It’s the middle of the week already. This week is going by fast. Not only that but the month of March is over as of today. Three months of the year has now passed. Where was I?? 

So, yesterday Ms. Kate had a hair appointment for a cut and perm like I told you. But before that Ms. Kate finished making her Easter cards and I got them all addressed and in the mailbox. Once that was done,  I drove her to her appointment and I then went to ACE Hardware and picked up a couple of pull-chains for that ceiling light and fan. From there I went back to the beauty  salon and just sat and waited, and read my book. It was beautiful out so I rolled down the window and enjoyed the fresh air. Once she came out, looking beautiful of course, we went and grabbed something to eat and come home to eat it. The rest of the day was a waste of valuable time because we did nothing but relax around here. What that means of course is that I still haven’t written a word in three days and have to do it today. 

But —- at some point, we have to go do some grocery shopping for our Easter meal. She’s talking ham this year and of course it has to be a specific ham from a specific store. That’s the difference between us; I’d just go to the first store and get one; I mean, ham is ham, —— but obviously not. 

I have lots of visitors at the buffet today. I still haven’t put my order in for Wild Birds Unlimited. I need to do that today. I don’t have enough “Bits” to fill the two feeders again. I don’t need a bunch of Starlings sitting on the limbs out there fussing at me. Actually, I worry about the Bluebirds. Those Bark Butter Bits re there favorite and I do love having my Bluebirds. But all of the birds love them. I just wish the Starlings like them less. There are feeders out there that they won’t even touch, that’s how spoiled I’ve made them. 

Tomorrow night is our Maundy Thursday service at 7:00 pm. Ms. Diana already has the altar set up and the communion set up. It look very nice. The Tenebrae portion of the service is really a good reading and I think will be meaningful. After the service we will have an all-night prayer vigil where folks can come in to the church and sit and “watch with the Lord” for as long as they like. We have a seven foot rugged wooden cross made out of the wood from one of our family’s old barn that we put up every year over Easter weekend. I remember maybe ten years ago or so,  I came in for an early, early morning time frame to sit and one of my parishioners was curled up asleep on the floor in front of the cross. I knew he had been there for at least a couple hours because I knew what time slot he had signed up for. He was a man with a troubled soul and I thought to myself that he was exactly where he needed to be. I let him lay there until he woke up. I figured God was providing everything he needed. 

Time for me to move on and do something productive. Have a blessed day. This is a week especially designed to lay down your troubles to the one person/being that can give you peace. Stay in prayer this week. Walk with God. Peace.  

 I do love these beautiful spring mornings. Everything just continues to bloom and be bright and fresh. I look outside my windows and it is so easy to just see a world of blessings out there ready to be absorbed by us. It’s like God has set a fresh table every morning for us. Sometimes it is a full meal like today with sunshine and 60 degrees already this morning and birds singing; and sometimes it is just a snack with partly sunny skies and maybe a bit too cool to be out without a jacket; but everything God gives us has a purpose and a reason and therefore  everything is a blessing. 

I spent a gapped deal of the day yesterday working outside in the yard. Nothing really major but just doing “spring stuff”. I put out Epsom Salt on all of the flowerbeds that didn’t contain azealias, and I put out Super Sulphate too one those same areas. Ms. Kate says that those products “sweeten the soil”, and it is something that we do every year. I don’t understand much of it but she says that some soil needs to be sweet and some soil needs to be acidic. Azelias and rhododendrons need the acidic soil. Me, — I just do what she tells me because we continue to have beautiful flowerbeds and gardens. I also mowed the front yard and did the trimming. I needed to get the yard ready for Easter. I don’t want to be “that guy” who let yard look ugly while everyone else cleaned up their yard. I also mowed Dan’s front yard. I can’t mow in the back of his house anymore. He has trenches all over the place trying to control they natural springs that run through his yard. So, he has to do his back yard himself like a jig-saw puzzle. 

Today Ms. Kate has a hair appointment for a cut and perm. While she is there I need to do a little shopping. One of the things I need to buy is a couple of “pull-chains” for one of the ceiling light/fan combo in the guest room. It would be nice if I had a dual wall switch to control them separately but I don’t. I really don’t like the light that is in there because it isn’t really bright enough and the pull chains are directly over the bed and they are short. So to turn them on and off separately, you have to get up and kneel in the bed. Maybe the simplest solution is to just but a couple of pull chains and extend the length. They wouldn’t hang down where you would bump into them. So, I could just spend $1.35 instead of $135.00. 

I’ve been reading my Richard E. Simmons III book and it is hard to put it down. No, that’s not the “exercise dude in the shorts and curly hair.” I really didn’t know much about him, and still don’t, other than he runs a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to bringing people to Jesus Christ. He ‘s not a pastor or a theologian; in fact he’s a businessman down in Birmingham Alabama. I ordered two more of his books last night. His research is wonderful and his purpose is to add God to people’s lives and to go beyond just saying “believe it”, he gets into the nitty gritty of the proof of the truth of the Bible and the existence of God. It is extremely well written and extremely interesting. If you are a “reader”, I suggest you check his books out. You can get them on Amazon (of course) for about $20.00 each. 

Time to get ready to face the day and do something productive. I haven’t written a word in two days so need to get busy. Have a most blessed day. Shalomn.

 It’s quite beautiful out there this morning but I’ll pass on being out there in shorts, thank you very much. It’s a bit chilly this morning. We had a chance for wide spread frost this morning but I don’t think it happened here. But I reckon out in the open areas it was a different story. 

I don’t have much news this morning. I did fill the Bark Butter Bits feeders yesterday afternoon so the starlings and other birds can fight over those two feeders. I can’t believe that am down to a half of a bag of them again. I bought five bags last time and that has not been that long ago. I guess I will put in another order. Being able to get my Wild Birds stuff on line sure makes it a lot easier. And, if I buy $75.00 worth, which I always do, my shipping is free and I generally get it either the next day or within two days. 

