haven’t been a lot of birds here this morning, or maybe I just missed them. (I got up late today) I’ve had a couple of cardinals and wrens and woodpeckers, but that is about all. We’ve noticed that there is very little, if any, yellow left on the goldfinches. They have tuned to a brownish green. I assume they do that for camouflage reasons during the fall and winter. I have not seen a hummingbird in a week and suspect they may be gone by now. I need to put up their feeder for the season and wait for next April when they return. 

I was going to work outside yesterday but Ms. Kate reminded me that I have several sermons and services to get done before our November vacation.  So, I went down and knocked out the service and sermon for October 25th, and I have started on November 1st. I really need to work on four services and three sermons to be “caught up. By the time we get back from our vacation we’ll be looking at Thanksgiving and immediately after that, —- Advent and Christmas. Yikes!!!

I was conversing by phone with the prospective new permanent pastor for Zoar Church yesterday. I’m supposed to meet with him on Saturday for an hour or so. He is a young pastor but very educated. He has a PhD in theology, but he has had little “Pastor” experience. For whatever reason, Zoar church folks told him I’m the guy to talk to in order to get to know Zoar church. He sounded like a nice guy. I just pray he’s the right person for Zoar. I’m looking forward to meeting him. After-all, if he is hired, he will be my pastor. Sunday he is to preach a trial sermon this Sunday and since Zoar also televises their service, I’ll get to hear him preach. Immediately after the service on Sunday, the congregation will hold a vote on whether to accept him or not. Personally, I think it it will be a given, but this is 2020 and strange things do happen. His next hurdle will be getting through the local Church Association for dual standing since he is not a UCC Pastor. He is a non-denominational pastor which means he is much more fundamental learning that the United Church of Christ and especially our local association. I pray for him because I know the uphill battles he will face.

That’s it for today. It’s a dual celebration day: —- Hump Day and Amazon Prime Day for you shoppers.

Blessings and Peace my friends. 

 Happy Tuesday! It is bright and beautiful out there in my little corner of the world but it is also 42 degrees which makes it a to chilly. My friend and fellow pastor, Art, just told me he is heading out to play golf this morning. I told him that if he swung a club as many times as I do, he’d stay warm for sure. 

My yard, my gutters, and my sidewalks are leaf covered again. I had everything looking really good but yesterdayI got another “delivery” from God. So, I have some raking to do again this morning. I’ll rake them out into the yard and with run the lawnmower over them or maybe I’ll take my “leaf sucker” and pick them up. Then they will be pulverized and I can put them on my garden. On the other hand, I may wait a couple of days and let some more fall. But, —- I think I took care of the getting up on the roof top to blow the gutters of yesterday. We had a salesperson from Leaf Filter come by for an appointment yesterday and decided to go with them to replace my current system that was no longer working very well. It isn’t cheap but then neither is falling off of a roof. They are scheduled to be here on November 5th. What ever leaves are up there on the gutters now will wait for the installation people to remove, or maybe God will send a wind to help out. 

I spent some time yesterday working on the Four O’clock plants yesterday. The front porch was just about invisible because they had grown up so much. We get them every year because they are prolific self seeder. The Papa John’s Pizza deliver’s always know that they are going to “the house that smells good” during the summer and they make remark about it. But now it is time to cut them back. 

Gotta quit for today and get busy. I have too much to do. Go have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 There’s nothing much better than to start a Monday off  than with a good cup of coffee. Unfortunately, my coffee this morning was terrible! Yuk! I cleaned my coffee pot yesterday afternoon. The instructions say to use white vinegar with water and run the cleaning cycle, which I did. However, i didn’t get the pot rinse out very good I guess because my coffee was bitter this morning. I poured the pot out and started over. Now my coffee tastes like it is supposed to. 

It is a cloudy “cool-ish” morning. The temperature isn’t any worse than most mornings, (65 degrees) but their is a lot of moisture in the air. According to my Accuweather app, we are having “scattered drizzle” although I haven’t actually heard any rain drops on the roof. So I guess it is really scattered. It. I’m sure we will get some before the day is over. The wind has picked up some and the Corinthian chimes are singing loudly. I love hearing them ring and sing in the background. 

