It’s New Year’s Eve. It’s the last day of 2020. To say that this year has been a year of challenges is perhaps the understatement of the year. Who would have dreamed a year ago today that we would be in the throes of a pandemic. I doubt many even thought that was possible; but here we are. Still hiding in our homes, afraid to go out and enjoy ourselves; afraid to shake the hand of another human being. We walk around hiding our faces behind masks “ protect others” and if we don’t we are treated like criminals. The social norms of an entire nation has been changed without a shot being fired. It’s all been done through propaganda and fear, and money. Allegedly 230,000 people have died of this virus this year which is terrible and my heart goes out to the families. I had my own scare with it because of Ms. Kate and her bout. But, while COVID may have affected her health, she also has a lot of other contributing factors. She is a heart patient and has been for many years now and her heart problem were the biggest scare we were dealing with. Did COVID cause the set off of her health issues, —- possibly. But, had she passed away, she would have been listed as a COVID loss regardless. And that is what has happened across the nation. Nobody seems to have died from the flu, or cancer, or heart attacks or anything else since COVID came on the scene. If you have a fever and a cough and you die, COVID caused it. It is the biggest money driven, politically driven, media driven campaign in the history of this country. 

But —- tomorrow starts the year 2021. I pray it will be a better year and I pray for this nation because we have a new political party taking control of this country in 22 days. In my personal opinion, this is not going to be a good thing for the country. The President -elect is an ultra-liberal and so far the cabinet nominees he has posted are the most random choices in people I can imagine. It appears that he has a list of categories of “minorities” that he is finding candidates to match. His running mate was chosen because she fills two categories, she’s a person of color and a female. He has selected more women than men so far including one whole department that will be filled by women. He’s selected gays and made sure there were a mixture of skin colors that are gay. Maybe all of these people he is appointing are perfectly capable, but he’s certainly not picking people that anyone outside of the Washington Beltway ever heard of. It is going to be an interesting four years. He has already announced that on day one he intends to rip out anything that the current president has done. 

I didn’t intend today’s blog to be a “gripe session”. Actually I want to say Happy New Year and wish you a year full of good health, happy times filled with love, and prosperity for your soul in your relationship with our Lord God. Walk with your head held high because regardless of what happens in 2021, God will walk with you. Peace. 

 Hello Monday morning. What’s going on in the world on this Monday morning? I’ve been sitting here reading Facebook posts. There are lots of pictures of Christmas trees and people in their family matching pajamas. There are way too many political comment posts and conspiracy theory posts. There are a lot of religious posts by people who insists that Jesus is coming back today and most of us will end up in hell. But what I don’t see is a lot of “happy- posts”. I don’t know what that actually means but I don’t see a lot of posts saying or showing pictures of people who just seem to be happy with life. Does that make sense? The political and religious posts all ring of “worry and fear”. Perhaps they were written by people who are sincere in their concerns but who knows. Mostly they are passed on by people who just hit “Like” because something might resonate with them. I’m certainly guilty of that. I have actually considered taking a week or two and staying off of Facebook altogether —- but, nah, ain’t gonna happen. I’m as addicted to it as anyone else. Grabbing my IPad is the first thing I do in the morning as I walk to turn on the coffee pot. “In the old days”, people would have grabbed their newspaper. 

I didn’t get to see my parishioner yesterday either like I had planned. He had had a bad night and Hospice had to come and give him some medication, that made him sleepy and he really wasn’t in a condition to visit. I’ll call this afternoon and try again. If I don’t get to see him, at least he knows that I am thinking about him and am praying for him. 

It is 35 degrees and cloudy this morning. I still have not filled the feeders and the starlings are not happy with me. I’ve had a lot of cardinals here this morning because my safflower feeder is still plenty full and that is what they like. But I guess I need to put a coat on and go out and fill the others today too. The squirrels have been to the sunflower seed feeders an found them empty and then they turn and look at the house to make me feel guilty. It only works a little bit. I see a lot of junkos out there this morning. They are ground feeders and do a good job of cleaning up after the starlings. My only concern with Junkos is hat they usually show up right before snow. Hmmmmm. 

That’s it for today. I hope you have a great week and can end up 2020 with good health and happy thoughts. Then step on across the line and walk into a whole new year of opportunities to do something good for your fellow man. Peace. 

 Good morning and a happy Sunday. I know right, —- I generally don’t write on a Sunday. It, I missed yesterday so I thought I’d just drop a note today. 

It’s nice to not look outside and see frost covered everything this morning. It is 36 degrees with a “real-feel” of 43. We must have a southern wind flow this morning and the bright sunshine certainly helps. It is supposed to go up to 55 degrees today. That will be great for me to go out and fill all of the bird feeders again today. They have been mostly empty for the past two days. I did get my new “shipment” of bird feeding stuff from Wild Birds Unlimited a couple of days ago. I’m really glad they have started shipping orders. It makes it great that I can just go on-line, order what I want, and if I order over $75.00 worth, (which I always do) they even ship it to me free. Very convenient. 

Julies and Jim left yesterday around noonish. We had a wonderful visit with them for our Christmas celebration. It is so great to have them living this close. They come over several times a year. We haven’t been to their house in probably a year partly because of COVID restrictions but mostly because they are always working. Julies is either at work, or home doing homework for school, or attending school, or having some kind of doctor’s appointment. Jim works a lot of over time and when he isn’t, he’s bowling or something. So it is hard to find a time to visit them and we rely on their free time. Prior to COVID, we would drive over during the day and Ms. Kate and I would go to the east side of Louisville and go to P.F. Chang’s for lunch and then pick up something for Julie and take it to her at work. But, we haven’t done that in none or ten months because of the COVID restrictions there in Kentucky. 