How was your weekend? Did you go to church and celebrate Palm Sunday? We had good attendance at both churches for the occasion. I will be interested to see what our attendance will be at our other Holy Week Services this week. I really hope people do come out for them. I have some good services planned. 

Did you happen to go out and look at the sky last night. It was clear as a bell and the moon was so bright. Several people have posted pictures of it on Facebook. I think someone called it a “Worm moon”. I don’t know why. I Googled that and couldn’t rally understand it except that it is one of the four “Super Moons of 2021. All I need to know is that it was beautiful and really bright. I took a book outside to see if I could read by it and yes, I could. I’m a real fan of the work that God does in our night sky. 

I have to go to the optometry office today. My lens fell out of my sunglasses yesterday  and when I was trying to put them back together, the other lens fell out. So, I’ll take them to someone who actually knows what they are doing and have them fixed. 

That’s it for today. I’ll remind you again that this is Holy Week and we should spend some extra time in prayer and gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus, our Savior. I hope you are  believer. I hope you have Jesus in your life. But, if you do not believe in Jesus, —- just know that He believes in you. Have a blessed week. 

Peace. 

 God’s just showing off today with this beautiful day. Clear sky, bright blue, going up a marvelous 78 degrees. We put off decorating graves yesterday because we knew today was going to be like this. It will be nice to bask in the sunshine as we decorate everything. However, tonight is calling for some storms again for the overnight hours and then cooler again tomorrow. Gotta love spring weather. 

My North Carolina family is in our thoughts today. They are holding the funeral for Gary’s mom. It will be a simple graveside only affair which is what she would want even without COVID restrictions in place. The church is preparing food to take over to the house for after the funeral. Lisa expects about 15 people to be at their house after the funeral. That’s about normal for her to have for a meal. Gary only has one sister and she has three sons, only two of which will be there. The other lives in New York and won’t be traveling. Lisa has the two kids and each has a significant other. Her daughter, Amanda lives down on the coast and her son, Matt, currently lives with them but has just punched a home that he will be moving in to. My grandkids are all grown adults now. Heather’s two, Lauren and Jon are renting a place together there in Southern California, and Josh, Julie’s son has been living with his fiancée’ for years now. 

I finished up my April 11th sermon yesterday so now I can take a couple of days off and relax. Od course I won’t —- but I could. I did spend some time reading last night. It is a really good book. I think it is called “Essays on the Existence of God.” I want to get it read and then give it to Julie Wallis to read and see if she thinks we could do a book study with it. We proposed doing a book study on the “Screwtape Letters” but could not generate any interest. I think people were just too afraid to get out in a small group like that. We’ll see what happens with this one. If no one else wants to read it and discuss it — I’ve lost nothing and had still had a good read. 

Hey, my potatoes are coming up, the radishes are up and need to be thinned and the lettuce is starting to come up. The peonies have some big buds on a couple of them and of course —- the dandelions are popping out. I do love spring. 

Time to go put on the blue jeans and get ready to go to the cemeteries. You have yourself a marvelous Palm Sunday weekend. God loves you —- and so do I. Peace. 

 Happy fresh Friday morning. Iy’s certainly a grey morning without a hint of sunshine. The storms rolled through last evening. We picked up .98 inch of rain and had some pretty good wind. We were very fortunate. Elsewhere across the country the storm caused a lot of terrible damage and cost at least a dozen lives. Birmingham Alabama got hit particularly hard. Homes were reduced to rubble and at last news, there were at least seven deaths. So, let’s join together in prayer this morning for all of the families of the victims of this storm and pray for their comfort as they try to put lives back together. This has been a couple of bad weeks for citizens being “victims”. Storms and mass shootings have claimed almost three dozen lives in the past 15 days. 

You know, the storms and natural disasters are bad enough, but when people just decide to go out and kill people for no known reason, —— it makes zero sense. To walk into a grocery store or a tanning salon or even a church and start randomly taking people’s lives just makes zero sense. Of course there will be members of the killer’s family that will say he was mentally ill and he should receive special treatment and mental help and shouldn’t be blamed. Well, they are right, it takes a sick person to do something like that. But, maybe I’m totally wrong, and maybe it doesn’t sound Christian and or godly, but I support Capital punishment for cases like that. The one killer this week has been charged with ten counts of 1st degree murder and one count of attempted murder. His court appointed lawyer has asked for at least three months to have him evaluated mentally. This guy is 21 years old, will undoubtedly be found either insane or just guilty, and will be locked away for the reason of his life which frankly could be another 60+ years. The taxpayer will feed him, house him, give him excellent health care, educate him to what ever level of degrees he wants — totally free; —- to what end? He will never be released to society. So we will spend several million dollars and the only one “benefiting” is a guy who in cold blood lay gunned down ten innocent people. I say, give him the death penalty and  return him to the devil from whence he came.  I know, —- I sound cold and hard sometimes. 

I have lots of guests this morning at the  Backyard Buffet. I even had a couple of cardinals back again. It was a pair so I reckon they have been off building a nest and stuff. I was a welcome sight to see them again. I need to fill a couple of feeders today. I’ll wait until it gets a couple of degrees warmer and I have something on besides my house slippers to walk around out there. 

I think we are going to go to the cemeteries today and decorate graves. Ms. Kate bought a bunch of artificial flowers last week for that purpose. We went by the graves last week and out Christmas.winter flowers look pretty bad. 

I have a donut or two waiting for me this morning, so I’m out of here. Have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 

 It is just the opposite of yesterday for my weather report this morning. It is 58 degree, and raining and not going to climb too much higher today. This afternoon we need to hunker down because we are expecting severe thunderstorms. U just watched my Accuweather report and this storm is massive and will be dangerous across the nation. They said that 50 million people are in the danger zone. Here in Evansville, we will just get a tiny portion of it as it moves north and east. But, we could still get some wind damage and possibly a tornado. I need to go out and take my colors down again. I just put them back up yesterday afternoon from Tuesday’s heavy winds and storm threat. Our forecaster said that what we don’t want to see today is the sun because that will make thee air even more unstable. (Man, I sound like I actually know what I’m talking about.)