This is what my sidewalk looked like after I went up on the roof on Saturday with my leaf blower. The gutters were really cluttered and the sunporch roof was covered. While I was up there I took the pruners and I also trimmed away a lot of branches from the tree next to the sunporch that were laying on the roof. Ms. Kate went out there with me and held the ladder as I went up and down and handed me my tools. That certainly helped a lot. She really doesn’t like for me to get up there and a couple of years ago I had a doctor tell me that I would never be able to get on a ladder again, but God had a better plan and I do just fine; not easily, but just fine. I got all of the leaves cleaned up and mulched up and the yard looks great. But, that was just round one of the fall season. I’ll probably be up there at least two more time this fall. There are a lot of leaves still up there on the trees. 

Speaking of gutters and leaves, this afternoon I have a guy from Leaf Filters coming to give me an estimate on replacing my current gutter leaf filters. What we have is “okay” but they are getting weak and are rusting out in places so I want to look at replacing them. The estimate is free. I’ll probably also contact the folks from “Gutter Helmet” for an estimate. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my gutters, it is just the cover system that needs attention. We’ll see what they say. It doesn’t cost anything to ask. 

Attendance was sparse at the churches yesterday. Harvest season is coming to a close and the guys are all making a push to finish. But, since we also televise our services, those that want to can tune in later.

That’s about it for this Monday morning. I’m going to sit here with Ms. Kate and watch the cardinals and woodpeckers at the Backyard Buffet. Have yourself a marvelous week. If yu have not already, stop and talk to the Lord. Your week will go much smoother. Peace. 

T

 Happy Saturday. It’s not so beautiful this morning. In fact it looks like it could rain at any moment, and by eleven o’clock it is supposed to. The effects of Hurricane turned tropical storm Delta have finally reached our neck of the woods. We are expecting “some rain”. The original forecast was for a couple of inches at least but it appears the brunt of it will stay south of us and we may get a little over a half an inch over the next three days. That hardly settles the dust. 

I don’t have much for you this morning. I’m just sitting here finishing my first up of coffee. Then I need to get the lady out and get up on the roof and get the gutters blown off like I said I would yesterday. I just didn’t get to it yesterday because I want Ms. Kate out there to hold the ladder while I get up and down and I guess watch me fall if I fall. Not much she can do there except know about it if it happens. I kid about it because it isn’t that dangerous. The pitch to my roof isn’t bad at all and it won’t be slippery. 

It seems like this weeks has gone by very quickly and it was nicely broken up with Julie’s visit. That girl runs herself ragged, as do all of my girls. Everyone is a work-a-holiday, and I applaud a good work ethic. it Jules has so many health issues ith hr RA. I don’t know  how she does it; sheer guts and determination I guess. 

The squirrels are doing acrobatics and trapeze type stuff over in the trees this morning as they chase one another back and forth between the yards. It is quite a demonstration of flexibility and agility. They are amazing little critters and fun to watch. 

Coffee is done, time to get busy. Have a most pleasant day. Wear your mask and social distance. I don’t want to hear that one of you died from COVID-19 or anything else. Peace. 

 Another beautiful day, thank you very much Lord. It is just a tad-bit overcast because the clouds are moving up from the south and we are seeing the effects of Hurricane Delta. There were forecasts that we would be getting anywhere from one to three inches of rain this weekend but now I’m hearing that we might not get more and a tenth of an inch. There’s no use to worry about it, it will be what it will be. I really feel sorry for and pray for those folks on the Texas/ Louisiana border who are getting hit with a second hurricane in six weeks.   They must be devastated and feel like God has forgotten them.  

I filled my bird-feeders yesterday but haven’t had a lot of activity at the Backyard Buffet so far this morning. The blackbirds and starlings have discovered it But even they are absent this morning. Maybe I’m just in the lull time between aviary feeding times. 

Julie came over yesterday and brought my birthday present. It is a waffle iron and it makes waffles in the shape of LEGO bricks. So, I made waffles for our lunch yesterday and they were delicious. I use Krusteze pancake mix and they always turn out great. They grandkids all love my “papacakes”. It’s too bad that they are all old enough to know that there is no magic, I just add a cup and a half of water to the flour and stir. But now, they enjoy fixing them with me. We’ve had a lot of family joy over the years fixing and eating “Papacakes”. 