I was supposed to go see a terminal parishioner yesterday afternoon but never did. His wife had taken him to their daughter’s house for a Christmas visit. By the time they got home he was worn out. Hospice now has him set up at home for his last days. I’m going to see him today after lunch time. I will take communion to him and share the table of Christ with him if he wants to participate. We had prayed together that he would make it through Christmas and he did. Now, we will pray he will see 2021, although what difference does that really make? Frankly, I think that maybe we are just praying that we are holding off the glory of heaven from him and that seems ridiculous doesn’t it. He’s ready to go, he feels he has settled his account with God, and now he waits. So in reality, maybe our prayers are selfish. I just pray for a peaceful and painless transition through  “the veil” for him. 

This allegedly is our last Sunday of “Jammie Church” at least for me. Next Sunday we go back to doing two services of “in-person” worship. We’ll still live-stream it for those that are not ready to come back to church because of COVID. What won’t be the same is addition of the videos that Jacob puts in during the music or before and after the service. I hate to admit that I have really enjoyed just doing the virtual service and that is mainly because of the production work that Jacob does  for our services. I do miss being there with the congregation though. Although, that will still not be the same because we are still in aa social distance / no-touch mode and no singing. It has been a strange year and hopefully 2021 will be aa lot better when they get the vaccine distributed and we can get the pandemic under control. Let’s all pray for that. 

That is it for today. It is the first day of the last week of 2020. Make the best of it. Take time today to worship our God. Be grateful that you have made it through. So very many have not. Peace. 

 Good afternoon/ evening my friends. Merry Christmas. I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas Day. I also hope you have also taken plenty of time out to stop and think about the reason we celebrate this day. I hate to call it a holiday because that implies nothing more than a day off of work and maybe getting some rest. But, we of the Christian faith know that it is a day that is about a lot more than that, don’t we? Our Christmas Eve service went well and was well received. We had music from each of our organists from the two churches and a young lady from one of the local communities. Her name is Kait Madison and she is a junior in high school but is already recording music videos. She did a great job. 

So Christmas is now over and now we head on to the last week of 2020 and the approach of the year 2021.  I really hope that 2021 will be. Better year for th world. With vaccines coming on line to combat the pandemic, perhaps the medical world will get it under control. But from what I hear, it will be another six months before we can expect to return to any sense of normality. It has been almost a year now so I guess we can handle a slow return to normal. Although, I doubt we will return to things like they were before. I think we as. Society may decide that maybe some of the tings were not all that great prior to the pandemic and hopefully we have found better ways to do things that will be kinder and mor caring for our neighbors and friends. 

Having said that, I pray you will have a very happy and safe New Years holiday. Take care of yourself and others. Peace. 

 Good morning and Happy Tuesday. I hope your morning is as bright and shiny as mine is. It’s 38 degrees, going up to about 50 today. Not bad for a December 22nd. The forecast calls for it to get a lot colder in the next couple of days and really cold on Christmas, but no snow is in the forecast for us. 

So, did you see the great star conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter? Did it look like the Christmas Star to you? We drove up to the St. Lucas parking lot to observe it because that was the most unobstructed and darkest sky view I knew of. I have a couple of sets of binoculars that we used but still, —- what we saw wasn’t the spectacular view that we all were hoping for. It certainly did not look like “The Star of Bethlehem” nor would it have guided anybody to anywhere. But, there are a lot of pictures posted this morning on facebook and some folks get some really good shots and you could see Saturn’s ring really clear. I was just thrilled that I got to see such a rare event. Yes, these two planets pass one another on a regular basis but it has been 800 years since they were this close to one another and you could see them at night. That makes it a once in a lifetime event and we witnessed an historical event. As I have said before, celestial events make me happy. I’ve like to go out and sit in some place away from city lights when we have meteor showers, especially on a warm summer night. My only problem is that almost always, the “best viewing time” is after midnight. My eyes give up before my desire does. LOL

We have a couple of things on the to-do list today. I have to get the 80# of sunflower seed carried from thee car to the shed and put away. Then I have to fill the dang bird feeders again. These guys are wearing me out. It’s the dang starlings that empty them so fast. They literally will set there and eat until they empty the feeders. Yes, I know, God made them too and they are His creatures too; but that don’t mean I have to be happy about them. They come in packs or flocks of a dozen or more at a time and they bully everything else and each other. Oh well, that’s the way it is. 

I need to go to the grocery store and pick up some spring rolls wrappers this morning. What we used the other day just didn’t work and Kate has the stuff mixed up to make more. So, I need to find wrappers so we don’t waste the moisture. 

I finished making my slides for my January 3rd sermon last night. Now I can start on January 10th. And get my service and sermon written for that. It does seem strange to be doing services for 2021. It “seems” so far off and yet, it is less than two weeks until the new year. Amazing. I pray 2021 will be a much better year for the world than 2020 was. 

That’s it for today. Have a great Tuesday. Take a moment ot two to give thanks for your blessings. Peace. 

 Well my friends, as nice s the day was yesterday, it is just he opposite looking today. It is 44 degrees, which is okay, but overcast and rain clouds are moving in for today. With that temperature, it is gong to be a cold rain too. On the other hand, it isn’t snowing which is a good thing. I feel for the folks up north who have gotten as much as three feet of snow in some locations. There have been several deaths related to the storm too. I know there was one sixty car pileup that caused a lot of injuries and several deaths. I’m not sure where that occurred. We generally have about a 10% chance of having a “White Christmas” here but this year the weather dude say our chances are a bit higher because of the cold front that is moving in. I actually don’t think it is supposed to start until Christmas Day which may give Julie and Jim a challenge going home. I think they are coming over on Christmas Eve and then going home the day after Christmas. 