We went to the churches yesterday to run the bulletins. Actually I went twice. I had forgotten the keys to St. Paul’s. I ran all of the regular bulletins for the services but I have to run the large print bulletins at St. Paul’s because the copier at St. Lucas can’t print large print bulletins. The top of it isn’t big enough to handle 11X17 paper. And that doesn’t even make sense because it has a setting to enlarge, I think that we are missing a key step somewhere but they have had that machine for three years and haven’t figured it out. But, last evening since there wasn’t anything on TV that I wanted to watch, I went back up and ran the large print bulletins for the three services. Next week I’ll go run the bulletins for the late Easter Sunday services. 

Today, since it is a rainy gloomy and stormy day, I plan to head down to my office and write my sermon for April 11th. I put the service together for it last night because there still wasn’t anything on TV that was worth watching. I thought about starting on the new book I bought but that seemed like a not particular good use of idle time. So, I got a little bit of work done. 

The buffet looks closed today, no birds around to speak of. I spent a couple of hours out there in the sunroom but my guests were sparse. I guess they are hunkered down from the rain too. I didn’t think weather bothered them much. 

I had another long talk with youngest daughter, Lisa this morning. She is still dealing with stuff from her north-in-law’s passing. The funeral will be Saturday morning and will be a graveside service only. Lisa is suffering from a major pinched nerve in her upper back and is having a really tough time of it. I know, and she does too, that while there is certainly a physical problem there, much of her problem is caused by stress. She has a high stress job with a lot of responsibility for people, and then she and her husband own a auto repair garage that is extremely busy. When she isn’t at her job at the hospital, she is at the shop taking care of business stuff. She was going to start working on her Doctorate this spring but it didn’t take long for her to figure out that it was way more than she needed to add to her plate. So, the girl doesn’t give herself any breaks and when she does things like pinch a nerve, it is exaggerated by all of the rest of her life. All three of my daughter are “Type-A” personalities and work-a-holics. They get it from me but I hope they don’t take as long as I did to learn to relax. Here I am, going on 77 years old and don’t know when to quit. I guess it is what keeps me going.

Speaking of work, I better get down stairs and get started. You have your self a blessed day. Peace. 

 This is certainly a day that God has made and we must rejoice and be glad in it. Yes, that is a loose adaptation of Psalm 118:24. it to look out there and see all of that sunshine, and hear all of the birds in the trees just makes me happy and I can only stop and give thanks God for another heaping helping of blessings. 

We were threatened with rain yesterday but it never materialized for us at least. But it was really windy. The yard is gettin covered with blossoms from the pussy-willow trees. As I look around, I see that the trees are really getting “fuzzy” with new leaves. A couple of yards over, some trees are blooming, I s\assume they are Bradford Pear trees but don’t know for sure. The Redbud trees should be popping out shortly and then the Dogwood trees. It seems that the Dogwoods always bloomed around Easter when I was a kids because the pastor or the Sunday school teachers would talk about the blossoms representing the cross. Anyway, —— all of this is to simply say that I glad to be alive on such a beautiful day. 

Yesterday was beautiful too. Ms. Kate and I went to Fresh Market because it was “Ground Chuck Sale” day. She bought several packages so there will be chili and Salisbury Steak in my future for sure. Maybe we need to make some into patties and grill up some butchers or even break out my griddle and play short-order cook. After that we went to Biaggi’s for lunch. The food was really good and so was the service. From there we came home but I had to make a DQ run last night for a Blizzard. 

Today is Wednesday, and that off course means bulletin day at the churches. I have three sets to run today; this coming Sunday’s, Maundy Thursday’s, and the Easter Sunrise Service. I have the Easter Sunday late service done too but I’ll just wait to run those next week. 

The guests are arriving at the Backyard Buffet. Naturally the rude and obnoxious fuss-a-lot starlings are here, but so are \other guests. What I have been missing though is cardinals. I almost always have as many as a dozen and now I’m only rarely have one or two. Maybe they are nest building somewhere and having babies, I don’t know. But I miss them. In about three weeks it will be time to put the hummingbird feeders back out, generally around the middle of April. 

That’s all I have today. Have yourself a warm and blessings filled day, and then don’t forget to be thankful. Peace. 

 I’m sitting here observing the Backyard Buffet, watching my guests. It is fairly quiet at the moment. Once in a while two or three starlings will come in and fight over “their feeder”. It isn’t really theirs but they act like it is. I have a couple of robins hopping around the yard and a couple of doves waddling around the yard. A few finches have been by but other that that it is quiet. The squirrels are sleeping in I guess because they haven’t shown up yet. Off in the distance I hear a lot of birds singing and for what ever reason, the crows are raising sand this morning somewhere in the neighborhood. 

I know it isn’t nice to brag but, My yard really looks nice this morning. I spent a few hours out there yesterday and cleaned it all up. I also trimmed the roses which are leafing out very well. I filled my weekly garbage can about three quarters of the way with sticks and twigs and limbs that I had broken into 12 inch or less pieces. I don’t put sticks in my compost pile because it takes forever for them to decompose. So, when I do my cleanup after a windstorm or winter, I pull my garbage can around and start breaking them up . It takes awhile but it isn’t hard work. A year or so ago, I bought a really nice “Stickpick” grabber and it is perfect of picking up the sticks. It sure saves me a lot of bending over. I think I bought it at a medical supply place back when I had my fall and couldn’t do much reaching. While I was out there I also did some weed-eating out by my raised garden beds and noticed that the first potatoes are starting to pop through the ground and so are the radishes. I’ll give the potatoes a few days and then pull the rest of the dirt over them and hill them up. 

Okay, here comes all of the little birds for breakfast; the house-finches, sparrows, wrens, junkos,  blue birds, and goldfinches. I knew they would be along shortly. 