The trees are getting thinner. Lots of leaves are falling. We are a ways from the actual dropping of the leaves but it is coming. I need to get up on y roof and walk the gutters with the blower. I’d like to do that before it rains on them and mashes them down. My garden is not ready for me to pile them on it for compost. The tomatoes are done enough though that I think I can go ahead and pull the up, toll the area and start putting the raked leaves out there. And I need to get busy then on the raised bed. I think the okra is about done too. That just leaves the cantaloupe. I sent one of those home with Julie yesterday and picked another one for us. I’m surprised at how good they are. I still call them my little gift from God because they came up unexpectedly as a result of me using my compost. I think I need to maybe put another couple of bags of dirt on that bed too. It is settling more than I want it to and I don’t want to lose my asparagus.  

Enough for today. have a blessed weekend my friends. Say a prayer for all of those people coming down with COVID. Also lift up all of the people in the path of the hurricanes. I pray there will be no loss of life. 

Go in peace where ever you goo and share that peace with others. 

 Good morning on this bright and beautiful day. It is 64 degrees and heading to 84, — bringing a touch of summer back. Yesterday it actually got up to 89 degrees. Ms. Kate and I went up to the churches to take care of business and on the way we picked up a couple of Subway sandwiches and drinks for lunch. St. Lucas has a nice Maple tree at the edge of the parking lot and we like to go up and have a “picnic lunch” under that tree. The breeze was blowing at about 7mph across the corn fields and it was extremely pleasant siting there having our lunch. The only thing that could have made it more pleasant would have been if they were actually harvesting that field so we could watch them. 

My parish is mostly all farmers and I love being around them. These guys aren’t “after-work” farmers like my dad was. These folks farm hundreds of acres. Brenda, my St. Lucas organist, texted me last evening and said she “was taking off work today” because she had to get on the tractor and spend the day discing the fields. That gal is a “work-a-holic”.  She is a full time nurse, farmer/farmer’s wife, the church organist, mom to three grown children & grandma to nine grandchildren that she often “babysits” for. Plus, she also  looks after her dad. Her dad is Bob, whom I talk about frequently. Bob is getting to a point where he has to be looked after frequently. So she spends one day a week cleaning his house and getting his laundry done. Brenda and Bob are my “buds”, and they are our best friends from the parish. 

It is ging to be a great day today because Julie is coming over. She is bringing me my birthday present. My birthday of course was in July but the present she ordered for me just got to her house. I already know it is a waffle maker. But is supposed to be a “fun” waffle maker because the waffles come out looking like “lego bricks” so you can play with your food and build stuff with your waffles. It’s a silly thing but I think it is cute too. I had ordered her a birthday present from on-line and it turned out to be a scam thing. Instead of the thing that was pictured all big — I got the product that was in the “fine-print” and it took forever to get the useless product. I should have known the price to the product was too good to be right. 

After Jules leaves today, I think I will go back out into the flowerbeds and do some more trimming back and winter prep. The leaves are really starting to fall and I need to clean up some of that. There is always something to do isn’t there? I think I am going to go ahead and settle on our June vacation property today too. I don’t want to lose this place that I’m looking at. 

That’s it for today. Have a great Thursday. Peace. 

  

 Hello Wednesday! You snuck right up on me didn’t you. And, — rumor is that you are bringing warmth and plenty of sunshine with you all day. So welcome to to my world. 

I just never got around to writing yesterday because I had too many other things going on. The biggie was that I decided that I was Ted to get my sermon for the 18th written and the service all ready. Jacob, our resident master of the technology plans to be gone over the 18th and I wanted him to be able to get the A/V slides all ready for whomever is going to be filling in for him. That meant I had to get my part all finished first. So, I spent about six hours working on that and also proofing the sermon and service for this coming Sunday. Today we will go up to the churches and run the bulletins and set the pulpits up. I’ve already emailed the bulletins to the two organists and liturgists, and Jacob. 

Let me tell you about my latest raccoon adventure. I was sitting in the sunporch reading on Monday night and I heard the obvious sound of footprints across my sunporch roof. I heard it/them get over as far as the edge of the roof and I got up and went to the doors to watch for them. I figured it was raccoons rather than squirrels because I’ve never seen squirrels at night. Sure enough there were two young coons in the tree and they were trying to figure out how to get down from the tree. I have moved all of the feeders out of that tree and have trimmed out a lot of the branches. But eventually they managed to get down. At least one of them had already spotted me but paid very little attention to me. Once they got down I opened the door and hollered at them to scare them off. Instead of running off —- the dang thing tried to come in the house with me standing there in the doorway. I slammed the door fore he could get to it and stood there. I knocked on the door and it just ignored me. I opened the door again and yelled it and here it come back again like I was inviting it in. So I closed the door again and went and got my BB gun. I couldn’t open the door enough to really maneuver the gun very well and I miss it a couple of times before I finally made contact with it enough to sting it a bit and they took off. I have baffles on almost all of the feeder poles to prevent the squirrels and raccoons from getting to them. I moved the feeders out of the trees because the coons constantly knocked them off and sometimes even carried them away. I don’t even bother to set my traps out now because the local animal control says that DNR hasn’t licensed them to remove wild life. So, I reckon we’ll deal with them. Once they learn that they have nothing to eat here, thy will move on. That’s my story, — and I’m sticking to it. 