Can you believe it? The birds have already emptied a couple of the feeders. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, I was sitting in the Sun Porch yesterday morning watching my birds and there were six starlings fighting over the one feeders and it was already half empty. I had just filled them the afternoon before. When I fill those two “Bark-Butter-Bits” feeders, the starling swoop in en masse and they eat until it is depleted. Then they will come in and eat from the other feeders but not nearly like they do on the Bits. It’s like they must keep an sentry up in the trees somewhere to see when I’m going to fill those two particular feeders. I’d quit filling them except the Bits are the favorite food for so many of my Backyard Buffet guests. The Cardinals, the Bluebirds, the Mockingbirds, the Woodpeckers and finches all love those things. The squirrels and birds have also emptied all of the sunflower seed feeders too by now. I should have picked up a couple of bags yesterday and didn’t. I’ll fill what I can and then maybe go get some more  from Pet Supply. I need to go to the grocery store anyway and get some “rice noodles” for Ms. Kate. I think she is going to make “Asian Spring rolls” today. We went out yesterday and got the rest of the ingredients and thought we had rice noodles here at home, only find out that we didn’t. 

This is the last weekend before Christmas. I hope you are not spending it running around like crazy. Relax. Put some Holiness in your weekend and remove the stress. We’re celebrating the birthday of the Son of God; —- not the birthday of Santa Claus. Take time to pray for peace. Take time to share your love and joy with others and please do so safely. 

Have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 It’s bright and sunny and colder than a well-digger’s butt!. —— I wonder where that silly phrase came from? I’ve heard it all my life and wondered how cold a well digger’s butt got. Why would a well digger have an especially cold butt? Are we talking about digging the well with a shovel or with machinery? It doesn’t make sense to me. I can understand some sayings such as “Useless as the teats on a boar hog”. That makes perfect sense, but that poor well-digger is just out in the cold for no reason. Hmmmm.

Now you know what kind of mood I’m in today. It’s Friday; it’s the end of the work week, I’ve nothing on my “to-do” list and I’m sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee and watching my Backyard Buffet guests. There is a beautiful cardinal sitting on the bird bath staring in the window at me and life is just a pleasure to be a participant in this morning. There is a squirrel at the sunflower seed feeder and the feeder  is almost empty. I probably have enough sunflower seed to fill the feeders one more round, so — I reckon I should go get a couple of 40# bags and fill up the can. It’s best to do it today while it is sunny rather than wait until it is raining or snowing. I also need to pick up some more suet cakes. I had bought a “sleeve” of them several months ago when they were on sale and had not opened it yet. But yesterday, I opened the box and six of the ten packages were moldy. I don’t put out moldy food for my birds. I don’t know that it would hurt them but why chance it. I’m not sure when I bought them but I’m guessing probably at least six months ago. Anyway, I threw them away. This particular band is relatively cheap so it is not a big deal. 

I think it is supposed to go up to the mid-forties today. While I’m out I might as well stop at the grocery store too. Ms. Kate needs a couple of things. I know she still needs me o get the “miracle Whip” that I forgot the other day, and she wants a can of those “potato-sticks” because she wants to make some more “Chex-mix”. Lately that has become her favorite snack and Julies is coming over for Christmas and she loves it too. And, no doubt if I say I’m going to the store, there will be a list that will suddenly appear. 

We have one  more week until Christmas Day. Do you have your Christmas list ready. No, I’m not talking about a list of things you’d like to receive. I’m talking about a list of things you want to give thanks for this year. We all know that the year 2020 has been a challenge simply because of the pandemic. But it has been extra challenging for some of my friends and parishioners. It has been a bit challenging even for Ms. Kate and me. I was very close to losing her due to this virus and its affects and now she is sitting thre in the family room doing extremely well. God be praised. I’m happy to say that many of our friends have now gotten on the road to recovery and finally been able to be home with loved ones. I have others that have received news about having cancer but are able to hold their own and live semi normal lives when I wasn’t sure they would see Christmas. I have one that I pray for daily that he gets to see Christmas but his attitude is good and his spiritual life is prepared for whatever God has in mind. There is just so much to be thankful for in this life and our list of gratitude should be long. God is so good. If you have not stopped and taken time for gratitude to your creator and Savior —- please do so today. 

Until next post, I bid you peace. 

 Welcome to a grey, cold Thursday. But, it isn’t snowing or raining or any of those other unpleasaaant things so I reckon it is a good morning. 

I have a lot of visitors this morning at the Backyard Buffet and unfortunately, the feeders are mostly empty. Of course that doesn’t mean that there is nothing for them. There is plenty of food under the feeders that they have knocked down on the ground. But they would rather land on the feeders and then stare at me like I’m the ogre that isn’t feeding them. But, I will before the day is over. I’m just going to wait until the thermometer reads  a bit more above freezing. I think it is supposed to go up to 40 today and although that isn’t much above freezing, it does make a difference. The starlings are out there fighting over empty feeders. One of my feeders is a short log with inch and a half holes drilled in it and it hangs horizontally. I fill the holes with what is called Bark Butter Paste. There is a starling that is trying to fly up and get some of the paste because they can’t hang on it like the woodpeckers do. That starling is working itself like crazy and getting nothing for it’s efforts. They are the major source of depleting the feed in my feeders and they come in in flocks. 