The clouds are starting to break up a little bit. We are supposed to have rain on and off over the next few days and  a lot of wind. “Beware the Ides of March”; isn’t that a line from Shakespeare? Seems like I remember that Julius Caesar was warned of that shortly before he was assassinated. Was that from Macbeth?? I don’t remember. I probably only read enough to get through the literature class and pass the test. Funny memory, —— In the eighth grade I had a teacher, Mr. Vescovi, who was a tough teacher. He was the gym teacher and I had him for some other class, I’m thinking it was “health class/science”. When a student messed up he would assign papers to write. I recall a kid named Harry that had to memorized a long passage from a Shakespeare play. I thought that kid would never get through it. I remember I had to write a paper once on Sara Teasdale, a poet. Back then, if you were really lucky your folks had a set of Encyclopedias in the home. Our set of Compton’s had a three line paragraph on her and I had to write a 500 word paper. LOL

That’s it for today. The sun is getting brighter and the day is looking nicer. There are geese heading north and honking their way as they fly overhead. My blessings abound. Peace. 

 Let’s just start a new week, what do you say?? It has already climbed to 61 degrees this morning and isn’t going much higher. I went out this morning to look at my flowers. The daffodils and the hyacinths smell wonderful out there. Today though, I really need to go out and clean up the sticks and stuff out of the yard.  It is hard to walk around out there without stepping on something. I don’t need to trip on a branch and fall on my face. I’ve already had that experience out there in the past and it was not fun. 

Ms. Kate is a wonderful cook but sometimes she doesn’t want to eat and I get hungry in the morning, so, I fixed myself some scrambled eggs and toast with homemade strawberry freezer jelly. That will get me through the morning and maybe into the afternoon. I’m not a cook by any means but I can do scrambled eggs and toast. Kate can throw together a big breakfast in what seems like no time. I think breakfast is my favorite and go-to meal. But if she fixes it, or we go out for it, I want the whole she-bang; eggs, biscuits, gravy, bacon or some kind of meat, hash browns, and maybe add pancakes to it too, but not necessary. It’s what is commonly known in our family as “Dad’s big breakfast”. 

I have finished my services and sermons through Easter now. That may sound like a big deal but actually, I’m only a week and a half ahead. Easter is that close. We have some good services lined up for the next week and a half. I’m excited about them and I pray they will be inspirational. I think today I will start looking at our summer schedule and kind of plan that out. We have traditionally done combined all-parish services during the summer. Of course we could not do that in 2020 because of COVID and the social distancing etc. But, with half of the congregation still doing “Jammie church”, and most of the congregations having been vaccinated for COVID, I think we are safe to go back to doing combined services. St. Lucas church is easily large enough to do that and St. Paul’s can handle it too. And, we will continue to broadcast the services for those that are not comfortable being together yet, although, it seems like folks are comfortable being together most anywhere else; so why would they draw a line at worship?? I’m still playing with an idea to have a Sunday morning “Gospel sing” for one of my services. I know that we are not usually a church that holds something like that but I think the gospel comes alive when we lift up our voices in gospel music. I’d love to do it out in the parking lot under a tent. I’m thinking maybe Memorial Day Sunday. The crowd will be less, but it would be fun. Lot’s of planning to do and talking to the councils. But, I’m always looking for a way to bring in the Holy Spirit to spark life into our faith journey. 

That’s it for today. Let’s go have a great week. Peace. 

 Happy Saturday. This is a day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. The sun is shining and the birds are chirping. Well, actually, I think they are not chirping so much as they are fussing because  I have several empty feeders this morning. I reckon I know what my later today job is. It is 36 degrees right now so I think I’ll wait until it gets closer to the 63 degree mark it is supposed to reach today. 

I would ask you to say a prayer for my daughter Lisa and her family this morning. My son-in-law’s mother, Carol, has been hospitalized and is at the end stage of her life. Lisa expects death to come with a few days at most. But, Carol is spiritually ready and continued life would be continued pain and misery\; so I pray for a smooth transition through the veil for her. I would ask that you pray for the family for strength. Lisa is such a strong person mentally and spiritually that she is exactly who needs to be making the decisions for that family right now. And, the fact that Lisa “works in that industry” helps the family a lot. But, there are some tough days ahead for all of them. 

We had a productive day yesterday and got the laundry done, Ms. Kate got some cards lined up, and I put together my Easter late service, and I got a haircut. So, we were able to check off some “to-do” list stuff. Today I will start writing the sermon for Easter and Ms. Kate will start putting cards together I reckon.  I’d like to go to Sam’s today but that would be a really bad idea on a Saturday. The world would be there and all the old people, (like us) will be standing in front of the “sample tables” like it was a bread-line or something. LOL

I’m gonna’ sign off now and fix myself some toast and maybe an egg. I pray you will have a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow is “Give it to God” day. Take the time and make contact with the One who has provided every blessing this week. Peace. 

 Friday, end of the work week. I look out and all I see is sunshine and there appears to be a stiff wind. The I check the thermometer and it is 37 degrees. So much for thinking I want to go outside right away this morning. I think inside is “gooder”!

I’m sitting here trying to think over my day yesterday and I can’t think of a single thing that I really accomplished. Ms. Kate is busy putting stuff together to start on some new cards. We have a bunch of birthdays coming up that she needs to make cards for. So, we decided that we need to go to the bank and get some “birthday $50’s” to send along as gifts. From there we went by the cemetery to see how bad the flowers looked on our loved one’s graves. They look pretty bad and Easter is coming so we need to put new spring stuff on. That took us to Dollar Tree store to find new flowers. She found what she wanted and maybe early next week or maybe even tomorrow we will go put the new flowers on. Ms. Kate does a really great job of keeping the graves decorated. She takes care of every season but winter. Her sister does winter. 

After the Dollar Tree store we drove over to Applebee’s for lunch. I was hungry for a steak and they have a pretty good one. She had a prime rib sandwich. From there it was back home. She worked more on her cards and I worked on my Easter service for awhile. And that —- was it for the day. The next thing you know, it was time for Family Feud which we watch together every evening. Then Young Sheldon, followed by Swamp People. We are some exciting people. That’s about it; I then go to my basement to watch TV and she watches what ever she like up stairs; generally some detective show.