The COVID cases and deaths are on the rise once again. Too many people are just not following the guidelines. I hate the mask wearing but I do it and so does Ms. Kate. We go so few places although we have ventured out a little more. But we still only go to the grocery store when we really need to and most of the meals that we eat out are done by delivery or pick-up. Other than that our only place is church. We did get our flu shots already so hopefully that will help us fro that problem. 

Time to get my day started. I hope your Wednesday is a great one. The work-week will be half done by the end of the day. Give thanks to God for blessings received. Peace. 

 Monday afternoon, and the nap is just over. we’ve had a few things on our plate today that we had to take care of. This morning Ms. Kate had to do her bloodwork again today. That is an every two week event, depending on the results each time. It is only for her Pro-time testing which measures her blood thinners. It doesn’t take a lot for them to get out of whack. We can always tell when it isn’t right because the least little bump causes bruising and she looks like she went ten rounds with a boxer. Dr. Jackson makes sure she watches it closely. 

Next we had some banking to do which didn’t take long but of course since we were n a hurry, there was a line at the drive up windows. We finished that up just in time to get home and have the heating and air conditioning folks call and say they were on the way. We had a “time-slot” of 1100-1300 arranged and they were at the front end. They fella came and checked out the furnace and everything was good. He said that the furnace capacitor was getting weak but still functional. It could go out or it cold last through the entire season. Said he had one on the truck and could replace ours for $75.00. I told him tat we would wait.  We’ve dealt with this company for almost twenty years and I “generally trust them” but —- my suspicions go up when a service guy that I don’t know comes in and tells me there is a problem developing and he just happens to have the $75.00 fix in the truck. If it goes out —- I’ll have to pay a service call, but that is okay. It can wait. It might last another year or even two. We bought the furnace in 2004 and it has been a good one. 

Aftr the HVAC dude left we went to Target and stoped and got something to eat. We went to a place new to us called Sam’s Southern Eatery. The food was good and We put it on our “will return” list.

Had good attendance at the services yesterday. Had a really good turnout at the smaller church with thirty in attendance. That is almost 100% of the membership. The bigger church did okay, but they are becoming too comfortable with “jammie church” and staying home. They did check in on line but I personally think they miss out by not being there in person. But the pandemic has people still scared and it seems to be on the rise again. So, we’ll just continue to do the best that we can. 

So, I’m caught up for today and my nap is over. I think I will go downstairs to my office and start on my Programs and sermon for the 18th of October. Have a pleasant afternoon. Peace. 

 Another beautiful day; a bit chilly again but tolerable. The temperature has gone up seven degrees since I sat down here. Once again I think we will top out at about 60-65 degrees today. 

We had a good day yesterday. As I told you, we were to met Bob and Brenda for lunch at St. Joe Inn. As soon as we all in, Linda, our waitress pours the it her of beer and brings Ms. Kate her diet Ski. Then she puts in the two orders for the fried mushrooms. You can tell that we are regulars. It was a good lunch visit. Brenda has had a crappy week at work and ended to vent to someone who would just listen. Sometimes we all need that outlet; just someone to listen, not agree or disagree, but just listen. I need to follow up with her today t see if she is feeling better about the world today. 

Once again we were supposed to go to the grocery store yesterday after lunch, however, we came home and took a short nap. Then I went out to the flowerbeds and got started on them again. I filled two of my 40# birdseed bags as full as I could get them with black eyed Susan’s and cut off peony clippings. I still have a bunch of the black eyed Susan’s to pull up in that bed and lilies today pull all of the dead leaves from. I’l then go trough with the weed trimmer and take it all to the ground and then rake it all up. I expect to fill maybe three more bags before I done with that bed. It goes from the street to the house, so probably 25’X80’. When we moved here, that part of the property was all yard with a really ugly cedar tree in it. It is all bank and uneven and was a mess to try to mow. So I dug it all up and we made a giant flowerbed out of it. But, boy did we create some work for ourselves. It is beautiful when it is all blooming but the work that gos with it sometimes makes me question our wisdom. We never considered that we would be getting older and wearing out sooner. It seemed a lot easier twenty years ago when we were thinking of retirement and buying a house. 