Our taping went very well yesterday and I’m anxious to see the finished product after Jacob gets done splicing and dicing and comes up with the final product. I did do the trumpet solo although it certainly wasn’t easy. We had taped it last week and when Jacob sent it to me I hated it because I had too many flubs in it. Yesterday I made it about half way through the song and had to stop because I was actually hyperventilating trying to get my breath. So, I stopped, caught my breath, took a drink of water and started over again. This time it went well. But, I’m afraid that I have just about reached the end of my trumpet playing days. Getting old and out of shape is a sad thing. 

Speaking of “out of shape”, it is time for me to put this aside and get on my bike and take a ride to nowhere. I did six miles yesterday and think I’ll do it again today. 

Have a blessed day. 

 It’s mid-week again, already. Happy Wednesday. I don’t know about how it is where you live but, we have snowflakes this morning and that literally describes our “snow-event” so far. And guess what —— I’m fine with that. Would I like to go out with the John Deere and clear the drive way and the street and maybe even the neighbor’s drives —- it would be fun. But sitting here watching the birds and not being outside in the 31 degree temperature  is pretty awesome too. In fact, it looks like it has switched over from any snowflakes to a light rain now. All of the tiny bit of snow that had accumulated is now gone from the surrounding rooftops and off of my car. I do feel sorry and pray for those folks though that are in the path of this snowstorm that is heading their way They are looking at getting a major snowstorm. I think my grandson Joshua and family will be in the thick of it up in New Hampshire. 

My agenda is pretty simple today. I need to practice my song on my trumpet, and go to the church this afternoon for taping of my next two services. I went over the sermons again last night to make sure they said what I wanted to say and I think they are fine. I wouldn’t call them “exciting”, but I don’t think you’ll fall asleep through them either. LOL 

I need to get on the back and ride a few miles today, and I may carry the laundry in and start that since our dryer has now been fixed. As I suspected it was the heating element and a safety switch that had gone out. Or as I say, “It had a $350.00 bill blocking it from working.” That usually seems to be the case; you open your wallet and magical things happen to fix appliances. 

Have you made your Christmas plans yet? Ours are simple. Julie and Jim and the dogs are coming over on Christmas Eve, will stay a couple of night and head home. That is about as exciting as it gets around here. It isn’t “bah Humbug” but is celebration through simplicity. Maybe next year we’ll be in better shape and will put up a tree. We have a small Christmas Tree looking thing that lights up and I have put the three or four presents that we have around that. We’ll take our coffee and sit around the Living room and enjoy one another’s company. I guess it is “special” because Christmas is the only time we go sit in the Living Room. How weird is that?? It is a perfectly good room with some very expensive furniture and a Baby Grand Piano Keyboard in it and we don’t use it. At least we don’t have plastic coverings on the couch and chairs like people did when I was growing up. LOL

That’s it for today. Stay warm and stay safe. Wear your masks in public. If nothing else, it will keep your nose and lips warm. Peace. 

 It’s Tuesday afternoon and we are sitting here waiting on the repairman to come and fix our dryer. I hate have a “window” of time because you end up sitting around for hours waiting. Our window is 1300-1700. It is currently 1345 and have not heard a word. The only actual bad part of that is that we want to go to Fresh Market and pick up some meat. Tuesday is Ground Chuck day at Fresh market and they always have it on sale. I told Ms. kate tat I would go get it but she says they are open in the evening so, maybe we will go this evening and then since Cold Stone Creamery is right across the street from Fresh Market, maybe I can convince her that ice cream would make a great dinner. (It’s worked before)

I just got a text saying our Sears technician is on the way, so he will be here in about thirty minutes. Good! let’s get it done. 

We haven’t done a lot today, just some little chores around the house. I did take a few minutes to go over my song that I’m playing for Sunday on my trumpet. We’re actually recording it tomorrow, and we are going to record the Christmas Eve service too. I guess maybe then on Wednesday of next week we will record our December 27th service. That will wrap up the year. Wow. 

We are still in the process of making a decision about returning to in-person worship. I’ve heard from most of the council members and know that most of them are in favor of opening the church up. I have two that are vehemently opposed. Both are nurses and say we are being irresponsible and selfish and not caring about our parishioners if we open up. However we have other nurses in the parish that say that as long as we follow the safety guidelines we should be okay. Of course I know and we all know that nothing is foolproof. But when and who declares it totally safe? I think this virus will never be gone. So if we are waiting for that day —- we would never open. But —- since I have the final say after they have all voiced their opinion, no matter what I decide, —— somebody is going to think I’m in the wrong. That is and always has been, and always will be the price you pay for leadership. I’ve dealt with situations like this before and will probably have to do so again. They aren’t fun but they are really informative about the people that you are leading or as I say, serving.

Christmas Day is ten days away. FedEx and UPS truck are regular traffic through the neighborhood. Santa Amazon must be sending out a lot of stuff. We probably won’t have a white Christmas but we are supposed to have a coating of the white stuff tomorrow. It won’t amount to much here but the brunt of the storm will probably give my grandson Josh as much as 15 inches of snow up in New Hampshire. Better he than me. 

Okay, time to go. Have  blessed day. Peace. 

 Happy Monday and welcome to a new week. And, a Happy Birthday to my younger sister who turns 75 years old today. Who would have thought either of us would live to be this old. Just wow!