Today, I have the laundry going first thing. I never mind doing the laundry or helping with the laundry. I’ve been doing or helping with laundry since I was a child helping my mother hang clothes on a line. As long as it doesn’t involve ironing, I don’t mind; —- I wonder if we still have an iron. Man, “back in the day” when Ms. Kate and I were first married and I was a young airman, having a starched uniform and highly polished boots was critical. Ms. Kate used to starch and iron and starch and iron. That has all changed now for the military, and it is thanks to technology. They found out that starch and shoe polish sent out electromagnetic wave and could be detected by the enemy. Nobody starches or polishes anything anymore. It is sure a different military than I what I left twenty years ago. 

I think it is time for me to clean up and go to the barber shop. The hair is starting to get a little long and I need just a trim. You have yourself a pleasant Friday and a safe and happy weekend. Peace. 

 Good morning new world! I missed any or all of the rain that we had last night but this morning is a beautiful morning. I’m sitting at my kitchen table watching the wrens come and go at the feeder just outside in the azalea bush. The eastern sun has risen over the roofs across the street and the wet leaves are glistening like diamonds. I had not realized how much the trees have leafed out. Nor had I realized that some of the trees are already blooming. A second neighbor across the street has a tree that always blooms a very pretty white bloom for about a week each spring. I have no idea what kind of tree it is. It doesn’t seem to have gotten much taller in the 20 years we have lived here because I know he doesn’t trim it back. He doesn’t do anything in his yard except mow it once in a awhile. And — I’m not complaining; it’s his yard. But the fellow that lived there before him kept a meticulous yard. People probably talk about my yard too as it goes from bad to good to bad to good. 

I had a productive day yesterday. I’ve been trying to decide about what I want to do for my Easter Sunrise service. I had thought that maybe since we no longer have a choir that I would use a CD that had a cantata on it. But, I didn’t really find one that I liked in the filing cabinets. I even asked the choir director at Zoar if they had anything. She brought me one to listen to but I didn’t like it either. Back in 2014 I put together a cantata myself. I wrote all of the narrative and found the appropriate songs in our hymnal to go along with the narrative and the choir did a wonderful job. So, —- I decided that this year we will do an all congregational cantata. I tailored the narrative from the 2014 version, changed  some of the hymns and we will all sing as a congregational choir. I needed a narrator for the event and I asked one of the young ladies to narrate it and she willingly accepted the job. Sometimes —- all you have to do is ask! So, Easter Sunrise service is ready to go. Now, I just have to prepare my regular Sunday service and sermon for Easter services and I’ll be good to go for a few weeks. 

I have a pan of Pillsbury Orange rolls in the oven at the moment. I love those silly things. I definitely prefer the orange rolls to the cinnamon variety. Something has changed about them though because they are hard as heck to take apart in their dough form. They have a “perforated” line around them so that you should be able to easily tear them apart but but they just don’t. I end up with some weird shaped rolls. This morning I just decided that I would cut them apart and put them in the pan. The trials of being a chef — LOLOL. 

We need to go to the bank today and I think we still need to go to Sam’s Club. We never did make it there. I guess it proves that sometimes we don’t need stuff as much as we think we do. My biggest reason for going is that we need more AA batteries. I know I could get them else where but they are definitely cheaper at Sam’s. Although, once you figure out the cost of driving across town in the price, —- I’m sure it is just an illusion. And I’m sure Ms. Kate will “have a list” of stuff that she has yet to tell me about. And, —- I always find something that I suddenly can’t live without. We’re like kids at the checkout lane sometimes. 

That’s it my friends for this wonderful Thursday that God has given us to do something with. Let’s make the best of it and do something good for somebody today. Have a blessed day; Peace. 

 A very good morning to you. It is going to be a good day weather wise at least; and I thing it is going to be a good day otherwise too. Today is dry and going to get up to around 60 degrees. Tomorrow is going to be another rainy and stormy day. Knowing that, I think maybe I’ll go to the church and get things set up for Sunday today rather than run around out in the rain tomorrow. 

Well, — yesterday Ms. Kate and I did our taxes. I hate doing taxes because I feel like I never know what I’m doing. I think I told you that in my last blog. But, we finally got the last of our stuff together and were determined that we were going to get them done. What a painful process. We use Turbo Tax to do ours. I’m not promoting them for use, it’s just what we have done for the last eight years. They all talk about how easy their process is. Some people use H&R Block. But none of them are easy to use. I guess I could go to an accountant, but that costs an arm and a leg and you still have to do all of the running around to provide them the proper paperwork. But, it’s done and filed and have been accepted by both Federal and State. I still need to mail my check to Illinois. What a pain. 

I started off my day though with and orthopedic appointment. I have been having a problem with my left shoulder for a couple of months now. I had a constant low grade pain in it that was causing some motion limitation, and pain when I moved a certain way. So, they took a couple of X-rays and the good news is that it was no big deal, I had a calcium deposit building up in there. The doctor gave me a shot and said that it should take care of it. And, the good news is that I feel a lot better today. I don’\t know what the shot did, if it dissolved the deposit or what. Dr. Lowrey said it may start bothering me again in six months or so and if so, I can come in and get another shot. The alternative would be to make an incision and scrape it out, but for me, that is a no-go and he agreed. Ten years ago, I went to see him and he did some major surgery on my right shoulder. I’m blessed that this time it was this simple. 

I’m still working on my Easter season programs. The problem is that I’ve done some, and at the moment I don’t know which I have completed and what I still have to do. I think I’m ready to put together my Sunrise service but haven’t decided yet what to want to do. Maybe I should put my efforts into that today. 

But —- at the moment it is time for me to refill the coffee cup and have myself a Parlor Doughnut!. I hope your day is blessed. Peace. 