I think it is time to heat up an English muffin and slap some jelly on it to go with my coffee. Then I need to get into my work clothes and head back into the yard. Have a wonderful day, enjoy the sunshine, give thanks for your blessings. God loves you and I lift you up n my prayers. Peace. 

 47 degrees??? What’s up with that? And a high today of 61??? Next thing you know, we’ll be having “frost on the pumpkin”. My cousin Debbie posted a picture of their yard this morning and it looked like it was frost covered although I know it wasn’t. They have a beautiful yard setting over in DuQuoin, IL. The yard is large and they have a nice extra large pond, (with plenty of catfish in it). The dew was obviously thick and the steam coming off of the pond made for a beautiful picture. They constantly have deer in their yard. Of course that means they also constantly have deer in the corn and in the soy beans which is no bueno. The deer come right up and look in their windows. It is the blessings of country living. 

I have a full register of guests this morning at the Backyard Buffet. Cardinals, starlings, blackbirds, finches, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, blue jays, wrens and squirrels are all out there tis morning. It might not be country living, but it is certainly a blessing to see them all. Besides my regular bird baths, I have two very small little “dishes”, I guess you could call them, tat I hang out there for the finches and other really small birds to drink out of. They will almost always go to those first before they will go to the birdbath. I have to fill those little containers about every three days. The “micro-birds” are so cute. 

I spent some time out in the flowerbeds again yesterday. I finished up the one by the street on the north side of my driveway. I got the peonies, iris, and lilies all cut back and the bed raked. I need to put some Preen weed control down on it, but I need to wait until I know it is going to rain so it gets watered in. Tat is just one of the many beds that I need to take care of. I should be out there every day doing some of it. But, there is time yet. Time is one of the things I seems to have a lot of. —- Energy is what I don’t seem to  have a lot of. I’m stiff again today from yesterdays little adventure. I need to take some Tylenol this morning. 

Ms. Kate and I still have not made it to the grocery store. Obviously we aren’t hurting for any groceries. We just have stuff that we are out of. LOL. But today we are meeting Bob and Brenda for lunch and we will go do some grocery shopping after that. It is a beer and schrooms day. We’ll meet at St. Joe Inn. Since it’s Friday, that means cod for lunch. 

Speaking of which, I better get off of my duff and get ready to go. It is Friday my friends and that spells weekend. Weekend should also mean church. Plan to go and have a conversation with your creator and give thanks for another week of blessings. Peace. 

 It is the “oneth” of October and it feels like an October morning. But the sun is shining brightly and the breeze is light so it should feel pretty good outside. 

It’s Thursday and that means Ms. Kate and I each spend some extra time on our computers playing our silly computer games. I had a new case open up on Criminal Case and she will be busy with Klondike for awhile yet. She gets “a new land” to open up for her today. Hey, we are so easily amused that it doesn’t take much to satisfy us. I heated us each a bagel for breakfast. She got peanut-butter and a banana on hers and I take the standard Philly Cream Cheese on mine. With our coffee, life is good and that will carry us over until this afternoon. 

Yesterday we went to the churches and ran the bulletins but we never made it to the grocery store.We were both still tired from our weed pulling and trimming etc. I reckon we’ll end up at the grocery today at some point. I hope to go back out in the yard this afternoon and do some more work. Now that the trash guys have been by and emptied the can, I can start filling it up again. What I really need to do is put the stuff in an empty birdseed bag. I have several of them I that have held back for that purpose and I need to get them out of my shed before the mice get into them. That’s another thing or five that I have to do. I need to empty and clean out the sheds and get rid of a bunch of crap that I never use. I also need to clean up my garage and get ready to bring the little John Deere in there for the winter. But that has to wait until after the leaves are gone. Work, work, work. All I see is work to be done. And it doesn’t get done while I’m sitting here playing on my computer. 

Ms. Kate made another apple pie yesterday and it is of course delicious. It might last until tomorrow. She does make delicious pies. In fact, there is very little that she makes that I don’t like. That’s probably why I weigh sixty pounds more now than I did when she married me those 54 years ago. 

With that, I will leave you for today. Have a good one. Peace.