Hey, —- ten days from now will be Christmas Eve. Did do you realize that. This has been the longest “fast year”. What with COVID isolation and restrictions against so many thing and places that we could or can go, it seems the time really just creeps along but then all of a sudden it is Thanksgiving or Christmas or some other event and they have snuck up on me. I guess that is just one of the facts of getting old; time passes and we let our lives become simpler and we just “become”. Does that make sense to anyone but me? 

Speaking of Christmas Eve, I finished my services for this coming Sunday and Christmas Eve last night. I think Christmas Eve service is going to be wonderful. It will be so different from what we have done in the past mainly because we won’t be having two services nor will be be having in-person worship with communion. People are hoping to miss closing the service by dimming the lights, holding out their candles and sis singing Silent Night. It is all tradition at both churches and this has been a year full of setting aside traditions. I’ll be so glad when we can finally get back to “normal”. 

And —- I plan on “normal” to begin once again in January. Well, some version of it anyway. I hoping we can at least go back to in-person worship. We’ll still be wearing masks and social distancing but we can at least worship together. I really miss that and so do the folks of the  congregations. Hopefully by spring, we can even take off our masks. The President-elect, Joe Biden says the first thing he will ask people to do after he is inaugurated is to wear their face masks for another 100 days to help curb the spread of COVID. That would take us to April 1st. We’ll see how that goes over. I’ve gotten used to it but still hate it. 

More good news, Ms. Kate had the last of her physical therapy sessions today. They will come next Monday and officially release her. The only thing she has left from the COVID stuff is a visit with the cardiologist to determine how to handle her low blood pressure medicine issues. That will happen on the 22nd. More importantly, is that she is feeling so much better. She still needs to work on stamina.

Alright my friends, I need to go get on the bike and take a ride for awhile. Have a wonderful week. Stay safe, wear your mask and don’t hug strangers. LOL Peace. 

 Welcome to Saturday and the actual “Week end”. It is currently sunny and 56 degrees but all of that is going to change. We are expecting a little more rain this afternoon and then the temperature will begin to drop. The clouds are already gathering in the west. I have a couple of feeders to fill and if I am going to fill them, I better not wait too long. 

I was debating with myself this morning whether to get on the bake and ride. I did five and a hal miles yesterday and am trying ride at least every other day. But I got a message from Jacob, our audio/video technician that he had finished putting this weeks service together and had posted it on You Tube. So I sat my IPad on the bike and climbed on and did a four mile ride while the service was playing. As always, he did an excellent job, as did Ms. Brenda on the keyboard and Ms. Ruth as my liturgist. We are so very lucky to have the capability to do this and very lucky to have Jacob with a real interest in technology and social media. Were it not for him, our Parish would be shuttered until the pandemic is over. We have a couple of more weeks before the end of the year and I’m praying the spread rate and the death rate will fall dramatically so we can go back to in-person worship. The virtual service is still wonderful but there is just a whole different feeling when we can worship in-person. Some churches still do, including my home church, Zoar. But they are really taking a chance currently, although they are taking all of the precautions possible.

Ms. Kate and I have several “little chores” to get done today. We need to move her card making stuff back into her office and then do some spot cleaning on the carpet and run the Roomba through the house. I need to make another quick run to the grocery store and pick up some Miracle Whip so Ms. Kate can make some more tuna salad. It was on my list yesterday when I went but while my eyes read Miracle Whip, my brain read Cool Whip and I picked up two containers of that. Getting old ain’t for sissies. So, another trip to the grocery store. I also think I’ll stop and get a haircut while I’m out. I’m getting shaggy around the ears. 

I hope you will take time to stop tomorrow and give God thanks for another week. Heck, don’t wait, do it today. Peace. 

 Another unseasonably warm December day. It is 61 degrees at the moment. The sun has been shining all morning but the clouds are starting to move in, We are supposed to have rain over night and into tomorrow morning. And then —- December returns with cooler (30s-40s) temperatures but no snow is in the forecast so that is a good thing. 

This morning, I have played my silly computer games, watched a little HGTV, rode fi ve and a half miles on my recumbent bike and had a little bit of the French toaster casserole for breakfast. There is only one helping left and I can almost bet it will not be there tomorrow morning. Yep, I’l be the guilty party.

I had a good day yesterday because I did my first parishioner visit in seven months. I had a couple of folks that really needed to have a visit so I put on my mask and went. The one fellow has ben given a terminal diagnosis and as he says; “hopes to see Santa come before he dies”. It was a heartwarming comment because he has “been Santa Claus” for many years for the church and other places. But, he understands his condition. And the likelihood that he will not see 2021. It was one of those pastoral visits that are hard to do and yet are so necessary. He feels he is ready to die and is not afraid of the process. 

My other visit was to my buddy Bob. I had not been to see him in probably five months and since I was that close to his house, I figured I would surprise him with a visit. Bob is coming up on 88 years of age and I have really seen a difference in his ability to get around in the past 16 years that I have known him. Frankly, Bob has been ready to pass since he lost Georgia Ann several years ago. But, we don’t control that; God does. 

I think I need to make a grocery store run right quick. We need bread to put the tuna salad on that Ms. Kate just made. So, I’ll drop off now. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 What a great morning already. The sun is shining on a 46 degree morning; not a cloud in the sky ad it is gong up to 64 degrees today. I have a lot of guests at the Backyard Buffet although most of my guests at the moment are starlings fighting one another. One squirrel has ventured from the neighbors yard to check out the feeders. But, what makes it a really great morning is that for the first time in almost a month, Ms. Kate said “I feel fine” when I asked her this morning how she felt. Those are the best words I could have heard. Perhaps we are rounding the corner with all of the medication and blood pressure issues and COVID 19. Wouldn’t that be great???