 Good morning on this partly sunny, 50 degree morning. It rained yesterday afternoon and last night and we are expecting more rain through Sunday. The good news is that my garden is getting watered and maybe my seeds will germinate and start to grow. I can hardly wait until I can go out and “gather my bounty”. LOL

So, — who has big plans for this weekend? We certainly don’t. We started working on our taxes yesterday. I hate doing taxes. We go through Turbo Tax and have for the past eight years. It is as self guided as I guess any of them are but I’m always afraid that I’m going to screw something up. And of course, we ran into a problem right away. I’m missing a W-2 from one of the churches that I preached at in 2020. I only preached there for one month, but I need a tax form from them. I preached there for the month of January last year before I moved to the churches in Ft. Branch. I think they forgot that I was employed there. 2020 was such a screwy year in every aspect. Luckily, I know what they paid me and approximately what state, federal, and local taxes were taken out. I figured that out by taking my form from 2019 for that job which was for a full year, and dividing it by 12. It at least gives me some figures to work with while I wait for them to send me my W-2. Did I mention that I hate doing taxes??? My daughter Lisa used to do taxes for people and she loved it. I don’t know where hat trait came from. 

My Moto-Cross Professional granddaughter, Lauren got hurt again last weekend during a race. Somehow she ended up in a bush and dis-located and re-located her shoulder, meaning it popped out and back in again. She said it popped so loudly that she thought maybe she had broken her shoulder —- AGAIN. It appears she has a grade one rotator cuff tear and should heal just fine, The silly girl is racing again this weekend. Her accident last week happened on lap one of the race and she continued to race and finish the rest of the 90 minute race. She absolutely amazes me with what she is willing to do for the love of her sport. Her mom says she feeling better everyday so I guess she will be ready to race by tomorrow, Danged stubborn kid. She’s cute as a button and not much bigger, but when she sets her mind to something, don’t get in her way. Yeh, she’s like her mom and Ms. Kate and me and her two aunts. If the rest of her generation had her work ethic, there would be aa lot more positive construction in this country and a lot less whining and being offended by everything that doesn’t go their way. 

I listened to President Biden last night in his 25 minute speech. Twenty minutes of it was pure rhetoric and five minutes was confused mumble jumble. But, the point of his speech was to tell America that he has signed a bill to give out another stimulus check, time time $1400.00 per American. It is a $1.9 Trillion cost. \I wonder where he is going to get the money??? I suspect the answer is simple, our taxes are going to go up again. 

So, on that happy note I’ll say good day. Peace. 

 Hello Thursday, nice to see you back again. I had not planned to see you quite this early though. The sun is barely up. But I guess I will get to see if the early bird really does get the worm. So far I’ve seen only one worm eater (robin). It was hopping around the yard for a couple of minutes and then took off. My first duty of day was to shoot a stray cat in the butt with my BB gun. It may have been looking for mice or voles but I wasn’t going to let it stay around and have one of my Backyard Buffet guests for dessert. 

It’s a warm morning, 65 degrees, and overcast. Forecasters are predicting rain on and off for the next few days. We are expecting maybe three inches total by Sunday. We certainly can’t complain too much, we’ve had a really nice string of nice weather for the past ten days. The ground did dry out sufficiently for me to plant my early garden. I got the potatoes in on Saturday and yesterday I planted two kinds of lettuce and some radishes. I still have peas, basil, and cilantro seed tp put in the ground. The basil and cilantro will each go in a large flower pot on the patio. The peas have to wait a couple of more weeks before I plant them. 

I slept poorly last night. Do you ever have those nights that you have something on your mind and just can’t sleep? For me, it was “doing my taxes”. I’ve been putting my tax paperwork stuff in an envelope all year as it came in. But there is one set of info that we keep in a file that every year we’ve had to go look for. I thought I knew exactly where it was but when I looked for it in the filing cabinet last night, I couldn’t find it. So, that had me stewing all night. But, I got up this morning and found it right away. So, maybe I’ll sit here in my recliner and take a nap before I do anything else. I’m tired. I  don’t that we will do our taxes today, but at least I have everything together except for going to my vehicles and checking my vehicle registration forms to see what I paid in excise tax on them last year. 

It was worth getting up early this morning to see the cardinal and all of thee little junkos and wrens coming in for breakfast. God seems to always have a blessing waiting for me somewhere. That’s why I start the day out with words of gratitude. I can tell that there is a weather front moving in though because I have a slight headache. I’ll add a Tylenol to my morning pills today. 

That’s about it for today. I’m going to finish this cup of coffee and sit here and watch my Backyard Buffet guests. \I pray you will have a wonderful and blessed day. Peace. 

 

 It is another beautiful morning, although I slept through a good deal of it. Ms. Kate and I were sitting in the family room last night watching Bobby Flay on the TV, and we were just chatting and each of us on an IPad doing a picture painting app. Suddenly she says, “It’s 2:30 a.m.. You think we should maybe go to bed??”  I had no idea it was that late. Time does fly when you are having fun and with someone you love. 

I worked until late last night writing and putting together worship services for the upcoming Easter season, so I can see how time snuck up on me. But I got some good work done. I finished up my Maundy Thursday Tenebrae service and I’m started on my Palm Sunday service. I have a concept in my mind for Sunrise service but it will be different because this year we don’t have a choir and aren’t doing an Easter Cantata. That is a luxury we have always had. Our choir people have gotten old, most of us are upper 70 and in our 80’s. I’m afraid that a choir has become a thing of the past. St. Paul’s has never had a choir that I know of and now we are losing the capability to have one at St. Lucas. I’m really going to miss that. But we are not alone, most small churches have lost that capability and the COVID thing hasn’t helped a bit. Many congregations aren’t even letting their member sing yet due to COVID. It does dampen the joy. 

Looks like I need to fill up a couple of feeders again today. There is still food out there but the favorite feeder are empty. It’s terrible when you have to “settle for” LOL It is going to be close to 70 today and I am going to plant my potatoes and I want see if I can find some lettuce seed and radish seed. I think it is time to plant that too. 