Our worship service taping went well yesterday afternoon despite having  a few technical difficulties with the camera/IPad. For some reason we ran out of memory. I think it was because we also was taping my trumpet solo for next week. But, since the IPad belongs to me, I eliminated a bunch of pictures  from it and freed up a bunch of space. The trumpet solo with Ms. Brenda went pretty well. I’m waiting for Jacob to send me a copy of it. I know I “flubbed” a couple of notes but if it sounds okay, we’ll let it ride. If I don’t like the way it turned out we’ll redo it next week. I was really hoping to be able to transpose the piano to match my key but in the end, I ended up doing the transposing. That is hard to do because I’m looking at what is on e the written page and having to transpose what I’m seeing so that my sound matches what Ms.Brenda is playing. So, I’m following the music but playing something different. If that makes sense to you, you’re doing better than I am.  

I think I will have some French Toast Casserole for breakfast this morning. It really turned out wonderful. I even had a slice for my dinner dessert last evening. I posted a picture of it on my Facebook page yesterday a and several people are asking for the recipe so I need to post the recipe on y page this morning. Ms. Kate never minds sharing her recipes. We believe everyone should eat wel and Ms. Kate is a very excellent cook. 

I’m making a pastoral house call this afternoon. It is my first in months because of the virus. But, in this case it is critically important and needs to be done right away. I’ll wear my mask and take my precautions but when prayer is needed, you go and pray. 

That’s it, my casserole is ready for some syrup and my stomach is growling at me. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Wow, we are at mid-week already aren’t we. When you don’t go to work everyday at some location beside your in-home office, it is hard to keep up with the days. The only thing officially on my schedule today is to go to the church for taping of the service for Sunday. That doesn’t happen until 1600 this afternoon. Right now though, I’m waiting on breakfast or maybe we call it brunch. Ms. Kate has just put a “french toast casserole” in the oven so in about an hour we’ll be having that. That’s a good brunch. She put two together last night but they had to sit overnight. Our refrigerator is out of room so, since the temperature is dropping to 33 degrees at night, I put them in the grill and closed the lid. That certainly kept them cold. But, I’m going to have to put the second one in the freezer downstairs because it is going up to above 60 degrees today. 

I had to call for a dryer repairman appointment for our 18 year old clothes dryer. I think thee heating element has gone out on it. We did laundry yesterday and it took forever for the last load to dry. I had to run it through for a third time to get it really dry and when I took the clothes out they weren’t warm. So, I reckon we’ll not be doing any laundry until after next Tuesday. That’s perfectly okay because we’re all caught up. We only do two relatively small loads a week or every ten days. That sure is different from the days when all of the girls were home. I think we were doing laundry four days a week. I say “we” like I had anything to do with it and that would not be true. But these days, I probably do the laundry more often than Ms. Kate does simply because I don’t mind it at all. (I wonder if we still have an iron and ironing board?)

At the taping this afternoon I’m going to try to record a trumpet solo for our service on the 20th. I want to try to do “O Holy Night”. I went through it last night and it went fairly well although I was winded by the time I finished. I’m afraid that my days of playing are about over. I always get these ideas that I can still do it and I have it all in my mind how I want to do it and how it is going to go. But —- in the end, to actually accomplish it becomes a test of mind over matter. The lips are soft shot and the lungs are full of asthma. I reckon we’ll see what happens. Tune in to our worship service on You Tube @ St. Lucas’s UCC on the 20th and we’ll see how it turns out. 

I guess that is all for today. Have a wonderful day. Enjoy the sunshine. Peace. 

 A happy Tuesday morning to you. Welcome to the world of awake people. It is a cloudy thirty nine degrees out side but it is comfortable sitting here in my recliner watching guests come in and out at the Backyard Buffet. I didn’t get the feeders filled yesterday and they are mostly empty. Perhaps that is why the squirrels are hovering about and staring at the sunporch from the trees. Even “Stubby” the one with practically no tail is out there today again. He checks the feeder and runs of and then checks it again in about five minutes just in case I was there and he didn’t see me. Silly squirrels, they are fun to watch. 

Well, I did get to the post office and got all of the Christmas Cards and December Birthday cards off and away, or maybe I told you that yesterday. I don’t know rom day to the next what I wrote the day before. It’s all just stuff that falls out of my brain and onto my keyboard. I realize that most days what I write is of no importance but, I do appreciate you reading and sharing with me. 

I started working on my Christmas Eve sermon last night ad I found out some very interesting stuff while researching. I always thought that Christmas was a long celebrated holiday and my premise was that 2020 was unlike any other Christmas with things being cancelled everywhere because of COVID-19. I knew that it was a couple of centuries before there actually was a Christmas Celebration and have written and talked about that before. It was around 379 AD before any recognition of the birth of Christ became a “thing”. The Emperor Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of the Empire and Dec 25th was determined to be a holiday to eradicate a Roman Pagan fest. I knew all of that. But —- I did not know that a Christmas celebration was banned in this country from 1620 until roughly 1850. The Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas because they deemed it Un-Christian. Being Puritans, they declared that it wasn’t mentioned as a holy day in the Bible and therefore was pagan and evil. In fact, if you were caught celebrating instead of being out side working, you could be fined as much as five shillings, which was quite aa sum. I also learned that Alabama was the first state to actually declare Christmas to be a recognized holiday, in 1850. Many states soon followed suit.It is amazing what you can learn when you want to do a bit of research. I always say that I have had a successful day if I learned something new. So, —- aren’t you glad you stopped by today??