Having said that, I need to get cleaned up and start being productive. Have a blessed day. Peace, 

 45 degrees going up tp 65 and a say of sunshine. What a great way to start the day. There are a couple of squirrels playing “Keep off of my feeder” with one another and the chase is progress. The starlings are fighting over another feeder and the rest of my Backyard Buffet guests slip in and out and grab a bite and try to stay out of the fray. The robins are hoping from here to there looking for a worm I reckon. The doves just kiddos waddle around and stop and peck at the ground ignoring everyone else. And the sweet little wrens are next building somewhere as they sift through the leaves trying to find exactly the one they want and then they fly off. So, the backyard is a busy place this morning, but so far no cardinals. 

How was your weekend? Did you spend it “getting stuff done” or did you take time to relax? I told you that Julie was going to come over. And she did. We had a nice visit and did get to seee her fellow store manager and deliver whatever it was she had for her. But, —- while she was out, she went to Parlor Donuts and picked up a dozen donuts and brought them home. Those might be the best donuts I have ever had; and I have had a lot of donuts in my day. Actually, I think she said they are called “Cronuts”. They are like a donut within a croissant. Obviously I’m the last one at my church to have one because a lot of them remarked that they love them too when I posted it on Facebook. 

Yay! The Bluebirds just showed up fro breakfast. I love my bluebirds. 

It looks like I’m going to have to refill some feeders again today several of them are almost empty and with the amount of guests I have today and a lot of warmer weather coming, the number of guests will increase.

We had fairly good attendance yesterday at each church. It is nice to see that folks are getting their COVID vaccine and are starting to trust coming back. We still wear our masks and we social distance (well sort of, people will be people and they are all family.) But is great to hear their voices a they sing and I think folks are glad to be singing again. I finished my sermon for next Sunday last night, I know I’m not, but I feel like I’m running behind. I guess that is because I know we have extra services to plan and do and  there are questions about how we do them. These COVID precautions drive me nuts and I will be so very thankful when we can get back to normal, if there is any such thing these days. We have always done combined services for Maundy Thursday and for Easter Sunrise, but I don’t know if people are going to be comfortable with that or not. We have traditionally done a breakfast at St. Lucas after the Sunrise service but we need to have discussions about that and make a decision. I know many folks want to, but it might put too many people into too close contact. I have maybe a week to come up with a solution. It’s all stuff designed to make me toss and turn at night. LOL

I think that is it for today. I hope you have a very excellent week full of God’s blessings and glory. Peace. 

 Another chilly morning but at least it is bright and sun shiny, At the moment I have a half dozen starlings fighting over a single feeder, A couple of them will fly in and land on the feeder and then two or three more will fly in and try to land on the same feeder but instead land on the other starlings. That starts an air battle of fussing and pecking and they all fly away for about a minute and then the show starts all over again. It’s entertaining. Meanwhile, the other birds are happily eating at the other dozen and a half feeders that I have out there with no conflict what-so-ever. 

Julie came down last evening. We’re having a good visit. This morning she is going over to the University of Evansville to drop off some stuff to that bookstore manager, Becky. Becky used to work for Julie at IUSE and then got her own store to manage. She’s a good kid and Julie really likes her. So, after she drops off the stuff to Becky she is going to a place called Parlor Donuts. They have a product that I think is called “Cronuts”| which is a combination croissant and donut. I’ve never had them but Julie has and says they are yummy. I also had one of my church council members talk about how good Parlor Donuts were so I reckon we’ll be trying them today. Speaking of good food; I picked up a carton of Eady’s Salted Caramel Pretzel ice-cream yesterday to try. Man o man —- that is some good stuff. I’ll need to pick up some more of that. 

Spring is pretty much here for sure. My pussy willow is in full bloom and the Gold finches are starting to turn yellow again. In a couple of weeks the trees are going to start looking “fuzzy” and the leaves start popping out again. We are seeing more 60s during the day in stead of 40s so that is all good. The weather forecaster said last night that we nay not see any rain for another five days and that would be really good. Maybe the ground (meaning my garden) can finally get dried out and I can start planting a few things. I’m as bad as other folks, I get antsy to plant  and sometimes plant too soon. I need to check the Farmer’s Almanac about planting this year. 

Tomorrow is Sunday and for we Christians, a day of worship. However, today is the Sabbath for my Jewish friends and the Seventh Day Adventists. Whatever your day of worship happens to be, take the time to celebrate it. God has given you another weeks of blessings and the least we can do is spend an hour or two a week to give God praise and glory. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 A blessed Friday morning to you. It’s a chilly one out there this morning. The sun is kind of hidden and not bringing much warmth, It is 36shining degrees and the real feel with the wind is 29. Not a morning for walking around in flip flops or short sleeved shirts. But my Backyard Buffet guests are happy because I filled feeders again yesterday, although I didn’t fill any of thee Bark. Butter feeders. That only bothers the woodpeckers and they have several other foods that they also eat. I asked my neighbor, Dan, to come over yesterday and help me  get my feeder pole set back in the ground. I thin  we have it sufficiently deep enough now that it won’t blow over. 

I was going to try to rake some of the leaves off of the flowerbeds back here in the backyard but there is really a heavy layer on there and it is very wet underneath. I think I am going to get a load of mulch and put it right on top of the leaves. They are good mulch and the flowers are coming through the very well. 

I think Julie is coming over today or tomorrow. It depends on whether Jim has to work tomorrow or not If he’s working tomorrow she will come over today. She has to bring some stuff over to the bookstore manager at the University of Evansville so I don’t know just when we will see her. I told her that if Jim comes along, I’d like for him to take the snow blade back off of the John Deere. I think we are past getting any significant snow for this year. Might as well put the mower deck back on and get ready for mowing season. That is a few weeks off yet but it will get here soon enough. I also need to get some lawn fertilizer and crab grass killer and put out on the yards. I have the spreader that attaches to the JD so it is no problem spreading it. Spring time brings fun time. 

We still have not made it to Walmart or Sam’s, maybe we’ll do that today. It depends on how Ms. Kate is feeling. Yesterday was her  first “good day” in a couple of weeks. However, today doesn’t look promising either. If she doesn’t feel like going, I’ll maybe go by myself. I don’t know of anything critical that we need so we’ll see. 

Tine to refill the coffee cup. You have a wonderful Friday. Peace. 

 Happy Thursday. It’s another beautiful day and a day to give thanks for. It will be “warmish” maybe 56 degrees or so. I think the yard may be dry enough for me to walk through it and fill the bird feeders. I also want to do some raking out there in my flower beds. I have so many daffodils and tulips up and they are kind of hidden  by the leaves from last fall.  I think we have had sufficient days in the 50’s that we can rake off the dead stuff. Nursery folks were claiming that we need at least a week in the 50’s so the “Good bugs” can come out of hibernation. I guess we will see what I actually get done . We are supposed to have this kind of weather for the next few days and how it is when I actually get out in the yard. 

I conducted the funeral yesterday and it went well. It was certainly different from the norm. Because the cemetery was so wet, they put the tent up at the edge of the parking lot and the chairs under the tent as usual. But, they had the casket open and they had set it on a pallet, I think, to keep it off of the ground. But, that made the casket really low and when you went by it, it was really strange, at least to me, to be looking way down at the body. Definitely different. 

We were supposed to go to Sam’s Club yesterday afternoon after the funeral but Ms. Kate’s diverticulitis was giving her fits again yesterday. I really feel for her because I have been there, done that, with diverticulitis and it isn’t fun in any way shape or form. Praise the Lord, she feels better today. I don’t know that she is ready to go walk around Sam’s yet though. I’ll put it on the list of activities for today and see what shakes out. 

That’s all I have for you today, I know it is short but I just am dropping by to say “howdy” and remind you that God loves you. You go have yourself a very blessed day. Shalomn 

 The sun has broken over the neighbors houses on another beautiful day. It is 31 degrees and the temperature is going to double today. How great is that!!! Ms. Kate is snoozing and the only sounds I hear are the normal “house sounds” and a mockingbird that is already singing its heart out. Not a bad way to start the day. I just have to take a moment to say “Thank you Lord God for waking me to another day”.

As I told you yesterday, I have a funeral to conduct today. I am so glad that by the time we do the funeral the temperature will be above 60 and the sun will be shining. The funeral is being done at graveside which is a first for me. I’ve always done graveside “closure” and committal but never the entire service at the graveside. It has been a few years since I have worked with this particular funeral home but they told me that due to COVID, more and more services are being done fully at the grave. I guess it allows more people to come. Even the visitation is being done at the grave. Our church and cemetery is sitting in wide open setting of farm land, almost like a prairie setting. So, it will be beautiful, if a funeral can be called beautiful. I have asked the man’s niece, who is also his God-daughter, to sing Amazing Grace. She has a nice voice. She agreed to try. Between her singing and the sound of the bell tolling 65 times across the fields, yes, it does the atmosphere of holiness in what we will do.

I also have to run the bulletins for Sunday’s service today, which reminds me that I need to send the service to my two organists and to Jacob so he can get the media ready at St. Lucas. It doesn’t take long to run the bulletins these days since we are using the big screens at St. Lucas. Not many people use them because everything is up on the screens. We don’t have that capability at St. Paul’s nor do we have a need for it. The truth of the matter is that we would not have it at St. Lucas either had not COVID happen and the Lilly Corporation given out grants for church technology to do their services virtually. So, there is at least one silver-lining to all of this COVID stuff. We got the grant for roughly $4,500 dollars and have \spent a little over $8,500 so far for a doubling match. It has been worth every penny. My only concern is that Jacob have plenty of back-up people to run the system in case he gets sick and can’t be there or he and his family take a vacation. So far, it is just Jacob, his wife and his son, and one other person. 

That’s it for today my friends. Walk outside and take a deep breath or two this morning. Breathe in God’s world and goodness. It will brighten your day. Peace. 

 Happy Tuesday morning! The sun is shining brightly and it looks beautiful. However, it is still a bit nippy at 35 degrees. With a little luck, the temperature is to go up to 50 degrees, I think. That will be good. I heard last evening on the weather news that we are to have about ten days of dry weather and temps in the 50. I’m really hoping that the ground dries out enough that I can plant some potatoes in my new raised bed. Old wive’s wisdom used to say they were supposed to be planted on St. Patrick’s day. I assume because heh was Irish and the Irish were known for potatoes. But, St. Patrick’s Day is only two weeks from now and I have some potato that have sprouted and I want to plant them.

Ms.Kate and I plan to go to Sam’s Club today and pick up some stuff and she wants to go to Fresh Market because it is “ground chuck Tuesday” and the ground chuck is on sale every Tuesday. I see a meat loaf in my future. She makes a great meat loaf. I have one son-in-law\ that won’t eat meat loaf. I forget which one it is. He like all of the stuff that one would use to make meat\ loaf, but for what ever reason, he doesn’t like it when it is all combined. Maybe his mom made bad meat loaf. I used to be the same way about Lasagna. I like the ingredients but not the product. Then I figured out that it was the ricotta cheese that I didn’t like. But, now I eat lasagna with zero problem.  There aren’t very many things that I don’t like but last night Neighbor Dan called and offered us a “double chocolate layered cheesecake”. He had me interested until he said cheesecake. I’ve never like cheesecake. I find it heavy and dry to the taste. So I turned him down. Ms. Kate and I aren’t big on cheese of any kind. 

Unfortunately, I have to prepare for a funeral today. One of my parishioners passed away yesterday afternoon. The funeral is to be a graveside service only at 1400 tomorrow in the St. Lucas cemetery. He wasn’t all that old but he has been in ill health for years. So, for him, all of that is gone and he arrived to meet his folks fresh and new on the other side of the veil. We can’t be sad about that can we?

As soon as the ground dries out a little more, I need to put one of my bird-feeder poles back up. The rain and wind took it down the other night. The ground was soggy from the melting snow and then getting 2.5 inches of rain on top of that, it didn’t take much wind to take it down. 

That’s it my friends. I hope your day has started off with you counting off your blessings and then giving God praise for each one of them. It’s the least we can do. Peace.