That information has now emptied my brain so I might as well quit for today and get on my recumbent Bike and ride for a few miles. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Peace. 

Here we go again; a whole new week, a whole set of seven days to make life joyful for ourselves and others or to feel sorry for ourselves because the world is not what we want it to be. I pray your week is going to be full of joy. 

Ms. Kate and I are both over the COVID although she is still having a lot of Bloood Pressure issues and it cause her to be weak and “woozy”. I’ve asked her to describe “woozy”and her best description is that she just “feel off”. That really cleared things up; —- not. But I think we have narrowed it own to some off the medication that she is taking. She called the cardiologist and they have called in a lower dose prescription for the new medication. Of course, as luck would have it, when Walgreens tried to fill it, The Tri-Care computer system was down so we are having to wait. I could pay the $77.00 and then go through the rigamarole of getting my reimbursement and if they don’t have it by this evening, that’s what I will most likely do. But, she’s not in danger with this dose; it just means that she has to be careful not to move too fast. I keep a good watch on her. 

I spent much of my time this weekend addressing Christmas and December birthday cards. This is the first year in several that we will not be sending out any of Kate’s beautiful handmade Christmas cards. Luckily I had four boxes of really nice Christmas cards that I bought at the end of the season several years ago. I used those. Half of them had a note on the envelope that said extra postage may be required. So, I stamped all of the ones that didn’t say that and then this morning I took all of them to the post office. I had them weigh the ones with the notation on the envelope and they said standard postage was good. So I stamped the rest of them and they are all on the way. One job out of the way. I’m really glad I went when I did. By the time I left the line was way down the hall with people mailing their Christmas boxes. I only had about six people in front off me when I arrived. 

My next stop was to the Walmart Neighborhood Market for a few groceries. I didn’t need many things so it didn’t take me a lot of time. I’ve gotten to know that store fairly well. I don’t think Ms. Kate has ever shopped there. I generally go in by myself. 

While I was out doing my chores, Ms. Kate’s Physical Therapist came to the house and she did he exercises. So, other than me finishing up my blog, we are both caught up with our “must do” list. But, I’m going to go downstairs and work on my Christmas Eve sermon. I know I said that Saturday —- but guess what?  It didn’t happen. 

So, that’s my Monday so far. It’s cold and dreary and maybe I’ll clear off the fireplace hearth and light the fireplace. It’s that kind of day that needs a fire in the fireplace. Until tomorrow —- Blessings and peace to you. 

 Sunny Saturday; way to go Saturday. You’re looking good. It is great to see a sunny sky instead of all of those clouds. 

Today, I’m expecting my son-in-law Jim to come over and put the snow blade on my Lawn mower. He does it so quick and I’ve just gotten to the point that I can hardly get down on the garage floor to do that. It really isn’t a hard job and I hate to see him drive three hours. But, better to have it on and not use it than to need it and not have it on there. “An ounce of prevention, etc.etc,.

I did get the garage cleaned up enough yesterday to bring the “little JD” from the backyard and put it in the garage. Some might think it strange that I wold have the two John Deere lawn tractors in my garage and leave the Cadillac sitting out in the weather. But —- rank does have it’s privilege.  

I also made a run to Target yesterday for toilet paper. I. Told y’all that Sam’s. Club was totally out the other day and the price on Amazon was too high and we couldn’t get delivery until almost Christmas. Well, I went to Target and they had plenty although they did have a limit on how many you buy. But, how many do you have to buy??  I don’t understand the “run” (pardon the pun) on toilet paper. It is just stupidity and greediness. 

Jacob posted our service for this Sunday on You Tube last night, I watched it and it turned out great. He really does good work. He bought some more “gizmos” last week to make the productions even better, especially the sound. I don’t begin to understand it but he says it all helps with quality. All I know is that he does great work. I will be really glad though when we can get through some of this COVID separation stuff and get back to in-person worship. We’ll still be doing the broadcasting when we get back. What will be different is,  we will be doing “live-streaming” and that will eliminate the extra film footage that he does. That extra footage ads so much to the service. But, the only way that I know of to keep it in is to film the service and then he would add the extra and post it. I don’t think that would work nearly as well. 

I have a couple of finches fussing with a wren over a feeder just outside the kitchen window. I have no doubt tat the wren is going to win that little skirmish. They might be really cute, but they stand their own ground. I’ve seen them take on the blackbirds and the starlings and win. Speaking of which, I need to fill feeders today. 

That’s it my friends. Have a glorious Saturday. Stay COVID safe and wear your mask. I don’t want lose any of you. Peace.

 Hello Friday, my old friend; It’s nice to see you back again.  Now that I have Simon and Garfunkel running through your head, Happy Friday. I hope wherever you re is brighter than her at my place. It is 41 degrees and the weather dude promised clouds for most of the day. That’s all fine by me. I think it is maybe supposed to go up another five or six degrees. 

Ms. kate and I were adventurous yesterday. She had called in a pick-up order to Meijer’s for some groceries. I really like that process although it seems like they “substituted” a lot of items. Then we went to Sam’s Club and did some shopping for some bulk items. We got everything we wanted with the exception of toilet paper. Can you believe that we are gong through the “shortage and hoarding” of TP again??? We been through COVID and that was never an item that we needed an excess of.  But, today, I’m going to make a run to Target and get some. We have always bought the “big package” when we buy TP and this is the first time we have gotten close to being out since COVID started. I went on line to Amazon to price it out and they were reporting a price that was way too high aand delivery not until almost Christmas. Weird. 

Tomorrow, my son-in-law is going to come over and put my snow blade on the JD. I know we haven’t had even a measurable snow so far but just in case, I want to be ready. I did check the long range forecast and I think Santa is going to have to put tires on the sleigh because there won’t be any snow to sleigh on. I call my blade my anti-snow blade. The last two years we have put it on and I never used it. With a little luck, maybe we will be that lucky again. I love getting out there and pushing snow around  and having fun but —- I just don’t like snow in general. I will, however, take snow over ice any time. We had a really bad ice storm here a few yers ago. It was much worse on the south side of the Ohio River down into Kentucky. There were entire sections of woods and forest that were devastated from the damage and people went with out power for days. Nope, don’t want anything to do with that. 

I need to get myself ready to go out and do a FE thongs outside. There are bird feeders that need  filling and I have some stuff to move from the garage to the sheds. I still have some yard clean up that I want to do if it isn’t too cool. We’ll see how much of that I get done. 

It’s Friday so for those of you who work Monday trough Friday —- you have reached a couple of days rest. For those of you who are retired —- you couln’t care less. LOL Have a great weekend. Peace. 

 Good morning! December 2nd, --- but what day is it. Is it Wednesday or is it Sunday? Since we do our taping for the Sunday Service on Wednesday afternoon, I do get my days  and weeks mixed up. So, --- I guess today gets to be "Sunesday". 

It's another brisk morning out there. I see frost on neighbor Dan's roof top but it is melting  as the sun gets a little higher in the sky. Speaking of celestial events; have you seen the moon the last couple of nights? It has been fabulous. Current orbit has it rising in the north east and setting at just at or slightly before daybreak in the north west. But it is so big and so clear. I was up around 0500 this morning and I think that had I taken something to read out side, I could easily have read it by moonlight. It has been spectacular. And --- although I have not red the article yet, I saw a Facebook post that said the the planets will be aligned just right on Christmas Eve to create a Christmas Star. I'm looking forward to that. The "Pastor" part of me thinks that if there was ever a time that we need a Christmas Star to be seen by the world, now is certainly the time. With everything that is going on in the world, it would be so easy to throw up our hands and say that "the world is going to hell in a hand-basket". But, I refuse to cave in. God is keeping my attitude in check. 

Ms. Kate gets stronger each day and I feel so blessed because of it. Yesterday the Occupational Therapist came to do an evaluation on her and determined that she does not need therapy. Today the Physical Therapist will be here and we'll see what she has to say. Hopefully they will turn her loose too. We still have our recumbent bike and it is sitting in the dining room not being used. We both need to dedicate a time  a couple or three days a week to get on and ride. I was doing ten miles a day, several days a week until I guess I decided I didn't need to do that. That was not smart on my part and she did the same thing. My excuse is that I don't like riding it in the dining room instead of out in the Sunporch. But that is a flimsy excuse for being lazy. Anyway, hopefully Ms. Kate won't need PT beyond what we can do right here. 

I finished my December 20th sermon last night with the exception of the Pastoral Prayer. I'll work on that today. As I said, this afternoon I'll go to the church and we will record the service for Sunday. Then, we need to sit and game plan the Christmas Eve service. I have some ideas and I know Jacob has some ideas and Ms. Brenda will too, so if we brainstorm it, maybe we can collectively come up with a good program. God will lead the way of course and I have no doubt it will come out great. We've never done a Christmas Eve program via the internet. I hope people will take time put of their Christmas Eve schedules to watch it.

Time for me to get to writing something besides my blog. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Sunshine and 27 degrees this morning with a "feels like" temperature of 25. It is December 1st and feels like it. Thank goodness the snowflakes are all gone. The Backyard Buffet has been busy. There are enough blackbirds out there to bake in a pie and they have emptied at least two of the feeders, the ones with bark butter bits, and are working on a couple more. They are flying pigs for sure. 

The good news is that Ms. Kate continues to get better each day. For days it was all she could do to walk from the bedroom to the family room and then she would sleep most of the day in that chair. This week she gets up and dressed and "ready" for the day to start. She has returned to her computer to play her couple of computer games. That is a big deal because she couldn't concentrate on anything like that for many days. And she is eating again. So all around, I'm seeing improvements that make my heart happy. 

I finished up a sermon for the 13th of December, last night and have the service laid out for December 20th. I have started on the message for that one but have a lot of writing to do yet. Then, I need to get started on my Christmas Eve service and the Sunday after Christmas. 

So, my work never seems to end and the next thing you know, I'll be working on 2021 services and I pray that we can be back in the sanctuary by then. But the way the COVID numbers keep rising makes that doubtful. I have no doubt that people are going to travel all over the country for Christmas just like they did for Thanksgiving and the number of cases is going to spike through the roof. I saw news reports last evening of people out and about watching Christmas parades and many of them just refuse to wear a mask and practice their social distancing. I admit, I was very skeptical about all of that too until I got it and Ms. Kate got it; but I have changed my tune for sure. 

I think I'm going to put that steak on the grill that I bought a couple of days ago. I don't know what I will fix with it. I bought a steak just big enough for the two of. The doctor's told Ms. Kate that she needs protein and I figured that a steak would give her that and it sounds good too. 

How's your Christmas Spirit? I hope you are counting blessings each day and not letting the pandemic and other worldly crap get you down. Remember what and who we are celebrating. Remember why we call this winter celebration CHRISTmas. God just opened a new month for us. Let's make a pledge to not let the humbugs take over our life. God loves you and I love you and we are celebrating the greatest gift ever given to mankind. A Savior has been born, lived, died and rose again all for the single purpose of providing us a pathway to eternal life. Peace